good evening everyone in accordance with Section Five of the open public meetings act be advised that a notice of this meeting was made by posting on the bulletin board in town hall and forwarding to the officially designated newspapers that this meeting would take place at Town Hall at 700 p.m. on Tuesday February 20th 2024 meeting details and the draft agenda were also posted on our Township website please stand to salute the [Music] flates call vote Please Mr Cen here M pus here Deputy Mayor secondy here Mr Stoler presid mayor Romano here thank you may I have a motion to approve the agenda may I have a second second all those in favor I oppos none may have a motion to approve the January 29th 2024 special Township committee Mee many minutes so may have second second all those in favor I any opposed reports uh please provide reports um on the Committees that you are uh Theon on uh committee men ster please sure just very brief uh special improvement district Restaurant Week March 17th over 20 restaurants signed up March 17th please go out and service our local establishments and then for any business owners Metropolitan business promotions you have to get that in uh by next week thank you thank you uh Deputy Mayor I mean committee M I'm sorry okay um also brief um the uh finance committee that Ben and I uh sit on met again as we continue to push the budget trying to work through the schedule of when that will be presented to the public in line with the statutes the only other committee was the I met with was with the arum and they're working on a bunch of fundraising events but want to come on that in the future thank you Deputy Mayor sakandi sure um so mayor romano and I have been closely following the fair share of legislation that's rapidly making its way through the state legislature uh the mayor and I along with our counterparts on the Livingston Township committee met with assembly members boli and cazo Gill to share our concern about the new legislation and suggest changes that we'd like to see last night uh mayor romano and I met with state Senator John mcken to further express our concerns about the legislation our elected representatives listen to our concerns and our hope is that they will act accordingly to improve the legislation before it's passed at this point the legislation has passed the assembly it's now being considered by the Senate and it may very well go back to the assembly so uh I would encourage everyone that has strong feelings about this to get in touch with uh our assembly members and our state senator if you want your opinion turn thanks and we have their contact information right on the table there committee woman this yes thank you um two-way circulation on S6 subcommittee is meeting again next week and then we hope to have a presentation to the public in March so stay tuned for that okay thank you okay um so uh before we go any further just want we um we want to uh let you all know that we have heard all your concerns regarding affordable housing and we just wanted to ease some of the tensions in the room um so before we go any further I'd like to make a motion to revise the agenda and move resolutions 2477 24078 2479 and resolution 2480 and ordinance 2662-20 to be considered immediately and to be considered immediately may I have a second second roll call vote Please Mr Cohen yes M kupus yes Deputy Mayor Zandy yes Mr Stoler yes mayor Romano yes thank you okay so are there any comments from the committee in regards to resolution 24- 077 may I have a motion to approve 24- 077 motion may I have a second second roll call vote Please Mr Cohen no Miss pus no Deputy Mayor s Mandy no Mr Stoler no mayor Romano no thank you any are there any comments from the committee in regards to resolution 24- 078 may I have a motion to approve 24078 may I have a second second roll call vote please Mr Cohen yes Miss kupus yes Deputy Mayor second Mandy yes Mr Stoler yes mayor Romano yes are there any comments from the committee in regards to resolution 24- 079 no may I have a motion to approve 24- 079 may I have a second second roll call vote Please Mr Cohen yes Miss puus yes Deputy Mayor second Mandy yes Mr Stoler yes mayor Romano yes are there any comments from the committee in regards to resolution 24- 080 may I have a motion to approve 24-8 so move may have a second second roll call vote Please Mr Cohen yes Miss kupus yes Deputy Mayor second Mandy yes Mr Stoler yes mayor Romano yes thank you okay ordinance 2662 d24 Deputy Mayor second amend the you are scheduled to sponsor I would like to present an ordinance entitled ordinance number 2662-20 ordinance of the township of Milbourne County of Essex repealing ordinance number 264-2351 njsa 40 a12 A-1 ET seq um I move that this ordinance be taken up and passed on first reading and that the Township Clerk be authorized to have the ordinance published in accordance with the law and the item and for hearing in final passage on Tuesday March 19th 2024 may I have a second second roll call vote Please Mr cin yes Miss puus yes Deputy Mayor Sandy yes Mr Stoler yes mayor Romano yes so uh based on everything that we've just passed we will not move forward with the nine Main Street project [Laughter] comment when invited to speak to offer your comments please come to the Lector clearly state your name and whether are a Milburn resident Andor property or business owner please do not provide your full address seeing our meetings are recorded and are readily available to the public for the convenience of our community there is a remote option if you called in and would like to comment please press star six now if you are attending by computer or electric electronic device please click the raiseed hand button and be sure your video is on when you comment all members of the public wishing to speak will be put into the queue to address the committee to help facilitate an order orderly meeting and to perm all to be heard speakers shall limit their comments to one three minute session you will be prompted when there is 30 seconds remaining a reminder that this is not a time for dialogue or debate of T to debate a matter and this is a time during our business meeting for the public to offer comments I will now open the public comment period hi David PCO I'm a Milburn resident uh the last time I talked on this subject about two and a half to three years ago I used all three minutes I won't need them all tonight um this has been a incredibly cont enous heated at Times personal battle um it's complicated it's not easy um but on behalf of everyone here and I think the residents of this Township I'd like to say thank you it's so rare in politics you can see people from different parties and different backgrounds unite on something so important uh to this neighborhood and this certainly was the most important topic I've seen in the 12 or 13 years that I've been here I would just like to state for myself and I'm sure others will follow anything I can do we can do to assist you in this effort going forward it's not going to go away um it just didn't need to be what we've been battling over for the last two to three years so thank you I pledge my support you'd help us figure that out if that's helpful and uh it really you've been a shining example to all of us how you come together and figure things out we figured the first part out we'll figure the second part out later but thank you very much than no one else wishes to speak I'm talking about the consent agenda I mean I had nothing whoo all I can say is wo considering the July where with this start in July 30th 2021 on a Friday morning where I was the only citizen that was at there but as to the consent order as to the bill list uh with all du respect to our Municipal attorney there's a payment for him for duties that he did for the U the affordable housing the question is the money is coming from the trust fund and one of the things I've been asking since basically July 30th 2021 how much have we expended on the nine Main Street project I think we're entitled to have an accounting as to what we've spent in addition as to the trust fund that we have the affordable housing trust fund which is a best practice Activity one of the questions we've been asking we delayed the adoption of of like the SE charge and the question is had we adopted it earlier will it residential demolitions how much money would be in the trust fund today to fund what we had to do on renovation going forward um as to the Professional Services I think we might want to consider what the board of education does rather than just being Alex and the CFO reviewing the time summaries I think maybe the finance committee members might want to look at it because there are some things over the last two or three years I found through Oprah that you need to look at um as to there's payments to the gif um ensure reimbursements once invol is the case that I'm involved pH versus Milburn it was told to us before once we paid our deductible there'll be no other payment so the question is why are you making an additional payment if we've always made deductible and it's also in the police whistleblower harassment case there is a payment being paid um to the GIF insurer later on there's something about reconstituting Arts the flood mitigation and then there's an ordinance and this is an issue I had with a prior attorney and I think the public should know is like when do we need an ordinance when do we need a resolution appointing people to a members of a committee no one disputes they need a resolution but if you're going to create what the rules are the membership of an ordinance of U of A committee that usually is disclosed in your administrative code does that need to be done by ordinance and again I'm very happy that public was heard that United residents can affect change I'll be brief my name is Eric Osman longtime Short Hills resident um I had a different speech in mind for tonight I want to applaud all of you including attorney our attorney Mr caner um but really for putting Town ahead of party for not turning our town into a circus situation like we seen from other towns such as Livingston and we've seen some nasty meetings in Summit as well uh and we've seen some nasty meetings here it takes a lot to dial down ego to dial down party and put the town first and really I truly and we all truly appreciate the courage you showed tonight and I suspect it will help us in our negotiations going forward thank you thank you Charlie vanara uh sh Hills resident for 27 years uh uh honestly uh mayor Romano you said people didn't approach I'm overwhelmed I really am never was I more proud to call myself a resident of this town that I am tonight you all of you have really come together and I know when I think back to September and I think back to issues and and and they're all gone now I mean you're working together as a team and and I'm loving it so thank you again I concur with uh oh sorry Leah Cruz uh Short's resident um I concur with Charlie I almost feel like I want to cry it feels like we've been heard so thank you especially Frank and Ben for your hard work um and I think it's pretty clear that nobody really objects to affordable housing and hopefully it can be done in a better way now maybe including senior housing or a better location um but my question is um this sounds great and I'm really excited but what happens now I don't understand um I thought this was court order so can somebody hope explain um where do we go from here thank you Fran failed 40 years in Milburn it sounds like a sentence but was it's been a wonderful 40 the way I said it um I just also want to go on the record thanking all of you for making a decision that's good for everyone including people who are low income and come into a wealthy town I I think when I first got up when I heard about this nine main street I spoke as a former social worker that housing projects that are 100% a lower income are doomed to failure it's been proven it's in the literature it's bad for people they need to be in mixed groups and then that helps everybody so thank you for understanding that that needed to be done and of course um for integrating people into our community in a way that serves everybody and diversifies all of us um that said the other part of this that's touching me is that um back in the olden days um after the dinosaurs but when I was in school around seventh grade we learned about Civics and Civics we learned you're part of a democracy you can get up and you can speak and people will hear you and you can get things done and I took that to heart and I have to say and she was going to cry I'm getting the chills the fact that I have worked on this that I've tried so hard to make this happen with a group of people is so gratifying that I just have to thank all of you so thank you hi Diane fall Eglo lifelong resident former Township Committee Member First I want to say it's refreshing that you're alternating the mayor's message short to the point it's very informative I want to thank Frank for your acknowledgement that the $7.5 million as the paper mill had never been publicly discussed somehow that got amended off that agenda I sincerely hope that the paper mill will honor their original contract to comp continue to pay their monthly rent and the township will think very clearly before putting a bond out for millions of dollars um I also wonder mayor mayor Romano you can maybe answer this will the $1.2 million they have in escrow be released immediately to fix their failing retaining wall and um on that mayor Romano I know you waited a long time to get on the township committee yet we don't really hear you speak to anything we don't hear you give any reports I know you're leison we don't hear you answer any of the people's questions a lot of people last meeting we had two hours public comment and mayor miggins and myself we used to take like copious notes and we would answer Everybody by name because it's mostly the same people who speaks and instead of maybe punting everything to Alex who does a phenomenal job in town but he's not elected so I would think it would be nice if we can start hearing from you and your opinions thank you oh and I also agree with everybody it was great at 4:29 to see the amended agenda email thank you David marrow Milburn resident uh I would like to applaud the township committee on their actions tonight you have taken a step of courage in rectifying what was a miscarriage a little over two and a half years ago so I thank you all and I think the town thanks you as well good evening Renee paparian Milbourne resident I also want to thank all of you there were many doubters during the last election campaign who said what Ben and Frank were going to try to accomplish with their colleagues could not be done would not be done and they were not telling the truth well here you go doubters it happened and this was common sense so thank you thank you very much for paying attention and making a hard decision thank you thank you stand with you good evening everyone and this is Char goyel from charels thank you everyone you know especially the council members for voting in the best interest of a community which we all have been tirelessly advocating to become a more inclusive community so I really thank you all and I'm here to urge to please urge uh to include Senior care Living in affordable housing master plan incorporating Senior Living into the plan is very much needed it's a step toward creating a community that caters to the diverse needs of residents fostering intergenerational connections embracing the wisdom and experiences our senior community members can bring it is uh the benefits are manyfold you know promoting social cohesion into our cultural tapestry fostering economic growth it will get an economic boost enhancing overall well-being interconnected generations and experience in wisdom cultural um enrichment volunteerism and Community involvement it is very much needed that we include seniors in our community and they have a place to call home when they age uh it is just not a matter of addressing the needs of an aging population it is an investment in the overall well-being diversity inclusion and resilience of our Milbourne shuttles Community it is a commitment to Aging in place ensuring that our seniors can continue to be active contributors to the community they have been a part of for so long thank you thank you hi uh thanks for the opportunity to speak I'm Lauren Nathan um going on 40 years in Milburn I don't want to leave without adding my voice in thanks to what everyone else else has already said you can take I believe great satisfaction in that you have acted in the best interest of this community and I know that there were probably many other competing interests that have been lobbying you and there probably have been pressures on some of you that uh uh will never be disclosed but again as I said I don't want to leave without saying thank you for acting in the best interest of this community and uh much appreciate appreciate it and much relieved thank you okay Ted Gin from been here about almost 40 years and uh I also had another speech prepared which I'm so happy I don't have to give but I did want to just at end and just sort of quickly paraphrase Lincoln who was my favorite President Gettysburg Address he said the world will little note no long remember what we say here but it will never forget what we do here so thank you for doing we did tonight thank [Applause] Youk sure hello good evening um my name is Pua fari I live on 20 C rdge Road um I also don't need to have my speech now um I missed this um amazing moment and I think that you know I just want to thank you all for um thinking of the town and doing what you know I think what really is going to be something to bring people together and what's right in terms of for the new populations that will come in as well as maintaining that balance um and support for who lives here so I think we can carry tradition with Innovation and it can be done gracefully and I am just so thankful that you all uh took that into consideration and I'm excited to see what um our Township can continue to grow until I love being here and I can't wait to be a part of it and see it Bri so thank you so much thank you again I had Richard cyberg resident again I had a different comment to make but in closing with a comment this new team that is working together with the help of a new attorney very refreshing so hopeful for a good future I in my comment what I wanted to say but I have to say it so in 1970 the L Lottery started in 1972 Powerball started 1976 Mega Ball started and the commercials were a dollar and a dream now it's $2 in a dream you go to play but RPM had the dollar in a dream they were gonna get the a landmark piece of land in town no taxes pilot program let the residents of the Town clean it up so they could build something that they could collect rent on maybe even sell it for hundred million and I am so glad you busted that bubble tonight thank you good evening Sarah Sherman um I have a question actually um what was done this evening is not insignificant and so my question is what are the consequences and costs of the action taken here this evening thank you thank you Ed Meer longtime resident uh I'd like to just uh change to focus a little bit to going back to the uh historic preservation commission uh there uh is a lot of uh unhappiness and suspicion within the township of the uh the actions of the HBC and what I would urge you to do is to have a special meeting to air out some of these concerns that we've had over the uh uh last several months we've had incorrect information uh sent to the residents uh the residents were also unhappy about the lack of involvement in the uh merrywood nolwood uh uh HBC uh proposal uh the uh ordinance that you adopted at the last meeting uh there were uh several incorrect statements made uh one member of the township committee uh stated that uh this only covered complete demolitions the ordinance expressly uh States demolition of substantially all or any building or the facade of any building activity in this category shall be reviewed according to the criteria and standards in and then it CES uh two sta uh two ordinances uh the planner that you had stated uh that the residents would be notified if their plans were if their houses were included by certified mail uh the ordinance says that uh notice may be provided by regular mail to the last known address of the owner of record is found in the tax assessor records failur to receive notice shall not relieve the property from compliance with the provisions hereof so there's there's concerns here uh as to what was said and what is actually uh in there uh there's also real concern about the fact that the residents will not be notified of the actions of the HPC uh when their properties are designated they're only informed afterwards and if they disagree uh then they can uh uh appeal it to the uh uh the zoning board uh perhaps you should look at giving uh uh more input to the residents uh 30 years ago I was chair of the planning board when historic preservation first came up and the board at that point wanted to get the input of all of the people we sent letters to everybody in the proposed historic district and to everybody uh in the uh homes that were uh historic outside the district and we we had a very uh long and must say contentious meeting but everybody saw the other viewpoints and it gave the planning board in discussing this a lot of uh information and seeing the uh thank you I'm sorry mutually exclusive your time is up I'm sorry thank you anyone else online my name is Alex I came here sever years ago from West can you speak up just a little bit or just hold on my name is Alex vov I came here with my family several years ago from Westfield the best place to live in y County because here is much better much better just I did not uh reside in Middletown when has uh when he's leing bonjo and uh BR Springfield I came here and I learned this one I'm building engineer building 15 years ago the new headquarter of laal in Bley Heights $380 million professional B now I discover the governor Murphy order mandatory you to build here several building for lowincome people now why here why not in West not in Elizabeth Newark arvington or Camden there is people are not saved I learned to there this is notator probably you the mayor you can resist this one because you can be fire or maybe he will uh go to the court and can remove the power don't uh fulfill his uh order or resign how you build this this one here down you overcrowded the city and now you're going in the high Middle School to build another probably I want this tonight I don't know are you going to build there for these people I not against them but there is not belong to be Residential Building the governor can order to you govern I have registered Democrat but now I have to change to vote for not for General primary for Trump for Republican this deeply disappoint me why you decide this one to build building there to where crowded the Middle School the morning time when I came my grandson they graduated over there they are in high school I don't minutes but you for 50 minutes is uh big traffic 245 is Big traffic I want to know are you going to build this resti building over there or not no V it down of the meeting what happened with Governor he can fire they told me to mandatory it's not it's not happening but you can continue with your time that I'm coming from this one to know because too many if you want to build like low income build to the border of uh Milbourne and meot there we all agree build there there it's violence don't come here this I'm not against these people you can do this one thank thank you very much thank you does anyone else wish to speak I will now close the public comment period the town ship committee will now consider consent agenda resolutions oh I'm sorry would anyone like to respond sure um so I'd like to thank all of you that came out here tonight it's so refreshing to have speaker after speaker come up and thank us as as opposed to criticized so that's really refreshing um you know I think what was done tonight uh was a result of years of the public coming out and taking a position taking a strong position and I'm thrilled that my fellow committee members um you know decided to unanimously reject this uh this Redevelopment agreement um there's some questions as to what comes next um there's going to be a lot of unknowns and I'll let our attorney talk about that a little bit further but um it's going to be a fight and that's what we're we're here to do we're here to fight we're here to fight for what's right um segregated housing that's wrong for our town so that's why we voted against it giving a blank check to a developer that can just add on fees that's wrong that's why we voted against it um so we heard you and um the next few steps may be difficult they may be scary at times but trust us uh that uh we'll see it through with your with your guidance and uh we will look to build inclusionary housing uh we will look to satisfy Our obligation um in a manner that better comports with the values of our town um and will work for for our town in a better way and be more welcoming to those that are supposed to benefit from it after all affordable housing should lift up an entire Community we want people of lower socioeconomic status to um be able to integrate with people of a higher socioeconomic stat status and have everyone learn from one another this nine Main Street project didn't do that so we will seek projects that that do do that in our inclusion um specifically um for the gentleman that was just up I think perhaps he may have come late um just so everyone's clear all municipalities in the state of New Jersey have an obligation to provide opportunities for affordable housing uh it's it's not just us so that's something that shared universally um and we're committed to building the affordable housing that we need to build um we're going to do it in a responsible manner that's all I have for want purose no comments committee Minister sure M first sure first of all thank you everyone for coming out uh and supporting the township committee this is truly a team effort uh so I'd like to thank you thank the entire committee uh we had a lot of uh Team support here uh what comes next you saw history being made here today so we're not exactly sure what comes next but we're committed to providing affordable housing we not against affordable housing we're against a project that's not reasonable and that project on the nine Main Street on the dump was not reasonable it boggled the mind in terms of providing a blank check to RPM I guess a dollar and a dream was cast earlier it was an exclusionary project it was a project that was going to be built on a contaminated site with no end in sight for the cost of remediating its site it was a cost that had an on burdensome on our school system did not take into account the the traffic study the police study Etc so it was just not reasonable this Township committee as a whole wants to exhibit transparency professionalism and competency as the path forward for how this town is run that's what we're exhibiting and that is our March that are our marching [Music] orders just to answer some of the questions that came through uh I like to write everything down as Diane said and go through them I don't like to leave any questions unanswered uh we will be discussing the paper mill again that is not off the table that will be coming back and we trust me we will be doing the transparent professional competent work on that uh Mr verf Alex we understand your concerns uh and and as you said you missed the first part so I think um you know we put a we we don't know what comes next but you know we put a stop to this problem as it exists right now uh and then that's about it but once again thank you all for coming out we appreciate you so much command and yeah you know I certainly Echo what what's been said I mean I thank everybody for their support but but we really don't know what's coming I mean it's all very nice in this room um you know we seem to be in agreement we can be sure that there will be filings from fair share housing and from RPM um at a minimum I would expect RPM will be looking for recruitment of their legal fees to negotiate the agreement and I we I I wouldn't go into exactly yeah I don't know I mean that's just that's my guess I don't know I don't know I would think but we don't know we don't know what we don't know what the judge is going to do we've seen her her before I it's you know it's not going to be the the love and support that we just got from uh from this room so we don't know we're taking a huge risk here and you know we'll uh you know we'll see we we'll see what comes and you know there's just no way to tell I'm sure there will be stuff filed really pretty quickly Mr McDonald Mr so good evening everybody um so the question as to what's next is and I think the committee first off you know I know this committee showed a lot of Courage tonight um I've spoken with all of them and we've had a lot of conversations so I appreciate the thanks but it belongs to this committee and this governing body they really took a stand and I just kind of put down on paper what they all wanted for tonight um as to what's next there's a lot of litigation strategy involved in it most of you have attended the court session have seen the demeanor of the Court um but I think what's fair is we have an unmet need of 75 units now that we had um in our settlement agreement I think this committee um has gone and the township has gone above and beyond its due diligence to try to make nine Main Street work I think everybody in here has shown its opposition during that time period And I think tonight represents a culmination of a lot of hard work part of the township and making termination at nine main street is just not a feasible project um under the constraints the foral Housing Act and this and this Township should be given a fair opportunity to work just as hard to meet its affordable obligation in the future and I speak I've spoke with each member individually and they all have a commitment to bring these 75 units to the township just not at that project so ask what's next from a litigation standpoint I think that a lot of that um will remain to be seen um we do have some arguments um but I do think that you know this Township committee is committed to getting those 75 units and we're going to express that um obviously to the court and to the judge this was not in any way a slate to the court a slate to affordable housing a slight to fair share housing um this was a wellth thought out decision that it's better to bring affordable housing to this Township in a different way and this committee is committed to doing that so I know that's not exactly what you wanted to hear but again I don't have Chrystal ball and I don't know what the Court's going to do I don't know what RPM's going to do I don't know what fair share housing Corporation is going to do um but but us as a Township and our Law Firm is prepared to respond to anything that's filed so I I I'll say that um I think that's anything else may any other respond to that's I mean I just Echo what everybody else said I mean it is nice to to hear from residents that are happy and and overjoyed and I want to just thank Deputy Mayor Sandi for um sitting in with our legislators with with our Senator and um Livingston and I mean I I've learned a lot in the past couple of months so you know whatever we do moving forward we're we're going to we're going to do it together um and and that's it no okay are there any comments from the committee in regards to any items listed on the consent agenda I agenda I have a comment I just would like to explain the reason why we have the three resolutions for the three different committees we talked about it um back in January that we were looking at the all the Committees and subcommittees that were uh uh mayoral appointments and we were looking to change them to be Township committee as a whole appointments and these are the first three that are changing in that direction so that's why they're there and uh altogether from what I remember there were about a dozen of them um so we will be seeing more of them um as the months go okay anyone else may I have a motion to approve resolution 24- 066 through resolution 24- 076 which are listed on the consent agenda so may I have a second second roll call vote Please Mr Cen yes Miss pus yes Deputy Mayor Sandy yes Mr Stoler yes mayor Romano yes ordinance 26-24 Mr Stoler your schedule to sponsor I would like to present an ordinance entitled ordinance 2660 d24 Bond ordinance to authorize the making of various public improvements in by and for the township of Milburn in the county of Essex state of New Jersey to appropriate the sum of3 million $510,000 to pay the cost thereof to make a down payment to authorize the issuance of bonds to finance such appropriation and to provide for the issuance of bonds anticipation notes in anticipation of the issuance of such bonds the $3.5 million Bond ordinance will be used for our annual Road reconstruction pod project the township Pool Resurfacing and interior improvements to the Milburn Police Department the township continues to maintain a focus on infrastructure infrastructure improvements this will be the second year that we approve a bond in the new year to ensure that we can design bid and perform Road reconstruction projects over the summer and they tend to be less impactful to the public and schools Road reconstruction in addition to a full Mill and pave of the roadway is inclusive of any sewer repairs Curbing and drainage work that may be needed on a particular Street the method of infrastructure Improvement is a smarter investment because it will ensure our roadway surfaces last 10 to 15 years as opposed to the previous micro Paving method that could show signs of deterioration just after two to three years as we have done in the previous three years roads are chosen based on pavement conditions index PCI in short the township is looking to improve streets that have a grading of poor or marginal first I'm sure a lot of people can uh put their streets on that uh this year's roads scheduled for improvement are Allen Brook Haven dog wood Church Street Colonial way Deerfield Del Barton Lake Road partial Lake Road mechanic ocean Orchard merrywood featherbed Oak View Sunset Drive I move that this ordinance be taken up and passed on first reading and that the Township Clerk be authorized to have the ordinance published in accordance with law in the item for hearing and final passage on Tuesday March 19th 20 24 May I have a second second roll call vote Please Mr Cohen yes Miss puus yes Deputy Mayor sakandi yes Mr Stoler yes mayor Romano yes thank you Mr Cohen you are scheduled to sponsor ordinance 2661 d24 yes I would like to present an ordinance entitled ordinance number 2661 d24 an ordinance to repeal chapter 2-33 shade tree Advisory Board uh the purpose of this ordinance is to repeal chapter 2-23 shade tree Advisory Board from the Township's code the township wishes to reconstitute the shade tree Advisory board by resolution consistent with other advisory boards and committees the repeal of chapter 2-33 is not to eliminate the Township's shade tree Advisory board but to add additional flexibility to the way Milburn Township addresses boards and committees and this is I guess this is the third one two were in the consent agenda this is the the third one to change the way that the membership is appointed I'm I'm I move that this ordinance be taken up and be passed on first reading and that the Township Clerk be authorized to have the ordinance published in accordance with law in the item and for hearing and final passage on Tuesday March 19th 2024 ask your question oh I'm sorry may I have a second please second roll call vote no I just want to clarify that we're we're not getting rid of it of the shade tree by we are going to um reconstitute it so that the appointed members is not appointed just by the mayor but by consensus of the full Township committee because I know that there was some question like are we getting rid of it we're not getting rid of it so okay thank you roll call Mr Cohen yes M brus yes Deputy Mayor sacy yes Mr Stoler yes mayor Romano yes okay we have no old business new business uh Mr sakandi you had some items for new business police resident protection ordinance police regulation I did yes um so it's come to my attention that Summit recently passed a resident protection ordinance um and the great thing about their ordinance is that it add added additional penalties uh for criminals that would attempt to break into homes or cars or successfully break into homes or cars um as you know we have some challenges on the state level in terms of catching release and not holding criminals accountable um so what I propose is that we adopt a ordinance similar to what Summit and some other towns have done uh so that we can add our own penalties at a municipal level for those trying trying to break into our our homes and cars um and I would suggest uh that our Municipal attorney perhaps look and see whether we can increase the penalties beyond what Summit had proposed uh I think in some cases they had a financial penalty and then there was also a um you know jail time period um obviously we'll need the courts to you know try these cases and convict them but these are additional uh penalties that could be added onto uh you know other charges and potentially you know um put people in in prison for a period of time if they violate the laws so um to me this just seems like a good idea and I I want to see what the rest of the committee thinks and maybe we can get some consensus and Find A Way Forward sounds great I'll just say I you know I agree with you I support this and I I guess while we're talking about good ideas from Summit I had sent something to everybody another thing going on in the summit that wouldn't require an ordinance is their police department and set up a program where um a resident can can request someone from the police department to come to their house and do a a safety inspection so they'll look at your locks your window locks your your door well but it's it's part of it you know and I I know Alex you were gonna follow up with uh with the chief to see if we could Institute a program like that which then hopefully will reduce some of the people subject to the penalties in this uh in this new ordinance because there'll be less crime yeah and just to give some more information on this this was brought forward by Jamal Boer who's a good friend of mine from Summit and the implications are so much more greater than what Frank had discussed um this really is bringing it back to the municipality from the county so if a particular person is a uh a habitual Thief inside your your municipality and I know Alex is aware of a couple uh and it's sent down to county uh he can be remanded back to the municipality and the municipal judge can actually lock them up for up to 90 days so if you can actually have the the county judges remand them back to Municipal and they actually can impose fines up to $2,000 for the first offense and if they don't like the first offense you could actually lock them up and you can actually issue a bench warrant so you can now have Municipal judges issuing bet warrants for these criminals so if they are picked up on the streets now it's much different than uh just being picked up you now have a bench warrant so you can be remanded to County and the county doesn't do anything you can remand them back to the municipality uh and once they order them locked up 90 days uh and there's actually a couple other nice little pieces about it is for miners you can hold the uh parents somewhat accountable as well uh so there's a lot of nice little nuances in this uh ordinance that we can take advantage of just a question Alex if we if we did you know what is our I assume that's like remand and Milburn what no no it's not it goes back to County so the county is responsible how much you know we don't have unlimited capacity right so so as part of the county they the county is absolutely responsible for jailing them when you when you pass them back good Mr do you have any so uh mayor our office is currently reviewing uh the summit ordinance for constitutionality and just making sure that it doesn't violate any other uh issues any other statutes we're not confident in that yet but I'm not saying it doesn't or it does we're just we're looking into it actively we'll have have a an opinion to the committee before the next meeting great great good and the other the other piece too I'm sorry one other pieces um the whole idea of being a soft target versus a hard target too is the uh perpetrators figure out quickly who's pushing back and who's not and uh kind of starts to uh become if you become a difficult Target you know you're going to get remanded and to or locked up for 90 days and to or a couple thousand dollar fines and to or a bench warrant start to choose the other townships with the same C quite easily so you know we we'll make sure we get that uh the uh push back from from Mr caner quickly and Mr caner I would ask that when you're looking at the constitutionality of it also look at what the maximum amount of fines or jail time we can that that is for municipal court that is definitely the max mun Court the issue is being charged for municipal and and and also a state statute at the same time and you know obviously if it's a lesser includer ordinance when it gets remanded I just I have to look at it to make sure that it doesn't violate any Double Jeopardy or any other constitutional issues I'm sure the summit attorney did that already but I just want to be confident before I put it before this committee that is appropriate yeah and let's look at the constitution of our cars getting stolen out of our driveways too so thank you did you want to add anything I was just going to add that uh the general is 209 days in ja but also I will also bring this to the attention of the Township's judge as well okay good um okay Deputy Mayor Sandi Police Department staff and concerns on crime and consideration of legislative acttion sure so this basically summarized um a few other points I had asked to be put on the agenda um so we'll we take them sort of one at a time uh so first police department Staffing I've been getting uh reports that a lot of people have concerns of our staffing levels especially overnight um I know that one neighborhood the beach neighborhood actually hired private security uh overnight because they felt that they were not being adequately protected um that troubles me a little bit um not that they did it but that they felt they had to do it because that tells me okay maybe our police are perhaps understaffed um I know doing a staffing study so we are doing a staffing study um I've hoping that Mr McDonald can can report on that but I have asked um the chief what our staffing levels are at night and uh I was told that we wer able to get that information I believe Mr Stoler was told that as well correct um so I'd like to know from the municipal attorney is that something that Township committee members are entitled to know and if not is that something we can do in ordinance so that we can we can find that out because someone needs to be holding them accountable so there's something called the appropriate Authority and and in in our town our business administrator is appropriate Authority and that's who the chief of police reports to there's a general public safety concern um as to Staffing and if that Staffing knowledge got out to the general public and people knew say on a Tuesday night the police department was was short staff um that would lead to additional crime it's it's very unusual for elected officials and anyone outside of you know as you know our Police Department is a power military operation um they have lots of rules and orders and regulations it would be highly unusual to have that information Beyond um the chief of police and perhaps even the administrator I don't know if the administrator would be privy to it but he probably doesn't know it uh on a daily basis so um again you know the committee can attempt to to do what it does I can tell you it would be highly unusual to have that information uh spread further than the chief of police and the appropriate Authority um because I guess with that information I mean you don't have the ability to demand additional Staffing um only the chief of police and our administrator could do that so um Can an ordinance be passed I would have to look into it passed to have make the chief tell us what the staing hour well he doesn't have to tell you what what ordinance are you talking about I was asked a question I was asked what mechanism there is available because clearly residents in our town feel that they are not protected at night I I've heard reports that there may be three officers at night there may be more there may be less I've heard that other towns have more you know we just don't know um because we on the township committee are apparently not privy to that information and it's difficult for us to go back to the public and say well we're doing all we can about crime when we don't even have all the data well how well I so I had um the chief and I have met with two of the uh respondents I had sent the information to town committee um you know kind of hearing none I guess I I will put a uh a a candidate in front of the committee um for that Staffing study it is about $80,000 for the type of St that we've requested uh somewhere in Nal Park 80 to $90,000 for that study um you know the uh it would it would be a comprehensive study which I think is also important in the conversation that we currently having here is just that you know um one of the things that and and I'll speak a little bit to the um conversation about beachcraft and that they hired private security uh is that I think that that resident then also said it it provided them with peace of mind it was something they chose to do right um understanding that what they wanted at that point in time was for a cop to sit on their street which is not a which is not a possibility it's just not going to happen in the way that you function as a as a police department in a municipality um and that um part of the um operation is that you have police officers on at a time where the the most activity takes place that you're using an efficient re uh resources that you know if you have between noon and 8:00 pm the vast majority of your calls that is when you're going to have the vast majority of your police officers on the street so that they can respond to car accidents resident complaints you know crime Mall crime whatever it might be and so I think before we sort of react to the what we hear and what we feel and things like that is that you know one um we are doing the Staffing study I think this will you know assuming that the committee is fine with me presenting you with a uh a a consultant um and putting it on the agenda uh I will do that I think we're ready to at that point um but um I I you know I just wanted to see if there were any questions are concerns um about you know the the various proposals that received um and that will help sort of determine some of that um you know I don't want to um just assume that you know uh because sometimes things happen at night then all of a sudden that we're underst staffed I just I just I want to caution everybody that and I also want to caution that you know even getting up here and talking like this is that you know it's it it it creates it creates a difficult situation and so um you know certainly we've had our we've had public information sessions with the with Public Safety with the police department we've sat in in this room in particular and talked about things uh with the public um you know we've we've provided that um that that type of information want to do that again maybe I think I think from the standpoint of providing a methodical cautious approach and giving the police department the tools required to be successful and giving the board the township committee a nice dashboard of visibility into some key performance indicators that allow us to understand what's happening you know week to week month to month quarter to quarter year over year would be nice to have so we do understand what is actually going on uh far be it for me to get involved in a paramilitary operation and that I would know any better than the police chief or anyone else however for us to have visibility and the changes of a period over period of time I think is very important yeah so we can understand if something's going off skew now if something is happening in one of the neighborhoods that's when em motions are the Ross I would assume correct and people you know react and if if they hire private security because they want to feel safer Etc you know they you know we have to handle that as well uh but we need to understand what's going on now from what we said before on the municipal ordinance to become a more difficult Target for office for uh criminals based on the constitutionality which I'm sure is not going to be an issue's deter you know and you know putting up more you know making more difficult for repeat criminals inside of our Township you know and things along those lines those are really tools that we can actually do quickly because Summit did it in a matter of months and speaking Jamal and what they've done and they've already seen it starting to take some effect now there's some low hang fruit some things that we can do while we do the study on the amount of police officers and Staffing Etc but I think we have to just be cautious not to be reactive overly reactive um but but we should move that along very quickly too yeah well I I think as Mr Stoler pointed out data is everything we need these key performance indicators uh what we're seeing right now is the kpis I think they were recently updated since I pointed out that a few weeks ago they hadn't been updated since August we need to have more consistent reporting of crime we need to have a more complete and comprehensive dashboard that includes a reporting of all the crimes um you know we report only a certain subsets of crime what if there are you know a lot of domestic violence cases going on um while we can't give any details of that you know for privacy reasons maybe that's one of the metrics that should be tracked we should be seeing what types of calls you resp but I think we also have to think about like what value of what we're reporting provides to the community if you say car burglaries home burglaries that provides a value to the community knowing that that's going on knowing that somebody's you know having domestic violence issues I don't know that that that necessarily adds value to the community and what they what they know I I I feel like I I feel like we just have to take a pragmatic approach to this and understand like and I and I completely agree uh Deputy Mayor about the kpis and providing you know some sort of uh some sort of dashboard that allows people to understand what's happening in terms of crime like you know and again and I know that we've been in these meetings before where you said I don't necessarily believe the numbers that you have there but like you know if we look at all the categories for 2022 to 2023 you know all but two have gone down right one of those is home burgly right which I think um we've all kind of felt a little bit right and then one of them is shoplifter um so so in terms of um you know aggravated assault or other these other UCR traditional UCR categories right those crimes have have have gone down uh with the exception of burglaries and um shoplifting so being able to provide the public with succinct information like that on a timely basis I think is is fair and necessary I agree with adding tools to the toolbox that the police department can utilize is also um uh important and fair um to to uh committee M Cohen's uh question about you know whether they can provide this type of service I think that we need to look into um you know certainly what training was involved in those police officers and Summit being able to do that looking and and see see about doing that I think that's a good idea I also think that understanding that people with the township can register their alarms with the police department so that when you're not home and and your alarm goes off that dispatch gets that um also about communicating with the public about how they can Harden their own Target right not just us as a town like we spent one $1.5 million on you know uh uh technology infrastructure for Public Safety uh same thing here is like alerting the municipality and the township residents how they can Harden their own Target make sure that they're not susceptible to these types of crimes as well which I think is a good sort of Public Safety campaign as well so and and and also too I think another you know meeting with the police chief and maybe some staff would be nice you know some a public uh you know public meeting with the with the police chief or with you know the police staff to just get an update and what we can do to harden our homes I mean we did a there was a fantastic uh meeting in the uh Milburn volunteer um uh Squad uh about a month ago I know Frank joined me there uh it was fantastic where they went through uh the uh poets watch they did a little bit of how to harden your home and see something say something and Etc I think the best was best alarm system is a dog um yeah so I I know you know a number of these things we've talked about in the past but I want to see some action and I think as a committee we need to start saying we want to see some action I I think the suggestion of having another Forum with the police chief uh is a great first start I would hope that you notice it in such a way that if all the township committee members wanted to be there they'd be able to do so um and I think that you know residents want to be able to ask questions directly to the chief obviously he may not be able to answer all of them um but they should have the opportunity at at least once a year we should probably do that more than once a year to keep the public engaged and let them know what the police is doing because um I think it's important for the residents to know what we are doing and um you know what they can do to help help themselves um so some other things that I wanted to bring up you know a lot of the problems that we're seeing with these Auto thefts and home burglaries have to do with the fact that criminals are getting caught and they're getting released so obviously something needs to change on a state level we have no control over what happens on a state level we can pick up our phones and call our assembly men and women we can call our state senators um but I want to see if there's something else we can do um I'd like to know if we can band together with other towns and if there's a mechanism we could use to Sue either the governor or the State Attorney General to get them to start enforcing some of these laws and stop catching police is there any legal mechanism that we can take to try and en Force change uh there's something that we can do as a Township committee to try and Force change higher up so I mean I think tonight's a great example of how to impact change I think it's coming together and there's a lot of similarly situated towns in mbour that have been negatively affected by bail reform um and somebody needs to look at it I don't know that it's actually a legal uh aspect but maybe uh coming together and you know writing to the legislature and and things of that nature and and having meetings um I don't know that it's a lawsuit but to I mean I think challenging State Statute is a difficult thing to do and um I we may be out of time to do that anyway um but I think you know making sure that everybody understands a negative impact that b reform is having on all the towns of w stics it's not just Milburn I it's Milburn Livingston northa or attorney car thefts and now burglaries because people are breaking homes for key fobs are increasing um it's because they're not they're Catch and Release um that's what the law says so um I don't know of anything else to do other than you know awareness and and coming together but um you know that's I that's really I don't I don't know there's much more that I could do as a lawyer that I I think taking back some of the control organically through the Grassroots of a municipal ordinance would very much help that as well because now we're taking the we're taking the initiative and pushing it back on the county to lock these perpetrators up and they'll start to see that a lot of the you know we won't be the last on can bet you that uh to take that Grassroots initiative from that Municipal ordinance and once that starts to happen and that snowball starts going uh they'll start to look I mean provided it passes mustard I agree with the committee man I mean he'll you'll hear stories from police Chiefs that people are are are stealing cars being arrested and going back out and stealing car the same night so I think you know if there is something we can do but I don't know to your point Deputy Mayor what like legal action can take against the state or the county I don't I don't really see a path forward on either way well can we can we look into that at least have some research done see what remedies are available I mean I'm happy to spend some time but I don't think I don't see a path forward on either of those two Avenues I would just say Frank I think that I'll just speak for myself like I agree with you and if there's anything that you want to try to do to start something and bring the community together like I mean I support that I think I mean I'm not I think also if everyone just writes to our legislators I mean you know power comes in numbers if if everyone would just write to you know they don't they don't hear from the residents I think if they would start hearing from residents maybe you know they would so maybe as a TC there's more we could do maybe in our weekly Milbourne message at the end of it we could encourage folks to write to their legislations yeah sure yeah but but to to Frank's point you smack the hell out of Governor Murphy with a big lawsuit I'm pretty sure that Summit chadam Livingston are all going to jump on board and say you know what enough's enough look at our insurance rates the average insurance rates in New Jersey has went up 26% has everybody renewed their insurance yet it's coming I mean it it's literally it's and we have four children it's in it's it's not very nice it's insane really on these rates on insurance so residents not just Milburn Short Hills but New Jersey residents are are becoming fed up with what's happening with crime so you know if we slap them with a lawsuit whether whether we're going to be successful or not time will tell but if you get enough residents baning together it can become a really large issue and really a movement just like um you know a lot of different things so we start Municipal Grassroots here and it becomes a ground swell and that's how change starts becomes a ground swell because what's not what's going to drive is the economic impact of insurance rates on everybody in this room because we all see it day to day so I'm fortunate enough to serve as the mpal attorney three of the more affluent towns in West tics and I know it's a shared I would I would be happy to lay is on and maybe put together in touch maybe one Committee Member from each of those governing bodies and I think a meeting like that can go a long way I think you have a lot of shared issues it's not only fure housing but it's also crime and crimes affecting all these towns so that might be a good start because they're actually all looking to take action on these same issues so I'd be happy mayor definitely May whoever wants to meet and maybe I could come together we can form in in in in an informal setting and come up with a game plan I think the shared resources of all these municipalities I think would go a long way yeah I think all it takes is one Community like ours to be the leader and I think we'll find other communities we want to jump on and then we can collectively look see what options are available great think we could be that Common Thread and happy to jump on if you want that sure okay awesome so now we have a second public comment the public comment this public comment period is to allow for final comments from the community when invited to speak to offer your comments please come to the Lector and clearly state your name and whether you are a mbour resident and or property or business owner please do not provide your full addressing our meetings are record recorded and readily available to the public a reminder to help facilitate an orderly meeting and to permit all to be heard speakers shall limit their comments to one three minute session Charlie Bambara resident of Short Hills 27 years uh I want you to know you you did take action tonight you've stuck your necks out for all of us you don't stand alone we we stand with you I personally will commit if they ever threaten you with incarceration I'll I'll I'll personally deliver your lunches in dinners from from the restaurant of your choice and din uh so um again my thanks and uh um uh one more comment uh mayor Romano some criticism was levered against you for not speaking speaking for the town to the contrary I think you've been very careful to share the leadership with the township committee members and to and to to uh to distribute that responsibility and not to be autocratic so I don't think that's a criticism that I would offer you I think that's a compliment so thank you thank you hi uh Lauren Nathan i' spoken before and again my heartfelt thanks I did want to ask a question though um the public discussion in the town at least seemed to suggest that the township had agreed to provide more affordable housing units than we were legally obligated to provide is that accurate and if so why did we do it we'll answer when when we're all done I think okay so I'm speaking for Stephanie Harris Morgan who's home sick and she doesn't she's got fever she really doesn't want to get on Zoom she's not at her best so she has a quick question um when will the citizens advisory committee on Fair Share housing be formed so we can start to work on replacement sites or changes to the sites identified in the settlement agreement she means to show goodwi to the court whose judge is convinced we have no intention of complying the committee should be formed ASAP to start to identify locations that make sense we should also considering up the percentage from 20 to 30% we feasible and include over 55 age 55 housing so that's and I know she would love to be on that committee Stephanie Harris Morgan thank you thank good evening Elena gini a resident of 26 years I wanted to thank the committee very much and the mayor for night for this resolution and um I have a question the uh town the building has gone out of control I don't recognize this town anymore there is a lot of these uh town houses ugly Bill big uh that have popped up uh Main Street and M Avenue everywhere um I believe this must be in part for compliance with this um uh obligation to build affordable housing but uh it seems to me that the town is losing its characteristic of a small town it's flavor these are an uh ugly building and uh uh I wanted to know what's going on the residents should be informed about this can this be stopped uh because it's changing the uh the of the the town at this point so uh that that was it thank you thank you I'm Jeffrey Feld um I live in poet section of this town um in in light of the suggestion that we're trying to increase transparency and competency I'm just going to re give back some follow-up questions that never really been answered um one goes back to Best Practices I reiterate whether we should be posting let's say The Last Five Years on the financial page the best practice inventory responses so the public knows what we have done or what we haven't done in accordance with the state's best practices following that is when are we going to adopt the insurance registration ordinance which is a best practice and the anti-nepotism ordinance which is another best practice at the last meeting I talked about the annual debt statement that was filed and amended it's deceptive that the original one was deleted and there is an amended one and the amended one should say amended and these are the things when you're talking about transparency and building trust and confidence of documents that are being posted or removed you know doesn't give us warm and fuzzy feeling inside regarding that the supplemental debt statement that was issued posted today in connection with the bond or a first reading there's a question as to over since the beginning of this year approximately say 1.7 million dollars was reduced in debt I'd like to know know what projects were um paid off I think the public is entitled to know what orces and capital projects um as to your oversight legislative oversight Powers I recommend that you investigate how a private citizen Municipal criminal complaint was filed against a desent resident that summons lacked a dat and a probable cause finding on his face this is something you need to investigate because been the last three years like today we we fought deny Main Street but people that dissented they they got repercussions against them retaliation occurred and we have to stop that and finally at the last meeting this group foru as of public trust uh authorized the filing of a Main Street New Jersey application that application has not been attached it's not been drafted I suggest that your next meeting before the March 15th deadline that you go back and ratify the filing of the actual um application because there's questions as to the boundaries that was said as to the main street is less than the boundaries of the Sid and I think you need to look into that especially in the um time summaries from our former Municipal attorneys he they prepared at least two studies telling questions about that litigation and problems as to approving the budget and other issues in that case thank you hi Eric Osman again Short Hills resident I'm about to end my political career not that I ever had one by suggesting this my economic hero is Milton fredman and Milton fredman believes in a use tax I just calculated that I traveled 1,762 mil on foot last year mostly in this town and I have seen the deterioration the deterioration of the roads in this town and it's largely driven by and you all are gonna hate me for this renovating your homes the big trucks are there they sit in front of these houses and they ruin the homes and my proposal is to supplement the $3.5 million Bond ordinance to start requiring that if you want to renovate your home no not only I don't I don't mean this is a threat I think it's a wonderful thing that people renovate their homes but as part of that a reasonable fee be assessed to pay for some of the road repair because it is a direct causal Rel relationship and um I think that we could start a trend in this country and this state by recognizing use tax usage because I think it would go a long way toward fairness thank you thank you Jean Pastak resident um I want to add to my uh my thanks to the many thanks that came before you today it's really great to see leadership that you all have uh demonstrated and building consensus around something that really was the seminal uh you know event for our town so thank you so much and I look forward to seeing that permeate into the um choices of committee members and uh and and encouraging that kind of consensus building beyond the township committee and to all the commissions and and committies that you you are all responsible for um I I want to also thank you for the second comment period so we learned a lot so far um I wanted to add on to what Frank was uh talking about and also Ben regarding the um uh crime issue and and being more informed as Citizens would it be possible to invite our legislators to come to listen to our concerns I can't remember in the four or five years that I've been coming here that I've actually seen someone come and listen to us as a community I think it would be nice to have them visit and actually have us be allowed to ask some questions of them um well I mean they they might have come but not actually to talk to us you know so I think it would be refreshing to have that opportunity um the other thing I was going to follow on from what um Eric was just talking about the zoning code enforcement I've had a really uh productive exchange with Alex and some of the members of the uh you know some of the employees of the different departments they actually came to my home and you know surveyed some of what was going on around us and I have to say there is a lot I think that could be done to prevent some of the quality of life deterioration that goes on when people renovate or build new homes um there's a lot of things that people aren't aware of I know as a citizen I wasn't really sure about how I could be participating uh when there especially when there are no Varian is being asked for but there are a lot of disturbances a lot of issues even sometimes when plans aren't being followed what what action can we have as Citizens can we be educated more about that since there's so much building going on around the town and lastly um we had the opportunity to meet somebody from East Hover one of their Council people just you know um talking to them and they have something called an oem I think resident volunteer effort it's sort of like an extension of what uh our volunteer first aid Squad is about it sounded like it was a really good idea I I've seen like in the with the floods Ida and so forth some of our citizens have come forward to help with you know filling sandbags and things like that it seems like they have an organized effort to do those things so maybe we should look at that thank you thank you hi Leah Cruz Short Hills resident um I just wanted to once again thank you guys for uh it's so refreshing to hear the conversations up here up on the day and to have more transparency when Frank was asking about the police Staffing I didn't know we were an entitled to that information so now that I know I wouldn't like keep harassing you for that information hopefully you can work with and the police the public I don't think needs to know we trust you we elected you so um but it was just nice to have some conversation I don't think the public had a lot of transparency and information given to us in the past um also I think the increasing the municipal fine I forgot if that was Ben or Frank um would be a great deterrence once people realize that's happening I think um that will deter criminals hopefully and then once again um since we're on the police I would love more consist consistency in the police blot and um maybe we can consider nixel again Summit uses that and I I subscribe actually to Summit in Maplewood and I love getting the alerts because I know there was an armed robbery on Indiana Street in Maplewood and I work close to there so I avoided that street you know it would be really nice to get that real time information so perhaps we can consider that for the future so thank you thank you hi Eglo I know a lot of people are really concerned with crime I'm really concerned with speeding in this town the speeding is out of control I know when you do a ticket Blitz it does work you make some money for the town and people start knowing that there's speed traps um it took about a year and a half to get two more speed humps near the South Mountain School I know Frank I think you spoke about something I'd spoken about a couple years ago doing a townwide survey and I think it would be really great that there should be more speed hun hums going up baltis I know people are concerned with the new Metropolitan cars speeding up to the train station up there I think speed humps are really important um also I didn't hear if you were going to release the 1.8 million to or how you can address the retaining wall at Paper Mill and I was not trying to be offensive to maror Romano okay I just think that when you run for office you have a lot to say and I think Frank and Ben you've been great as two new members who really speak and share your thoughts and I just think that when you're up there you got elected to do a job and we'd love to know how you hear how you feel about things thank you hi I have a smile on my face because I'm just vibing on everybody up here I'm really thankful just the energy is awesome so thank you and it was very nice to see you everybody at the um Lunar New Year festival downtown so I just have just a couple of things that I just wanted to to bring up um and I I really thank you so much also on what you've done with um the N Main Street project thank you very very much and I'm looking forward to seeing the solutions um I just wanted to just throw out a couple things that were sort of like a top of mind um Alex if you could update me on what is going on with uh the Fairfield and marale roads in the Fairfield estate section um because I didn't see it listed and they're the worst roads in the township and they have not been renovated probably fully renovated in over 30 years cuz I've lived there for over 24 um they had micro Paving so I just wanted to know and can we fire a contractor even if they're at the lowest price like do we rehire them like sellan Suns they sub their their Contracting is subpar I've seen their work and I I hope they're not doing our roads um especially the road I live on um so and then I wanted to ask about the shade tree 2-23 repeal I'm very excited I think that you touched on it Tara um but I am concerned about we have a lot of canopy loss the ash trees are significantly I don't what what percent of total they represent as the trees but because they're just dying all over the place um and have to come down you know I want people to think about it like as as people cut trees like my my neighbors clear cutting their whole whole property and so you know two to three caliber trees for $200 don't really cut it um because you can't you can't like then cover the electrical lines and things like that so it's just something to think about and I would love to volunteer for that committee I'm I'm I'm game to be on any committee and that one I have a lot of knowledge about plants and trees it' be really fun and I'm really thankful for the subcommittee on zoning I think that that is an amazing thing to be strategic and have a subcommittee and look relook at zoning and I encourage possibly to relook at it for engineering land use um and also the planning board and also developing um some type of taste police force in our town because um what you had to say was really really important taste level matters and design matters I I'm a trained designer and I I can't believe some of the buildings are going up and the best one for me are the people that put lights in the eaves of their house like in Spotlight their house um no offense to people that do that but it's just a design travesty of epic proportions and I just I would really like to see a board like that um so the other thing that I wanted to ask you is in terms of an engineering firm that receives Township funding projects can they be allowed to do other projects for residents because there seems to be a conflict of interest and I'm not sure if Casey and Keller still um receives Township projects but it seems to me that there might be a conflict of interest there just in my own experience in dealing with them um so um and then I also want to talk about engineering standards I mean I unfortunately I very limited time so I your time was up I'm sorry thank you it's fine I to I I'll I'll I'll send the email I'll talk next time okay Ted coins back just a quick uh question for you guys do you ever consider the deer po problem that we have in town uh we notice it certainly more in our area and uh that's one thing that is really increasing crime may be going up as well but the deer population is also increasing I'm not going to quote Lincoln again but I know how he would have solved it back in his day but uh is there anything we can do about it we have herds of deer running around and they're just eating up everything and it's a considerable expense to the residents to keep replanting and I just feel like we're just feeding them so just wanted to see if there's any ideas that you guys have and I know there's some contraceptive type of solutions as opposed to to shooting them or removing them somehow but just an idea for to put on your agenda to see if you um you think about that thanks than you hello again my name is Pua I live in Short Hills I just wanted to engage with the conversation on crime um I me we uh I was actually not here not that long ago we were speaking about poet's watch and believe it was about a year ago when there was a forum which is when I think the chief of police was there um another Community member who's not here and she wasn't able to make it but she really sort of took the the lead and and and facilitated and coordinated um everybody to sort of come together and I had the opportunity to work with her so now I've been a part of this like core team with a few of us that sort of started as of last December January when in our particular section of poets we saw a really um big increase in crime so while the crime is nonviolent the patterns of escalation have you know within I think I would say the three years of notice it started with package theft and then it would slowly escalate to checking for car doors trespassing and then you know I I had called it I was looking at the data my background is in Behavior Analysis and forensic um evaluations and so I was pretty sure that's going to happen so I was literally tracking every single blot so it would have been helpful to have a more I think as um I think Frank you had mentioned just to have more of that data available not the specifics because I know that there's um ongoing investigations and we don't want to compromise those so I completely respect that um but I think just knowing that we were able to you know kind of look at the patterns we worked for a year to um with the you know um our community policing lays on and we've built a fantastic I think partnership the group has grown to about 500 I think we've expanded it Beyond just poets to about 800 uh members now so we're going to meet um and have more of a a each I think section now has their own group leader so that we can sort of connect and coordinate so the way that we're able to do that currently is using WhatsApp so when things happen happen um that has sort of become the way that we notify each other you know stay inside there's a point of contact and um you know we kind of have like block captains and everybody sort of notifies each other but some of the concerns um end up being that not everybody's on WhatsApp so for you know I think a lot of Industries aren't allowed they don't allow people to have it or um they're just you know not notifications are off so people don't know like you know what's going on so I think an alert system that could you know be done would be great um additionally I think you know the the specific area that we live in the crime yes it's not that many in terms of you know if we compare ourselves to New York yes we don't have homicides we don't have assault and rates at that level but it has gone to a point where we have videos we had three break-ins between 7 and 8:00 pm just this week um not that far from where I live so you know we heard the police did a fantastic job um you know taking care of of apprehending people but the fact that that you know we we have that going on as happening so I just wanted to raise awareness on that that we are looking forward to working with the township committee on this further and want to thank the police and all of their collaboration so yes yes yes I'm done thank you thank you so much hi Richard cyberg Town resident um I always like to give credit when credit is due Mr canther so proud of you uh and old guy to old wise man told me one day the man to fear is the man who has no fear and I always live my life that way the man to fear is the man who has no fear and I'll give you an example of one David and Goliath and we are in a fight with Goliath right now in the fair share housing but I'm confident in David at this point so good luck and I'm behind you and I know the residents of the town are behind you and it's just nice to know that you're there to fight for us thank you thank you thank you evening Jerry Kung Short Hills resident um I'm not going to stand up here and offer philosophy unfortunately uh just something a little bit more practical when residents move to town is there any sort of Welcome packet that we give them just to tell them hey your trash pickup is this day your recycling pickup is this day there's a volunteer first aid Squad there's this there's that come to TC meetings on Tuesdays at 7M at Town Hall you know I I think that right now our Township seems to have a Communications problem I know there's the weekly Milburn message and thank you mayor Romano for sharing that responsibility with rest of the TC members but do we have a sense of how many people are actually signed up for the Milbourne message how that number has changed over time I know that we had switched services at some point I think it was 2022 um I know this because I was signed up for the prior version and then I didn't even realize that I had stopped getting them and then I had to dig through the website to find out how to resign up for it which I did recently so I'm just wondering you know if if it's 2,000 residents out of the 22 th000 residents in town then maybe we need to do some work in terms of getting that number up because we do share a lot of important information via that Weekly message um I know there's murn alert um or some Swift I I'm just very confused as to like all of the different types it's probably my own ignorance I'm sorry about that um but you know speaking up here I think nixel came up as part of the conversation I remember mayor ELO had talked about when the Hawaii wildfires had happened do we have something similar for residents in town and you know if only one tenth of the residents in town are getting the emerc Merc messages then you know we really need to work on that um so um just curious in terms of Are We collecting metrics on that I know we have a public information officer on our staff directory for Town Hall um what's her role is she full-time what what has she been doing I know I've seen two press releases come from her in the last year and a half maybe um so just curious um what her role is thank you very much thank you okay we will now close public comment um would you like to commenter uh sure I can start go very quick um just issues Jeff Feld answer some him best practices absolutely we should be looking at those nepotism no um the annual debt statement um I I looked at the deleted and amended I didn't see the I actually looked for that so I'll ask Alex again to share with me the difference I didn't see the the difference between the amended and was deleted and then uh I believe he did go through the 1.7 million uh ad nauseum last time but I'll ask him to go through it again with me and I'll share it uh Main Street application that will be shared shortly um Eric Osman uh where's Eric he's the new P Buddha edge of Milburn I guess with a road repair tax I guess um Jean uh Jean um you know uh I'd be happy to go with you to to some of these legislative meetings you know Sheila Oliver show up stand up speak up we could go and talk about crime at their meetings and instead of inviting them there let's just go to their meetings and we'll speak on their behalf uh and U Pua is our very own Milburn CSI I love it so more data more data more data you know Frank and I talked about data and it's the most important part of it yeah just you know when people do renovate their houses they are already I mean if they do a big job they already assessed uh um fee for for that but it is restricted and what it can be used for and I Alex corre me but I don't believe it can be used for road maintenance I think that's not permitted so it would be adding a fee to you know where there already is one be adding an additional fee and the Dr problem I'm not sure what we can do about it I mean obviously they do something in the in the reservation every so often um but you're absolutely right there's you know that's the the most frequent notice I got on my ring camera is that a deer is uh in my property so but I'm not sure we have any any control over that unless they die and then we send Animal Control to pick them up that's about it Deputy Mayor sure um so Mr Nathan you wanted to know what we were legally obligated to provide um real quick without going into a lot of specifics there's two parts to a Town's affordable housing obligation there's the RDP which is what you must build then there's the unmet need which is what towns need to provide uh for the ability to build um for whatever reason the individuals that negotiated our Town's agreement uh back in 2020 I guess um decided to affirmatively build to satisfy unmit need this is a very uncommon mechanism as far as I could tell um I haven't found examples of other towns doing a 100% affordable to go towards unmet need but uh we took took action on that tonight and um you know I think that's probably what what people mean when they say what we were required to build legally obligated to build versus what was optional all of it was folded into the settlement agreement but unmet need is generally handled with other mechanisms um for uh Miss Morgan via Miss Miss Feld uh when will the citizens advisory committee be formed um I actually will take a little bit of the blame on that I was going to write up uh a proposal of what that committee would actually do and then get that over to Alex I think everyone on this de is in favor of the committee we just haven't really sat down and figured out exactly what the role should be and I think the role of that committee now might be different in light of the decisions that were made tonight um so I will try and take it upon myself to come up with some ideas to share with the rest of the committee on on that um but I do think that's something that everyone is supportive of and and we will look to try and uh get that created sooner rather than later um and I certainly agree that senior housing uh should be uh a component um and I find it interesting that you mentioned upping the percentages um that's actually something that mayor romano and I had talked about with our assembly uh members and uh with our state senator um so hopefully there's something that uh can be done at the state level for communities like ours you know where it might make sense for the ratio to be two: one as opposed to four to one as it is now um see uh Mr oan the use tax for the roads um certainly something like that I think would have to go to a referendum um you know even if it doesn't have to uh I think it should um but given that it' be a new tax I think the proper procedures that would go to a referendum I don't know if there's consensus amongst the others on this day as to to do that we probably would have to get a better sense of you know how much the tax would be Etc um but I have a feeling if that went to referendum that would probably be unpopular and probably would not pass um let's see uh Miss uh asked for more consistent reporting of the police blot I certainly agree I'm hoping that Mr McDonald will take that under advisement and pass that along to the police chief um I agree I think Summit does a very good job with their nixel system I've inquired about that here a number of times uh and I believe that Mr McDonald was going to have the chief talk to the chief of summit to find out a little bit more of how they handle the alerting what the you know staff staing requirements are Etc uh so perhaps Mr McDonald can give us an update on that I do believe that Mr Mcdonald had also said to me at one point that we may have technology in housee that we could use but we would need a better sense of what the alerts are that people wanted to receive I would suggest perhaps maybe Mr McDonald we could set up a meeting with the heads of all of the various neighborhood watch groups in town and find out from them what sort of alerts they'd like to receive and then maybe if we you know have established what that should be let's look at the technology we have and see if we can make that happen um Miss Eglo is concerned about speeding in town I agree um a few meetings ago I had brought up the topic of a townwide traffic study I think Mr McDonald was going to look into the cost for that so perhaps he could speak to where he is in that process um let's see here uh Mr C The the deer problem I I agree there there is definitely a deer problem um I have probably no less than like 16 deer that traes through my backyard on a daily basis I do believe that at one point in time our town had a deer management program uh I actually think that um Mary mcnett was highly involved in that fortunately she is passed but I'm hoping that there's some information about it but I think that's something we should perhaps look into I know the county has some sort of program but I think that's limited to the reservation and obviously the deer aren't just on the reservation so maybe there's some Humane methods uh we could we could look into um so maybe Mr McDonald maybe could do a little research to see what the town used to do and um whether that's something we could potentially bring back um Mr Kung since you're my husband I'll answer your questions anyone else wants to try in on those committee woman cus would you like to add uh I I just want to reiterate and and um affirm that the affordable housing subcommittee is that what we're calling it yeah I think that we need to constitute that and it should be helping us in this what's next determining how we're going to go forward so um I'm happy if you want I'm happy to help you out with that we get that together so that we can get something ready for the next meeting um I also just want to let everybody in the room note that uh the use tax reminded me of this that in March the first meeting the environmental commission they unanimously unanimously passed a resolution was it of um in favor of an open space trust fund and Renee are you coming yes I'll be here right Rene is Gonna Come and speak to us about that uh March 5th is our next yes is our next meeting so just so when you see that this is just uh letting you know that that's happening and come find out more about it Mr McDonald um I'll just I'll just speak to a couple things uh in particular with the deer um so the township did have a deer management program uh for quite some time uh and then the county had started their own deer management program in the reservation which you know in in in in all honesty I think is where certainly we see a lot of our population come from whether it's the you know East Orange water company property or the reservation um the only places that we were able to do deer management were the par three and the Oki track um I think that you know they're certainly the the county hadn't done their program for some years uh during covid and and after covid what we noticed was that and as many of you may have realized is that the deer management program kind of went away uh with the county taking up that um uh that charge in terms of managing the population within the reservation and so I would just maybe say that if we give it a little bit more time with their Management program now ongoing and starting up again uh you'll see some uh management of that population uh the township also has uh on its Animal Control page some resources and how you can protect your yard um with regard to deer and certainly I think um you know what we plant and you know how we uh allow access to the yard or whatever it might be also helps um I know that they can get through much of anything but um I would just say say uh F first and foremost if if you go down that road the first step would be to do a census and see whether there really is a a a a large issue or whether it's a you know um something that could be managed by the the County's operations but uh that's that's what I'll offer in terms of insight into that um uh as it as it relates to the nepotism ordinance that was asked about by Mr Feld as well as the the um Insurance collection um and also the lead based paint inspections all of which have been uh sort of mandated to municipalities by the state um we are in the process of draft drafting a nepotism ordinance we currently have one in our policy manual but um we'll be putting that before the township Committee in the near future um as one of those best practices and as was discussed by committee mcohen um I believe at the end of last year um in addition we'll be putting an ordinance in front of the township committee uh for the lead based paint inspections of homes that are older than 1978 and are rentals um if you rent your home that is older than 1978 it has to have a lead safe certificate uh we will be uh Contracting a company um to perform those inspections uh and um I think the uh the charge to the resident uh for that would be to $50 um to do a site inspection of the home and we have some backup uh plans internally if uh if there if it's necessitated but certainly it'd be a better operation for us to be able to put that um to a company that is currently doing in a lot of other municipalities Verona West Orange things like that uh and it will expedite the process uh for those lead safe uh lead safe inspections um as far as the insurance certificate requirement um I'll have to look into it more but as I understand it is that businesses are required to carry insurance so if you're a business make sure you're carrying Insurance um I'm not sure I guess where the the the deposit the repositories for that um and so um I'll have to look into that a little bit further and you know obviously everything that Deputy Mayor saak aandy stated I'll be looking into thank you mayor um I was going to address the question regarding the RDP and the UN need but actually the deputy mayor said it better than I could have said it myself so I think he actually nailed it um I don't really have much to add to that I'm happy to answer anything else if the committee would like me to answer otherwise I don't have any further comments um the new residents that come into town do we have something set up uh well first and foremost there's a newcomers club uh in town uh that helps people get acclimated to the township uh there also was for some time and and I'll I'll address some of um Dr kung's questions as well um the for some time there was a welcome packet I would have to go and look to make sure that it's uh updated and see I think it's something that we can update very quickly uh and provide on the township website certainly we don't uh follow every um I mean between the tax assessor you know uh or whatever transaction takes place in the tax department we don't then send them a welcome packet when occurs but certainly if people go onto the website something accessible and easy to to to to get would be I think beneficial um we do have a public information officer uh she has been on maternity leave for the last six months um so um we're anticipating her return uh shortly uh in March so we'll be happy to have her back um everybody else has been kind of picking up the slack in terms of communication uh including myself updating the website and some other people doing the social media posts and things like that so uh um hopefully we'll see some uh additional Improvement in that area once she's back so not that not that it's their responsibility but you know when I moved to to town admittedly 35 years ago a lot of that information that Dr Kung was asking about was provided to us by the realtor that's also a way to get it I would assume that that still goes on not that it's their responsibility but as you know it's a good business practice no it's certainly I think you know you know also part of the idea is that you know having a website that's easily searchable for the questions that they have the you know the ability to find the information that they want uh is also important I mean um when when you first move to a community that's that's where you're going to go to get that information to the point of having a concise packet um of information I think is helpful I mean we we do that in the DPW pamphlet which I think is very helpful um with you know garbage zones and and Street listings by Zone and and various rules for the township yard and things like that um but but um I think that's something that we can first and foremost just look into and make sure it's up to date yeah may have a motion to adjourn the meeting may have a second second all in favor I I