good evening welcome to the city council meeting of February 20th 2024 the time now it's 7:37 will everybody please rise for the national anthem of Al Pledge of Allegiance excuse me I was say who's singing I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation God indivisible with liberty and justice for all will the city clerk please read the public meeting Act this meeting is called pursuant to the provisions of the open public meetings law notice of this meeting was included in a notice sent to the record and the Star Ledger and advertised in said newspapers on January 17th 2024 posted on the bulletin board in the municipal building and has remained continuously posted as the required notices under the statute a copy of this notice is and has been available to the public and is on file in the office of the municipal clerk proper notice Haven been given the municipal clerk is directed to include the statement in the minutes of this meeting will the city clerk please do the roll call to call David sorry sorry I forgot to call councilwoman David start that's the cell phone [Music] did she answer it's not working sorry that cell phone too close so it's not working councilman Rosen here councilwoman wiski here count uh councilwoman David we're trying to call her in councilman Wilson president council president Cobb here also present is Mayor Michael Wilds city manager Robert S Hoffman Deputy City manager John Berner City attorney Bill Bailey and city engineer France FY at this time we're going to have a presentation from age friendly ingood Janet Sharma coordinator Janet push the button thank you it's great to be with you thank you uh city council president Mr Mayor members of the council and city manager Hoffman I'm pleased to be here let me just start up my presentation and we will get started the first thing you're going to see is my grandson no they're going to see me log in this is Max okay now Max lives in Houston but loves visiting New Jersey sorry sorry that's oh come on here we are um this is a presentation about age friendly Englewood and I am Janet Sharma and I am the coordinator of age friendly Anglewood which I have been for many years um age friendly Anglewood is well first of all what is an age-friendly Community age-friendly communities Implement policies programs and services that make it easier for residents to stay active social healthy and in place as they age for Anglewood right now is an opportunity to incorporate age friendly policies and practices into the new master plan we would love the council and those who are working on the master plan to look at everything through an age friendly lens so that you keep that in mind and why is that it's because America is aging the numbers of people who are going to be aging into their 60s 70s and 80s is going to be very large in the in the years ahead it's expected that it will be by 30% within maybe 20 years that it will be 30% of the population will be aging and people want to stay in their Community they want to stay where they've been living and where their homes are they want to stay where their doctors are where their friends are where the religious organization is they don't want to move and in New Jersey right now there are 21 communities that are designated agef friendly by AARP and the World Health Organization there's a timeline for how we started and I want to go through this so you'll know how we got where we are right now in 2016 the Henry and Maryland Todd Foundation put out an R FP for communities to form collaborations that would help those communities age in place they gave grants to Englewood Garfield Ridgewood tck and Westwood why Anglewood well I had just retired as executive director of the volunteer Center of Bergen County and so I knew a lot about the community I live in creskill which is a very small town but i' had also done a lot of work in Anglewood and I worked a lot with the people who are leaders of the nonprofit organizations I knew some of the members of the council at that time and the mayor at that time and I knew that Englewood was a very Dynamic diverse City that could probably benefit from a project like this so I asked some of those people if they wanted to help form a coalition and they said sure some of those people are in the room um a congresswoman Bowski I think you were on the original steering committee as well um but we formed a really Dynamic group of people that wanted to go forward with applying for a grant and we did get a grant and the grant initially was for planning and then we got one for $75,000 a year for five years that was expended extended During the covid period what we did first of all was we assessed the older adults in the services what do they think they'll need as they age what's already available either in Anglewood or elsewhere in the county how we then had to gather and analyze the data we did surveys we did focus groups we did interviews we identified the needs and the gaps and services we presented all of this information at a forum at Anglewood Hospital in August of 20 2016 we identified uh the goals and the strategies and the deliverables and develop metrics for what how we would measure what we do and we had outcomes and an ongoing assessment that was done with the help of an organization a group at ruers um our framework for this is the agef friendly domains of livability and they are eight things that every Community needs to focus on in order to make it easier for people to age in place and not just age in place but for the community to be livable so that it's good for people of all ages it's good for moms with kids and strollers it's good for people with disabilities it's good for kids walking to school it's good for everybody and those have to do with housing a safe and adequate place to live outdoor spaces in buildings including Parks walkable spaces good streets and Street Crossings Transportation so people know about Transportation that's available to them and can access it that they have communication and information about resources that they they can take advantage of that they are welcome to participate in the Civic life of the community that they are respected and included in activities that they know where the Health Service health services are and Community Support so they can get what they need when they need it and that they have social participation that there are activities that they can get to and be involved in so they continue to live in in the community as they age so then we developed age friendly Englewood it's a a CommunityWide project that's working to ensure that residents of Englewood can age in place in their homes and in the community with dignity and Independence age-friendly Englewood seeks to help the community become more livable for people of all ages with particular attention to the rapidly growing number of older adults an age-friendly Community is a great place to grow up and to grow old these are some of the partners that we have that are in Englewood or in the county they're over 50 of them that we count on all the time and uh a lot of them are in the room here tonight the first thing we did was identify the needs through our surveys and through focus groups the identified needs were and these are pretty much the first two are uniform in every age for in the community that I know about all over the country more affordable housing options and better transportation options those are the two big ones that are the hardest nuts to crack everywhere but also better p and safety with better sidewalks Crossings and some benches around town I must commend the city engineer because they've done a lot in the area of certainly pedestrian safety in the hour in the years that we've been working on this project we also wanted to make sure there was information about available services and resources so that when people need the help they can find it and then we wanted to identify and reach out to those who are isolated and that became increasingly important during the pandemic we developed a work plan now I'm not going to attempt to have you read this but this is just one of eight work plans that we had for each of those areas of the the eight domains of livability we have very comprehensive work plans showing out who would be involved what was the expected metric that we were measuring and and what were the results and we reported on those every year to our um to our funer the Henry Maryland to Foundation um we started working on our plan we agad with the city elected officials and with City officers the first thing I did was sit down with every office in the city government to find out what what was their interaction with older adults and what were the plans that they already had in place and where did they see that there were gaps in services and then we also had a lot of communications that we put forth um print social and digital there's a lot of information out there but there's no real newspaper around here now so it's hard to find out everything in one place we tried to condense a lot of the information that people would be interested in so they could find it we also did several workshops and conferences we did workshops about balance about Medicare end of life planning um we also had a conference on housing options so people would find the resources not to find a new better place to live but to stay where they are and keep it safe and make sure that they could get advant take advantage of all of the tax breaks that they were entitled to so we made sure people had all of that information same with Transportation options we made sure that people knew where they could access ways to learn about using public transportation what other options are out there and what are the ways they can save money using things like uber and lft we also did a walkability study where a company actually came in and we drove around the city with them so they could see where the hot spots are with with automobile traffic but then we walked around downtown around by Bergen Pac and by the senior building at 111 West Street and just saw where some of the areas were that really needed recommend recommended changes for pedestrian safety um and we also sponsored a couple of shows at Bergen Pac so the community would know that older adults like to get out and have a good time um we did a this is in the way of the communications that we did it's the aty service directory of services which we produced we originally printed it ourselves but then the two subsequent printings have been printed by Anglewood Hospital very generously and we're glad about that um it's right now available I think there's still a few copies available at flat Rockbrook I think we're out of them everywhere else I don't know that there any at the city city hall now but altogether we've printed about 7,000 copies of this directory and they're all out somewhere it's really good and it has lots of information I think it's uh 50 or 60 Pages um we also did a newsletter we still do a newsletter which is uh I used to do it once a month and then when Co struck I started doing it every day because there were so much conflicting information coming out and no real Source locally where you could find out in one place what the state was recommending what the city was recommending what the CDC was recommending and so forth and so we tried to consolidate and make sure all that information available to everybody every day um we're still doing it now doing it about once a month and it's been opened over 250,000 times and with 70,000 clicks for different links um we also have a website which also has a lot of good information and at one of the the best pages on that is a page of helpful links and it's links to everything from information about Medicare to information about diabetic information about um moving into a nursing home or into an assisted living Place really good reliable resources for all sorts of information you might need and then Along came covid and at that changed everything the good thing was that there was already a network of organizations in town partially through age-friendly Anglewood and partially through other resources but we started getting together uh Sanita ponton who is with Metro Community Church she sort of started convening us all regularly so we could pull our resources and figure out what we could do so we were able to act very nimbly to get people what they needed whether it was food or whether it was financial information or whether it was information about covid or if people were lonely we had a whole group of covid callers people who would call people who were isolated at home and make sure they were okay then that sort of morphed into a racial Justice program the Coalition for Unity and equity uh for racial unity and Equity after the murder of George Floyd then we also helped people get connected with the census at that time in 2020 and voter registration and all of these things and then again Along Came tropical storm Ida right in the middle of all of this in September 2021 so again we were able to pull our resources and get information to people that they that they needed immediately and I don't want to take credit for all of that but I think the Coalition that we formed with age friendly Englewood had had a role to play in all of that so that we could really get people together immediately we already knew each other we knew what we could bring to the table and we could just do it we didn't have to go through not anything against city government but we didn't have to go through the process of government that can sometimes take time and we could just do it and we did um and age friendly Wrangle it I think the best practices that we've developed over the past six years are leading and participating in community collaborations which I was just talking about hosting community events we work with Bergen Family Center a lot and we had done many programs with Bergen Family Center one of the ones that's really a lot of fun it's a senior prom that we do during older Americans month every May and then we've also done a lot of conferences and workshops and we also helped coordinate a countywide conference on agef friendly communities to help bring more communities into the fold we've also been very effective at communications with the newsletter with our service directory and with our website now now why now well because right now Anglewood is accepted into the a age ring Community Network of AARP and the World Health Organization in November 2018 and we now need to present a five-year report and part of that is planning for the future our to grant that we've had for these past many years is ending and hopefully I will continue to still be doing the newsletter but a lot of the other things we'll be doing won't be able to be supported by that Grant and the big question is does Englewood want to continue to be designated as an age-friendly community and if we do then now is an opportunity to incorporate age-friendly policies into the master plan uh the sustainability for the future what I would recommend and what our steering committee would recommend is that we establish an age-friendly advisory Council that we adopt a local ordinance to enforce age-friendly policies and practices in operations of City Department that means every Department looks at things through an age friendly lens so that it's really keeping in mind the vast numbers of older adults that are going to be living in our community and they will embed age-friendly policies and practices especially in the master plan process so that's it I'm happy to answer any questions you might have anybody have any questions for Janet yeah if I can um wow thank you Janet um you may not sleep in our city but there isn't a Nook in a cranny that you're not aware of your work at the Flat Rock uh Brook uh Nature Center and um leaders like myself and others look to you for Comfort these last few years particularly through the uh pandemic so God bless you for all of your hard work um so there are 14 or 16 Criterion that we're going to be looking at at at the master plan um and I don't know that um age friendly is one of those specific criteria because it kind of bleeds into in everything in everything and it also bleeds into the joint responsibility we have to make the city sustainable environmentally appropriate with all the changes in our Central business district right is that you're considered belief that there should be a permanent panel or a a committee an ad hoc committee or commission that deals with these issues because the master plan will be done and dusted within the next year yeah but the need to continue this will will surpass it ideally yeah there would be an age-friendly or whatever you want to call it some sort of a committee not ad hoc I'd like to be embedded in the city so that it's really something that is responsible to the city council so there is a reporting back and forth and I would like it I'd like that to become part of the structure of the city and just for transparency's sake Mr cob and I met with you at City Hall and we uh kind of uh both felt that that was uh important and I'm I'm happy um that you made this H presentation as far as I'm concerned leadon McDuff show us where we uh should sign and how we should do this thank you I just really wanted to say thank you I think you also have a really good resource now on staff in the city of Anglewood and that's John burner who had been the mayor of Westwood which also was designated an age friendly City and he has some some information that you can he can impart to you on that and and just one final word our health department has been doing tremendous work with wellness and trying to get people to be more walkable in the city for that respect and we're in conversations with the Sid the special improvement district to increase the amount of benches uh and the userfriendly uh kind of streetscape that we have uh as well so this is critical and again thank you great thank you another thing on the health department I didn't mention it because there a lot of things that we did that I didn't put into this presentation but with the health department we did two projects that were kind of interesting one was that we did a blood pressure monitoring program with them where the health department trained people the cadet the health educator train people in uh really being aware of the nutrition and everything else goes into their blood pressure and then we provided blood pressure cuffs for everyone who completed that six- we training program then also there was a walkability program or walking program um there were a number of people who participated of that were all give given fitness trackers that a friendly Anglewood was able to provide them anybody else Lisa yeah thank you Janet that was wonderful um and I do think that it's important that Anglewood keep the designation of age friendly um could you make the slides available to us absolutely I'm giving y yansy the uh the a disc or a flash drive tonight okay thank you that was a wonderful presentation sure councilman Wilson good evening thank you Miss Janet um that was great uh I I think enough people don't know about it and so I think it's imperative that as people age that we have the access to the directory where they can get this and maybe we can join in and put it up on the website so it's available online it's on the the Anglewood website but I can send the link to yansy but I'm also talking about the city's website as well um because this is very imperative I know the fire department does a wellness check and um you know as I get older I'm looking for more benches to sit down on as well yeah so um well the thing is people don't know they need the resource until they need it immediately they've had a crisis in their life in their health in a family member's health or whatever and they need to know immediately what to do so that's why we want to have those resources available and and so the last thing is how do you capture then information that seniors are isolated um because a lot of time there's family members away um and like you said as as the mind works people don't realize they need help until they need help and they're on the floor and they can't get up um and so I think it's imperative that we identify sometimes that the those seniors that may be isolated that's a huge problem and the the biggest problem is we don't know who we don't know because they are so isolated the community chest with Shelley winfer is here I think and they are doing a big uh push right now about loneliness which has to do with social isolation as well and trying to find out how we can find out who those people are whether it's through their neighborhood association or through their religious organization but try to find out who they are so that we can get help to them or at least give them the opportunity to get involved in even if it's a zoom meeting or something just so they're not so isolated um thank you for your report I for one really appreciate it especially being so young you staying on top of it thank you I'm 79 like I said so young Council thank you again thank you again um so who works with you on this are you a one woman I I do a lot of work with Bergen Family Center um with MIT shonfeld and with Lis gini when she was there and tasher Howard do a lot of work with them they they administer the grant uh yes they're the Fiscal Agent for the grant right but I mean all these projects that we do and I think there's several people here that I've worked with Scott and Liz and and liil and Shelly and Diane and Lee and Vivian and Jackie I Jackie that's everybody in the room people yeah a lot of people and all those people that are in that big list organizations we've worked with all of them I mean the day-to-day grunt work getting the newsletter out so who does the newsletter which I did the newsletter but I get input from any number of people so all right thank you yeah Janet I want to just say thank you for the lifting but I want to thank all your partners for the lifting um it sounds like all the members here are all in in support so we will make sure that we start whatever we have to start to move forward um with this and supporting the age friendly Englewood thank you thank you so I want us to be a beacon for the rest of the state not just the county and you have helped us start on this journey here so I thank you very much for that um and I think U councilman Wilson said it best you know how do we get this news this information out to people because everybody digests information at different level consumes it at different levels right and and today and Lieutenant H who's standing in the back and councilman Wilson there was a program with our fire department was started by a chief from Anglewood called Good Morning by JP Morgan and I'm going to talk to Mr Hoffman and the chief Kaplan and we're going to start that because you're right people need to be touched and you know what I seen is people could be okay but if they're living by themselves and don't have that social interaction you know things start going different ways for them right you know so I I really appreciate this conversation I'm glad we're having it feel free to reach out to us for whatever support but we're going to need your direction well I know that but I'm just saying that because I'm saying that but I'm saying it because this is a need and something we really really can do and help each other and you know especially people in the Twilight of their life you know we really want to make sure that we're we're covering that so I I thank you very much for that and um if we could get some more hard copies we can find a way to raise some money or something to get hard copies so people can get that cuz some people like hard copies and it's much easier to look at as a hard copy thanl and you keep it as a and they like to go to it Mark it up and and things of that nature so okay thank you so much thank you for all and thank all your partners absolutely they great on that big page from all of us I think we can say that so thank you thank you so much I would just make one comment that it's um I mean I I'm I was part of the part of age fil Anglewood for for several years and they were the 50 Community Partners that you mentioned so the way that a friendly Anglewood Reach people in Anglewood really a lot of the times was through these 50 organizations so when you have um all those all those directories were given to all the houses of worship all the organizations and then it was disseminated to a lot of the residents right and that that was very helpful in the the only problem with that is it's expensive to print it's it's a book like that is expensive to print and uh we could get we could distribute as many as we can possibly print and some of the houses of worship actually have it on still have it on their websites So yeah thank you okay thank you anything else thank you for coming my pleasure thank everybody else for coming and supporting her as [Applause] well this is the good stuff next we're going to have approval of minutes resolution 076 0220 24 and resolution 0770 [Music] 22024 I need a motion in a second I make a motion that we accept the minutes but for both you no we need a second I'll second it roll call councilman Rosen yes councilwoman wasi yes councilman Wilson yes council president cob yes next we'll have resolution 078 8 02202 4 approvement of payment of bills and claims and the amount of 5,972 3934 Cent we need a motion and a second and any discussion after that I make a motion I'll second it any discussion yes uh councilman Wilson thank you thank you council president I appreciate it my friends not here tonight okay um if we look at first page on the general government excuse me if we're looking at 23 d-03 787 all the way down to 24257 and I guess this is for the city manager since our CFO is not present today why isn't this one package because the 23-0 3787 we're at $185 62 and then we go on and on and on and on and it's Business Systems unlimited do we get a better deal when it's broken up individually like this uh the answer the answer is um no these are some some of these are price fixed but this is just a breakout for the council so they can see where the it expenses are some of this some of this was um for you know for a monitor a monitor that was needed um others others are for uh the you know just our broadband service that we have in different buildings then there's a the there's the breakout for um you know our email costs for month monthly email costs there was uh there was The Ordering of computers so you have the Dell Dell computers you have um and then you have some you know specific uh expenses for each of the I apologize Mr Hoffman that that's listed I get that part but you know usually sometimes if you get a package deal that it may all be in the package and I appreciate finally things being broken down but there appears to be a duplicate at a different price uh 24- 00256 and 23-0 3787 which is um it service for PD and then you go down to the 256 it's it service for PD and and as I spoke prior of the meeting you know when there's duplications like that those are the those are the impact parts for me that I would like to see some type of uh headlines if you will besides IT services did we have to call them back is that what happened I don't know I don't know the answer to that um but I will get the answers for you and I'll put together a memo and sent and send it to the council thank you sure um and if we go to public works on page three we're doing a load of rental twice the seventh and eighth one down 24- Z250 and 24- 00252 the entries appear to be the same but the amounts are different are those two separate rentals I would imagine uh they are they're on two they're on two separate dates but um again I'll get the backup and send it out to the council thank you very much and when we go for the salt I know there's a difference from what we spread and what we put on our sidewalks um and I guess these are different dates as well 2400 113 and 00226 Atlantic salt one's for 24,000 and one's for 20,000 and change is that what it is that there two different dates and we utilize more salt than we initially planned to no they they are for two different dates there um they might be for two different months but again we'll we'll take a look but they were to they were to replenish our salt Dome okay um and you know many times the salt uh the salt comes in where we use the Bergen County cooperative purchasing contract for that and um some of our some of our salt uh you know you always want to top off the your salt sheds before before snow and then you want to replenish it after after you've um okay I understand and if we move to to page four this is the part that pretty much helps me along um 24193 the fifth one down New Jersey Building Services cleaning Parks October 23rd um and and that's a beautiful entry because it tells me the date and what they were doing the only reason I bring it up because it's so late um are we still receiving these bills in a untimely fashion yes at time at times are the bills come in they are they are late um they're they're bunched in in three month segments at times okay and if we go down to [Music] 24268 Otis elevators parking garage elevator I would imagine that's repairs for $692 uh yes and so if we go down to 24188 Arrow elevators then we have a elevator maintenance is that not the same or is it a different facility it's probably a different facility it could be it's um it's actually in our city hall because the elevator was was out of service for um for a couple couple of days okay um and if we go into page five Recreation Department starting at 24- 00306 all the way down to 24- 314 the entries appear to be the same with item description skating coach sessions and I would imagine that they're all the uh they're not all all the same the dates are different I'm just trying to figure out why we have such high entries for skating coaches at $2,400 twice and I and I understand that there's there's different vendor names do we not consider consolidating at all using the same vendors uh they they have taken a look at that in the past but it's also it's a it's a question of the um who's available during the sessions that that can teach but yeah I I could understand why someone would be available for $2,400 I get that part um okay if if you can get back to me on that that would be great because these prices they differ um greatly from 720 to 2400 and I just would like to know what the difference is is it a larger class yeah well we'll get you the information it could be a longer Skate Session but we'll get you the information thank you sure I I appreciate that um and once again we're we're we're we're serving uh interpreters if you will and interpreters uh I guess on a random basis if in fact we get something different from the court interpreter is that the difference for the price because we have interpreters down here on page I'm sorry please forgive me page six Municipal Court interpreted $2,920 and then a Spanish interpreter for 1996 and the last time I brought and the last time I brought this up it was because it was a A dispatch call and we didn't have that particular by link lingual interpretator um is this something different or is this the same no that's something different this is for the Municipal Court these are for the different Court sessions that um that are scheduled so the last time it was for a call that came in on 911 into the police dispatch no thank you I I understand that part but the The Interpreter for $196 understand the court interpreter and I don't I don't have that information and I don't want to mislead you so I I'll get it for you but the court for Municipal Court they have interpreters that are that have to be certified no I I totally understand that um and so when it just says interpreters just the last time the explanation which was great there was a caller that called in and our dispatcher wasn't bilingual or someone wasn't there and so um I just wonder what this one was for so thank you I appreciate it when you get back to me that's it council president thank you for your anybody else have any questions you have some questions if that's okay hi um so just wanted to ask some questions about photocopying here so um there a bunch of uh photo copy entries here so the first one is actually black and white and color copies for about 7 00 then later on and finance black and white copies for $95 then we go um page two black and white copies 117 for land use and construction and then Police Department black and white and color 675 um and then so those so how's that working with the copy machine is that we're paying for the toner and stuff like that for each one yes there's a there's a lease that for each machine we pay for the toner but there's a there's an image charge and then there's a um you know there's an over there's an overage charge after a certain amount of um of copies so do do we have a sense how much a color copy cost uh yes we do I just don't so like a dollar or $2 no it's it's Le it's less less than that but I I'll get the I'll get the information for so we like I'm just looking at and and this will be just a personal request yeah we got um I hadn't really looked at it before and the color copies cost a lot and I think we got a number of pages of color copies and and so I think you know we can probably be judicious with with the use of color copies you know like the uh Le of municipality slide deck I think that would have been just as effective in black and white you know some of the ones that have you know maps in it and uh photographs obviously I think were better in color um you know the the league bulletin I don't know if we need that in color and plus we get it as a electronic document um so obviously we can see that in color on our screens and then you know the library program obviously for the public something that's going to face you know hundreds or dozen just dozens of people we certainly want that in color but this is just for one pair of eyeballs and I I could look at it on the screen so I think you know I know it's a small item but I think it's okay if we if we go with uh I I appreciate that you wanted to show the best to to the council but I'm okay if it's for me if it's in black and white and um except for ones with the maps and photographs where where obviously we we'd want that um extra uh you know uh resolution there but then I see the municipal court has a copy or lease do we do we know what that is is there do they have a different system here for the copiers do we know or they it just entered differently you think you know it's um they they have their own they have a lease um for it they do have something that's special for their copy or just for for certification purposes but um you know again I'll I'll I'll get you the information on that that'll be given to the whole Council um I see a note cards for the council uh $695 do do we each have a a uh specific budget for that or is it as a need as needed basis there's a general budget for the city council um so okay those those types of needs are taken out of that General budget okay um so uh just looking at the page two uh Community Development there are two water charges from Viola um for the parking garage so does each each building in town have its own separate water contract or is there a general one for the whole town do we know how the that that goes yeah there's uh each each building usually has a has their own their own contract so for viola water there that was for for January of this year and also for December um so like going so this is so this is you know this this I this I believe is the water that's coming into into uh the parking garage for the uh for the fire sprinkler system okay so it's not the um you know there's this is not a water this is not a water cooler this is just for the fire suppression system that was have been vandalized previously and so then under utilities there are again two vi v I'm probably pronouncing it wrong violia Viola Viola violia violia I I pay them but I don't know how to pronounce them but um uh so there are two water charges on page six which are substantially more uh under utilities so are those for all the city buildings and we've just separated out the the parking garage or I think those are the hydrants throughout the city well there hydrant also so so like do so maybe the parking garage because it's a separate ownership structure has a separate water charge do we think well I won't think I'll get the I'll get you the fact and well you know this this way you you'll have it and when when we see hydrants so is there like a a monthly rental for hydrants from the water company how does it work yes for hydrants there there's a charge for each hydrant and there's um there's at least three components for your hydrant charge so there's a a monthly fee for the availability of water to come to that hydrant then you have a fee for the pressure the pounds per square inch that um that is uh sent to that um hydrant and then um the the third one did did I say it's water availability pounds per square inch um and then um it's the DI you're paying for the you're paying for the diameter of the pipe and then you are paying for usage when you use it so there's actually four components to your to your fire hydrant Bill and one of the things that we're doing is we're doing an audit of our fire hydrin because we do not know if this bill is correct so it's it's it's tedious but in the past I have done this and I have found that um municipalities were overcharged because um you have to go out and you have to test it but you know some sometimes you're getting charged you know for 24 pounds per square inch when it's really only 17 that is coming in but um there's a there there are auditing firms that look at this and so we have engaged one to take a look but it's it's it's a long process but it's worthwhile doing if I may Mr city manager I I know also behind usage they have to be called to service um so if we could highlight when those were Services we could capture those numbers a little better um and going back to uh page two the second line um so this is uh again General government there's a a different law firm uh specialized Services uh appr appr appr very small Bill $84 do we know what we asked them to help out with um I can address that council president um that firm was hired a special counsil a few years ago with regard to a Personnel matter okay um to uh there was hearings relating to disciplinary action uh that's now concluded my guess is this is some small expense that they did $84 that's like six seconds of billable time that was two photo copies from the uh coffee I'm sorry that was coffee oh coffee yeah um and this is just for my education uh middle of page two a refund of overpayment of taxes so what's the usual situation are these tax appeals um or that so we have four of them there now usually what what occurs with these is that um the house has been sold and then um there's been an automatic tax payment for um you know with with a with a mortgage and then it's uh you know it's in the middle of the month and we there's a Reconciliation so something has to be refunded um but it us usually occurs when there's been a sale of a property so the U you know the monthly mortgage has been paid as well as the property taxes and there's a there's a refund that goes back to um the seller but uh so why would one if I could add the ones that say tax court judgment okay where's that on uh it's to uh Z page two okay yeah that's above that so that is from a actual ual appeal filed in the Superior Court okay that was the resolution of it that particular property I happened to know was significantly damaged in Ida oh okay so it was been a while so yeah they're going to get a refund in that circumstance but the others are more along the lines of what Mr so why would one be exactly $1,000 that seems like two round of a number I think that's just coincidence okay yeah should play lot that day too then okay um so we talked about the salt and and and thank you council person uh Wilson for bring that up but what's the salt grinding machine I see we had paid almost $1,000 for a pump it's a little bit higher up it's a third item on public works so when we get the salt it's not ground and then we have to grind it so is is this on page two U page three I'm sorry Public Works the third item yeah it's um oh or maybe this was a pump failed and we needed a new pump it's a new yeah that was that was to replace a pump yep okay and going to the bottom of page four um vehicle registration uh for uh a van so municipalities have to pay the same registration fees as uh there's no um is there any uh courtesy to municipalities or we're in the same boat with DMV as everyone else now the the city the city has to has to pay uh for each registration there there may be a discount we may not pay sales tax but um I I can find out for the for the council uh but yeah that's that is for our new recreation van that was um that that was recently purchased all right um under Recreation the the last item is uh cupcakes um so it's $83 so obviously that's not a big deal and but the one thing is uh the the vendor is a glass Gardens Inc uh which is a store in Rochelle Park um we certainly have enough cupcake vendors in town and I think glass sorry to interrupt you glass gardens is also shop right in Englewood so that would go into glass gardens too not shoppr of Anglewood that's that's the same company that yeah I know that but uh be good to know if it the one on pic Avenue in Rochelle Park it's usually shoppr on the bills and claims comes across a shoppr shop right of Anglewood Sr so I I hope that was at the shop right here just you know keep business in town for obvious reasons um and then I think the final question I have is just on Capital Improvement no I have two more questions um the FEMA Grant reimbursement um that's at the bottom of page six so why uh so is this money we got from FEMA that we're now kind of serving as the middleman to Continental fire and safety 36,000 do we remember what that's from no I will find out it's um you know it's it's related to some damaged equipment but I'm not I'm not sure so okay I see the uh Hudson Culvert bridge is only coming in at $200 that's a good work there uh uh keeping the cost down and just so again for my uh education uh the on the final page we have um lean redemptions so what can you just explain to to me what what that's about is that people who are doing work on their house and this is um and this is the the the refund of the money they put in escrow that's people delinquent on their property taxes I'm sorry they're delinquent on their property taxes and then someone purchases the lean and once it's redeemed uh they get their money back okay they they pay the city basically to for the tax lean once it's redeemed then they get some what they paid plus interest back okay so we're not losing money on that no okay all right all right thank you very much anybody else councilwoman wasi nothing I I just want to point out two items you know these these gentlemen uh covered a lot of uh territory here tonight and Council you have something okay uh so I just want to bring up two things if if everybody's looking at the bills and claims on page two so you want to see where your tax dollarss are going we're paying the county of Bergen 3,425 234 for the first quarter and that's on page two and then we're not finished paying because we we pay the Bergen County Utilities Authority 778 th000 9865 and that's on page six so I just wanted to point that out so you know where your tax dollars are going and how much we're paying so you get a sense of of uh the dollars that are being pushed to the county so that you know we got to make the county work for us as well because we're we're paying our fair share so I just wanted to bring that to your attention thank you roll call roll call answer okay councilman Rosen yes councilwoman wasi councilwoman David councilwoman David please unmute councilwoman David yes thank you councilman Wilson yes yes yes you hear me yes yes thank you council president cob yes next we have ordinances for for second reading could you read that City cler please this is ordinance number 24-1 an ordinance establishing contract salaries and benefits for local 108 rwdsu UFCW AFL CIO for city hall employees I declare the public hearings open for this particular ordinance if anybody has any questions name address and you have three minutes to discuss this ordinance only Rick willby Engle New Jersey Rick hold up one second hold on please you want to explain this what this is Bob Bob you want to explain this before Rick get started yes thank you council president um this ordinance is um the governing the governing body has approved a contract with our with some of our uh me Members or some of our staff members and before the before before the staff members can receive their uh the salary increase that they're entitled to based on the approval of the contract the city has to introduce a salary ordinance so the salary ordinance has been introduced and then this is the public hearing to adopt it so um if the governing body U approves this this ordinance um we will be able to make payments to our our employees who are part of local 108 they will be They will receive their contractual raises for 2024 and they'll also receive retro payments for when the contract started which was a year or two before thank you all right so specifically who are those employees specifically uh these the some of these employees are um some of our clerical members in City Hall um and others others are um are inspectors but Mo most of them are for some of our clerical members in City Hall okay now the the raises that these people are getting is it comparable to what the other clerks and employees in Bergen County are making currently I mean you know everything is going up and the cost of living I've been to a few of these budget hearings and some of our department is way behind and other people are making real good money some people are not making anything they're just you know surviving paycheck to paycheck and most of those people are black folks you know what I'm saying I mean it's no coincidence I mean you know Judy Moran used to say there's no corruption in ingood but yeah there's some corruption and some racism Bob so I want to know that the people that look like me are going to make the kind of money that gly over there makes you know what I'm saying or make some good money to take home to take care of their families what kind of percentage are these people looking at to get is it something measly or is it something significant with the retro pay that could actually substantiate these people making a decent living when you compare to other municipalities like Fort Le tedly Bergenfield studies like that have been done to see comparably what our people are making versus what other people in other towns are making competitively has that been done um first off I I dispute what you say about being there being corruption uh there is no corruption when it come when it comes to looking at looking at our budget and salaries uh secondly there is a salary study that will be shared with the governing body that has that looks at that's looking at all positions and um some of the municipalities that you've mentioned are part you know we've evaluated ourselves as part of the study this um this particular contract has already been approved Pro but what it is is um there's a list it's clerk typ typus it's Park Rangers it's some of our data entry clerks it's uh it's dispatchers um and it's our house it's some of our housing inspectors so those are those are those are the staff members that are going to be receiving um receiving uh salary increases and some of the some of the positions are you know they're all right all right so Bob listen you understand what corruption means right corruption could be people not informing people of something like somebody waking up one day and their trees are cut down and there's no communication or not communicating with the governing body about hiring certain people when you have an obligation to communicate with them or maybe something on the budget that is outrageous like those radios right Kevin that you know that exorbitant amount of money there's corruption like that you don't think that I've been in ingood long enough wait a minute you don't think I've been in eng long enough to know about a city manager that bought some garbage trucks and had a surplus in there for himself you don't think the former city manager that was here at Hines you don't think that when he worked at the Bergen County Improvement Authority you don't think he bought the same elevator twice is that corruption Bob they all come from the league of municipalities they're all your buddies I dispute what you're saying about corruption and you're not you're you're you're not using the word properly anybody else have any questions before I close the public session on this yes uh Raymond D 4 Shannon Court yes uh these uh these raises are they automatic just I have a contract for five years so you automatically get it is it based on performance is there any performance evaluation done with these jobs now I I think you mentioned clerks and then you also mentioned inspectors so I'm wondering is there a maximum salary regardless of what you're doing and then after that the cola kicks in because you mentioned inspectors and they are certified and they're more trained so they're their their salary should be a little bit higher because they may have certifications right so there's a difference you don't want to see clerks making more money than the guys outside or DPW who's driving a truck and he's responsible for whatever asked to do all right um that that's what I want to know uh basically thank you I'm going to close the public session on this ordinance Motion in a second I answer my question about the compar other Township what they're making I think he was more focused on corruption um the the there there is studies and there are some things going on um I I will tell you that Rick um but we have to these people didn't have a contract for a very long time so we got that there but there there is being uh other things done um that will eventually be communicated to the public at some point in time so we're we we're watching the store I need a motion in a second so move second roll call sorry councilman Rosen yes councilwoman wiski yes councilwoman David yes councilman Wilson yes council president cup yes thank you we have no ordinances for introduction for first reading now we come to public comment on resolution consent agenda items 069 through 102 your name your address hi Diane Jansen 589 Rand Terrace um I wanted to uh I have a question but I wanted to make a comment it is so nice to see the resolution accepting a grant funded storm water management study from NJIT as the lead agency uh resolution 091 and I remember when uh Mr Hoffman first came a city manager uh uh we were talking about flood and flood mitigation and uh he was I don't know how he reached out or they reached out to NJIT uh to Stevens and to ruter and it's nice to see this come to fruition my question on this is what is the dollar amount I'm just and uh the funding uh agency and then I also uh would like to ask about uh res resolution 092 authorizing an agreement with the north New Jersey Chamber of Commerce to manage the Anglewood business apprenticeship program is that the on the current program or the program we had last year and you're just renewing it or um is that something else or an addition or a modification and then lastly um it's great to see this resolution uh number 101 on the city of Anglewood County of Bergen uh opposing uh the assembly bill number four and Senate bill number 50 which proposes to overhaul the fair share housing in a way that imposes unrealistic obligations with unrealistic deadlines based on onerous standards on the city of Anglewood and I've heard uh from from several of you that our senator Gordon Johnson is working to our benefit on this and I wanted to give a shout out to him too thank you thank you yeah Rick will be again I want to comment also about uh 1012 2024 I have a big problem with this fair share housing thing I was at the John harmes Theater about a week or so back I I hear some people now using the word genfic right no matter how many resolutions down in Trenton or here in beron county or right here in Inglewood we're still seeing environmental racism Bob you listening at one point there was a significant black population in this town right then the fourth ward started disappearing black folks Bob they started disappearing through environmental racism AKA gentrification now they have these fancy words like fear share housing but Negroes don't get their fair share even though the Negroes fought for Rock Creek and Park View and many people in the second ward who's not being affected by its overlay Zone which is another land grab didn't want Rock Creek there you listening Bob so we had Rock Creek Park View King Gardens and other communities where black folks could call home now those things are being sold from underneath black people and they can't afford these things because they built things to price Negroes out you understand that right Bob this is what kind of happened with Fanny ler she wanted to vote they had this literacy test right then they had this pole tax so yes racism is a form of corruption Bob and racism is an ingood whether you believe it or not and it's right here in the housing 111 West Street is a place where people will not be returning to because it might be knocked down and redeveloped and it won't be the people that was there to begin with these are things that actually happen in this town Bob so regardless of the developers today or the developers from yest today getting up and acting like they're going to save us nobody's going to save us Bob they want what we have they want the fourth ward that's why they developing it and overdeveloping it and pushing black people out and the second ward must be really really special because nothing's going to happen to it Bob we don't live in the second ward except for Rock Creek and they want that too so there's no fair share housing okay okay next I'm going to close the public hearing and okay 087 um I would want to table this so I need a motion in a second to table that claim it I'll make a motion to table it thank you thank you roll call on the table yes councilman Rosen swag yes Council councilwoman wiski yes we just lost councilwoman David councilman Wilson yes council president C yes next we'll we'll vote on 069 through 090 092 to 102 council president council president if I may yep number 097 D 02-2 0-24 um for those that may not know I don't know if um Mr Bailey wants to take this to give a quick synopsis of what that is 097 right is that what you said award Professional Services agreement the Hatfield schs that is correct for labor and personal audit service Mr baile yeah that's a firm that specializes in human resources and Personnel matters says it's green um and it's uh the purpose and potentially hiring them is to go through our uh Personnel practices and policies and make sure things are up to hoil in terms of compliance with uh you know the applicable statutes laws against discrimination Ada everything uh including you know uh Personnel matters disciplinary things if that the proper processes are in place um so what they do is they literally come in do an audit and then make recommendations kind of like our financial auditor does but this is really focused more on Personnel matters thank you for that I just wanted to point that out because I think there needed to be some clarity there in regards to our research and what we're doing to equal the playing field if in fact that it is unequal and that we are taking a hard look at this by in fact ordering or audit for this so this is important to um to the council and for us to get this done that sounds corrupt and and and and that's also going back to the whole salary study as well that's exactly Mak sure that everybody has Equity here uh in terms of that we know there have been some shortcomings uh as a city but we we are looking to move these things forward and making sure that we have a um a equal plan feel and I think that all the council members are are working and focused on that along with Mr Hoffman so this is one step and many steps that we're making councilwoman yes I'd like to table 069 I'd like to table 079 and I'd like to table 081 69 say the other ones I'd like to table 069 079 and 081 second you want to table them to the next meeting is that what you're saying oh you want to discuss them CU we've CU I I can discuss it but I'm not sure that um that um Mr Bailey allows under rules on Mot since the table there's actually no discussion yeah we've actually tabled 69 twice the table she discuss well we can table them and go into close session and discuss them then we need a motion in a second we we did you and Kevin um K can can okay I second the motion to table 069 079 and 081 we just need a a um a roll call nowc President you sir answer councilman Rosen yes councilwoman wiski yes councilwoman David yes councilman Wilson yes council president cob yes okay so now we're going to vote on 080 and then we're gonna vote from 82 through to 090 and then from 092 to 102 you're voting on 097 huh 097 explanation where's that at that second coun just want an explanation yeah he just wanted an explanation yeah I I didn't want that I didn't need that table I just wanted to highlight that did I skip no skip it no I didn't skip no sorry I didn't skip it sorry doing two things so you want me to say it again yeah please would you like yep okay so we're going to vote on 080 and then we're going to go from 082 through to 090 right and then we're going to go from what 091 no no all the way from 09 090 is the NJIT Grant right so we're just talk we're going to vote on I won't be right yeah so that's that's being voted on yeah okay okay so let's do this again 080 then we're going to vote from 082 through to 2086 086 and then and then yeah 088 right and 088 through 102 all right second roll call sorry councilman Rose s yes councilwoman wiski yes councilwoman David yes councilman Wilson yes council president cb yes next resolutions for vote we're going to table the 0 103 02202 4 appointment of advisory committee members close and 1042 as well unless the council's ready to vote on it okay no they're not and okay we need a motion in a second for 103 to table to table yes until after close till after close then we're going to come out and vote on it I make a motion that we table 13-1 um 02 need a second I'll second roll call councilman Rosen yes councilwoman wiski yes councilwoman David yes councilman Wilson yes council president cb yes next we're going to table one zero unless they're ready to vote I don't believe anybody's ready to vote are anybody are you all ready to vote on this one 104 I know that was communication sent to you traffic that's the traffic I have so you know I have someone to add to that for reappointment you want to add somebody you got the information right now yeah they're already on the committee they're already on yes it's a reappointment oh so reappoint okay so why don't we table we go into close come out and vote on it so because we already have that okay I make a motion that we table and we're going to come out and vote on this once we come out got it okay roll roll call councilman Rosen yes councilwoman wiski y councilwoman David yes councilman Wilson yes council president C yes next we're going to have communications from the governing body and city manager first up Mayor Michael WS thank you coun president good evening ladies and gentlemen thank you for joining us those here and those who join us virtually or watch us at a different time um February 20 we are well thank God and I want to thank the police department the fire department the ambulance service Health Department code enforcement the city manager's office and all the other wonderful departments are engineer for all the hard work that they continue to do DPW schedule for the week of President's day this week um we see in recognition of President's Day the garbage recycling pickups were suspended yesterday and resumed today for the rest of the week garbage will be picked up in ward two and four on Wednesday and Friday in WS one and three on Thursday bulk pickup will be in Ward three on Thursday and recycling pickup will be on W two on Wednesday W three on Thursday and W four on Friday the schedule is available on the city w website and Facebook as well there are crossing guards needed angood police is currently hiring crossing guards for shifts totaling 3 hours a day between a morning and afternoon shift the pay rate is $20 an hour an excellent source of part-time income that also keeps our children safe you can get more information by calling the PD at 20568 2863 or emailing uh at hiring angood pd.org the Bergen NAACP had a general meeting as we celebrate Black History Month here in Anglewood we want uh we would like residents to know about the upcoming Bergen County NAACP a meeting on Sunday February 25 at 3 p.m. at Mount Olive Baptist Church in hackin saac our own Jeff Carter is the current chapter president and I know we have other members that are very active in our community I wish to thank them all for their commendable work uh there is a cervical health screening the women's rights information center is hosting a free cervical Health pre-screening cleaning excuse me event on Friday uh February 23rd from 10: to two at their facility at 108 West Palisade Avenue for questions or to pre-register uh call 201 31559 29 or visit women's rights.org uh there is a black business explor the Community Baptist Church um on February on Friday February 23rd with the Symposium from 6:30 to 7:30 and Exhibits from 7:30 9:30 and on Saturday February 24 with the Symposium from 11:00 a.m. to 12: noon and exhibits from 12: to 4:00 p.m. small businesses are the heart of our city and black business owners are a critical part of our local economy and culture here in Anglewood please stop by to experience some of these vendors and try to join in the celebration of black Excellence here in our city the NAACP will have a health fair the fourth annual Black History Month health fair this Saturday February 24th from 10 to 2 at the greo school at 50 duri Avenue residents can visit free health screenings get information on blood pressure diabetes cholesterol Behavioral Health Women's Health weight loss and more thank you again to our NAACP angood health and Newbridge Medical Center for their continued care of our community there's also going to be Naran training at Community Baptist Church hosting a series of training in the use of Narcan which is a nasal spray treatment for acute overdose of drugs such as heroin or fentanyl opiates have become an increasingly strong and more addictive posing a major problem in our area and across the country medical professionals from the center for alcohol and drug resource will be present February 29 from 6:00 to 9: and March 9 from 11: to 12 to administer training and will provide an inter nasal Naran kit registration is required space is limited so if you're interested reach out to Community Baptist for registration the sent of alcohol and drug resource through their website at stops thee od.com that's stop the ODS allinone word.com there is a Hispanic uh scholarship fund deadline for 2024 scholar program the application is tomorrow Wednesday February 24 2 pm High School seniors college and graduate students of the Hispanic heritage currently enrolled or planning to pursue degrees full-time or eligible to apply for the initial applications no essays or recommendations are required so there is still time to apply visit hsf Nets scholarship for more information and to apply uh firefighters uh completed their probation congratulations to seven of Ang's bravest uh these rookie firefighters who have completed their one-year probationary uh term we are fortunate to have tremendous Public Safety professionals here in angood and saw once again during the recent snowstorm just how valuable are firefighters police EMTs are to our community congratulations to these uh new fully vested members and many thanks to all of theirs First Responders who keep our families in home safe um I have continued to make my appointments and have a few left and I will be doing that I would like to congratulate our council president who was an Honore at the black history event at Dwight marrow High School uh as well as the three new businesses we cut ribbons in the last uh two weeks uh in our city um I have a coffee with the mayor session every Friday uh live on Facebook uh join us um it's the library Facebook or my Facebook page better that you go on the library one I wish everybody well God speed and thank you than councilman Ren swag uh thank you good evening everyone um I wasn't at the uh council meeting two weeks ago at least not only really for the Clos session um so I'd like to take this opportunity to excuse me offer my cond condolences to uh uh the family of Judy Marin um our former colleague um I was able to speak to her a few days before she died and she was in excellent Spirits um so and I know she had spent the previous day before she passed uh with her family which I'm very grateful for them uh it's just incomprehensible to me that we just two months less than two months ago we were here celebrating her time on the council and and now we're mourning her um it just it's just not something I can believe um I won't repeat everything I said uh two months ago but one thing I I will repeat uh just a little bit that um her influence on the council um and what she accomplished in in just her three years on the council will will improve the life of people of Anglewood for the rest of the century and and I truly believe that with her dedication uh to uh uh dedicating property to flood mitigation and actually that was one of the last things she uh ever said to me was that we needed to continue the work of uh of of making sure the property is serving the people of Anglewood and I think that Legacy uh will will continue well past any of our time uh anyone sitting in this room's time here and something we can all uh learn from uh so once again it's it's just a horrible loss for the community and um and my hearts go out to her friends and family thank you next councilwoman wasas okay yeah I too um am mourning the loss of Judy Marin uh this is the first council meeting we have where we can make comments um since she's passed um I I just uh want to acknowledge her years of of Public Service both for the Board of Education then for the city council she raised her family here she loved Anglewood she was more than a colleague she was a friend and I and Anglewood will miss her um in honor of Black History Month the Anglewood Public School District presented a black history celebration in excellence I want to give special thanks to Dr Hazelton for inviting the members of the governing body to attend congratulations to Dr Hazelton and the angood Public School District on an excellent program we enjoyed excellent performances from many talented students from the younger students attending corl school through the older high school students I want to congratulate all the honores which included Mr Arnold Brown Senator Gordon Johnson councilman cob and Coach Jo Joe hole I want to spend a few minutes talking about mental health awareness I remember when I was a Board of Health member and Anglewood official ially became quote stigma free at the time I thought it was nothing more than a slogan but I am pleased in the different ways organizations in Anglewood have Incorporated this sentiment recently under the initiative of the Police Department chief Tom gy and deputy chief Mata Rosa sponsored by the Bergen County prosecutor's office and the American Foundation of Suicide Prevention a program was set up for over 800 officers over two days including the entire angood police department the program was run by Dr Evan Gil Martin and focused on mental health issues related to police enforcement C kudos to the Chief and deputy chief for their leadership on such an important issue as I've discussed previously the Anglewood fire department under the leadership of fire chief Jeff Kaplan and the initiative of firefighter and mental health counselor John Herman has one of the most most Progressive fire has led to angle with having one of the most Progressive fire departments in the state when it comes to its members mental health John teaches the mental health awareness program to all newly hired City Firefighters and has established a group of peer supporters I am pleased that late this year last year arrived together came to Anglewood pairing mental health professionals with police for calls involving people suffering from mental health distress with the hope that this will improve outcomes as it has in other towns and eliminate stigma I am hoping that in the next few months the council either through a presentation or a memo so I'm directing this comment to you you Mr Hoffman and councilman cob if we could have a presentation and be updated on how this program is working out in our community if it is as successful in Anglewood as it is in other communities I am hoping that we can expand it this year mental health awareness became a priority for rotary Rotary International and angle Wood's Rotary Club under the leadership of joelan the the club's current president I am proud to chair the committee and working along with Joe Ellen Alita friselle and MIT shonfeld we put together a program that took place earlier this month for the middle school students sixth through e8th grade at the Janice dismus middle school and sixth grade students at the charter school the program was titled you don't know me until you know me and it was led by actor psychologist and performer Dr Mickey Fallon the messages of Mickey Fallon resonated with the students who laughed and cried as they listened uh to what he had to say finally I want to remind residents that the Jones Road Route four project is moving along with full closures of Jones Road over several weekends and isolated days and as the bridge is replaced in approximately March April time period and a full closure traveling south on Jones Road for about a year starting in approximately July the New Jersey Department of Transportation Representatives have agreed to provide a community update on plan on the plans on Wednesday February 28th at 7 pm via Zoom please save the DAT and information will be sent out to Residents about the meeting over the next few days residents will be provided with an opportunity to ask questions thank you thank you next Council woman David thank you hold on oh God let me right now um thank you yany for um for the record I joined the meeting at 7:37 as I'm unable to attend in person because I am sick and appreciate you made these Provisions for me to participate um via audio also um I give my condolences to John burner on the passing of his mother our assistant um city manager so I give my condolences to him and second um I would like to say that I received and acknowledged every email sent from my constituents in the third board um and Bob thank you for going over the agenda with me prior as I had several questions prior to the meeting and I needed some ansers and um that that's why I was um able to navigate the entire package received and I want to thank you um also these are some of the concerns it's really short these are the concerns from some of consu in the third one a scheduled time of week in a given season of when the street cleaning sweeper should be working so resident can move their cars in a timely notice on either sides or in their driveway um also I had another request that we should also add birthdays to those who we named Street after on our next calendar you know like pH gispy day his birth date um deer crossing signs since we are heavily populated with deer um also I shared a slide as I uh attended uh a meeting for uh the leag municipalities over um several weeks ago um and we have a new ordinance for police training uh and I um as far as the policies the difference we have to be licensed um the police have to be licensed um through the commissioner right now miss rigorous training they have a blood test they have to go to psychi psychiatric evaluations are different it's everything um and on the 28th of this month I have a listening session for third world residents at the acus fund at 6:30 thank you Jordan stroll for sponsoring this event um he also put a fence up for Pleasant Avenue is no longer unpleasant Avenue is Pleasant Avenue as he did keep his word that he started building a fence here to um keep the animals in Deer and make it beautification um other than that um I want to thank everyone that's it thank you thank you next councilman Wilson thank you council president first giving honor to God without him I I wouldn't be here um first I'd like to start off with thanking our city clerk yansy um we we we talked about something a couple sessions ago and I think some people may have gotten a wrong idea in regards to the the OPA request and just so that I'm clear that um I believe in yansy and what she does and the hard work that she puts in and I for one am very thankful for what you do so I appreciate that good work um I also would like to thank uh Dr Hazelton for creating a black history his month along with the Board of Education and congratulations to all the honores uh Jabari Society will be giving a a Black History Month uh presentation Freedom ain't free Saturday February 24th 2024 and that will be at the Hilton Hasbrook Heights at a 9:30 brunch I'd also like to to congratulate Community Baptist Church for what they do for the community and how they continue to give back they keep striving forward in regards to thinking about not just themselves but their neighbors and which the community this that establishment stands in for opening up the parking lot during the inclimate weather so kudos to you guys um FR uh you and I are going to have continuous battles but I I know what you do is not easy so thank you for not giving up on us and talk I I don't know when you became a juggler of doing all those particular jobs but thank you I appreciate that um the the PED family I'm giving honor to you guys because we're sitting here another council meeting my my prayer is that there's a solution um besides training and besides our condolences that the AG will come down with something sooner than later to kind of soothe your pain um I would like to send out my condolences to the Maran family I got to say when I first came on the council she didn't hesitate to help me navigate through uh the beginning of my counsel ship so for that I'm forever in her debt so my my condolences go out to her and her family um and if John berkin would just step forward for a moment um my condolences go out to you and your and your family U come on all the way up so people can see you at the mic um because I can't tell you how many phone calls I get who is this guy what does he look like where is he um so also wave to the camera the camera's up there for people on YouTube so uh my condolences on your mom thank you very much and uh also uh to all the members of the governing body who have reached out I do appreciate the kind sentiments uhu uh on my mom's passing she would be uh uh in June she would have been 100 um so uh you know when I think about uh I think about those last 100 years and what we've uh what our nation has been through uh is truly truly remarkable so thank you very much I truly appre appreciate uh I appreciate the sentiments yeah I'm I'm sure you have a lot of history that you could share with us at one point um if you were paying attention you got a 100 Years of History I'll tell you you know we've we've done a lot of uh recorded interviews my uh siblings and I have sat down with family members and you know I would recommend it uh uh to anyone to sit down uh with uh with those uh more experienced uh members of our families and and sit down and talk to them and ask them the question questions about what they did and you know how what was it like in 1931 or what was it like during World War II you know when your family members were and friends were going off to War what was it like during the Vietnam conflict and what was it like during the Civil Right struggles what was it like what did you en what did you encounter there's just so much information from our uh our our older uh residents uh that's just extraordinarily valuable and that history can never be lost uh and it shouldn't be lost it shouldn't be ignored uh so so again I I certainly I very very much from my heart appreciate all the kind sentiments that I've receiv received thank you okay thank you um as my constituents here I'm I'm sure they get plenty of phone calls and emails as well um and and and I welcome those emails and phone calls uh and and and I will say the only way we get this done is if in fact that you hold our feet to the fire and if you see something you got to say something um often times people call and it's the third or the fourth or the fifth event if you see something that's affecting your quality of life we're here to serve you um sometimes it may not appear that way because the wheels turn slowly but please believe me um when I get your calls and emails they're not going on death ears I'd like to make this last Quick statement about affordable housing um I don't do rumors well so I won't start about a rumor if in fact that there's someone that's listening to me that's concerned about affordable housing and Kevin Wilson's personal feelings as councilman Wilson of the fourth ward please reach out to me um because nothing is furthest from the truth where I want to see people losing their house um this affordable housing thing for me was a stretch and to it includes moderate to low income that it's inclusive of everyone I've got a problem so the people that may not have reached out to me that think I think otherwise please give me the opportunity to explain and reach out to me thank you council president thank you councilman Wilson and I'm just going to pick up from what councilman Wilson said about affordable housing there's a lot of rumors here about affordable housing but the question you should ask is how we got here because Inglewood was a preeminent municipality in the 70s in the late 60s with affordable housing then all of a sudden the 2000s we weren't we weren't getting any affordable housing probably by Design right but what what what I'm not going to do here is allow people to write a story put pictures of Dwight M High School like that they going to sell it and all that can't sell a school takes a lot to do that it's not going to happen taxes or you don't pay your mortgage that's just regular course of business and I think people do people a disservice by causing chaos because they know that a house is probably the biggest investment many people make in their lifetime you're not going to take that away and the questions we we should ask is again how we got here we built a whole bunch of buildings you walk out of here and look West no affordable house how does this work the council was charged with fixing the problem that they didn't create we don't approve development the planning board does the planning board is is is is appointed by the mayor whoever that should be let's just be clear whoever that should be now that's how things get done so you know what we have to do is make sure that that doesn't happen anymore but I will also tell you the legislators down at the state A4 that's the assembly's bill s50 that's the Senate's Bill they're coming out of Appropriations and then that means they're going to the governor's desk they're going to dictate to us what we have to do the state is is setting the parameters not the city of Anglewood the state so we have to Advocate and the folks that represent us we have to stay on their back so let let's let's let's be clear how this works and the one thing that needs to happen is is that