[Laughter] tting thanks for coming Nick you didn't have to come in person but thanks for doing it get out of the house there a chance see human [Music] beings are we set we're ready to go all right let's do it pursuant to section five chapter 231 Public Law 1975 this is a 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 to regular meetings for 2023 to the news record in Star Ledger in December 2022 and by filing said notice in the office of the Township Clerk Mr Adams here m c here Mr DeLuca here Sangle here mayor daffis here whereas chapter 231 Public Law 1975 commonly known as the open public communities act requires R needs of public bodies open to the public and where 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 were desire the governing body to comply with the pro provision of this act same time to conduct its business in an orderly and expeditious manner now therefore be resolved by the township committee Township mwood that it does hereby prohibit except to set forth in the formal agenda active participation in the deliberations of the governing body by the public and accept as 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 special meeting meetings so moved second M Adams yes M K yes Mr DeLuca yes Miss Engle yes mayor daffis yes we have a very special guest we had a very special guest today here at Town Hall and uh we believe he is with us online mayor for the day Theodore berels is he with us Mr worry so let all right just a minute there Mr Mayor so we have invited him back this evening to lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance are you ready mayor yes of course all right let's do this let us rise to say the Pledge of Allegiance I pledge of allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all nicely done M gluten knock or as we say of English good night hope you have a good night do not leave us just yet Mr Mayor we have a special Proclamation we're going to read into the record in your honor uh but we thank you for leading us into uh starting our meeting with the Pledge of Allegiance you did a really nice job and I see that you are ready to take over with your special pauses uh in the Pledge of Allegiance like a me all right so welcome everyone to the December 5th 2023 uh meeting we remain uh fully hybrid uh one more meeting to go before the end of the year and the start of a new year uh as I mentioned we have a special proclamation in honor of our uh mayor for the day we have uh one appointment tonight for boards and committees Mr Lombardi is with us and he is eagerly uh you know waiting to be appointed on the Maplewood Fields committee we're here from him in a minute then we'll have our first public comment period of two the first public comment period is only for agenda items we will then hear from the Board of Health and we have a special presentation or two from the Board of Health this meeting uh and we're excited about that we have no ordinances on introduction or on Final passage this evening are we having this public hearing uh the second hearing for the cdbg grant sir I don't see Mr Palma but I I assume she will be arriving shortly for that or maybe she's joining us online to do that um then we have administrative reports we always follow the following order Township Administration Township legal Township Clerk the clerk's office and then we have our reports from elected officials tonight's order is Deputy Mayor angle followed by Committee Member DeLuca followed by Committee Member Adams followed by Committee Member kpe I always go last we have three discussion items this evening uh you you see them in the agenda that's been published juneth holiday annual reorganization meeting and we're going to have a presentation from one of our cannabis delivery uh applicants looking for local approval and then we have our consent agenda our second public comment period for any matter and then we will adjourn and meet for our last TC meeting of 20 23 on December 19th so um I will get us started with the land acknowledgement that we have been doing recently we acknowledge that we live on Stolen land thank you whoever did that the illumination is very helpful the land we now know we now occupy and know as New Jersey has been the home of the lenapi people for 14,000 years According to some estimates the township of Maplewood offers respect to the LPI people uh recognizes their forced diaspora throughout the region and throughout Delaware and acknowledges that the municipality was built on this small portion of the LPI hoking we honor the lenapi in New Jersey and Elsewhere for their environmental sustainability and their cultural resilience throughout our nation's history and we firmly commit ourselves to promoting the well-being and growth of New Jersey indigenous communities and to provide opportunities for indigenous peoples in our community in housing economic Mobility employment and cultural or artistic opportunity wonderful so for that with that we're going to have our special Proclamation as I mentioned we had a very special guest today Theodore verel who um is seven years old going very quickly on 47 this is a very smart young man um he uh um is at SMS South Mountain Elementary and his parents won a mayor for the day auction at sms's Casino Royale night uh many months ago and we've been trying to schedule this mayor uh for the Day celebration for him uh for many many months and we finally did it today he was here he took pictures we had his own name tag up here uh he met department heads the clerk gave him a wonderful um uh tour of the m girls here that tell the story of our town in this In This Very Room um and he also got to meet with different departments Public Works the uh police department and our fire department he got to see all their cool toys um but he really really loved sitting up here and he loved using the gavel and it was uh very hard to get him to go uh so he's ready to serve and I told him that I will serve as his campaign manager soon as he's ready to run for office so uh mayor for the day is an important opportunity for us to educate young persons about the responsibilities of their local government their operation the operations of the local government what a mayor and the governing body do uh Theodore Bell has won that chance to be Township of maplewood's mayor for the day earlier today he not only got to spend time in ask questions of of me but of other department heads within the township uh and as you all witnessed he led us in the Pledge of Allegiance this evening so in recognition um I therefore Dean daf as the mayor of the township on behalf of my colleagues on this fifth day of December 2023 am honored to present the special proclamation in recognition of our mayor for the day to Theodore berels uh and we hope that he was inspired today um and that he will uh continue doing really well in school and being good boy at home um and one day making the world a better place hopefully in government oh all right do you want to say one last thing there mayor well sometimes sometimes you just so how I got into Politics as I was oh yes please tell the world go ahead have a good night have a good night and so hi make it brief good night Mr Mayor and we'll see you out there in the community well done will he put his hands together well let me tell you a story he's a character his parents are lovely and um you know he sat up here and he told us this whole story about how he got involved how he's interested in government and politics in particular and he's a big history rebuff and he's studying different nations and different govern governments and he is seven years old okay that is adorable and very very exciting our future is bright okay so um this brings us to an appointment to one of our boards and committees the the fields committee and we're really delighted to have uh Nicholas Lombardi with us tonight uh Nick come on up to the podium please thank you for being with us introduce yourself and tell us why you're interested in serving on the fields committee oh hold on let me turn it off let's just make sure that thing is on first I see it can you hear me yes we can thank you for having me good evening my name is Nick Lombardi uh I am interested in being on the fields committee uh by nature of my involvement with cougar soccer I've been a volunteer on the board a coach I run the academy program for our youth I've been doing that for about two years now so spend a lot of my extra hours doing that uh either with my kids kids or with kids in the community um I grew up playing soccer my whole life I've been on a field most years I still play uh as much as I possibly can with my schedule um and I you know I recognize that we have some issues on our Fields access to the fields um condition of the fields how often they get closed and we are really interested in trying to find uh solutions to move forward to make the fields better whatever they may be working with the rest of the people in the community to figure out the best way to do that wonderful thank you for willing to serve the community and volunteer in this manner I'm going to turn it over to our Deputy Mayor Deborah angle for a motion I move to appoint Nicholas Lombardi as the cougar soccer representative on our Fields committee I'll suck in your motion Adams I don't know I have some hesitation with this appointment um but his daughters are adorable so I'm going to vote yes thank you n you're welcome okay so just for the record out there folks that was a joke my next door neighbor that was a joke okay so we were about to have a roll call roll call please uh so we had a affirmative vote from Mr we have an affirmative yes K yes Mr DeLuca yes M angle yes mayor D thank you and congratulations Nick and thank you you very much I look forward to it appreciate it y you're welcome to stay you have nothing else to do at homey to do I'm sure you do I'm sure you do pleasure pleasure all right this brings us to our first public comment period of two this is for agenda items only yeah it's on agenda items yeah I'm about to call welcome energized all right um so we are going to start with people who are here in person first Mr warry and then we'll uh move over to folks who are joining us online and I believe we already have someone here who's welcome welcome please state your name and let us know what it is you want to remark about har I'm from Maplewood I think most of you know me um I call on Maplewood Town Council to support a ceasefire resolution in addition to your anti-Semitism and islamophobic um discussion item tonight um I don't want to be complicit in the genocide of Palestinians it's not hyperbole this the Israeli government has publicly and brazenly uh declared their intention to commit war crimes and over 800 genocides Scholars have signed on to open an open letter calling for this a textbook case of genocide I don't want to remain silent as 2.2 million Palestinian people half of whom our children are being held under a brutal Siege with no food water fuel or electricity all while being constantly bombed in an open air prison one of the most densely populated places in Earth uh they don't know if any second if they're going to live or die Israel is bombing hospitals un schools universities churches Moss residential homes bread lines and bombing the area where they told 1 million people to evacuate to forc displacement as part of genocide the death toll is staggering and nowhere near complete as so many people are unaccounted for under the rubble estimates estimates are over 16,000 and close to 20,000 basically the population of South Orange or Maplewood um 80% of the victims are women and children and over 40,000 have been injured the dehumanization of Palestinians is Fen in a very dangerous environment for your Palestinian and Muslim constituents your own resolution said you stood with the Jewish Community but you only called to avoid civilian casualties and allow access to aid for Gaza will you also stand with your Palestinian constituents and show support by calling for a ceasefire people from marginalized groups affected by colonialism and white supremacy are watching this moment carefully and with great clarity as our San neighbors Justified genocide this is not a war this is not a religious conflict this didn't start October 7th it's 75 years of a brutal occupation maintained by apartheid and ethnic cleansing Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International call the system of Oppression and domination against Palestinians apartheid conditions that Nelson Mandela said were worse than the apartheid they experienced in South Africa Israel receives billions in military aid from the US money that could go towards Education Health Care or finally fixing all the New Jersey Transit delays that we've had which have been horrific it's not anti-semitic to stand against genocide some of the strongest solidarity has from anti-zionist Jewish people when they say never again they mean never again for everyone you are not a terrorist for supporting Palestinians who want to live in Freedom with equal rights on their land you're you just did a land acknowledgement um at the start of the meeting you pledge liberty and justice for all did you mean it uh New Jersey Congress members Donald Payne Jr and Bonnie Watson Coleman signed on to the ceasefire resolution how many people have to die before our representative Mikey Cheryl signs on don't let yourself be intim inated about speaking out against genocide and apartheid you are on the right side of History free Palestine ceasefire now and I have um a ceasefire resolution that Oakland California just passed I can give it to to the clerk thank you thank you for your comments uh are there any other folks here in person who wish to comment during this public comment portion seeing none in person we will move over to online can we give it another little time that was quick okay seeing none we will close this public comment period there will be a second public comment period to the end of our meeting this uh allows us to segue into our Board of Health meeting and I'm going to turn things over to our deputy mayor who is the chair of the Board of Health Deputy Mayor Engle thank you mayor pursuant to section five chapter 231 pl1 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 municip on of the municipal building by mailing the annual notice of regular meetings for 2023 to the news record and Star Ledger in December 2022 and by filing said notice in the office of a Township Clerk M Adams here M CR here mayor daffis here Mr DeLuca here M angle here where chapter 231 public laws of 1975 countly known as the open public meds act requires the openings of public bodies be open to the public and whereas section 7A provides that the Board of Health has it discretion to permit prohibit or regulate the active participation of the public at any meeting and where desire the Maplewood board Health to comply with the provision this act same time to conduct its business in an orderly and exped expeditious manner now therefore be resolved by the Maplewood Board of Health Township of Maplewood does hereby prohibit except to set forth an informal agenda active participation in the deliberations of the Board of Health by the public and accept as otherwise subcribed by La does limit the public to observations of the actions and discussions of the Board of Health at all its regular and special meetings so moved second Miss Adams yes m c yes mayor daffis yes Mr Luca yes Miss angle yes thank you I move the approval of the bo meeting minutes from November 8th 20123 second Adams yes Miss CR yes mayor dais yes Mr DeLuca yes Miss angle yes now I turn it over to our health officer Miss Davenport hello good evening everyone this is the last Board of Health presentation for the year so it's very exciting um Mar if you could forward for me oh um super I can forward myself awesome all right um I'm gonna speed through my portion of the presentation all important and it'll all be on our Township website but I do want to get to uh my colleague Sarah Taylor who has some really great information to share with you I I just want to remind everyone speaking on that mic that take pauses move closer no take pauses don't speak quickly because it's hard for the recording to pick everything up for folks who are watching online because there's a bit of an echo on that mic unlike our mics up here oh good okay yeah just keep that in mind thank you so this has been a great year starting with our mayor's well on this campaign uh the last walk with the mayor event will be December 16th at mapel Crest park at 10:00 a.m. so please join our mayor um and have a great conversation with him as you get some exercise tomorrow there's going to be an estate and healthare planning uh Zoom presentation uh with two towns for all ages this is part of the mayor's Wellness campaign and the conversation of your life initiative that we're doing this is going to be a great presentation and it is free all residents should participate because it's important information as you talk about um end of life issues and what uh should be done uh for everyone's choices another great reason why this was a great year was because at the league of municipalities um earlier last month um I presented on behalf of our professional organization in jao but also mayor daf has presented on behalf of the mayor's Wellness campaign so thank you to every everyone who supported us in doing that it was also a great year because Maplewood received sustainable Jersey gold star in health um we were the first and only um municipality in the state to receive a gold star in health recognition for this year um and we were the only one um who was less than 30,000 in population so I just want to say thank you to um our Administration and to our elected officials to my department heads and my colleagues and everyone who's um part of the Community because uh we were recognized for all the good work that we do in health speaking of Health um next next time we're gonna beat Woodbridge though yes yes we have to get there before Woodbridge always always um speaking of good health we assisted um providing Thanksgiving food baskets we provided 12 food baskets to uh members of our community the this was a coordinated effort with the Maplewood Women's Club Club South Essex fire department and the health department uh so I just want to say thank you to um the school district uh schools that supported and distributed them with us um and thank you to uh the Cronin family for delivering the pies and grocery store gift cards they made families very happy this Thanksgiving speaking of food we just want to remind everyone that the uh Essex County final Grocery Giveaway will be held on December 2 first moving on to the next section of environmental health this is the uh rundown of our services for environmental health this uh this November I just want to highlight the 27 complaints that our staff have needed to address most of those are due to lack of heat hot water and or noise pollution here's a recipe for the holidays um just reminding people to get vaccinated wear a mask stay home if you're sick hand soap use hand sanitizer communicate whether you're coming with a cough or not and save travels to all I love that if you haven't taken a food uh thermometer to your last turkey these are the temperatures that you should use uh to make sure that your food is safe and we can avoid food poisoning this holiday season that's awesome right um and again we have as as part of environmental health we want to promote that keep hot foods hot and cold foods cold notice the buffet so again if you're going to a buffet this uh holiday season make sure that you keep the hot foods hot and cold foods cold and we also have 12 days of safety um part of our Initiative for uh 2024 in the health department is to focus on injury prevention um all of these images by the way are available to the elected officials if you'd like to distribute them through your um channels or social media uh they're very um amenable to being shared and moving on to dog and cat licenses which as you know we do these annually dog and cat licensing is very important because it helps us not only to keep a Census count of how many dogs and cats we have in our community which has increased by the way since we've um since Co um but it also helps us because everyone who has a license has to have an active rabies vaccine so this is super important because in 2023 we had 36 dog bites this is a from last year where we had 24 and in the prior two years in 2020 and 2021 we only had 10 so we've seen a a big increase in this and when people call us because they've gotten bitten they want to know if that dog who is a resident of Maplewood has their uh rabies vaccine and if their license were able to provide them with that information and that gives a lot of con uh consolation to someone knowing that they don't have to get um post exposure prophylaxis so please get your dog cat licensed before January 31st of next year this is interesting so there's an increased canine respiratory illness in the United States it's a highly contagious upper respiratory infection for dogs one of the recommendations um by the federal health agencies is to avoid high-risk situations such as boarding dog kennels or dog parks and sharing bowls we want to make sure that they are healthy as well moving on to communicable and infectious diseases our nursing report we had uh three reportable diseases that were investigated uh last month covid-19 vaccine is also available and we want to make sure that people are able to find a covid vaccine location you can go to vaccines. goov to find your covid vaccine location covid-19 in New Jersey is considered low based on the hospitalization rates that we have but if you've been following uh national news you'll notice that the numbers have been going up in hospitalizations so we will be keeping a close monitor on that um everyone here should have received the covid test kits just to emphasize and show everyone see it's so glossy and awesome we do have these free covid test kits available for residents uh to take these are good things to um test before you visit someone who might be at high risk for Contracting covid just to make sure that you are um all good to go because this is respiratory season we have to talk about flu and RSV as we've been talking about for the last two months you can receive your flu shots at Town Hall we still have those available and we also give free homebound flu vaccinations to um anyone as as well as covid vaccinations when we have them so we have flu vaccines if anyone needs them that are Homebound and again just a reminder for RSV vaccination this is available for those 16 and over may get the vaccine but especially recommended for our seniors who are 75 years and older they can talk to their healthcare provider for more information Essex County is offering their mobile health clinic but only flew vaccines at this time and these dates are available um on their website they go up until December 9th so next week however this is a big news for them they're now offering vaccines for children um Thursday December 12th and they hope to do this once a month if not weekly open to all Essex County residents so we have informed our School nurses and our childcare centers that if anyone needs mandatory vaccinations to enter school they can get them there but they do have to register because it's by appointment only and they have limited capacity but if there is a need they will continue to provide more more services on a weekly basis moving on to Social Services and mental health um there is a winter termination program through the DCA um from November 15th through March 15th you can prevent your heating to be cut off if you sign up for this uh winter termination program to assist you with payment of utilities so for those of you who um could use this service please take advantage of it and if you need assistance you can call the department will be happy to assist you in signing up and registering for this um helpful service as a reminder as I've been mentioning um access to care is available because people have health insurance just to note that Medicare open enrollment will end in two days on December 7th so please sign up for um Medicare open enrollment if you are eligible and for those who have a New Jersey family care renewal p please check the mail because they're not sending it to you electronically and if you don't renew then you don't get insurance um after December of this year and so we want to make sure that people are healthy and keep um keep healthy by keeping all of their medications away and out of sight um one statistic that you may have heard me say before is that 70% of those who have an opioid addiction um started because they had access to someone's medication in their home so um that could be your your um family member you know your visiting your grandparents please keep um all medications out of sight and again just a reminder people can go to the Maplewood Police Department Lobby and deposit um any dispose of any used or expired medication just to get them out of sight and out of your home for the holidays um here at uh 1681 Springfield Avenue which is the police department and they're open 24 hours a day 7 days a week uh lastly just a reminder of um a an image that we created these are the uh crisis numbers that people should know about surprisingly lots of people don't know about these numbers everyone knows about 911 but they may not know about 988 so during the holidays Mental Health crisis uh can come about actually in more frequency unfortunately so please advocate for people to use the 988 number all of these numbers are available 24 hours a day um 7 days a week for mental health and emergencies Social Services as we've talked about is the 211 number and of course poison control is Nationwide and that's 800222 1222 all of these numbers should be programmed um in every kid cell phone uh because this is a really great information to have and lastly for those who have family members who are visiting over the holidays or who have suffered an injury and need recovery we do have a free medical enrollment loner program so we've had this um program for a long time but we do want to Advocate that if anyone needs a wheelchair or walker uh to help them recover or to assist a family member who's visiting to be mobile and enjoy the holidays please contact us and we're happy to uh pay it forward so this is the main part of the presentation and um I just want to introduce my colleague Sarah Taylor she is our local Health Outreach coordinator at the health department and she's going to give you some great information um about herself but also about the data that she's able to find on behalf of the health department I just want to say that Sarah Taylor is the future of Public Health in that um she is able to analyze um and use data and um pick out metrics so that we can measure what we do um and really Target those uh priority populations which she will go into and she's also able to implement the Outreach so as we're getting out of co co made us realize that there are priority populations and we really need to get to them um how we get to them is going to be through the support of the township and through um some of the great services that she's able to partner with so without further Ado I'm going to pass it over to Sarah Taylor thank you brought help huh hi thank you for having me up here today so before we get started I want to tell you a little bit about me I am a local resident just make sure you're speaking into the mic yeah there you go there we go you may have to lean in on occasion I'm sorry one these days we will have an appropriate mic we're not there yet but yeah please go ahead I'm a local resident I've lived here for a little over a year and a half and I've also been with the health department for about six months now I'm about to start my final semester in my Master's in public health at NYU we're so close uh and then I received my bachelor's in public health from the University of Alabama roll tide uh and that is my dog JJ you might see her running around events in the town excellent so today I'm going to talk take a little time to tell you about the strengthening local public health capacity Grant we receive through the New Jersey Department of Health this is our third year with the Grant and originated during covid pandemic as a way for local Health departments to increase their ability to respond to the pandemic and other emergency situations over the past years or so they've begun the transition for the grant to focus on all infectious disease response Outreach to Priority populations and support my role in the health department is the local Health Outreach coordinator so I work closely with each person in our health department and while I sometimes classify my role role as the Jackie of all Health Department trades I break my job down into three specific roles I work as a social services liaison community health education and Outreach programs coordinator and the grant reporter finally before we dive into this presentation I want to take a moment to discuss didn't CLI there to discuss two key terms the first is priority populations also known as vulnerable populations uh these are groups of people that are at risk underserved or inequitably affected by health or social issues and the other we're going to talk about is social determinants of Health these are the non-medical factors that influence Health outcomes a few examples of these are physical environment economic stability food culture and education later in the presentation I'm going to go over a few specific examples and how they are in our community local Health departments as you may know face limited local and on-site capacity so because of this it's really important for us to network build Community Partnerships and secure further funding a big part of our grant is increasing our ability to link people to Social Services I created this chart as a way to show how one of my cases went they all pretty much follow the similar pattern with changes in the resources and Community Partners utilized according to the resident specific needs this particular Resident was connected with us through a community partner once I met with them we identified that their primary needs were food in security and employment from here they applied for snap and after that we were able to get them connected to mind on the move with OS Our Lady of sorrow's church and mind this allows for them to get weekly grocery deliveries while they're waiting on their SNAP benefits to get approved um and as you also may know this is not a short process waiting on any benefits to get approved and uh they were ultimately feeling really lost in the government process they were calling repeatedly hitting brick walls um thankfully Essex County has the coordinated entry hotline and through this hotline they were actually able to reach out to the offices and get them their snap applications pushed through um so after that they're like on the last few weeks of mend on the Move deliveries they receive snap and we connect them with extensive community and employment resources and below is just an example of the few Community Partners in this specific situation now that we've discussed the general flow of my process with residents I'd like to talk to you a bit about the rapid Public Health assessment I completed as a part of my position within the grant this assessment allowed for me to examine the needs of our community and identify Solutions and Community Partners one of the main resources I utilized while conducting research for this was City Health dashboard City Health dashboard's interesting it essentially standardizes and Aggregates all the data on Health by City uh it provides City and census track level data on over 40 measures of Health outcomes determinance and Equity this has traditionally only been available for cities with a population greater than 50,000 uh this year however was their first year with a put us on the map challenge which allowed for cities or townships with a population between 3,000 and 50,000 uh to apply to be added to the dashboard uh we were one of the town selected and are now one of the 950 included on the dashboard and it went live this summer this is available for everyone it's free and open information you just go to www.health dashboard.com and you can look up your city and compare it with others as well uh these resources are really important because the county and state can only scrape the surface of data collection and presentation the City Health dashboard has allowed me to examine our Municipal level data data to identify priority pockets and communities within Maplewood that are easier to miss when only viewing data at the township level over the next few slides I'm going to show you a couple of examples of health indicators that they utilized and how I examined them for my assessment these two charts are just a couple of examples that they include the first is the percent of population less than 65 years old who were uninsured in 2021 were about 89% of our population fall under less than 65 years of age the second shows the percentage of adults age 65 and up that report receiving preventive services in 2020 I selected these two specific examples because at first glance on a Township level we did score particularly well against other dashboard cities and this is wonderful and it shouldn't be minimized by any account and this is the extent to which the data would be viewed on a county level my job is the local Health Outreach coordinator for Maplewood is to dive deeper into this within my role I know we have communities in Maplewood where this isn't necessarily representative I was able to take this data break it down on a census and Community level to individually analyze the insurance rates and preventative rates for each Community after examining examining this I was able to see that there are communities and neighborhoods in Maplewood where their specific uninsurance rates are actually as high as 10.3% of that given neighborhood interesting the same applies to preventative Services for 65 plus statistics while on a Township level 41.3% of older adults in our town report receiving those Services there are communities where only 35.7% of that specific neighborhood received them this is why data and dat data analytics are so important in my position we may score well as a town and that's great but the distribution of services isn't always equitable from these measures I've been able to pinpoint exactly where we should be focusing our attention and pushing resources and building out interventions another big part of our health assessment was looking at some of the social determinants of Health those non-medical factors I mentioned earlier uh these affect our communities in unique ways and while the chart on my actual assessment is much more expansive I chose three to share with you today uh and a few of the shortterm strategies we use to mitigate this the first is Healthcare access we talked a little about it before but for this we offer Health screenings we connect people to federally qualified health centers for their vaccinations and physicals and we also offer mental health screenings and services connections to the services the second here is language barriers according to census data for Maplewood 21.4% of our population actually speaks a language other than English at home um so because of this we're sure to translate our community resource guides and other resources into Haitian Creole and Spanish the third determinant I identified is community engagement Community engagement in the Civic process and general knowledges of service isn't always spread equitably the civic participation is associated with improved Health uh it also promotes inclusion and affirms identity within your community so for this we table at local events WE Network and we send out weekly resource newsletters to keep people connected to what's available to end our time together tonight I want to focus on the key points I identified for myself in the department for 2024 I utilized healthy people 2030 to choose a few of their objectives to work for in our community if you're not familiar with it healthy people 2030 sets data- driven National objectives to improve health and well-being over the following decade my three key Focus points for 2024 are to prioritize injury prevention and Community safety this includes accidental injury motor vehicle suicide overdose and workplace injury just to name a few improve health well-being and inclusion in people with disabilities uh about one in six people have some sort of disability in Maplewood uh and also the prevention of drug and alcohol use in adolescence and adults uh Maplewood has about 18.15% prevalence uh in binge drinking wow can you show that again I'm sorry I think that's important yeah so uh the drug and alcohol use in adolescence and adults in maplehood wow that's really telling very much so um so for this uh I could sit here all night and tell you our proposed and upcoming programs we want to utilize but I'm going to share just a few uh and I also chose these just they're relevant issues in our Township they align with our new master plan and they also align with national goals for Progress a couple that I'm bringing here for injury prevention are safety towns it's a safety program with Safe Kids of Essex County which helps through kind of a field day game environment teach kids about pedestrian bike home and water safety uh and we're also partnering with project best with the New Jersey Department of Human Services to bring glaucoma screening for older adults uh we're partnering with S 2 towns for this as well uh undiagnosed or untreated glaucoma can lead to risk of Falls depression and also loss of ability to perform daily activities we're also working uh this one Falls more under our uh prevention of drug and alcohol use we're working to expand our Municipal Alliance our Town's Municipal Alliance Works to promote mental social and physical health of our community members for an environment free of drug and alcohol misuse these two Graphics are actually a part of the membership campaign we've begun uh the left is for General members and the one on the right was targeted for youth uh and since launching this campaign we have added our first youth member to the alliance and I really look forward to our 2024 year uh working with them to receive their valuable thoughts opinions and ideas about how we can better get out there in the community with it that is the end of my presentation for tonight I want to thank the township committee for your continued support in our drive to improve map Wood's health and well-being uh we look forward to another great year of support and seeing you at our events Sarah tellor let's give it up Sarah if you were nervous it was not obvious at all my goodness that was fantastic thank you thank you yeah thank you very much that's great information yes thank you I was going to say the same thing you give a very good um presentation so thank you so much do I have any questions for either Miss Taylor or Miss Davenport from any of my TC colleagues um I have a couple questions if I may um I'm gonna go all over the map based on the presentation uh and then a couple things that came up this week in the community you know what I'm going to say right Health officer Tav Port um there were a few coyote sightings uh definitely coyotes and not foxes um so I think we need to have the what do you do when you see one information readily available on the website even for someone like myself I was struggling to get the number I was calling the County you know and it was a hot mess in that moment in time and of course by the time we got to someone they were gone and they couldn't locate them so um we need to have that information on the website readily available is there anything you wanted to remark on the record about that no I'm just making aite right right and then generally just having also some advice on Behavior right uh on the website about that don't engage don't try to feed uh don't be aggressive with um you know that kind of thing right okay um run the other way right yeah I I'm not sure if you should run right because they might you know yeah did you want to say anything about that no no no uh we do have information on animal uh control and interaction with Wildlife on our website but coyotes um are a new thing for us you know we usually see like raccoons or badgers or the occasional Fox but coyotes are a little bit more unpredictable so we will definitely bring that to the Forefront of our website so that people know what the process is for reporting fantastic um the other issue I want to bring to your awareness the other issue I want to bring to your awareness is that um I've been in a couple of different settings this week where uh in which folks have come up to talk about feral cats that our population has increased okay um and they think that we need to do more uh outside of our relationship with Bloomfield and Animal Control to sort of take a handle on that uh and that may include uh re-engaging some former Volunteers in this and finding a way to partner with them um so that they can get on top of it anything you want to say about that if you have contact information for those volunteers we'd love to meet with them in the new year and oh I think you know who they are yes and so do you yes because we can't do anything um regarding feral cats without the help of Volunteers in the community right um they are feral and so they they populate and we really do need um hands on the ground and because uh Bloomfield has been fantastic Animal Control they are not local and so if we can have the help and assistance with our volunteers and create a coordinated process be happy to do that wonderful I have a model out of West Orange that folks have asked us to consider so I will forward you that information perhaps at the next Board of Health meeting in the new year you can report on on that yes if you're willing um the City Health dashboard so I'm really excited that we're on that because last year as you remember Health officer Davenport when we were at the league of municipalities and I was giving a presentation about our health assessment we weren't allowed to be on the dashboard yet because we we were not municipality above 50,000 in population so I'm glad that we're on there so what kind of information do we have access to right now and how are we using that data or information Sarah hi okay so once you click on there you could see it a little bit on the screen you'll essentially type your Town's name in and then it brings a whole list so you can look at anything from Health factors such as high blood pressure heart disease diabetes like a whole range and you click on each one and the dashboard's great because it really presents everything in a clear way uh and it also explains what each measure means and the check marks and the lines uh from there you can break the data down there it'll be with a click of a button you can look at it on a map uh and see how it kind of is spread you can also pretty much compare two different factors and see how they correlate uh so it's really interesting there's things like that there's also so uh what are some there's also social factors I know so just yeah you don't have to remember everything bench drinking is on there I know there's a lot uh I if I recall correctly there's also environmental factors yes that affect Community Health and Wellness for instance um they have heat map data and and um cool mappings or and models that we can look at I think those those are really important for us to tease out in our different subcommittees I think as we look to prioritize things for um 2024 and 2025 our initiatives and policy decisions we have a lot more data not only from City Health dashboard not only from City Health dashboard but from Essex County but also from um the State Health Department and the state D work together to look at Community um indicators and so that's another great resource that has those heat Maps so um we are working with you know environmental advisory committee and and um other department heads with that information and if they need it we'll be happy to share them and send them to um those websites but we're all about data because that's going to drive where we go and where our initiatives and programs are dedicated to wonderful thank you those are all my questions can you send those links to us too sure yeah yeah I mean I think it would be really good at a department head meeting if you just shared it and talked about that because I'm thinking you know Miss dep is going to come up here in a few minutes and talk about proposals cdbg is probably demographic information you know we're we're talking about um tree planting and the heat map stuff and all that kind of and then of even the uh the language issues because you know we go door to door and hand out stuff your Street's going to be paved and things like that and we ought to be aware of what how we should be targeting uh communities and if you have that information already it's just there for FKS yes thank you my microphone you're back on I have to touch it touch this yeah that's good can you hear me now you can hear me though yeah yeah I think let's not create a silo with this information let's distribute it widely internally so that we can make the best use of it yeah multiple departments can use different parts of it you know Recreation uh police department engineering flood medication measures we might be undertaking some information will be helpful and so on and so forth yeah so this kind of supports the health and all policies uh perspective that we are adopting so look at us we are so on it complicated to use that no City help dashboard especially uh some of them there's also uh CDC places is another great one that's uh local data for better Public Health uh you can look at it on a map it is a little less intuitive but City Health dashboard uh runs seamlessly and they pretty much from the moment you click one button it gives you your list of options and from there it just presents it and like doesn't give you you know lists of numbers or whatever else so that's what I enjoyed about it especially as I first started uh it really does make it as simple as possible while also kind of maintaining the bigger picture of it so do you know where it's getting its data is this uh cell phone related data and things like so under each measure I know they utilize several different sources uh but when you click on the individual measure so for example when you click on uninsurance rates at the bottom of it it'll say data received from CDC or data received from census and you can also request the raw data uh if you were someone who wanted to run different numbers and equations with that yeah what's beautiful about City Hills dashboard which I couldn't emphasize uh when we first enrolled in it um was the ability to really parse out what our needs are in the community and so that uninsured data the um shortage of preventative Services use data that's significant because now we can say this is where our mobile health screening should go that we're partnering with these are the people who we need to Target in Haitian Creo and in Spanish U um health insurance information so this is where we're going yeah absolutely it's great data and thank you thank you that was very valuable and helpful any other questions from my colleagues I just had one for M par how many dogs do we have you said we we went up like a lot during covid so we have about um a little over 800 dogs and that are licensed right so if anyone has any residents or neighbors that have dogs that don't have a license help them call the health department or register online through our go turn them in as what your suggest no no no but but we do really want to make sure that we have a census of everyone um and we really want to prevent those dog bite incidents is you can imagine when F when um residents call they're frantic because their kid got bitten and they don't know what the status is of that dog if we have a license we're able to show them this dog had their rabies vaccine and that puts their mind at ease you know if you do you have any stats on uh those dog bites are they from Unleashed dogs in in the Parks or are they question yes in the home some of them are from uh dogs running at large in the Parks which is why we have that ordinance that says no running in Parks um some of them are dog on dog some of them are unprovoked the dog was just being uh protective so there are different incidences but yes if we could have people abide by the leashing of their dog and walking um their dog in the park and not walking without a leash that would be super helpful and reduce a lot of our incidences okay thank you any other questions um as far as the licensing goes is there any kind of uh aid for folks who may struggle with being able I understand it's only like $15 because I have a dog and a cat and I done mine as well but for some folks 30 bucks for their two pets might be a little cost prohibitive that's something we can explore with Finance we've never been able to or never really in investigated into that particularly because usually people say you know I can afford $15 I can do this however if there are people who need to um license their pet and it becomes cost prohibitive we do have an animal trust this is where part part of the money from licensing goes and if that can be used to assist uh we can use it that way but I I'll need to talk to finance and the State Health Department if that's feasible okay thank you anyone else all right then I would invite the public to ask questions of our health officer or Miss Taylor um Mr wary is any will you help uh there doesn't appear to be anyone in person if any members of the public on Zoom would like to speak please raise your hand and we will move you over to public portion I am moving over Joan Crystal Miss Crystal you're now in public portion please unmute yourself and you can speak thank you I'd like to ask Sarah to please share with the seniors of advisory committee those issues that she's identified through the dashboard that the committee should be focusing on so that we can better serve our senior community yes I would be more than happy to send that information along in the senior advisory committee email chain and I'll also pass it along to miss marova to talk about at the next uh senior advisory committee and and we can make sure that our liaison facilitates that Committee Member cry as the governing body liaison to the senior advisory committee thank you other members of the public would like to speak in public portion raise your hand now I see no other hands mayor thank you that was quite the discussion period for our Board of Health um our next meeting is January 2nd 2024 and on that note I move to adjourn our Board of Health meeting second Miss Adams yes M great mayor daffis yes Mr DeLuca yes Miss angle yes Deputy Mayor on that January 2nd there may be some discussion on that correct yeah the next meeting January 2nd yeah yes stay tuned there might be some discussion about that meeting perhaps okay all right well happy holidays everyone happy holidays thank you see you mayor thank you Deputy Mayor angle uh I invite our director of Community Development aneta Palma to lead us um through the cdbg public hearing Mr Palama welcome this evening thank you uh good evening members of the township committee so this is the second public hearing on the Township's application for Community Development blank uh Grant block funding uh we're applying for uh what are commonly known as curb cuts um more uh specifically known as uh ADA Compliant detectable warning surfaces and those are the rubber they're made of rubber and they have the raised uh surface that you find at um intersections so so we are applying for uh $232,000 and we're hoping that it will fund the construction of about 30 ramps including the ancillary concrete work and um the locations are in a variety of of places some near schools you know essentially we're doing the ones that are in the poorest condition the intersections at the poorest conditions and it's a fairly simple straightforward Grant we hope to get as close to that amount as possible and um do you have any questions yes please are there questions from the township committee no will segue over two questions from the public seeing no no one in person we'll move to online if any members of the public would like to speak on this to topic please raise your hand now I see no raised hands mayor thank you seeing none we'll close the public hearing thank you if you would just be so kind as to sign the uh attendance sheet that would be great thank you Mr Palmer there will be another hearing about this on the 19th yes there was a publication concern and uh we're going to make sure that we're compliant so there will be a third hearing okay administrative reports we'll start with Township Administration Mr warry thank you mayor a few items first we receed today are responses to the homelessness Outreach and support RFP so that's good we got a good number of responses a little over half a dozen so we will begin the process of reviewing those and we expect to U have a a recommendation um to the township committee for an award in January and we we will share that information with you as as we go along um the second thing is that reval letters went out the revaluation letters went out this week residents started to receive them yesterday and so U everyone should or every resident should receive that letter we also sent out an email with uh resources frequently ask questions U databases that support the you know how we arrived at the numbers that are in the reval um so I encourage everybody if you didn't get that email it's also posted on our website we have a page dedicated to the revaluation so you can go to that page and look at that information we have that information translated into Spanish and creole and that is posted on that same website we'll continue to provide information to the public um via email some social media as well um regarding you know some follow-up information from questions that we're receiving also reminders about um the services that are available through the company that does the appraisals any uh resident is able to call them with questions and discuss the specific characteristics of their property they can have that conversation over the phone or via phone they can also schedule an in-person uh meeting those are held here in town hall and we have them uh through December and one of them in January so anybody with questions I'd encourage to uh to take that opportunity to speak with professional property appraisers to understand more about their specific assessment and lastly uh the township committee had entered into a shared service agreement with um South Orange for excuse me with South Essex fire department for sharing a an administrative employee between us um it was someone who had uh served in a support role to the fire department the agreement started July 1st of last year and it was for a 5050 um uh split of those Services it um turned out that Maple would continue to use some more services for um our operations outside of sefd so we have worked with the uh attorneys for both the township and for scfd to draft a revised agreement we've discussed that with scfd um and we are uh asking tonight if the tal committee is in favor of us um entering into that revised agreement yeah what we'd like is a we just like a motion to say that there's going to be a modification of that agreement uh consistent with what Mr wey has reported in terms of the repayment of or the allocation of services uh for Miss Ross move it I'll second it M Adams yes great yes Mr DeLuca yes M angle yes mayor dff yes that's my report thank you mayor did you want to report that you now have a little bit of help I do have a little bit of help today youber Jones started she is the new assistant administrator uh for the township so that is very exciting she is U still transitioning from her previous role as a director of HR for a large school district so she will be with us Tuesdays Thursdays and hopefully Fridays from now through the end of the month and then she will be starting full-time with us on January 7 so she hit the ground running today we took her around she met the majority of department heads and we are have already started to uh give her some work which she is eager to take on so we're excited about it wonderful thank you Mr warry any questions from the township committee for Mr warry I I have one um we have a resolution 391-2333 yes 17j what is that so this is an open-ended contract it's not for specific contract um or for a specific project but our engineering department relies on this company throughout the year to provide Engineering Services uh specifically around um electrical build outs and I think part of this was for U the buildout of systems to support our electric charging stations and in aggregate um those Awards exceed the pay-to-play limmit so we'll enter into this open-ended contract which satisfies the play to-play requirements from the state thank you other questions from the township committee for Mr warry uh Mr warry I I I I ask you to um I know this information is on our website uh being that people received their reval letters uh the past couple of days um we I Wonder If you would just kind of walk us through the public we we understand it but the public what to expect next this letter is what what is it not and what comes after the letter sure so the basis of the reassessment is to look at every property in the township and set what is the fair market value for that and what happens is over time as people make uh upgrades to their homes or don't make upgrades to the home their home um the the assessed value that we have on the books could start to differ from the fair market value if you were to sell your today what would you get for it and so we were ordered by the uh the County Tax Board to undergo a revaluation that reval is triggered by our by specifically two things one in that the fair market value started to differ from our assessed value uh by what the county considered too large margin and the second piece is that the assessed value and fair market value as considered across the municipality as a whole was considered uneven in that some areas of town or value either too high or too low compared to other areas of so the county orders us to undergo a revaluation you look at every property in the township and we assess what is that fair market value and that fair market value then becomes their assessed value which will go on the books for the 2024 tax we mailed out a letter which includes your 2023 assessment and what you uh paid in taxes in 2023 and then it includes your 2024 um assessment and based off of the 2023 budgets and those are the budgets for the school district the town and the county um based off of the 2023 budget and your new assessment for 2024 what you would pay in taxes right so that does not um consider what you would expect to be a natural increase in budgets for those those three taxing entities right but um that'll at least give residents some idea of what they can expect to see in in taxes next year as far as what they can expect going forward you have every resident has an opportunity to understand more about their assessment by speaking with professional property appraisers um and then and they have that opportunity through December and then into January after January uh we will finalize those assessments and they we will mail out final assessment cards in February and that'll show you what your assessment is for the 2024 tax year after that the next thing you would see is after the school Town and County strike their budget for 2024 we'll mail out a final tax bill that typically goes out uh for J for the July quarter uh of 2024 so as is typical even outside of of a reval year your first two quarters of taxes are based on your prior year total taxes owed and your third and fourth quarter taxes are balancing quarters so they take uh what you've already paid in the first and second your total taxes owed for the year after those budgets are struck and and you typically equal uh would pay in the those uh those payments in the third and fourth quarter of next year so come the July uh quarter which is the third quarter for 2024 you residents should have what is their final 2024 total taxes thank you for that you could drink some water now no you need some water I can tell you're dry yep and just just to one other thing this this whole process was started because the township was ordered by ESS County tax that's correct I mean this is a large process and it's an expensive process and it's not a process that municipalities typically undertake without being ordered so we were ordered by the county um and the county ordered between the years I think it's 2022 and 2025 that we looked at um they ordered nine of the 2020 or the 22 uh municipalities in Essex County to undergo the Ral so we are not unique um in having to uh to undergo this revaluation the five days are list I'm sorry finish sorad the five days that are listed on the bottom of the letters actually are the five days that people can apply to come in and talk to somebody but what if those dates don't work they should speak with professional property appraisers I mean we we can add dates and adjust dates as needed we'd like to fill those spots if those if those spots work for uh people's schedules if there if if a resident cannot have that c ation over the phone and cannot attend one of the programs speak with uh Professional Property Appraisers and our goal is to accommodate everybody thank you you're welcome yeah and the last thing I want to offer is for the public satification is that for obvious reason this whole process um that for this whole process the township committee the governing body has walled firewalled from it for obvious reason we um were not involved in the process um we did not know what any one's assessment uh how it was being uh determined at this stage uh what anyone's assessment is um and that's a good thing that the governing body should be walled off and and not have any undue influence on the process so I think it's important for people to understand that um if you don't see us commenting in social media threads where you traditionally uh tag us about your concerns um we shouldn't be commenting ing because as the elected officials we are not involved in this process we are firewalled from it so that the process is a good process right um that is why we're asking folks to make a call to the township to connect with the appraiser company and to have your questions answered by the professionals they will tell you what theyve considered in the uh reassessment of your property they will show you your personal record uh they will go through that with you uh and you can have that conversation with them you can tag us of course as you wish uh the elected body members uh but we will not be engaging with folks about this because we are firewalled from it for good reason okay enough about the reval at the moment um anything else Mr warry that is all thank you mayor thank you sir um Township attorney Mr Des d any update no I have nothing report mayor okay thank you Mr desario you have one meeting left with us one meeting left to that effect mayor 19th we are very sad um I intend to give a and perhaps we can do something special on the 19th for Mr desiderio if not that evening maybe after the meeting or something like that um wink win link over to the clerk's office okay speaking of the clerk miss fritson good evening your report please yes good evening so I I just want to reiterate that our program today uh the mayor of the of of the day Teddy just wonderful I want to extend a thanks to my colleague uh the deputy Township Clerk for helping plan uh writing the proclamation being very involved in it and my fellow department heads who uh you know participated in today to make it special and I would say you know nothing was done on the fly with this it's really a nice uh program for this family and this seven-year-old uh youngster who he's kind of scary he is very bright and and we all had a good time so I wanted to you know acknowledge the mayor's participation as well as my fellow department heads so the rest of my report is not too long right now because uh when you discuss items one and two on the agenda I'll have a lot more uh to report um but in the meantime you know we're at Year's End and uh we would be preparing I mean after I get some answers I'm in need of tonight we will be preparing for a reorganization meeting uh and you know we're looking to uh final Township committee dates uh holiday dates for the township so again I'm going to you know sit tight and wait till those discussion items come up and then you know we'll be doing uh whatever you direct myself and my staff to do thank you m thank you very much thank you thank you for everything as always any questions from the township committee for Miss fritsen Y and thank you again for your participation your active participation in the mayor for the day uh events and thank you Deputy clerk Allah for being a real part of that I mean you really set up the day beautifully and um you know it is the kind of thing that we should be doing more of we need to bring our government to the people right this is their government this is their tax dollars at work and they need to know what happens in this building and why and who are the people responsible for everything that happened so it was a pleasure to do and we should do more of it well the good news is we are doing it again because we had another auction of a deputy mayor of the day and so I um I haven't told you yet because things were a little busy yesterday when I saw you but um we're scheduling it to figure out when to do it and then I was going to reach out to I was going to find out some interests and figure out and then the mayor said he would let me know what you guys did today and we'll plan a fun day so we have a template for you it's all great wonderful okay we'll move over to reports from elected officials we'll start with you Deputy Mayor Engle thank you so much um I do have a report this evening um I first want to talk about the pool we um as you may know we have been under construction on our pool we're putting in a major investment um into our pool which is really exciting because we love our pool for the future um but of course whenever we're taking on an infrastructure project um you never know what you're going to find and in this case we found that the porcelain on the bottom not the porcelain something on the bottom of the pool I'm not going with material names was very thick and so um with winter here and with the way the weather's been unpredictable um we're just nervous about finishing up and getting the pool ready for Memorial Day so we are going to um have the opening day of our pool Father's Day weekend this year and if everything goes well and we finish before and everything's great with the chemicals you know we'll see what happens but right now we're going to plan for a Father's Day weekend opening so that we don't have to um delay and so we're very excited for the investment that we're making so I thank my Township colleagues for helping pass that um earlier this year um the second thing I wanted to talk about is um last night um Mr warry and I hosted a bike and pedestrian safety meeting with some community members who have reached out advocating for safer um bike trails or Lanes running Lanes um so we had a very productive I thought working meeting to talk about a plan that we had or a consultant that had created a report in 2010 um and talk about some of the issues we're seeing in our Township right now and um the group is very collaborative very smart and we all have some homework to do so more to come on next steps on that um and the third thing I wanted to mention is this weekend is the Winter Market um which everybody knows how much I love that market um this year it's moved to the Gazebo given that yell corner is sad with some environmental cleanup so it'll be at the Gazebo um Saturday and Sunday Santa and Mrs Claus will be attending on Saturday and Santa will be returning on Sunday so I hope that everybody remembers to shop local on Springfield Avenue visit the gazebo we have some stuff going on at the Art Center um all of our small businesses are open very excited for you to spend your money locally this holiday season and that is my report thank you thank you and I believe uh for the Winter Market we're also providing Transportation up and down the Avenue is that correct do I remember that correctly it's on I don't know about that but I will throw that over to Mr I don't know if that was are Jitney service is no that was that unless they worked it out with you yeah in discussion what we waiting for it's almost Wednesday okay uh okay sorry sorry everybody out there I misspoke apparently because that's not happened yet but come on out and shop on Springfield Avenue and nonetheless any questions for Deputy Mayor Engle is the opening on Father's Day the same as Memorial Day where it'll be the Saturday and Sunday soft opening or will it be the full opening we will have more information um in the new year once we figure everything out thank you thank you and again major investment in our pool for generations to come with retiling and replastering it's a massive infrastructure Improvement project so I'm glad we're doing it okay Committee Member Duca welcome home thank you no report after your wonderful trip abroad um Committee Member at well actually not abroad it's still in the continent still part of the states still part of the states it doesn't feel like it when you're there uh Committee Member Adams I have no report mayor all right uh Committee Member kpe a tiny report um mostly just to alert folks of the various events that are happening in and around the town uh December 10th Durand headens Gingerbread House contest begins again there's always this wonderful group of young girls who come in and destroy us older ladies who think we know things and we get told that we don't um it begins at one o'clock on December the 10th December 11th is the manora lighting on the at the Gazebo on Springfield Avenue please come out for that as well as the tree lighting on the 17th at 3M it's also certain somebody's birthday but we'll talk about that later um for folks who are looking to contribute to folks in need this Su um this holiday the senior center is conducting a hat and glove Drive locally um but we need folks to volunteer to um adopt the child basically um but you have to get your letter or your request in to Michelle Wesley by the 12th otherwise you won't get match with the child so please reach out to her at the township website and all this information is on the website on our Township website um Dickens Village is open and everyone has been had an opportunity to go back out there and check it out there are a couple of uh changes in there but I'm looking forward to seeing um the little houses and and all the people who go visit the little ones are so on awe of the fact that everything is so so small and they can actually see it it's one of the few things that's their size that we offer in this town um and just a final note on the winter holiday bazaar um as a as the chair of the Public Safety Committee Jitney or no Springfield Avenue is 35 miles an hour and we have people who are gonna be walking back and forth with bags with their children hopped up on sugar whatever it is leave early drive slower watch out for pedestrians and have a good holiday and hopefully everyone will have a safe one as well that's my report mayor thank you thank you miss kpe any questions from Miss kpe from the township committee thank you for your report um yes the holidays are ear and we started things off with our tree lighting in Maplewood Village uh we did have a little bit of a hiccup comedi member Adams and I were there it was lovely there was not not our reading of TW the night before Christmas that was perfect our reading was great not even of singing that was B not bad I think Miss Adams has quite a voice on her she really does we'll do karaoke for the TC some time um don't come and watch that um anyway so things the holidays are upon us and thank you Committee Member kpe for mentioning the manura lighting it is a two toown event at 6: PM uh on the 11th Monday night come on out at the Gazebo it's going to be wonderful in light of everything that's been going on and uh our bringing uh the community together this is the event to be let's all come together let's all come together last night the MVA the Maplewood Village Alliance had its uh last meeting for 2023 at that meeting we got to meet our new uh MVA Ed our new manager ranella walker uh and she will be making more appearances uh in the new year and getting to know people uh she started sort of unofficially about a couple couple of weeks ago really really started uh this past week um she was at the Maplewood foundations Gala on Saturday night which Deputy Mayor and I and Committee Member Adams had the opportunity to attend congratulations to the first grantees of the first year of the foundation uh excited for all of them the MVA was one of those grantees and uh the new Ed Rella Walker was there so that was wonderful and lastly um we did already report tonight and now there's an awesome clean uh very accessible uh blog post about it thank you to Administration Mr warry in particular I know I've been asking you to work with box car to see if they can provide some service to us and it so turns out that we really needed an alternate commuting option for folks this week in light of the significant disruptions to the Morris Essex line so starting tomorrow morning we've published in social media threads we'll make it available can we send out um a town email about this or no should we send out a town email about this we can discuss with Leal I mean my concern would be promoting Private Business yeah okay should talk okay yeah I mean commuters want to know and there's a lot of more commuters uh heading back into the City and you can see for yourself the social media threads get a lot of comments and attention um so the Box Car Service is an alternate option it is not your Prime option and it's certainly is not cheap it's just an option we worked very hard to get something available to folks for this week at least until um the m and service is restored and yes we continue talking to njt and doing advocacy with them about their overall uh service and how unreliable it has become and frustrated a lot of our residents so that advocacy will continue as well all right that's my report any questions for me all right we'll move over to discussion items the first one is about a holiday juneth Mr warry yes thank you mayor so we uh honored juneth in Maplewood and we are setting our calendar for 2024 and there was a question this past year about when Maplewood honors juneth juneth for our employees and when we should honor it so the the question is between uh the state holiday designated and the federal holiday designated the state holiday was uh enacted first in 2021 that is fixed on the third Friday in June the federal government then um enacted juneth and that is actually celebrated on June 19th the actual holiday yes on the actual holiday so the question is which one um we want to follow for our emplo our employees and for closing uh Municipal operations there you know I think that you know anybody would agree if we were all to do this at the same time that juneth on June 19th makes the most sense you know this is a holiday um set on a specific date to um to reflect on what actually happened on June 19th when the last slaves in the US were um were notified of their freedom and so you know I think that is the proper day but it does uh require some consideration because not every municipal in New Jersey will follow the federal on June 19th and our school district at least in 2024 is following the state so they will observe juneth on June 21st in 2024 so why is the state not just following the federal because they have to change the law that was my question are they going change the law and they have to negotiate with bargaining unit so it's it's a much harder thing I think we should be a leader here is on July 4th because it's Independence Day juneth should be on June 19th because it's an independence I agree that's in line with our communties values yeah easy discussion item boom keep it moving because I was gonna extending our meeting the annual reorganization meeting uh the next discussion item I put on here um our annual reorganization meeting has a long tradition of being on uh New Year's Day uh this year in particular we also have a Township committee meeting the following uh day uh Tuesday evening and so my first question taking the temperature of the township committee is whether or not uh folks are interested in keeping that Tuesday night first TC meeting of 2024 uh we could con we could consolidate it with the reorg meeting uh on New Year's Day any business we would do on Tuesday night we can do on that day and cancel the Tuesday night meeting or we can have both meetings how do people feel about that as a I think we should just have the one meeting but the Board of Health meeting be the second January meeting then instead of on January 1 like January what would it be January no it has to be in Janu I would I would expect that's how that's gone in the past right of Health meeting would be the second meeting janary so we'll just do a January first reor me with whatever business you know 2024 annual meeting notice that we do anyway so we would make that change okay how do the rest of you feel one meeting one meeting one meeting okay wonderful now the next question you may not have an answer to and you can like you know have your feels about it and we can talk about it another time uh but we have also sort of never taken official action about this but talked about it um offline about whether or not we should continue having our annual reorganization again not for this year because it's so fast upon us but in 2025 and Beyond if it should remain on New Year's Day or if we should consider it being um another day the first week of January I'm going to turn over to legal to see if there are any legal issues with that statute statute says no sooner than noon on January 1st or within seven days and which statute is that that's the statute that governs townships you want to you want the specific site no no no I mean like it governs Township committees yes so all Township committees in New Jersey have the government correct have a reorganization meeting January 1st no excuse me no sooner than noon on January first okay or within seven days okay well that answers that question Miss fritzen there you go I tried so wait it doesn't have to be on January said ore or seven days within seven days I didn't hear that part did you say that okay the township committee shall hold an annual meeting on the first day of January at 12:00 noon or during the first 7 Days of January Hereafter okay all right I didn't hear that first sorry I thought I said it okay you did okay so how do we feel about it keep I I would like to keep January 1 I knew you would say that tradition tradition Miss CR I'm kind of torn I like J AR 1 as well at the same time I also kind of feel like folks would be more present if there was a different day or more present I think they'd be less present different day they'd be less present everyone's home because they sobered up fight but I will tell you that it is a slice of Americana on January 1st absolutely it is absolutely spectacular okay I don't agree just 30 years I've been coming and it's just tell us how you really feel of it is just Americana I just it I think it'd be a mistake to make it any Le there there are municipalities across the state doing it it's part of a whole thing of government and democracy and and celebrating that I think we're the the January 1 people are in a minority though right most municipalities do not do it on January they do do they most do I don't know any that don't a lot of them do even those that are not Township forms of government there's like Red Bank Summit like just ones that I've worked in I'll do it on January first okay and answer first ask and answered I have asked the clerk to do it a little later than well I mean you know you remember last year we had it at two o'clock and that's because it was Sunday I know by tradition okay um if it's a Saturday we start at 1 if it's a Sunday we start at two so here we are back to Monday and it's normally every other Monday through Friday 12 noon but again that can be worked down oh yeah okay can be cheap two o' worked nice last time yeah so okay asked and answered I'm moving on from this before I get beat up even more well are we interested in changing the time for this year you haven't publicized it yet right I need to know I would like a later time what what do you think about a later time yeah incoming mayor I I've been advocating for a later time on New Year what's your what time what time say one or two o'clock your pref no what time one or two you're no no on the hour you want to say two every o' or two no you're you're the incoming mayor this is your big reward proposed time giv me this I've been going like this two o'cl two o'clock two o'cl o' o' all right done you're welcome all right there you go and that's got to be solid right because to get our notices out for the year two o'clock we're solid two o'clock I will just say for the record um I agree with this and we'll move forward with it obviously people have very strong opinions about this but you know it does tax our department heads being here on that holiday day it is a day off for them weet noted they get paid and we don't so but that you know we can't be Cavalier about that can't be Cavalier about s if they worked in government for a long time used and liking it are two different things yeah people got used to slavery too but oh come on you know like no but I'm saying like it doesn't make it right it doesn't make it right but anyway okay we're moving on to the third discussion I'm sorry says that who will I coordinate with with uh Miss Adams incoming mayor about you know what other uh aspects of New Year's Day you want to continue bring back Mr L you and I have spoken you know a little bit because you will be sworn in and uh mayor daffis as well right so you know I I'm going to be looking for a lot of Direction because we're gonna have to really plan in the next three weeks yeah we'll provide it we're here for you the the way the way this works is the incoming May and the people who are being sworn in are the ones who give the most input we've already what I'm looking for you're going to get that you're gonna get that on it so yeah we already decided on a group right Miss crepe and I will just sit in theour meeting what did well now that we started two we don't want to go to five so no know now that you sorted too you probably don't want food oh God okay Mr does and I'm not suggesting it's going to be three hours but you're going to have you're going to have other agenda yes yes right yes we will work on let's not make this more complicated yes agenda we're gonna have one vote Yes yes let's not make it complicated as I said before yeah yeah absolutely okay um we're gonna move on um and we have another discussion item here number three we have a presentation by one of our our first um delivery cannabis delivery class six license applicant uh Miss uh waj Jackson is the applicant uh waj Jackson has provided the local cannabis Review Committee a um a complete application we asked for supplemental information that was provided uh and I understand that uh she has also received local zoning approval for um her cannabis delivery this is a class six license um think of it like GrubHub the person who delivers from your favorite restaurant your food uh this is the same thing this is again uh part of the the state law that has legalized this and we have um allowed for it in our local cannabis ordinance already we have not approved any cannabis license uh delivery licenses just yet and tonight we're going toar here from our first applicant who's with us um and we're going to let her do some talking let us know uh what her delivery model looks like uh and we will have the opportunity to ask questions afterwards so welcome Miss Jackson can you hear us and see us yes I can I can hear and see you and we can do the same with you thank you for making the time this evening um would you kindly walk us let us know who you are introduce yourself and walk us through your uh application yes thank you I like to extend my sincere thank you to the committee for having me this evening my name is wadia Jackson I am a resident of Maplewood I've also resided here for over a little bit of a year and a half and I am no stranger to the community I grew up in box Hall also was a prior resident of orange and have been a longtime exus County resident I have a presentation I would like to share this evening as mayor daffis has mentioned I am um an applicant for the class six delivery license the first and Maplewood and minority owned women-owned business uh let me share my presentation okay can everyone see yes we can okay thank you so the name of my company is button leaf delivery as you can see going for Classics like licens um just a bit about ourselves we're a certified women-owned business certified minority owned business we're qualifying for social Equity M micro business applicant 100% oh can you hear me yes we can okay we can 100% women owned and we're going for our an annual license application so just a little about myself I am the principal owner and president I received my masters from Ruckers University I am a certified anti-money laundering specialist meaning that I have a background in the financial government well not government my background is in anti-money laundering laws as you know in 2001 the US Patriot Act was passed shortly after my graduation so I've been in an industry for over 20 years I've helped financial institutions mitigate their risk related to financial crimes and money laundering and sanctions risk um I've have over 20 years experience of bit dating myself in the industry I've also consulted I still have a Consulting practice where I serve short I mean small startups in the crypto space which is a highly high-risk um minimized uh highly regulated in Industry if you want to look from the scope of like how it's not federally regulated but it's regulated by each state jurisdiction as they do require money transmittal licenses so I'm very familiar working in a very heavily regulated industry dealing with State jurisdictions and also dealing with federal regulations and requirements I'm a proud resident of Maplewood I've purchased my house in on the Hilton side of the township Village and I'm excited to be a part of the community uh we have two um owners um lendra Moses and Donna McCoy lendra is the owner and vice president BLD is the short term for butt and leaf delivery just the acronym that we'll be using straightforward from here over 10 years of experience in the financial insurance industry she's a proud mom and Avid Baker for cannabis infused Bak Goods Donna McCoy she is the chief operations of BL she is a retired federal employee of the United States pral Service she has 20 years experience in logistics delivery and she's a cancer survivor and Advocate I will go over um high level overview of our operations our operations plans consists of consumer purchase cannabis from a license dispensary not BL directly from the dispensary they will be notified when a customer initiates their order so when you think about the corer model that New Jersey has adopted it's specifically aligned with the Uber Eats model we will not be host holding any inventory any sales on a pres premises no visitors will be permitted um as you understand I've been approved for zoning which is my home and I don't have any intention of allowing anyone at the facility other than the admin and myself the drivers will have access to Vehicles off the premise they will not have vehicles housed here at this location with that being said um upon receiving conditional approval from the state we will look to locate a facility possibly I seen a location on norc Avenue A short distance up the street from me to provide parking for those particular vehicles the state does not restrict the location as to where I can have vehicles parked however they will not be parked on a premises delivery drivers will be of Agee which is 21 years old we will confirm their age at the point of um prior to employment They will receive a background check upon um um clearance of that background check they will Pro be provided a badge from the CRC um documenting them as a cannabis delivery driver and authorized to transmit cannabis goods from the dispensary to the consumer they will deliver only to Res residences no employment sites or public places BL will always prioritize seniors patients as they do have prioritization they do not have the um requirement to have delivery fees associated with them um we will also prioritize Maplewood residents BL will as I mentioned will never store cannabis or directly sell to Consumers now this is a diagram of the retail to Consumer um workflow um I've partnered with the provider that is has over 10 years experience they're called Web joints they provide the technology and they plug directly right into the POS systems of most of the dispensaries that will be um having their POS system I chose them because they have a wealth of knowledge and experience they've been um designated in expansion in California and throughout other States they've also worked with the CRC directly of the state of New Jersey to address some of the technological concerns related to the C to Consumer um TR traceability so I feel like they were very well versed technology my background is also in technology so I understand the nuances with the data and pushing for inventory and that was one of my concerns so I partnered with them and also spoke to the C CRC about my concern for ensuring the tracability of cannabis from the dispensary to the consumer so as you can see from this diagram you'll see like it has a um flex and feel of a Uber Eats model the consumer will initiate their order via the mobile app or website the dispensaries will have a Marketplace on that website a design and fill of the products that they will host in their store the customer will log on they can either go directly to a dispensary of their choice or search by goods and from that initial um point of purchase they will make their payment on the website that payment goes through the POS system and gets fed to The Dispensary will and then we will spit my com commission um from there the order is received at the dispensary they will confirm and that notification will get sent to the butt tender to fulfill that order the order will have a QR code on the receipt that QR code details the information that is required by Metric and Metric is the designated um traceability provider for the state of New Jersey that traces from C to P cell and from this instance it's going to trace to the from delivery to Consumer so that QR code is very important for traceability once that order goes through the portal that um butt tender is required to staple or attach that receipt to to the um package once um that package is completed they will initiate that within the portal and we will receive that notification the BL driver will confirm um and then go directly to the location to pick up the BL driver once they pick up they then will scan the QR code and once they scan a QR code that will start the TR tracking from when it lead leaves the facility once it leaves the facility the BL driver will then go into the car which will be secure with the lockbox the lockbox will designate and locate the GPS location making sure that they are putting the package within that lockbox also we will have a fleet dash cam that will look from the external View and internal view inside the vehicle that also tracks GPS coordinates is a Dash can specifically for Fleet drivers so it is heavily Logistics and traceability from that standpoint that's the second um Data Tracking they're also through the application by our connection with web joint because it's built into their and download it on their mobile app it will be tracing the GPS coordinates as well this will all also be having the oversight of our local admin that will be um present at the facility here in Maplewood tracing any um deviations from any of those three tracking functionalities and once the order is ready to be dropped off at the customer the BL driver will access the lockbox the lockbox will send transmission back to our portal to evidence that they have access that product they will then go when delivering to that customer they are required to validate the customer's ID we also just to um I don't know if I mentioned this but at the point of sale the customer is required to put in their identification details they are required to have some form of scanning of their ID but we do not maintain a copy of that ID on file as it is against the um policy of of the CRC but we will have the details that verif that validates that identification at the point of sale so the point of that is also to help the driver to understand like the credentials to validate against when they do see the copy of the ID at when they do meet the customer to make sure that the customer is of age and then they will have the customer sign off on um receiving the product in the um instance if that um customer is not there at the location or if they are unable to drop off the product they will then initiate a notification within the application the mobile app that they have on their phone that they were unable to drop off the product from that it will initiate a um notification to the retailer that we are going to be entr transit to drop the product back off at the originating location of the dispensary once they do drop off at that particular site they will take a picture as evidence that of the drop off and they'll get the butt tender to sign off on it and this is just the the overview of our security plan excuse me um our security as I mentioned includes the lockbox which as you can see that it's a lockbox that is tracked via application the app will send realtime notification internal temperature monitoring so we want to make sure that because these are perishables and we don't want anything happening in transit the lock box is secure to monitor that it has Bluetooth unlock features so I we can change based on each driver to to have a unique access to the Box any deviations like as like I mentioned will get reported back to our Central portal and document for any deviations outside of the transit of the product we'll have security cam as I mentioned that will have visibility externally and internally and it's infrared so it could be seen at night so we can still see good visibility inside the vehicle and is a 24-hour alarm on all vehicles as well our employment plan consists of hiring 10 employees within the next two years we are micro business at least 50% of Maplewood residents we will prioritize a diverse Workforce 25 representation of 25 women 25% minority 25% lgbtq 15% ex offenders and 10% Vance I am um very committed to ensuring a diverse Workforce also I intend to partner with Ruckers University as they provide certifications to new um individuals that are seeking to enter into the workforce and the work CRC has a Workforce that they are working with people to get them educated in the um industry of the cannabis our charitable plan I am an avid um donating um resident I donate to the local Pantry I also have a standing um donation that comes out my personal account to local pantries to ensure that you know any um individual in the community of exus County they have access to food I'm very near and dear to that I am a quarter appointed advocate for Casa um I work with youth to ensure that they have adequate advocacy I so I go to the courts um and I ensure that they have shelter and a health needs are and mental needs are taken care of and my um charitable plan is in alignment with my passions to help the youth and the community to the um individuals that needed the most Our Youth and our seniors so my intention is to collaborate with Maplewood public social Health I've been down to the local so um senior C center that is close to me um and I've showed my interest but haven't been able to speak to anybody yet so that's pending I I was told to go to the location that is more um near the municipal building so that is on my agenda but my intention is to partner with the Departments within the community to provide prevention and health in a community that is also dear to me I have a certification of nutrition and um as I mentioned Donna McCoy is a canister Survivor so and my father is also a cancer survivor so for me it is important to have preventative care and advocate for that population of individuals as well and I intend to partner with retailers and also host independent expungement clinics Miss Jackson um I don't mean to interrupt you but I I must before we lose our feed um I'm going to need to make a motion to extend our meeting Beyond our 9:30 cut off so I move that we extend our meeting tonight Beyond 9:30 do I have a second Adams yes Miss kite yes Mr DeLuca yes Miss Engle yes mayor daffis yes please proceed Miss Jackson and sorry again for the interruption thank you very much so our status we obtained our site control um the location is to Nelson Place Maplewood New Jersey um we've received approval for this site this site is a multi-unit dwelling the deeded property is 454 boen however it's two units the unit of operation will be two Nelson place the administrative office will have no cannabis in inventory no cannabis storage and no customers on site or visitors the zoning office has approved it there was a copy um submitted within the application our Acquired Capital is is with budgeted for 155 um as I mentioned we're a micro business the intention is to start with two vehicles as our prioritization is to scale into the greater exus County area however we will be serving within the 15 20 mile radius of Maplewood so with that the labor cost we estimate at 1K 100k with the fleet of vehicles at 32k as I mentioned the purchase of two V vehicles with the ability to scale to up to six within the first two years or within the first or first two years uh security equipment 2000 and mil um miscellaneous sorry of 21,000 and that includes any computers our subscription with our partner web joint uh our proposed funding is through Angel Investors and family and friends um my representation of liquid liquid funds directly from me of adk um Marilyn DeBerry which is a family member of 25 and the mark scottt and toana Jackson both pledging 25k and here's a host of our clients and vendors as you can see some local faces canabus lady Jill and Noah which is the local dispensaries that we have I have been in conversations with them actually Jill is a mentor for me and I've have um been a patron of her facility for a number of years since she's had the CBD location and um accountants and our attorney advisor so I am well suited and guided throughout this journey that completes the presentation um I will leave this here for any questions that you may have thank you Miss Jackson that was great informative presentation I'm G to open it up to my colleagues on the governing body the township committee for any questions they may have I'm opening it up any questions just I just want to say it's a it's a great presentation a great concept you thought out a lot of uh how to operate this you know for us this is very new because there's I don't know any of the municipality that's as as advanced as we are we have four retail approvals we have one manufacturing approval and now we're going to be doing a uh delivery approval and um I think you probably the best person to start us out with this because you've thought it all through so I just want to congratulate you on that um you know we did have uh when we were reviewing this there was the concern about you know you have to adhere to the homebased business and you seem to be very clear about that um you know no employees there and no signs there and no parking there and all that so that's great that's what I was most worried about and your community benefit I think the mayor is going to suggest something but um I I like you know what you're talking about is giving back to the community because we've asked all lenses to uh to do that so congratulations thank you very much thank you other members of the township committee I also want to just say that was a great presentation and I'm so impressed with um your backgrounds and how you laid it all out on your business plan and everything that you shared with us I just I really applaud you for um for for your presentation so thank you it's nice to meet you and I look forward to uh meeting you in person thank you be as well other questions yeah I Echo everything that's been said um great presentation I think you covered um the security concerns this is as you stated a highly regul regulated business and thank you for walking us through from the order to the point of sale to the delivery point uh and how that's going to work uh and all the security measures uh being taken you know being deployed to make sure that the process is seamless um so I'm going to recommend that we uh approve provide conditional approval uh on your application um conditioned upon your receiving State approval of course but also um conditioned upon the execution of a mutually beneficial Community host agreement which we could uh provide to you after the meeting tonight we can have executed and um entered into the record subsequently um can you tell us as it relates to that thank you already for addressing this and anticipating this as an important part of this approval process for us can you tell us a little bit about your Revenue model because what we have required in our community host agreements with the other lenses may not be possible with you because you're not a retailer right so you're probably only making if I may guess a commission on your delivery can you walk us through your Revenue Model A little bit more accordingly yes so um the model for corer does not provide us the opportunity to have a revenue similar to retailer so the delivery service will be an Outsource commission so we will be basing our revenue from the commission directly from the retailer and the state has capped a delivery fee at 10% also we cannot charge a delivery fee to Medical recipients so our revenue is slightly different we won't be bringing in the same uh Revenue stream but so I just want to make sure that there's consideration when the committee makes a decision on a charitable plan also I wanted to clarify that I am a although I am um for application I'm going for the annual applicant so in order to go to the state I have to have prior approval from the municipality so I just wanted to make sure that the committee has that and taken that into consideration as the portal for the CRC for class 6 opens on December 26th right and our intent is to get that back to you and come to an agreement with you before then Mr do do you want to offer I want to know what what is it that you require to submit to the state from the township a letter resolution what what specific I I read your a local resolution resolution okay right so it will follow Mr desario the resolutions we've done before with the other lenses and again um I would move at this stage right here tonight that we provide conditional approval conditioned upon the conditions we just stated is there a second I would second it but I do have one question yep does a delivery service uh do you are you charged an excise tax tax or is that not do you pay for that who do we have that the taxes at the customer level is that what you're stating the S the customer so they pay the retailer got it okay right okay you're talking about the the host the 2% 2% yeah yeah the 2% yeah okay all right um Mr does do you need anything else from the to it'll be a resolution to approve a class six license to this applicant subject to the finalization of State approval and a uh host actually me a host uh an executed Community host agreement Community host agreement which we will um work with you uh by email and have ready for you uh so that we can have the resolution adopted accordingly at our next meeting which is um 19th the 19th does that work for you schedule wise yes it does okay right I I know it's not ideal what I will do is I will draft the resolution and I will send it to miss fritsen who will send the copy to you just to make sure that it satisfies your needs for the state because we don't want them to kick it back okay because this will be the last meeting in December okay okay thank you I appreciate that very much so we roll all right we have a second take a roll call come again take a roll call okay let's do a roll call yeah Miss Adams yes m c yes Mr DeLuca yes Miss angle yes mayor daffis yes thank you uh all and thank you Miss Jackson thank you very much thank you very much we'll be in contact well done for okay we have consent agenna can I get a motion oh you have another uh do I have another item yeah 15 resolution resolution oh yeah the resolution my goodness my goodness I can't believe that okay yeah I'm looking at an older version that I work with okay so um this is a resolution um that basically summarizes uh the sentiments that were expressed by us and by members of the community who came um who had a dialogue with us at our last uh Township committee meeting uh it's a bit more balanced than previous resolutions obviously we're at a different stage of the situation in the Middle East than we were uh earlier on a month ago or so and this is an opportunity for all residents to know uh from us that we uh see them we hear them and we support them no matter who they are Jewish Arab Muslim uh all of our residents so the resolution um you know talks about how we pride oursel and our intentional diversity and inclusiveness and that we are an activist governing body which has a long history of advocating for justice condemning hate promoting Community Health and Wellness supporting Mutual Aid efforts partnering with organizations that promote uh cultural competency and sensitivity and taking a stand um nationally and internationally against uh oppression and legislating equality and opportunity for all persons and we've organized and supported marches rallies vigils uh in condemnation of hate or violence of all kind whether centered in anti-Semitism islamophobia homophobia transphobia transphobia or xenophobia uh and that we are an a Avid partner in the annual South Orange Maplewood Holocaust remembrance ceremony uh of course you know when the Hamas terrorist attacks occurred on October 7th uh we were steadfast in which killed more Jews in a single day since the Holocaust taking over 240 innocent civilian hostages and triggering a war that has claimed thousands of innocent Israeli and Palestinian lives since most notably those of children and women women throughout the region causing a humanitarian crisis and massive displacement um we've proclaimed our support of Israel and Jews around the world but we've also caused for pauses in the war for sustainable humanitarian Aid to gazin and innocent civilians among them Arabs and Muslims in the region in the region and we've called for peace for all in the region uh we are not interested in engaging in the geopolitics of this because we are not experts but we we remain concerned about the well-being of all persons Jews Arabs and Muslims that is our duty Jewish Arab and Muslim members of our community have pleaded for our support and comfort during this time of great uncertainty anxiety and fear and at a time when anti-Semitism and islamophobia are on the rise threats of violence are increasing and angry rhetoric is inciting violence right here at home uh our as I mentioned our Jewish Arab and Muslim neighbors have expressed Their Fear of not being seen of not feeling safe of being victims of hate anti-Semitism and islamophobia and of being silent or isolated by aggressive and angry rhetoric inciting violence or threatening violence again right here at home there have been multiple incidents of this recently in the past couple weeks in South Orange and Maplewood so the M Maplewood Township committee has a duty to comfort all of our residents keep them safe and bring the community together and by this resolution we Proclaim and commit to the following explicitly we unequivocally condemn anti-s semitism and islamophobia hate has no home here we unequivocally condemn any actions aimed at threatening or inciting violence hate has no home here we call for peace for peace in Maplewood hate has no home here we remain committed to being an open safe and welcoming bridge over painful troubling currents and between opposing opinions politics and feelings toward Community Unity we ask our neighbors all of us to exercise patience show kindness extend their hearts a little bit more be empathic and compassionate uh so that's the resolution I've shared it with my colleagues before tonight and uh I would move that we adopt it second second Mr Mayor can I just um we we got a uh we had a statement from Miss Gordon earlier speaking about this resolution and asking us to um I I don't think she actually said whether we should adopt this resolution or not she was looking for a ceasefire resolution and and she made some statements and I think I think one of the one of the examples of the resolution is that people can come to a public body and speak freely about uh his or her feelings and I think that's what really is is the heart of that that that people should be able to offer their opinions I just want to say though she made some statements that I want to say that I don't agree with her opinion and so and that's also the other part of it is that you're asking for a dialogue um where we may not agree but we can talk to one another and I think that um the you know statements of that uh you know the W didn't start on October 7th is absolutely the history is there for a very long long time but let's understand that the reaction from Israel was because of the terrorist raid on October 7th and we're finding out more about how horrible that raid was with the sexual violation of the women in in in um in Israel these were civilians and and um we did not hear tonight about Hamas being a terrorist organization and they are a terrorist organization they're and and they don't represent the Palestine people but they are a terrorist organization that wants to eliminate Israel and I think we have to always remember that and remember that you know the PA worked because there was an agreement to give up hostages trading hostages you know Israel gave up some three to every one hostage that they were able to get back from Hamas but there are still 200 hostage is still being held and I I would disagree with Miss Gordon about a ceasefire I I I find this very difficult because normally I'm on the lines of saying no war but I find it difficult to agree with her um because it doesn't deal with those hostages those hostages need to be brought home and then we talk about how do how do we move forward and get out of this and and I and I listen I am not uh a fan of Netanyahu I am not a fan of the right-wing people that he has put in his cabinet and the deals that he has made and I'm not a fan of the indiscriminate bombing that is taking place but I don't I I I think that the the good thing about their resolution is it doesn't make the equivalency correct cannot be an equivalency correct that you know the terrorists came into Israel on October 7th and went after civilians they did not go after the government they went after civilians and so I think yes we need to have civility in our community people need to go to the street if they want to they should protest they should speak out um I think that on both sides we've seen too much on social media about attacking people and that if you disagree if if I say I just said that I'm not a supporter of of the actions of Netanyahu does not make me anti-semitic it makes me anti-semitic it makes me someone who doesn't agree with him right all I still support Israel right and and the same thing but I think we have to realize that the Hamas did this on October 7th they came in and they created Terror and fear and raped and killed and took hostages and that has to be remembered and so yes we have to work to PE for peace I I think that we have to say to our communities that we have to listen to each other we have to give each other space to talk just like I'm free to speak here and any one of us is free to speak here and Miss Gordon was free to speak here that's what I think the resolution is saying is that you can say that but I think as a public elected official I have a responsibility to speak out and and challenge some of the stuff that comes before us just like they have a right to come and challenge us so it's a lot of words but I just wanted to say that I I I do support the resolution I did make a little uh suggestion on a word uh change um but I support the resolution I think that's what folks were asking us to do but but I think we need to have this dialogue and and keep talking about it it's a lot of words that I completely agree with yes well stated words well stated words and you know I'll say you know a ceasefire is just not practical it's never going to happen if Hamas will continue to be violent and they've stated that that's their intent their intent is to destroy Israel and to kill as many Jews as they can Hamas knew what they were doing on October 7th it was pre premeditated it's been planned for over a decade apparently and they knew that is Israel will defend itself and you know uh retaliate accordingly and they were apparently okay with that and they were apparently okay with using innocent civilians women and children in hospitals in schools and in other places Palestinians they were okay with using them as human Shields and um they are okay with it apparently because they have not said that they will stop they have not said that they will disarm so uh um I also disagree with the ceasefire uh because I I just think that yes none of us wants War uh but you know we also have to you know speak out against what is happening here and and speak the truth of what is happening as well while we remain empathic and uh compassionate um so and thank you for mentioning the sexual violence against women uh that got a lot of reporting this week uh I've been following a lot of different um news reporting and reading on my own as well and and that has just been incredibly painful and terrifying to watch it is Terror they want Terror and that's what's happening uh there cannot be a ceasefire with Terror that's it that's the bottom line that's how I sort of make sense with it in my mind any other comments I just want to um thank my colleagues for all of your support during this time um you know it's been hard for me since October 7th it's been very hard the past two days watching as a Survivor watching all of these reports about the sexual um Terror that was um done in all these victims so it's been very hard so I just appreciate um having you all as my friends and colleagues and I think um Mr jica what you said about even if we don't agree with each other in this community We Are One community and we are here living side by side our kids are at school together they're playing together and we just have to remember that we're a local Maplewood Community and we need to stick together because we're all we have here day by day and I just want to thank you all for being such good friends and colleagues and strong leaders so thank you thank you thank you okay seconded but not voted on you come again we have to oh we have to vote Yes a roll call so Adams yes yes K yes Mr DeLuca yes Miss angle yes mayor daff yes thank you all I move the consent agenda I second M Adams m c yes Mr DeLuca yes angle yes mayor daffis yes comment second public comment period any subject matter three minutes there's no one here in person will move to online Mr worry any member of the public would like to speak please raise your hand now and we will move you over to public portion I am moving to panelist AI seagull you are now in public portion you can unmute yourself and speak uh good evening mayor and fellow council members my name is AI seagull I'm a resident of Maplewood District 3 um and I'm I'm here tonight uh partially as a resident partially also in my professional space as a educator in our community I spent the past seven and a half weeks um going all over our our own town uh Essex County Morris County Union County Somerset County um in in my role of of meeting with youth uh and holding conversations holding forums in which their voices could be heard their concerns could be expressed uh their ideas could be hopefully uh grown and enhanced in dialogue with each other as as well as myself um and as you can imagine the time spent with them has been challenging to say it lightly uh um I I feel the weight of responsibility as well as the onus of helping our youth uh navigate not only the crisis which you have mentioned as well as the resolution you just passed which uh has brought me to to tears a few moments ago um in that our community can be a Bastion of light and kindness to this world so first and foremost just thank you a moment of gratitude to the hardworking elected officials in our community who are putting forth the the message of unity love and community in which we all believe in um secondly in that in that effect uh part of the the youth experience that exist um is looking at at the adults in our lives and seeing the way in which We R model the values we hold and the ideas we believe in um and so seeing Civility and seeing a place in which upholding each other as community members and not tearing each other down um has been another ray of light that that you as our elected officials can role model for our youth a way in which we move forward together through dialogue through engagement and not through uh division um so so just a reflection from from one uh Community member uh who's spending a lot of his time in in the Nexus of struggle Strife uh Challenge and the unknown future um I'd like to say thank you publicly in in our public space Forum uh also thank you for giving us an extra time to to make this statement um and hopefully that the the way and example in which you are showing for our youth is something that can be exhibited themselves and we can see hopefully unity and coming together of our Young Learners uh that have shown as adults in in the dead so it's all I want to share uh in this moment and so I will end with a once again thank you the Gratitude from one Community member thank you very wonderful having you and thank you for coming on to express all of that if any other members of the public joining us on Zoom would like to speak in public portion please raise your hand now I see no hands mayor we will close the public comment period I move that we adjourn and meet again on the 19th second Adams m c yes Mr DeLuca yes zle yes mayor D yes good evening everyone thank you for joining us that