how are you doing at 7 o' welcome to the Oakland mayor and council meeting December 20th 2023 this meeting is being held in accordance with the open public meetings law duly announced advertised and posted in the municipal building the meeting will adjourn no later than 10 p.m. unless a majority of the council members that are present vote to extend the time at this time I ask you to stand for the Pledge of Allegiance and remain standing for a moment of silence I pledge Al to the of the United States of America to the republ stands God indivisible liy and justice for and please remain standing for a moment of silence and um it's the end of the year um I could personally say this I hope that next year 2024 you will find health and happiness because if you have your health you have everything so everybody I wish you a very healthy 2024 be seated V call councilman Kamala here councilman mccan councilman pelli councilman saliani here councilman slinsky here councilman talamini here may here um I I thought I heard a buzz can you look at your phones and put them on mute or vibrate or turn them off and also please refrain from texting because it's very discourteous and could be construed as a violation of the open public meetings acts especially if you are texting somebody up here at the de thank you can I make a motion to excuse councilman uh pelli and I'm I understand that councilman C beate second second on favor okay my mayor's report as many of you know or don't know this is my last meeting as mayor for the past 12 years 12 years I've had the honor to serve as your mayor during these years I played a major role in the many positive changes in our town I have tried to do what is best for all our residents I never picked out any particular residents but now it's time for me to step down and take care of my family as I said the most important thing in life is your good health you have good health you're okay and your family and on a personal level I have to take care of my husband right now however I leave with many projects that have begun and sincerely hope that the new Administration will continue the progress and complete the work that I started for example the what uh purification treatment as you know for the past couple of years we've been dealing with the pfoa PF the pfas in our town as most towns have had the problem with water purification equipment and permits are set received and scheduled we should be operational by February 2024 so you can all drink the water without fear Patriots way bridge is fully funded with the money I obtained through the NJ do and the grants we received through the NJ Community Affairs and tonight there is going to be a resolution to approve the contractor Alman Brook stabilization um it'll keep going you will be stabilized on El and Brook and I drive by there regularly especially after a rain and make sure you're okay after years of negotiations suici service is a reality in our downtown shortly our three sew treatment plans will be hooked up to Northwest Burgen Utilities Authority now remember Northwest Bergen Utilities Authority is not the bcua which don't get confused the BCA is the Bergen County Utilities Authority which deals with the recycling the class B recycling plant but the Northwest Bergen Utilities Authority and with that sewers will hopefully and I feel very optimistically extend to a downtown this will encourage commercial businesses and that will certainly help St stabilize our taxes Bush Plaza Park we called it the gateway to the revitalized downtown to continue move forward the plan for this park in the center of town I know uh we were waiting for plans from Boswell engineering um I was told there uh well we'll hear from Kevin Boswell and for um many years the planning board and our town of planner has worked on the revitalization of our downtown with the business area with the anticipation of sewers we must be proactive and be ready so that when the sewers start coming so will the developers so instead of working afterwards and thinking about what we should have done or do afterwards we have to be proactive for um sewers and developers and and as everybody knows during my 12 years my special heart goes to the children and Recreation and um I I hope it's continued our highly reputable Recreation program will be bigger and better and I thank all of the volunteers I can't see I have I was here I thank all of the volunteers who work in that rep program Mike wad you were the chairman since day one I convinced you when you stayed on we have great chairman Commissioners on our Recreation board um we are so lucky with the volunteers in wreck it the the wreck program is beyond words I I I get so emotional when I talk about our Recreation program and that's why so many people move into our Town especially with the young people and um one of the ideas that we were working on and I hope it does come to pass is the possibility of the Splash Pit that was something brought up this year I hope it does become a reality that would be so wonderful to have the splash pad in our recck program um plans for the Children's Museum again with children you know children has been my thing um we the streamhouse was fing Dem well I'm not allowed to say demolished though what was the word I supposed to use Richard deconstruct deconstructed deconstructed um it was an isore in town at one time it was very special but it was did become an isore and um my dream was to replace it with a children's museum as you know the second grade used to come and and and take a tour of B Allen house in the streamhouse and and the stream and the streamhouse will become a children's museum because I don't know if any of you know during the Revolutionary War for a very short time Oakland was the county seat because during the Revolutionary War they burned down the courthouse in hackensac and that is the name of Courthouse place where um the kns of Columbus is and the Exxon station right opposite the exit of 28728 and so we it's a special place we were a county seat for a very very short time then that one of the prisoners burned down the jail but that's another story but it would be wonderful to make that stream and I know the plans were set to make the streamhouse into a children's museum that will encourage the children to learn about the history of Oakland learn about the history of our County and and history is so important to be followed um the odds Pavilion The Band Shell we uh through uh one of our former um uh councilman we were able to get the donation from Visions bank for the Bandshell we were supposed to have the ribbon cutting and every Saturday that we were supposed to have the ribbon cutting it rained so the ribbon cutting and the Bandshell and the concerts will be in the spring and um hopefully all the residents will continue with the Arts Council as part of it I I I try to communicate with residents good news bad news BL news by doing those reverse 911 calls I hope that continues uh we have a wonderful um Communications Commission we have the electronic newsletter we have emails going out regularly um you can get a text you get an emergency call if gol there's an emergency and on Friday nights I used to make calls to give you an update on what was happening which started during Co so that you know if there's an emergency and What what should be done so I hope the communication with our residents does continue and mostly um continue our opposition to the proposed Class B I'm reading because otherwise I'll forget because I'm so emotional um continue the opposition with the class B recycling facility on West Oakland Avenue I know two of the councilmen went to the meeting last night um I I've been in constant contact with powers at be at the bcua to see to get updates but if um I had purchased don't dump in Oakland signs I still have some in my LW office anybody's willing to take if you want one of those signs and um just pick them up it's it's it's few and I have more petitions I used to have petitions in my office people would just come in sign petitions letters were sent to me and so uh the deadline for the petitions and the uh letters is this next week so I'm giving them to you that's the end of the petition that I have signed um I want to thank the employees of the burrow um we are very lucky with our employees our police officers are are fantastic we have a great police force um the young a lot of them young but the young ones are now starting to get older and retire but I thank our police officers for all you do for us for all you do and and especially for the children and encourage the children um if you've never attended one of the graduations for the junior Police Academy um you're missing something very special to watch how the officers take the children on a week one week two weeks one week one week and it it's just an amazing amazing experience for our children and to the fire department I held off because I heard you were helping somebody in an elevator so here you are I I can't thank you enough for all your volunteerism in the fire department um when I would go to mayor's meetings and we would talk about fire department and then I said I just Rave about our fire department thank you thank you thank you on on behalf of all the residents for all you do for our town you're not getting paid it's a volunteer job you get called out at whatever hour and you're there thank you and to the first aid Squad unfortunately the schwers have needed them so I know how wonderful they are you are terrific um I I I can't thank you enough many towns can't even don't even have a volunteer first aid Squad anymore they have to pay because they don't have the volunteers to come out and help um you are so appreciated and and I and I hope that my my sentiments really carry to all the volunteers and now attend on the boards the commissions everybody we are so lucky with our volunteers and our residents and um I live in Oakland you have to live in Oakland to be up here um my my law office is in Oakland I'm still here I'm not going anywhere I'm I'm very involved with the Chamber of Commerce and um my law office is inside the carpet Tre Mall my door will always remain open people are still calling me um the job of Mayor which is why it's so important the job of May is full-time it's a 24/7 job I would get calls at my office i' get calls at home calls on my cell phone text emails they would walk into my office and they just need someone to talk to I couldn't always help them I could I couldn't um forward their their issues to someone else but a good mayor is a full-time job and it's a lot of work and I thank you for giving me that opportunity for the past 12 years but it gets tiring it's it's time it's time to retire um it's time to take care of my family but I moved to Oakland with my husband 50 I mean 50 years ago we moved from New York I never lost my New York li My New York accent you know I'm still from New York but um I love this town I I so proud of the town I'm so proud of being a a a resident of Oakland it is a fantastic town and I'm not going anywhere I still will work wherever I can to help anybody you have questions my doors will stay open at all times and in fact I'm telling the council now there's a vacancy on the zoning board I checked so I'm putting in a Citizens leadership form for next year to fill the vacancy on the zoning board as an alternate with I mean I have the knowledge I have the experience and I hope you will consider putting me and appointing me on the zoning board next year because I am not leaving this town I am going to be here you're stuck with me and with that I just thank everybody for giving me the privilege the and the honor to be a mayor for 12 years I know it's a long time you're probably tired of me by now I know I said a precedent because um I was told this has been the first time for three terms of a mayor especially a woman especially my political party um it is an anomaly in Oakland but with all that I thank you so much for the opportunity that you have given me for the past 12 years and with that thank you and I happy and with that um because um we're going to hold up on the engineers report because I know the fire department is here and unless you want to hear the engineers report but I think you'd rather um have you swear in the the fire fighters so with that um Nicholas and Justin I have so we have Nicholas and is it k k k yeah and Justin Longo Jus can't make it a well just here I'll it okay so you ready y we need a Bible is it there no what happened to it here oh here it is hold on and who's going to hold it family Family come on somebody has to holding I'm coming somebody holding mom's coming always mom's always coming right you want me to okay right hand up right right ahead no right right ready okay I'm going to say I going say your full name i i Nicholas Keek do Solly swear you solemnly swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States that I will support the Constitution of the United States and the constitution of the state of New Jersey and the con constitution of the state of New Jersey and that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same that I will bear truth faith and allegiance to the same and the governments and the governments established in the United States established in the United States and in this state and in this state under the authority of the people under the authority of the people and that I will and that I will Faithfully faithfully and partially and partially and justly and justly perform all the duties perform all the duties of the office of firefighter company 1 of The Office of firefighter company 1 according according to the best of my ability the best of my ability this is optional so help me God so help me God goodness an optional thank you thank you for [Applause] side have to sign okay sign name his name is at the top thank you for great thank you I got it thank you thank you very much thank you so much now our engineer report thank you mayor um my fire department thank you for your thank thanks mayor as you noted there are a number of things going on that our office is involved in uh serving the burrow on uh we tonight we have recommendations uh to award a number of contracts the first one is uh Jerome Avenue drain improvements this is for the uh replacement of some corrugated metal pipes that have reached the end of their service life and uh there were bids received on December 19th uh there were total of 14 bids received the low bid was received from Crossroads Paving Company the amount of uh base bid of 133,50 with an alternate bid for some additional pipe work of 12,400 uh we are recommending the award of the base bid plus the alternate bid for a total contract amount of 45,7 um if there's any questions I'll move on to the next one okay uh next one is U another drain project and that is the right here it's uh Lake View Terrace strange improvements this was also bid on December 19th and 13 bids were received uh with the low bid being received from km Construction in the amount of 123,00 70685 uh we like the earlier bid we called up their references and we are making a recommendation to award this contract uh 2 km in the low bit amount of 12376 85 the base pit um the third project uh is the Patriots way Bridge um on November 21st we received uh seven bids for this project uh the the low bid was received from concus construction of billsboro the amount the 4,776 5092 the next little bidder was about a million dollar higher so uh what happens in public bidding law is there is a period of time when when a an apparent low bid contractor can uh retract their bid so we uh we immediately reached out to the the owner of that company president of that company and discussed whether they felt comfortable with their bid and uh the uh Keith conus is the gentleman's name and he uh said that he was U comfortable and that he uh was very willing to do the job uh and then we got into the references uh and we spoke to engineers and Somerset County Bic County contractor uh uh uh a number other counties do um and uh we came back with that the the contractor uh does do a lot of bridge work they are in um legal dispute uh with the dot over one job um and down Hillsboro uh but they are not this debar and uh we've spent a lot time going through the bit we've spoken to Mr cun on multiple occasions and it is our recommendation um there is nothing um of a legal nature to uh preclude us from recommending the award of this contract uh to this bidder so um as you probably aware there are uh one two three five separate grants uh totaling of about $8.85 million for this job uh so we we have actually more than enough money to pay for uh 100% of the job um and uh as I said the uh next low next higher bidder was a million dollars High over a million dollars higher so we are recommending the award of the bridge uh replacement project it's a super structure replacement uh as you probably know it's a it's a three- span Bridge 265 ft long uh and the abutments appear to be fine the trick to this job the the complexity of this job are the utilities uh the utilities are there's there's gas there's water there's there's uh electric there's there's various communication um uh conduits with wires in them and the uh the and it's and it's in the flood way it's in the flood plane uh so and there are a number of logistical issues with moving the utilities and uh it's actually necessary to move the utilities twice uh there's going to be a temporary relocation temporary bridge to support utilties and then a permanent relocation once the new bridge is in place the bridge itself is actually pretty straightforward it's a tempor it's building the bridge around the utilities uh that can must remain in service that is the technically challenging part uh so uh we it's going to be a difficult job we're going to get through it and we are recommending uh that this project be awarded to cont construction uh for immediate release uh and uh we can get going with the contracts scheduling the precon requesting of the construction schedule from the contractor and I do uh uh this is a 21 Monon schedule and it is in um it is what makes the job difficult are the utilities what makes the job long are the utilities and if we can get utility companies to be very responsive in moving the utilities into onto the temporary Bridges and back onto the permanent Bridge the job will go much quicker and we all want that to happen but it is a it is a uh it is a staging with six separate phases of this job and as you know you can't you can't put the brid the utilities under the bridge because when the river comes up that doesn't work so you have to go above the bridge to temporar support these utilities again you have to keep them in service so it's a it's a difficult job I I I can't even tell you how many hundreds of hours we've we've sat around ripping the plans apart to go through the what we refer to as the constructibility of the bridge and uh we're comfortable with with what's going to happen there's a very specialized uh person that's going to be running the job in the field but uh we are related to let this job go and and get the bridge replaced I have some questions yes ma'am isn't doesn't that strike I mean some of you were on the council when we had the same issue with the river restoration and we got the low bidder and it was a disaster so now I'm looking at these bids here's a bid 4 4 mil7 7,000 700,000 change and the next bid is a million dollar more and the other bids are higher than that and that does doesn't frighten you that there's a million doll gap between the lowest the lowest bidder and the next uh few biders also um I was receiving a lot of calls when the when the bids came out and um and it was uh advertised from state senators from both sides of the aisle uh just what I said I I there's nothing I can do now um and plus I didn't have a vote May doesn't have a vote but but um there's nothing I can do at this point and um I said they're the lowest bidder and there's nothing I can do this Council wants what this bid it's up for um vote tonight I pulled it out so that we can vote on it separately but it just scares me that um maybe because was when I was brought up you know if something is very low it's like too good to be true there's a million doll gap between them and the next few biders if you're comfortable then the council will vote for it I I just worry about the change orders that are going to come down the pipe and um whether or not we're going to have the same issue we had with remember the river restoration and so just um I just want the council to be very very weary of this and uh but you're the engineer we always said that you're the professional I'm not an engineer I'm an attorney I'm just I'm not an engineer I don't know what to look for in specs I don't know what to look for in the actual plans I just see numbers and when something is too good to be true I just get very nervous so um we'll leave it in your hands Kevin mayor yeah that's a good point because there there's two aspects to what you just touched on the first part is the number and that was the first call that we made within it's either three or five business days and we called them immediately I called them and I said uh how comfortable are you with this project he said he was very comfortable with his number um and I went through that he didn't miss a number when he what we the bridge itself is a is a is a is constructed by another company it's called us us bridge and so I said you're comfortable with the the supply and and install install on that yes then my my Chief Inspector spent an hour and a half with him then I I spent another half hour with our inspector we contacted six of their different uh uh people that they had done jobs on some of which they they included in their bid others we did some research and found other jobs and uh it's it's a contractor that is capable of doing the work they are a heavy Bridge uh contractor uh and they are an aggressive contractor and we are going to have to work very hard to protect the interests of the buau but again this is public Contracting uh and I spoke to those same people that you spoke to and uh and we're going to have to work very hard to protect the interest of the residents of the other thing is if you recall when you first became engineer I'm sorry councilman Patell is not here uh there was an engineer before you said this Council liked very much and at every council meeting there would change orders increase they needed more money more money and finally they were um out voted so the so I just want this Council I won't be here to watch I just want this Council to just be prepared and and just have a a Keen Eye On Any change orders that come along um and the other thing is they are in litigation with the do is that correct yes and it's the D was giving us all this money is that going to affect us we contacted the do do said that they are in litigation with them on a project in Hillsboro it's Route 202 206 uh they are not on the board list I didn't say they were I just said will that affect our relationship with the no no no we we we've been in contact with the do for the past four years on this project trying to to assist in procuring Grand money so we contacted the same people which include right up to the commissioner of the Department of Transportation uh and and she has been very involved in this whole project and uh we we uh we based on the public bidding law we we feel compelled to recommend this contractor for this project okay I just worked so many years with this bridge and I don't want to see anything go wrong okay if you're comfortable you're the engineer and I just had a question um with I'm done with this with this item I was going to go on to another it I just had a question on the bridge um what is really the what was the differential what was the cause for it to be million dollars less compared to the other bids that was a driving Factor on that um he is he said that his method of supporting the utilities uh he's going to he's building a different support system than the other other contractors and that was why he spent an hour and a half meeting with uh our Chief Inspector as well as a resident engineer who's going to be assigned to the project that the Chief Inspector that happened last s uh Friday and they went through it all and they they viewed it and um I don't know whether you know it but uh there still is the original uh pads concrete pads on either side of the river from when the cranes were put there when they built the originally built the bridge so uh you know we we've we've drilled down very much into the specifics of this job and the contractor believes that that's that's his different ential of how to save so much money who's your Chief Inspector Pete Panucci and the resident engineer is Bob Graham okay Bob Bob Graham is currently U uh running an 11 million job uh on River Drive In in Garfield it's a very complicated job like this it's an extremely complicated job it's a County City job uh and that'll be complete uh in June so he'll be assigned to this don't D joh kimmick Bobby Graham no no no Bob Bobby Graham is a resident engineer who does he has specialized training to do these types of projects okay this is this is a very specialized project I know this PA one other question obviously the old bridge failed after 30 years 25 years can you just reassure the residents that what do you expect the life bridge to be before we run into problems either repairing or replacing over 50 years 60 years 80 years it's the what what happened with this bridge is the wrong material was selected by the original developer as you probably know Camp Glen Gray Road uh Glen Gray Road Bridge was the same bridge and that was the one that a dump truck caused to fail and it was a sudden it it was a sudden failure and for those of you who uh uh may recall there was a bridge failure in Minnesota about 15 20 years ago so a sudden failure is is not a good thing a sudden failure is when basically that vehicle which was a uh a truck loaded with a bank run to repair a septic system uh was overloaded and put the bridge right into the river and uh luckily nobody was hurt uh but it was a it was a a sudden what we would call a catastrophic failure uh so that's the other part of what we were talking about where we sent a letter to the buau on December 15th because we got back from the do's uh structural consultant uh Michael Baker that they went back out to reate the bridge after we performed the recommended repairs to ask them to to get to a uh an 8 or 10 ton reating they not only wouldn't increase the rating but they narrowed the lane width down to 20 fo4 in which effectively is a on lane bridge um so uh when that happened we recommended to the to the burrow uh last week that it take the necessary steps to accelerate the closure uh and that's what you received on the 19th was that that closure would be accelerated by about 45 to 60 days because with the onset of weather uh and and and frankly that we don't know when the next time that this this structural engineer will get out there that our our Paramount responsibility is to protect the public health and and so we we took this course of action because he think it's necessary uh we've been working with a a very bad situation uh and you get to a certain point where you just have to say enough is enough and that's why we made the recommendation that we made it Mr BOS I just follow question obviously some of the residents have been asking us how come uh if we make it 20 ft wide why we can't plow the bridge can you expand on that why we can't do snow removal the the road rating is 3 tons that that's that's frankly it's less than an electric pickup uh uh that that you could buy from Ford right now uh and and there are some Vehicles some regular large passenger vehicles that exceed that when you when you have a a a plow obviously on a thumb truck that's over 3 tons even on a pickup truck many times you'll have deicing uh systems on the back so as soon as you start putting anything in the back of a of a of a pickup truck you exceed that and now you're pushing snow and you push snow and it becomes a very it's what we call dynamic DC loading it's not a static condition anymore so it there there it is very very ineffective to try to come up with a temporary snow removal system that will simply buy you another 45 days and we're concerned that that could do something Beyond this 20 foot cordin area that could cause a failure of the bridge and if we and and and anything that you did like that then you're going to have people asking very pointed questions about exactly what were you doing on the bridge how much was that vehicle what activities were you performing and when you look at it you just can't defend that you didn't have a vehicle uh um over three tons it's going to be over three tons that's why uh one other question also uh couple resident asked me will they still be able to walk across the bridge with their pets and exercise and everything else if the bridge is closes okay yeah yes however this is going to be a this is going to be a construction zone so so the contractor has control of the site so when we Clos the bridge that's no problem uh it's much like uh what was the bridge on uh off of Lake View bulevard Lakeside Boulevard um Huber Lake it it was it was right there you had you have pedestrian bridge over that that's not a problem the problem is is that once you let this project out to the contractor and you issue notice to proceed the contractor has control of this area so it would it it's a it's a safety issue it's a cost issue and it is not set up as a it's a set up as a permanent closure where the contractor will have control of this area but until the contractor takes over it's going to to be it's going to be open okay thank you did did um does closing the bridge speed up the process a little bit of of or or the it would start at the same time uh it closing the bridge now could speed it up I'm not going to say it will speed it up because we we have to wait to find out what the lead time is on the bridge on the actual bridge and and so it could but I don't know that for sure and then have have you has Boswell ever worked with this contractor before no no no I've spoken to their attorneys I've spoken to many contractors and and people at the at the New Jersey turn we do a lot of work at the New Jersey Turnpike and and uh we' spoken to a lot of people there the dot I mean is there Bridge contractor so it's a very closed uh Community yeah I I you know I it's it's frustrating with the with the lowest bid I mean I'm in you know construction and and often times I'm the lowest bidder you know people look at you like like you know and and sometimes you win the bid and you're you wonder why you know why am I the lowest bidder and and that's why uh you made the phone call and um uh but uh you know uh that's that's we we just have to be on top of them and uh and they're they meet all the the benchmarks and we go from there I I could tell you it we bid it on 11:21 on November 21st and December 20th we spent the last month vetting this contractor we would have been here at the last meeting but we didn't feel comfortable and that's that's why we're making the recommendation now we spent hours and hours betting this contract okay okay thank you um next item El Brook uh we had a uh completion date of 12:29 and still may be 1229 um the uh um it if it's not it's going to be the following week it's it's within that very short period of time uh and following the storm uh that we just experienced there was additional damage on on allerman and I I will compliment Roy balberg he's an unbelievable asset for the burrow and we were out meeting with him uh we were meeting on Glen gry Road because as you know that that was submerged and uh it's a separate issue that the burrow the county and the township of Mawa are all collaborating to jointly fix the bridge as well as the road approaches on either side so that works uh being done now by the burrow and Mawa and then the county is actually going onto the bridge tomorrow and coordinating the bridge par the county owns the bridge County owns a portion of the approaches but Mawa and and and B and uh Oakland historically they take the lead on the approaches we did the same thing on be Swamp Road further up in Mawa uh had the same type of thing happen uh with Ida where we had to go and we had to rebuild their Swamp Road on the west side of of that of that bridge right after the storm so uh it's this isn't new it happens uh it's temporary uh but uh getting back to allerman uh today I was talking to Mr quins about it about declaring an emergency which frankly makes it easier to get it all done uh and the problem is is that this was not declared a Federal Emergency and so you don't qualify for FEMA if if you did qualify for FEMA you'd also qualify for emergency permitting which you didn't and you did you do have a a damaged eler further east now up by 202 and we're going out with Mr valberg again early next week to go over that so I don't think we're going to be able to get that into the work further down because we want to get the the other work in and get it permitted as quickly as possible but you have other damage on aler having nothing to do with the current damaged area it's as you know it's sand it's very erodable soils and talking too much I'm sorry butse just one question M Boswell with Glen gray uh do you expect that uh probably get green light tomorrow to use that since one process shutting down yeah unless they find something in the structure of the bridge it'll be open tomorrow it' be fine they they the problem the problem is you have trees that get washed down in the river and they go into the into the supporting members of the of the bridge and you don't know for sure until you're under it and the bridge the water hadn't receded enough to make that inspection so as soon as we do that we can open the bridge we're fine thank you anything else uh that's I I confessed mayor uh you were talking about the uh the park and I don't have a report on that I I was working on these other things thank you all right is there a motion to open to the public so moved second all in favor I if you wishes to become up to the P hello you have to give your name and address understood Adam elen 21e resident an rml hostage 147 lak Shore Drive uh I've reached out to all the council members individually and I'm here tonight to urge the town's inclusion in deciding the faith of mirror and Crystal Lakes I fully understand and appreciate as deciding the fate of mirror and cryst apologize no no worries I fully understand and appreciate Oakland's historical position as it relates to Ramapo Mountain Lakes or rml but I'm hoping in New Jersey Court opinion delivered earlier this month will change that position the Court's opinion provides rml approvals to divest of their properties including Crystal and mirror Lakes this really presents an incredible opportunity for Oakland Lakefront homeowners ecology lovers beachgoers passionate members of our community are united in the desire to preserve our incredible Lake assets and protect them from damage and development to this end a Grassroots delegation is already working actively with rml to find options for taking ownership of the Lake Properties ideally we can find a solution which would preserve and maintain the Lakes cover taxes for common grounds and manage recreational Insurance costs through homeowner and Club operation Partnerships we would love to explore opportunities that include the town we view the Court's decision as the long chance to solidify our Lakes as the treasure they are for all of Oakland this could facilitate the immediate establishment of a town Swim Club at little to no cost and the ability to Leverage The Lakes and their common properties for broader Community enhancement the beach club and boat launch could support not only a swim club but summer camps school trips ecological and historical education activities recreational swim teams swimming and boating lessons and much much more we need to stop busing and driving our kids to Mawa Ramsay wof and Ringwood we have the best recreational spot right here already these properties could also support the ecological and environmental organizations in town by providing a dedicated meeting home and event space the end of rml as the custodian of our Lakes jeopardizes the future of our invaluable natural spaces and waterways at a time where increased development and storm runoff concerns are already straining the town let's jump on the chance and work together to protect these critical spaces while enriching the community ultimately a major disturbance to the lakes and underlying aquifers would have a terribly adverse effect on our entire Community as well as the broader appeal and beauty of Oakland in general this loss would have devastating impact on Lakefront home values as well as some impact to the property values in the immediate surrounding areas it would also mean the elimination of true Town gems which have drawn families to Oakland for almost a century and have created memories for Generations if we're unable to quickly find viable Solutions rml is set to sell the lakes and properties to any bitter at best this will result in a fully privatized in fully privatized spaces with no options for public use but more likely in the development of the land to the fullest possible extent the concerned Community is anxious to begin this dialogue before it's too late and we believe our town must be a part of this solution we can absolutely leverage this amazing twist of fate to our benefit and the town's benefit having rml removed from the picture opens up so many possibilities for Oakland and we all want to do our part to sure we can hold on to these critical waterways and I know there are lots of others here that support this and we'd like the town to be involved in these dialogues and help us bring this to a solution and an end because it's heading in a really bad direction for those of us that live in the rml areas but more broadly Oakland in general thank you thank you Frank Raco 51 short drive um I'm also here to lend my voice uh in in regards to uh what Adam just spoke very eloquently about I don't have anything prepared um so I'll be brief first of all I want to say um thank you to the mayor and Council thank you especially to the mayor for your many years of service to this town and uh and really appreciate it and and and happy holidays to to everyone here so I've lived in Oakland since 1998 um raising my family here I've lived on lakes Shore Drive uh lak for Homeowner since 2011 um and we all know I don't have to reiterate what's been going on for the past great number of years but there's been a lot of lawsuits going on a lot of like hostility anger a lot of emotion and kind of as as Adam just said um we're all I think very hopeful that maybe this last lawsuit ending provides a great opportunity for the lakefront homeowners and rml and and hopefully the town as well to sort of come to an agreement and and and find some path forward uh to help manage these Lakes take care of these Lakes uh not just for the lake from homeowners but for the whole town um as I said I I lived in Oakland for a long time always wanted to get a spot on the lake the lake is beautiful it's an incredible asset to this town and the community not just the lakefront homeowners um it's ecologically very important to the area I couldn't I don't have enough time here to to list all the species of birds that I track from my window and from my backyard it's it's it's a beautiful space and it's very very useful to the town um and as you all well know it's also where a ton of the town's storm water goes in a rainstorm right uh we have a dam that needs to be fixed and the dam is impacted over and over and over again by storms uh because the lake serves more or less as a utility for the town right it is a it is a basin that collects a huge amount of rainwater and it's consistently impacted by by storms so I guess what I'm saying is that I'm hoping that the town will hear the voices of the lakefront homeowners um you know now that these lawsuits are settled um and as Adam already mentioned a bunch of us have gotten together um forward-looking you know hopefully Not Looking Backward too much no longer bickering about what may or may not have happened in the past and trying to find a path forward and we're really really going to need to continue coming to these meetings and continue asking the town for help we're not going to be able to do this easily we've we've got a couple of options that may work in terms of finding new ways to manage the lake uh whether rml May dissolve completely or de Annex certain um certain shareholders or whether we have to form our own HOA we don't know which is the best path forward we don't know what will be legally feasible financially feasible but we will certainly need the town's help in this regard so I'm really only here to ask to raise my voice to raise awareness I'm sure you already have a lot of awareness but I think the good news is there's a lot of there's a lot of uh Lakeshore Drive residents here and Mirror Lake residents here hopefully as well um so that um you know we can we can ask for your help and we will be we will be asking uh the mayor and counsel for for more help in the future so thank you all very much and thank you again thank you may good evening Alice colmer for Riverdale Oakland um I agree with you mayor that Oakland is a wonderful Community we lived in Norwood for 30 years we're only here four years but we really love the town and we have been um very blessed um I'm here to appeal to your holiday spirit uh shortly after we moved to uh rabit Po River Reserve we heard about the issue with the bridge we had been attending different uh meetings then Co hit we couldn't have the open meetings um yes there's a problem and I appreciate that there's going to be a new bridge we were notified last night with your letter via email that the bridge is going to be closed tomorrow four days before Christmas and this is why I'm appealing to your holiday spirit I watched from my window today large trucks passing over the bridge they're not supposed to but they are school buses have been going back and forth um I have reported that to our um uh representative uh in the office but please could you wait until another week There's No forecast of snow in the next 10 days um so you're talking about um the PO not the possibility of snow removal there's there's going to be no snowstorms in the next 10 days so could you please just let the residents have the Bridge open for another week personally we have relatives coming from out of the area who have never come to our house so they are going to be clueless um I noticed today going down to Glen gray that they're they finally did some repairs you've known about this for months that the bridge was going to have to be closed and today there was some uh work being done on that Glen gray area um I also coming home from some errands today I'm not that familiar with a lot of the roads in town but I did turn onto I believe it's Navajo where the um detour sign is you need to have more signs to um show people the way to get in into our development I was completely baffled and I wound up going back on to 202 so I'm just appealing could you just hold off another week I would appreciate it got Trudy derish 181 Lakeshore Drive and I have two things now that this young lady uh came up and spoke about one with the bridge repair um you're going to have people detouring down Navajo onto Lakes Shore okay and if anybody is is uh aware that's a very dangerous area if you drive down Lakeshore or up Lakeshore and if anybody's parked on the street you can't see cars come up this way cars go that way I I there will be an accident I mean that's got to be monitored better and you've got to take a look at this this whole thing um onto our Crystal Lake Adam you were fabulous and you brought up a lot of wonderful points you're talking about Alman Brook and repairing Alman Brook you repair Alam and Brook it just flows into Crystal Lake so much much faster which helps us to flood so much quicker um it it is it it Alman Brook is the town the town comes into our Lake we need help they talk about doing an HOA but the majority or a good portion of the people on lakes shore drive myself included are senior citizens fixed income we can't pay a lot of money out and the other thing is they just raised our dues rml from $500 and some dollars a year to $1,297 a year and we have to pay all this money now what's it going to be next year I don't know they're talking about possibly putting on a doc fee because we have the uh we have lakefront property so it's we have this this beauty well the other day we we had we were in the lake we didn't have lakefront property and we could use some of this money to repair the damage that we get to our house our homes our yards because insurance does not pay for it all not by a long shot we do need help from the town Crystal Lake is a fabulous asset so many people have have taken their children there the kids that have grown up moved away still around whatever fabulous memories you can open it up to the children to the recck center I mean don't lose this asset to these people that want to dissolve everything and we need help thank you and good Lu hi Jordan Kushner uh 31 Winding Ridge uh just a couple of questions about the bridge not to rehash things but um for has the county really signed on to accepting ownership of the bridge after it's completed and does that impact does the or is that going to be our problem still um I don't know if the the the Builder matters or if they have a say in the build bu who who's the contractor whatever but um that's something I don't think the town can handle in the future is another one of these fiascos um is there any warranty or guarantees from the Builder for the for things that go wrong with the bridge in the future any recourse that we have with deficiencies in the bridge that we don't know now in the future is there any recourse for the town um I don't know bidding law or anything close to that but do we have to accept the lowest bidder and what are the situations for forcing us to accept the lowest better um about the the timeline I know the utilities are um you know they comple they're major complexity to the overall project and that you have to remove them put them somewhere else and then bring them back but to get the bridge back open sooner once the bridge is in place can the bridge be reopened while the utilities are being put back onto the bridge I don't know if that's if that can be done with the current design and this is the least important and I saved it for last because it is the least important I've been I moved here 3 years ago I haven't seen a rendering of the bridge the new bridge that's going to be going in is there a pedestrian pathway for it is is it going to be the same looking Bridge it I trust me I don't want to go back to the drawing board just because it looks ugly uh we'll take it however it is but it would be nice to sort of see what it's what it looks like thank you John comr for riverdell Oakland Jersey enj your retirement from the uh on on this bridge I just have a few questions one I know we talked about reducing it down to 20 foot wide it's very tight for two cars I think the other two entrance points are no wider than 20 ft to to get in I don't know if you could pass two cars up by Glenn Gray or not I think it's only one lane there but it's going to be kind of tight I I don't I think there's going to be issues that'll be coming up along there the other thing is now that we were saving some money if we had to improve those other two entrances and it's we're doing it we would be doing it for the bridge replacement we do have some dollars there that could possibly be spent to make those uh comtable enough where two cars could fit through there just just an idea except when grant money is given it's very specific you know bureaucracy and government and laws and oh yeah yeah I think you it'd be a good sell to try to convince them that you know this is a temporary Road system we're trying to make it safe in order to replace the bridge uh 21 months is the construction time now you're going to approve the contract tonight but that but then the contract is going to be developed it's not ready to be signed and we're we're off running are we other words if the mayor and Council says yes we want we're going to use this contractor you then going to go and and complete the contract an attorney for the burrow would draft and forward a contract that is based on the bid documents okay as quickly as possible so the 21 mons is from when the contract gets finally signed I assume from notice to proceed right so that could be could few more months well it's going to be and within 30 days 30 days okay the uh util now the utilities is there any issue when they relocate these utilities and and put them in their ultimate location do we have cost incurred from the utility companies to do any of this work or or is a contractor doing doing it all that's dire you could have a cost from the utility directly to move the utilities a second T right our position is is that you will not but the utility must agree right and we have those requests in have had them in for over a year so may be some there may be a about something and just the last thing I just say whether you gave it to the lowest bidder or the middle bidder there's going to be ex extras no matter what so to to think that you're going to sign a contract and there's not going to be any extras uh speaking from experience I've never seen it happen thank you you're at the end of the line now um car serenes 41 Sue Avenue so last Sunday we held our second annual access for all Santa on a firet truck event we had an amazing turnout with roughly 40ish people of all ages it was our largest turnout so far for this event and we would be remiss if we didn't take this opportunity to thank everyone that helped make this event happen an extra big thank you to our phenomenal Santa Frank de Pensa sorry Santa's helper Frank um we we want to also thank APL for Their donation of the tree it just made this event extra special thank you to public events and especially Danny and M who stayed with us the whole day in fact uh we got to the Danny D building and there wasn't enough tables set up so Danny ran home and got three of his own tables and brought them down for us so he came to our rescue uh the mother's club of Oakland for all their food donations and access to the coffee and hot chocolate at the reand Tony at the Oakland Elks for his delicious homemade cookies where we were hoarding um we were like no don't take those those are really bad um but they were so good and I keep begging him for the recipe and he will not give it to me and of course all the access for all volunteers as well as our high school volunteer Emily uh from Oakland's repo Indian Hills interact club we would never be able to do these events with without all the help we received from so many committees so many clubs and so many people in this amazing town thank you well thank you and hi my name is Liz Carletta 161 Lake short drive I'm here um to reiterate what you've heard already about I don't really know what to call it the winding down of rml you know whatever ends up happening to to that organization um I agree with what I've heard already tonight um and I just want to make sure that all of you are aware that um the number of people in this room tonight coming on behalf of this situation is is actually much lower than the number of people who showed up Monday night after a day of flooding to a meeting that we had you know during dinner time on a week night kind of thing um the residents of that area both Mirror Lake Crystal Lake and the area around Crystal Lake we're not all Lakefront homeowners in that group are really concerned about everything that's been happening and I I kind of want to combine everything I've heard already um it it is both an opportunity for Oakland and also a responsibility of Oakland to come together with you know rml or what's left what's whatever's happening with that the residents of the area that are concerned I live directly ACR I do live Lakefront I'm directly across from Allman Brook there's a be keg in my backyard um there a tree a tree in my backyard but come from my backyard um when when we get this flooding I get about 2 feet of water in my backyard every time I'm directly across from that stream there last year the tree was about 20 30 ft out in the lake and a bunch of my neighbors helped me try to remove it from the lake so that me and my kids and my dog didn't get caught in it while swimming right like and have some bad accident we weren't able able to do so but I think that that's the tree that's now in my yard so now I'm going to have to drag it out right like cut it up somehow and drag it out to the curb on my own um it it's worse and worse each time thankfully my house is elevated a bit so it only got up to like the second step of my back porch not into our house it did get in our garage a little bit but um it is the I moved here for a reason right when I I moved to Oakland in 2011 I lived on Rockaway ab and uh like it used it actually when I got the chance to buy a house on the lake I I moved to Rockway so I could walk to the beach club right with my my kayak dragging it behind me um and and use the lake it's a beautiful resource Mirror Lake is beautiful I went out there and did water samples last year just as a volunteer for rml it needs some help right but it's a beautiful place and again it's a large portion of Oakland it's not just people who live within rml who and 287 right it's Beyond Oakland as well I understand that but that runoff is contributing to the beer keg and all the other garbage in my backyard that was not my beer keg and I don't think there's any left in it either so it's not like it was a good beer keg showing up right um and and things that like seriously we need to take care of but there is an opportunity for Oakland to benefit from getting involved in this um and I haven't sent my email yet to Mayor and councel but I will do so tomorrow please realize there's a lot of us really concerned about this and really hopeful that you will get involved to help us out good luck thank you and good luck to you thank you and Cedar 33 Winding Ridge um mayor thank you so much for your service um we appreciate it we wish you well um I obviously have questions about the Patriots way Bridge um the one question I have is the original budget that we were told kept uh increasing and it went up to $9 million the contractor is going to get 4.7 how much is the bridge itself I know that's coming from a separate entity how much is the bridge going to be itself cost and whatever materials are needed to for that part part of the job and how close are we getting to the entire $9 million that's one question second question is if this fitter has is the only one with a unique idea for utilities is the only one that came up with it the rest of them were going to do the same thing then what is the backup plan if his plan for the util moving the utilities doesn't work and what is the plan for um I guess as part of that backup plan it's going to cost money and how much more is it going to cost us uh for Plan B I guess um my other question is um I know the timeline is 21 months but I'd like to know what the a breakdown of the timeline so once the contract is signed whether that's 30 days or whatever and the the first day that they're on the job what happens first the utilities get moved technically if we the bridge weren't getting closed how long would it have been open before and then like what is the time frame for when the utilities get moved the bridge gets put in the utilities get moved back and then the bridge is going to be um usable again at at any point in that time frame and the reason I'm I want to know that but the second reason I'm asking that question is because if the bridge itself wasn't going to be closed originally for I think you said something about 45 day window but it doesn't sound like that was the real window but if the bridge wasn't originally going to be closed right away then my question is now why can't we do a oneway on the bridge to use it until the bridge would have originally been closed as part of the entire process right and the reason I asked that is because 20 the 20 foot uh base or whatever I forgot we called it that would allow a one lane in and out and that would give us another entrance and exit aside from the two from Glen gry and Truman so the question is why can't we do that one way one one way in one way out I understand the snow plows but Bridges can closed for weather I mean that's not hard to do um or even if we had to close it for a month or two and then open it again after winter I don't know like the logistics I just want to know why we can't do a one lane um and uh I did have one more question uh I was curious why the repairs I know they were done uh the repairs that were done recently were done uh per the dot but I was curious why if they the repairs were recommended for the specific purpose of uh raising the tonage why it had the opposite effect and what was the point of doing that then and spending the money on it if it had the opposite effect um so I'd like to know about that and um the other question I and the last question I have is I understand that there is going to be somebody from Boswell over seeing the project um so correct me if I'm wrong but uh in the event that Boswell is no longer the the town engineer what happens um with that is that going are we going to be able to continue with the project the way it is been bid on the way the contract is going to be signed what's going to happen with that thank you hi Jody kredo 442 Avenue first off thank you mayor for your 12 years of oh thank you service it's been a pleasure to work alongside of you with access for all and Grant Ben thank you thank you um secondly um I attended uh the bur County Utilities Authority meeting last night a bunch of other people that came and uh two councilmen that attended uh as a long lengthy process until you know it gets approved or disapproved and I I I don't feel confident that it's not going to happen um but I don't know I I don't none of us know um but I think it's important that if it does get approved that the town is looking at things to protect the residents you know ordinances that'll protect the residents such as uh Deerborn Michigan uh just created first of its kind dust ordinance I think we could piggy back off of that and look at that and see if we can do that to protect the residents um just an idea um thank you for attending you're welcome my pleasure um so I think uh after December 28th is really key to attending the utility authorities meeting as well as the Commissioners meeting up at L Bergen County CLA so thank you but then it goes up to the u d d eventually and then back to the Commissioners and it's going to be a very long process yeah very long process but who knows but I think we should start looking at ways to protect the residents now thank you thank you Alexi I live on Nao so I'm sorry my name is Alec TR I live on Navajo eat Navajo Navajo I understand your pain yes that's that's my hill but and I guess there's going to be more traffic now right that what we should be expecting around the tight curves of Lake Shore and up the downgrades of lak shore of the Steep rate that everyone seems to feel the need to gain speed to get that nobody stops that yes yes that stops sign um that's a pleasure U even even school school bus Phil children they seem to wing it you know I mean it's magical um regarding the leak Shore issue um allerman Brook that has been a burrow project right so how was the lake a burrow project that'd be like saying we're going to take care of the arm but not the hand right they're they're physically geographically attached um this these Lake communities have been suffering um and with all the respect 287 is the Federal unate Highway parts of 202 not all through is a county road then we have burs all this runoff right is creating deterioration of both Leakes I'm not a little confused how the buau could disassociate itself say these are private Leakes but we're going to add to the deterioration of them but we're going to hold private residents responsible mhm um with all the respect too rml is about a third of this town those are your constituents right a third of your constituents are angry at the world I just feel it's up to This Town Council to take some action to help remediate the situation you're the only mayor I've known too so I'm sorry good luck with the future [Applause] hi um my name is Patty shank 135 lak sh drive here supporting our neighbors um with the lake um I'm not going to go into details with you while you've all heard it so just again just want to hope that everyone would help us support us we all love the lake we love where we live we love the town and we think it would be a benefit as far as the traffic the other night we would try to go to a meeting and my husband it took us 20 minutes to get out of our driveway because a tractor trailer could not maneuver through the street so we please implore you to look at the traffic that's going to come through there there's children people there's a speed limit of 25 nobody adheres to it they drive through there so quickly and with all that traffic and my other concern is at some point the leny bridge with all that traffic going through I don't know what that so thank I know that thank you Adam Elin 147 Lakeshore Drive um first I was very remiss and not thanking you mayor for the 12 years of service it's been a delight um it just occurs to me as as we're listening to all of this the key word that came up is is responsibility the town has a responsibility here we're talking about replacing a bridge that it's costing the taxpayers 8 plus million do in Oakland four plus million dollar in Oakland with grants whatever it might be this was a developer that left the town high and dry and stuck with a bridge that broke in a matter of years very few of us in town actually use that bridge but we're all paying for it because it's part of our civic duty and it's part of what we do for our our neighbors at the same time we're doing this this town continues to allow the Mirror Lake and Crystal Lake to be The Dumping grounds for everything that we're doing we're redirecting traffic around Lakeshore Drive and up Navajo where's all that oil going where's all that rubber going where's all that runoff going right into Crystal Lake do construction repaving up on 202 where's all that debris going where's all that runoff going right down into Crystal Lake Crystal Lake and Mirror Lake have been providing this town a service without maintenance for over a hundred years to completely fix the entire ecosystem is a is a fraction of the cost of this bridge and yet the town continues to indicate it has no responsibility while it continues to drop storm runoff directly in why silt from all of our streets drops into the lakes and fills them why they become mosquito ridden because the town for whatever reason stopped feeling obligated to dredging the Lakes under the mosquito control program thankfully Allman is being addressed thank you we've been begging and it literally took disasters to get any attention there and the attention we're getting in comparison to other projects in town is nothing it's nothing we deserve after a literally a hundred years of supporting the town's runoff and doing our best to keep that Lake system healthy and clean and usable we deserve the help and the town should feel a responsibility to offer that help because it isn't just ours it's all of ours and we've all used it whether we like it or not I hear many people saying I didn't even know that Lake was there why should I have any responsibility for it well I guarantee you it's a good chance that all the rain Landing in your yard going down that sewer is going right into that Lake and contributing to that damage we all have a responsibility to the ask asss in our town and just like the bridge we all bear responsibility for making sure they work to the best ability of of our community not one part Not Another Part not you know one HOA versus another HOA we deserve that as your constituents and we deserve to be heard and we need your involvement um in getting this resolved because if you're really not paying attention what is about to happen is those lands are going to be offloaded at minimum Crystal Lake is going to miror Lake is going to be drained there's a great possibility Crystal Lake will be lowered indefinitely we need help we need the town to come to the table with us to come to a resolution that works for everybody the people that live there want to maintain it they want to pay for it we want to do our part to keep it there for all of Oakland but we need your help please help us please [Music] [Applause] no one else uh the motion to close so moved oh do you want to speak go ahead good uh Kevin Gallow uh one pool Hollow Road here in Oakland um just want to say thank you mayor for your service and good luck with the future I just want to say thank you to the councilmen that went to the bcua meeting um I wasn't able to attend last night but I went to the one last month um I just want to reiterate um how big of a deal this is I know you guys you know it's broken record at this point but I am frankly terrified of this passing I think it's I just want to emphasize you know people mention things like wildlife and you know this we're dealing this is a this is a health I firmly believe if this goes into place you know there's children that play in the neighborhood the dust that it's going to cause the pollution you know we're talking about like human lives here like this could this could be causing cancer to our children and it's it's a big deal it's a it's a we're literally talking almost life and death it's not it's it's not a joke it needs to be taken very very seriously I don't even want to think about a scenario where this actually passes I'm thinking about how long it's going to take to stop this um I can't really wrap my head around how something that's not zoned for that use is ever going to you know it's not how does something go from being not zoned for a particular use when I purchased my house right next to that industrial park I'm very you know I grew up in Oakland I've been here my whole life I'm very familiar with the area it was never on the table that there could be a you know a dump put next to my house that wasn't there you know I pay more and more taxes every year exorbitant taxes you know $112,000 whatever it's absurd that this is uh that I have to I have to worry about this that that I'd be losing sleep at night I don't know how much longer it's going to go on but just with this many people here at least if anyone's not aware of what's Happening um they're trying to put a dump you know over on West doav it's a fiasco we need to stop it um I don't know what else to say about it but you know I put the sign up thank you for providing the signs um we have more I have more sign to my office if you want anybody aw great thank you yeah um and you know that that's awesome you know I put a website up uh don't dump on oakland.com just to put up you know whatever new news any articles that come out for more information accents that action steps that we can take um I don't know I'm just here just to plead that if there's anything we could possibly do to stop this it's a it's a nightmare it's an Absolut night I'm sure this Council will continue the fight next year Y and and I'm hopeful that you know it's it's looking like we're going in the right direction but again it's just a lot of unknown I'm personally scared I'm scared for my future for our children's future fut for the neighborhood we just not that there are people working with you to fight it awesome well I thank you for you know any time that spent you know to further that I just had to come up and say something I'm just kind of GL you di so anyway thank you thank you was no one else I'll make a motion second all in favor minutes December 6th there a motion so move second any any additions dels none roll call councilman yes m delli not here Sani yes linski yes Tain there is our executive session minutes from December 6th if there going to be any changes or discussion and must be done during executive session uh is there a motion so move second all right and roll call councilman Kamala yes councilman Alani yes councilman liny yes Cain there's a presentation of the rec commission I don't know what this is there's a there's five of us here Rec commission the other four are in season right now when can I move this or is like kind of everybody fing over this yeah thank you may you want to come on down oh please please please yeah thought get in line okay mayor when you first came in Recreation was a mess an absolute mess there was half the commission was full they couldn't get enough Commissioners to fill in there was there was threats of a a patron job coming in and taking over the recreation can just stand commission don't cry don't cry but um after you won you gave me a phone call at Thursday night I was like my wife I said mayor wants mayor summoning me so he called me to your office he said Mike I want you to stay on I want you want you to come back to the commission and um like could be chair you want to know who know we need to fill the seats and who can we get so we spent the whole morning vetting people out and one thing you said you wanted the female sports programs be equal to the to the male program so we we B in Dan to to run the softball Dan did a phenomenal job was one of your first uh me and him one of the first choices we SP the rest of the morning just vetting out everybody vetting the different uh Commissioners Steve was also one of your first appointments still and um so after that we we we set things up you and I we you get that we had people don't realize we had a lot of Friday morning breakfast this like almost the first couple years like every Friday morning we were meeting you want to know what's going on you weren't directing but you want to know what was going on because Rec was such a mess at one time and how we can what we're doing to fix it and we appreciate that I always kept you in the loop even after those practices stop we always kept you in Loop for 12 years so you knew exactly what was going on and how to handle it the biggest thing is is that as as the commission is your loyalty to the commission your loyalty to Recreation that's huge I mean um I wasn't blind loyalty times you called me up and said Mike what's going on people calling you what I explaining say Mike come to my office I come to your office and we explained what was going on you may have agree with us at all times but what we did was we didn't anything agree just but what we did we was sometimes always say we go to bed at night we slept you know we did the right thing and you always were there and at no time did you ever embarrass us did you never ever disrespect us did you ever beate us we always knew where you stood you didn't play two sides of it he was basically this is where where you stood and we absolutely appreciate and he always defended Us in public and just a real quick story about um defending Us in public which politicians don't always do because they always kind of throw people on the bus to protect themselves but one time there there was a council meeting and someone got up here wasn't here was over at the at the other building a few years back who had all facts wrong and all the stories wrong and went on with diet tribe for about 10 minutes but when he was done you actually you got you told him you was wrong and you you defended Us in public it was absolutely you have no idea when you have that kind of loyalty that loyalty is it's it's it's invaluable and you're loyal to us that's why you know we're always loyal to you and we really do appreciate we really want to say thank you for everything you've done for the commission for done for the recreation community for the parents for the families um and we'd like to um present you with this and Dan's going to read what what's on this plaque here this is M hold this up yes everybody can see it you guys yeah you know what uh the Recreation Commission says thank you mayor Linda schwager I tell you what let me put my glasses on your confidence loyalty trust and Leadership helped successfully guide the commission for the past 12 years some of the most notable Recreation accompl accomplishments while you were mayor were installation of the recreation walking path new Recreation Complex lights seeing the building of the Great Oak Park from start to finish re rebuilding the roller rink refurbishment of the football baseball and trumman Fields an unprecedented growth and balance of boys and girls Sports programs and last but not least always throwing a strike at the baseball and softball parade the commission thanks you mayor for a job well done there collage of pictures I don't everybody can see and we purposely put these two pictures here this is your first parade pray that's Dan and your last pray that's this last year with us you you always tell where they are the pictures because Dan and I have been from the beginning you can tell by how how dark hair straight yeah exactly so may thank you very much Recreation thanks you very much we look forward to working with with the next group but we like to we thank you very much for everything thank you thank you [Applause] good luck thank a nice here you are welcome thank you that's a beautiful class how do I do this there big smiles everybody I've been hearing about all this [Music] forever beautiful thank you I I can't say anything because I'm too emotional but I will still work with the mother's club which I've been doing at the RE stand you'll Ste me down there I will still be helping all the children as much as I can you know that you want to coach no I wouldn't be a good coach thank you um I love wck I love the children I love everything I did to help improve R but you forgot the exercising machines on the r i saw that one one year at the leag of municipality they had these um equipment outdoor equipment for um parks and I grabbed DPW I grabbed Anthony I said if you go on and try we get a discount so we did and that's on the Walking path all because we try you know the exercise machines but um I always think about wck the children thank you thank you very thank you and um that was the presentation and now we have a presentation on complete streets thank you can you top that there's a lot going on yeah I can I should be able to turn it uh I should be able to turn it back on it works it took a few minutes to get it going so uh so thank you everyone for thanks for the invite to come here I'm going to tell you a bit about um a project we did here uh last year my name is Peter Bilton I work with the north Jersey Transportation Planning Authority um and we have a program called complete Street's technical assistance that that the B participated in um and uh completed this project last year to help you develop a draft complete streets policy that I hope you'll consider um adopting as an ordinance in the coming year so I'm going to tell you very briefly about what we're about and then tell you about what we heard when we came out and talk to the community in the uh in the fall of 2022 and then we work with the buau to develop the draft policy but first I'm going to tell you what complete street is too so uh the njtpa is a regional agency we kind of sit between the state and the county and help to program Federal money that goes towards transportation and help to prioritize that but we also fund a lot of planning studies at the county and local level um and we're run by a a board that's made up of uh County Commissioners and norc and Jersey City have a special seat on our board as well as the governor's office and the state do and folks like that so you complete streets put it simply complete streets is an approach to managing the road the road transportation system um so that whenever you're making a change you're considering the needs of all possible users you're considering drivers you're considering people who might be walking there or biking there people who are dropping things off um and making deliveries and so it's um uh setting in place a policy so it's not a design and it's not a law it's an approach to setting in place um a policy that you're looking at all those needs um so that you can improve over time um the safety and accommodation for folks who may not have been uh well addressed in the past um so particularly people walking and um or uh people biking but it's not the same thing for everybody right so it depends on what your goals are in your town and what type of character of the town you have there's lots of different benefits and different ones matter to different people right Traffic Safety is a big part of it um but also is the streets are safer to walk on if you help to address some concerns about um drivers speeding or maybe lack of crosswalks where there's a corner where there's a Crossing but there's no painted crosswalk then more kids could bike to school or bike to sports or walk to school or walk to sports or folks more folks might get out for physical activity and exercise walking in their neighborhood um or to get to um a shopping center now this is a Statewide um approach it's a national approach so it might be different for um for for what matters in your town but also places that are nicer to walk in um and easier to get to or also uh good places to shop and attractive places to go so there's also an economic development uh benefit too um the states had a policy since 2009 and they encourage the State Department of Transportation and they've been working with their Partners to encourage towns and counties to adopt policies as well most of these policies to date have been resolutions not ordinances um but uh they do they have included a check box for complete streets policies giving extra points for certain Grant applications and it's also something that um uh is earns uh Town's points on sustainable Jersey and I believe you you folks participate in sustainable Jersey uh program and they're they're actually one of our part Partners on the um uh on this project that we did with you so in 2022 um we worked with a small Committee of uh of uh burough staff elected officials and residents to talk about what a what's in a policy a potential policy for the burrow and then to hear from residents we went and thank you for the warm welcome to talk with residents in the um trunk r Treat event uh right outside here and then so I want to tell you what we heard at the trunk or treat and then we put all that together into a final report that has the draft policy um that looks at uh the current um Municipal codes and regulations and makes recommendations for how those might um might need to be revised in the future to be in line with this approach um to to always considering multiple user needs um and the results of the Outreach so at the trun or Retreat event we asked folks about their biggest concerns for walking and biking you can see here people are interested in both recreational bik bicycling opportunities like parks and Park trails and um also uh biking on the road and making that safer and in terms of walking um sidewalks that weren't continuous were concern for folks um where there were sidewalks that started and stopped and um lighting and pedestrian lighting when we asked about um drivers some of the same things we heard here tonight right drivers who are speeding um or not stopping or yielding for pedestrians or not driving safely around people who are also walking on the same road and also concerned from residents about uh distracted driving U we also heard specific concerns which were docu which we put in our report to you like the left from Long Hill on to 202 we heard that like uh about 10 times in terms of we asked folks what they might like to see more of and they talked about sidewalks and Trails um as well as green storm water infrastructure like rain Gardens that could help capture uh the the storm water runoff to be included when when streets get uh redesigned or improved or just as part of a storm water management system so I want to tell I want to kind of Orient you towards what's in the policy and just kind of how everything fits together um and then I'll take some questions and you already have a draft to work with um and I we sat down towards the end of the project with Mr Coons and kind of walked through um how uh how it all fits together so we've got I think we've got a good base to start from um there's a resolution that defines the goals and the types of projects that would be covered under this um and this is based on a Statewide uh guide for creating a complete and green streets policy so we use that to start work um part of having a um policy in place is having a resent body to uh report to to kind of keep an eye on it and to be like advocates for it right and so part of having a policy is com is creating a town advisory committee um that would be uh so the the burrow professionals are the ones who are enacting the enacting the policy but the they would report occasionally to the advisory committee and let me go I'm going to skip forward so it's it's not a design um it's not building sidewalks everywhere putting crosswalks everywhere putting bike Lanes everywhere it's look it's including um it's going through a checklist when a when a road project gets done or when a development project gets done um to document whether those things are needed and if they're not needed there are exceptions in place as as a as a core part of the policy so these are the reasons from the New Jersey model policy which would be adopted into yours um if a user group is prohibited by law from using that road or if there's a demonstrated absence of of current and future need in other words if no one's if it doesn't go anywhere you're not allowed to walk there or you're not allowed to bike there or you know it's it's an unsafe location then they wouldn't be then those needs wouldn't need to be accommodated but if there are folks who are um reasonably going to be walking in that neighborhood for example um then accommodating them safely is um and by slowing traffic speed or by building a sidewalk would be something that should be included in a project so this is carried out by having a checklist for the burrow professionals or applicants to the burrow to fill out and it fits through the entire um part of uh you might think of planning a transportation Improvement so you were talking earlier about how the sewer project is going to enable the Redevelopment of the shopping center I believe and so this is the this is a part of the planning process where the policy would come into effect um the develop you would either ask developer to uh complete the checklist to look at and theer professionals and staff would use it as a guide so that they could make sure they're adequately addressing the needs of everyone who's going to be using that new shopping center um can you get from uh if if can you get from here across the street if you're already across the street can you get through the parking lot safely as a person walking or as a person biking not just as a person driving uh to get to the front store of the the front door of the shops and the shopping center so those would be the types of considerations that would be included um under the uh under the project under the using the complete streets policy but there's also more uh immediate uh checklists such as for maintenance right so if there's going to be a uh a project where they're you need to rip up the road for a um uh a drainage Improvement are we putting back the same thing that was there before or is there is an opportunity to improve the uh roadway striping for example by um put maybe putting in uh based on the guidance of the bur engineer of putting in a crosswalk where there's already a Crossing or uh better delineating the edges of the roadway with striping or things like that uh so kind of making sure that those things are considered as a matter of course to give a safety benefit so that's a really quick kind of highlevel overview of what it looks like and I know I talked a lot about like nuts like nuts and bolts but I'd be glad to uh to continue working with you and Mr Coons to help you uh to help you work through it thank you so I just want to point out uh you provided with a copy of the policy document uh that has a draft resolution and the Burrow's draft policy in it uh which is basically taking all of this information taking the uh draft policy and sort of there's a lot of choices you know who do you want to do this who do you want to do that uh and sort of customizing it to uh you know what we think would work best for the burrow so that's something I'd like us to move forward with next year and actually implementing and passing and adopting uh as you was saying this is one this is good for us in terms of grant opportunities because you get extra points if you have this compared to uh Municipal enties that do not uh and it's also a way of looking at these issues rather systematically and holistically in the development process both internally and when you're looking at external projects as well to to make sure that they're assessed in address rest if possible as he was saying so would this be including the master plan I don't know that there's a master plan element for this um but I'm really not that familiar with that yeah this wouldn't be addressed typically in the master plan although so part of um one of the kind of best practice recommendations for the state guide is to is for the committee to complete a review with the support of the of the burrow um complete a review of current burough policies and and uh that they and administrative kind of uh you know policies and standards that are in place and look for opportunities to make them more in line with the complete streets policy statement and so um the folks I talk about the team who are not here today this program is delivered um by us to we've done we've worked with 24 municip I alties to date with the folks at sustainable Jersey at the College of New Jersey and at with the Ruckers Wares Transportation Center and the folks at uh at ruter who worked on this project did an initial San of the Burrow's policies and procedures and in and in the report made recommendations uh for changes that could be made in the future um to make sure everything lines up are are the towns that that have this so they like more r or more urban or you know is it a mix is it um I actually there was a slide here sorry about skipping through uh that does have a map so they tend to be um let's see probably more urban yeah and they tend to be more they tend to be more urban um but not but not entirely and so that's why you know the Poli policy is a way to you know approach considera considering these other needs but it's not prescriptive in terms of how you address them okay I just want to say uh thank you um I'm I'm a part of public events and you guys came to the Trump Retreat event and we were worried because we don't usually have things like that at at our events it's more about the kids and you guys were were wonderful and and you even had stuff you were handing out stuff you became part of the the thing really it was it was very nice thank you for your attendance yeah thank you again and it was really great to hear directly from from folks in town about what they you know what they're interested in um and you know how and people who live here long time and people who are people who are new and are looking for opport you know uh want to do the best for you know for their kids to to be able to get around and to get to the sports and things like that thank you thank you very pet thank you very much we we'll be in touch with the rolling to the new year thanks so we have some uh Raa licenses mayor could um maybe there was a lot of questions about the bridge maybe answer maybe some of the questions that I don't know if he has the answers right away there was some very technical questions um I I did write some some of the questions down and I could perhaps answer them the rest of my ability all right if you want to do that now um thank you um Mr Kushner asked a number of different questions and the first one was has the county signed on to accept the bridge uh after the Super structure is replaced the answer is no I could have said that with an emphasis I did say no while you were speaking we tried little second second time guarantees associated with u i i interpret as both performance as well as the bridge itself being warranteed uh there are a number of different bonds that are put in place there's a performance bond that's put in place while the construction is ongoing there's a maintenance Bond uh that is uh to make sure that that the road doesn't settle for a period of two years after the work and then there's there's an actual warranty that goes with the bridge so the bridge itself is a separate component uh that is warranteed uh I don't know the the U the timeline off hand but I can certainly provide that uh question was is could there be an intermittent opening of the bridge uh the the answer is I strongly doubt it it's a a secured uh uh construction yard under the the when you when a contractor steps onto a project there is there there are certain um standards that go into place and since the bridge already was cordoned down to a very narrow cartway with that it it really is Impractical to try to maintain um as part of what we refer to as the maintenance and protection of traffic plan to maintain traffic across that so that the in order to frankly make the cost significantly less for the burrow uh there's a full shutdown as part of the the the bid documents in order to maintain this open it would have been a much different cost to work on this project the the bid documents were not prepared that way and when I say a much different cost easily on the order of 20 to 30 or 40% the maintenance and protection of traffic uh across this bridge in such a tight quarters while you're you're you're picking U heavy steel and and utilities uh it it brings a whole another uh level of complexity uh sta to a new bridge the superstructure of the bridge will effectively resemble exactly what's there the trust system will remain the same because you're using the same abutment system what's going to change is the type of Steel that is used what was used was a weathering steel that type that rust and what you will see now is galvaniz steel it's a very different it has very different characteristic um so um there was a question concerning um the uh width of the roadway um and um and again it's it's it's 20 feet wide uh to fix other structures with the money uh the money as the mayor alluded to the money is specific for the purposes of this uh it's it U it makes perfect sense to us sitting here saying if we have extra money can we use it somewhere else that would requ require a request to reprogram those funds it's not to say uh it's impossible but it it there's a process and typically uh they it's a very difficult lift to be able to get uh funds redirected uh over to another project but it's not to say it can't happen it just is a very uh tall order to get done um there was a uh uh person at 23 Winding Ridge um and there was a question uh relating to uh moving the utilities how are they going to do it what if it doesn't happen uh and what what happens in public Contracting law is there something called means and methods means and methods are uh that the contractor gets to identify how they're going to do something and and it's it's the the law is on their side in that case we can't tell the contractor how to do something we can tell them we can give them stipulations on specific structures of what it's going to look like but the contractor is free to come up with an idea of if there's going to be a completely separate structure if there's going to be big eye beams going across the bridge that's what is referred to as means and methods that's within the contractor's purview if it doesn't work um I think that was the question it's on the contractor to come up with a means and methods it's up to us to review those shop drawings of what the means and methods are to say this doesn't POS it danger or it violates a permit but it is within the contractor's purview uh to go ahead and uh and and S and propose those those ways of getting it done the project schedule uh it's a good question but actually we stipulate a timeline from beginning of project notice to proceed until the substantial of the complet substantial completion of the project what we do at the precon meeting is we direct the contractor to give us a construction schedule and as soon as that construction schedule comes to us we then share it of course with the with the with the uh buau and that the contractor uh says that they believe it will take and I I will tell you they are saying it's going to take a year we don't believe it and the reason we don't believe it is because we don't believe that the utility relocations by the utility companies will occur in the manner and the timeline that they're saying we think that's very very optimistic if it is quicker everybody's going to be happy and and you know we can all go our separate ways we don't believe that's realistic so we have told the contractor in no uncertain terms that the overhead you carry for that 21 months don't expect to come back here and that's why we have and I believe it's 275 days but that's why we have that protection it's a protection actually for the burrow because if we put in that it's 18 months and it goes 21 or 360 months or 360 days or whatever contractor comes back and and and says there's a delay claim and they put a delay claim against the burrow so now you get into this whole other uh aspect of it so you have to protect the interest of the burrow as it relates to the money and getting it done the timeline of getting it done he's going to have to buy insurance he's going to have to rent a a field office he's going to have to he's going to absorb and administrative cost for the tenure of the project he gets it done quicker he makes a lot of money when we Built 4 in 17 down at uh down at down there it was a it was a 27 month job it was done in 13 months contractor got a got a premium from the do to open it early got $2 million premium so it's not like it doesn't happen it happens but I'm just trying to manage expectations uh closing for weather and reopening again um this this a resident talked about you know they've seen trucks go over they've seen buses go over I can't even tell you how personally that's very upsetting to me um we we've shut down Hillside Avenue in Upper sadle River for exactly the same reason it's completely shut down right now it's because there were there were vehicles that were ignoring the weight posting the the bridge is shut down it's been shut down for 3 years now and that for exactly that reason so and it's not a police police uh you know they can't sit there and maintain as and and a vehicle like that that goes across can weaken the bridge so that a car coming behind it can go go through the bridge so that's a very very concerning statement um Why didn't it work the repairs uh the do brought in Michael Baker International to perform this this this uh uh inspection they recommended the following priority repairs as we have done in the past we performed those priority repairs they went back inspected it and said we're still not satisfied we're not lifting it in fact we're cordoning it off so we follow to the T what was recommended and why it didn't work we really can't answer because uh as the Burrow's representative we don't want the burrow to assume that liability of what's going on it's it's frankly right now the liability of that determination is on the do's consultant it would be very it would be Reckless of us to suggest that we should just disregard this and do something different um and um uh Boswell Orie uh we we have a we what if what happens if we're not retained uh throughout the tenure of the project that's a possibility we do have a proposal to be retained throughout the the the tenure of the project we work at the at the pleasure of the mayor and councel and so uh I think that's pretty obvious is said they control whether we are there regardless of whether or not we serve as the burrow engineer uh and uh there will be uh ask Ki KN of Navajo will there be more traffic from The Detour uh yes there will be uh would it be is it possible that there should be other measures done uh to address uh one one uh lady uh who's on Lake Shore right at the intersection talked about cars parking on the road it might be necessary to to flag those areas temporarily for no parking Lanes we've all seen kids shoot out from between parked cars and we don't want to think about what the consequences would be so yes th those are very uh pointed practical safety measures that may may happen so uh as it relates to the bridge over uh I think that's the limit of my what my comment should be but I hope that's respons well move forward now if you think of anything later you could ask Rapp a license 1475 for the Indian Hills parents athletic committee um on February 15 2024 and it's for um the Ramsay Indian Hills ice hockey team General fundraising motion to approve so move second all in favor I and opposed 147 six is a raffle license for the sports Association of Oakland um to be on January 21st 2024 at the Indian Hills High School um proceeds will be used to purchase equipment for the Oakland Braves wrestling and the tournament fees your motion so moved second all in favor any opposed graa license 1477 it's for the Oakland PBA local 164 for January 20th 2024 5050 at the American Legion Hall for the PBA local nonprofit organization that donates and supports local families and organizations motion so moved second all in favor any opposed 1478 Raa license 1478 it's for the Oakland PBA and it's an application for 50/50 raffle light Li on January 20 2024 at the American Legion for the benefit of Oakland families and and organization second all in favor any opposed and the last one is approved social Affairs permit for the Oakland PPA local 164 January 20 24 for a casino night so moved second all in favor any opposed now we have resolutions 23 345 through 23351 1 and I am pulling out 23351 to be done separately motion to approve well I didn't read them here okay for 23 345 authorized higher clerk one Municipal Court it is Dana Salazar clerk 1 at a salary of 45,000 effective December 18 2023 233 46 amend the bylaws of the Oakland Communications Commission 23 347 authorized refund of taxes for 2023 fourth quarter overpayment to Jennifer and Anthony GM Petro 675 Birchwood Drive white block 1901 lot 30 and the CFO has certified that funds are available $3,285 39 23 348 authorized refund of taxes 2023 fourth quarter overpayment Eric tomasovich 4358 sunmill Court in Braden Town Braden ton Florida block 3903 lot 4218 and it's for the amount of $255 82 cents as CFO has ver has verified the funds are there and doe uh resolution 23 349 opposing assembly Bill 5659 establishing the 21st century Injured Workers access to Justice act 23350 resolution authorizing refund of tax overpayments resulting from tax court judgment and pnt Company so it is block 3993 lot 77 306 rampa Valley Road and refund is $2,528 40 block 3903 lot 77306 R Valley Road p&t company $3,278 49 for a total of $586 189 and the uh it's been verified 23 F 52 is um 351 I've um I have pulled out 352 is off off the agenda for tonight 235 353 is wood bid Lake VI terce drain drainage improvements $3,768 to Kem km construction Corp Irvington New Jersey and our CFO has certified fund funds are available 23354 award bid Jerome Avenue drainage improvements to Crossroads Paving Company $133,300 alternate bid 12,400 total 145,50 and our CFO has certified that the funds are available uh is z a motion so move second any discussion roll call we pulled out 351 councilman Kamala yes councilman selani yes councilman cinski yes counc T meeting yes all right resolution 23351 a what bid to conus Corporation for the super structure replacement of Patriots way Bridge bids were received November 21st 2023 for the super structure replacement of Patriots way Bridge concus Corporation submitted the lowest responsive and responsible bid 4,776 1592 B administrative engineer and attorney have reviewed the bids and rem recommend the bid be awarded to conquer Corporation our CS CFO has certified that the funds are available and the Bor administrators directed to prepare an appropriate contract for the same and um and the mayor and Bor clerk are directed to execute the agreement on beh half of the borrow is there a motion to approve so moved there a second second discussion roll call councilman Kamala yes councilman selani yes councilman cinski yes Council yes we have some ordinances this is the adoption of 23 code 934 it is amending and reenacting paragraphs 138 of ordinance number 22 code 887 title code of the borrow of Oakland salaries of Municipal Employees is there a motion to open to the public so move second all in favor anyone wish to speak motion to close so move second all in favor motion to adopt 23 code 934 second roll call Council MC yes Sani yesi yes tell yes code 23935 is amending and supplementing section 13 uh chapter 13 section 10 fee schedule entitled charges and fees this has to do with the water and sewer system and that is uh ocean uh ocean motion's open to the public so move second all in favor anyone wish to speak motion close second all in favor motion to adopt 23 code 934 935 charges and fees so move second roll call councilman Kamal yes Sani yes slinsky yes talamini yes ordinance 23 code 936 in ordinance establishing the sustainable Oakland Green Team is there a motion to open to the public second all in favor anyone wish to speak motion to close some moved second all in favor motion to adopt so moved second roll call councilman Kamala Sani yes spinski yes T yes just so you know for if anybody is interested two members Shall Serve five year ter five a 5-year term two members Shall Serve a four-year term one member Shall Serve a three-year term all three alternate members shall each serve twoyear terms and then we have 23 code 937 an ordinance establishing requirements of the storage of salt and other solid deicing materials from being exposed to storm water motion to open to the public move second all in favor I any wish to speak motion to close so move second all in favor motion to adopt an ordinance 23 code 934 establishing requirements of the storage of salt and other solid deicing materials from being exposed to storm water seven I'm sorry did I say oh I'm getting tongue tired motion so move second brall councilman Kamala yes Sani no linski yes talamini yes and now we have um work session thank you amend code enforcement fees and also amend Recreation fees yes uh so I'll take the well the first one first amend code enforcement so uh our code staff and our code enforcement department uh has kind of undertaken a rather exhaustive and thorough review of uh the current fee structure for a variety of uh code implementations including construction fire prevention and Zoning uh we benchmarked against surrounding towns like Franken Lakes wof Mawa uh and and Ramsey uh and by comparison our Fe are dramatically lower than those surrounding communities uh in fact looking at the legislative history uh feeds in those areas really haven't been updated at all in 14 or 15 15 years or so um so when what we're looking to do in terms of providing service to the public and make sure that those uh fees are adequate to cover costs especially with uh the heran project coming up next year we want to make sure that we have the financial resources in place to be able to uh provide uh permit reviews uh and inspections that are needed for that project uh without burdening the taxpayer uh so we undertook this to update our fees make sure that we're collecting the amount of Revenue that we should in 2024 uh this also would uh update the code in a couple of other ways one it would uh implement the regulations that came about last year for lead paint abatement and uh required inspections in that regard uh and also revises the P structure for CCO inspections as well we've sort of biper cated that the fire prevention part of it now so it revises that g schedule as well so it's rather comprehensive we provided marked up co uh versions of the ordinances so you can see exactly what we be changing uh and as well as a uh Excel spreadsheet that summarizes all the revisions as well so uh with that if anybody has any questions we could talk about it uh if everybody's okay we would move this forward in January via ordinance uh for an amendment Mr C yes a question I I'm looking at fees here uh with the project of the the size and scope of lar homes do we have will this cover and do we have enough Staffing uh to inspect and watch over that project uh yeah so that's a discussion I had recently with our construction official some of that will depend on their developers pace of construction and how quickly they need inspections uh we talked about the possibility of needeing to hire some temporary inspectors next year that may be a possibility uh and again I want to to be in a position where we have the financial resources to do that if that's required so these raising these fees will cover the cost of hiring those inspectors if needed so without putting the burden on the existing taxpayer based on what we're projecting right now it should yes are we losing money on our current with our current fees I mean some of fees are double triple uh yeah because that's how far behind we are compared to what a lot of other towns are doing um especially when it comes to construction it's meant to be self-sufficient your fee structure should be enough there uh to cover direct and ancillary costs for the operation of the construction office so that's salaries that's Fringe uh that's even Prat amounts for things like utility square footage for the building operation of the vehicles uh that you that they use and and the like so and I think you said I missed it I apologize I forget reading it too when was the last time raise our fees uh if you look at the legislative history uh some of this hasn't been updated since 20 8 2009 okay could could we just make sure going forward we we keep up on it a little better yes that my next question thank you yes all right um now you have aand Recreation fees right so this is something we do every year uh Recreation does a great job in coming up with a proposed budget every year it's a a rather complex budget there's a lot of programs there's a lot of moving Parts uh you get a headache if you saw the spreadsheet that Neil malmad prepares that has a matrix of everything um but with that comes uh projected cost for the programs and relatedly projected fees to cover those costs so this year uh and really I think probably starting last year uh coming out of the pandemic we've been seeing in Recreation the same way we have in a lot of parts of the operation uh just a lot of inflationary cost increases related to equipment league fees officials and the like uh so that's all built into this uh as well as additional administrative support uh to keep up with all those various activities and expanding summer camp and the like uh so there's the person there that would go to fulltime uh share some time with the senior center uh but there's uh certainly enough work there to keep that person busy uh and lastly what's what's really exciting about this is Recreation has been working with uh the Chamber of Commerce of Commerce on ship on a sponsorship program so you're going to see baseball uh and softball they're actually going down a little bit uh because the uniforms would be uh basically purchased by local businesses that choose to sponsor uh baseball and softball teams so this is great part Commerce is really encouraging this uh yes y they came in with a proposal uh and uh I I think the hope is that this is successful and can maybe even be expanded uh as as it moves forward so that that would that's all sort of Tak into account my son um and I think i' I've told um a couple of the coaches my son runs the girls softball league in North Brook Illinois and every year I have to send him a check to buy a shirt so I know what it's like yes so um that's good and and I don't think he get ever gets nose from um businesses so should work out very well with the chamber said the fees are going down down yes um any new business old business borrow Council reports will St councilman tell meeting uh first let me just say thank you mayor Sher for uh your your services mayor um it's a it's it's a big uh it's a big give to to sit up here and and take qual the abuse from from both sides um and um I really appreciate anyone that that sits here and does this um this this has uh always been a big part of my my family and um uh I'm just uh uh happy that uh you sered served us and you uh you uh you served us well thank you and um just thank you um and then I want to wish everyone uh uh Merry Christmas Happy New Year happy Hanukkah um any other holidays that I'm missing um not to dismiss them but um uh and then U public events I I wasn't at the last meeting I was attending my daughter's my daughter's uh event um uh the public events what what a wonderful uh tree lighting and manura lighting we had um just and the the the parade the light parade Santa being there um the the sing along the choir that came the high school choir that came it was it was wonderful um it's just uh public events is is a wonderful thing and um it was a wonderful wonderful event and uh and then uh congratulations to AIS for all with your your uh Santa event that it went so well um and please if you can volunteer to be a member of public events uh access for all or any other uh committee up here we we need your we we could always use uh your help um Finance the the budget's moving along we'll have more meetings as the uh as we get into the new year and uh and schools schools will be closed uh so just watch out for the the kids running around doing whatever they do and uh and again happy New Year and uh enjoy the holidays thank you thank you councilman thank you mayor uh I attended the with councilman Sani went to the bcua meeting yesterday in Little Falls and opportunity somewhere somewhere it was very difficult to get there with all the flooding but uh uh we had an opportunity to really put the resident concerns on the record uh in front of the Commissioners uh one of the things I did ask Commissioners was just like uh in our planning board when we have a big application comes in front of us we normally go out we visit the site and really understand what's involved one before we make a determination or have any deliberation I did ask the members I did and obviously as you know in these Council meetings where there we don't really have a back and forth but I did pres ask them the question I asked them of all the Commissioners sitting here how many of you have come down to Oakland to really understand the gravity of the situation and where it is situated to the subdivision that it's next to obviously I was shot down saying it's not a back and forth which kind of says that nobody came out to see it um after that I did invite them to come down to Oakland and really understand the gravity of the situation I did give them a handout that Mr Boswell put together for us that showed how close the houses are and the river is to the we'll just call it a dump that they're dumping out New Jersey and I also expressed to them that the surrounding towns of Pompton Lakes Riverdale have also provided uh letters of support against this so it was uh you know we're working really hard on this to really stop this from coming Oakland and mayor I just want to say to you you know a lot of times we didn't really see eye eye um you know but I still remember the breakfast that we would have and sit down and talk through the issues and you know we you know working with you moving the town forward is the most important thing and and I wish you uh success and with your family and thank you appreciate that Steve I appreciate that so I want to just wish everybody Merry Christmas Happy happy holidays and we'll see you next year and good luck to you thank you mayor council mayor I'd also like to thank you for your service uh 12 years wow you know that's uh amazing you know Oakland really appreciates everything thank you as do I um let's see from the Oakland Communications Commission I'd like to congratulate the OCC on having 500 subscribers on our Burrow's YouTube channel this is an impressive Milestone as a couple of close towns to hours uh is the village of Ridgewood uh with 385 subscribers and the burough of Ringwood has 238 subscribers great job all uh if you'd like to follow the burrow on YouTube you can go to uh youtube.com back/ Oakland burough I would also like to congratulate TV uh uh committee Vice chair and commission member Mark alala for being elected to the Jag uh which is the Jersey access group executive Ive board the Jag was formed in order to inform and educate members of issues facing municipalities concerning the connectivity and distribution of information from both internally and externally wired and wireless connections this includes Services by emergency responders television stations radio stations security networks it departments and classroom education uh also I'd like to mention that the Christmas tree in manura lighting video is on the Burrows YouTube channel and on Oakland TV uh for my uh Library update the opl will have the exposure to fiber arts class on uh December 28th at 6:30 p.m. this class is geared for twins and teens and parents uh it is an introduction to knitting and stitching and is an excellent base upon which to build for future classes in 2024 uh you can check the calendar for details and to register uh they will be rolling um in uh the new year uh with a presentation on how AI is revolutionizing the world on January 2nd at 6:30 p.m. also on January 2nd the regular programs for children resum uh resume uh check the calendar for details uh The cookbook Club is back uh their next meeting is Monday January 8th at 6 p.m. registration is requireed ired uh lastly yoga with Sonia will be held on Tuesday January 9th at 6:30 p.m. a registration is required for all uh um for this event as well uh the uh library library will be closed on the 24th and the 25th of December um and the 31st of December and the 1st of January I just want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas happy holidays and um see you next year thank you counc um my my communties did not meet so we have light reports but I do want to start with thanking DPW for all their work over the past 48 Hours dealing with the flood uh something they're working long shifts so I think they should be acknowledged for the work they've done also from a flood commission Roy balberg what he's done over the past 72 hours walking River working with Boswell working with r DPW I want to thank him for all his efforts um and what he's doing to help and um give information back to the community he's not done he'll be walking River again to make sure there's no damage or excuse me assess the damage because there is there is damage uh from a flood commission real quick um uh the group asked me to remind um the council and the bur administrator regarding they put a plan together for the river the ran River Project and um we want to see we can get it on the agenda for working session for January uh January of next year um mayor uh I want to thank you for for your service for for the last 12 years I'm probably up here because of you in a roundabout way of of you appointing me so I think it was referenced before that you you appointed me the recognition so thank you for that and um I also want to uh thank you for your service to the community and uh appreciate open and honest conversations we've had it's been an honor and privilege to serve with you the past two years on the days thank you and everyone and uh Merry Christmas and happy holidays bills to be paid oh oh sorry open public comment I missed that part anyone we U motion's open it's a long meeting so moot second now we're open all in favor 101 W Street you saw the street um the water coming up on the street already right Walnut Street Walnut Street it's coming up in on the street already so what are we going to do about that bur Engineers aware of it are they going to fix my driveway I would do on street but bro engineer is working on it fixing my driveway too BR engineer has all the information huh BR engineer has all the information all right please I've been waiting a year so and you know the street is wet too again I don't know if you're aware of that water seeping up in the street already where's it oh yeah the water's seeping up it's coming up so they didn't do a proper job it's coming up on the roadway y absolutely it's only been a year and three of us went to the same meeting that they went to last night we just missed the open open uh session public so you found Little Ferry we found little Fair thank you little Ryan schwar fager 130 high off the boulevard go as quickly as I can um just for anyone at home who's watching uh little Oakland TV information so we have the ulog I know riveting rope programming uh 3 in the morning we have the Christmas tree and manora lighting ceremony is on at 9900 a.m. and also at 4:00 p.m. if you want to watch that uh we have two special movies that are on that are Christmas themed so we have the Miracle On 34th Street from 1955 is on at 4:30 and the march of the Wooden Soldiers from 1934 so notice how we not violing copyright here at 9:00 p.m. every day that's going to be probably through the 430s at 4:30 a.m. 4:30 p.m. yes not in any movie just like you know the old days you to come home from school and the movie would be on so that's we're going with all that kind of stuff um I also want to congratulate Eric on his uh wi as mayor and as well as Russ and I know Pat's not here uh so we look forward to working with you congratulations uh mayor OB want to thank you for your years uh not only as mayor but also you served time on the council as well a while ago so I want to thank you for your support of uh Oakland Communications Commission also you know Ally I was doing the dog park for all of those years and that's when a lot of the progress happened with both you and Mike so I want to thank you both for that as well um and also was flashing back even a little bit more when you were running for mayor and I was doing my polling in town uh you know I was always very appreciative that you were open for interviews and wanting to uh to talk and things like that in high school then that was like middle school high school already that was a while ago uh so but you know I always wanted to thank you for that and um you know I always remember U because you actually share your birthday with my mom's birthday so it's always kind of an interesting reminder when I see you know your birthday they come up true Capricorn um and I also appreciate that I remember my mom passed away you came to the funeral which was always very nice and so there's a lot of things with mayor that people see and there's a lot of things that people don't see and I think it's sometimes important the fact it's a little lost you know the things that happen behind the scenes as well as what happens uh on on the scenes from everybody so I want to say thank you very much again for your service I wish you a happy New Year and I hope that Steve also improves with his houseal as well appreciate that very much thank you anybody else CL motion close motion to close second all in favor bills to be paid well before before we do that um Wendy don't have a little gift to there I do got to go get [Music] it we should play some music while way Pony I put in my car Pony you might oh oh my [Music] goodness thank you on behalf of the years of service as May oh my goodness wow oh thank you oh my goodness thank you for everything thank you open you get open the car it was open CL thank you so much oh and it's signed by everybody so thank you I really appreciate that thank you all ran all up to me [Music] um oh oh one more layer that's so beautiful God very nice thanks read what it says and it says may Lind Swagger January 1st 12 2012 December 31st 2023 in recognition appreciation if you dedicated and assembly ser during three terms as mayor of the B of Oakland thank you thank you thank you thank you bills to be paid bills to be paid $391,900 read the those list you can vote R call councilman Cala yes Sani yes cinski yes talamini yes and um motion to adjourn second all in favor the oath of office will be held Sunday January 7th 12 noon right here in council chambers the the new meeting dates everybody pay attention because the count next council meeting will be held Tuesdays they're now going to be on Tuesday nights so will be held Tuesday January 9th 2024 700 p.m. right here in council chambers um I just want to say thank you to all the residents of Oakland for giving me the privilege and the honor to serve as mayor and please I wish everyone a very H healthy healthy new year thank you put this back congratulations can you s me pi