[Music] good evening [Music] everyone right good evening thank you this is the welcome to the Livingston Township council meeting January 8th 2024 at 7:30 p.m. statement of compliance with Sunshine Law njsa 10 col 40-10 this meeting is being held in accordance with the open public meetings act and adequate notice of this meeting has been provided as required by law specifically the revised annual notice was emailed to the West s6s Tribune and the Star Ledger on January 2nd 2024 the agenda and resolutions for the meeting are available on www. Livingston nj.org certain portions of this meeting may be closed to the public for the purpose of personnel Andor other matters as outlined in the Sunshine Law decisions made Andor discussed in closed sessions will be known to the public at a later time notice to members of the governing body and Township staff any use of electronic devices during this meeting shall be used so for the purposes of Township business and any Communications are subject to the open public records act to the extent possible this evening this evening's Township of Livingston council meeting will be live streamed via Facebook at https colon backb www.f.com Livingston Township NJ questions or comments will also be accepted by emailing live comments Livingston nj.org by 4:00 pm on the day of the meeting each speaker should follow the rules of order in Livingston code section 2-15 uh roll call please council member Vieira present council member boli is absent council member Klein here Deputy Mayor mhart here mayor Anthony here okay we're going to stand for a moment of silence and then the Pledge of Allegiance flag the United States of America to the stands Nation godice okay uh eileene Fishman has notified me uh she was not coming tonight she was not feeling well uh this that's the Essex County updates um she did pass on that there were no uh particular updates at this moment go Blue next uh the proclamations and presentations none out here tonight uh we are presenting a uh proclamation to Norman's Flores for the 102y year anniversary that will be hand delivered to Norman Floris and we congratulate them on their anniversary next is the approval of minutes pending any corrections they're from December 18 2024 regular and conference meeting minutes and the December 18th 2023 first one's 2023 as well 2023 closed meeting Clos session meeting minutes uh do I have a motion to approve the minutes second any others okay all those in favor yes yes yes okay passes all right second second okay thank you hi Mr Mick hi Mr Mayor Justin aler 56 Amherst Place um three things one actually actually it's two things one with respect to the Essex County updates you know it's nice to have the woman come here and read from her phone from the website at every meeting but we should really be sending our own representative to Essex County meetings to represent us someone who lives in town someone who works in town send them to the Essex County meetings give them our proxy to stand up for us at those Essex County meetings let's reverse the lines control second with respect to resolution 24059 and 246 with respect to audit and Arbitrage and bond Council um we don't really have a proper banking facility in this town it would be interesting to have uh the bonds you know issue taxfree munies to people in this community uh develop a cycle of cash flows give uh percent return to people uh who spend their interest I'm sorry I didn't want to interrupt you um give a cycle of return to people who spend their interest give them a little bit of an interest bonus to spend it in healthy local Commerce and culture here in the community it supports real living wages take out some of these outside institutions uh build a healthy economic system we would have opportunity to do that rather than just going out to institutions to raise the cash thank you very much Mr Mayor just quick question on that uh a representative from town to go to the the Commissioners meetings yes on Wednesday night and that way they are there they are live they can be responsive they can think from the top of their head they can report back to us what's going on there they can express things uh give them a certain amount of they have a certain amount of autonomy nothing stopping them from going but actually send them as our agent there rather than having the county send their agent here it actually reverse the lines of control okay thank you thank you Jess any other comments on the agenda items only motion to close motion to close second second all in favor yes all right tonight we have no ordinances uh no matter we have a late addition we have a we have an ordinance um on the easement it was circulated prior to the meeting I think there's okay copies up front it's ordinance 1- 224 an ordinance of the township Council of the township Livingston in the county of aex New Jersey approving right of white easan with jcpnl to install utility lines to service Cellular Tower being constructed on Township own block 5700 lot two okay do I have a motion to pass this on first reading yeah second second all in favor favor Mary you need a roll call okay roll call yes go absent council member Klein yes Deputy Mayor mhart yes mayor Anthony yes public hearing Madam Clerk and the public hearing will be on January 22nd 2023 great thank you4 I going be rough we're now up to the consent agenda for Resolutions um is there a motion to pass these resolutions move second second anyone want to uh separate any out or no no nothing yeah great all right do have a motion to pass it we we had a motion second yes yes council member via yes council member boli absent council member kleene yes Deputy Mayor mhart yes mayor Anthony yes motion public I'll second seeing none um 5 Second thank you yeah see done yeah we opened it yeah okay I was going to say yeah we're on open items now yes Mr Albert all right thank you hi Mr Mayor Justin aler 56 Amur place um I know that uh there's a process in place to replace the uh councilwoman who we are losing to Trenton um I know that three members of the deis also sit on the the party uh committee and wondering if there are any conf conflicts that will require any members of the deis to uh hold themselves back from either voting in the party or voting uh here and just curious if that creates a conflict of interest for anyone so uh thank you mayor um so for the for the elected officials it's very common for an elected official to be a member of the Town Council and also the Democratic committee um typically they go hand inand so there would not be a conflict on any one of our elected officials voting up here and also voting as part of the democratic committee they were uh elected to both seats New Jersey recognizes that you could be participating in your Democratic committee I think it's important that our elected officials participate in the Grassroots of their party whether it be democrat or republican um so none of the elected officials do have a conflict I will be recusing myself from the process as I don't want to vote for somebody who has the potential to appoint me thank you very much Mr Mayor for the record Justin I'm not one of the I'm the I'm the fourth member that's not part of that group I'm oh I'm not either yeah I I know there there are three members of the de who are part of that group I thought you said the Town Council okay thank you J any other comments I'll second oh yes yes come on up name and address and anything you want to talk about Ilan Nova fastovsky 11 Yale Court extin New Jersey um basically I'm here out of concern um that was raised to me from different directions about uh the possibility of flying a Palestinian flag in town I'm not sure if it's real I didn't see it on the agenda uh but I thought it was nice to start with the Pledge of Allegiance this morning uh in terms of the session and and basically I understand that January happens to be um an Arab American Heritage Month uh I believe President Bon declared it so on March 31st just in 2023 um but that that statement of Arab American Heritage quickly morphed into mus Muslim heritage month and quickly morphed into possibility of an international um connection with the current conflict in Gaza and and uh I know that a lot of people seem to be sucked into that Vortex and I just wanted uh to take my three minutes to caution the council in that regard in a number of ways first of all the state of New Jersey has laws concerning flying for foreign Flags or emblems and obviously taxpayer money should not be spent and government facilities should not be used on foreign interests um there are also federal laws in terms of terrorist organizations and material support thereof I'm sure you're aware of those uh also um the proclamation itself honestly it when I read it it was pretty inspiring and I just want to make sure I read president's Biden's first sentence into first paragraph into the record the Arab American story is the American story one of diverse backgrounds and faiths vibrant tradition bold Innovation hard work commitment to community and stward patriotism all coming together to accomplish something greater than any one of us this month we join together to celebrate the immeasurable contributions of Arab Americans to our nation and recommit ourselves to the Timeless work of making sure that all people have the opportunity to achieve the American dream this is beautiful this is all I think that I and many who reached out to me are concerned about um obviously my time is up but if you have any questions I'm happy to engage on history or anything else thank you so much for that offer uh we have not been asked to raise the Palestinian flag and there is a proclamation uh for Muslim heritage month it's different than that one it'll be in our packet for the next time it's shorter thank you yeah anyone else for public comment hi hi I'm Susie lugashi I live in Livingston um I don't know if it was brought to your attention that there was a flyer posted by the high school I understand it wasn't on high school property um but it was a bit alarming and I think it kind of put a fear in the Jewish Community um basically Palestinian flag and then with some wording of October 7th was the culmination of 70 years of Oppression I won't go through everything but one of the quotes is Palestine belongs to the Arabs in the same sense England belongs to the English and France to the French it is wrong and un Humane to impose the Jews on the Arabs apparently Gandhi said that um and do not fall for weapons of mass destruction propaganda again um I just want to know what's being done about it is a police investigating who posted this what does this fall under to me it's terrorism you're terrorizing the Jewish Community you're calling out I mean it's it's hate um so I think we were all kind of upset about it and I understand the high school can't do anything so really looking for the town to do something about it try to find out who did it and um what's behind it because we really want to feel safe in this town right that's where I'm coming the one you're referencing was uh on school property high school property yes I I was told it wasn't on school grounds though there was one I believe Barry there was one on a uh was it a telephone poll and it was taken down yes I don't know if that's a and are they investigating are we investigating who that possibly could be from cameras uh um I don't know that they were looking into cameras I'd have to check with the chief um I know that they did review it and I think even had contact with the County prosecutor in terms of the content of it uh did not rise to the level uh that prosecutor determ was hate speech was largely a bunch of quotes that I assume were accurate quotes of different people uh but certainly was in violation of our ordinances in terms of just posting things HS right and misinformation also with so I hope that you guys can do something about it thank you anyone else public comment hi hi name and address my name is Alex andron I live in Livingston I have a kid in elementary school and a kid in m in Middle School um did you hear that I'll do it again it was too loud they caught me they caught me they caught me they caught what you just heard now was the last sign of life from donon a cousin of a school friend of mine at the very moment of her being kidnapped from her home by Kamas she blocked her door with a refrigerator and a couch and hid under the bed she called her mother said that she was very scared she cried and shouted that she could hear the tourist very close to her door they got her when she sent his cut in the middle short voice message with Arabic shouting at the background she sent it to her friends donon is 30 years old veterinarian nurse she's a beautiful young woman with beautiful kind loving heart Bright Smile shiny and curious eyes she's loving and caring daughter and sister and a wonderful Aunt to her five nephews she loved music and dancing and hanging out with her friends and of course she loves animals since she was a child she brought home Andy stray dog and cat she that came in her way Danon suffered from a chronic illness and takes medication daily which he didn't get for three months the Red Cross is well aware of that but did not visit the hostages not made sure that she got her meds for her illness next week will be the 100th days of her being kidnapped her family and friends are consumed with worry for duron's life and safety I sharing with you duron's story because unlike Duron we have a lot of choices and our choices will affect our lives the place we live in the community we live in the safety of our families and our neighbors the Commerce the education and the future of our children Duron didn't choose to be pulled out of her safe room and her home in her PJs at gunpoint she did not choose to be away from her family and friends she did not choose to see the destruction of the beautiful place she grew up in and the murder of the of her peace searching innocent community members let me be clear this is not about J Jewish versus Muslims it's about choices we make the values we choose to live by and who and what we stand for the good guys or the bad guys donon is one of the good guys her kidnaps are not I choose to stand with doron who are you choosing to stand with thank you okay any other uh public comments we have a couple that came in uh by email anyone else here seeing none I make a motion to close public comment we can't oh I'm sorry but I meant for the microphone okay uh the first live comment I'm going to read is ederson and he says what is the status of the hotel residence plans on the adjacent Livingston Mall premises now that the lawsuit against the township by nearby homeowner Was Defeated Edward Anderson and the other uh live comment I received was uh originally received back in October and it is from U Mr Barnett at 25 witer drive and he writes I ran across this article recently entitled new technology allows Savannah police to unify cameras across City residents can opt into doorbell camera program he gives the URL and he says with the rise and home burglaries and car thefts perhaps this could give the police a heads Heads Up by monitoring traffic coming into Livingston in addition maybe the town could install cameras at Major entry points into town that could also be tied into the system and uh he also updated it uh just today saying that I've updated the info since it was already implemented in Atlanta and the URL was shared with the township Council and members of the dayas great thanks Carol Barry on the hotel that that um we had approved it and then it was it went through a lawsuit yeah the the well the council approved the zoning that would permit a hotel there it's obviously privately owned property there was a company uh back when Simon owned the mall that I know had expressed an interest in building a hotel uh there was a legal challenge to the ordinance it went all the way up to the maybe even the Supreme Court it went certainly to the appell division um the ordinance was upheld so the zoning is still in place uh at present um have not heard from that perspective develop veler whether there's still interest so it's it's private property we obviously until they come forward to build a hotel but they're legally they could build it um that's the status of that councilman coin uh I just wanted to uh uh respond to the second uh letter which talked about the cameras so we the council uh did approve uh budgetary item and they have been installed license plate readers in town uh coming off the highways um we do hear from our police chief that those uh license plate reading cameras or lprs they're called Have Been instrumental in first of all preventing SE many crimes and then also helping to solve many crimes so um I think it's been uh we've been told it is the um the most uh and beneficial use of Technology that's available right now and then the police have been very happy with how they've been performing so far thank you coun mayor may just can I just add on something that um I understand that there was a robbery in town uh for a drugstore um the person who robbed it uh with gun was caught and that was a direct result from what I was told by the chief was because of the license plate readers that's great that was on the cover of the tribute this last issue okay any other public comment okay motion to close public comment second all in favor yes all right the reports of the township officials and council members um an anything to report I wasn't expecting that anyway uh quickly thank you uh quickly you have your audit in front of you you're only required to read the recommendations and comments I can send them directly to you so you don't have to leave through yeah the whole book and on the next meeting I'll have the corrective action plan and you'll sign the affidavit that you received it okay and if you don't want the whole book after you read it all you return it to me thank you thank you uh Adam anything to report no update at this time okay Barry Russ nothing tonight mayor thank you oh you're welcome Carolyn nothing for me mayor thank you legal council Mr caner nothing tonight mayor thank you okay um Council reports uh Michael Yes um again again I just want to wish everybody a uh happy healthy safe and peaceful 2024 um she's not here tonight but our councilwoman is leaving us and uh I'm really sad um to to see Rosie go but I know that she's uh going to uh still be active in town she's going to Trenton um I will be down there tomorrow for her swearing and so uh um on behalf of myself my family I'm sure the entire Council I'm sure we all wish Rosie the best of luck as she assumes the title of assembly woman so um I don't know whether she's at home watching I know she's getting ready to get down to uh to treaten early but best of luck to her and um I know we got an assembly woman who will have an office in Livingston that's great thank you thank you Michael Sean I would Echo that also going down to see Rosie swor in tomorrow and uh very excited for her and I know I see Lucas in the audience and I know he's coming too so good stuff um the um I just want to go through a couple of uh of of of uh questions we were going to have a um and enforcement listings today uh you know by this meeting what's going on with the enforcement yeah the I I did speak to the code enforcement official they're working on putting together there's actually going to be a year-end report of full year summary uh and I hope to have that by the next meeting any motion on 31 Cornell with the sidewalk there uh I will have to follow up I did push that along okay um uh the RFP for lari and stamman I know that that was supposed to be due by that was was going to be done by today or this week this um I think it's due replies are due at the end of the month I didn't speak to the purchasing agent uh she had to finalize a few things while I was out of the office uh but that we'll we'll have uh and then the procedure calls for identifying up to a number of uh respondents and then we will uh have a an interview process so we will be talking about who should sit in on that probably representatives from the open space committee uh obviously couldn't have more than two council members but that was something I wanted to bring up to put together there is that committee on the gari stman committee that that presently exists right now it's waiting on this so yeah I think there'd be members from that this is to interview prospective candidates and it's now been expanded to also include uh the second Str and and Orchard Hill as well okay um so uh we also talked briefly about I I I I have said before I think it's really important uh with the development around the circle in Route 10 that we have it becomes a walkable um Circle we need sidewalks there and at a couple years ago we talked with the state about redoing the circle and I think it's becoming crucial um as as as this area starts to uh be a focus of of of housing units that people don't have to get in the car every time they want to do something that they'll be able to walk to places and all the shops and stores in that area um so otherwise traffic will become you know worse um did we reach out to the state and find out what's going on with with that I know the engineer did um you'll recall we'd had and I think it was actually during your tenure as mayor we had a zoom meeting where the uh state kind of floated a bunch of different concepts by us told us that then they were going to come back uh we had an invite for another meeting uh earlier this year that was then cancelled without explanation and not rescheduled so I did uh speak to the township engineer I know she's been in communication with the state I don't she sent out the inquiry I have not heard back from her so I assume that means she did not hear back from them but I will follow up with her thank you and I just want to say um uh all of us on the on the day is here um the council uh had a wonderful Shabbat um dinner at rybi Zaman G bal's house uh this past Friday and I just wanted to publicly uh thank him uh for what a warm and beautiful night that was thank you Deputy Mayor thank you very much uh couple things a happy and healthy New Year to everybody following up on what councilman Klein said it was a lovely dinner want to thank the rabbi and Toba for that as well um shout out to the DPW who did a great job with our streets for the snowstorm they always do a wonderful job and uh this snowstorm while it was smaller in nature than most um was wonderful as well so we thank them for all the work they did I also want to recognize Our Town resident Josh comr and his son Adam who have spent the last two weeks in Israel of volunteering for the mogen do at the um the Red Cross there also took collections up to do a grilling uh evening for um IDF soldiers who come off the line so a big shout out for him as well uh and [Applause] and finally it is Monday night so to all my fellow Michigan fans out there go blue thank you deputy mayor uh some of these are repeats uh I do thank uh Rabbi z zman gbom uh gbom for what a a beautiful evening that we all shared welcoming us to his home and um just a a great night of laughter and um and really togetherness uh we wish Rosie boli uh the best in Trenton in her new role as assembly woman uh we do have Martin Luther King day uh Day of Service coming up uh next Monday it starts at 11 o'clock at the community center uh a shout out to our DPW um I did not get many calls of uh any problems with the roads uh and I think they did a great job on that and um I wish everyone a happy and healthy new year thanks so much we're going to to uh adjourn the meeting now motion to adjourn so moved second second all in favor yes yes okay thanks thank you everyone for coming out