yeah but it's it feels good for a second right because if she turns on the heat it's going to be like yeah yeah yeah mhm staying on you're right [Music] back anybody like an [Music] agenda that [Music] white that's d man really I got one of these low chairs you can you can pull it up the little thingy on the side oh right like you lowered the chairs like that are we set yes are we live okay let's get going pursuant to section 5 chapter 231 Public Law 1975 this is to State for the record that adequate notice of this meeting has been provided to the public by posting and maintaining the annual notice of regular meetings on the bulletin board of the municipal building by mailing the annual notice of regular meetings for 2023 to the news record and Star Ledger in 20 22 by filing said notice in the office of the Township Clerk and by listing the link to the public meeting which is now hybrid on the township website M Adams here SC here Mr Duca SLE here mayor daffis present whereas chapter 231 Public Law of 1975 finally known as the open public meetings Act as all means public bodies be open to the public and whereas section 7A provides that the governing body has a discretion to permit prohibit or regulate the active participation of the public at any meeting and where desire the governing body to comply with the provision this act same time to conduct its business in an orderly and expeditious manner now therefore be resolved by the township committee Township mwood does hereby prohibit except to set forth in the formal agenda active participation in the deliberations of the governing body by the public and except this otherwise prescribed by law does limit the public to the observations of the actions and discussions of the governing body at all of its regular and special meetings so moved second M Adams yes M K yes Mr DeLuca yes M angle yes mayor daffis yes thank you please join us in the Pledge of Allegiance with liberty and justice for all welcome folks those of you who are here with us in person and those of you who are online to our November 21st meeting our second meeting uh of November we will meet again on December 5th tonight we have uh what looks like a pretty slim agenda dare I say every time I say that we end up having very long meetings um it's pre previously published we're going to start don't have any proclamations tonight we're going to start with a boarding committee appointment then we're going to go to our first public comment session traditionally we have two public comment sessions the first public comment is for agenda items only and the second is for any item however this evening I will be allowing public comment in both portions to be for any item so folks who are present or those who are online who are getting ready for the wonderful holiday Upon Us of Thanksgiving and we have a lot to be grateful for they can uh say what they need to say and address the committee and not wait here until the end of the meeting we have only one ordinance on Final we do not have any uh new ordinances to be introduced we will have a public hearing on the Essex County Community block grant program that's constructing ADA Compliant curb Cuts in various public intersections within the township and that hearing will be led by Annette dep Palma who is our director of Community Development Mr Palma welcome I thought I saw you somewhere she will be right back mayor not a problem okay reports from departments we have a previously published budget report we we uh required to publish monthly budget reports administrative reports we'll hear from our administrator Mr warry followed by legal Township attorney desiderio followed by Township Clerk fritsen reports from elected officials the order tonight is as follows Deputy Mayor Engle Committee Member DeLuca Committee Member Adams Committee Member crepe and I always go last we do not have any discussion items and then we have several items on the consent agenda as uh previously published and then we will have a second public comment period and then we will adjourn to meet again on December 5th we will start our meeting as we have been starting our meetings um under my chairmanship recently with the land acknowledgement we live on Stolen land the land we know now and occupy as New Jersey has been home to the lenapi people for thousands of years the township of Maplewood offers respect to the lenapi nation and people and recognizes the forced diaspora of the Delaware tribe in the Delaware nation of Oklahoma and the Stockbridge Muny community of Wisconsin and acknowledges that the municipality was built on this small portion of the lenapi hoking we honor the lenapi in New Jersey and Elsewhere for their environmental sustainability and their cultural resilience throughout our nation's history we firmly commit ourselves to promote the well-being and growth of New Jersey's indigenous communities and to provide opportunities for indigenous peoples in our community in housing economic Mobility employment and cultural or artistic opportunity uh I see someone is trying to get in the back there is the door and is there the C is there fantastic okay uh at this point I would like us all to pause I would like us all to pause and Center ourselves in light of the violence that is happening around the world in particular in the Middle East and in Ukraine let us not forget about Ukraine let's take a moment to pause in honor of all the lives being lost right now thank you boards and committees do we have Mr Teddy higer Paris With Us online I presume yes mayor he's just joined as a panelist wonderful Mr Paris welcome good evening can you hear us sir I can hear you how are you wonderful we can see and hear you too please introduce yourself and tell us a little bit about your interest uh in serving on the community board on police sure so thank you mayor daffis and members of the township committee my name is Teddy Hager Paris I grew up in Maplewood I graduated this year from Drew University with a political science degree and have been teaching Taekwondo and self-defense classes in South Orange for a number of years um I'm also a member of s action so I would be filling that seat which is reserved for a member of s action um and I'm really excited about this opportunity to serve on the community board on police and I'm looking forward to being able to offer the perspective of a young person who has grown up in Maplewood and to support our officers and help them be better able to do the difficult and the valuable work that we ask them to do each and every day thank you Mr Paris we are delighted uh in your interest to serve the community and we welcome it and I will move your uh appointment onto the community board on police do I have a second second roll call so Adams yes Miss C yes Mr Duca yes Miss Angel yes mayor Davis yes thank you Mr Paris congratulations we'll see you at the meetings great thank you mayor and you're welcome to stay with us this evening and watch the rest of the meeting and we will correct the record here it says in the previously published agenda that you will be filling in um a Som Justice representative member on the board and if that is not correct as I suspected earlier today when I asked about this you are Som action is that correct sir correct thank you sir for for confirming that and we will now also know that internally thank you have a nice evening this brings us to our first public comment period again for any item that people wish to comment on for those we're going to start with people who are here in person and then we will move online if you're here and interested in addressing the committee we welcome you to come to the podium state your name your address um and let us know what is on your mind you have three minutes and Mr warry our administr our administrator will be uh administering the public comment hello my name is mikal vman lat I live in Maplewood do I need to give out my full address no okay um mayor Deus and Township committee I'm here tonight we and enter into the into the record a letter sent to you on November 20th signed by 22 people 20 more have requested that their names be added tonight totaling 42 sese we the undersigned are sending you the following statement on behalf of many Jewish residents of Maplewood in South Orange at the October 17th 2023 Township committee meeting when the resolution entitled resolution number 34723 D resolution of the Maplewood Township committee condemning the terrorist attacks by Hamas against innocent Israeli civilians was presented by Miss Engle you made comments about the state of Israel being in an aparte State your comments referring to aparte along with the Absurd almost incomprehensible rambling of MCPE regarding Pakistan aparte and the UN in both of your obvious lack of knowledge regarding the state of Israel as well as conditions in Gaza where the UN wh and unra has actually been present for decades in assistance Miss CP statements are also historically inaccurate in 1947 the entire area was under the British British mandate the British pulled out of in 1947 1948 and left the area in the hands of the UN which created a partition plan for two states after Israel's Declaration of Independence and the ensuing of 1948 War until the end of the 19676 day war Jordan occupied the West Bank and East Jerusalem and Egypt occupied Gaza these areas were not under Israeli Administration during that period to be clear as to what was stated excerpts below Miss R Pakistan I'm assuming she man Palestine has been under apartheid since 1947 mayor dais I don't disagree with you when it comes to the apartheid of the current Israeli government Miss Adams I agree with Miss kripe as well making such count counterfactual statements as public official creates a dangerous inflammatory situation for the Jewish residents of our towns such statements incite hate and violence your further statements that this dialogue is very healthy is absurd a healthy dialogue is is one based on facts your confirmation of Miss cries uninformed statements further inflames the situation you did then redirect the discussion to focus on the resolution under consideration that is appreciated M Mr deluca's statement was perfectly on target appropriate and factual and very appreciated Miss Adams statements of agreement with Miss kripe was unfortunate aparte is defined as a politically mandated system of keeping groups of people separated and treating them differently especially when this results in disadvantage to one for one group Israeli Arabs are 20% of the population of the state of Israel they are represented in Parliament the knesset serve on the Supreme Court and our lawyers doctors Scholars and more they vote in elections they may serve in the Army as such that is not within the definition of apar heide referring to Israel as an apar heide state is an attempt to delegitimize isolate and ultimately destroy Israel by associating it with the racist South Africa regime that the world United to squeeze out of existence the situ situation as related to Israel Gaz Gaza and the West Bank Palestinian territory has been complicated for many years however since 2005 Gaza has not been governed by Israel it is an independent entity the West Bank Palestinian territories are substantially governed by the Palestinian Authority with oversight by Israel the Palestinians have been offered separate sovereignty for many decades but have consistently rejected such offers there are ongoing issues in the West Bank with continual violent clashes between both extremist Israelis and extremist pales Palestinians peace talks and official borders of two states could resolve this while many of us are critical of the Israeli Prime Minister and government and some of Israel policies these issues do not add up to apartheid should I continue it would be it would behoove you miss kpe and miss Adams to learn that some actual facts about state of Israel before making inflammatory accusatory statements you have a Jewish colleague sitting with you on the TC on the town C Council as well as access to many local Scholars and local rabbis who are well versed and can inform you of the realistic on the ground conditions for the for all citizens of Israel as well many of us in this town visit Israel and or have lived there or are from there and have realtime experience to offer some have even been to the West Bank in Gaza and or listened to known legitimate sources such as Anderson Cooper who has spoken about his visits to Israel and Gaza there are many opportunities to be factually informed should you wish to be you miss kripe and miss Adams all need to educate yourself and apologize publicly with new found understanding of the issues the Jewish Community needs your visible support at at this critical time the Jewish community in s is in shock and in pain regarding the atrocities committed by Hamas in Israel on October 7th this continues to be comp compounded as further evidence of horrific graphic images are released dead bodies are found on both sides of the border and the hostages hostage crisis continues this in concert with the rapidly growing anti-Semitism in our country indeed in our towns instills us with greater fear many of us have family and friends living in Israel we fear for their safety hundreds of Hamas Rockets are still being shot over the border from Gaza Landing as far as telan hia our family and friends are continually continually running in and out of shelters as wellc excuse me as well we are very sad for the mounting death toll in Gaza where Hamas has provided no shelters for residents but only for themselves Hamas cause this war we too want this to end as quickly as possible in a peaceful resolution on November 6th you all received an email regarding the mapso Freedom School continued anti-israel anti-Semitism anti-semitic rhetoric there are children in Maplewood in South Orange who are now afraid to go to school they are being harassed by adults and by other children because they're Jewish just this past Sunday Sunday November 19th in South Orange me members of the maps of Freedom school attended a rally chanting from The River To The Sea Palestine will be free an expression calling for genocide of the Jews destruction of Israel there has been no response to then to that November 6th email from you or other TC member except Miss angle this issue is on November 30th Board of Education meeting agenda the maps of Freedom School Organization must be banned from our towns and our schools censor is not enough it would be supportive and encouraging if our Town's officials would attend this Boe meeting and publicly support the request that they cut ties with the maps of Freedom School when our Township officials espouse false narratives and dangerous accusations regarding the state of Israel we are taken back such false statements inight anti-Semitism it seems that these days in Maplewood hate has no home here is for everyone except the Jews we are hoping for peace soon and forever signed Le ion Michael Goldberg Andrea torman Alexander Henry siton Todd Han Karen Tamir yval Brockman Sarah Brockman Michael Wexler T Su Deborah Shan Blum Inda SE sexer sorry Inda Terry tman s shakar Levy Lauren gri Livy Joshua Silverman Sarah Barack Melanie langstein langstein Alison fima Susan Shaker e Prim shakor names added since issuing the statement Dory ramati Leslie ctz shiik mikal vman Shiri vman lad Heidi Goldberg Joel wuben Weinstein Jennifer cron Jessica Mandel Frank Erica Feldon ohon Heather E house Susie lugashi Tammy Weinfeld Jamie sler shoots Irwin mavora Jen LaVine Dressler Andrea stat statfield brunfield Mark bronfield Jennifer Chung Mariel Mar Kelly sner and Shai gabai um I would like to State this is from Inda who could not make it tonight so she wanted me to read this on her behalf I would like to state that in response to this letter sent on Monday that was just read into the record we did receive detailed replies from a dais and Miss Adams I won't read them here but rather will let them speak to the issues themselves I just want to say for the record that they were heartfelt and supportive and very much appreciated thank you as we move forward I sincerely hope that factual honest dialogue and mutual support can be continued in our town thank you are there other comments from folks who are here in person please come on up good evening please state your name good evening everyone my name is Fara CH and I am a Maplewood resident um I'm also an ex District leader for Maplewood Democratic party the only Muslim District leader who was on the team today I stand before you to address an issue that weighs heavy on my heart and the hearts of many in our community as the committee members here know I resigned from my position due to the Silence of the very people that I worked to get elected in the last election I'm here today to advocate for the voices of those who felt marginalized by a community neighbors friends colleagues and especially our leadership after the events of October 7th our leaders rightfully did not hesitate on condemning Hamas after the events that unfolded on October 7th in Israel publicly and privately but what has deeply Disturbed me is their radio silence regarding the ongoing Massacre of Palestinian Ians in the past 45 plus days the indiscriminate bombings by the Israeli government have resulted in the deaths of over 13,000 civilians uh including innocent men women children elderly and an unprecedented numbers of journalists doctors un workers in their homes hospitals schools and Refugee shelters they are being killed mercilessly by weapons an aid that is paid for by our tax dollars the ones who are alive are living through unfathomable pain without food water electricity fuel kids are being amputated without anesthesia kids orphan women widowed parents have to having to collect the remains of their loved ones in bags and now they have to live through the brutal rain and winter in tents because most of their homes have been destroyed by bombing that we are funding today I urge our leadership to break this silence we must call for a ceasefire to prevent further loss of life life in Gaza hate has no place here was once a slogan of unity and peace in Maplewood South Orange however at the Sunday vigil it became clear that this sentiment was not fully embraced instead of a peaceful Gathering we were met with angry disruptors is spewing hateful comments you can find personal accounts of these incidents on the Som Justice group on Facebook for the first time many of us felt physically unsafe in our own neighborhood but it was not the chance of the disruptors that caused the sense of fear but rather The Silence of our leadership I must ask are we being led by individuals who stand up for all people or are we being led by bystanders who will remain silent when when one of our Muslim Arab or Palestinian neighbors becomes mere statistic or a story on cable news like the six-year-old Palestinian American Boy V who was stabbed to death in his own home by his landlord someone he knew and trusted I stand here today to question your silence a call for no ceasefire is a call for genocide in Gaza a call for no ceasefire is a call for hate to permeate in our neighborhoods a call for no ceasefire is a call for justifying the othering and silencing of our voices our freedom of speech a right to exist with dignity I stand here today in front of you and ask you do you see me because if you don't see me and want to be a silent bystander then we the people will have to rise and find leaders who are willing to lead rise up or get replaced thank you all for your time cease fire now free Palestine thank you other other members in person who wish to comment please step up to the mic hello good evening my name is seil abud I'm also a Maplewood resident after the October 7th tragedies this town ship and Mayors Dean daffis and Sheena colum did an amazing job of recognizing our Jewish community's pain grief and fear you both issued statements on our local Facebook groups publicly expressing solidarity and attended events that further demonstrated that support what this Township and the Mayors also did an amazing job of is alienating the Arab and Muslim Community who are also feeling tremendous pain G grief and fear as a result of October 7th and every day for the last 45 days since since then we have been witnessing the announced strategic and executed Gaza genocide on Gaza the pain our community feels is tremendous and runs deeper knowing that none of the layers of our government seem to recognize us you have not issued any statements supporting the Arab and Muslim community's pain you have not expressed solidarity and you did not attend the vigil that we organized that honored all victims and was inclusive of all members of the Som Community I know that the Arab and Muslim Community have reached out to both Mayors and we received dismissive responses instead if at all you have made us feel othered unrecognized unappreciated and unseen we are also experiencing increases in islamophobia feeling threatened and feeling fear for our safety especially within this community and especially after Sunday's vigil on Sunday we held a peaceful vigil to honor the 240 Israeli and 10,000 Palestinian hostages and the 1200 Israelis killed of and as well as the 1300 plus Palestinians killed of whom 7,000 are children this was a familyfriendly event that was attended by an amazing crowd of families and young children we represented the community in the most beautiful way every culture every race every religion gender Etc was in attendance it was so beautiful and symbolic but your presence and your support were both noticeably absent unfortunately the vigil was contaminated by by a hate-filled group bearing flags and inflammatory signs who use their megaphones to try to drown out our voices and to attack all attendees especially the women and children some of the attacks were and allow me to express them freely here your mother supports terrorism you you you self-hating Jew baby killers you sick  anti-semites they held signs that said now off all of you from the river to the Sea this is the only flag you'll see and all of this happened at a family event where my own 2-year-old daughter was in attendance it made everyone there feel unsafe they threatened us online and in person to smear our photos and our videos to our employers and have us fired from our jobs to speak out for peace we came with peace they came with hate perhaps if these individuals were not empowered with unilateral solidarity they may not feel empowered to treat their neighbors with such blatant disrespect islamophobia and racism we have yet to see the Mayors condemn these actions and I know that you know they happened and we have yet to see you acknowledge our pain and we wonder have you simply turned your back on your othered constituents is s safe for all its residents or will further alienation hate crimes and violence be ongoing you have some work to do if you want to maintain community in Soma if we want to continue to be the inclusive community that s boasts to be it must be inclusive of all of its community and it cannot alienate an entire group based on their beliefs their ethnicity or their religion thank you thank you good evening hi just tilt the top there you go yeah I'm short sorry hi my name is Jen stur and I'm a resident of Maplewood 66% of people and 80% of Democrats in the United States support a bilateral ceasefire in Gaza and yet here in Maplewood supporting a ceasefire will get you threatened harassed intimidated and doxed the Maplewood Township Council representing all of us in Maplewood has emboldened a small number of residents by speaking out publicly for one side only Israel presumably the township thinks that's supportive of its Jewish residents but as a Jewish resident of Maplewood I can tell you that is absolutely not the case like my Neighbors in my community I was horrified by hamas's attacks on Israel on October 7th and I denounce and call upon Hamas to release the Israeli hostages like many of my Jewish neighbors and Community I am horrified by Israel's Relentless campaign of violence against Gaza that they've undertaken since October 7th more than one out of every 200 people in Gaza has been murdered just yesterday the head of Unicef said the reported number of children killed in Gaza has now exceeded 5,000 each one is a life extinguished and a family devastated our leaders have expressed support for the Jewish members of our community impacted by the atrocity that occurred on October 7th thank you for that where I ask is your Express support for the Palestinian Arab and Muslim members of our community whose grief grows exp exponentially every day at Israel's hands mayor dfus you were asked on Facebook if you condemn members of our community who held up a sign at our Soma families for ceasefire vigil on Sunday using coded language calling for the genocide of Palestinians in the West Bank in Gaza the sign said from The River To The Sea that's the only flag you'll see with the flag of Israel painted on it your response was that you certainly do not condone this hateful and divisive behavior and that we have to find a way to come together to stretch our hearts to accommodate unity and peace we are neighbors had you been there you would seen the abhorent behavior of these counter protesters they screamed your mother supports rapists right at children I mean really right at children and baby killers as the name of dead names of dead children were read aloud I'm grateful to hear that you don't condone this Behavior but I'd like to know why uh you and the Maplewood ship Maple Maplewood Township Council don't condemn it the difference between the two is wide heard loud heard loudly by our Arab and Muslim Neighbors thank you thank you please good evening my name is um Lauren leevy and I live in South Orange I don't have anything prepared um I just want to say one thing um on October 6 there was a ceasefire and Hamas broke that ceasefire and they came into Israel and they attacked savagely brutally murdering raping babies chopping heads off people it's all over the news it's everywhere okay um my nephew and my enti my husband is Israeli my nephew and my entire family is living under the constant barrage of rockets every single day my nephew is in the F and he was injured in Gaza okay so this is very personal for me and my family um I'm not asking anything of you of the committee or anything about you know what can we do because this is a a worldwide problem I just want to say that there was a ceasefire on October 6 and that was broken by Hamas so with that being said I just want to just reiterate that that is the case so thank you thank you are there any other members here in Person of the public who wish to comment yes sir good evening hi Todd H home um I'm a resident of Maplewood and I'm sorry I didn't catch your name sir Todd hone Todd welcome welcome i' would just like to note that from The River To The Sea you have a free Palestine was a speech given by the Hamas leader for the 25th anniversary of Hamas and that was being chanted at the vigil it's very hurtful for the community to hear that nobody wants this conflict I mean I have family in Israel they're all displaced from the north border they can't go back home and obviously it's devastating what's happening in Gaza but as a community we cannot be chanting the Hamas leader at our protest that's all I have to say otherwise it will create hostility thank you thank you any other members here in person who wish to speak okay we're going to move to online I suspect there other comments about this topic and then I'm going to address uh the comments that were made if any members of the public on Zoom would like to speak in public portion please raise your hand now if any members of the public on Zoom would like to speak in public portion please raise your hand now mayor I'm moving over Erin hardigan okay Miss hardigan you're now in public portion you can unmute yourself and speak hi there I'm gonna spare everybody and not go on camera um but I am Aon hardigan I am a Maplewood resident and I am speaking today particularly to Ms kripe and the Public Safety Committee um so I'm speaking on behalf of several residents of Bowden Street between Tuscan and Harvard our block has 13 children under the age of 10 who are often playing in their front yards crossing the street to play with each other and just out and about historically it's been a quiet block there used to be a basketball ho on a BM that older kids would use because vehicle traffic was so infrequent it's also important to note that we're a block from Tusan ele and we are the street on which many parents Park and dozens of children walk on their way to and from school each day with heavier traffic and ongoing construction we've witnessed not only an increase in traffic on our street but and this is the reason I speak tonight an alarming increase in speeding vehicles on our block for those who aren't familiar Bowden runs parallel to prospect one block up so is a convenient cut through for someone trying to beat traffic to get to Springfield cars often do not stop at the stop sign across Harvard speeding sometimes 40 and 50 miles an hour down our block this has resulted in several dangerous accidents on our block in the past 18 months as well as several terrifying near misses of hitting of children we notice this traffic throughout the day but notably in the mornings during school drop off and it Rush Hour we've also that per the Maplewood master plan our area is among the most dangerous Maplewood for car crash density which leads us to believe that this issue is a longer term concern than just recent construction happening on the blocks nearby so with that in mind I implore you please miss kripe as chair of our Public Safety Committee and anyone else who can help with this issue to please investigate speed reduction measures to improve the safety for not just the children on our block but the students at tuskin and all residents and our pets thank you thank you if any other members of the public would like to speak in public portion please raise your hand now I see no other hands mayor okay seeing no other hands raised and no other members of uh the public here with us in person we're going to close this public comment period there will be another opportunity for public comment at the end of our meeting I would like the opport to address um our neighbors our Jewish neighbors or Arab neighbors who are with us tonight I'm going to start with responding to the letter the signatories some of whom are here with us asking for a public apology from me in particular for my language that further inflamed and caused harm to them to you I apologize sincerely and I hope to be part of the solution here I apologized accordingly in a uh comprehensive letter I think to the uh to one of your members who presented me with the letter I would like to read that I would like to read that letter into the record to Jewish community at large I apologize for offending or causing harm it was certainly unintended without any malice your informed position makes me understand better how I may have inflamed shocked and offended I deeply regret that you're also absolutely correct that we on the township committee are not experts in geopolitics or in the Middle East foreign policy or in military Affairs so we should not engage in characterizations accusations or conclusions about the politics of the entire region ironically ironically that is what I was trying to steer us away from during our discussion that evening and rather focus on that which we all agree on that Hamas is a terrorist organization that they and their violent attack and ongoing violence should be condemned and that Israel has the right to defend herself and that hostages should be freed and that safe and sustainable quarters of humanitarian Aid be made available immediately I'm proud that in the the end of that meeting our strong resolution affirming our solidarity with Israel adopted all of these points unequivocally and that we have since then reaffirmed the same in public Gatherings vigils and in other public spaces I hope that the totality of my actions demonstrate my allyship to our Jewish neighbors right here in S I was the one on the TC who has stepped up to lead numerous rallies and vigils in Soma during anti-semitic threats in the past and there have been several during my six-year tenure on this Township committee I did the same against islamophobia and I'll speak to that in a minute I spoke out against Hamas on my personal page right after the attack and gathered my colleagues toward an official statement before we could have a public TC meeting in order to voice our strong condemnation and our une equiv unequivocal solidarity in a timely fashion as our public meeting was more than 10 days after the attack I proudly lit our municipal building in the colors of the flag of Israel all of October and I have been working closely with our faith leaders or our rabbis many of whom I consider friends and mentors seeking their guidance on how we can further support take the pain away and bring us together this is very personal for me too my husband is of Jewish Heritage my dear friend and colleague is Jewish and many friends of mine in Soma are I'm naturally inclined toward Building Bridges and bringing people together so to see our community torn apart right now is truly breaking me and it has affected me very deeply I accept my part for any division or anger I inspired but I also see myself as part of the solution in getting us to peace and unity and as someone has already quoted me I will say again that I hope we can spread our hearts a little more to accommodate peace and Unity thank you now to our Arab Neighbors far I'm sorry I'm sorry oh okay Muslim excuse me Arab and Muslim neighbors excuse me this is something that I wrote to you after you asked me to speak up come again yes but I did respond to you and please let me State what I have to say as I ciously did the same for you thank you for your plea we're heartbroken and devastated by the loss of civilian life across the region we've said so publicly several times we value all life when we gathered peacefully the other night that was right after the spota park Gathering we called for peace it was not a political statement that we made there for one side or the other side Pro or against we urged against the further taking of civilian life and for an open safe sustainable humanitarian Corridor in Gaza in the West Bank and as we've stated and shown our official resolutions as Maplewood electeds did the same at the time and this was written on the 1 of November so it's a little bit outdated in light of how things are changing rapidly in the region every single day at the time I went on to say that I didn't think a ceasefire was feasible on November 1st nor likely unless and until the Jewish hostages were freed and and until Hamas also agreed to a seiz fire including against its own Palestinians only then can we save innocent lives stop the war and work toward healing and sustainable political Solutions between Israel and Palestine and I said that I have faith that peace will prevail and I still have that faith and I noted that I was heartened to see that Gaza civilians were allowed to flee South into Egypt and since then the humanitarian Corridor has been established and earlier today in the news don't know how true it is but it was reported widely that both sides are talking about a ceasefire hopefully it will be long lived however that being said and seil thank you also for your comments we recognize that we haven't spoken to you directly so I apologize to you as well we certainly do not want you to feel alienated not seen other less than Maplewood residents and neighbors we value you and all of life and we all want peace and unity as for the actions at the rally the other night which started as a peaceful Village and but vigil excuse me by the way the organizer had reached out to me about a month earlier about the event and I supported Dana I think her name is Dana I supp hi Dana hi there I supported you in in putting this peaceful vigil together I offered my support and assistance in any way that I could um the event was rescheduled to this past Sunday when I was not available to attend and I have condemned and will continue to condemn the hateful rhetoric that materialized there no one should be subjected to that no matter their ethnicity their beliefs their Heritage or any other identity they may have it is clearly an 100% unequivocally abhorent what will happen to us what is there if we burn everything down and we break each other apart what is there left nothing we need each other and so I will continue I'm not perfect I will continue working with you and you and everyone so that we can become more unified and we can work through this and I will listen I will listen to you and listen to you so that we are more informed so that we are building a community that is truly inclusive where everyone everyone is seen thank you we're now going to move on on with the rest of our agenda item number eight is an ordinance on Final excuse me excuse me excuse me no let's not do that for a minute we can't just go from that to the agenda are there other members of the township committee who wish to make a comment about this you don't have to I want to offer space please Deputy Mayor angle I was going to talk about this in my report a little bit but I guess I will talk about it right now um FIA I am sorry that I never wrote you back we should meet and talk one-on-one I apologize for that um I'm Jewish I'm proud of my Jewish Heritage I talked in my swearing in ceremony that I never really even thought about how my Judaism plays a part in me being elected until I was on the campaign Trail and met many people of Jewish faith who were really happy to see somebody running for someone Jewish running for Town Council because it had been a really long time since there was representation and so I started thinking a lot about what Judaism means to me and the biggest takeaway that I've ever had is the community this loving giving Community where you know that you're supported and where you're surrounded by people who want to give back to other people in the community because that's the values you know it's giving it's it's it's being good I think on both sides we all agree on that I'm so saddened by what is happening in our community us here us five Us in the audience this is centuries long conflict going on in the Middle East that none of us are going to solve but we have each other because we are one community and just the divisions that are happening the hateful speech that are coming on social media in person what I heard at that rally it's just it makes me so sad because we live in Maplewood and South Orange we are progressing we believe in the good of people we we believe in helping people and it's just really sad to me to see that our neighbors are going after each other in such disgusting hateful ways so I hope that we can all just figure out a way to talk civil with each other we're not going to agree about everything there's no way this is politics we're never going to be agree about everything but at the end of the day our kids are in school together we're walking the same street streets together three of us at least three of us in this room live on Bowden Street which was talked about in that public comment and see those cars wi wizzing by right we're all in this together so I just hope that we can remember that we're all human beings we're living here together and that we should just try to be thankful that we have each other thank you okay we're going to move on now number eight ordinance on Final passage ordinance number 3111 d23 Miss fritson uh yes mayor ordinance number 3111 d23 is an ordinance to amend classification of employment positions within the township of Maplewood and to establish salary ranges for employees this ordinance will revise classification of employment positions and salaries within the township of Bap consistent with a revision of the table of organization established within the Township of May board this ordinance has been published copies posted on the bulletin board in municipal building and copies made available to the general public in accordance with the law being that this is a uh ordinance on Final passage it triggers an opportunity for the public to comment on it so I'm going to open the public hearing are there members of the public here with us in person who wish to comment on this ordinance seeing none we'll see if there's anyone online Mr warry if any members of the public would like to speak in public portion please raise your hand now I see no hands mayor we'll close the public hearing members of the township committee any comments I will merely note that this is the result of a salary survey that was done um to build a better work culture here at the township we had heard from our employees that there were uh salary uh inequities across the board and we looked at them um and this new ordinance establishes new classifications uh that pay people better and pay people what they're worth and we're really really proud of it so with that I will move this ordinance to adopted as a whole and the clerk be directed to publish the same as a passed ordinance in the Maplewood South Orange News Record according to the law second Adams yes M crate yes Mr DeLuca yes SLE yes mayor daff yes thank you we have no new ordinances to introduce so now we're going to move over to the cdbg Ada um presentation by Community director director community development director Anette DePalma Mr dep Palma welcome thank you um good evening members of the township committee uh as you know the township applies for a Community Development block grant every year it's uh HUD funds administered through Essex County among the things that the uh the grant funds are public improvements to uh public building and infrastructure to bring them in compliance with the Ada the Americans with Disability Act um this year we are applying for curb Cuts uh curb cuts are at every intersection we are required to make them compliant with the Ada um the curb cuts that we have installed um before with some assistance from cdbg include detectable warning surfaces um and intersecting sidewalks and sidewalk panels they meet accessibility regulations and um we are this year going to install them at various Township uh intersections we don't have the exact locations yet we don't have the exact number that we are applying for yet what we try to do is um uh have these curb Cuts be installed in connection with our road program so uh if we're going through and Paving a couple of blocks of a street obviously those are the curb Cuts uh at those intersections along that street that make the most sense to do so we do construction one time uh we did apply for curb cut uh funding from the from the county uh two years ago in the 2022 Grant this is for the 20 24 Grand by the way we got the entire amount we asked for which was 103 $193,000 and um that funded um either 53 or 55 curb cuts and the ulary uh concrete work you know labor costs are higher material costs are higher we don't know if we're going to be able to do as many but obviously we're going to try for as many as possible this is a public hearing which is required by Hud the first of two it's been noticed in the newspaper wonderful anybody have any questions nope okay then um part of the requirement for the application also is that we get uh names addresses and signatures from people who are present at the hearing um I'm going to pass this around to to um the folks that are here and then I'll pass this off to Mr weary and he can make sure that um we all sign him that you sign as well mayor you should Mr pal yes you should open this up to the public to see yes I was about to yeah yeah y so are there members of the public here with us who wish to comment or ask questions about this grant are there members online any members of the public on Zoom would like to speak in public portion please raise your hand now do we need to get those names and addresses I see no hands mayor okay there will be a second and final hearing at our next TC meeting which is on December 5th okay uh Mr Palmer is that it uh yes thank you okay Mr doeser anything else okay great mayor I think we should make sure we get the names and I think when we Deb and I were just talking about I think last year when it was all on Zoom we got the name in the chat yeah attendees on Zoom so can you do a Mari Amari will do a snapshot Deputy clerk Allah will do a snapshot they need addresses or no just names okay we're going to move on um we have a report from from um the CFO as to the status of our current budget as of October 2023 uh previously published available in hard copy here tonight as well for anyone who's interested this takes us to administrative reports Township administrator warry thank you mayor uh first an update on police vehicle purchases um we had can you speak up Mr wary yes the township committee had approved the purchase of four police vehicles over the past three years um they were one in 2021 and three in 2022 those were for hybrid Ford Explorer police vehicles unfortunately Ford has not made those since we ordered them back starting in 2021 and we were in discussion with the uh the dealers and the Ford reps and they may not be or they definitely will not start production until August September of next year at the earliest so if the Township committee um is aable we would like to come back to you at the next meeting with a uh with resolutions to cancel those four purchases and to purchase three full gas Dodge Durangos and one fully electric uh Ford Mach e similar to the uh the electric vehicle that we have now we've requested pricing on those Vehicles unfortunately uh Ford was unable to give us pricing uh before today's meeting uh but we expect to have that before the next meeting and would like to present that to the township committee for their consideration the uh next update we have we have a discussion on that you like you want a motion to do that right yes I'm gonna since we don't have pricing we're GNA come back next I understand that but if we're not going to do it there's no sense of you get getting the pricing right that's correct yeah so I would say I understand you know our commitment is to um convert the fleet to electric and and hybrid but we need police cars yes um this is just a situation I think we have to go out and buy them as your as your proposal so I would support your proposal a reason we ow that they've do they have regular sedans anymore or is it always a big Durango that gets eight miles they now as when it goes to Ford uh Ford does not make a sedan anymore in the Police Package just make the Interceptor SUV there are some other sedans but generally departments are going towards larger Vehicles Dodge makes a charge but even those they're phasing out so the concern is you buy them now how long will they be there um for so really the only viable options um are are SUVs for departments now yeah the biggest possible SUVs well I mean yeah there are a lot larger ones I mean I think the Interceptor the Ford Interceptor is on the smaller range as is the Dodge Durango and again included with this proposal is one fully electric Ford Maki right I mean we got to do what we got to do but I'd be interested in the pricing too yep any other questions comments there was a motion I will second the motion can we get a roll call please M Adams yes M K yes Mr DeLuca yes Miss SLE yes mayor daffis yes thank you thank you um otherwise we are currently hiring for four positions so I'd encourage any uh members of the township committee or the public who are aware of people uh interested to to relay to them they could go to our website under residence and look at open jobs those are uh those positions are Fleet mechanic registered environmental health specialist Revenue administrative assistant and crossing guards for the Thanksgiving holiday this week we will be closed on Thursday and Friday of this week um we will not be running Jitney service or or have the recycling center open for those days and obviously Town Hall will be closed for those days and lastly I was invited to speak at the Hilton neighborhood association meeting last week I was glad to attend they had a uh a good turnout and we had a productive conversation that is my report thank you mayor thank you Mr warry any questions for the township administrator from the township committee will there be a number available if there are residents who have concerns or something that they need an answer for on F on on the Friday obviously not on the Thursday it's a holiday Town Hall will be closed so there will be no non-emergency um support on Thursday and Friday of this week obviously any emergencies or any police matters at all can be referred to um the police department and they contact other Municipal departments as needed thank you you're welcome right but there will be a way to leave a voicemail yes absolutely as always and same with email yeah we just want to make that clear and there's also a way to file uh a complaint or or comment through our website can you tell us how to do that yeah on our website there is a report a concern function so any uh resident any member of the public can go to that and they can report things like uh potholes um sidewalks in need to repair dangerous trees you know issues with neighbors any types of disputes missed uh pickups and the the benefit of that function is you can put it in address you can tag it online you can attach a picture you can provide a description and on our side we receive that depending on how you classify the uh the category of your complaint it gets automatically routed to the proper department and their uh emails are sent out to everybody who is responsible for that area and there's a way that we can track internally that those issues get resolved so it's a really a helpful function not just for the public but also for the township terrific thank you thank you Mr warry uh we'll move over to hear from legal Mr deseria good evening do you have an update good evening mayor I have no report this evening it's good to have you in person and good to see that you're recovering from your new your new replacement have seen as they say mayor great fantastic um any questions for Mr deser from the township committee all right uh we'll move over to our Township Clerk Miss fritson ah thank you mayor so the first thing I want to report on is a extremely successful Veterans Day our 20th annual that we had right in this room on Saturday uh November 11th and it was well attended the uh participants were excellent this C thank you so much for participating it was great to have you uh we also as you know had uh the Maplewood VFW 10120 uh our Maplewood uh concert community band which was 40 or 45 musicians strong really makes a difference um when we can have it on a Saturday or a Sunday um our our trumpet uh trumpeteer Bruno Lee and um again it was a a great great day and if you um came I thank you for attending and I uh look forward to uh this every year again uh well attended by our veterans and their families so um thank you all very much uh boarding committee uh contacts uh regarding those interested in continuing or not if their terms expire on December 31st of this year have gone out and that's something that we traditionally do uh each year is reach out to those um who are expiring to see if they're uh would wish to be considered by the township committee to be reappointed at the same time we contact the uh board and committee chairs and ask for an attendance record of each of their um participating uh members even if they're not expiring this year so thank you thank you mron in great job with the Veterans Day program it's very moving and thank you to Committee Member kpe she she did not only just participate as the rest of us on the township committee did she also led us in uh the invocation and benediction and you did a really wonderful job thank you any questions for our clerk from the township committee all right right okay reports from elected officials we'll start with the deputy mayor this evening I have no report okay um Committee Member victtor Luca thank you mayor I just wanted to let people know last week a number of us attended the league of municipalities convention down Atlantic City and Maplewood was uh in the news a lot down there um all good for good reasons um with sustainable Jersey we received a recertification of our silver um classification for our sustainability actions and we also received gold for health we're the third municipality in the state to get that and want to again acknowledge the work of um our health officer Candace Davenport and of course mayor you uh spoke at the mayor's wellness program there and um so that was all positive uh we our engineering team won second place in um in uh midsize municipalities in the state for our 44th Street rain garden and we were able to get an award there and in um the Department of Community Affairs uh shared Service uh session we were praised for the creation of the South Essex fire department both the commissioner of the Department of Community Affairs and the governor Zars for shared service spoke of our work and used it as a model in their presentation so kudos to Maplewood yes yes we got a lot of good attention at the league really proud of all of our work Committee Member Adams thank you mayor um I just want to remind people of the tree lighting in Maplewood Village is December second it's before our next meeting so I thought I'd mention that and just wish everyone um a Happy Thanksgiving and be grateful for our community and as Miss angle said and as you said mayor to um respect each other and bring each other closer and support each other we can't decide what happens in the Middle East obviously um but anyway I think most of us feel the same about the deaths that are happening um it's just a question of uh if people are in need of support then um we need to hear it and we need to to support everyone so that's all I but Happy Thanksgiving everybody thank you that's an important message we need to walk our talk so that no one in the community feels unseen that really really touched me when you said that it really really did and I want to talk to you afterward and for many days after that I don't want you to feel that way I don't want any of you to feel that way either Committee Member kpe thank you mayor um few things from Recreation just reminders that the fields have been closed as of yesterday for season and turf blankets have been put in place please don't remove them we've heard consistently from our residents that particular athletic families that they would like to have fields that they could play on and maintaining the care of them on offseason is very very important so please follow the rules and don't do anything to the fields um lots of classes lots of sports they're coming up please take a moment to visit our Recreation and Human Services websites as well as our arts and um and culture site uh one more thing to push out um estate and Healthcare planning is having a a some of Two Towns for all ages is having an estate and Healthcare planning workshop for our seniors in particular who may have uh questions and needs about future planning for their their their families and we would like for for them to be able to attend this as quickly as possible please visit our our website SO2 towns for all ages will be on December the 6th at 6 PM um in regards to all the passion and all of the feelings that came out tonight and everything I like mayor have a sincere apology not only to offer to our Jewish Community but also to our Palestinian Community um I had a off com offsite conversation with one of the SES of the letter and in it she explained to me in many ways how as Miss as Deputy Mayor Engel have said that there is no black and white in this there lots and lots of Grays and um she was in agreement we were in agreement together that a lot of the the passion that's coming right now is coming from a place of pain and folks don't want to hear about Grace when they're in pain they want to hear you hear me and and so my comments on the 11th were very much a black and white statement and I was wrong and I own that however I also had a luncheon with a good friend of ours um former committee Democratic Committee Member Nadal zuie a couple days afterwards and she came to me and said you were the first person who's reached out and asked me anything and that is absolutely othering we are supposed to be a community of people if we say hate has no home here it has no home here on all sides even when we're angry even we want to be black and white there is no black and white here and committee wom Adams is absolutely correct we're not going to solve what's going on in the Middle East here in Maplewood but we can damn sure act better about it there is no excuse for the doxing for the hateful signs for the screaming at people for the yelling of names there is no place for that in this town and if we can't get there you can't expect the country to get there excuse me we at least still have these conversations where they won't even bother we've got to do better as all of us and and I took end suggestion about getting more educated about it I'm currently in a class being taught by a Jewish wife and a Palestinian husband about the region they have family there they are invested I'm learning a ton and it is not black and white it is very gray so I ask that people be patient with each other be open be honest but be willing to hear something that may make you feel uncomfortable the only Innocents right now that are out there right now are the civilians that are hurting that are filing that that are being persecuted that are being kidnapped that are being assaulted that are being yelled at and called baby killers in front of their children my God I'm so sorry you had experience that we got to do better and it starts with us as Leaders so I I absolutely want to learn more please reach out please talk to me please let me know frankly when I mess up it's how we learn I'm a teacher I can take it so thank you that's beautiful thank you I have a few items um Maplewood tunnel lighting installation project update I it's been a while since uh we updated about this we had a meeting this morning with uh a member of our engineering staff and the Arts Council um we have approval to move forward with the concept that we have uh we have approval from NJ we have conditional approval from shipo the state historic preservation office um we're trying to get the conditional approval from our local HPC uh they're looking for technical requirements more technical detail that we do not have the next step would be to uh go out to bid for uh a designer who would create those technical details that they're looking for so we're hope hopeful to uh get that from for them to understand that soon uh so the next step is to bid out to a consultant to design this for us with greater and required technical detail the Arts Council remains uh an advisory stakeholder as does Rodger's University they're still very much engaged though the students who put the concept together have long since graduated and probably receive their AARP cards by now been a long time we've been talking about this project uh so um I'm looking for support from the committee here for us to uh go out to bid uh for a consultant to design this for us so we can get more technical detail that we can submit back to HBC and to shipo and sort of get an idea of what is this going to cost what's the labor what are the materials involved all we have right now is a concept any issues do we know how much it's going to cost to bring on this uh we do not but perhaps Mr warry if the if you have the support of the township committee you can get those details for users and report them back on the 5th absolutely okay are we good with that good good with that fabulous um njt pool parking lot lease um a meeting is being scheduled with njt leadership to discuss the lease renewal and a related possible project with them community board on police a successful retreat was had by the board um to discuss its 2024 priorities on Sunday uh and they will be reporting out to the community as they do an annual report uh on Tuesday of next week uh we will be meeting with the board of school estimate to assess the rising construction costs of the long range facilities plan uh tune in to that meeting it's a public meeting starting at 6 pm tomorrow those of us who are members of the school district Municipal partnership meeting we'll be uh discussing certain concerns among them crossing guards the long range facilities plan uh and the greenway projects in both Maplewood and South Orange among other topics last night kudos to our Maplewood arts and culture um manager Sally unsworth under the leadership of our community services director Melissa Manzo who partnered with pride plus from family connections and the Spectrum clubs from the middle schools and with NJ Pride uh to create a moving and Powerful trans day of remembrance uh ceremony at 1978 where uh the students this was very student centered and driven LED an art project honoring the memory of Marsha P Johnson and reading all of the names of those trans and non-binary persons we've lost to violence this year um it was really very powerful to hold space together Kudos again to Maplewood arts and culture for mapso Foles our first talent show it was hokey and a lot of fun and a huge success last Thursday night at the Woodland over 400 folks in attendance on a Thursday night it was wonderful amazing uh Committee Member duuke already spoke about the Honors that we received and the positive attend attention um at the league of municipalities we already mentioned the Veterans Day celebration that was a celebration to remember so you really have set the bar high for next year Miss fritzen just saying um we have a new manager in the Maplewood Village and we will be reporting next time about her and all the happenings in Maplewood Village this holiday season Committee Member Adams already reminded us of the tree lighting on the 2nd of December there will be uh manura lightings as well uh we have a manur lighting uh being scheduled in the village as we always do with Dickens Village but we also have a joint uh manur lighting both towns coming together on Monday December 11th um at the Gazebo uh on Springfield Avenue we had did the time that six o'clock six o'clock yep and we will send all this up stuff out uh shortly after the holiday this week we had um a painful but productive through pain comes growth like this meeting tonight like these difficult conversations through pain must come growth right we had such a meeting with various stakeholders of the community fridge Friends of the fridge uh business owners we addressed people's concerns we found common ground to strengthen our assistance to those experiencing food in security while meeting the needs of our businesses and our neighbors right by the community fridge and lastly I've already spoken tonight to address the conflict in the Middle East and the conflict among our neighbors here in S I will make one last appeal for kindness patience human centered approach in our Gatherings and conversations for peace and unity we are grateful to live in an Engaged diverse Community with diverse voices and spirited opinions let's not weaponize that or devalue it we are grateful for each other remember how we came together during covid we can do this now too here in Soma thank you that is my report all right moving right along here I move the consent agenda second Adams yes M K yes M DeLuca yes SLE yes mayor daffis yes this brings us to our second public comment period um and we welcome folks who are here with us in person to have first dibs and then we will transition to those who are online with us are there members of the public here in person who wish to speak seeing none in person Mr warry online anyone if any members of the public on Zoom would like to speak in public portion please raise your hand now I see no hands mayor okay then we will close the public comment period I move that we adjourn our meeting tonight and meet again together on December 5th second second second Mr Adams yes M K yes Mr DeLuca yes yes mayor daffis yes thank you and good evening friends happy thanks