all right good evening everyone I'd like to call the meeting to order this is a regular meeting of the Council of the township of Monclair and is being broadcast live on Channel 34 and is streaming live on monair tv34 and YouTube channel it's available on demand and Canon will be rebroadcast this meeting is called pursuing to the provisions of the open public meetings act this meeting was included in the annual uh notice of the meeting schedule is set forth in resolution r222 45 adopted by the Town Council as a regular meeting of December 20th 2022 advertising the official newspaper December 29th 2022 and January 5 2023 posted on the bullet boards outside the municipal building and has remained continuously posted there in addition a copy of this annual notice isn't has been available to the public and is on file in the office of the Township Clerk please join me in the Pledge of Allegiance Pledge of Allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation god indivis with liy and justice for all great thank you uh Adam clerk we call please councelor Cummings I am present Deputy Mayor herlock present councelor price Abrams pres councelor Russo president councelor schager here councelor Terry here mayor Spiller present we'll move the agenda with flexibility first we've got the minutes for November 21st 2023 I'll entertain a motion to accept so moved it's moved uh is there a second second moved and seconded any questions concerns Corrections seeing none Madam clerk councel Cummings yes Deputy Mayor Hurlock yes councelor price Abrams yes councel Russo yes councel slager here yes councelor Terry yes mayor Spiller yes uh next we have a proclamation uh councilman would you yes good evening this Proclamation is actually uh for my mother's Sister Rose Mary Darin who will turn 100 years old on Friday conr so I know this is quite long I'll go through it uh some of it here Rosemary Darin was born the fourth of six children to Robert E and Miriam e Darin on December 22nd 1923 at a home on Woodland Avenue in Monclair New Jersey the family moved a pleasant way and it was here that she was a promising tennis player honoring her skills at the neighborhood tennis court at Nish Wayne Park Mrs Darin attended monair public schools and high school elected a an excellent sports athlete in basketball and Tennis she competed successfully on the Black American tennis Association circuit at the time when black were barred from competing in the US Tennis Association tournaments it was on a circuit she met her fiercest competitor and future lifelong friend sister-in-law Us open in Wilton champ out Thea Gibson when Mrs Gibson became the first African-American to play for the USA she trained with Mrs darbin and even resided with the darbin family for a number of years years around this time Mrs Darin was uh competing completing her studies in biology from the former upsa College in East Orange New Jersey subsequently being hired as a biologist and sharing plow in Bloomfield New Jersey she was employed by this company in Merit Pharmaceuticals for about 18 years it was here she met her coworker supervisor la long time friend and partner ELC Helms uh it's quite long but I'm going to go down to whereas Mrs Darin's Legacy has spanned A Century of devotion and support and commitment to a large and extended family of Grands great grands and friends her service to her community her church is well documented and and and uh Chronicle she has always exhibited a prolific accomp Lish procedure zest for Life an Exemplar life and well liveed and a life throughout enjoyed with no regrets now therefore the mayor and Council of the township of mclair hereby by congratulate Rosemary Darin on her H 100th birthday and join her with her family and community in wishing her the same I know she's going to say thank you very much we're going to have a party for her on a Saturday so thank you very much that's awesome that is excellent thank you for that beautiful mayor I know we don't have any other proclamations but I want everybody to know that councilman Terry and I attended the funeral for former police chief Thomas Russo and Roger read a very nice Proclamation that you all signed and that was I think last Friday Roger we we had a funeral uh and um people at the church really appreciated that we recognized Tom Russo as being a great police chief many years ago and um Roger and I represented all thank you to the Russo family and no relation but uh condolences to whole family of Tom Russo thank you okay um moving next we have our pending ordinances uh first one that we have here is pending ordinance o 2316 which an ordinance to amend the code of the township Monclair uh to add chapter 290 small less facilities right away uh I so move it's moved and seconded Mr Burr where's that at now ask that you table this I spoke with outside Council working on there were changes to the law okay with regard to public facility federal law so we asked us to give us him a little bit more time to amend our current okay I'm going to move to table uh for two meetings and let's try and get an update from you at that point okay um Mr uh I believe you seconded or either vice versa would you be willing to table yes thank you Mr apprciate please and if Mr if you could work with that outside attorney and to see if by that meeting we might be able to actually uh have a you know the document to to present that would be great yes appreciate that thank you quick question Mr Mayor do you have any idea what they're talking about uh what when you ask what he's talking about what he's referring to yes well the FCC uh has laws and guidelines on that regulate 5G and the implementation of 5G in the right way and uh those laws have been amended and changed and he's making the necessary changes with regard to to our ordinance our draft ordinance that we've introduced that's uh on for introduction we're going to make amendments to that so that it complies with the law are we talking multiple amendments one or two I I'm unaware of how many cuz I haven't received a draft copy of it yet can you have them give us some information on that yes I will this I'm not big on this whole thing okay even though it's requirement the municipal Services committee has been the reviewing it but we're waiting for that new draft right right and I'll let you know two weeks prior to the to this uh last meeting date in January whether we have anything or not so we can make the appropriate accommodations good thank you um next is ordinance 02338 I believe uh Mr Lolo you're uh still looking into some questions that were asked about that so um I'll I'll leave that to table to the next meeting as well if that's acceptable and we don't have a motion yet so without objection we'll table that till the next meeting any objection seeing none we'll table that for the next meeting next is pending ordinance 02339 which is an ordinance to amend 3271 which is the speed limits to the township of Monclair I so move it's been moved and seconded um uh with that I will open it up uh to see if there's any public uh comments on this is there anyone present who wishes to be heard regarding this proposed ordinance come on up make sure you've signed in if you don't mind state your name and address and then oh great every Bob 650 groceries I just likeif okay do you need my name again record Bob manx Kramer address uh 650 Grove Street um I'm just asking for clarification on the carve outs in the ordinance that are not 25 mil hour um not understand what you mean car in in in the ordinance text it says that Grove Street is 30 and that a section of up the mountain is okay so I'll let Mr Paul answer this again but just uh last time it was noted so we've proposed 25 everywhere right we're asking the township to go 25 everywhere they have asked mle you can explain this again that any other speed limit that has previously been amended by the by the county has to be listed on here so that's what they have listed on here what they've changed it to Prior again it doesn't change the fact that we're asking them to make all 25 but but we do have to note it under the law I believe that's what you explained last time Mr Lola that it has to be listed because they've already amended it from what it was before is is there a way to make that intent clear in in the ordinance that it's what we're asking for as a town it just it makes it harder for me to go to County officials and and and have sort of I don't know documented intent of what we as a town have have uh Mr Paul is your microphone on cuz I cannot hear you Grove Street being a uh a um County Road so we have to include whatever their speed limit is in here okay the uh the council did pass an ordinance recommending the changes on some of the other County Roads which was then sent as per your request to the uh uh Board of County Commissioners and the clerk of the board for the County Commissioners we've got multiple ordinances out there so in another ordinance it specifically notes that we're we're asking that okay and then my last question and it was sent to them so my last question is if there's more we can be doing either as residents activists and and as a council to compel the the county to um follow our our preference here yeah um I the argument is the answer is we've all had the conversations I believe' noted as you know through our relationships we've all been pressing and by the way the county is usually very accommodating um so that's a good sign uh they they counter that slightly is you know they are mindful of County Road they kind of like have little uniformity you know but but noting the competing interest we have had generally success in our requests but that does not mean you know you should not raise your voice and share it with the County Commissioners and in any way you choose right to be there at meetings or to email or whatever else that's um I think probably what would make uh you know some some impact as well cool and then actual last question so as a as a Grove Street resident like what what what should I expect is this going to be is there going to be a new ordinance is there like what the the timeline for actually making oh I don't know what they're Bound by in terms of to consider it um I I don't have I don't want to answer from their perspective as to time frame um I know what you know we're doing and pressing and asking for specifically how quickly they they would take it up have the conversation make a decision vote at a meeting you know such as ours um and and then you know come back and it's probably again 60 days and all the different things so I I wouldn't want to speak to you know their time frame um I know we'll continue to press and we'll probably at some point get an answer if they're considering it or will do it but then I don't know also how long from there it takes to kind of effectuate um so again being that's it's a little out of control I don't want to sit here and give you a a date certain I'm not sure if there's anything mean my neighbors can do to help move that shoot those emails over to them would be helpful and me mayor hang on count Commissioners thank you mayor yep so just and I you may know this and I believe was probably mentioned at the last meeting but um an at large commissioner uh Brandon Gil of course is a Monclair resident and then the the commissioner whose District includes Monclair is Carlos pomas who's soon to become the Freeholder or the chair the commissioner president so you know those are people you could specifically who who represent you specifically in some fashion but really all of them you know as people have described so just okay good work just want to say Mr Kramer that even I had that question again but I also have a question for Mr Lolo which you might want to it says Upper Mountain Avenue 30 is that just that short period of that's 30 is your microphone on I get this before I uh there's uh it's it's a holiday let's be nice to each other right that's that's right the Grinch That's I never called you a grinch no I'm just saying go ahead you can answer that question the question is that last portion is a County Road and we did do a traffic study as per their request which we believe it demonstrates that it's reduced to 25 miles hour we have submitted that to County and we are waiting for their response and we are cautiously optimistic that we will receive a yes and it will be reduced will will Grove need a traffic study as as well like how do we decide what needs a traffic study and what doesn't well that was a very small portion of the road I I don't the county decides that's why we going to they can ask if they want to see more information they want to consider it more so on so forth so I think you should expect it takes long on Grove Street near where you live had a problem years ago when I was the first for council member like councilman deputy mayor herlock it took over it took years to get a whole traffic light and we're not looking for that we're just doing speed limit reduction to get a traffic like took years the state the county and the municipality all have to pay for it third each that's where you see the area near Alexander Grove and down towards the very end of Grove but you know the County's got people not only do we have Council commissioner Gil and commissioner pomis who very close to some of us but we have our former mayor Robert Jackson is the County Administrator so don't hesitate to call the county administrator's office or the county executive's office even important County Executive Joe de venzo all of them have been told by me and others on the council and the mayor please go along with what we're trying to do I just had somebody the other day say to me that that maybe it's better we we have higher speeds because sometimes we don't want people to be dragging through town you know we just get them out it was an incredible uh you know alternative but it was another point of view we do have other points of view here and of course councilman and Deputy Mayor herock and I would like to see some of these streets especially in front of schools reduced even further I think Bill was concerned right 1520 so we got more to do on this but this is a beginning to get this to them again to get our streets to be 25 uniformly all throughout and my little slogan is Drive 25 to stay alive as councelor schlager had a wonderful slogan Robin what what was it years ago drive with care in Monclair right so now it's Drive 25 to stay alive thank you yeah love it thank you appreciate that last thing I'll say I know the de May wants to go ahead Mr May um you know good news is we're not just trying we're actually backing it up with we passed our ordinances we' made those requests and it's it's there so hopefully we get that and we'll continue have the conversations Mr dep and along the same lines I don't I don't want to overpromise but I do want to just keep you up to to speed on what's been going on when we had the ones with the schools and the three the First Ward were 25 I wanted them to be 20 we handled it here and then I had a conversation with two very high ranking people in the county in a long story short in less than a week we worked it out and the new ordinance came down we voted on it recently and they're not 25 they're 20 so again I don't want to overpromise but I don't want to under promise either and tell you it's going to take you know a year or whatever we're going to I'm going to actually propose again tonight as the mayor knows to drop 30 to 25 at least on that one stretch that you had referenced but we do have a very good working relationship with the county particularly as um uh councilman Russo had indicated former mayor Jackson Who some of us are very close with and worked well over the years is a huge resource on that front as well thank you Mr marinu absolutely counciler yes thank you one other um option that was um was discussed on Grove Street a few years ago was to put in a medium all up and down Grove Street to to um to to make I I don't recall if it was one one lane each Direction one or two lanes in each Direction but it it's it's been proven that a medium in the middle of the street calms traffic down um it also helps for lighting there would be lighting all it's pretty dark on Grove Street and that Medium would also have street lights um on it and um I don't know what happened to that idea or where it went obviously it hasn't gone anywhere it's not there but it is something to definitely bring up again and I thought it was a good idea so yeah as I'm sure you can all appreciate the the county town road infrastructure discussion it's like just feels very opaque like it's hard for me to understand it seems like intersections and Roads Take a different slightly different approach each time um and so as as an advocate or supporter Vision zero Task Force and and the recommendations they'll likely have like I just hope we can get better at this to the degree that we're we're not we're not where we want to be thank you Mr Mayor this just one practical thing we need to also make sure you address Mr POA can you make sure between Clifton and Monclair that residents may know what the difference in the speed limit is I know coming on Bloomfield on Broad Street the Clifton line is one is one mile per hour then when you gets to Bloomfield is different only know that because I was pulled over because of the change and um so it's something really think about cuz a lot of people comeing off Route three come through Clifton so they need to make sure that we're aware of the change in the speed limit's enforcement working for you right there so right I said I got pulled over I said I didn't get a ticket oh listen just like my my challenge to you get the police chief see what we I I'll just I'm sure I just want to make sure when you go home tonight bill you know the speed limit clearly you weren't going home this time like I I didn't say I was going 20 uhoh I said I couldn't get to 20 okay I'm not going to lie buug everybody right I'd ask everybody here all right any other questions concerns comments on this ordinance I I do want to make that 25 again we expl yeah explain this to me Mr PA because I believe it has to be listed as it is here because that was what the previous change is we've already proposed in the other orance that it is 25 this according to what M Le please speak to it that that as you as I remember it though we have to list what they've already changed it to in previous requests of ours that was an earli request years ago but we actually have requested it to be 25 in our other ordinance this is one that is is that correct Mr Leola or this is just is your microphone on what did I tell you I know please all this is this is just for reference according to the previous ordinance but you know I would say that we had handled this already but it that's up to the council so I no no I mean can we change it or does it need to be listed as how they have moved it already or not keeping in mind we didn't do that with Grove Street on schools that's what I'm asking I'm asking you can do whatever you want and see what they do but for the moment that the purpose change for our for for our local speed limits but that's up to you okay well let's make sure we're clear on it too cuz last time you said it had to be listed what we've originally moved it to under an earlier request and we had to list all of those if that is not the case and we're just listing what we wanted I think it's because section 32711 of the code this is what's listed under that part of the code so that's why if I'm not mistaken Paul that's why these streets are listed I understand that but now you're saying we can make it say whatever we want so which is it my my my my point matter was it the intent was for our local roads this was not an ordinance to change County Roads which we had done previously a different ordinance right so but if the council wants to do that I don't know the significance of that is we are changing our code to reflect that it's not a request of the county to make the change if I could address that though we did this before and we headed at 25 on Grove by some of the schools in the First Ward we had it 25 and then we listed it at 20 my instructions from the county I'm not going to say who said no list it for what you want submit it to the Board of Commissioners with the speed limit that you want so I would like to make this let's uh uh let's let's modify without objection we'll modify it to that one and Mr uh either they did want it listed before and maybe they'll think it's 25 now and just change it or either we get a change so I see no harm in that I I agree Mr Mayor I hear no objection to that we'll duly noted any other questions concerns comments seeing none Madam clerk up on Mountain uh okay well I was closing public comp go ahead please there we go hi Patrick roetto 95 Upper Mountain um first of all I want to encourage you all to vote for this ordinance I assume you're going to because it feels like that's the direction it's going um but I also want to say as a representative of Upper Mountain which is really the part of town that is seeing the largest change except for the Grove change I guess now um it can't just end with the speed limit um there's you know the road is unsafe at any speed I don't know if if you've ever driven there I don't know if you guys know there was another major accident on Upper Mountain at 5:00 today so the it is not just about the speed limit first it's about enforcement there is no enforcement I thanks to to uh Bob and Paul barred one of their speed radar guns and did my own testing um it's amazing people slowed down I don't know what they thought I was um but every time I did it the median speed was well over 40 mil an hour twice I had people going 60 M an hour 60 M an hour yesterday during the rain 50 mil an hour this is insane where are the cops why are they not there this needs to be done immediately secondly I don't know if you also know this but we put out a petition after our dog was hit um I sent out two emails and we put it on the bike bu chat 401 people signed it we didn't even try right we got 401 signatures we asked for two things one of them you're doing is changing the speed limit the other thing we asked for is stop signs more stop signs on the street I encourage you all to look at the data which is publicly available and if I can get it then you can get it on crashes on Upper Mountain and it's incredible it's ridiculous there need to be more stop signs there needs to be a road redesign um you know today I was running in here late because I took my dog to see a specialist the good news is he's 100% better in terms of the lungs which is great but it struck me when the veterinarian said to me um you know it's lucky this was a great day and if it had been any human they'd be dead like think about that we any of us would be dead because there was there was someone who was speeding right this is not safe we need to not wait for the vision Zer task force I would encourage all of you to look at Upper Mountain which seems to be an epicenter of these problems in our town and hire a pedestrian and bike friendly engineer to propose to us a number of redesigns thank you very much and I appreciate the action you've already taken I have one I have one question for you yes was your dog on a leash no he wasn't okay thank you no I but you I will also say this councilman Cummings because you've made this this comment before to be very clear you've asked and and I'm just going to address this a Great Dane has the average intelligence of a three to foury old toddler if you watched the video of when our dog got hit which you can I sent it to the police um a car goes by he waits and then he goes the woman was driving and accelerated into her him she was going over 50 m an hour as so appears because she was probably on her phone the decision our dog made is the same decision that a four-year-old child might have made so I think you should understand that it's terrible I feel guilty I wish we had offense I wish the department of buildings here wasn't so incompetent that you can't get anything done but that's the town we live in right now until we have regime change but what I will tell you is that we need to change the speed limit as as I said and we need to change the redesign so that if people are on their cell phone they can't be they need to pay attention to the road and that's the purpose of Road calming techniques right but my my question was to the fact that and we had this in a public safety meeting I did review the bring cameras on because I was wondering after my question about first of all we were concerned whether the do the dog was alive or not so we're glad that that happened the second part was okay if we're going to do do this properly there's onus on both the folks who are walking their dogs and the drivers we've all agreed that we do need to lower the speed limit and I 100% agree with you and so but the second part is when we are walking our dogs or we're letting our dogs outside we need to be careful in terms of making sure that sometimes we do have them on a leash and the video in which I saw it was it was very o eyes open for me based on the way the email came into the council I was like okay this is another side of the story that I wanted to make sure because we were all very upset when you first came up to us and felt really bad first we thought the dog would died that's the first thing and so we were like extremely upset about that and that has nothing to do with our actions toward Vision zero the second part was that's why I wanted to look into this because I asked to Chief hey what happened here because this is something that we're feeling very bad about and then when I got the story and I got the far that the dog wasn't on a leash I was like okay well that put doesn't put all the onus on the driver and therefore we need to make sure that when we're doing this we're looking at all of the facts involved the stre wait let me finish to the point about redesigning the streets that is another implementation that we have to look into and as Mr Lola said we're looking at getting an engineer in here to make sure that as we change our streets those streets that are most appropriate to be changed that we're doing it holistically across all town so when you say that we have to do this immediately it's hard for us to do something immediately when we want to make sure that we're taking care of all the Township roads that need this action and so I'm not speaking for anyone up here in terms of I'm just telling you my personal that's why yes I I reached out to you immediately after you sent the email asked you the question and you gave me the answer and then I want to make sure that my Council colleagues understand that what we have to do is we look into into this is really look for all sides of what's going on and so when our Police Department gives us their side and the public and then that's the beauty of vision zero we have a group that's going to be looking at this not only from analytically but also from the public side of this and then we will be able to make a decision in terms of where we need immediate action and where we need to do something such as changing a street design is a very big thing and so we really need to look at that from a perspective of how many streets are need to change and then if that is multiple streets or a lot of streets then it comes down to where's a priority and it may be based on the traffic incidents on Upper Mountain that Upper Mountain is the top part of that priority but I just want to make sure that the entire Council had the understanding of what we discussed in our public safety meeting and how we hope to move forward on this right and I just to to take a huge step back um I've had the dog for seven years he's actually never run away from me before so this was definitely a first um I think if you watched the video because he was trained he waited for a car to go you saw it and the reason he was hit again this is a decision that you or I would not make cuz we would have seen the other car and been like oh looks like she's speeding up like he he darted if she had been going the speed limit and not been accelerating he would have made it across the street he made a decision that again on the intelligence of a toddler might have made there's there there are we can all try to do our best and I will tell you that's what we have to do but I will tell you a Spellman who spends a lot of my time on Upper Mountain because I live there and a lot of other people in this town do and a lot of people in this audience do it is not a safe street it's not a safely designed Street it doesn't work it's not it has a parking Lane and two traffic Lanes you can't fit all three of those uses it just there's no other Street in town that is a busy thoroughfare that's like that it it needs to be looked at and the incidents are crazy I mean and and also I would say I have never in my time in Montclair seen a single enforcement officer on Upper Mountain again a guy going 60 M an hour that's crazy people do it because they know they can get away with it and that's the that's the piece I would say so thank you very much again and I appreciate I just want to ask you one bureaucratic question because that's my expertise when you say that you because the town staff did not allow you to build a fence they didn't I I'll clarify that we've been trying to we've been in engineering hell um this is a whole other side we should talk about this some other time councilman Russo because I think the design of the way the department of buildings Works in Monclair is um we should talk about it offline cuz I have a lot of you should tell it in front of the yeah sure I'm happy to tell it the way the way this town Department of buildings works is that um they decide they work on their time frame there are two New Jersey state laws that this department of buildings has told contractors they will not abide by one of them is under New Jersey state law you have 30 days to comment on plans they don't do that second I'm going to let you have that conversation that's what I said I'd rather have it I'd rather have it separately we had many residents talk about wanting to stay on track with things no if you can definitely connect with Mr PA and I'll just say this cuz I appreciate you sharing your story and certainly we still are all very concerned by the outcomes and I understand your frustration and even as you're looking to hope to see some change know that no matter what we're in agreement here right we're and we're having this we're all on the same page on this we agree and let's try and get this stuff done and we're going to and we're doing it now we're going to keep doing it and uh appreciate you guys look I mean to be very clear I was planning on speaking at the meeting the day at happened already so I mean I changed my speech obviously um but um and I reached out to Robin on Jan January 4th of this of this past year so it's nice it happened this calendar year but um but I wish it had happened in months not not in in a couple months little bit of the discussion how to count I got you get thank you very and do follow up M Mr without appreciate that thank you okay yes MH just in in reference to the enforcement I assure you that the police department does enforcement on Upper Mountain I've seen him do it before we had a conversation at our public safety meeting meeting there is just so many issues all around town it's a balance there's also a balance in stopping Vehicles many of the vehicles people who are speeding are your neighbors are people right from town here they have picked up their summons uh summonses that they've been issuing but it is an issue all around you know so that is something that they're working on we talked to uh the PE police administrators you know in reference to that and they're doing the best that they can they did hire some new police officers just recently so hopefully that the Traffic Division the enforcement division that does use radar will have some more officers out there shortly can I can I say one other thing too um I I think I mentioned this last time but de Deb Kagan and I are working on um lobbying Trenton to have automated traffic enforcement which is the most efficient way to stop people from from speeding and driving recklessly and by the way uh someone mentioned red light I mean the red light at Claremont in Upper Mountain is insane three cars go through I I encourage everyone in this Council to join us in lobbying them and also maybe Monclair can be the test case word so thank you very much thank you thank you all right with that I'm going to close the hearing officially um Madam clerk mayor Spiller is this the vote for the amendment as amended it's not for the amendment this is there was with there was no objection to the amendment so therefore as amended so anywhere where it did not say 25 it will say 25 as amended because there was no objection and this is the vote on the ordinance thank you there was more than one change yes all any spot yes okay okay councelor Cummings yes Deputy Mayor herlock yes councelor price Abrams yes councel Russo yes councelor Scher yes councelor Terry yes mayor Spiller yes next is pending ordinance 02340 which is an ordinance amending chapter 48 Personnel regulations I so move it's moved and seconded is there anyone wishing to be heard on this ordinance seeing none without objection I'll close the hearing any other questions concerns comments yes just one quick question Mr with this change this is uh any issues or conversations in terms of no impact with our current labor agreements we've had discussions with several of the unions this is to be in compliance with state law which was adopted in 2007 and 2010 and that's purely what this is this applies all employees on January 1st it goes into effect there's no more terminal leave um and it's very clear that anyone hired after May 20th 2010 on their uh on their uh their when they retire under and no other circumstances they will be reimbursed uh for sick leave up to $115,000 anyone hired before that there is a cap of 130 days the amount of days people have will be banked as of uh December 31st of this year so if you have over 130 days you only get 130 if you have 50 you only get 50 you then can accumulate your sick days in the future and use them there's no penalty but there's no payment for them well we're we're we're good with our current labor contracts yes all right seeing no other questions concerns Madam clerk councelor Cummings you have a question okay no Deputy Mayor herlock yes councelor PR Abrams yes yes councelor Russo yes councelor schlager yes councelor Terry yes Mary Spiller no next is pending ordinance 02341 which is an ordinance to repeal chapter 18 contracts amend chapter 44 I so move it's moved and seconded without objection I'll open the hearing to the public is there anyone wish to speak on this ordinance seeing none I'll close the hearing any questions concerns comments see none Madam clerk councelor com yes Deputy Mayor Hurlock yes councelor price Abrams yes councelor Russo yes councelor schager yes councelor Terry yes mayy Spiller yes next is ordinance 0 2342 which is an ordinance to amend 327 uh of the uh traffic code to prohibit parking in Park Street left hand turn movements Haden and I so move it's moved and seconded is there anyone from the public wish to be heard on this ordinance seeing none I'll close the public hearing any questions concerns comments hearing none Madam clerk councelor Cummings yes Deputy Mayor herlock yes councelor PR Abrams yes councelor Russo yes councelor Scher yes councelor Terry yes mayor Spiller yes uh next we're going to move to our uh resolution items so with that I'm going to open up to anyone who has a comment on any of our resolution items on the agenda today uh please come on up and speak to the item uh just reference the item you want to speak to and give us your comments is there anyone wishing to speak to any of the resolutions on the agenda okay seeing none I'm going to close that uh section uh we've got our first number of resolutions with our which are consent we all talked about the last time I so move items 1 through 13 wait I I'm asking to have pulled out number 11 and 12 as I asked last time okay for separ discuss 11 and 12 are held out any other holdouts seeing none I so move items 1 through 10 as a consent agenda second it's moved and seconded as it was consent uh Madam clerk roll call please I'm sorry for 16 uh it's only 1 to 10 okay yeah you threw me off yes we're good good okay Madam clerk councelor Cummings yes Deputy Mayor herlock yes councelor price Abrams yes councelor Russo yes councelor sler yes councelor Terry yes yes mayor Spiller yes next is resolution R 23302 which is a resolution pre-qualification and authorizing the order of fair open contract to D Franchesco uh uh baitman uh kman and so so forth for the tax appeal attorney I so move it's moved and seconded questions concerns comments yeah the reason I asked this to be pulled as well as number 12 they're both for the tax appeals the the town attorney at one point explained to me that one of these firms does the tax appeals for commercial properties and the other does it for for uh homes you know and private residences but then he explained last time that they could either either one of these could do both so that a firm could do both so my suggestion is that the defen Esco baitman firm and I served in consumer affairs under Governor D Francesco who's the head of that firm and he's a f fine person he was Republican governor who I served under I have no problem with him except I do have a problem spending 80,000 for an outside firm so I'm not going to oppose this one to be Petty about it but I'm going to just say that that firm could do all of it okay so I I believe we should have one firm outside that can do all of it rather than two so I'd like to you know just speak on number 11 that I'm not trying to be opposed to the def franccesco firm though I had originally been opposed so that's my comment on number 11 we can vote on that any other questions concerns comments what is the reasoning for having like the two different ones is there a reason for that that would be discussed with the tax assessor he's the one who's moving these contracts uh Madam clerk councelor Cummings yes Deputy Mayor herlock yes councelor price Abrams yes councelor Russo stain on this one coun councelor schlager yes councelor Terry yes mayor Spiller yes uh next is resolution R 23303 which is resolution a uh authorizing the award of professional service agreement Eric Bernstein Associates LC tax attorney is so move second moved and seconded questions concerns comments okay this is the one I have the big problem with I I did with this last year we did it last year and I objected and I think councilman uh Cummings and councilman yaka bis had joined me at one point but this is the attorney's firm that represents our former count former um Town attorney Mr Stafford and being that the D Francesco firm we just approved can do all of it I'm suggesting we leave it at that they do all those tax issues we don't need the Bernstein firm not only because I believe there's a conflict but I think most people can see that there's a conflict here from Mr Bernstein but we don't need to in fact what I suggested last time is that we have our own town attorneys handle the tax appeals for an additional payment now in in years past in years past our town attorney did the tax appeals exclusively inside for an additional $20,000 we're going to be spending if we do both of these we're going to be spending $160,000 on outside attorneys to do the tax appeals which the attorney previous to Mr Burr did for $20,000 more so I'm suggesting we save $140,000 we've already passed one that stands I dented on that but I don't have a problem with the firm this one I have a problem with with the firm and I have a problem with the concept of giving all of this money to outside attorneys to do our tax appeals when our own internal staff of town attorneys could do it as our town attorney previously did it so I'm asking my colleagues to not votee for this one to table this one in fact so Bob let me get this straight you're you you're okay with the first one that's for 80,000 you have an issue with this one for 80,000 and they're suggesting that if we were to give Mr bur or Mr veto 20,000 to do this job so really we'd be saving $60,000 possibly yes not not 160 we could we could save more if we did it both but I'm I'm compro I'm trying to be fair and compromised and then the other part is I think multiple times Mr Burr has explained that this is a recommendation from our GIF attorney that they handle and it's not like we are going out to Mr Bernstein the GIF attorney is am I correct or to cl to clarify um Mr Bernstein's firm was hired to represent Mr Stafford as the township attorney in the current litigation uh that was commenced against the township they're not representing Mr Stafford in a lawsuit against the township they're defending him as the township man against the lawsuits that were commenced uh against the township so he's a codefendant with the township and thus the GIF because he's Township manager just like any of any of us here if we were sued uh in our capacity as a representative of the township the GIF would cover us so that's I it's not a conflict in that sense uh as uh councilman Russo may have May it may appear to councelor man Russo um Stafford's attorney Bernstein is not suing the township on behalf of Stafford so we're codefendants in the same lawsuit we have the same defenses and therefore that's not a conflict the tax assessor though from my understanding is uh has used Bernstein and the other firm as the tax appeal attorneys for many years even when Mr bassic was the township attorney um so this is not a this is nothing new I don't know what's changed and why we're moving why this is suggesting we should move away from that uh expertise they my understanding also is that they've had a very good track success in processing those appeals uh which means there's been denial of of tax appeals generating and maintaining the tax revenue of the township so there the job they're doing for the town my understanding from the tax assessor is is excellent they're hitting above 90% in their success rate on tax appeals so thank you what has changed is that Mr Bernstein goes to the court in front of Judge Petrillo and sits there representing Mr Stafford who I thought we had disengaged Mr Bernstein may have had good experience in the past but Mr Bernstein's work now for Mr Stafford definitely makes the public concerned and there's an appearance if nothing else an appearance of a conflict and basically what we're doing is giving a man $80,000 and his firm $80,000 and we could give a firm locally I was told by someone the other day that we have a very outstanding attorney that works for our planning board who could easily do tax appeals within the town he knows the Town well and he does the work of the planning board why do we have to go to Warren New Jersey Warren New Jersey for the two firms now I compromised by acknowledging the governor D Francesco firm as being okay with me and that took a lot for me to do I'm asking my colleagues to table this just to table this to discuss further whether Mr Bernstein should be given another 80,000 and as councilman Cummings said maybe if we gave money to our attorneys locally here where we use another firm we could actually save at least 60,000 even 60,000 pays for one teacher so please colleagues I'm trying to be very reasonable here please table this second affirm our tax assessor should not make the decision for us who we hired you respond I I just yeah I think and I just want to point out uh listen I just want to point out that this went out to RF so that everybody should be aware of it I I unfortunately wasn't a part of the evaluation uh team that um determined which uh proposals in response to that RFP was the best uh but it was an RFP process uh and I assume there was a committee of employees that sat on that um committee and did the Assessments in order to determine that um these two law firms were the had the best um Pro response to the RFP and were the best uh um most qualified most qualified um professionals to provide the service and with that I will let the council make the determination um I do have a question which is um you did note and I think it's helpful to us to note perhaps the most important thing is that the attorneys we hire for these roles are very effective at them so you gave us that information which is useful to know but um what I'm wondering in is that these are not to exceeds the way they're written so it's in an amount not to exceed $80,000 for the one and for the other do we know what we have spent have we spent to that amount have we had to go over it you know with a separate approval in the course of the year do we know I don't know personally because those uh the budget for those two uh two firms is in the tax assessor's budget so I don't manage uh the bills but um I don't know if they uh reach and exceed the 80,000 or if they we get there but I I assume with the um assistance of the CFO and um and Mr lazy our tax assessor they felt that that was the best uh number to come up with well to Lor's price AES mr's Point I've asked the CFO and the manager for all of our not to exceeds to give us an understanding of how many have been over what we asked that was a couple months ago so I hope to get some information that cuz that's important to find out cuz we do a lot of not to exceeds and like to get an idea of how many go over counciler yes um I it's my understanding when an RFP goes out or an RFQ part of that application is there's a listing or a sheet that that asks for a conflict check so you have to list any conflicts that you have any relationships that you have any donations that you make to uh organizations so the with this Bernstein group do they list a conflict I wouldn't know I didn't I did not see the proposals I can't answer that question but uh it is before well they couldn't be on here if they did so that's the answera would do that there were okay they would P okay but you're right there's a list yeah there is definitely a conflict check and there's a a question here that relates to contributions and any conflicts with within the township yes so why don't we I appreciate that I think everyone's had a comment at this point and I'll just note for my purposes too um I I am fully confident in in their work I will say this I remember the history before we had them on um and quite frankly I know some of you do as well uh we were absolutely losing many tax appeals uh before that time uh when Mr Lai came in and became our tax sucessor and he changed the whole system there uh he created a system where he properly line the Township in terms of the tax assessments that's important because anytime someone's winning one it means someone else is paying more the rest of us right because something's been incorrectly calculated um and it was really it's been really exciting to see that he has pegged them all correctly which means we all pay the appropriate amount instead of some of us paying more as anyone peels one and successful it means we all make up that difference um so it's really really important that you get it right so that everyone's paying the right amount from the start um he's done a great job with that as evidenced by our success rate in those cases as you know we used to lose many of them and now again with his team and with these attorneys that he's brought in we win almost all of them because he's got the system correctly done I know he monitors it um minute by minute in terms of any property that has something happened to it um and working with the attorneys now we also in so uh this isn't some general conversation or or um you know theoretical thing it's a a thing that impacts each and every one of us in terms of how much we pay in our taxes uh and I certainly want to be paying the right amount and don't want to go back to any and and uh any attorney just doing the work and quite frankly we all end up paying more for it um so with that I'm fully confident in the work he's been doing uh and I'm ready to support this resolution I'd like to just make one final comment then why couldn't attorneys locally like the one from our planning board do this why can't someone close by why can't a minority firm why can't a women own firm why can't a woman do this why can't a minority do this this is a continual rehiring of a a gentleman who is the attorney attorney and has been the attorney for the manager who we removed because things have been getting really bad I don't think you remember this how bad things were and Mr lezzy is a great person okay he's a great tax assessor but certainly we can do better than this choice so I'm just asking to table to research a little more to look into it to see if there's alternatives to Mr Bernstein in the meantime the D franccesco firm is perfectly capable of handling all these appeals any other questions concerns comments hey I just want to um back up what you said Mr Merck because George has been very responsive um to questions that I've had I mean qu responsive in terms of hours not days and he's done a he's he's on the ball I think I think we're what being conflicted is the Bernstein name and the actual person who's doing do to work for us and so I I stand by George 100% uh Madam clerk councelor Cummings yes Deputy Mayor herlock yes councelor price Abrams yes councelor Russo no councelor Scher yes councelor Terry yes mayor Spiller yes next is resolution R23 304 which is a resolution appropri in the 2024 community development program Representatives I so move second it's moved and seconded this was originally consent so I imagine you know it's good any other questions concerns comments yes there's a question I have about this and I brought it up last time the need for three people to be appointed should include two Council people and I've asked that I be appointed to this rather than the assistant to the planner in years past there were two Council Representatives I remember one time councelor schlager and councelor Baskerville both represented our town we should be involved more in this and I'm very involved with it and I want to work on this committee and I'd like to be the one appointed with councelor Cummings um he knows how involved I am I go to all those events that they have when they give us the checks so as a courtesy to me I'm asking the council to allow me to be the the third name appointed even if it's an alternate rather than the name of Just A pretty new very new person who really doesn't know much about this at all so Bob I'm I'm going to put a challenge to you um I have no issue with you being on there or being appointed there but I ask that you be available for all the calls that we do because the check signing is irrelevant to the actual work when we meet with the county representatives and we talk through every item that goes over there throughout the township not just the checks because it because it's not as simple as showing up for a picture it requires sitting with Miss tally multiple times to look at at all of the paperwork to look at all the requests that are coming in it also requires knowing the organizations that are applying and whether or not they a lot of times what we do with Community block prent money we give we give points we give scores but those organizations don't get money because they don't qualify based on the qualifications of what the county requires and so if you want to do that if you want to be a part of that that's going to be required because the planner has been in those meetings there's not an absentee position and when I heard you talk about it last time I was like okay if he wants to do this this requires work and so and it's during the daytime I know you teach a lot these are calls that happen between 10:00 a.m. sometimes 3:00 p.m. and it's a certain period of time and now is the time because they're going to start talking about where they're going to be giving the money and what money they're going to have next year and so you want this I want you to be a part of it because you know it's not something that you can just show up for a check for and that's it so love to have you join I have nothing else to do I have nothing else to do I'm not teaching any class this semester until the fall and it's only one class and I'm 76 years old retired I'm home most of the day so I'll be very much available but I do like this because I used to go to the meetings with Joyce Goldman down at the the county uh years ago when I was on the council and it's something I'd like to do and I think I could do a good job of helping and I know that these groups I know all of these groups and I'm very happy to see that we've ranked all of them very highly and we're going to try to get that money for them but I know what you're talking about it's not just a photo up but I have gone to those events and I would like to serve here because the new person we put on who's an assistant to the planning office is pretty new and doesn't understand our town as much as I do well I think there is still value there but without objection let's additionally add councilman Russo on there I think that covers all bases and gives us more options was there objection no OB okay without objection we've added that as excuse me mayor are you deleting someone I'm not I said I'm adding without I think the point is is that you have to the the county is allowing you to have three representative three names so two can attend we we are going to list four and if somebody can't attend they can figure out which two are attending okay all right all right so with that uh as modified uh Madam clerk uh this is a this isn't money I don't think so all in favor please say I I post exensions thank you very much uh next is resolution R 23305 which is authorizing our inter Township manager as a bank signatory and I so move second moveed then seconded any questions conern concerns comments seeing none um Madam clerk councelor Cummings yes Deputy Mayor Hurlock yes councelor price Abrams yes councelor Russo yes councelor slager yes councelor Terry yes mayor Spiller yes next is resolution R 23306 which is resolution appointing the fund commissioner for the Garden State Municipal joint Insurance Fund I so move it's moved and seconded questions concerns comments all in favor please say I I I opposed extenstions thank you next is resolution authorizing the 2023 Community Development uh uh block grant uh applications is so move second moved and seconded questions concerns comments yes mayor on this um I just was not sure and Janice is not here so manager can check it out these are the recommendations that we're making to the county in in a ranking order in other words it looks like we go from 1 to 10 these are our priorities but it all adds up to within the amount of money I believe so we've actually cut people back where we had to maybe even eliminate B based on your scoring right and then we get a good portion of this don't we Michael for our own Town Projects the first few are Our Town Projects I think yes yeah okay I just want to get that clear thank you the pole I just want to commend you for having your microphone on on that response thank you hope turn May appreciate that okay uh uh Madam clerk yes Deputy Mayor Hurlock yes councelor price abam yes councelor Russo yes councelor Scher yes councelor Terry yes mayor Spiller yes uh next is a resolution uh regarding the governing uh certification of annual audit for the year end December 31st 2020 uh 2022 I so move uh any questions concerns or comments uh Mr Leo you want to speak to this for just a moment before we vote this is required for our annual I was waiting for that um almost got uh almost um this is statute required that once the uh the council receives the audit and um and uh reviews and then we have to submit that to the uh to Department of local to the director of local government services that we certify it's been reused etc etc excellent the next one is the same it's tied in with that same statutory process that we have to do but okay councilwoman price ABS I'm sorry um I think there's some paper we sign like a certification that so you have that so then that's how we can pass this knowing that we're going to do that the end so we're committing ourselves to do that thing before this meeting's over yes okay thanks uh Madam clerk ccer Cummings yes Deputy Mayor herlock yes councelor price Abrams yes councelor Russo yes councelor schlager yes councelor Terry yes mayor Spiller yes next is resolution R23 309 which is res appr approving the corrective action plan again required uh uh for the 2022 audit I so move second it's moved and seconded uh questions concerns comments no question not for this one no no um I do have just one quick request and that's uh mrle if you can provide us with the corrective action things that need to be done it's on the back of the sheet I wasn't last meeting yeah you bet right yeah it's pretty straightforward on this um Madam Clerk councelor Cummings yes Deputy Mayor herlock yes councelor price Abrams yes councelor Russo yes councelor schlager yes councelor Terry yes mayor Spiller yes next is resolution R 23310 um counciler would you do the honors please yes thank you mayor whereas invoices against the township of Monclair in favor of the following persons for the amounts um set opposite their respective names have been received duly audited and found correct now therefore be resolved by the Council of the township of monair and the county of Essex that said invoices B and they are hereby Ed paid and that checks be drawn by the finance department to the order of such persons who the amounts respectively in here and after stated on the computer print out attached here to and made a part here of this bill is is dated December 19th year 2023 for the amount of 1,829 9614 and I so move second move seconded any questions concerns comments seeing none Madam clerk councelor Cummings yes Deputy Mayor Hurlock yes councelor price Abrams yes councelor Russo yes councelor Scher yes councelor Terry yes mayor Stiller yes thank you very much appreciate that and uh Mr Paul I want to thank you again for your suggestion uh when we're able to hear the comments for on all the ordinances and certainly able to hear the comments on all resolutions prior uh and then also have the public he the business of the council get done at a reasonable hour that was also one of the concerns we we had heard I know councilman Cummings I know you were working on some solutions I know you were working on it Mr Lola um and I think it really seemed to work well so people could hear exactly all the items that we had and people could comment on all all those prior um and now we'll just open it up to General Public comment um on anything anyone would like to speak to there's a sign in sheet next to the clerk please make sure you do sign in there uh each member of the public will have 2 minutes this is in addition to the public comment that happened earlier uh so please be sure to sign in and give your name and address for the record when you do all right please uh come on up he you are sir do you know where on this thing is the page that we're sort of certifying yeah we'll ask for uh uh a little Grace there would without objection I'll ask the audience for this if we can let the kids go first I know it's uh uh I know my guys uh would love to get to B does that work for everybody over there let the kids go first all right I see a lot of heads nodding so let's let the kids go first thank you very much hi everybody um my name is Lucy mandus and I'm here with my fellow horse pirate hockey players we can't hear you so you got to start off with the microphone come H hello now it's working okay so hi my name is Lucy mandis I'm here with all my horse pirate uh Nutley uh Nutley Clifton Hockey Club family and we're just here to talk about Clary Anderson and what their their status and where they might be um we're just here to chat with you guys about how we want the I'm not sure in what regard we want this to happen but we're just we're big and we we love Nutley Clifton we love Clary Anderson I think that we speak for all the clubs that you know want to use Clary Anderson and you know so it's not just Nutley Clifton we represent a bunch of different clubs that all want want to use the facilities um and we just we spend a lot of time there um I'm a hockey mom and a volunteer coach and volunteer manager we spend a lot of time there my kids I've got a squirt and I've got a Peewee and we have a bunch of our M family here and we just implore you guys to you know look at Clary Anderson as a as a good investment for the town of Montclair not just for the high school but for all the different clubs that might you know um I don't know you know that everyone would uh be sorry I'm a terrible public speaker so like I'm tripping over myself but husband's point he he played hockey there just just so you can step up to the mic if no my my husband grew up uh playing hockey at uh Clary Anderson and he remembered his teenage years and he loved all the time that he spent there and you know my kids have spent time there and these kids have spent time there and all the people behind me have spent time there and I think that there's a place for the Youth of Montclair and other towns to go have somewhere to go spend some time and not just you know wander around and go everywhere just it's a great place to be and it I've been to so many different hockey ranks that have just a beautiful facility and it just it would be a worthy investment of our town to uh to look at it as a serious investment and to consider it in you know all that stuff you did a good job you live in Monclair I do 561 Park Street is where I live right now so and we're all Monclair families of uh the nut Clifton Hockey Club and um the blues and you know um there's also you know the I lived in Nutley my mother lived in Nutley so I love Nutley my husband grew up in Nutley I'm actually a New Englander I turned into a Jersey girl when I met my husband so I you know so um aier at heart so I'm recently a hockey person but um love it and I love what it's done for my kids and my family and my friends and we've enjoyed it so much and um just we we love the time that we spend there so I really hope that it's something that can be considered sure and I I'd say this thank you guys all for coming appreciate it um uh we appreciate you there's a group coming up here too and explaining your position and we we're happy to see everyone out um I'll offer this I think this Council has shown its commitment in terms of we put forward dollars specifically in the budget um to do a study on the rink to see exactly what can happen I would offer to you as you're part of that conversation to have specific requests is what you're looking for right the specific thing that we're looking at our improvements to the rink to see how we can either have what we've got and make it a little better how we can take what we got make it something you know just phenomenal and and kind of see what that looks like price range see what the differential is um and then see what we can do you know public private Partnerships or otherwise to make that happen um and I think as long as we're consistently on message and know where we're going we'll be successful um we've got I know some of that um that process ongoing through the through the manager's office making sure that happens um but you certainly have my commitment and know certainly by the vote of this Council which happened already too um you know to make sure we are engaging in that work uh we know it's a Community Asset um we know that our uh not only our high school teams but as you note many many other age groups many others uh use the rink um and certainly um you know we're committed many of us committed to making sure it's a it's a great place to play and a great place for our community to come together so thank you guys for your advocacy appreciate that thank you guys for being here I love the number nine there good good move I like it hi there hi there just wanted to just mention one other thing I'm new to the town like 3 years in I came from Brooklyn I didn't grow up skating but since the pandemic I we were there every weekend we became a skating family so my daughter my son uh my wife and then from there it grew into the hockey experience and it's been full every single weekend just free skate so to get in is website's pretty bad but like if you could if you can register ahead of time and get in there it's a great time just for the family so there's that plus the hockey agree it's not just it's a lot of different things thank you I'd like to make one note too my name is Alison task 173 orange I think I'm on um something that I've learned recently uh nutly Clifton is great because we have the lowest rate for the most ice time a week but we are having a really hard time finding ice time throughout Northern New Jersey there just is no ice time all the ranks We're doing dry land training in the middle of winter cuz we literally can't find ice so there might be some magic there where there's Economic Opportunity for Clary and I'd be happy to work with the team to get you the data you might need to just see how much demand there is and how little Supply and you use Cody you Tred Cody Arena too right oh we're all I mean from the Ironbound to the ice house hacketstown to Marist toown everything and Floyd Floyd Arena put mon State all of it booked just book solid that's a demand boy you know the mayor's a hockey champ you know and certainly I think it's a testament and a and a warning when you look at Ironbound and others right when there isn't the investment in the town rinks where they could close um as has happened and therefore you lose opportunities for ice time so that's certainly a challenge but thank you guys I was going to ask if any any kids want to say something it looks like I see they're feeding to it um hello my name is s task I live on 173 orange my mom just spoke um so I I am a hockey player um for the nutly Clifton Hockey Club I'm about 3 years in um the experience has totally changed my life um kind of sucks to wake up early in the morning a lot but um that's hockey yeah um it's totally changed my life um it helps with like my teammates I love my teammates um it helped me build like skills with like Fitness and stuff but um like clary's become like a second home to me and like I learned it all there so like um to keep Clary going would mean the world to me um clary's just like it's just a good place to like cuz like if you're if you're bored or you're wandering around town not knowing what to do you can always hit up clar and it'll be a good time Wonder thank [Applause] you you should run for councilman you should run for Council anybody else have something to all right thank you guys thank you thank you thank you appreciate thank you guys very much welcome thank you app mayor mayor yes just one thing the resolution appoint um uh hiring the consultant will be on the agenda on January 2nd okay excellent thank you that was that was the one thing I wanted to mention um thank you uh Mr Lola um and I just you you know Daron 75 M Avenue um you know it's it's you know we're starting to sort of educate the public here to the problem that we have with ice time obviously you heard there's an issue with with ice time this club here which sounds like nly clion Clifton but it's just the name of the club they're all living in Monclair and all these hockey clubs that have different names they all have people that live in Monclair people that live in the towns next to us Etc and it's super important you need a team to play against so um they're having difficult time to you know to to gather ice for their club uh we know that one rink is is closed in in Jersey City because they had a a failure of uh one of the systems there and we've lost a rank this year and that's that's a shame so there's a you know the Jersey capitals are not playing there they they're looking for ice it's there's a shortage of ice so for us to lose this this rink in town would be it'd be devastating for people so just want to make sure that everybody understands how close this is to happening you know um you know if you know I know know the town and thank you thank you all for supporting any repairs that are necessary but if something catastrophic happens we could end up Lake Jersey City with no rink and these kids couldn't have any you know they have nowhere nowhere to play we lose two high school teams we we lose those programs we lose the Wolves we lose the mockler blues so it's really important so thank you all for your time and uh happy holidays thanks happy thank you appreciate that was good to see you evening everyone uh my name is Noah seagull I live at four Hilltop Place um I'm going to drag us back to everybody's favorite topic traffic um I was here about a month ago I spoke to our request for moving the stop sign at the intersection of pleasant and Hilltop and I'm not going to rehash the context of that um hopefully at least a few of you remember but just to give you an update uh Mr Lola laa put me in touch with Norberto Hernandez and traffic um and it sounds like they are going to explore a few Solutions early next year uh potentially painting in a dotted line through the intersection for guiding traffic um moving the stop sign the existing stop sign out as well as removing a tree for visibility I think those are all going to be very helpful potentially moving the stop sign out may be problematic it's not a symmetrical intersection and people tend to cut the corner um so I think that could actually be more hazardous than productive be that as it may I don't think it's enough um it doesn't really address the fundamental issue of a lack of safeguards in that intersection and frankly on Hilltop and pleasant um there are no yields no crosswalks no speed bumps speed humps no other stop signs just a couple of speed limit signs and a children a play sign um it's relying solely on the good judgment of every driver that goes to that area um which is is not responsible so um I'm going to be here uh continue this conversation with you in the coming months but I think it's really important that we look toward a more like fundamental solution to the actual problem um as well as anything else that makes sense sense to implement um but I'll leave the rest of my time if anyone has any questions or wants to talk more so mayor I'll respond to this so we discussed this at the public safety meeting Chief conf had Lieutenant anesio do a review of the area and they're going to get back with us with if there are any recommendations outside of what the gentleman is talking about right now okay thank you so you hear that too process thank you thank you appreciate good evening dear Scott 59 Pleasant Avenue Fourth Ward and I have never gotten um that type of assistance that the newer resident has gotten so I'll begin by saying that I've worked in this town for several years and I've had the pleasure of working with Robin schlager in my former employment I volunteered at the Monclair High School teaching African-American young men the basics of banking I have worked with Maria Del Torres at Monclair State University and taught financial literacy to the eof program I have worked with a former mayor fundraising for the Montclair Public Library I'd like to take a moment to remember Diana Harmon who passed away recently and was a former resident a principal and married to a Monclair educator my prayers are with her and her family at are with her family at this time I began this year um with the owner of 61 Pleasant Avenue Abby French having a caring meltdown on my lawn needing to be told eight times to get off my land the nth time I had to explain to her that I would call the police if she refused to do so the following day the police were used as a retaliation purpose and Method and um also David Cummings has done that several times as well it is very mindblowing to me that he had a question about dogs being off leash major Jennings is a principal in Mont CLE and his household is one of the main reasons unlike the other residents I will absolutely be selling my home as soon as I find a safer town to ride reside in for the last 3 years the police have been called on that home for excessive noise the principal's household will cease disturbances while police are present then increase them later Amira TOA is also a representative of the township of moncle they have acted the same there are criminal matters taking place in the fourth ward that I will not discuss at this time because I have no faith in the monair police department based on the abuse displayed by employees and representatives of this town I've been told to take this elsewhere and with that being said where is the list or is there a public listing of of conduct for employees and representatives of this town or is this something I need to reach out to tr about uh anything else we'll because we'll answer all your questions um no that's it okay M Lola is there uh a list of conduct for is that what your question is I believe that that's in the uh employee handbook but I will get you a copy of that okay be on the agenda shortly which will be more detailed great so leave your leave your email with the manager and he'll send you the copy from the employee and who's the manager me okay thank thank you thank you hi my name is Monica Goodrich I live at 214 Alexander Avenue um first I would like to thank the council for taking the first steps towards improving pedestrian and bike safety in Montclair in particular I appreciate that the council is open to learning more about how improved road infrastructure can reduce crashes I also appreciate the the council is beginning to fully understand the dangers of excessive vehicle speed however this is just a start and there's more work to be done in the past week another pedestrian was hit by a driver this time at the corner of North Mountain in bellw and taken to the hospital just today I drove by another crash on Upper Mountain Avenue near Watchung our dangerous streets have become a tragic embarrassment I am asking the council please do everything in your power to prioritize safety including increased enforcement improved infrastructure and and lower speed limits at recent Council meetings there's been a lot of frustration about the lengthly timeline timeline for making changes citizens want change now I challenge the council to find ways to say yes to making changes immediately strong leadership fights for change I want to see strong leadership in Montclair so what kinds of changes can we make right now Montclair has been awarded a grant for vision zero demonstration projects let's say yes to experimenting with change here are some examples of lowcost experimental temporary changes that we can make right now other cities have experimented with temporary projects like this we could create temporary curb extensions at busy intersections using paint chalk or even traffic cones we could enlist a community group to paint a temporary mural on the street which has been shown to significantly slow traffic speeds this could be a fun and creative project that expresses the unique character of Montclair we can make a pedestrian friendly space on Church Street by blocking up traffic on weekend days we could block off parking spots in town and create a mini Park using Planters and lawn chairs we could create a temporary bike lane for half a mile or a mile using cones or paint all of these temporary projects could help us see how much our quality of life improves when we prioritize people rather than moving cars through town as fast as possible thank you you thank you excuse me counc price I I just wanted to ask you a followup question because I was making not of your your list of temporary possible things to try so you said something about a temporary bike lane mhm how would that work and why would it be safe like if it's if it's here it's not here people don't have an expectation I mean I just want to know what your thought is cuz you know I'm I'm taking seriously we should try things and and we did get that wonderful Grant we'll I'm sure mention it yeah exactly um sure so just by creating something temporary and inviting you know a group of people to use it even um you know maybe bike bus could use use it um it would help us imagine what life could be like if that were extended throughout the entire town um and you know I understand that there are legal issues with putting in um something that hasn't been studied but other cities have done this kind of temporary project um and you know citizens sometimes can vote on it there'll be like a a code they can scan their phones and just vote on the things that they like or don't like I was less concerned about even those kinds of logistics but just if you know even with bright orange cones and you you're saying creating a safe space if it's temporary I I guess I'm just trying to figure out if that could be you know people don't have an expectation it's there and are are we making it safe so it's it's stuff to look at I'm sure we we can put people in a room to to kick around a bunch of ideas but I hope you'll commit them to writing maybe and send them through on email sure sure yeah I definitely and I'll just note I think it's important to make sure uh and those are um you know shared with the Visions here a task force that's literally the charge right to to go through that um and the good news is it does have representatives in the bid as well um and we've done parklets as you may know and some of the other pieces as well to know and have experience with what that does in terms of traffic cming um I know through working with councilman Scher we've also done murals in intersections we've done that before as well to study some of so these aren't you know things we have to retry some of them we do have some experience with um so I think it's a great opportunity to kind of incorporate what we know and what we saw in terms of the data from that trying new ideas and as the councilwoman said really excited that we were able to focus our grant writers to get that Grant and now put that to work with div Vision zero task force to get more item done as sample so thank you the crosswalk mural was done with a Girl Scout Troop and we did I believe we did it in June right before Summer started with semi-permanent paint and the reason we did it that time of year was because Summer was coming and um lots of you know children are out on the streets and and lots of traffic um it was done on the corner of Chestnut and farest Street by The monair Cooperative school and those crosswalks it was a big success so I loved it anybody wants to do it again I I could share all my expertise we had t-shirts we had a whole Brigade of of students kids parents that painted the the uh the uh crosswalks was great yeah that sounds wonderful and and Mr Mayor I know when you were Ward counselor the Third Ward and the First Ward one of the projects that we also had was the different designs for the crosswalks which was very effective because it made people slow down for no other reason than there's a new design here what is this type of thing and I know North Willow and Glen Ridge you had one I had one up in Upper Montclair Village which was very very successful yeah we did the theme of uh different shapes I believe for that one correct um just so people would find those shapes and look for them and slow down and again you know proven with Effectiveness to have people pause and slow down and make sure they're observant um you know always mindful these things cost a lot more than you think you know I remember them pricing out the difference to just you know stripe it straight versus the time to do other shapes but you know you shake your head but those are the reasons you look at and say hey what's effective and then what's the most cost effective to get the uh job done to help people slow down but thank you thank you thank you Paul MTZ uh seven van B I just want to say thank you uh for this past year we've had some great successes and you know usually up here we're kind of complaining or asking for things and I just want to acknowledge about this time last year we got started talking about a vision zero task force and she me now we've had a couple meetings and um we're you know thrilled that you are looking for changing our speed limits townwide we know that's you know one part of a lot of other things that we have to do so that's great and I I've I've sat here sitting I think I understand no I don't understand now I think I understand I'm still not sure about all the ordinance and everything else but if I am understanding is correctly the intent is to have 25 uh townwide regardless of a county or not or less is that that's correct right and all this amendment other stuff is because the way it's word got it thank you um we're thrilled that we got the ss4a grant the problem with the the the bad downside of the money is it's slow and we're going to be months just getting to the access of that so what I'm going to ask the Town Township to do is put some money aside because you're saving a lot we got that Grant uh to be able to do these demonstration projects and we can do this stuff on our own uh and on a smaller scale and uh save the money for the bigger projects but there's a lot of demonstration projects that we can do uh because people want to see action right away so I'd love to see us plan this winter and this spring get started because the way this grant money works it's not going to be ready yet you know we'll be lucky if we could do it in the fall um with that so there's a lot of things we can do really really inexpensively and uh there's going to be some hard decis decisions to make down the road because when it comes to real bike lanes for the most part you got to take away parking somewhere so we're going to have to make some tough choices about where the parking goes we know we've had a parking study we have plenty of parking in town it just not right where we want to go uh every time we're going to have to park in the deck somewhere and walk our way to our location thank you very much happy holidays everyone thank you so much appreciate that and thank you for highlighting I remember what has always been that discussion around parking right that's always what comes up so thank you hi again uh Bob manx Kramer 650 Grove Street uh two kind of unrelated thoughts at the last Town council meeting I was a silent Observer uh and I just want to say I was disappointed at the the loss of Civility in public comment um you know I think some of you were were yelled at and accused of malice and I don't think that's that's appropriate uh and I I appreciate everything you do I I share you know the passion with some of those people who spoke but the the the tone the tone wasn't right I hope we can can do better thank you thank you um second thing thank you for the uh action on on speed limits today and and the amendment to to make things clear it was my first public comment and there's an amendment result that you know this is great this is fun you're you're one for one yeah you're one for um and I I I look forward to more uh the last last thing I'll say you know there's there's been a lot of uh statements of of of concern about traffic and road safety and a lot of deflection to the vision zero task force and I think you know that's okay and maybe maybe appropriate uh but that is a bill that will come due at some point there will be recommendations that are much more difficult than speed limits they they'll be expensive there will be legitimate opposition uh to them you know parking spaces is a great teup um and you know I hope we have the the courage to uh cut through that and implement the the recommendations of the division zero task force thanks a lot thank you appreciate that come on back yeah I really appreciate that thank you good evening my name is Jack spear I live at 128 Haden place yes I gave you my comments just in case I forget them you can coach me from the song and nice poems nice poems Jack nice poems greetings I thank you all for your tireless efforts in maintaining mon Clair's unique character as a resident since 1976 I'm aware of the many challenges we Face our diversity and public spaces are key ingredients tonight I want to thank whomever opened reopened our war memorial in Edgemont Park the memorial was closed for about 6 months opening I think sometime in September the closure placed us as the only town in Essex County and I researched this and went there and called them up the only town in Essex County with locked gates to its Shrine commemorating those who gave their lives defending our freedom built in 1925 there are over 200 50 names on the memorial of monair residents who gave their lives beginning with World War I people from various backgrounds are among the dead I often then my walking routes at the memorial I'm retired so I get to walk a lot at the memorial meeting local residents and visitors from around the world engaging in conversations I realized we're disconnected from our warriors with the absence of the military draft and the rise of individualism we are rapidly moving away from the strength of community and common purpose I'm a military brat one moment got to compose my father was a professional Soldier for 30 years serving in World War II from Normandy to the Battle of the Bulge and in Vietnam on this day in 1944 he was a prisoner of war at the balge he thought he was not going to survive that he would never see his family again my mother and me he was 21 years old magically my father survived living to the age of 94 his Infantry division the 30th division was created in World War I its Insignia is engraved on our Memorial and there I have a little um faximile of it and it is an O and in the center is an H for the Old Hickory Division and thus we have the three Roman X's for the 30th division incorporated into the Moncler Township logo the World War I Memorial features Lady Liberty on top of the Granite shaft and Below Colombia shielding Two Soldiers the names of the Dead are listed on the granite shaft as they defended our freedom we must defend their memory Jack I'm going to ask you just being mindful of everyone else's time to to wrap it up here and uh finish up your comments and are are town is associated with the public you may read the last paragraph on your own I would thus like to end by reading a short poem that I wrote names just names peaceful day in the air a November Sky flag waving on this a very special day citizens walking sumon the grass lie enjoying the day no one hears to stay strolling playing everyone knows the Way Lady Liberty standing tall is mute her presence does not people's day delay granite and Grave names no one stops salutes children all their lives no chance of future Pursuit Adams duwais Murphy Thomas eeling names just names are long lost for forgotten Roots enlisted inducted doomed saplings light dims day ends fly flying empty Park names just names silent centuries in the dark thank you all and happy holiday thank you Jack thank you Jack that's a beautiful Paul Jack can I can I can I say something please Mr be I um so the I had the gates unlocked at Edon Park I heard from many residents that's my ward in the second ward and I got touch with Mr Lola who in turn got in touch with Mr Rob biano who went there to unlock the gates and they are unlocked I just have to tell you my father Harold Solomon was in World War II and fought at the Battle of the Bulge he lived till 92 as well and he was part of the Great greatest generation and um that's very near and dear to me obviously my father was also um a member and a um um an officer at the Jewish American War veterans organization of which there wasn't that wasn't a very big group of uh gentlemen and men who served of the of Jewish um e ethnicity in in World War II and my father was a proud member of that group he was also a first lieutenant and um I don't know what division he was in but I'm going to ask my brother cuz he knows all about that but I thank you very much for this poem and for recognizing all of this and and your father as well thank you Jack last thing I'll say too your postcards as you always send them your postcards you always do a great job I appreciate every year by the way the photos you capture all around town I mean second to none thank you for that much Jack my brother's a photographer so I'm going to give him these um on the monument the Edgemont Monument there for World War I is the two two Russo uh family members from my family from years ago my father's cousins but the whole family is going to love these I'm going to show that to them remember the refurbishment of that monument that we had done recently was done by Michael Peron I want to thank him again Michael Peron of Belleville Historical Society did that for free TR trying to get our monuments back in shape even the one at the Wang Plaza you'll see has been improved but Michael Peron we need to thank from Belleville Historical Society for getting these monuments to be preserved for forever because it's now 100 years since 1923 thank you again for the great photo what your dad what was your dad's name Mr spear Jack Jack also C spear okay yes but he was not an officer and I'm an army brat Sergeant's kid so we had a little dispute did I perform a ceremony here once for you did I do something here once I don't think so okay thank you thank you very much than you too hi as you know I'm Chrissy Thomas 257 North Mountain nav wheelchair ramp giant United against semitism sign with Christmas lights I'm a product of Montclair High School and the public schools I went to Edgemont Mount Hein Glenfield Montclair High class of 87 then I went to Wesleyan UVA Penn and Georgetown to get a ba and political science an MBA a master's in public policy and a law degree I've worked in the White House and as Corporation counsel for the City of New York and instead of doing m&a or running a nonprofit that I started I became a trial lawyer I fight for the people who have no voice or are very afraid to speak like children and victims of domestic violence so when you hear me know that that's where I'm coming from although I rarely shout sometimes you all may think up there on the dis that that I'm that are or people that are even watching the meetings like I'm shouting about water that isn't safe to drink or air that isn't safe to breathe or roads that are not safe to walk on and that flood during heavy rains like yesterday and that I get upset about people and dogs dying because they've been hit by cars on the streets of Mont Clair I'm also a first generation immigrant direct from kerola India my work ethic is hereditary as is living within my means and always trying to get a bargain guess how much is a game that our family plays through no fault of my own I was also born a Sagittarius so my tact isn't necessarily what it should be I get upset when I hear Sean tell the mon told the Montclair local that he was 100% focused on Vision zero after he and the council ignored the multi-million dollar Grant deadline for vision zero that would have saved this town Millions I understand that recently his political action committee touted him as an environmentalist even though we're illegally removing trees and violating EPA safety requirements that are endangering the cities of Mont the city of Montclair I also want to note that um you told us that Clary Anderson was important to us and you told the kids that you were going to do what you could because you're an avid hockey player um I didn't I was I was going to said that you were an that it was near and dear to your heart but there are no public skating schedule um skating sessions during the day that children can attend and they're charging $9 per session instead of the $7 allowed under the ordinance which you guys talked about two years ago and you said that you would enforce but then you increased the amount we pay we now pay for their electric bill while they make more money than they're supposed to and they don't do the upcap that they're supposed to I also really want to mention the it issue um we were paying bills for an emergency breach in March April and May of 2023 so that we had a breach on June 1st and we didn't abide the requirements made of us and of Our IT department is scary and I also wanted to mention that our not to exceeds for the law dep Department under carasic went over the not to exceed once once under Burr our not to exceed in 2021 was 55,000 we paid 150,000 you approved 150 th5 thou 150,000 in addition to that so that's $25,000 while we're paying him not to do what we need done that is scary wasting money is not something that I can afford to do I pay taxes of over $65,000 please you know it's a new year it's a new budget try and do what's best for the town and if you don't want to and if it's too tiring and it's too upsetting for you to be up there and you can't do the right thing then don't run again [Applause] thanks here good evening you manam Kevin D what I mean uh AR uh Hitchcock place um two issues the first one has to do with um uh I'm a member of the Monclair um Interfaith clergy and um it appears from talking with other members that we've had some um uh some harassment and some scares on our um religious institutions um um for the record I have complete faith in our um Police Department under the leadership of the Chief and the rest of his um and the rest of his capable officers but I think it should but I think it's something that we should be aware of and we should pay attention to the second thing is um um the second thing is um in November excuse me there was an issue where um the marclair Civil Rights Commission was used by um I believe the chairwoman uh Miss Rapaport and you and I believe that you guys were supposed to look into it to see if anything was um not correct it appears it was correct because the name of the commission was used in the newspaper the local newspaper saying that the commission disagreed with an event that took place at the library so my question specifically to the town manager is has um what is have you started anything and number two what's the um the progress of it um um additionally a member of this particular Council also contributed to that report and the reason why I bring that up is because is because talking what I believe should not jeopardize or not be um delegitimized by anybody's comments especially coming from the administration of the town so that's a specific question I have a specific ask um you um do you need me to repeat it or did youw any investigation I believe that was a uh I'm not sure what is being referred to so okay so I'll speak to I'll speak to this piece of it I know that the chair specifically noted that that is not what she said right so she specifically noted that um said that she wanted to make sure the process was reviewed um but again whatever the paper prints and whatever she says is between them and you know whatever that looks like um but that was the argument that was made there specific to any Council comment you I'll let the council woman speak to that if she chooses but um specific to your question uh there was a specific and I saw um a notification from her that that is not what she had said what was said I don't know I wasn't you know part of that conversation okay for for clarification for myself so I guess the her her comment is that she never said anything to be printed in the paper okay well is it appropriate that the town Administration have the paper do a retraction because the paper says that the paper says that uh the people in there supported Hamas quote unquote the paper in there said the the mlay Civil Rights Commission doesn't um doesn't agree that this that that this should happen the Monclair civil rights um commission doesn't believe that this is something that's appropriate for this town okay so this is representing the town that you guys represent I mean I mean that you guys are in administration of and it hasn't been corrected so what's the proper way to go on to move ahead the proper way if you would like more clarification would be reach out to the chair and ask her if she's had that conversation with the paper and is ask asking them if they're correcting the record I don't know if she's had that I don't know if they've refused I don't know if they've agreed I just don't know okay all I don't believe she's no long I don't think she's the chair anymore right that too theair soon not to be but yeah okay um FY I have a meeting with um uh Liz George Who's the who who Who's the editor of the paper on Friday so maybe I'll um we do something thank you very much for your time I'm sorry m i I do want to clarify what it is you're asking of me I you didn't name me but I am the person who commented in my personal capacity and I distinguish that from my Township role and and so I'm just asking what it is that you're if you have a question for me I wasn't clear about it just the appearance just the appearance of the strong wording that was used that is very um you know we're talking about people not Fe I mean people not feeling protected and people not being feared well I don't be well you know I don't feel that way in town if my view if I express that view will be looked at a certain way you know I mean I'm on record everybody knows I'm on record that basically that nobody should be oppressed nobody should be bullied nobody should be anything so I'm just trying to make sure that anybody who expresses those views especially from the Quakers I don't know I mean the Quakers were the one doing the talk at the library and I don't and I've never heard the Quakers um um committing terrorists I don't know do they have Osama Bin Laden I don't know I I will just say that in my personal capacity what I was trying to communicate had to do with that the library board at the time was trying to review themselves I think it's the point perhaps it's what the mayor just said about what the CRC chairwoman was saying I'm not sure but the idea that they hadn't had the opportunity to review whether that was whether it was or wasn't a suitable group and then they had a meeting that was called by a special vote among their bylaws and rules and they reviewed it and decided to go forward with the program and so that is what happened and so I I don't think I said anything that was remotely hateful I was I was worrying about whether others were and I thought it wasn't my call but I was I was also calling for the opportunity to review the decision by the library board which they chose to do yeah but the Town Council I mean I don't want to belor this but the Town Council doesn't have uh the um uh the responsibility for reviewing whether um content is appropriate and that's basically their perie uh perview I agree so these two gentlemen would would get involved I'm sure if there was no review and I find it highly unlikely that somebody would come there and they wouldn't have a and they wouldn't have a talk to make sure it was okay it made it highly highly radioactive and then on top of that and then on top of that people came near and protested and nobody protest and nobody protested when the town had something for all of the hostages the 200 um um Empty Chairs nobody came near the protest so everybody in town should have that privilege to be able to participate in something what I would say is first of all the town didn't have that program but it gave a permit as I understand it for people I was actually out of town and I wasn't even I didn't see it I saw some pictures so people asked to use space and they were granted that right and they had a program so that's that the town didn't have that program um and and I believe that free speech is the Hallmark of so to of of our democracy so respectfully everyone can say what it is they believe and others can say what they believe and to the extent that everyone's rights are being um respected I think that is that is what we strive for we we won't all agree on everything but I know you and I both were among some hundred few people who attended an event you spoke about it the last time you I believe came to speak with us here um it was of the faith community not limited to attendance by the faith community it was open to anybody who would be moved to attend and we all listened to each other and heard each other's pain and each other's truths and and they it's messy and I think we know that and I think I I'm I didn't know that's what you were coming up here to say but I respect that's what you wanted to come here to say and at the same time I was very happy to participate there with you and with others and and that's how I feel I mean it's it's an opportunity for everyone to hear each other's truth and let it sit with us and how can we move forward in a way that brings more wholeness and goodness in the world that's what we all really want okay I mean Kevin I just want to thank you for that as councelor uh price aens referred to I spent that two hours at that wonderful Gathering that you helped organize I know you were one of the leaders and co-chairs of it so I want to thank you um you and I go back to the same nework neighborhood as I said before but we need more of that bringing people together like you did that night with the uh rabbis and the clergy um I just want to say this while you're standing there I saw a terrible report last night of the night before of in Rachel M show of all these Neo-Nazi guys that are since the 30s then they were supporting Hitler these neo-nazis um in the United States marching around they're not it's not the Palestinian Community you know it's the neo-nazis who who followed Hitler that did such damage to the Jewish community and Rachel M show frightened me because it shows that they're so active now they're the ones making threats probably to a lot of synagogues these guys that go around you know wanting Hitler I mean they really like Hitler I mean they waved those you know swastikas this is the threat to the country you know and we should respect the Palestinian community and the Jewish community and try and settle all this and get this all over with and you know get a two-state solution I I don't like I I said it before I support Israel and it's protection itself but I don't like netanyahu's policies you know I don't like the way he approaches things uh he's like a a trump and and so we've got to deal with this political situation but the the frightening story on MSNBC from Rachel mat is that there's a lot of people around who are very near neo- naazi even in Montclair you've got some people go around doing things that are really negative and they're making us conflict with each other when the Jewish Community the Palestinian community and the Jewish Community the black community should all be United against that kind of conduct so thank you again I thank the council very much for for hearing us all right good night good night thank you good evening my name is June ragner I live in Monclair couple days ago I was sweeping pine needles on my front porch and there was a car crash right in front of my house three cars the police were immediately called I live four blocks from the police station4 miles does anyone want to take bets on how long it took to get someone there to win you'd have to guess 17 minutes I'd like to know what's going on we have a highly funded Police Department 17 minutes to go four blocks for a multiple car crash car crashes beget more car crashes when a road is blocked off and people are trying to get by and no one can help them that's a problem now I have been coming up for months to talk about the lack of enforcement especially on Bloomfield Avenue CU When I go down Bloomfield Avenue I always look to see how many illegally parked cars am I going to see today I have counted over 30 in one pass so the other night I was coming out of the movies going down Bloomfield Avenue and I looked over and as usual there was a car parked in a loading zone but this time a police officer actually pulled in behind him and I thought oh my goodness I'm going to watch someone getting a ticket in Monclair the light changed to Red so I sat there and watched but you know what the car didn't get the ticket the police officer turned on the lights turned on the siren over and over trying to get the person who was illegally parked to come out and move their car because for some reason there's this inability to write tickets for people who are parked illegally Bloomfield Avenue is substantially more dangerous because we constantly have many many many illegally parked cars double parked cars we have traffic we probably have road rage you're making it more dangerous for every citizen I'm thrilled that we're going to lower the speed limit but what good is it going to do if there is zero enforcement why don't we have enforcement it's important right now no one's even getting parking tickets yet we still cannot do anything about the many many illegally parked carts up and down Bloomfield Avenue all times of the day and night so Mr Leo please talk to officer coni and see what is going on it's also a major source of Revenue we're walking away from now counselor price Abrams I am thrilled to hear that you have such a commitment to free speech I'd like to think that extends to people who don't say the words that you want to hear McCarthyism is not protecting democracy M ragner uh uh two things and my father taught me this a long time ago if you see a police officer do something like that in a car take down their car number and then that way we can easily access who was driving and who didn't do their job second part uh I believe councilman Terry had brought this up at the uh last Vision zero last public safety meeting there are what he found is there are actually polls that are capable of being placed in certain areas and will electronically get cars that are double parked and so those are some of the things that we're looking into specifically to what you brought up about Bloomfield Avenue and they will issue the ticket directly to the person now the question I believe that you really want is that's still not going to stop people from double parking only that they get the ticket so the enforcement part is important um but I do think one of the areas is that you know under when people are held accountable such as whoever that officer was that did not issue that ticket I think that makes a difference too so I I implore you please if you see something like that take down the car number because those car numbers are assigned to officers in which the chief and everyone else will know who's driving that car who's in that possession I will do that next time I think the bigger issue is we have a culture of non- enforcement and having a culture of non- enforcement is a big problem because it would be great if we could get the polls and take the pictures and send them automatically blah blah blah blah but there is no reason why tomorrow morning there can't be a meeting that says we're going to ticket everybody who's in front of a hydrant who's in a loading zone who's in a No Parking Zone and start doing something about it is there a reason why we can't do that I've asked for it a million times thank you for your comments is there a reason I'm sure there there are many um but thank you for your comments and I'm sure we'll app on some of them you know specifically I know councilwoman um Terry you'd like to speak uh I I will say this before uh you know I ascribe what an officer is doing correctly or not doing correctly I will note often times because I see all the emails we have numerous officers ERS who get called um to patrol for what they perceive as break-ins or other issues going on um I see and and I've been there many times when there's missing person whatever else um and uh you know as they do that work it is soften times where if they're trying to move a car along to get to something else that could be a case as well so I have no idea but Mr Leo you the problem actually Mr Spiller is that you are not having them write accounts and reports so we actually know and sharing with the public Mr Chief con when he presented his budget there were no data thank you say yeah I just wanted to add to what uh counselor Cummings was saying that uh that in our meeting that they are enforcing they're doing enforcement out there we see the stats we see exactly what's going on now as far as a vehicle accident did no police uh responded in 17 minutes well it could have been how it was reported sometimes if there's no injuries at an accident scene they and they have something else that is more serious an emergency that they have to go to that that will take precedence over going to that accident scene in that now I don't know what type that that was at that point but that does happen from time to time logical good evening I'm carel lman I live on uh Walnut Street and um I wanted to thank you for your year of service it's been a tough one I go to I generally go to a lot of the council meetings and I see what uh what you do and what you have to endure at times and I thank you for your service um what I just wanted to say is last Thursday at the historic preservation commission meeting they um the the commission voted to name the label Street area as an area of a historic site and I think the next step is that that will come before the council so all I wanted to do tonight is to encourage you all to read the report that Kathleen Bennett the chair of the HPC wrote It's a fascinating history of that area of Monclair and if you don't know what I'm talking about I know you do but it's the Richie Cher's um restaurant and the little buildings behind it now obviously viously we all know the restaurant has been vacant for a long time for various reasons but all the little um the buildings behind it that are part of the area are um rented by Artisans Architects photographers um Craftsmen it's kind of a unique little Community anyway but what I just wanted to do is encourage you to read the history of that area is just as I said it's just fascinating I've lived in town 32 years and I did really not know what was going on there the um it was the largest label Manu factor in the country and when we think of labels let's think of like when we first had canned foods that was a new innovation they would do the labels for the canned foods they did wallpaper did all kinds of things and and in addition to that part of it they had um war effort manufacturing some I mean I guess war time whatever the ammunition things or whatever they have and it just traces the history of Monclair as a um a community that had industry as well as residential homes so I hope that you read the uh nomination report and I'm kind of in favor of it being a historic site I think um we want to preserve our history and should be a great way to do that but thank you have a good year thanks so much thank you good evening uh so I'm going to cover some ground already spoken about by previous speakers please kindly indulge me because it is a topic I'm very passionate about ilar Vander 127 Road as you know for every project there are short-term medium-term and long-term goals Vision zero is most certainly a long-term goal it's a noble idealistic well-intentioned goal but it's still long-term and from all its appearances it's quite a long way off from being executed and implemented in the meantime Vision zero should not be looked at as an excuse for kicking the can further down the road we need to deal instead with reality and what is practical pragmatic and realistically attainable and there are more accidents every day as noted by multiple previous speakers including the accident on Monday December 11th at the intersection of Belleview and North Mountain Avenue which is right around the corner from me and I personally went to visit the accident scene because it happened just as I pulled into the driveway contrary to a previous speaker I have to commend the police in this case because their response time I'm told by onlookers was under 5 minutes to that scene and I spoke to two of the officers and they were just exemplary so um I credit the police in in this case in terms of my personal interaction with them but the accident scene was very disturbing because the car was still there which had struck a pedestrian the hood was visibly dented the windshield was completely cracked the victim was transported to a hospital and the accident is currently under investigation that particular intersection is one that I drive through every single day uh I look for about 10 minutes because I'm hesitant to go through it's a four-way stop but that is all but ignored by all or most of the drivers so it's been an accident waiting to happen there was yet another accident I'm told today uh near Upper Mountain and wung about which details are still coming in so I wanted to say in the shortterm not the long term there should immediately be improved signage including greater use of illuminated stop signs which are at some points in m in Vermont for example they're all over the place almost every stop sign is without exception is illuminated increased enforcement as previous people have mentioned in especially in accident prone areas and the hiring of an in-house traffic engineer cannot begin soon enough enough this individual can be instrumental in getting Vision zero off the ground and off to a flying start so uh with that I just wanted to wish everyone a happy holiday and Madame clerk I have the date of Friday January 5th 8:30 a.m. circled in my calendar not only because it's my niece's birthday but that's the date I understand election packets will be ready for pickup from your office yes so thank thank you and I will see all of you in 2024 good evening hello my name is eileene Birmingham um I'm here A friend of mine sent me a question to ask about the anti-hate task force um and the status of it apparently it was $300,000 grant that we received in 2022 and um she's wondering about the stat status of that Grant so um I'm hoping maybe we could get some answers on that um but I'm here I have a question because this is just a genuine sincere question um in the 2020 S&P Global rating um that was dated October 12th 2021 that's on the town website currently um there's it is stated in that document in our opinion a credit we weaknessess is montclair's large pension and OPB obligation and further in the document it says that the Police and Firemen's retirement system etc etc etc and Monclair has a proportional share of the net pension liability equal to $17.3 million it is ADV and then further it says we have a actly determined OPB liability of for $4.97 million I am just honestly FR like this is not disrespectful how is Montclair what is the long-term forecast for how Montclair is going to deal with this pension obligation for everyone here in this room that is a bigger pension obligation than the city of Camden has right now the several much larger towns have small pension obligations and so when people talk and come here and talk about the hockey rank and the traffic and things that you want I am here to say this is this math is scary it and I again I am not trying to be The Lorax but I do not see how a fire department that where it we deal with 15 fires in our town and we go to dozens more outside of our town the people people of Monclair do our part for the regional fire service of mon of Essex County Essex County has regional response to fires ask the ask what happened in Verona yesterday Monclair was there we respond to every fire in Cedar Grove we do our part we cannot afford to keep increasing our fire department at this stage of where we are in our economic liabilities thank you thank you um Mr Leo you have any information on the grant yes yes mayor uh there seemed to have been an issue with the Grant in terms of whether or not they could hire employees so we are now we had a meeting uh last week and are reworking the budget and we'll be submitting it um and hopefully we will um get things moving in the very near future thank you on the Grant on the grant issue Eileen Eileen if you're still here and Mr Lola I looked up the whole press release that was issued two years ago January of 20121 and it indicated that we got $300,000 that we were supposed to spend by September of this coming year which is only eight months away uh I may have gotten the call and the information from the same person that Eileen Burmingham did but she's really concerned as I am because if we get to the end of September and we'd haven't use the money first of all what happens to it and what happens to the there was a task force that we were supposed to appoint made up of lots of people from lots of different communities in town which would be very helpful especially we didn't know at that time Michael that we were going to have all these conflicts you know with the uh situation in Israel but it would have been very helpful now to have this committee this task force so I I don't know what happened to the whole thing and I I'm concerned because I read that the grant would expire and um we won't have anything councelor it's my understanding that uh there were conversations and that we can extend the time frame in which to use the money okay we still want to get this done though because we can just keep extending but you know you know we need it now we needed it now and the the constituent who asked is very concerned so I've sent you all the message I got from uh from the constituent and Shen Anderson so please try to answer her because I can't hi uh Eric tomato 25 Norwood Avenue in the First Ward um little ironically a little bit I'm coming late to complain about comments being late which is kind of silly but yeah is it better that you could come so you could come yeah I school concert at Glenfield which was great anyway I just wanted to give a quick plug I don't know if you got to talk about it but there has been uh some discussion people kicking around the idea of breaking up up the comment section into two pieces the second of the first of which could be timed I understand it's terrible to have to be here for hours and hours before you get to business listening to people but if we could have let's say a 90 minute by the clock session that was really cut off and and that was clean at the beginning and then have a second session after you do all your business but before executive session and have that open and you know without a time limit and then try to make it so that we could have remote commenting I think that that would be a really good way to split the difference and make everybody happy it would at least be something we could try and in terms of remote commenting um our board of education does that and they seem to you know the walls haven't caved in on them uh so if we could look at mixing those two things I think we uh we could have a nice situation and that's all thanks for having me thank you I just want to comment on this mayor because the suggestion that we do a split session came from the manager of Verona a very distinguished person Joseph diarco who's been manager of South Orange and pamis and numerous towns he said what they do is have a period like Eric suggesting that's Limited in the beginning and that was done specifically for senior citizens and families that can't stay out late maybe children home you know it's seniors primarily want to get here get to say something and go home and then he says they allow an evening session later if there's anyone who had to come late because they worked or they had a lot of school events like we did see tonight and it seems to work well and he said they also have a 4minute limit which is to give people just absolutely enough time if you saw tonight that some very good people came up here like Jack Spear and wanted to talk they definitely needed four minutes I've also talked to the clerk in Bloomfield she's a very good clerk she was my former colleague the first woman ever elected to the council in Bloomfield and she says they have a five minute limit now tonight again we were told it's a two-minute limit there weren't a lot of people here I could see we might have to do that when there's a 100 people want to speak but when there's 20 people or 10 people we should stick to at least the three minutes we've always traditionally done and remember we did the earlier meeting you all know mayor Robert Jackson who I served with he changed it to the earlier meetings because people wanted to be able to get home especially seniors so we did do it in the past in the evening later but he did change it and I respect Robert Jackson and a lot of other towns do a split system like your suggesting but they give people certainly more than two minutes to speak as you saw tonight that we need thank you thank you for all that and appreciate that you're coming late to that but uh the good news is our manager actually recommended split session which we did tonight so we had a session before for public comment on all resolutions allowed people to speak to those issues and items um and then after that concluded we also opened up a second public comment AKA split session um and had people after hence with had two minutes because there was two opportunities so that was the path that we've uh chosen to go we had conversations um you know uh about all the different recommendations that council members had that Mr Leo had Mr leoa openly noted this at our last meeting meeting um as a recommendation I believe was at the end so maybe not all the council members were here um however um it was what was recommended and we chose to go in that direction tonight so thank you very much for that I appreciate what you choose I'm just sharing with you because I know you said you weren't here what we did tonight so that was the path that we've moved um and certainly the path that we'll be trying out as to your point um going forward for for the next time being but thank you I just want to hold on B I just I just want to say that I had no problem with the way we did it before I just felt we should have put a time limit on when people could sign up and we can move forward because what I did not as I said before when people come here at 8 8:30 and people have been here since 7 I think that's wrong especially when I rush to get here from New York to make it on time and I and I've been through it with kids and everything what we did tonight when I saw the packet I was somewhat surprised that we had changed it I wasn't here at the last meeting I don't know if anybody voted on making this change I know I didn't and I know I wouldn't have supported it so uh this is one area where I think discussion should have been had with the council because it's the council meeting and it's not the manager meeting and I think the council is the ones who should establish how we will do these things so what I'm asking is if this is the way that we plan on going based on the comments tonight I will agree with Bob that it should be 3 minutes um but I'm just saying that I my vote is no to the change but if this is what the majority of the council decide because I don't remember I don't know if anyone who who voted for this um you're shaking your head now nobody voted for it it was announced by the manager no it wasn't announced suggest Sugg but I'm what I'm saying is it should have been determined by the council not the manager and so this is something we need to have a discussion about because if Bob you're saying no you didn't vote on it I didn't vote on it Robin you didn't vote on it then that leaves Roger Bill Lori in the mayor keep me out of the conversation D assume anything when it comes well I'm not assuming well you just did no what I'm saying is I don't know who voted on it and I know Robin said she did said he did I think we actually we actually all clearly answered it that the manager suggest last right but it's not the manager meting the council's meeting so if the council wants to go this route the council needs to say that and I'm saying no and if you all do vote to go that way I'm saying it needs to be a three minute they need to have three minutes but 3 minutes hard not 3 minutes and continue none of that so that's what I'm saying appreciate it so let's let's do this um it was a suggestion from Mr Leo he mentioned it heads nodded um we'll make the motion that the format that Mr Leo suggest which is what we have now be the format that we use I so move it's not it's been moved and seconded if you'd like to WR about what you're saying mayor because you didn't give people a session prior earlier suggesting you gave them a session if you'd like to debate it then so be it I'm suggesting the format that we used is moved it's been moved and seconded coun I I would also agree that we should make uh maybe at the resolution thing if you want to make it a two minute but then General comment could be three I I just think let people have their Fuller say let's do the two sessions and I'll vote on time next does that work so we're going to say that on on the on the agenda just to be articulating what we're saying we're voting on you're saying as is laid out for tonight as is laid out so um we did the proclamations whatever and then ordinances if if there well that's always flexibility but it's this public comments public comment before on the items and public comment after public comment on ordinances then you did public comment on resolutions is that what you're saying ordinances always happens anyway that's only happens on a second reading that's what this was tonight so there's there's no change in that I'm speaking so I'm having back and forth so if if it was a first reading ordinance would there be an opportunity for public comment no during the public comment section which is in the beginning on any item on the agenda if it was an ordinance being introduced on the agenda that's very limited that's very limited I'm the middle of my exchange just give me a second then you have your turn yes go ahead Lor thanks just to finish I know you've got three years on the councel I'm asking question and that's why I'm asking questions go ahead Lori please where does it say public comment I just it doesn't say it it's just what we did right I just want to be clear what are we proposing didn't I know what we did tonight so it it ordinances because they were on second reading does ordinances on second reading after ordinances you'll see public comment on agenda items only on the agenda right then we had public comment on the agenda items and then we have public comment also listed again at the end okay and so my Mo my well you want to do this separate so I'm okay with this so I'm okay I will be okay with okay any other comments on the motion yeah let me just get this clear again when I saw this the other night when I got it on Friday I realized that not only did the manager make a suggestion which is fine to make okay manager you made a suggestion which was then memorialized in the agenda without any of us at least I didn't have any input on now what it says here is that there's only comment on agenda items not General comments which is what Mr uh which Mr damato and others are talking about I'm talking about what Mr Joe diarco I don't know if you know him but you should respect him 40 years he was given an award at the municipalities conference as a manager the most outstanding manager he said they have a short period of comments on anything anything people want to come up and comment on it ask questions on like I lean did tonight anything not just what's on the agenda anything then they go to the agenda they do their business and then they have comments on anything later so it's two public comment sessions not restricted just to agenda items so I'm appealing to you again folks don't this is what the mayor is saying he wants to adopt is what you did tonight well this is not what we want to do we want to give some kind of input in the beginning and some kind of input at the end it's a split session session and it's also with the 3 minute limit I agree with then councelor cumming's hard limit but I was saying that two towns are neighboring towns which have outstanding managers and clerks outstanding okay they do a five minute limit a 4minute limit a a a session the beginning session at the end and they don't restrict their people to this two minutes that we've been doing so let's not confuse like two minutes for this part of it and three minutes for that part it's 3 minutes and that's it Mr may can I I Can I some clarity here my experience is not listened to so so when we have ordinance ordinance come up the public can speak to that ordinance correct is that only on second reading if you're talking about if it's on the agenda right if it's on the agenda and what we're talking about now there's a motion on to adopt right if it's on the agenda then during the section where they can speak to agenda items which is the first they would speak to it right and then following that mhm the public can come up here and speak on anything that they want to speak on the in the second public comment section right so I just want to make sure that people do you understand that Bob yeah I understand that's very restrictive that's why I'm not voting for this so then my question is 3 minutes is an appropriate time I'm not going with five Bob I'm not going with four I'm going what we've always done which is three minutes so that's what I'm saying so no fair so I think we're going to vote on because the councilwoman asked that it's a separate motion so it's just first the format and then we'll ascribe the time to each um I know that Council I think I saw a hand over here or no I have a quick question to to councilman Russo what the other surrounding towns that you refer to what time do their meetings start start at 7 o' they start at 7 generally do you know what time they end they end pretty early they get the public comment over with first and they allow at at the end they allow some public comment at the end if people really can't come and come out and they did this they told me because people do not want to be sitting here all night waiting for the councils to go on and on and by the way they don't have a lot of people coming out because they've somehow dealt with their problems before they all get to the council which is what our problem is the manager should be able to diffuse and take care of most of these problems way before they get here and bring up even minutia things like a stop sign on somebody's corner every week so we have a basic format not a format problem but a functioning problem now Mr laal let's just go back to this you made a suggestion all of a sudden it's it's memorialized who put this together councilwoman did you have any other comments cuz it was your had one other quick how often do they meet do they meet weekly they meet every other week just like every other week like we do these are our neighboring towns Verona and thank you and and Bloomfield which are led by clerk Luis palagano for many many years woman on the counil in Bloomfield and Joe Dio 40e Town manager okay these are people who know what they're doing and handle things well and I want to stop you again mayor because if you do this and you all folks vote for this you're still voting not to give people a chance to say anything they want at the beginning of the meeting which is like the seniors and you remember at the last meeting three older women one of which was 95 years old tried to speak and the mayor cut them off and I demanded you let them finish speaking and only wanted to ask us to put together a committee which is a very important committee they wanted to have on the senior services and the senior center but instead we're going to vote tonight to put together an unnecessary committee on leaf blowers so wait a minute I I wasn't here at the last meeting Mr Lola made a recommendation Bob did you speak up then no because I had left already what yeah and then they all mocked me for leaving but I watched it on TV I saw what happened list wait a minute David let me just tell you all go laugh all you want you finished your meeting you had no other business but to talk about me I heard and then you talked about what you did now I love you all okay and it's the Christmas spirit but don't mock what I'm saying tonight theola made a recommendation I saw it none of you questioned it at that time then it comes up as a memorialized agenda item I want to know who puts together this agenda is it the manager or is it the clerk so in the interest of again shairing the agenda uh under Robert's Rules we've made a motion and speak to the Motions Germaine and as even as a gentleman noted earlier today right we can vehemently disagree but we are going to do it respectfully and we're going to do with a process and hopefully you can argue your point and if you are successful in in you know convincing enough people to do it that's what they'll follow but we're not going to do it by trying to out yell each other a great protector of democracy mayor such a great agree with everything you said and that was my point the process should the process should have been this is a change that we're considering and all council's members should have had an opportunity to agree or not agree as opposed to it being it on the agenda as a change so now we're going through the proper process after having an opportunity to actually see how it works and so therefore but that should have been done ahead of time I actually but again I'm striding on one thing three minutes I hear you okay all right Madam clerk we vot on the two sections time second so we're voting on changing to this form correct of how we will conduct meetings going forward correct all right are there forgive the question because I'm trying to be good is that mean that the time limit is or is that a sep doing that second thank you time appreciate it okay got it councelor Cummings no Deputy Mayor herlock yes councelor price Abrams yes councelor Russo no councelor Scher yes councelor Terry yes mayor Spiller yes uh the next is uh motion on times on that um and I'll certainly say this uh to all the points that have made and appreciate it and appreciate you thank I appreciate the fact you noted you had left already I think that I appreciate you kind of acknowledging that because we I can leave here whenever I want and anybody else can leave some people left because of health reasons at different times some people left because they had a plane to catch some people didn't show up like you I leave here when you don't listen to me and respect me instead of mocking me I use it as an example you would not be here as mayor if it wasn't for me appreciate your thoughts on that biggest mistake I will say this we have heard from some of the same individuals um that they want to hear the business done and we've had plenty of times where there's public comment in the beginning and that may take a significant amount of time and there are plenty of people who are at the end of that line for public comment even at the beginning who wait a significant amount amount of time and therefore don't get to see the business that's on the agenda that many have lobbied for to get on there that many are waiting on a on a reading to see if we're introducing uh speed limit change or anything else um by moving it to if you've got a comment on the items that are on the agenda you have a chance to speak to those you know what's going to be happening those listening know it's going to be addressed those who fought hard to get it on the agenda heard our discussions about it get to hear it we also heard from many here who are arguing about the public comment numerous times Council you do things in the dead of night you do it at 11:00 hour well that is because oh there you go that is because it's luckily today it's 9:30 um that this is not the law the the answer here is um we know that sometimes people have to wait and then we get accused of doing late we want to talk about the agenda items people hear those conversations we then adding public comment at the end on anything anyone wants to talk about give people a second opportunity to speak on these items and of course anyone who wishes to stay address the council gets that opportunity so addressing both of those people uh both of those concerns with the people who've come forward um is certainly why I'm supportive and appreciate Mr leoa you looking at how you've done in the past and making the recommendation and and and pleased to see why we're supporting it here tonight and I'm thankful for that so I just want to say thank you because I do think it's a it's a it's a it's a method that gets us to have people uh get the best of both worlds to that I'm hearing and Mr Cummings I'll ask you to listen to this just to hear uh councilwoman price Abrams has suggested uh two minutes on agenda items right in that first part and three minutes for the second is that what you'd like to move or are you say no I'm asking just her cuz she and then I'm waiting to see what the consensus is around that okay yeah I I would go back and maybe just let let it be three minutes for both so if you want if you want to put forward two and three then I I will retract that and if someone else want to put that forward they can well certainly I think we saw uh being that everyone has a chance I think we had saw much less length of time on agenda items that people needed you guys speak to that I think it was a good thing why we tried it out tonight people who see the agenda items have often had had a chance to talk about it uh originally CU you know we do the preview of all of our agenda items we have that on the previous meeting so we can talk about those um I think as we saw from tonight there's usually not a lot of longer comments on those sections um and again those are captured under the other section in the meeting before um so from that perspective I think 2 minutes fully suffice there we saw that tonight and I think it's that second session um where I would argue that the 3 minutes is is a more appropriate time frame if everybody feels that's the that's the case um so I I would be to your point of what you suggest earlier and councilman coming ask you to consider that and your thoughts on it but that would be what I would say so you're moving it because I with are you going to move the two and three I'm asking if you have a motion or not I with through I with through two and three so would you like to make a motion or no so I would say three and three okay that's your motion is there a second to three and three second yeah okay the second is for three minutes and three minutes any comments or conversation I would I would just add we we've actually went from 3 minutes of comment which is fine I'm okay with that but if you look at it closely 2 minutes in the front and now three in the back now you have five I I respectfully I want to hear everybody I'm all for democracy however we can't keep doing these meetings where we're here at 12: 1 in the morning doing the actual business end of things or listening to the comments I actually supported your two minute three minut it quite frankly I don't support three and three because we're actually going from three to five now we're going from three to six that's just my two cents Fair well it may fail then so I'm I'm going follow that up and say that in my perspective based on the fact that the agenda items or the or ordinance it people will have time to look at them and come up there and speak about it we just need to hold them to the time period it's clear to me 2 minutes is not enough time time for someone to articulate what they want to articulate it's a very short period of time some of these things are comp complicated so you know we agree to disagree the only question I have is if we're going to do this no agenda items need to be brought on Tuesday and add it to the list at the last minute then we get into that's a no I'm just saying because no no that's a no I'll tell you that because under Robert rules anyone can make a motion at any time just like we're doing now true and no no but that's so to answer your question no so any time any motion can be brought forward and that's nothing supersedes that everyone has the right to elected here to make that motion and if there's a second for us to duly consider it and vote on it at any hour any time so that is a commitment I would like for this Council to consider that when we do do those when those things have happened they've been considered in in my opinion done in an underhanded way and so we haven't had any of those things lately but if we're going to change we need to change for the good across so I just ask my colleagues that when if you're thinking about something because nothing happens on a Monday to get in here on Tuesday but somehow we've had agendas presented to us on a Monday or Tuesday at a meeting where you really had no time to digest it talk about it and look into it so what you know I agree I disagree with my esteemed colleague I think three and three is appropriate it's what we've done I don't think two minutes is enough time for people to have to talk just to be clear we haven't done three and three we've done just to his point right but I'm just saying if if we vote on this she she took back what she offered so I'm assuming we're voting on what now that was my question at the beginning well have you taken back what what are you what are you I had withdrawn two and three I put forward three and three I'm now hearing people's considerations and so I mean I could reconsider that as well I we're all really just having a public conversation this is not this is not a rebuke it's just a question of what would you you've heard some of the arguments what would you like to excuse me what would you like to move forward on it is two and three or three and three we're not in the middle of just discussing what's on the table which was three and three we could all it well I'm asking if you did or you leaving I'll always Jo and let someone else put one forward that's what I'm going to do I'm not putting forward I haven't given it as much thought as it might require so I'm going to let someone else make a recommendation what El my point would you like to movei having a discussion right now I'd like to ask the emergency is that doing this without public without it being on the agenda it's not appropriate it's against the law it's not what the statute says and Mr B should know that and he should this is unable this is why people want to speak because you do things without following the proper procedure We are following the proper procedure with anybody no you're not if this is an emergency then to change the time you have to State what the E not a debate on this issue the attorney can answer those questions a second thank you uh you moved it is there a second to the two and three the two and three yeah that's what he moved she retracted two is there a second a convers okay it's been moved and seconded for two and three would anyone like to comment on that weers yeah I'd like to comment on it I'm willing to compromise I'm always willing to compromise I teach political science I know government I know politics three minutes is not what I wanted I wanted four fine the other towns have five and four fine three is good as as um councilman coming said but you got to give three to the general public comment period at the beginning and the general public comment period at the end you don't have in this resolution that you're putting forward a comment period in the beginning you have comments only on existing ordinances that are on the agenda you understand what you're doing you're not giving the people the comment period that say Bloomfield and Verona I'm not saying those towns are better than us they have experienced leaders who are letting the people speak the people have a right to speak at the beginning who can't St I'm talking about the 25% of our population the seniors and I'm talking about the people who can't come early they have to come later because of family and children obligations and school obligations so you give them the the hour and a half at the most or an hour at the most in the beginning and you give them the same thing at the end you'll have a half and half and you won't have anybody here at all if we just do our job okay thank you anyone else wish to speak on the motion seeing none mam clerk counselor coming no what motion Deputy Mayor herock yes this two and three councelor price Abrams yes councelor Russo no councelor Sager yes councelor Terry yes mayor Spiller yes okay so moving forward we have uh that process and thank you councilman Cummings for noting that his suggestion should be voted on we did thank you um specific to that uh Mr um B would you like to speak to when motions can be made Etc specific to any item that wants to be moved as a motion use your microphone on I hate to do I hate to Robert RS motions can be raised at any time during the meeting uh pursu go ahead it's again not appropriate to just yell out Su to uh open public meetings Act 10 Colum 4- 12 uh 7A acceptance provided by subsection B of this section all meetings of public bodies should be open to the public at all times nothing in this act shall be construed to limit the discretion of a public body to permit prohibit or regulate the active participation of the public at any meeting except that a municipal governing body and a board of education shall be required to set aside a portion of every meeting of the municipal governing body or Board of Education the length of portion to be determined by the municipal governing body or Board of uh education for public comment of any governmental uh or School issue that a member of the public Fields may be of concern to the residents of the municipal Municipality of school district so the com the board the governing body is within its discretion to limit and put up boundaries for the public comment you just have to provide time in your meeting for the public to come and make public comment thank you uh and specifically and specifically appreciate the coms writing an emergency ordinance at the end of a meeting not not an ordinance again not not an ordinance but Mr Burr as a resolution uh the comments on emergency resolution 9:30 go ahead I I'm I'm not I don't you could as I stated earlier the uh Robert's Rules of Order permits the uh public I heard you just okay right it it doesn't uh require it to be an emergency okay um specific to that I believe uh there's a request for executive session so correct some of the you want to look at okay so the uh next will be a motion to go into executive session the items to discuss Personnel um and with that I'll enter a motion to move into executive session hang on hang on hang on the the issue that's being raised the wait a minute the public needs to know why we're going executive session there is a resolution here to appoint several people to the resolution to appoint people to the implementation task force committee which doesn't even say the leaf blower implementation say the implementation wait a minute let me just finish okay okay I'm not going to leave I'm not going to leave okay but let me tell you this this was sprung on me tonight at the beginning of the meeting and you resisted giving me a copy of this L you resisted me giving has it but you gave it right so now I know what it is and it's filled with names of people that might not even have been asked if they want to be on this committee so that you could form this committee so now you're going to have a closed session talking about a committee on leaf blowers I just want the public to know that's what we're going to talk about okay nobody tells the public anything mayor there's there's two other uh items to be discussed in an executive session that's litigation on the Lac ofana Redevelopment and then there's a class action suit that we want to discuss that uh discuss with the council okay please note the uh for the record Madam clerk uh the two other conditions and reasons for executive session right so attorney can speak to those all right it's been moved and seconded all in favor executive session please say I I opposed extensions we'll move into executive session thank you very much okay thank you very much uh I'll a motion to come out of executive session so move is there a second second all in favor please say I I we're now out of executive uh session councilwoman um mayor I'd like to move um a resolution appointing members to the leaf blower implementation task force as per ordinance 023 35 okay you so move is there a second I'll second moveed and seconded any questions concerns comments seeing none um I think there's no uh monetary here so all in favor please say I I I I opposed no okay two opposed extensions three obain thank you two and one um thank you very much and as always we appreciate uh people for their willingness to serve um with that I'll go around uh I'll ask the clerk's office anything you guys have today no thank you uh manager manager's office just two things first I'm laugh if your mic is not on oh my God this poor me she uh first uh we received that $43,000 Grant which we will do the demonstration grants uh with the vision zero task force and the second thing is just to dispel any rumors out there there are no plans anywhere at all about privatizing any parts of government especially anything having to do with garbage or the kenel so or the animal shelter so I just want to make sure since these rumors are circulating out there it's very it's very hard to disprove prove something that's not true but it it's not happening so I just want to clear say for the record in the public that that is unfounded untrue made up and whatever else you want to call it so thank you okay great and I'd say those your two points um first and foremost not to undersell it that's a a huge Grant that we just received um Kudos first education committee appreciate the work there with the grant writers Etc but certainly to the full Council knowing the commitment that we have in this area and I think we've done a great job of having having our dollars go a long way in terms of the work that our grant writers do and we thank them and our team for making that happen and again the partners that we've been able to come forward and get dollars like this I think it it absolutely helps when we talk about always tight budgets and managing uh people's taxes and impact uh being able to you know offset costs with grants such as this it's a huge win um so we're all really really really excited about it when that came across uh my desk I was you know thrilled to see that so really great stuff there um secondly your other comment uh Mr Leo you know again appreciate that you're hearing I'll just note um and officially I remember uh those of us running um you know even years ago that was actually one of the issues talking about privatization and you know specifically uh those are running saying absolutely not right no way no how not on our watch there was actually a couple other groups talking about that and we said heck no we've seen it time and time again entities come in uh you know they they they come with a low bid next thing you know you you've got your vehicles gone you got other things gone and then all of a sudden those rates jack up secondly I also note seen firsthand we all have when um you know we're faced with an emergency situation we've seen it before when all of a sudden the whether it's be the fire department's got to be pumping out our schools and everything else because of a flood that we've received um it was also sanitation departments when no one else could get carriers to haul away a lot of the water damaged um you know property that was there they were at every one of our schools helping and I remember that distinctly working with this district and the superintendent visiting those sites working with our crews to get that to happen everybody around us scrambling for the two Waste Management trucks that were available and we had our own team to get that done right so I've seen firsthand whether it's snowstorms that are emergency situation we got our teams out there when others don't have coverage um you know so I'll reiterate something specifically that I ran on um and I know that uh you know broadly we agree with that uh no no way Outsourcing we've seen firsthand the the value added uh to having things inous um and I will just strongly state that again for the record because you brought up that there's some rumors or something okay yep um uh Mr attorney attorney's office no comment tonight mayor okay um let's go with uh uh Mr Deputy Mayor thank you Mr Mayor given the uh late hour I'm going to be very quick um to all the people here in the audience and the handful still on television or whatever there's a lot going on again um particularly we had Public Safety Committee meetings as councelor Cummings and councelor Terry had had mentioned um many of us were at the swearing in where eight new officers were just sworn in which was really nice to see here in Montclair particularly given the State of Affairs nationally to see that level of interest is very inspiring at least for me uh Women's Club of upper mon Montclair had their holiday tea which I attended I'm proud to say now I am an associate member of the wcu uh in Upper Montclair I heard you're looking for your rose is it that you I I am looking for my rose I was told heard that no definitely not like the bach I don't like that show um but the the rose will be in April Mr Mayor and I look forward to having you in attendance when I get my rose for sure and then lastly uh it's an honor always to attend the eagle scout ceremonies I know many of us have done them over the years I've done a lot and I'm really proud to be a part of that um troop 13 which meets at Union uh the Cooper uh Avenue Church there in in Upper Montclair um Mr Russo and I councel Russo attended uh I gave a little speech but actually councel Russo had given a poem Bob I think that you said you wrote that right was that true 1994 1994 you wrote the poem so we we had a nice outing there and with that Mr Mayor I wish everyone a happy and safe holiday and a happy and healthy and prosperous New Year to all of you thank you Mr Mayor than you very thank you very much uh second uh second councilwoman Scher uh yes uh thank you thank you mayor I um I want to send my condolences to former police chief Thomas Russo's family on his passing um his wake was last week I wasn't able to attend the funeral but um the Wake was very um moving and and iend my condolences to his family um I also um um there's not much to say things are I I was very happy to hear uh Mr spear talk about the opening of the um the um the island at edgemon Park it's very meaningful to many many people and I'm glad that was able to be done but I was also going to ask the manager at some point I um the air Raiders are not on anymore in the park it's been a couple of weeks that keeps the water moving so hopefully that could happen because the algae builds up in the um Park in the in the uh Pond um other than that I want to wish everybody a happy holiday and I'll see you next year all right uh councilman Terry uh thank you mayor first of all health and happiness to everyone you know it seems like at the end of the year you know you reflect back and you think about all of the different incidents and tragedies that have happened you know every family you know has gone through something I know that ours has you know this past year yeah but the blessing is is that we do have family that can come together you know especially at this time of the year there are a lot of people that don't have family or anybody to go to so to those out there we are praying for you hopefully that you'll have a happy successful holiday season and uh I'm glad I had an opportunity for these couple of months to sit with your colleagues here it's it's been enjoyable you see I'm smiling about this are you attending the same meeting as we are Roger or thank you as well yeah well listen uh I'll just say to that uh you know councilman I think you know right we're with you and we understand that when you say that um perspective right things get put in perspective times and what's what's important and you've always been uh a clear voice around that appr we appreciate that thank you mayor yeah councilman Russo thank you mayor um first I want to say I didn't like some the discussion tonight where counselor my counselor who I may disagree with but I love her dearly counselor Lori price Abrams was apparently questioned and attacked and I don't like any kind of McCarthyism you know I fought all of this I fought all this stuff all my life believe me and McCarthyism Nazism all hostility and and remarks I want to defend Lori for trying to do a good job on this entire issue that's been very very difficult um everybody knows my position I want to see two-state solution we try to you know get ceasefire and get these hostages back but I don't like inet to now he's his his soldiers shot their own hostages you know guys are waving White Flags saying we're Israelis and we're here we've been captured and they shoot him I mean this is militarism fascism these are things I fought all my life now I want to say on Tom Russo again he was a great police chief while I was mayor people got confused but we weren't related but many people don't realize that Tom started the uh natural gas purchase of five vehicles that were alternative fuel vehicles he started that got the grants from psng the State Environmental prote Protection and I think it was the BPU at the time helped with that but it was a great Innovation we used them for traffic so they didn't need to be you know heavy duty you know what I'm talking about Roger Tom did an innovation that saved money it was good for the environment so I wanted Tom to be remembered for that uh as our police chief because he worked with me and our former manager Terry REI on that and lastly I want to mention that bill Hurlock did a great job with the Boy Scouts and then introduced me to read my poem it's called my other race when I first ran for Council in 1992 I'm not going to read it but it's a sing song type of poem in the tradition of Dr Seuss and what it says at the beginning is you know you can't win something so why even begin but then at the end it says don't give up on your goal keep your eye on the wi be focused and strong and not afraid to begin so what it says is if you can't you know start something you're not going to be able to to achieve it so you have to try to achieve it so that was the message which I gave to the the Boy Scouts and it was a pleasure to be with Roger at the funeral for um Tom Russo and with Bill Hurlock at the Boy Scouts event but I do want to mention that there were a lot of gifts given out by mon clear Mutual Aid and our firefighters Union at the firehouse the other day in fact they ran out of them an hour into it and I had when I got there everybody was mad because they couldn't get in but the firefighters have shown up in a tremendous effort to get the people who came late that couldn't get in and they couldn't get a gift they got them they got their names and we got them all settled so everybody got something and I want to thank those people who did a good job of helping those residents with children who needed those gifts and my wishes to everyone for happy uh holidays Merry Christmas Quanza we had a great Quanza event by the way the other day at the library too but Quanza and then don't forget but I think we'll be meeting January 2nd is that right clerk we're going to meet January second but January 6th is um Three Kings Day which is celebrated by most people in the uh in the Latino Community thank you councilwoman Scher councilwoman price s thank you um honestly I appreciate um lots of reference all evening but um The Safe Streets for all um Grant which was a really significant win and I I just want to acknowledge again the combination of you know some folks who were active in bike walk um I don't I don't have all the names of everybody who worked on it um but I do want to appreciate you know it was Lisa Johnson from our staff our grant writer from Aubrey um I know that Deb Kagan and Paul Michael witz and others um um Laura Toro and probably some other folks so I like that collaboration it it was related to Vision zero and um but you know it was it was collaborative which I think is really what that whole thing intends to be and um you know and and I think as we've had so much robust activity here at the Council on actions we've been able to take and things we can consider in terms of the speeds and such we are you know very much Mindful and listening to what the community is telling us and what we observe ourselves on certain roads um and we um are are really open and still thinking about all the ways and receiving the ideas of how we can make our town a more safe place for all users of the roadways you know cyclists and Walkers and and uh and everybody um no matter what you're trying to do we we want to be a community that's many things but safe as well among them so I think we're really in good space with where we've been going and and lots more work to come in that um and and I really just want to also lend my good wishes to everybody holidays people have observed and celebrations will'll be sharing many other holidays again Christmas and and Quanza and uh other things to come so um these are the ways we knit Community together and just look forward to those kind of shared times and uh and the work that we do and the public who engages so robustly with us we say thank you uh councilman Cummings thank you Mr Mayor uh I want to give a big shout out to Vanguard theater uh they had a wonderful intergenerational event uh over the last couple weeks last week I believe I met with some folks from do drop in ask them how their time was they said was great it was awesome and I really commend I really commend Jessica and the things that she's done that group has done as it come into the community and that but that was that was very special and you talk about as we had conversations about an intergenerational Center um I think what who showed up at that event um was great unfortunately my work schedule prevented me from attending but I sent Jessica a note that that was really great uh Raj you could appreciate this um we do want to send my condolences to Colin Hinton young man whose mother Mission Street passed away uh she was 96 um longtime resident uh very close family you know F race family Hinton family so um she'll be we'll sending her home uh Friday uh but just so a really Pleasant wonderful woman who's uh you know George and his family's just can't you know Colin but George's cousin they lived in the same house her and her sister forever uh just you know really monair people uh that I don't want to you know I just want to make sure Colin knows that we're all in here uh with him um and then you know one of the things we talked about Lori just mentioned it uh with in terms of visions of dask force we had a really robust discussion at the public safety meeting and one of the things hanging fruit is a conversation about Illuminating stop lights stop signs um so Mr manager I really like to kind of get a cost on that um you know we are looking at locations where they make sense from our professionals um that's the one thing that you know I always lean on them uh because I think they come with an objective uh perspective that's needed and it's very important but again to your point we do want to make sure that our streets are safe our roads are safe safe that our community is safe and um I also want to say that you know I think our police department and fire department are two organizations that really do well by this town and but represent this town and you know one of the things about mclair is to the point we provide services and those services are done and available when you need them you don't always need them but when you do need them they're there to be there and Mr lapole I'm very happy that you publicly stated that the sanitation department is not being considered for privation um word got to me and as I've told you when you get here something comes to me I'm coming straight to you with it so that was uh something that I appreciate that you mentioned tonight um but I will say again sanitation is another area that a lot of towns don't have it we do and I think those are the things I will tell you you know we pay for services our taxes show that but we get those Services delivered to us and so you know as we do head into this holiday season councelor Terry appreciate your words about thinking what every year means you know um my children are all above 21 now and it's unbelievable cuz I remember all the things we used to do at this time of year going I appreciate the parents talking about Bill how many times you know we we at plays this is that time of year I call it FAL La Land school's not going on everybody's having parties you know but um and and programs where you see our children doing great work and when I was on the board I used to love going to all of the shows because the talent in this Township is just incredible and I'm sure it still is so I want to wish all of you a happy holiday season um hey I will ask for the New Year I wish that you all have health number number one I don't care about Prosperity I want you all to be healthy that's cuz you know as my father told me a rich man is a healthy man and so and Bob I'm going to go with what you I wish I heard your poem when Bill told me about it I was like I don't want to hear that you know Bob Po but what you just described no what you just described was something that my father told me the hardest thing about doing anything is starting it and so I appreciate that you started that poem and ended it I hope he did it within 2 minutes cuz that's what we're asking for the public to minute so you know com I'm I'm always going to bring levity to the conversation Mr Mayor because I think at the end of the day all of us sometimes dread Tuesday because we know what it can be but we show up and so and we do that because you ran and you take the good with the bad um I appreciate the the gentleman who came up and kind of gave us some Kudos and I think that it's very important that I also tell you all that you know we may not agree on a lot of things but at the end of the day you all are showing up and being here and getting the emails that I get and getting the concerns that I get so thank you all for doing what you do on behalf of your representative Wards but also for the township so appreciate you and glad you had your first time as a clerk in that position good job tonight and so I look forward to next year and I hope everyone does have a safe holiday season thank you councilman it's really appreciated um you know and I'll just say I think as you go around and you listen to all the things everyone's talking about um you know I do look at it as as you know the part of the job yes as the councilman noted as being here uh and sitting in meetings that can sometimes be long but I know that uh at its core everyone does enjoy you know being here um you know you enjoy uh knowing that the things that you pass the the things that you do when they align with you know so many um Community groups and so many other pieces you know you're helping them to to kind of do good you're doing good as a government entity um you know you're making lives a little easier you're supporting people with some of the things you pass you're engaging in those conversations uh and those sometimes uh take time right and they are passionate uh you know always say it important to be respectful and appreciate the gentleman who noted that tonight um not just when it's easy and everyone agrees with you but even when they don't right um and uh you know I think that's at the core but uh you know to be able to do that and to see those results um you know for me uh that that I think is what brings me enjoyment being in these meetings is knowing and smiling the work that you're doing we're doing and have the impact that we have um it is uh it's enjoyable and and to those to that point um I'll just say on some of the enjoyable pieces I know that uh you know so many entities the uh monair Child Development Corporation um um um monair Mutual Aid reaching out Monclair right all these entities collecting toys and um you know had the opportunity to you know stop in and give and to the the councilman's point um you know it's the other side too where you look at that I I showed up at the uh at the toy giveaway at the firehouse and I got there you know early um and it was you know still when you look at it here we are um in the country that's one of the wealthiest in the world and uh there's a line and they were there for hours before that event started um and they're holding their kids and I think of my my own little ones you know and by the way the number of times they saw the unwrapped toys in the car going Daddy is that ours is that ours you know you're like no we're giving this to others right but but you you really see how many other families are there to grab that toy you know and you're having to say how can how can we help and it's great that we all do um but certainly I think it's a note of you know hey what can we do policy wise to kind of make things better on a broader scale and that's what we do right that's that's the call to service that's why we all serve um so I just want to say thank you Allie for that as well I know we've thanked um as the councilman did police and fire in the work I want also you know just note the Monclair ambulance unit had an opportunity to chat with some of the individuals there and you know they're one of those spaces that it's difficult to kind of get that funding um they're you know what are they are they government entity they're not and they're not right so you know but but how do you help and they they they answer those calls uh oftentimes when we're in our greatest need as well and um you know figuring that out and maybe Mr manager there's ways we can look for cost savings and help them in ways too because I think they play such a vital service and it's important there um so really just uh as we talk about the seon and and what is important you know certainly I think I look at it as the good that we do the families and the health that we have um that's at the core um and certainly during this holiday season um we get together we get to celebrate that uh appreciate it uh chance to light the manor as always do didn't fall off the ladder again that's fun whether it's I think you were pushing it I think you pushing last I checked you might have been pushing that ladder I was holding the ladder you were holding the ladder I helped your Sonic you I appreciate that um but uh you know tree lighting that uh all the things so I just want to say to everybody out there um you know uh have a safe healthy happy holidays um and certainly on behalf of all of us uh part of a great Community um and great because of your involvement in engagement um and celebrating all the things that we do um when we find ourselves with family and friends um and and part of this fabric of the community so happy holidays everyone uh wish you all and with that I'll entertain a motion to adjourn so move uh all all in favor we are Jour thank you very much everybody have a