for sorry oh there we go is noisy all right good evening everyone um this meeting is being held in accordance with the open public meetings act an adequate notice of this meeting has been provided as required by law specifically the revised annual notice was emailed to the West essics Tribune and the Star Ledger on January 2nd 2024 the agenda and resolutions for the meeting are are available on www. Livingston nj.org certain portions of this meeting may be closed to the public you're you're coming on the microphone for the purpose of personnel Andor matters other matters as outlined in the Sunshine Law decisions made Andor discussed in closed session will be made known to the public at a later time notice to members of the governing body and Town Township staff any use of electronic devices during this meeting shall be used solely for the purposes of Township business and any Communications are subject to the open public records act to the extent possible this evening's Township of Livingston council meeting will be live streamed via Facebook at www.facebook.com Livingston Township NJ questions or comments will also be accepted by emailing live comments at Livingston nj.org by 4 pm on the day of the meeting each speaker should follow the r Rules of Order in Livingston code section 2-15 uh Madame clerk roll call council member BB Tani here Vieira present kleene here Deputy Mayor mhart here mayor Anthony here we're going to stand for a moment of silence and the Pledge of Allegiance okay I was informed by Eileen Fishman um she won't be here tonight for the County updates uh we don't have any proclamations and presentations tonight uh but we do have a very nice story um that um a young lady here who was uh on the cover of the Bergen record for a great project you did at the Newark Airport and I know our councilman uh Kon wants to say a few words about thank you mayor so that's ca ca Malhotra and 11 years old at age at age8 I think you started you had an idea when Mom and Dad took you to Alaska and he said oh books are missing where are the children's books so that idea grew into a library now a lending library at Terminal A and she worked with of course Mom and Dad's help for three years went through all the procedures the library is open open for kids to take the book on their right wherever they go and enjoy the books right so that's Jon and that's um Nisha so Nish motra and kudos to you guys and awesome job Sia very well done awesome job may can I ask you a question see I just just so I understand this I think it's I think it's fantastic uh job that you did and it's really cool to hear this story that you know you started something at 8 years old and and and uh kept going till you were is the is the idea that let's say a kid is going to take a flight to Texas that they would borrow a book on the way to Texas and then return the book when they get back to New Jersey is that is that the idea it is originally the idea but if they can't that's also fine because I don't think anyone's really like if they're taking a long flight to Texas I don't think they're going to really bother to return it so yeah so is it's more for inuse uh for in terminal use at the airport is that the idea that while you're waiting for 2 hours for your plane that you have a book to look at yeah that's the main idea but if you're not a speed reader you could take it with you right yeah okay all right thank you that's a great idea yeah so they're using a lot of libraries helps they have used Home Depot they've engaged them they all provided you know charity services so great work it was an operation that's right you're you're with Home Depot right is there's a connection there wow that's awesome you partnered with Home Depot are you expanding to other airports I mean I would think that if if Home Depot was involved probably you could ramp this up huh which is terminal a which is the the the refurbished one she's in the best terminal right now right yeah well we're taking baby steps we're thinking to expand it other terminals but baby steps we can't just be like oh hey we're putting the library in the guardian now no we have to we're putting it in JFK no baby steps it has to be in other terminals first all right that's great congratulations congratulations that's awesome something the other other airports are jealous of of Newark Terminal A that's right that's right terrific job thank you congratulations thanks we're now up to the approval of the minutes motion to approve the minutes February 5th 2024 regular and Conference and the February 5 2024 Clos session second second thank you uh all in favor all in favor I I next we're up to public comment on agenda items only motion open the meeting for public comments on agenda items second okay any oppos no okay seeing none motion to close second okay wait what's that did we open that we public portion we opened it we opened it and and councilman closed it very quickly very quickly he had a good good feeling I was to re and he went with it right there's no one coming in the microphone does does anyone want to speak on public Comon agenda items only Please be aware that uh ordinance yes um that any ordinance on for second reading uh there'll be a public hearing for those ordinances um and also resolution 24098 has been pull from the agenda seeing on mayor okay good we could go to uh opening the hearing on uh all right first ordinance um Carol sure ordinance 32024 adoped a new section chapter 17-145 R d5s residence overlay District I'll move it um we actually first have to open the public session I'd like a motion to open the public uh public comments section second second okay all in favor all in favor okay hi Mr Mayor Justin aler 56 Amhurst place um is this going to replace lifetime no no no no um we have someone affiliated with lifetime liown here LIF Town yeah LIF town no uh not I is this going to take on the affordable housing units that were supposed to be on Livingston Avenue that we authorized off of Livingston Avenue no Mr this is part of our affordable housing plan oh thanks this this is not the same property that that discussion concerned yeah this is the Westminster hotel and the Regal this particular one is right so we the vacant lot where the car dealership was the one that was the discussion on the South Livingston Avenue okay um the school board uh had a hearing at one of their uh meetings a few weeks ago about all the increases in taxes that would be necessary to support building out the schools um there has been no public conversation since the last five on five probably about uh two months ago had you guys been discussing it at the two on tws is the school board ready to support this kind of housing yeah I mean we I mean I I've been part of these two on Twos for the last few months and I'll go first and been any recently there been there was one last three weeks yeah so so every every month when we meet uh we go over the master list that was created by the town manager of all the uh units that have been um already awarded and have already been approved here and other ones that are possibly coming down the pike uh that we could be looking at for our next round of affordables that are coming up so they are very aware of all that we also discussing um Mammoth Court which they're very interesting in uh they're interest Ed in in coming back getting back to in their hands as well for additional schooling so I think they're very well aware of it and I think they're actually probably and they're also we also have a representative of this Council on their long range on their long what's it called the uh the facility the long the long-term facility planning um that they have on the meet U it was so is the council happy with this or is this being done under duress again are are we being forced to do this is this settlement with uh lawsuit or yeah yeah Mr robt this was part of our fare housing settlement this project and and are we happy with the numbers what happened they start with a high number and we ended up with a lower number and the mid very successful negotiation um the council if if Deputy Mayor wants to take the lead on on if yeah this actually this is actually one of the bigger wins that we've had so the number that they came that the group came in with was a very very high number and it was a non-age restrictive all the units and we actually went back and forth on I would say at least a half a dozen meetings until it came up up with what I think all of us are very very pleased with at that point it was mayor Vieira and myself at the meetings um where it was almost split 5050 I might be off by 15 or 20 units um between age restrictive and non-ag restrictive so obviously the 55 and over units um the Board of Ed you know it doesn't have to worry about any units coming out so this is actually um a really good settlement for the town and for the board of education do you know people who are 55 older in the town who want to move out to the state highway in the warehouse District back there it doesn't does seem like we have a real master plan or considering I'm in that age group you know maybe okay more power to you thank you Mr Mayor Rabbi do you want to Rabbi do you want to say a few words hi Rob Rabbi Rabbi gr good evening Z gram I guess in this context 10 Micro lab Road next door this property good evening um wonderful to see everyone um do want to speak in support of this project and um they working very closely with us and there's some me uh changes to our property that will take place but they're working very much very diligently to make sure that the children and the participants at lifetown will not only be compensated for the properties that we're swapping but there'll be a tremendous enhancement to the property at life town and we very much appreciate the diligence and the Cure that's going into making sure that this enhancement will take place so thank you great thank you for coming in mayor can I just say something just uh following up on Deputy Mayor Minard's comments uh when this um project first came to us there was no 55 plus uh conversation at all and during the conversations that the Town Council had that's when the 55 plus because we are very consistant of um school children going to the school so uh clearly this project has a a 55 plus component in it and um that clearly was the reason so thank you thank you any other comments on this ordinance seeing none close i' like to close the uh the uh public section for this ordinance I'll second it all in favor yes yes okay I motion to adopt mayor motion to adopt second any discussion from the council no seeing none council member uh bani recusing council member bani is recused from these two ordinances he didn't Ure he wasn't here when they were introduced council member Vieira yes council member kleene yes Deputy Mayor mhart yes mayor Anthony yes uh ordinance 42023 adop adting a new section chapter 170 d16.1 r-2 residential inclusionary adult overlay District Two we need a motion to open the public hearing to make a motion to open a public uh hearing second all in favor I okay hi Mr Mayor Justin aler 56 Amherst Place um again moving 55 plus out on the state highway I'm not sure that people really want to move out there we should be you know talking about developing the kind of town that uh people want to retire into and certainly along the main drag and developing healthy local Commerce and culture it doesn't seem like we have a real master plan for that warehouse area we're putting up all kinds of things in all kinds of places uh you know housing next to self storage and RV parking and next to the public works department and it doesn't seem to really be part of a mass master plan so thank you for your consideration thank you re again um just as the neighbor to what's now the West Minister hotel and as everybody's familiar the West Minister hotel has not been as busy as it was in the past with uh the clientele that we should have as a neighbor we are very very much looking forward to this incredible enhancement to the properties neighboring the important center that LIF town is and there's even some talk about the possibility of respit housing that will be able to take place within that facility to give individuals families that have crisises to be able to help them in those moments of Crisis um with with uh temporary housing for their children um supported housing so there's opportunities here that will tremendously enhance just on a personal level our Center and aesthetically and as neighbors uh we look forward to this enhancement thank you thank you any other comments on ordinance to close the public hearing second all in favor uh motion to to adopt is there a second a second okay all in favor um no uh council member BB Ton's recused council member Vieira yes kleene yes Deputy Mayor mhart yes mayor Anthony yes ordinance 5- 2024 amending chapter 274 streets and sidewalks mayor I'd like to make a motion to table hry schedule public hearing to the next meeting absolutely uh is there a second second you need a roll call Mayor unless there's any discussion any discussion we need discussion to table roll call uh council member B Tom con yes Viara yes kleene yes Deputy Mayor Mard yes mayor Anthony yes Madam clerk the public hearing will be uh March 11th thank you great thank you public hearing March 11th ordinance 62024 amending and supplementing chapter 29 traffic and parking okay motion to open the public hearing motion okay motion open public hearing second second all all in favor yes yes yes okay seeing none motion to close public hearing second that was very fast uh uh you didn't give anyone a chance to respond one specific thing all that was a good one that was a good one uh what do we have to roll call motion to adopt oh motion to adopt is there discussion first let's move it to adopt second and then we can disc motion to adopt second second any discussion council members mayor one of the things that I'm really excited about in this ordinance is that we are opening up these committees and we talked about this before to uh to high school students in town so um you know there's a lot of smart people and you know we always talk about how great the volunteers are uh in every facet of all these committees that that work for the town and uh we're now going to be able to tap into our high school students as part of those committees um I think their energy and their work ethic will enhance all the commit they participate in but they will also learn a lot um there's you know any variety of of uh of subjects can be tapped into by these committees and I just I'm looking forward and very excited to see what our students bring to uh bring to the town and and can help contribute so councilman your your recation was for the next ordin that was on the traffic they're terrific on uh but but Madam clerk will put in the record for the next can you please that for the next one yeah for I said forget it he's on a roll give him some glasses just uh what's what's the legal maneuver to include that for the next uh next you got a repeat it fortim uh Carol Carol will include it in the notes in the in the notes for the next uh ordinance no we wanted to repeat that whole thing again right verbatim verbatim oh my God we need a roll call yes uh council member BB Tani yes Viera yes kleene I'm also in favor of this one yes right passion Deputy Mayor mhart yes mayor Anthony yes ordinance 7- 2024 amending and supplementing chapter six of the Township Code by creating article 7 entitled rules applicable to all committees okay motion open the public motion open the public second motion to close public he second on7 2024 did you want to say anything you've made your comment okay got you have to say move it Wait So currently mayor I think you have an open public session I think there was a motion I don't know if there was a second to close it second and then Mary all in favor vote all in favor yes and now motion to adopt I just made is there a second okay discuss discussion uh I think councilman kin has said it from a personal perspective uh the LC does have uh we did a great job last year I think the uh two students on the LEC have been a wonderful addition and I look forward to um the students and younger uh people contributing to all our committees so thank you Council good job wrong ordinance but good all right roll call uh council member bani yes Vieira yes kleene yes Deputy Mayor mhart yes mayor Anthony yes ordinance -224 appropriation of 5 m475 million for various improvements motion to open public hearing second anyone all in favor I oh motion to close public hearing second all in favor yes motion adopt motion to adopt second any discussion any discussion roll maybe if we can have a quick summary yeah um that would be a good transparency I think for the for those who are listening in in other words what are we including here yes so this is uh and and generally we try and do our initial General Capital ordinance early so a lot of these projects can get underway um and this particular ordinance includes uh funding for acquisition of computers and Communications equipment server storage computers that's through our it Department um there is uh a number of uh money appropriated for a new apparatus uh for the fire department as well as some Capital Improvements uh roof uh repairs and Replacements uh to the fire department and other public buildings uh this also includes funding for for uh design and improvements of sidewalks uh and also uh a number of vehicles and equipment for the public works department thank you bar any other discussion no roll council member Otani yes via yes kleene yes Deputy Mayor Minard yes mayor Anthony yes all right the brings us to the consent agenda for the resolutions all matters Us in the ACs are considered to be routine and non-controversial by this Council and be approved by one motion there will be no separate discussion these items unless a member of the governing body so request in which case the item will moove from the consent agenda and considering the normal sequence on the agenda as part of the general orders for the record resolution 24098 has been removed from the agenda would any council members request any other resolutions to be removed for separate discussion voting uh 101 we pull out okay any other resolutions mayy you need a motion to approve the remaining items on the consent agenda I'll make Mo motion second you don't want me to read it's okay favor roll all right council member bani yes via yes kle yes Deputy Mayor mhart yes mayor Anthony yes and now mayor you need a motion to approve resolution 24-11 njdca Grant athletic fields at Oaker Parkway okay is there a motion to approve resolution 24-11 motion to approve second any discussion yes um I just uh there's been some talk this is actually an additional to small dollar amount um to work with um Barry you want to give a little explanation your what's been going on with Janette and the engineering on the fields you know the delay that um so this actually this off oddly we were advised of the million and a half dollar funding and but then for paperwork purposes they're having us file a Grant application so that's what this application is for uh but in in regard to that the the design and review of that uh because it is um adjacent to the the stream over there the river um there are d considerations and set certain setbacks so the engineers have been working and negotiating with the EP uh they currently have a plan that they believe is going to be accepted uh by D and that's that's been sort of the delay if uh if there's been one yeah you know I just you know we we've been working hard and as people who have dealt with d in the past and certainly now and in the future have understand sometimes the frustrations that you can have with getting information and getting stuff out of D so um do want to just you know call out the engineering department Janette Harvey Janette har hard and Roco as well I don't know Rocco's likei RI um and all their hard work that they're doing as well to get this field uh uh up and running so we're looking forward to it as soon as possible thank you Mar thank you need aoll if anybody else had a comment oh any other comments I I was just asked to have it pulled out because I think it's just worth highlighting that the town still pursuing this and uh I know that uh councilman mehard is actually you know was very instrumental in in getting the ball rolling on this and uh you know it's still moving forward and hopefully it's going to be uh ready to go soon okay thank you councilman local loc call council member bani yes viea yes kleene yes Deputy Mayor mhart yes mayor Anthony yes I'm sorry just want I know we already said it but just I also just uh when um last year when um councilman Vier was mayor he was also helpful in going to the meetings as well and helping with the money that was allocated as well so thank you Michael as well thank you Deputy Mayor all right second public portion mayor you need a motion open the second public open the meeting to public portion on any uh item second all in favor all in favor yes yes the meeting is now open to the public for three minutes on any topic hi Mr Mayor Justin aler 56 am H Place uh concerned about business that is done outside of the public hearing uh what are the rules around uh Communications amongst the council does the council have a private uh text message amongst the council where they communicate at all Mr opler Council subject to open public meetings Act so does the council have a text message amongst the council members that they participate in that a majority participates then uh there shouldn't be okay a and what about emails is there any substantive planning with regard to resolutions in emails as opposed to in public session I can tell you as my time as Council that there is no Communications amongst the five council members and they are always advised not to violate by replying to emails that are sent to all them okay um under what circumstances is the council allowed to hold a resolution without offering opportunity for public input uh there is no there is no requirement of public input under the open public meetings act however this Council does have a public portion prior to agenda items which is not required pursuant to the open public meetings act we're only required to have one public session I sit in Five Towns sometime some some towns do two some towns do it at the end I think this council is very transparent and that they do one before agenda items and one at the end of the meeting all right but sometimes they have the option to opt out of a public hearing before a resolution is voted on correct yes m j if they wanted to they could take things out of order well and to be clear there's not opting out of a public hearing because as Mr caner explained there is no public hearing statutorily required on a resolution they could do it with no hearing at all but the council does offer the opportunity to anyone in the public to have a public session to speak to anything on the agenda before they act so that is in Opportunity because that's best practice I don't want to take your time but like even tonight we had a gentleman in the conference meeting who made a point and the council reacted to it prior too so they they do take public comment before so it's best practice to offer opportunity for public hearing before I don't if we've ever not done that right I mean does anyone remember a time where we didn't take um public comment before on agenda about on all agenda items right we always do that before again the last required and there could be some it's not required and there could be some rationale in not doing it like like to allow a council member to participate in the full meeting um like the last meeting but um but typically there is no requirement Mr Robert thank you very much Mr Mayor Michelle Amin 6 Washington Court um so I wanted to talk a little bit about the paving going on in town so I live on Washington Court which is a small Street for those that don't know between North Ashby and Congressional when we first moved to town it was a little bit of a speed shortcut for a lot of cars and they would race down so I requested through the citizen um service request online to look into having speed bumps or something to put on there but then I was told that speed bumps aren't possible because it messes with the snow plows during the winter so over the years what's happened is the street is a disaster there's cracks and there's holes so aside from the fact that it's a curve and at that curve it's very dangerous now we have holes so throughout the last several years I put in request to have the street looked at for Paving and now there's this huge project across town and only recently did I get a couple answers that an independent consultant was brought in to work with the engineering department to look at the 190 miles of Township roads and it seems that each of the roads were graded a certain way but again I don't really understand exactly how it happened and how it graded I'm I'm not an engineer and I don't see any documents but for Washington Court I was told that it's basically graded in the 50s and a street like North Ashby is graded in the 30s so North Ashby is going to be down in 2024 but Washington Court is not on the horizon so what we have is we have the two guys from Public Works that drive around in their truck really nice guys diligent workers they come and they fill the holes and their Band-Aids but by the next week the street is cracked so now what we're dealing with is we're dealing with cars that come down too fast cuz I don't have speed bumps but we're not getting speed bumps and I'm dealing with cracks on the street that the spring is going to come kids are riding their bikes so for sure the bikes are going to go in the cracks and the kids are going to fall off mine and others so then when I requested if Washington Court could be surveyed again they told me that I have to come to you guys because it was already surveyed and graded in the 50s which doesn't warrant it being done in 2024 so you guys have to approve if Washington Court can be resurveyed because I'm wondering if the trucks are coming to do North Ashby and we're a small little street right there logic would tell me and again not an engineer not a paper um why couldn't they just take care of Washington Court it's a small street because what would happen is regardless I'm getting cars going too fast regardless you know my kids are not playing really close we've never played in the front right but now in addition to that I'm dealing with North Ash will be beautiful cars are going to come Washington Court is still going to be cracked we have that little curve closer to Congressional which there's bound to be an accident because a car is going to Swerve one way to get rid of the holes and the other car is going to come the other way so it's dangerous it's really unseemly and so I'm wondering if I could request you guys to please look into this and possibly open up the option of the Washington Corp being reevaluated for 2024 sorry I went over that's fine Barry can we uh reevaluate yeah I I can certainly uh speak to the town engineer and um have him revisit this uh take a look at it I I understand where you're coming from in terms of if they're already in the area um so we will take a look right to FY suceed Mount Pleasant Parkway I want to thank all you for tbling that ordinance um to look at it a little bit more uh one thing I do want to bring up and she actually reminded me about it all the building these new homes or knocking them down and building all these homes um all the road work that they're doing do we have anything that the utilities have to come back and repave the holes that they create I mean we just did Mount uh sorry we just did Belmont last summer and then the summer before that the other half and there's a nice big crater brand new pave Road not even a year old uh by Arden Arden I think I believe it it's one of the main main road uh the intersection right by the high school I'm I'm having a moment right now but um it's a really long long trench and are the utilities supposed to come back and fix their roadways yes yes so they're they're obligated first we attempt if we're going to redo a road to reach out to them ahead of time to do any work sometimes obviously though there's an emergency they have to come out even after you just paved a road they are required to restore it uh they have a bond blanket Bond posted they have to come back again there's a guarantee that because the trenches do settle and to come back out and and do it compacted again okay who actually goes out and checks those because even West Cedar Street was done about about four or five years ago and it's like a land mine now again I will uh follow up it's done through the engineering department they have a public warts inspector okay it goes out okay so yeah with all these new homes that are being knocked down and and rebuilt and all these new P paved roads are are getting dug up because of the new Services going into these houses so but okay yeah like to the on the one you said is on Belmont Yeah Tim did you say Belmont up up further that way um yeah Belmont is in road that goes Ashby actually tonic right there yeah that that brand new haard they just uh they just finished okay so I mean that that's a that's it's a reverse speed bump yeah May Tim is actually uh right can you also put on that list uh Cliffside Drive Cliffside Drive was only paved uh probably less than a couple months ago and I've already seen a hole over in there I just passed it yesterday I'm like you know this was this was just brand new Paving and there's already a uh a utility hole over there okay now are they required to infrared that I'd have to defer to engineering on that I don't know what the exact requirements are nearly paid for I mean most most of you know who I work for uh there are machines out there that infrared it that's basically melts the new stuff to the to hear it hears it so so it's a better familiar with that I don't know what we require but I'll find out okay I appreciate it thanks a Barry I'm going to add to that uh is it I think it's Oakwood it's right by Kings right was that ille of Women Voters Zoom not that long ago and you said the holes there okay big big there you know it right yeah it's it's big there yeah so can we look into that thanks all right uh any other public comment motion to close public comment there's two there's two comments tonight mayor oh sorry thank you the first leftt comment is from Eric Tucker um livon resident he asked can you please provide an update on the broad La Drive flooding issue do we have we're um in the process of get we had obtained a quote we're getting another quote for uh broadland um so as soon as we get the second quote uh the first one was below the bid threshold so we know we'll be able to Ward without having to go out to bid awaiting the second quote as soon as that comes in uh that's to clean underneath the the whole underpass in addition we did award tonight in another section uh significant stream cleaning contract which ultimately they're all connected and would uh may or may not have some impact on that one as well thank you bar the second L comment is from a non-resident Amy Lou she says hello Town Council longtime viewer firsttime writer thank you for all you do for this town now my husband and I are curious about tonight's agenda ordinance 32024 about the overlay District it looks like the goal of this ordinance is to attract empty nesters my family moved out of Livingston when our kids grow uh grew up but we missed the town and what it has to offer we would love to come back and we are curious if there will be options for empty nesters to buy and rent or just rent we also saw a proposal for an outdoor pool and recreational property as part of the ordinance will that be limited to you to use for only people who live in the complex or will there be an option to join will that pool be on the Bottle King site or somewhere else while I have your attention my family including my kids want to know what this council is doing to help our former swim coach Kevin melany we have seen what's happened with Kevin online and our heartbreaks for him Kevin is a young man who grew up in this town and who touched so many lives in Livingston we wonder why the Town Council is not addressing what's happening to Kevin or doing anything to help Kevin I believe you all know Kevin and even my kids are confused used why you've allowed this to go on we teach our kids to stand up for what's right and that's what our hero swim coach did Livingston looks to you your lead my questions about the overlay District are for the whole Council but my question about Kevin is to new councilman bani because none of the previous council members have seemed to care about him please give us some info about the overlay district and about how we can help Kevin and bring an end to this problem thank you any others no may you can entertain a motion to close what's that you can entertain a motion to close Okay motion to close I'll entertain I like to I'd like to add a quick comment um close uh it was as it was acknowledged um I'm a new council member but I am trying to get up to speed on all matters I do attend the Clos sessions to understand the matter under litigation uh and try to get facts um so yes this is important for me uh each allegation each item is important for me so uh that's how much I can say right now and uh on the advice of the council I think I will be looking for what are the next steps for me as well thank you so councilman to that point I'll be updating the council tonight in close session on on litigation related to Kevin milany it's one of the close session topics for tonight great thank you Council all right uh motion to any other public comment no motion to close motion to close second second all all in favor yes all right we're now up to reports of Township officials and council members uh let's start an anything or nothing to report at this time thanks mayor great thanks Adam nothing to report all right baring nothing tonight thanks Russ all right flying Michael I'm good all right sorry I'll come back we'll do that over again I'm still good car car Carolyn nothing for me mayor thank you no jar uh mayor so for tonight uh for close session I I've already described I have the uh the litigation update on on the millenum matter I also have a fair share housing update regarding um some properties thank you chair uh okay so Kon I'm the first one yeah I guess done my yeah so a couple of things I think uh first I'll reiterate uh the young champion who was here did a lot of good work uh Sia Malhotra so that was that was great to hear I would also like to acknowledge um the event that was held in front of the Town Hall where there were hundreds of empty seats put up it was was very sombering to see what happened in October 7th and how um how it was uh elegantly displayed and it was remembered so so thank you for the organization to put that up and uh was really moving experience for myself um one other comment on um what is now called as affordable housing uh bill in assembly bill for Senate bill te um quite disappointed that uh the township and the concerns needs to be heard heard more uh there has to be more opportunities for our residents to voice their concerns uh I'm hoping the senate in Trenton gives more opportunity and there is a there's a process where uh our residents have a voice and that gets delivered um I think uh I'm absolutely for affordable housing it is an important topic and we need to be uh looking at at equality in our society but it should not come at a at a point where um it is helping or trying that whatever Community is targeting it just breaks its fabric uh and and it's it's there it's there in front of our our eyes so I think that is where uh my focus is going to be to to try and see if we can create more opportunities for our residents to be to be heard thank you mayor thank you councilman Micha you know I I for a couple seconds uh for that delay I did think of something um I just want to thank everybody uh yesterday I celebrated my 5ye anniversary on the council oh so I I do want to thank uh all the residents and I've had a very enjoyable time and uh I look uh very forward to working for many more years to to come so uh thank you very much to everyone out there great something Kon said reminded you of that yes uh councilman um I just a couple points um actually uh Kon uh kind of touched on both of the things I was going to talk about um one of them is uh and I know the rest of this council's been uh we've received a lot of emails um with people uh who are um you know concerned about uh our government's response and even on the local level about how we talk about October 7th and um what happened and and uh uh the hostages and certainly I would just want to say in response to those emails that this is something that's personally a great concern to me and I I know it is on the rest of the council also um it is something we think about all the time and uh we appreciate those emails so thank you for sending them um the uh other the other item I wanted to talk about was that uh the mayor and I have had a couple of I think very productive meetings uh the first was with our um assembly Representatives uh in Trenton and the second was with our senate representative and um we um strongly advocated um with our state representatives about uh our concerns with affordable housing and about our concerns with this assembly bill um that's coming forward which may not be advantageous for this Township and we want to see changes and uh we uh we were on uh zooms with um the uh representatives from Short Hills as well at Milbourne and uh and we spoke to our representatives and we laid out uh strong cases for changes that we'd like to see made we gave a couple of specific spefic in terms of um options that could decrease um the uh uh the counts uh that that that the township would have to be responsible for uh in overall housing and uh there was some receptive uh comments and and we're hoping that in the end that uh some of these discussions will bear fruit and that uh whatever comes down the pipe and uh and signed by the governor uh ends up being a better bill because of the discussions that we had so thank you mayor thank you thank you uh Deputy Mayor thank you very much um I also just want to Echo uh What uh councilman patani and councilman Clin said um uh we did receive a whole bunch of letters over the weekend I can tell you that I personally feel uh very strongly about what is happening um right now in the Middle East and we pray for peace um I am encouraged by what I heard on the news a couple hours ago with a potential um negotiations of a of some type of ceasefire that could be coming down the bike by this weekend that was encouraging before I left the house to come here this evening um but we do appreciate all the letters that we've received and you know that um we understand them and we certainly support those letters um and as also for the fair share I happen to be just I was invited to go um to Trenton uh two weeks ago today on a Monday um when it was Holocaust Remembrance Day and I happened to be there for the ceremony that took place on the legislative floor um and so I just happened to be there for the debate that took place and I found out to be extremely interesting as well listening um to the 80 Representatives debate uh the legislation bill that passed unfortunately passed um in a unanimous way and hopefully the Senate will um come back with some um ideas that I know councilman and the mayor have put together and other people have put together and hopefully that could be included in the bill but um it is very discouraging for us here having to think about going through a fourth round and um going through some of those numbers because I think none of us like you said very eloquently are against fair share but there comes a point where we have to think about what's fair as well and what's share for this town and I know we've done a wonderful job in this round um uh our attorney Jared caner has led us through a lot of those negotiations and we thank him for that and you still are but um there is a time that that the township has to get involved and has to have their words has their um voices heard as well and I certainly appreciate the fact that you're going to help with those causes so thank you thank you Deputy Mayor I guess some of this is uh duplication uh thank you um with all the emails and letters we've received uh on October 7th you do have a council that uh cares about every every letter we receive um and also whether you you grab my ear at um at a at Community Center uh I'm looking at you know whether it's at chess and bagels there I go mentioning it again um but it's a great Saturday morning activity congratulate mayor on being a fifth grader twice twice and it's and it's sixth grader once sorry for jumping in there but I just want to congratulate you three victories congratula shame of was to every adult so far um so but the bagels are tremendous and great great job by everyone inol um so yes thank you for keep those coming uh even though it's it's a uh it's an international National event you know we we were very concerned uh about how we respond at the local level and thanks for mentioning that um as far as the there is uh it's A4 um it was assembly bill on affordable housing and I I think um all our council members including council member Klein of um setting up some meetings with our representatives and unfortunately we thought A4 had flaws in it and and we pointed out a bunch of the uh the problems with it unfortunately it was passed um I appreciate um the Senate looking at s50 now I believe is the companion bill and our Council our uh our state senator uh John mcken took the time to uh answer our questions and consider our concerns with with that bill and I appreciate everyone uh Kon even brand new was voicing his concerns on it was just it's just such an important uh uh bill for our town so we we need to reach out as a council but reach out to your your state legislators as well um on that issue and I want to thank you Kon thank you so much for um our star in the Bergen Record uh that was so nice that and anyone if anyone ever has anything impromptu to do like that and someone's sitting here please let me know so we could uh throw accolades on where it's deserved and also one other thing uh we had a chamber event a few weeks ago um great job uh by Monty Aaron CR and the Chamber of Commerce um and thank you for council members for uh coming there and it kind of set forth a little bit of the vision uh for our businesses uh going forward uh it was covered uh by the local media so um I I thank all the businesses and we are a committed Council to uh work with them going forward so I think that's it any other comments which one we did have two new ribbon cuttings within the last couple weeks and I am told many more to come so and thank you uh councilman for joining in right away uh anything else no good all right now we uh I'll entertain a motion to go and close uh you know have a motion to yeah we're still we're an opening conference so we're GNA yeah we're going to go into conference and then we'll make the motion to go into close out of conference okay anything else out here no no mayor thank you counil in open and conference meeting to conclude the conference meeting thank you but no further action will be taken by this council tonight other than to approve the closed session resolution great thank you