good evening and Welcome to our meeting tonight on May 7th 2024 it's one of our regular meetings this meeting is being videotaped and may be viewed on your local public access Channel either 36 or 77 the meetings are also available Live on YouTube for those of you present in case of a fire uh please follow the fire exit signs above the doors and exit cly council president Timberman would you please lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance IED Al to flag United States indivisible withy and justice for all this meeting is called pursuant to the provisions of the open public meetings law and adequately noce pursuant to njsa 10-4-10 this meeting of May 7th 2024 was noticed to the record and Ridgewood news on January 4th 24 and published in said newspapers posted on the bulletin board in the municipal building and has remained continuously posted as required under the statute Miss Ryan would you please call the Roll Call of the governing body I like to shake them up once in a while stand in silence please call the Roll Call of the governing body sure and if everybody would just pull their microphones mayor toala president present councilwoman arenia here councilwoman rice here councilwoman Maguire present council president Timmerman here councilman Gordon here and councilwoman Moore here okay thank you there are no absences to excuse which brings us to proclamations and citations during may we raise awareness of the importance of mental and physical health and we also honor our police officers peace officers public work staff as well as our armed forces in recognition of all of these we have proclamations that will be posted on our burrow website and the bulletin board in burrow Hall tonight we have a housekeeping item may I have a motion to approve resolution number 122 d24 burrow professional appointments award professional service contracts for a one-year period using the fair and open process in accordance with the New Jersey local unit payto playay law pursuant to njsa 1944 a-204 at SEC fair and open for calendar year through December 31st 2024 grant writer Bruno Associates and tax appeal attorney John KY Esquire of meerson fox and KY some move second roll call please councilwoman arenia yes councilwoman rice yes councilwoman Maguire yes council president timman yes councilman Gordon yes coun one more yes thank you the April 16th minutes were pulled from this agenda and will be listed for consideration at our May 21st meeting corresponden is on file in the clerk's office Financial business I would like to invite burrow auditor Gary Higgins to come up and join us to review the 2023 audit of the burrow oh Gary if you want to come up and have a seat I want to stand you want to stand okay whatever you prefer am I on I'm on you're on just speak into it because it's a little finicky good evening everyone Oh no you're GNA have to point it to your yeah yeah how's that that's great all right good evening everyone you have the audit I believe for the year ending 123123 in front of you um I'll just highlight a few things uh first of all uh New Jersey municipalities and counties do not prepare their financial statements in accordance with government accounting principles um as generally accepted in the United States of America you're on a regulatory basis that's uh promulgated over by the division opal government services uh with respect to that uh your audit opinion is an unmodified opinion opion uh that it's in accordance with the regulatory basis of accounting uh that divisional government services uh requires you to uh Implement as a New Jersey municipality uh couple things I'll go over if you do have the report in front of you uh the statement of operations which are your revenues expenditures and changes in fund balance which are on page eight uh this gives you a rundown comparatively for 22 23 um if you look on the bottom of the page on the right corner you began the year with surplus of 2,665 th000 and if you look to the left of that you ended the 23 year with $2,832 th000 that represents 185% of your budgeted expenditures uh which is a a good number uh with respect to the rating agencies looking at the records of the municipality and it also provides significant cash flow uh to avoid having to do tax anticipation notes or other borrowings uh you do have a lot of expenditures that come due early in the year your pension bills are due April 1 certain Debt Service and certain other contractual Arrangements uh so to have a surplus like that it gives you the flexibility to pay those bills without having to do borrowing uh the Surplus uh if you look down the bottom you return for tax relief a176 th000 in the 23 budget for tax relief and just two numbers above that you regenerated a milon 243 uh and $45 out of the current year operations so essentially a surplus went up about $167,000 uh that came from excess revenues uh including excess tax collections uh and and various other non-budgeted type revenues uh so uh your Surplus uh did rise a little and um you're in good Financial Health with respect to your uh current fund balance uh for future years uh your tax collection rate was a little under 99% again 98.7 which is a strong a strong number uh the only other thing I'll bring to your attention uh which is important is your debt ratio uh you're allowed to go up to 3 and a half% of your equalized valuation uh which means uh you could borrow up to $53 million uh for this municipality if if you wanted to uh but you didn't uh you're at 10.3 3 million or about 68% of the 3 and a half% 68 so being under 1% of the three and a half% um is a good number with respect to not having uh an overload on debt on the residents uh but you could borrow another 43 million if you thought it was necessary but remember you have to pay it back so that's the uh the downside of that um so that's where we stand on that um with respect to order recommendations I'm very proud to say we don't have any uh your Chief Financial Officer records were excellent condition and through all our compliance and internal control testing uh we did not come up with anything that warranted a recommendation in this Audi perfect thank you um before I ask for a motion does anybody have any questions about the audit before I uh thank Gary and Warren no um I want to thank you for you and your colleagues for doing some uh diligent work in completing our audit and I also want to thank our department heads and of course of course Lauren our CFO um for her commitment to complying with um all of New Jersey's Financial practices as well as doing a fabulous bang up job for us every year um do you want to uh I think you probably want to have my motion to adopt the resolution yes okay I'll do that times you're just so intense all right so that brings us to uh the vote to make a motion to adopt resolution number 234-244 certification of annual report of audit affidavit for the year ending December 31st 2023 second may I have a roll call please councilwoman arenia y councilwoman right yes councilwoman Maguire yes council president Timmerman yes councilman Gordon yes and councilwoman more yes thank you and before we move on I do want to just recognize Lauren one more time for her continued commitment her watchful eye that resulted in no comments I think for the third year in a row um and no corrective action measures that are needed by the buau in the past several years uh may I have a motion to adopt resolution number 12424 to approve the corrective action plan with no comments move may I have a roll call please Nicole councilwoman arenia yes councilwoman rice yes councilwoman Maguire yes council president timman yes councilman Gordon yes and councilwoman yes pass thank you um and now we will move on to the public hearing and Adoption of the 2024 Municipal budget Lauren would you like to come up and um do you want want to stand with Gary or do you want to sit at this point with Lauren no there's not there's no holding there's no holding hands in government all right Lauren please have a seat make yourself comfortable the first item that we do have to address is the waiver for reading the full budget correct if you don't want me to read 42 Pages yeah may I have a motion to adopt resolution number 12524 waiver of reading of budget in full for the 2024 Municipal budget so move second may I have a roll call please councilwoman arenia yes councilwoman rights yes councilwoman McGuire yes council president Timberman yes councilman Gordon yes and councilwoman yes and now I need a motion to adopt resolution number 126-200 self-examination of the 2024 Municipal budget so moved second may I have a roll call please councilman arenia yes councilwoman rice yes councilwoman Maguire yes council president Timberman yes councilman Gordon yes and Council yes thank you and now after those resolutions I will once again turn the mic over to burrow auditor Gary Higgins of pkf O Conor Davies and Lauren rorer our c fo to present the 2024 Municipal budget you want to go first who knows she doesn't want to go first the good news keeps rolling after the audit which was a superb audit like I said just Gary I since it's I just want to make sure that you're getting picked up and that everyone can everyone hear Gary can you hear me yeah clearly okay I usually have a pretty big mouth and Lauren you may have to use the mic sometimes we we hear from people that the tape you don't not picking up on the um Gary proceed please okay so on April 2nd you introduced the 24 budget uh as you just passed a resolution self-exam every one out of three years the division local government reviews your uh document this year they didn't um so basically between Lauren and ourself we sign off with respect that it's fully complying with the local budget law um with respect to the budget uh basically it's a $15.8 million budget provides all the same Services as it has in the past for the residents uh but a couple highlights uh with respect to the tax levy you have two caps you have a tax levy cap and you're $124,000 under that uh but you also had banking so the budget could have went up another $553,000 but the governing body opted not to do that um and obviously that would have resulted in a a pretty large tax in increase uh with respect to the tax increase it's 2.2 cents per $100 of assessed value that has nothing to do with the county of Bergen nor your school district it's purely your budget uh the average house which is assessed at 440,000 and $60 uh we'll see a $98 tax increase for municipal purposes only okay so that's where we stand on that uh with respect respect to your appropriation cap it's a second cap that limits uh how much you can budget you're $144,000 under that cap uh so you've met both caps we've done the calculations pursuant to the uh Levy workbook that's required to be submitted to the division local government services and as the resolution said and as my signature says and as her certification says you're fully uh in accordance with the budget laws of the state of New Jersey so uh I believe unless there's some questions for me uh you have to have a public hearing and there is no requirement for an amendment uh that has been presented to Lauren and myself and after the public hearing you can proceed to adopt the budget if you wish okay does anybody have any questions for Gary questions or comments thank you no thank you Lord okay um so if none of the governing body members have any questions or comments I would like a motion to open the meeting for comments from the public on the 202 Municipal budget and only on the 2024 Municipal budget so move second all in favor I I any opposed we are now open to the public would anybody wish to speak miss stutzel good evening good evening all nice to see you am am I in the zone you're in the zone okay in the zone thank you um so I've been doing an ongoing you just State your your phone oh yes sorry my name is Kate stutzel and I live in Emerson you don't okay yes I know the address thank you um I've been doing an ongoing review of legal spending in the pasc valley which specifically if you look at the budget is budget line 20-55 because I'm curious to see kind of the the trends we see across the pasek valley um which is you know those that list of eight towns uh so in 20 let's go let's look at 2022 first in 2022 Emerson spent 289,000 000 on legal fees other towns in the Pasa Valley spent between $144,000 and $188,000 in 2023 Emerson spent $260,000 on legal fees other towns in the Pas Valley sent spent between 87,000 and 148,000 I will say there is one town missing Woodcliff Lake they have yet to introduce their budget it is coming later this month so they may be somewhere in that range past history Su past history hisory suggests they'd be somewhere in that range um so if you look at you if you kind of take that data and you continue to look over the course of years uh you know like maybe the course of the depal administration Emerson has spent twice as much on legal fees as some other towns specifically Westwood Rivervale Hillsdale and know we're not the highest over that whole period um Park Ridge in particular had a few wild years that I'd be curious to hear the backstory on um but I'm curious to hear your feedback so I saw that the budgeted amount for for legal this year goes down a little bit over the budgeted amount uh for previous years and over the spend amount for previous years I'd love to hear a little bit more about your what is the what's the word I'm looking for what is the maybe the I don't know plan is the word but the strategy um I mean again you know if we've spent twice as much as other towns I mean that's like a mill it's like a million dollars there's a lot we could spend that money on so I'm just curious to see like what do we think we're getting for that why do we think our budget is going to go down this year over previous years um just cous to hear your thoughts thank you do you want me to answer that or do you want to answer well miss stutzel the only thing that I'll comment on is you do know that the burrow is in the middle of litigation and obviously those are not charges that we like to have to pay but they are necessary in order to uh defend the burrow residents okay would anyone else like to speak Mr Todd welcome thank Gary you're taller so you need to move a little yeah usually they can hear my voice no matter where I am um yeah a couple questions uh first just want to note that you know the $98 increase is um welcome by all residents I'm sure compared to the $565 increase we had last year so dropp and it down to one six of it was um you iend the Auditors and Lauren for uh for the efforts in doing that I I wish we did not have that last year as well because even with this year that still means we had something like a 18% tax increase over the past two years um kind of getting to the meat of what I'd like to address is um the burough hole which I've asked questions about for the past few years which is a project that seems to be stalled um but during the year I had asked about the architect fees and it appears we paid the architect already something like $600,000 um if the project is not going forward can we close back any of that money or is that something that's gone no matter what happens okay um I don't have a prepared answer for you and um as our attorney advises that this is not a Q&A this is for you to come up and make comments and uh at the time I do not have an answer for you I'm sorry then my comment would be please look into flowing back that okay running a business which I've done for many years that's what I would do is however a um second question related to the the legal fees and the lawsuits I know we're in the middle of the case that you just mentioned um cases Cas is I know one we're the defendant one were the plaintiff so forth I think there's three actually that's right that correct and there's also the 2006 lawsuit that um the affordable housing or whatever that agency is called um on that we've we've already expended something like $400,000 on those lawsuits um and I know in the case that we're going we're the plaintiff and not the defendant we're looking you know to get the $500,000 payment contribution to the burrow to the Burrow's uh fire department um sorry Ambulance Corp and so forth um um at what point is it worth it I mean and I don't know and I'm sure the answer is going to be that it's a legal opinion you you can't really say but you know what point do we kind of cut bait and decide to settle if we're we're suing for 500,000 and spend 400,000 it already and um and the other portion of it is is um what what are the consequences or what plans do you have if the Judgment goes the other way what if the developer were to win is there any idea on what type of Damages they could have I know it's probably you know a spin the wheel but but if if you can answer and I totally understand if you can what what I'll do is I during my report I'll I'll speak to some of those issues that that way so again so C but just to resolve those those issues that I'll I'll address some of those okay very good okay um and lastly about the uh the pilot programs in town um and I didn't see any mention and I'm not sure where that would be is there any information out there on how many Pilots we have how much we're receiving each year on that side have two pilots okayed okay it's on sheet 10 in the budget and the one is on 6,000 the American very good thank you thank you Mr ton anybody else seeing No Hands may have a motion to close theor seeing No Hands may have a motion to close the public portion of the meeting some okay with no more anybody have any other questions or comments for Gary no okay with no more requests may have a uh let me go over with no other comments from the governing body or questions may I have motion to adopt resolution number 12724 adoption of the 2024 Municipal budget can I say one thing I just want to thank Lauren as well uh Nicole everybody up here um like Mr Todd said no one was saying that last year wasn't an easy year and it was difficult for all of us but I mean the improvements that we've been able to make throughout the burrow and investments in a long-term strategy I think you're going to pay off for the burrow for years to come and that's it thank you thank you council president um so can I get a sec a motion out of you so move and a second who was that and a roll call please councilwoman orenia yes councilwoman rice yes councilwoman Maguire council president Timberman yes councilman Gordon and councilwoman and council president stole my thunder what I wanted to say was in conclusion I want to thank again um marry Lauren our finance committee council president Mike Timberman and councilwoman Nicole arenia as well as burough administrator Rob Hermanson for all working together with the burrow department heads and elected officials to put such a prudent uh budget together this year but let's get ready because Monday we start working on 2025 thank you Gary nice to see you Lauren thank you for coming in here we're going to keep on rolling into our agenda here uh that brings us to unfinished business there is no unfinished business new business um tonight in accordance with the grant requirements we are holding a public hearing on repurposing our 2022 Bergen County open space trust fund Grant um we are going to move it to the Emerson Junior Senior High School tennis court renovation project for the last several years our residents have been asking for tickle ball so the council has decided to repurpose the grant received from open space that was originally earmarked for the walking path at Hillman Park um and enter a shared service agreement with the Board of Education to replace the tennis courts um repave them and to Reign them so that tennis as well as pickle ball can be enjoyed by residents of all AEL ages and skill levels um the burrow has already received the $885,000 and $1 in grant funding and will then match it to bring our total contribution to the board of ed to $170,000 and2 um I'd like to open up the meeting to for public comment on the repurposing of this Bond may have a motion to open up to the public on this and this item only some second all in favor I I any opposed we are now open to the public on the repurposing of the Grant application for the open space trust fund for 202 too any questions Mr Todd um just question regarding and I know I I'm not a pickall player but maybe soon um there have been some questions about whether it's just for residents um the tennis courts and pick balls or could other people from other towns come uh a part of our agreement that we will be taking care of as an addendum is we will be putting a fee in place in order to get a swipe card so that if someone is going to go in and I'm sure we are planning to do uh one price for residents and then another price for Out of Towners but once you as you know you're a former councilman once you take open space funds you cannot um right keep out other residents of ber County that yeah follow yeah okay thanks but we can charge different rates for in andout so yes yeah and then hopefully we you know I'll quote Josh gottheimer claw back some money for the uh expense of doing it and to add it towards the upkeep over the years okay any other questions comments okay um may I have a motion to close the public portion of this meeting so move second all in favor any opposed motion carried um anybody have any comments on this from the governing body I'm happy that we were able to incorporate something that was requested by some of the residents in a way that doesn't upset other residents yes I I agree because I if you recall we had anticipated possibly putting some pickle ball courts in some of our parks and our residents came out and they spoke and we listened and we found a more appropriate spot where they're already playing tennis and in order to do with the shared service we don't have to start from zero in order to pay for these courts um I do know that people have commented that pasac Brook Park um is putting in pickle ball C courts I drove by there um last week and it is a field of dreams all those tennis courts are is moss and grass and weeds and I have not seen anything started there yet so I'm happy that we're able to do it and we will um have two places to to play in the future hopefully also it's a nice working relationship with the Board of Ed I'm glad that we're able to move forward with projects like that I was just to say collaborating with the board of on this we we've tried in the past and I thank Dr Nissen off for being open to listen and move around ideas good Brian I'd like to uh say that some some people from town have asked me about The Walking path maybe we could collaborate with school and put that in from the senior center I I I think maybe half a loop I think that um we have not shelv that idea I still think it's a good idea I know that it was something close to your heart and it was close to my heart and in all honesty when I mentioned it to the seniors at the senior center they were excited about it because they felt that once they were already down at the senior center there were restrooms available that they can go back and use and still take a little walk around um the field there but it is something that um we just put a pin in for right now but we'll try to revisit that as soon as we can okay anything else I do agree with as far as with The Walking path what I liked for the seniors was the fact that they do spend time down there and at the library and it was a way for them to sort of make a day of it so hopefully in the future I've also had some requests for bot down in that area because we did have bot up in um by the basketball by the basketball courts at acran Park and it was repurposed into horseshoe by one of our um Eagle Scouts I don't think it's getting very much play but in speaking with them um I think that when we are offering you know different service different options for um Recreation to people of a certain age that it's important that um they're near very close parking with handicap parking as well as um restroom facilities and a sink for water and stuff like that if they need to uh wash up after you know I've played bota your hands get a little Clay on them and stuff so um maybe in the future we could do something like that as well um anyone else okay so then we are going to introduce the ordinances Miss Ryan will announce by number and title the following ordinances upon approval these ordinances will be further considered at a public hearing to be held on May 21st 2024 at 7:30 p.m. or as soon thereafter as the matter can be addressed in the council chambers of the burough Hall Municipal Place Emerson New Jersey and published in the record all ordinances are on the burough website s it and on file in the office of the burough clerk if you would like a excuse me hard copy please contact Michelle at the clerk's office you're on this is ordinance 1687 d24 Capital ordinance of the burrow of Emerson in the county of Bergen New Jersey authorizing the making of various public improvements and Acquisitions in by and for the burrow appropriating their for the sum of $236,800 uire yes council president Timberman yes councilman Gordon yes and councilwoman Moore yes yes is thank you would you please read the title of the next ordinance sure this is ordinance 1688-1689 [Music] [Music] apparatus and equipment in by and for the burrow of Emerson in the county of Bergen state of New Jersey to appropriate the sum of 2, $19,500 to pay the cost thereof to appropriate various grants to make a down payment to authorize the issuance of bonds to finance such appropriation and to provide for the issuance of bond anticipation notes in anticipation of the issue of such bonds may I have a motion to introduce ordinance number 688-2488 for you excellent thank you this is ordinance 1689 d24 ordinance of the burrow of Emerson in the county of Bergen New Jersey authorizing a special emergency appropriation in the amount of 115,000 for the preparation of an approved tax ma may I have a motion to introduce ordinance 1689 d24 on first reading so move second may I have a roll call please councilwoman arenia yes councilwoman rice yes councilwoman Maguire yes council president Timberman yes councilman Gordon yes and councilwoman more yes thank you which brings us to adoption of ordinances this is the second reading and public hearing for 68624 an ordinance to establish ranges for salaries wages compensation and other terms of employment of certain employees of the Bureau of Emerson for the calendar year 2024 um may have a motion to open the meeting for public comment on this and this ordinance only move all in favor any opposed we are open to the public on ordinance number 168-46 [Music] 1686 d24 on second reading so move may I have a roll call please councilwoman arenia yes councilwoman rice yes councilwoman Maguire yes council president Timmerman yes councilman Gordon yes and councilwoman Moore yes thank you and that ordinance always makes our employees very happy because they do get their pay retroactive um from January 1 because they do not get any um standard um what was it uh standard of living increases which we give them um until we pass the budget so uh I'll start with my report second quarter property taxes were due yesterday May 1st the deadline to pay without penalty is Friday May 10th um I just want to comment on that we have many residents that have lived in town for 10 years 20 years 30 years 40 years 50 60 years um every everyone once in a while somebody is a day late and gets a fine and there is nothing that the burrow can do about waving those fees um I generally get a phone call people get upset they come down to burrow Hall um the the grace period is the 10 days after May 1st that end on May 10th so if you could please get them in here before May 10th to avoid any penalties um we have a great program this week with the mayor's Wellness campaign on Thursday May 9th at 7 7 p.m. Northwest Bergen Regional Health commission will present a program on eating for health and uh Chef Michael Marita makes um a comeback to our senior citizen uh Center kitchen he is the chef of rock and roots in Hillsdale and his new restaurant craft Taco he will be doing a healthy eating cooking demonstration and tasting all Emerson residents are welcome to attend um we do have a burough sign sign up on Facebook if you don't have Facebook you could just call the clerk's office and let them know that you will be attending uh the next senior meeting is Thursday May 9th um they have dropped the age for participation in the club to 55 so if you are 55 um and older and would like to join the senior Club um you are welcome to do so uh this week they are having a program by Jimmy Scalia the Bobby Darren archist as well as the free blood pressure clinic and I encourage everyone to come on down and uh check out the senior center if you're over 55 dues are only $12 for the year with that you get a cup of coffee or tea and a doughnut at every meeting the environmental commission has wrapped up their Earth month activities they had many programs throughout the month and I want to thank them for all of their hard work as they did make it one of the best Earth months that we we've ever had here in the burrow look for uh more programs coming from them probably a cleanup in the spring I would imagine uh I want to thank the Emerson shade tree commission for their hard work on the Arbor Day ceremony always a very solemn and poignant um ceremony that we hold each year to remember our uh residents that we've lost in the prior year um uh the most exciting day in Emerson is coming up which is the annual free paper shredding day um it's in collaboration with the bcua and it will be held on Saturday May 18th from 9:00 am to 1 pm at Burrow Hall the second most exciting event mark your calendar is June 22nd which is the Emerson summer kickoff um Emerson's PBA annual community police golf outing is on Tuesday May 28th at hackin sack Golf Course all of the money raised will once again be donated to the community policing fund to help fund Community Police leasing events hosted by the Emerson police department they are almost sold out so if anyone is interested in golfing please register ASAP the link can be found on our website or on our social media you can also just make a donation or get tickets to the dinner through the link as well um I'd like to wish all of the moms out there a very happy Mother's day which is upcoming this weekend and don't forget if you haven't ordered flowers for your mom or your wife yet if you order them from New City Flor which is the newest florist at Emerson on acrian um the environmental commission has partnered with them in order to receive 10% back on your order in order to raise money for the environmental commission so if you um call them up and order flowers please mention the 10% donation back to the environmental commission to help them out um our next meeting of the governing body will be held on Tuesday May 21st at 7:30 p.m. and we will be having our mayor for the day Duke Amelia joining us um and at our June 11th regular meeting I want everyone to uh hear this because this is important our burough planner Caroline riter of tnm Associates will be joining the governing body to give a presentation on the new affordable housing legislation did I miss anything okay John do you have a report for us this evening sure we'll just CCH some of the guys of uh just talking to the m maybe this one's better for you sorry it's all right how you doing steel his Thunder steel his mic whatever you want to do so uh with regard a couple of the questions that were um a couple of comments that were raised uh I'll I'll address um them in order of uh basically chronological order basically we all know that doing things at the last minute uh and rushing things is generally not a good idea um so we go back to uh what we're what the Emerson has been saddled with uh from the prior Administration uh signing a last minute deal uh with the redeveloper uh for um the project U that's 419 419 that's been thank you for being built and just to recap you know uh the pre the previous uh Administration lost the election and they rushed bunch of stuff through literally signing um a deal uh in within days of of uh of leaving office um that's generally not a good idea and that and and I think uh over the last few years that's proven to be the case haste makes waste haste makes waste uh it was also done in a way that I wouldn't consider to be open government um so what we have now what we're left with is uh we now know for a fact that the um that the administration put a the previous administration put what I would call a poison pill in the deal and that is they were they were essentially given burrow property uh for for an amount of money that would was estimated to be for um building costs uh to be contributed to a new a new facility uh whether it was whether this building was renovated or redone we know uh now uh for some of the evidence that's been presented in some of the Motions in the case uh that the um that the redeveloper only wanted to pay initially $250,000 before the New Deal uh in December 2019 was passed I'm sorry 2018 was passed and uh we know because there was a there was a tape recording uh that has been publicized and put on the website here and uh where the where the redeveloper basically said he had previous discussions with the previous mayor and they knew that there was no way uh the condition that they were putting into the agreement could be met in that in the time frame that they were saying and all he wanted to do was at the time was put in give a maximum of $250,000 we know from the tape uh the the old the previous mayor stated that he could never get that passed uh through the through the council uh but you know an alternative would be to put this this pill you know and this time limitation for up to half a million dollars knowing that the burrow could not uh possibly hit that time frame so that so now what we're left with is they were given a building uh in the new Administration comes in uh and under the contract terms they had I believe until the end of April beginning of May to turn that building over and they did under the cont the contract required them to do that and uh so what we're left with is in in legal terms uh potentially unjust enrichment where the redeveloper has received the building and and has not paid a dime to this to this point uh and he's alleging that of course that uh that that you know you didn't Supply the information uh within the year that that the that this uh last minute deal was put together and of course they knew that couldn't it couldn't be done based upon the tape recording and based upon the evidence and the motion so far so the buau is left with a choice you know do you just give property away uh even you know the new Administration is tied to the the contract that you know the government you know the law doesn't recognize that you know people change you know new mayors new Council people and I and I think you know that former council person you have to honor the commitments that the governing body has and so that's what's happened so yeah so you're looking at an unjust enrichment situation part of the what I think and this is an opinion uh I think the strategy was of the uh of the redeveloper was to cause as much pain to the Emerson taxpayer as possible this is just an opinion I could be wrong uh and by by doing that uh he he uh litigated basic issues um accusations were made of stuff not being done timely uh we brought in uh we had to bring in um uh an outside um uh person to basically mediate uh the relationship uh that was court ordered so that drives up that goes into the litigation costs as well and that of course the the government entity is responsible for paying so as part of the as part of the pain and again that the uh that the redeveloper wishes to in to put on the burrow uh he has sued us um he lost that suit last year uh he sued the mayor personally uh alleging civil rights violations uh which is outrageous uh which is was originally dismissed by the federal courts uh because the pleadings weren't done properly so we had to pay for that defense because didn't do it right they got they amended their pleadings and they presented a cable claim which is not unusual uh so that is being defended um so as it relates to Prosecuting the case you know we have a there's a principle in the law called unjust enrichment so we we're left with uh the fact that we don't have we've given away a building per the contract that was signed by the previous administration that required us to do so and we haven't received DME also as it relates to settlement um councilman uh brought up a good point um we've had several discussions prior to the litigation even beginning trying to work with these people it takes two sides to settle it doesn't take one side um if you ask me the the litigation against the mayor personally is frivolous uh and I and I believe ultimately that's going to prove out to be correct again this is just a legal opinion these are not facts these are not allegations this is just simply my opinion and um as it relates to the overall spending uh when you compare it to the northern Valley or whatever metric you're using to compare the legal expenses here just for the record I'm not the one making the 200 whatever thousand what was that number you you quoted 280,000 okay that's not going to me that's going to attorneys in fact my legal fees are a lot less expensive than the previous burrow attorney uh under the previous administration um these matters are Technical and they require uh expert lawyers and sometimes also experts in in in in that need to be hired in the cases that also contributes to legal fees I would also suggest uh that I I I like your uh your concept of comparing it to other towns I would suggest you compare it not just to the northern Valley because every town as you pointed out there are some towns that go through Cycles Park Ridge is one of them as well and that's what's happening we're in a cycle now with a a major project being done uh this is a pilot program too right but yeah right it it's also this this property was given um was in order for it to pass under the going back to the 2006 lawsuit part of the arrangement was that this program was put as a pilot program and there's no due date on it either well I was going to get into that okay so sorry about that's okay the the the other astonishing thing uh to me um well let me the other astonishing thing to me is that and that when they amended the agreement uh they they struck away um the provisions that really try to hold the redeveloper accountable to what could to timetables it's it's essentially been Su it's it's almost like there is no timetable in it now two meetings ago I mentioned that I'm going to I don't want to give away legal strategy here but we're fighting for the taxpayers uh I have begun research on this issue uh and um and I am not at this point I am actually optimistic about about coming up with a legal Theory to hold the redeveloper accountable for the delays now I've I don't engage in rumor mongering so I'm just going to say this recently over the last 10 12 days I've been receiving calls from other municipalities um with and other attorneys that are involved with this redeveloper and some of the information that I'm getting is quite disturbing and that will be shared in close session this evening uh with with the council members and it's a close session issue but uh the information is disturbing and uh and you know stay tuned on that issue but I've never seen an agreement like this where there's no finality it you know it calls into question of a lot of other legal theories that I I I I'm pretty optimistic that we may be able to fix here the issue there is is do you want to engage the expense of doing it given given the information that I have and the disturbing information I have it may be moot whether or not we proceed with that or not so um it it has not been easy it wasn't easy for this Administration to be settled with an agreement like that but it it but it wasn't just the previous administration this goes back all the way to the to uh to 2005 2006 with the Redevelopment Zone the constant changing of administrations in Emerson you know I I I'm a councilman in another town I've been a borrow attorney in other towns and stuff this was pretty unique to Emerson in that you know when you have a flip over of administrations things like low- income housing middle middle to low- income housing guarantees uh uh in stock was not being met by the law a lot of towns ignored it Emerson wasn't alone there but um more than likely you could you could you could just say when you're constantly having a change over administrations you know uh these are the types of things that fall through um when when Danielle became her became mayor she had uh some previous council members from the previous administration on the council and I would say this they were very helpful and very surprised in some of the information uh that was presented to them uh shortly after um uh the new Administration took over and if and you can check their voting record uh as to how they voted on whether or not the lawsuit should be brought in uh whether or not we should pursue these matters and defend the town um so uh I I think you're going to learn a lot over the next uh three months we do have another trial scheduled we've had several trial delays uh and those regress have come from the defendants uh but given the information I have I may there may be a reason why they delaying trial again I don't know uh but we're we're going to find out and uh as I learned in information that I can disseminate I will always do that and anyone have any questions for me on my report question y if there was a due date and they didn't make the due date we would get to claw back some money yes it depends probably usually that's how contracts work yeah probably okay probably but that's not how this contract no almost p is also Mel brought up um parkage had a little period where they had I'm curious if it was when they were going through their Redevelopment well Redevelopment is very costly because because they had a huge project downtown also so I'm curious if that was when they had their their Redevelopment well it depends upon there were fights during these things right some some towns Usher it through but because they're paying attention to it some towns don't they end up fighting some in this particular case um someone wanted to make sure this project went through no but I mean I'm just curious because she had said that she had got looked at the different towns and park bridge at one point had an elevated legal yeah issue also could there's a there's so many different's downtown Redevelopment I don't know that but there's so many Redevelopment causes legal problems and and on that point the law has changed the governor just signed a new bill that it actually was laughable in October when it was originally presented because it looked like a wish list for the urbanization of um of the Suburban communities of New Jersey um I know the political back story I won't bore you with the details but for the law end up being passed and I believe we've sounded the Five Alarm Bell uh we've had uh internal um discussions on what needs to be done there are real short timetables for this year and if we're not careful uh and any municipality that's not careful is could be in deep trouble uh this time next year I know the mayor has asked me to I know this she's spoken to other municipalities uh in in the area um and we're going to have a presentation uh what's that on on June 11th by our planner uh to explain to the town what the new law means and what our obligations are underneath go with it going forward um and and it's uh it's a big it's a big deal it's a big deal for the suburbs of New Jersey Caroline's coming one again June 11 Jun June 11th and I I want to commend the this governing body for uh trying to get ahead of the curve instead of get behind the curve with these things as happen before okay good job John thank you for that detail does anyone uh well first of all I just want to clarify you kept on saying that the prior Administration gave them the building they did not just give them a building they gave them the building they gave them the parking around the building they gave them our whole commuter lot of I believe 43 commuter parking spots which was a very large area as well as a street so you know when people talk about the building uh for $500,000 it wasn't just the building it was a vast area that um I believe the developer compensated private property owners um valued the property much more than what they valued they were being G uh given by the prior Administration for our property so it is a large piece that they were um transferred the one thing I left out look it just this is not a partisan attack this is just what happened it's got nothing to do with Republican and Democrats Independents rightwing left wi chicken wing this is what happened in in this situation and if you re the one thing that I know when Danielle was a council person the leadup to to that deal was they in they put in place the ability for the town to basically take over property by emminent domain that was part of the structure that deal and PE reasonable people can feel differently about that but I know that a lot of people in in the town was against the that concept of eminent domain part of the original delay of this of of the project and the litigation costs went to the fact that the redeveloper did not come to readily agreement ready agreements with some of the property owners uh and then one of the property owners uh they had problems uh with the tenant not leaving and there was an eviction so that actually probably cost I'm going to guess right now I don't remember the time frame but it was at least a year probably more and um and and the eminent domain issue you know people feel very strongly against it I don't see many people coming to Municipal uh government uh local Council meetings and saying yes we need to do eminent domain I don't see many people in support of eminent domain or at least coming to Mayor and Council and goes yes we want to take people's property for for development purposes the Supreme Court of the United States six or seven years ago said governments can do that but that left that that left a lot of people feeling like that's not the role of government that original deal had that in place and um and they were pushing for us to to do uh emminent domain but under the terms of the contract they have to exhaust all their remedies and we ensured that none of the properties were taken by emminent domain uh in that first year and we made them negotiate as they should have uh as they should have with regard to the uh the property owners some of the businesses that were affected in this town were here for for for decades and and there was a lot of bad feelings about it so um this is this this is the situation we're in um I look forward to uh not having to have so many conference calls uh and hopefully one of these trials um will'll get started uh next month in June thank you John for that indepth um recap of um what went on and also for answering the questions that were asked um during the public comment it's appreciated and I'm sure the update was appreciated by our um residents that are in attendance this evening can I share one more thing sure I've had people approach me in town and it was discussed that that 419 was a blight and now that nothing's going on over there it's a blight now yeah sounds like a question for a close session okay but I've had the same people come up to me Brian but I think that more for a close session yeah um and and I I guess can I share that the um retired judge that is calling the balls and Strikes in this um has been reached out to to find out what is going on down there and we have not had an answer yet correct yeah it's not like we aren't trying to communicate with them we are trying to get an answer of what's going on and uh we're waiting on that information as well uh Mr harmanson do you have a report for us this evening yes I'll try to go as quick as possible um today uh we our DPW installed our new automatic external defibrillator which I want to thank for the procurement from our clerk who reached out to holy name in order to get that um it is now you going shake your head yeah yes you did you got it and um it is over on our wck building uh on on right on the wall with the entrance for the Health the old Health office and and the rec at bovic at hman field and hman field so we are very thankful that that's there and it we're thankful the for the kids and and for all and thank you uh Michelle council president and R came up with the need for it and thought that it was a good idea to have one and then Michelle did the go get them and got it so that's correct it's great that's always team effort got to thank Michelle also uh we just are in the process of scheduling our first CPR class and Michelle confirmed that holy name would take care of that for the burough as well so yep we've been working on that for free correct correct she's an asset yep um we were working with our grant Rider uh again for another uh for we put in for a grant for Rosengard park or sunset uh with through T T-Mobile uh we it's a very competitive bid uh through T-Mobile we're not sure if we're we'll get that or not but we uh we did put in and uh we're looking forward to seeing a response at the uh towards the middle of summer uh on whether we get that or not uh our cell tower bid is out uh it is due the bids will be open on May 3 on May 30th uh we're looking forward to having that uh go through uh we've already received a uh number of different uh carriers who are already interested in asking for a bid package so again that would be uh we're looking forward to to the uh put to getting that together and putting that forward for the for the burrow Perry and I met with uh de the D Environmental Specialist water enforcement uh agent uh uh Miss blay Christine blay who was here uh she was looking at a uh at a property that was that had a had a a question about her res resident complaint in regards to her property um while she while miss blay was here we were able to take her over to a number of different other places to show uh our concerns and what we are looking to do uh as the at the burrow in order to uh correct some other problems that are occurring uh with some flooding along our Main Street covert uh and try to get some help there uh they were very beneficial to you know with some of the answers and and looking into some permits uh and it's not easy that's a it's a very difficult situ you know specifically for desilting and um dredging and dredging correct of our our C1 waterways so we can go in by hand and do that but it's in order to do what we really need to do there it becomes it is much more cumbersome than to do by hand and uh I think Miss blay recognized that and is trying to help us with uh to to figure out ways uh of what permits we would need and to work together Perry had said that in the past we've reached out to the Sheriff's Department to help us that they have a work program and maybe that's something that we want to get done this summer even if we can get some smaller areas dug out so that when the high rain uh heavy rains come the water flows a little bit more uh freely to the pipes in order to exit the streets and that would be helpful so if you could work on that that would be terrific and the last thing I have is that in tying into the flooding uh we did uh our Senator shapy along with assemblyman aerid had reached out to us uh and asked us if there was anything that we were looking for for uh for Grant purposes we did put in end for the West End flooding uh that we had uh originally applied to uh through uh the court you to Senator Booker along with Senator mendez's Grant um so we are going to like I said we're going to exhaust all avenues that we can possible uh to try to fix as many problems as we can with flooding as quickly as possible but as we know these grants take time this is not a quick fix it's not going to be a quick fix no matter what when we get these but um we are looking forward to continuing to go and try to solve the problems that we are having with all our residents uh for any any issues they have with water try and knock them off one one issue at a time that's correct that's my report slow and steady wins the race right uh thank you for your report um does anybody have anything that is um uh that they need to report that is happening prior to our next meeting no okay oh would you like to have a report Council uh acting clerk acting clerk Michelle Ry thank you I just wanted to thank you um the deadline to register uh to vote in the June 4th primary is next Thursday May 14th okay thank you sorry you didn't put yourself on here for a report all right which brings us to public comment our full public comment um members of the public are welcome to speak on any topic by coming to the podium and stating their name for the record in the interest of time speakers are limited to 3 minutes in consideration of all who wish to may speak uh please keep your comments brief and concise may I have a motion to open the meeting to public comments from the public so move second all in favor I any opposed we are open to the public yes Miss dutel hello it's again Emerson um so I appreciate Mr mccan taking the time to elucidate us on his thoughts on our current legal strategy um I will say that you know hearing that you all believe you are fighting for the taxpayers is a big concern because frankly what I heard tonight is very concerning I'm more concerned than ever uh you know I believe I heard Mr mccan said he's looking to research a strategy to get us out of this mess you've been the burough attorney for over six years I not what I said don't Mis characterize what I I won't you I take that back then um but we can we'll look at the video tape and I'll you really need to do that characterize um my concern is again we've had the same legal strategy in place now for six years the case is moving forward um in my opinion again my opinion and this is public comment where I get to share my opinion if the case was a slam dunk you claim it would have been over by now and we wouldn't have to spend a million more than other towns are spending every Administration inherits problems it's the nature of democracy we pick up a problem we put down our problem someone else picks it up so this is now your problem I'm so sick of hearing about what happened six years ago we have to talk about what's going on now and what I heard is concerning I want to make sure that the voting members the six of you are listening very closely you all are the decision makers on this and there's there's a lot at stake for Emerson I'm really excited about the presentation on June 11th uh I have been following the new affordable housing law I've attended some seminars from various groups um and I think hopefully it's going to be a good uh opportunity for us to move forward and make valuable uh valuable benefits for residents of Emerson both current and future um but again it in terms of the litigation I'm very concerned when you say that the affordable housing is going to be valuable for the residen of Emerson you do understand affordable housing is not for the residents of Emerson it's for a whole section of the state of New Jersey that either works or lives in is it Three Counties or four counties it's if you're you're right that it's I mean when I say current and future once people move here they will be Emerson residents they will all be part of our family I just don't want people to think that when the new affordable housing numbers come up that they are that that they are only for they are not that's correct in fact an interesting point it's for region it's for the region and one thing that was interesting um that I don't know if you all saw uh the new units that are opening across um at the gas station uh there are two units that were advertised I contacted the management company for those affordable units do you know how many applications they received for two units 2,800 applications I mean can I update that we're up to 3600 3 600 applications the need is so great um and from what I understand can I say that don't comment on it okay I'm I mean I can't imagine what you're G to say but obviously was an Emerson resident in those 3600 I understand I'm sorry say it again it's a lottery and from the lottery not one from what I understand from our uh company was an Emerson resident that was put into the lottery or was chosen out of the lottery sure I mean hopefully again with this new uh not hopefully there were no am well I'm saying hopefully in the future you know we'll continue to we're bringing people in they'll be our residents so anyway just some thoughts on that appreciate your time thank you did you want to correct anything on the record John listen Miss dutel is entitled to her opinion um and but she does not entitled to mischaracterize what I said okay um I comment on this no one said it was a slam dunk and again you don't get to mischaracterize what I say it's on tape um and and and you know your comments outside of opinionated feel more like a political attack when you say this is not what we are doing here as politics we are all politicians so saying something is political it that's a neutral St what we doing here miss stel is running the government of the buau of of Emerson what you are doing is politics right now we are all politics I had a great lecture in college it was my favorite lecture where she could have a minute uh the professor told us that everything in our life is governed by politics which is true the roads that we drive on the way our houses are built how many basketballs are in the gym at the school everything is politics so to say something is political people mean that as an insult which I think is what you're doing but it's not politics is exciting that's why we're all here we are here to run the burrow government of Emerson in the best com and you are running for political office so you could maybe sit up here thank you for coming up today appreciate your apprciate can I finish what I was saying I wasn't you can finish because she cut you off rudely okay that's fine um M thel I taught political science and economics at T University for seven years uh I feel very badly that you had a professor like that that was that cynical about the world I really do uh because that would not cut mustard in my department or any of the graduate programs that I went to it's not everything in the world is political unfortunately but I understand your point of view I'm just glad that Professor was not in my department of pati diversity so as it relates to the to the to the legal strategy the comment is that well we have to deal with the hearing now that's what we're doing I provided you a report with the hearing now but but like you took my comments out of context thank God it's on tape that I put a current problem in context because otherwise people like you who who do everything with politics in mind and everything is political I'd be my comments would be left to your to your interpretation without any context on the record so I appreciate your political attack but unfortunately this is a serious legal matter were're fighting for the residents uh because we've been handed we've been handed a really bad deal okay John let's move on from that um anybody else from the public wish to speak seeing No Hands may I have a motion to close the public portion of the meeting to the public so moved second second all in favor I any opposed okay which brings us to our consent agenda may may I have a motion to approve consent agenda resolutions 12 28-24 through 13424 so moveed second roll call please councilwoman arenia sorry yes councilwoman rights yes councilwoman McGuire yes council president timman yes Council Gordon yes and councilwoman yes thank you um we are now going to go into closed executive session members of the public May remain on YouTube or here in the council Chambers until we return to open session at which time formal action may be taken may I have a motion to go into closed executive session to discuss matters exempt from the public pursuant to njsa 104-1 at SEC and adequately noticed by resolution number 135-24 some move roll call please councilwoman arenia yes councilwoman rice yes councilwoman Maguire yes council president Tim yes councilman Gordon yes Council Mo yes okay I know what he's gonna say um are we live okay very good uh may I have a motion to go back into uh Open Session moved second all in favor okay um first I have one motion from Rob where um we need to give Rob permission to off to to convey an offer of employment for our part-time Fire subcode official inspector with an HHS canev we please have a motion some second and a second and you know who that person is yes okay very good um may I have a roll call please what number is that going to be that's going to be resolution 1364 okay6 and then the two that you're going to have are going to be uh 87 and 88 so can I get a roll call on the high on the offer of employment that Rob is gonna make we have motion Jill made the motion and um Ashley did you second was Brian oh Brian second that was Commissioner Gordon and a roll call sure Council woman AR councilwoman rice yes councilwoman Maguire yes council president timman yes Council yes Council yes thank you and then um Michelle you have two resolutions that you were going to we want to start with 1387 d24 uh 13724 yes resolution 17-2 okay uh subject to approval by the Emerson Board of Education of the tennis pickleball courts shared services agreement on May 13 2024 the buau of Emerson's governing body is hereby authorized to approve or deny said agreement by a email or Voice vote on Tuesday May 14 2024 second roll call councilwoman arenia yes councilwoman rice yes councilwoman Maguire yes council president timman yes councilman Gordon yes and Council woman more yes and the next resolution is uh resolution number 138 d24 subject to approval by the Emerson Board of Education of the tennis pickle courts shared services agreement on May 13 2024 the burrow of Emerson's governing body is hereby authorized to approve or deny a repurposed Grant application to the 202 Bergen County open space Municipal Park Improvement program for the Emerson Junior Senior High School tennis courts Renovations project by an email or Voice vote on Tuesday May 14 20124 second a call roll call please councilwoman arenia yes councilwoman rice yes councilwoman Maguire yes council president timman yes counc Gordon yes and councilman yes any more business no with no more business to discuss may I have a motion