active participation in deliberations of the governing body by the public acceptance otherwise described by law does limit the public to the observations of the actions and discussions of the governing body at all of its regular and special meetings so move second m c yes Mr daffis yes Mr Duca yes Miss angle yes mayor Adams yes thank you so I'd like to stand for salute to the flag please flag of the United States of America to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all hey thank you welcome everybody to the January 16th meeting of the township committee um I'm just going to go over the agenda real quick we have um no Proclamation scheduled that's the second meeting in a row that's like a record um boards and committees we are appointing Robert McCoy as chair who is chair of the environmental advisory committee to sustainable Maplewood then we'll have public comment for agenda items only then we'll go into our Board of Health meeting and reorg meeting for that as well um there are no ordinances on Final pass P passage there's an introduction of one ordinance regarding um entitled vehicles and traffic with respect to parking on the south side of mbour Avenue then we have and that hearing will be held later then we have reports from departments which we have none we've all received the December 2023 budget report we have administrative reports Township administrator weary Township Attorney Jennifer cido at our first official meeting welcome and Township Clerk Liz fritzen reports from elected officials Deputy Mayor kpe Committee Member DeLuca Committee Member Engle Committee Member daffis and then me discussion items there's one discussion item about expanding the footprint of a Redevelopment area on Springfield Avenue to include 8 Vermont Street and then we have the consent agenda the consent agenda in includes a couple of resolutions of note um most of the resolutions are with regard to being able to operate the business of the township sort of standard New Year um appointments um there's also resolution appointing a foreman to the shade tree and Parks division of Public Works there's a resolution appointing a new Revenue Administration Assistant in the finance department and a resolution establishing the Maplewood all access committee and then also um a resolution um assigning a contract to conell and hickey historical Architects LLC for the historic preservation planning services in connection with the Woodland preservation plan and that will be funded completely by a grant that uh HPC and the township got so with that we'll go into boards and committees miss fritson you want to call that or uh yes ma'am you have an appointment of Robert McCoy chair of the environmental advisory committee to sustainable Maplewood I'll second M SC yes Mr daffis yes Duca Miss angle yes mayor Adams yes thank you now that's time for public comment for agenda items only seeing no one in the house Gallery since it's such nice icy weather out um Mr warry would like to see if there's any online any 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 thank you now we'll go into our Board of Health meeting Miss fritzen would you like to lead the reorganization uh yes mayor thank you good night K pursuant to section five chapter 231 Public Law 1975 this is 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 mail and the annual notice of regular meetings for the Board of Health for 2024 to the news record and St Ledger in December 2023 and by filing said notice in the office of the Township Clerk I'm going to take a roll call now M great here Mr daffis here Mr Dela here miss Engle here mayor Adams here thank you where're chapter 231 public 1975 Comm knows the open public meeting act requires all meeting of public bodies be open to the public and whereas section 7A provides that the Board of Health has a discretion to permit prohibit or regulate the active participation of the public at any meeting and there desire the Maplewood Board of Health to comply with the provision it act same time to conduct its business in an orderly and expeditious manner now therefore be it resolved by the Maplewood Board of Health Township of Maplewood that it does hereby proh prohibit except to set forth in the formal agenda active participation in the Del deliberations of the Board of Health by the public acceptance otherwise describ by law does Li the public to observations of the actions and discussions of the Board of Health at orens regular and special meetings second M great here am yes sorry Mr daffis yes Mr Duca yes M angle yes mayor Adams yes okay um Now's the Time that I'm going to conduct an election for the uh 2020 uh Maplewood Board of Health president do I have anyone that would like to make a nomination for president to the Maplewood Board of Health for the year 2024 I nominate Deborah Engel I second that are there any other nominations from any member of the Board of Health y okay hearing none uh we have uh the nomination maid and seced for Miss angle for the 2024 Board of Health president so now I will take a roll call and Miss K yes Mr daffis yes Mr Duca yes Miss angle yes mayor Adams yes I declare deorah angle the president of the Maplewood Board of Health for the year 20 congratulations thank you say like I said I did thank you now it's all yours now it's all yours with that I will move the approval of the meeting minutes from December 5th 2023 second M K yes Mr daffis yes Mr Luca yes mayor Adams yes Miss angle yes and now I will turn it over to our health officer Miss Candace Davenport can't hear you it's I don't think it's on no there it is hello hello happy New Year happy thanks um if we could turn on the PowerPoint slides for this evening Dort I just want you to speak up because you're talking really softly this evening okay okay thank you and congratulations to miss Engel for being our Board of Health president yet again okay uh first I'd like to uh let you know about the mayor's Wellness campaign and now that we're moving on to new mayor Adams uh we are moving on to putting in our application for the mayor's Wellness campaign 2024 um in this month we received a monetary award for participating in the mayor's Wellness campaign incentive drawing uh so hooray for us and thankfully this money will be donated to the 2024 Midnight Madness event the uh parent uh committee members who are running that this year have um gladly accepted it so they are very grateful this will be used to help uh Finance some of the students to attend Midnight Madness who have financial hardship this is a a really great thing next slide please Animal Control update just want to make sure that everyone knows that um January 31st is the last day for um annual renewal otherwise you'll be charged a late fee for your cat and dog licenses so please license your your pets today moving on yep you're one back and this is our November and December monthly reports from Bloomfield Animal Control uh they give a total of our animals as well as the domestic and injured Wildlife or sick wildlife and after hours calls and these are pretty standard for the past months they've been working out really well so just wanted to let you know that for end of year um their services have been really great U moving on to next slide we move on to environmental health next slide just an update for the month of December um a lot of our complaints uh were regarding rodents uh this this month but also um heat complaints which we've addressed next slide please moving on to communicable and infectious diseases our nursing report was that only uh one reportable disease was investigated and uh closed uh no vaccines requested at this time by our residents but I will get more um go back to more info on that um of what we offer again next slide please moving on to covid updates as of January 6 this was the report that came out today um we are now in um medium and high so we are looking toward the South and the East uh counties and hoping that it doesn't progress uh but it is increasing with respiratory illnesses next slide this again is just information for those who need a covid-19 vaccine um you can go to the the information on the box below where you can find a covid-19 vaccine and who is eligible those are over 6 months and over uh for this vaccine next slide please we also have covid-19 rapid home test kits here at the Maplewood Health Department people can come in and pick them up for free uh we are grateful for those residents who have taken advantage of this already and we've received two additional shipments from the county so um if you need them please take them and uh next slide please our staff have been hard at work on creating this document which is testing guidance so while we say in the prior slide who should get tested there are a lot of questions about when to test when do I come out of it um you know who needs to be uh who needs to be tested again and it's really um worth reading it over um so we're putting it on our slides here and if people would like to request it they can contact the health department but the FDA has actually said to test multiple times after um exposure so um if people need more test kits they can get that next slide please moving on to flu and RSV Updates this is again the time of year influenza transmission as of January 6th is also high so again please protect yourselves um and stay home if you're sick and wear your mask if needed and handwash and practice respiratory hygiene and etiquette next slide we also have flu shots available still for residents uh that's 18 and over and it's free for seniors uh we also provide homebound flu vaccinations if any uh residents would like to engage with that next slide please so interestingly enough while I keep presenting this uh RSV vaccination recommendation still not a lot of seniors know that this is a new vaccine and it's available for them so um unfortunately RSV uh which is respiratory cinal virus impacts infants but also seniors it is one of the main reasons why they um enter into the hospital like flu and covid so we want to encourage people to get the RSV vaccine for those who are eligible um over 60 may get it and over 75 should get it next slide please moving on to Social Services and mental health so in the health department we've been very busy we want to let you know about a couple of important things one is our partners at Family connects and J they're now offering Universal home visits for new moms and babies so this is like the first time in in a very long time that any of our um Partners have had any programmatic funding to be able to provide free nursing home visits uh this is Back to Basics public health and we're really proud to encourage people to take advantage of this so um want our residents to know that they can get this free visit um regardless of insurance or uninsured so this is really looking at like postpartum depression this is looking at um postpartum complications um and this is actually very important because we're working with the Community Coalition on Race on um raising awareness about um African-American maternal and infant mortality and so when we talk about this we really want to push this um as a as a service that's out there for people to take advantage of next slide please likewise our uh Community Partners at reveal to heal which is a business in Maplewood that um has social workers that provide these support groups one of them that's coming up and that is being funded through our youth uh leadership um funding is uh courageous conversations it's an 8-week Workshop series for parents uh with young children and uh it's it's very very good and we are providing them with um funding uh to be able to do these eight-week workshops we hope people will take advantage of these great uh programs they talk about uh bullying they talk about um loss um all of the adverse childhood experiences that people may have and how to um overcome them as a intact family so next slide please as we are still in January we want people to take advantage of the DCA winter termination program this again is uh to say that if people have difficulty paying for their um winter bills for the utilities they can apply for this so that they can keep their utilities on and uh this goes on this Services provides them uh care until March 15th next slide please and this is just further information about uh winter shut offs and how to prevent that with a lot of our partners over there on the right side that they can call next slide please moving on to um injury prevention and uh substance use so we want to make sure that everyone is aware about the Naran that is free and available uh to Residents uh 14 and over so you can go to Stop and Shop of South Orange on 407 Valley Street and go to the pharmacy and request a Naran spray no questions asked um so we really want people to use it to Save a Life or to give it to someone who might um have be suffering from a a drug addiction um just so that they can use it and um save a life so encourage people to do that next slide furthermore if you want to know how to use Naran um it's a it's a nasal spray but some people would like to learn more about how to recognize and respond to an opioid overdose so there are free Narcan uh virtual trainings again they're free and they're virtual so you don't have to go anywhere um Narcan trainings they offer multiple throughout the month but one that's coming up is on January 24th at 11 a.m. and for those participants they get to receive a free Naran kit and so here is an example every month every month they offer multiple at least six free trainings and the lockone uh spray kits uh this is just another way that the state and Ruckers and Robert with Johnson Medical School are really showing that this is an issue and it requires everyone including just regular citizens to be educated about how to use an alone or naren nasel spray kit next slide please regarding food security uh we wanted to um inform the community about a farmers market um that's happening on East Orange our partners in the community mend are participating in this and family Success Center um this will be on January 22nd from 4 to 6 they'll also offer free children's books and you have to go to the QR code to register but we hope people take advantage of that that's open to all next slide please January is cervical awareness month so one of the things that the health department is we provide health education so while more than 11,000 people in the United States are diagnosed with cervical cancer each year I want to highlight the area of 196,000 people um can be diagnosed with cervical precancers however there are not many of them are are misdiagnosed because they are not getting their pap smears so we um are really encouraging people to take advantage um and contact their doctor and schedule an appointment to um do a papsmear to screen out cervical cancer the good news about cervical cancer is that with vaccination and regular screening you can prevent the disease and the vaccination for this is the HPV vaccine as was noted above that um HPV vaccine can prevent 90% of all infections so that's really important for uh women as well as men and their Partners to know so next slide for those of us who do not have um insurance that covers pap smears U the Ruckers and the New Jersey save or screening access of value to Essex residents the safe program has a mobile van that provides mammograms as well as cervical cancer screenings this month so we ask people to take advantage of those and those are available at the at University Hospital Rucker Cancer Center next slide so it's winter safety and it's really slippery outside so 5 tips for exercising safely during the cold weather are available here um just like for tonight we ask people to check the forecast um pick the right clothing and be extra careful watch where you slip uh you don't slip and fall um so make sure you have lighting and make sure people can see you as you're walking in the dark so reflective gear is also super important next slide so some people may not realize what the difference between frostbite versus hypothermia is so we provided this information um for residents to look over next slide and as always we want to recommend to people because we talked about the lockone and we talked about Narcan uh we want people to know about uh the safe drug disposal box that's in the lobby of the police department where they can dispose of any pre unused um or expired uh medications and they can do this safely and anonymously at any time because they're open 24 hours a day seven days a week next slide and of course we're we're going to um emphasize for people to put these numbers um anywhere in their house share these numbers because a lot of people seem to not know about poison control numbers or uh 988 or 211 so um don't call 911 for everything there are many different other types and reasons to call very specific numbers and we have them here available to all we really want people to get to know these numbers and memorize them by heart next slide and then lastly we've had a lot of residents uh take advantage of our medical equipment laner program so thank you to those residents for spreading the word to their neighbors to say hey I think you should contact the mwood health department for a wheelchair um we've also received donations uh from residents so thank you to those residents who've said I have this extra piece of equipment could you pass it on to someone else so um we just want to promote that again so that it helps with injury uh recovery as well as um mobility and Independence for our seniors and I believe that is the last slide and thank you very much thank you so much health officer Davenport do I have any questions from my colleagues on the TC for Miss Davenport yes Mr daffis no that's okay go ahead you sure mayor okay um uh Health officer of DAV Port thanks as always for a great report we're doing so much and I think that uh we need to do a better job through Administration and getting the word out right to our residents and we will certainly all help you in our individual uh capacities in social media do you happen to have any opioid data for the township for Maplewood yes um I don't have it right now with me but yes if you uh want me to give a presentation on that information that we have for Maplewood I can do that for the next meeting yeah that might be interesting to sort of um just really highlight that this is important FOC focal point there's a lot of stigma still associated with this yes we can definitely do that the county has uh conducted um surveys and studies and assessments on on Narin in all of the municipalities in Essex County so we'll be happy to share that information thank you that's all I have thank you mayor yes I I just had a couple questions um thank you for including the um testing or when to test stuff as we talked about it I don't remember when today a week ago whenever but I think it's especially when someone's sick could you just go in a little bit for the Public's benefit to just like if you're sick with covid what with regard to testing because back when covid started we weren't we were told that it can be in your system for 90 days and so it doesn't make any sense to test right if you've already tested positive that up here sorry I don't mean to put you on the spot wonder if we could go back to the slides Mr R so while that's coming up um I'm just gonna try to read my notes here no so of course we want to say that when people are exposed to uh someone with covid you want to test five days days um later or thank you very much or uh if we could zoom into that too please um if you start to feel symptoms that's when you should test so when to get tested um if you have symptoms test immediately um if you're exposed to covid and do not have symptoms wait at least five full days after exposure before testing because unfortunately if you test too early you may likely get an inaccurate result okay you should also test if you're going into certain high-risk settings or before visiting someone who might be at high risk for Ser for Co severe covid-19 so if you're visiting someone at like a um a nursing home for example um if you scroll up a little further just want to sorry scroll down sorry um there's two types of tests the one that you take home is the at home antigen test the antigen test tests how much of the of of the viruses in your system because your body's responding to it once it's positive that means that your body is fighting um viral load the PCR test is the one where we go to the lab and we test those are more accurate obviously which is why they're encouraging people to use more atome antigen tests because that negative might not be actually negative if um if you don't test at least twice so it says a simple negative antigen test result does not rule out infection although we all hope it does um the best way to detect infection is to um do another test for 48 hours later this is called serial testing because it swallows one after the other test results if your test result is positive please isolate for 5 days this hasn't changed you isolate for 5 days until you are 24hour symptom free usually on day five if not sooner for those who' have gotten vaccinated by the way I just want to say vaccination helps to prevent uh moderate to severe infection so it helps to reduce that hospitalization many many times what we hear anecdotally is that for those who've gotten vaccinated when they get covid which is you know somehow rampant this this season um their symptoms are quite mild in comparison so we really do want to encourage people to get vaccinated because it does help to alleviate those worse symptoms and prevent hospitalization isolation ends after day five after you've uh been symptom free for 24 hours and then when you go out back in to the community back to work please wear your mask between day 6 and day 10: that's again if you're feeling good but you and you have to go back to work but we still want you don't want you to spread anything or just take any risks if you don't want to wear your mask you can take the U you can receive a two tests that are negative antigen tests 48 hours apart so you would take one on day six and then take another antigen test on day eight if both of them are negative you can uh take off the mask because there's no what about when you've had Co when already had covid when you when can you when are you supposed to test after that oh so go to the next yeah it's to the right right there you go yeah so um what to do if my first positive antigen test was 50 within uh 30 days or less so use an antigen test if you're symptomatic okay um because you may still have um a viral load if you're asymptomatic testing is not recommended to the detect a new infection so if you have covid and then you've isolated for 5 days and you feel fine you don't have to test correct because it's it's not going to be sort of yeah because ideally like if you're not symptomatic then you're not showing you probably don't have a viral load or something that your body's fighting the 90 days uh that we were talking about was um if you test with the PCR which is much more accurate you will show it because you still have but the home ones aren't as yeah the home ones you don't have to um are not as accurate as the PCR so again if you're positive if you have a positive antigen test um and within 30 days or less um you test if you're symptomatic and then my first positive antigen test was within 31 to 90 days so almost three months later if you're symptomatic please use that antigen test again again that test for viral load so if you have symptoms and you test with the antigen test if you have enough viral load to spread to others you will get get a positive test again okay thank you yep I hope that makes sense that's any other questions from ITC colleagues great report by the way yeah I just want to um comment I'm really excited to read about or hear about the free Universal home visiting for new moms and babies because I think like postpartum depression often goes um untreated and so I'm really excited and hopefully we can promote some of that stuff too um now we will open up um invite to the public to address our Board of Health if they have any questions for our health officer Mr wary thank you for facilitating if any members of the public joining us on Zoom would like to speak in public portion please raise your hand now I see no hands great so with that I move to adjourn until our next meeting on Tuesday February 6th do I have a second second scrape Mr daffis yes L yes mayor Adams yes Miss angle yes thank you thank you back to you mayor thank you Miss angle thank you and with that we'll go to we have no ordinances on Final passage but we do have an ordinance on introduction Miss pron yes mayor uh ordinance 3112 d24 an ordinance to amend chapter 257 of the code of the township of mwood entitled vehicles and traffic with respect to parking on the south side of Milburn Avenue this ordinance will revise parking regulations on the south side of Milburn Avenue between Valley Street and the Union border motion mayor mayor I move the passage of this ordinance on first reading it's publication according to law on the mwood South Orange News Record and a hearing to be held on February 6 2024 a second no motion roll call Miss K yes Mr daffis yes Mr Duca yes Miss angle yes mayor Adams yes thank you we have report from departments no one here to do so we have the um budget from December 2023 budget report in our packets um administrative reports Mr worry thank you mayor two items on the agenda tonight uh first we have a an employee in DPW who is being promoted to the shade tree and Parks Foreman that is John Caffrey so we are excited to have him uh continue to advance in his department and we are also hiring a revenue administrative assistant in the finance office this is a position that we have been uh searching for a the right candidate for quite a while and we are excited to bring on board Christopher agero and he will start later on this month so I just wanted to highlight those two um employee matters that's all mayor thank you and that will fully staff no more staff opens of the finance department that's right okay any questions for Mr wory but that is good news I have a question um administrator warry with respect to resolution number [Music] 35-24 that's item 15 U on the agenda this evening resolution appointing Christopher Aguero as Revenue Administration Assistant uh that I take it is uh to fill a vacancy in the finance office that's correct okay and and is that the last opening in the finance office it is so the finance office is current Curr fully staffed it is fantastic thank you okay what township attorney cidia thank you Madame mayor welcome uh I only have one item tonight um your resolution 47-24 which is designating uh eight Vermont as a non- condemnation Redevelopment area um adding it to an existing non-c condemnation Redevelopment area uh you have an updated draft of the resolution which includes directing Philips Bryce ggle to uh prepare an amendment to your existing Redevelopment plan to incorporate this new area okay that's our discussion item but we could just talk about it now I suppose if we like so what what Miss cido is um talking about is the Springfield Avenue Redevelopment plan um for Block 47.0 4 lot 162 which is 1653 Springfield Avenue I won't read the blocks and lots but the 1647 to 1649 Springfield Avenue and including in that 8 Vermont Street which uh the planning board discussed and recommended we move ahead with any discussion on that since we'll just kind of readjusting I support just just to be clear that's that's Redevelopment area three and we have a plan for redevelopment area three and once this gets done and we designate this block we will amend the plan correct to include 8 Vermont and to make any changes after we have a conversation with the developer owner I mean the the plan is going to uh first come to the TC it will be referred by the TC to the planning board the same way as an original plan a plan Amendment follows the same process um obviously we also we always take uh input from stakeholders including uh those interested in developing in the area but ultimately the Redevelopment plan is uh a document that would uh that expresses our Redevelopment objectives no matter who we're to develop the prop so tonight we're authorizing um The Firm of GGO whatever that is right to do the work but we still have a little while to go before we give him Direction correct correct thank you so this does not have to go back before the planning board because we have the planning board's memo already approv recommended designation the area the next time we'll go before the planning board is when um we have a plan to review for okay any other questions Co I support that we move forward with with including eight Vermont Street like we need it's on the consent agenda consent agenda right right yes all right great any other questions for Miss cido okay great Township Clerk Miss britson uh thank you mayor I have a couple things um starting out with following uh your meeting on January 1 um the cont s and um all the contracts that you approved have all been uh finalized with signatures and sent out uh we're working on 2024 parking uh continuously for all the Lots commuter Merchant overnight you name it um there's a grace period until the third week of uh January extend that to the following Monday uh so we have not been enforcing um so giving people a little bit more time to get their uh parking done so we had one uh event planning meeting this month for a large scale event uh coming up which is the S rocks um and your subcommittee uh boards and some of our other uh committee boards have been advertised for your meeting dates and indicated what the zoom link is and my final thing is no you know what I said that so I have no more uh to report unless you have any questions for me any questions for Miss priton I do um can you send us a list of all the uh board and committee members whose terms expired on December 31st 2023 yes and give us an indication if they want to be considered for reappointment all right uh my deput is here here and you know we did reach out to the people um asking if they want it to be considered for reappointment so we should be able to provide this tomorrow just want to remind us that you know we did commit to um continuing to make sure our boards and committees are reflective of the community so this is always a good chance to look at vacancies to look at reappointments to make sure we're in sync with that agreed anyone else have anything from our Township Clerk okay moving on from elected officials Deputy Mayor CRA thank you mayor um just a couple of things um wanted to make sure folks were aware and of that again as Miss dport especially stated that we are due to renew our pet licenses even if they're inbound in home animals they need to be updated and uh my dog and my cat are not very happy because they got their shots on Tuesday and are going to get their license done tomorrow night so hopefully they will not hate me for it any longer um reminder to everyone again about our committee appointments and stuff that you shouldn't wait until your kids have graduated from high school I'm guilty of it myself um before volunteering for being a member of our community um we need more representation on our younger end of things and particularly people of color um and just because you're a high school student that also doesn't exempt you from it we have openings on our youth Advisory Board and a few other places where we have under 25 members under the age of 25 members so please if you're interested or or have any questions reach out to our Clerk or reach out to any one of us online um finally um You probably haven't receed if you haven't already received it the community services department since that a wonderful newsletter with a lot of the new events coming up a lot of them are focused on our seniors but there is one in particular I wanted to point out that we actually have an adult an eight-week adult art class that's going to be starting over at the dart Center and that's for 18 and older so for those folks who've been looking like I have like man I'm not 55 yet I can't do anything cool this one is for you so sign up it's on Monday nights from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m. other than that um I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday we're well rested and are ready for a whole another year of fun times in Maplewood so thank you thank you Deputy Mayor any questions for Deputy Mayor right seeing none we'll move on to Committee Member Duca thank you mayor I just have one thing um that you are going to be the star of the Hilton neighborhood ass assciation meeting on Thursday night 7:30 p.m. at the community center in deart park people should come prepared to listen to your remarks and ask you tough questions do I have to have can ion does not disappoint brief brief remarks okay very brief I like that's all I have thank you okay thank you any questions for Committee Member DeLuca no nope Committee Member angle thank you I will just add to what Miss PPE said about the Department of community service newsletter because I saw that the ice skating rink is coming back and I believe that's early February but that looks so fun last year so I just wanted to add to your report and point that out um I also wanted to mention on the consent agenda um Miss mayor Adams mentioned it we have the all access committee a new committee we're forming that um actually came out of Mr War's original interviews and our former mayor daus's meetings with some of our community members about making sure that our programming um and our activities are inclusive of all ages abilities whether it's physical or mental disabilities on neurodiversity whatnot so we're putting together a committee so that we can start focusing and making sure that we're as inclusive as possible for all uh race sexuality economic status ability everything so we just want to make sure um so that's coming up soon and if you're interested in applying the application is on our website so you can apply that there um and then my last update is um you know we've had a lot of public comment about Israel and Palestine a lot of stuff happening in our community we've talked here about what we can do as a community what our Township can do and so uh working with our health officer and with our friends in South Orange we are putting together a program so save the date for um hot off the presses Sunday January 28th at 700 p.m. on Zoom we will have a 1-hour program with the parents Circle family Forum which is a nonprofit it's a joint Israeli Palestinian organization made up of more than 700 bereaved families their common bond is that they have lost a close family member to the conflict but instead of choosing Revenge they have chosen a path of reconciliation so what this program is is there's going to be um one Palestinian person and one Israeli and they're going to speak for 10 minutes about their experience losing a loved one from the conflict and then there'll be a moderated conversation amongst our community it's to the public anyone can attend we will send the RSVP link out soon and um again it is Sunday January 28th at 7 pm on Zoom that's my report thank you thank you yeah that looks really good it's already on my calendar it's I'm excited for that thank you for for working on that any questions for Committee Member Engle no good okay Committee Member dfis thank you mayor it's good seeing you in that seat mayor I've set in every seat on the St um congratulations on your first official meeting as mayor it's fingers crossed I'm not gonna jinx it it looks like it might be yes you said it out loud it's over I didn't I didn't finish my um well I welcome back everyone from the holidays um hopefully some people out there got rest I sure didn't um and here we are into the new year in just two weeks into the new year some of our committees have already met and we have been actively engaged uh in the important work of the people uh as it relates to my work um to I chair the code committee this in 2024 and I'm also a member of the economic development committee and one of the big topics that will be a focus area of mine in 2024 and probably 2025 um and uh an important thing that um crosses uh intersect several boards and committees is the implementation of our master plan recommendations um so in code we talked about and in Economic Development we talked about putting a working group together uh and I have already met with the um the chair of the planning board miss Karen pesota and we've begun framing that out um and we will be bringing in several stakeholders in the community and Township officials uh throughout this process um depending on our Focus so when we're talking about infrastructure improvements we will be um bringing in our engineering officials and our Public Works officials when we're talking about uh zoning we will be obviously um talking with our community development folks and our zoning folks so uh looking forward to that and already in code committee uh we started working on a couple of recommendations in the adopted master plan for instance we've been looking at a demo ordinance um to see what we can do to ensure that the uh deliberate and too quick takeown of uh historic uh homes that may have not been historically designated as they had not been in this particular instance to find ways practical ways practical ways that we could slow that down a little bit looking at uh architectural ele elements that we may need to add uh to also break uh development that is very bulky um and also looking at how we could make our zoning permitting uh more efficient and better coordinated uh and less burdensome certainly as we talk about from permitted use to permitted use um and not have to involve the expense or the bureaucracy of planning Board review so already we are engaged in this important topic one of the other Focus areas of mine this year will be the equality index rating uh we' already begun that work too and uh we're looking at where we are right now we think we're pretty good standing very close to 100 but we still have some some work to do to get a perfect score on the Human Rights Campaign equality index and I want to applaud and salute our uh assistant administrator Jones who's with us tonight who um has already done some work on that and thank you um the community board on police has already met and one of the things that we're going to be focus on there and another thing I will be leading is putting together our youth restorative justice program um and that is going to be a lot of work and there's a lot of opportunity to make things a little bit better than what we had before and more on that later um on Thursday night I'll be meeting with the Arts Council so I'm going to miss your meeting at the Hilton neighborhood association mayor otherwise I'll be there in support of course you see me enough and um in human services um we will be talking about several items and one of the things I want to look at which will be a partnership also with Township Administration is to see how we can further improve the community fridge and I think there's some opportunity there to improve things I've seen some deliveries that have been missed and there's no explanations for those and and we want to make things a little bit better over there um and that is all along with the fact that I love sitting here because I have a great Vantage of all you I have our Township Clerk in direct eyesight and if that's the camera that everyone's looking on uh my better side is more visible okay thank you for that you're welcome any questions for Committee Member D I have one question um when you're talking about the master plan and looking at NE initiatives um I hope that you'll consider working with some somebody from the environmental advisory committee because I know there's a lot of stuff about climate change and they have asked also to be part of the process so I just wanted to bring that up absolutely yep everyone will be included anyone else okay thank you Committee Member deas um I just have a couple quick things one I want to uh thank the Community Coalition of race for another wonderful Martin Luther King celebration uh yesterday yes that was just yesterday okay and um also we're having our kickoff meeting for planning s celebrates women for March for women's history month coming up real soon with uh the elected women in Maplewood and the elected women in South Orange to uh start planning the month of March and Miss kpe I think you had something you wanted you forgot to add on your forgot to mention Black History Month right all right we have an entire program set up um most of the events are actually free to the public if you are interested in learning more about it you need to go to Maplewood artsand culture. org. and look it online for mbhm Maplewood Black History Month great thank you and uh the women's history uh website will be back up and running soon as well um and that's all I have if anyone has any questions for me good thank you let's move on uh we already took care of our discussion item um so I move the consent agenda second motion for the consent agenda move it yes Mr daff yes DeLuca yes Miss Engle yes mayor Adams yes thank you and this brings us to our last public comment section for any subject matter Mr warry any members of the public joining us on Zoom would like to speak in public portion please raise your hand now do we have any members of the public with us we do we have seven and I no raised hands mayor great thank you here then I will um make a motion to adjourn this evenings meeting and resume again on February 6th second thank you right yes yes Mr DeLuca yes angle yes mayor Adams yes thank you have a good night everybody Drive stre good night that's right black part I forgot to mention black history