okay Council agenda Township precipi Troy Hills regular Township council meeting of June 25th 2024 introduction posting of notice adequate notice of this meeting has been provided in accordance with the requirements of the open public meetings law by filing notice in the office of the Township Clerk and by posting the meeting notice on the bulon board at the municipal building on January 4th 2024 where where it has remained posted since that date a legal notice appeared in the Daily Record and the New York Star Ledger on January 8 2024 may ask everyone to please stand for the flag salute to the flag of the United States of America stands Nation indivisible with the and justice for all okay roll call uh Mr Hernandez has an excused absence Mr McGrath also has an excused absence Mr Mella present Mr neglia here Mr kifi here also in attendance our business administrator Jamie cryan our Township attorney Wade Baldwin our mayor James Barbaro and the municipal clerk CED Madden uh we have a quorum council president may I begin yes please okay upcoming meetings July 9th 2024 at 700 p.m. is an agenda meeting and July 23rd 2024 at 7 p.m. is a regular meeting at this time I'm going to go ahead and announce uh Chief Richard pantina uh who's going to be assist uh doing the ceremony for the swearing of the police [Music] [Music] officers good evening everybody uh as uh CED just stated I'm Chief pantina um I want to uh welcome everyone here tonight we're doing something a little different uh with this cycle uh the hiring normally we do it in the daytime usually around lunchtime so everybody go to lunch but I think this is a fantastic idea um to have a swearing in at night at a council meeting uh my old Lieutenant's here not old liutenant my lieutenant is here right um so he knows the way this system used to work it was in and out I think this is fantastic that the public gets to see the officers that are going to be working for the township um before I get started I want to thank the mayor and the council for their continued support uh since mayor Barbaro came back we've hired now this will be 20 four officers which was greatly needed uh we were very low in our uh Manpower and it showed uh we're down into the low 80s so now we're back up to 100 we're hopefully get a little higher and that will increase the services that are given to the community um these po gentlemen here today uh we went through a long process there were many more people that we interviewed and these were the candidates that we picked the Cycle's a little different now um we used to go through civil service now we have the opportunity to pick homegrown for some of them uh officers which I think really helps when you have that passion for your community so um I want to wish them the best of luck uh it's going to be a fulfilling career and rewarding and you'll have a community that I know for the last 35 years that I've been here support you and everything you do so uh without further ad do it's pretty weak is not working that great but anyway thank you Chief uh like the chief said when I left in 2017 as the mayor we're up to 106 police officers when I came back in 2022 we were down to 81 81 Deployable and that's that's not where we should be um as you can see and you will see as time goes on uh by replenishing the police department we can do a lot more Public Safety traffic detective work and we've done that we've accomplished many things I'm very proud of the fact that we've been able to hire when Civil Service changed the rules homegrown kids that grew up here a lot of people try to smack me on it by saying all he does is hire his friends no I don't hire friends I hire people that are qualified that's what I do and that's what we do um we have the best police department in the county I can vouch for that um our crime statistics so you'll see our crime has gone down in person why is that because there's more police officers in town it's that simple um so that being said I'm looking forward to swearing in these four individuals but I want to take this opportunity to thank the three council members that voted on the budget so we could do this Council vice president Paul kifi Council um president Paul creepy Council vice president of Frank neglia and councilman Matt McGrath uh if we didn't have that we wouldn't be able to do this today so I want to thank them and I'm looking forward to working with you gentlemen I've known most most of you since your kids so you ready [Music] good K you have [Music] you hold this once we get done swearing everybody in we're going to have to go over here and sign everything that's not official come over here here put your left hand left hand on by raise your right hand and repeat after me I state your name keeped do solemly swear do Solly swear that will support the Constitution that support the Constitution of the United States the United States and the Constitution and the constitution of the state of New Jersey of the state of New Jersey and that I will bear truth faith and be true faith and Allegiance and allegiance to the same to the same to the governments established the governments established in the united states in the United States and in this state and in this state under the authority of the people under the authority of the people so help me God so help me God I do further solemnly swear I do further that I will Faithfully that I will faithfully and partially and partially and justly and justly perform all the duties perform all the duties of the office of of the office of police officer police officer according to the best of my ability according to the best of my ability so help me God help me congratulations [Music] Keegan I might mess your last name up but David B bz blow thank you I'll get used to it all time we have something hold the Bible for you oh you go that was quick all right flag left hand is that good repeat after me I I state your name Della do Solly swear do Solly swear that I will support that support the Constitution of the United States United States and the constitution of the state of New Jersey and L we true faith and allegiance to the same to the governments established in the United States United States and in this state this St under the authority of the people under the authority of people so help me God I do further solemnly swear fur swear that I will Faithfully I will faithfully and partially and justly perform all the duties perform all the duties of the office of the office of police officer of police officer according to the best of my ability best of my ability so help me God congratulations David I will say one thing David you came very highly recommend it from a dear friend of mine who's probably one of the greatest baseball players to come out of pipany Matt is so I'm not kidding you Matt go sit now I'm not Kidd you Sayan [Music] Patel okay you're good okay repeat after me I state your name to solemnly swear swear that I will support that I will support the Constitution contition of the United States United States and the constitution of the state of New Jersey state newe and that I will be truth faith Tru and Allegiance Al to the same to the to the governments established in the United States the United States and in this state in this state Under The Authority Under the authority of the people of the people so help me God me God I do further solemnly swear I Do fur swear that I will Faithfully I will fa and partially and justly perform all the duties perform all the duties of the office of of the office of police officers police officers according to the best of my ability AB shall help me God I am congratulations now I've known this kid since he's a little baby you grown up a lot congratulations I didn't know this kid is baby but here he comes Peter [Music] Jones pops right place your left hand on the Bible raise your right hand repeat after me I I state your name John who Solly swear who Solly swear that will support that will support the Constitution the Constitution of the United States of the United States and the Constitution and the constitution of the state of New Jersey of the state of New Jersey and that will be a true faith that will be a true faith and Allegiance and allegiance to the same to to the same and to the governments established to the governments established in the united states in the United States and in this state and in this state under the authority of the people under the authority of the people so help me God so help me God I do further solemnly swear I do further solemly swear that I will Faithfully that I will faithfully and partially partially and justly and just perform all the duties perform all the duties of the office of of the office of police office police officer according to the best of my ability ACC to the best of my ability so help me God so help me God congratulations all right we're going to sign it to make it official and your first cor duties Fifth Avenue in [Music] [Music] Patterson gentlemen every [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] you for [Music] [Music] [Music] pictures welcome our new police [Applause] [Applause] officers yeah may we just going to take a couple minutes to take some pictures so family members if you want to come up and get some pictures go ahead any family members if you want to come up you can come up and take some pictures pictures if any family members want to come up too guess you don't want to okay well I think what we could do may is take a picture with the family memb each family I mean do you want to get each officer with you with their family members no just family members okay so you guys want to get some pictures take turns all right you three to the side you guys want get I never saw a su holyy Peter Jones family of Peter Jones thank you council president must the front of camera like George hey joh still have the same phone number picture you want that everybody get one please perfect thank you yeah yeah [Music] yeah on once again congratulations um Council council president maybe we we give about two minute break allow the families and the officers to clear out off if they want to stick around for the meeting unless you guys want to hang out for our meeting guys yeah you're more than welcome but I don't [Music] think that's the fastest way to clear room do you want to stay for a council meeting yeah try to get his attention I don't know if he s he probably you doing good good [Music] take care good evening all right just told your dad I said I I try to look at you back there you some kids you know [Music] okay sure yeah all right sound good great good all right have a going congratulations guys yes all right uh we ready to begin council president Frank Frank all right said 10 minute break two minute break okay so now we're going to be um continuing with the agenda in the normal course of action we are on the public session at this time I'd like to entertain a motion to open the public session motion second motion made by Mr neglia seconded by Mr muella roll call Mr uh muella yes Mr neglia yes Mr kifi yes okay so the FL is open to the public you can speak on any matter you have five minutes to speak after you're done speaking we ask that you please take a seat at that time the council may or may not address the issues and or concerns thank you [Music] hello everyone um is this on yeah it's on it's on okay um I really wish I didn't have to come here again can youate your name oh Kim Anderson I'm a resident of Mount Taber I live at you don't have to say your address just read all righty um yeah anyway the reason I'm here is um the water utility has begun replacing our water line and rather than run it up the public Street they are using an easement that goes up a hill through the woods through our backyard and that will undoubtedly damage a 90ft Oak in our backyard um I emailed a letter to the mayor everyone on the council as well as the um the town one of the Town engineers here is Paul neof and the water utility superintendent um our street as you probably know CU I was here about our street collapsing it's been about a year um the repair is ongoing there's been a lot of delays um you know it will get fixed it's just taking time but the waterline really should go up a public Street and now is the op the the most opportune time to do so when the street is going to be ripped up and repaired um recently New Jersey natural gas moved the gas line with no problem and I think the town utility should be able to do the same with the waterline um putting it through an easement just seems like in the the future it will muddy the waters as to who is responsible for that line and the fact that it goes through the woods where you know it's a heavily wooded area I think it's not the best place for a water line tree roots can interfere with it um you know they have to excavate through rocks and tree branches um and we were told at a public meeting by the Water Utility Superintendent at that time that a water line would run up our street um and we were at a meeting in July the mayor informed us that a a line would go up the street and it was going out to bid um I called the mayor's action center to alert them to this um didn't get a call back but you know people are very busy um what time did you call today it was today you called right no I called last Tuesday it was last Tuesday or Wednesday um yeah so anyway I I would just really like to put this bed to bed you know for good um when you repair something or make improvements they shouldn't create new problems or continue um you know the mess that is Mount Mount Taber water and utility lines um we want to do things that make sense um you know and it's been a year since our road collapsed and it just makes sense to put it up the road while the road is under construction so I think that's all I have to say if anyone has any questions so till tomorrow I'm having a meeting with the superintendent of the war utility I remember the me mayor before you begin if I could just ask you to take a seat yeah thank you um with the water and superintendent I was in that meeting when um they said the lines would be going on public access roads not so we're going to rectify it good evening if you'd like you can just give that to me you can go ahead sir good evening Vijay panchamia from Glenmont commment I've been here many times before we are here we are a constant feature every month here at least once but before I start I want to congratulate our four new police officers that's a great news and I think this is a great town to doing policing in and I'm sure they'll have a great time uh coming back to our issue as you all know with the roads issue this is about 25 year old development you all probably have seen the condition of the road um I understand there are challenges with ownership between Builder and town and HOA the bottom line is there are about 175 single family homeowners who are paying full taxes all these years and their roads are not getting repaired um there are places where on section of season Glen Drive that meets Summer Hill Drive it's terrible and some of you have seen it and if you drive again you will see it it's back to square one um and again we are coming here almost for 9 months right right and I really don't think things are moving at all in any positive way right I know Town wants to meet with Builder and Builder is nonresponsive at the end of it you know every quarter goes we keep on paying taxes and our roads are getting worse and worse and after every big storm lot of rains it's even making it worse people are complaining about you know vehicle problems now right I myself had it um there are kids who are having injuries driving their bikes on that road there are Elders who are walking on because there is no walking Pathways in Glenmont um you know senior citizens are walking and cars are trying to avoid the Pooles and it's only matter of time because somebody gets into a serious accident right so we want to see what is the path forward right we can't just be on this limbo State month after month right and again you know we don't want 400 residents to be cornered where you know we have no means then to you know go legal rout we don't want to pursue that um and also we are looking you know if we not going to get this service you will have 400 tax appeals going next year to get some rebates back for the taxes we have paid and services we have not received right so I really looking for some good updates here I don't know mayor if you have any updates for us or thank you sir I I can respond um I spoke at BJ today with regards to what's going on um and Wade you might want to chirp in on this I know Mike's not here um we sent a letter to the developer to get back with to us in 10 days what they're going to do with Glen on common roads and we never heard anything back am I correct yeah it's correct so then then I don't think there's any other um so I'm asking this council tonight other option than to sue the developer um because you know the roads are not Township roads but they are like VJ said they're in very bad shape so I think we need to um initiate some sort of a lawsuit against the developer um for never up updating the roads ever so I I like to your V of confidence on that Jay could I please also have you just sign in thank you sir so if the council is in favor I'm going to move forward so council members we need a motion I don't know if we need a motion I'm not that do we need a motion well that's generally he's just asking for your support that's generally a decision that's done by the administration they technically don't need Council support on this if you're if you're asking me I I I definitely support it I mean these these people have been going through this long enough I mean these roads I've been up there many times they're they're horrible it's not fair to them that they need to live in those conditions and have to drive on that just to get home or or leave their homes every day so something's got to be done so ourselves would I fully support it too I mean if the developer had built the roads the right way to begin with they wouldn't be in such atrocious sh shape so I think he's responsible whoever it is and uh they need to be repaired and the developer in my opinion is also responsible so I support you 100% mayor and the administration well I think that um you know since there have been conversations in the past before we just go down a legal path of suing a developer um if they're at fault then you know absolutely but that might not only delay what these residents want which is a resolution I I don't know how long and how costly a lawsuit like this would be can we get some legal advice yeah litigation is always a lengthy process although and again I'm not Mike Avery but I did talk to him and I know this has been ongoing for a long time and our office sent a letter at the beginning of the month um if not the end of last month giving them 10 days to respond to work out some sort of situation deal with the uh developer and uh our office didn't receive any response it's obvious it's obvious to developers ignoring it and I think uh some legal action needs to take place these folks it's just not fair to them it's just not right and we can continually talk about this for the next six years about you know negot with the developer but if they don't call us back they don't get back to us they don't deal with us in good faith I think we have no other recourse but to go after them it's not fair to the people that live in the town we're not getting anywhere as it is right now so if it's going to take however long it's going to take but it's it's going to get something done and I I like to just um segue off of that we've given them more than enough time to get back to us we constantly get ignored this has been going on for years it was going on when I was mayor the first time around was going on with the mayor for the four years that I wasn't mayor um I don't how much more time you want to give them um because they're just basically telling you we're not going to do nothing because we haven't taken charge and now it's time to take charge um as council president kifi said those roads are in bad shape hor and and for for us to sit here and wait for a developer to get back to us when their bond their bond company want pay rupt um and we have to sit here and wait and wait I I don't think we can wait any longer so um I'm going to move forward with it I think we have no choice I think maybe in the meantime when you move forward you can have some sort of settlement because that's what happens when you move forward with the legal suit there's consents and stuff like that it could be consent or there could be something that we can all agree on uh but if we do nothing you'll be coming for another nine months and that's not right like the mayor said if if there's some agreement that can be reached while the the suit is initiated then great but if not we need to we need to do something right [Music] now so um wait when you get you see Mike tomorrow tell him to start I will okay any other member from the public anything Mr Mayor committee uh my name is Jim gack I live in Lake highwat I'm here because I have a flooding issue which you responded to back in January for me saying you was going to look into funding I written sir can you talk a little closer to the mic thank you so much my first talk that's okay uh I written the town several times I have not gotten any response back in 198 6 the Army corpse finished building a retaining wall for Lake haa since then there's been climate changes several flooding issues going on [Music] uh P County and Bergen County both received 6.2 Federal funding to for their flooding issue i' like to know at this point of the game because uh I'm getting flooded at least four or five times a year the Rockaway river floods over we need a retaining wall the retaining wall should have been built or finished built uh I'd like to know what can be done so May before you start just S I can just have you sign in and take a seat and then uh your questions will be [Music] [Music] [Music] answered council president yes if I make yes go ahead so um the Army Corps of Engineers does a cost benefit analysis on on things on on uh flood mitigation projects so what they would do is they would look at they would come back and do a study and to get them to come back and do a study to uh add a retaining wall or or uh continue the retaining wall they would have to do a cost benefit analysis of how many people would affect um and this is according to our engineer and I'm not an engineer so uh I think if you have a direct conversation with our engineer he can explain it to you better but basically um they would do a cost benefit analysis to see how many people would be helped by extending the wall if they could extend it um so that's if it's just your home or if it's it's not just your home so just a retaining wall would help about how many people you think uh five six yeah see that's probably not enough for them to come out and spend millions of dollars to to do the wall what they do do and like what you said with Bergen and pic got 6.2 I believe million right for flood mitigation projects a lot of those have to do with um either buyouts of of homes in areas that are flooding and that's kind of uh uh what is happening more often now um back we can't have it back and forth I apologize for that but so I just need the uh at this point yeah there's that there's also uh um elevation grants uh uh something to consider I I can give you my card and uh uh um you can reach out to me tomorrow if you don't mind and um I'll put you in Amry thank you and I'll put you in touch with our engineer and we maybe we could try to have a meeting to see if there's anything that uh um any federal programs out there like uh Bergen and P County's receed that uh you may be eligible for yeah I was just going to say I toured this issue myself on on riverdrive where this resident and the others live and that was my suggestion is to see if there are any grants you know even small ones that might provide some relief to the people there on Rock Rockway River he mentioned the retaining W starting to be built was a retaining wall started and then it was stopped I don't what that is that was 19 like like like Jim said 19 actually started in 84 I think but the completion of the wall was 1986 so you know in the in the past what happened in that area and I think it might have been your NE neighbor I'm not quite sure was 200 River Road um it had Conant flooding and at that time um the Army Corps engineer the cost would outweigh um outweigh the township so we purchased the house and we you know we we took it down and because there was no way it would cost us a lot less to purchase the house than it would to build the wall at that time that might be different now um you know because I I see where I know exactly where you live sir I know the area well and um you know there is flooding in that area there's no doubt about it but I think what we need to do like like Jamie said is just have uh him meet with our Township engineer I don't know if they ever offered to purchase your house or not I think they might have in the past I could be wrong if they did May sorry sorry to interrupt if they did it's the blue Acres programs if they and they are uh the state and the D and the federal government FEMA they're moving towards uh doing that more actively and the blue Acres programs are now much better than they used to be it used to be uh you would get the value of the home after the flooding damage um now you get market value so it's a much better uh course of action if that's something you're considering but the county also has a lot of information on these programs too and that's exactly what we did in 19 2011 um like the administrator said what happened was the the flood in Lake kwat the 500 a storm I think there was 82 homes that um were substantially damaged and when it become substantially damaged it's the market value prior to the storm um and we got a grant at that time for $7.2 million from the federal government but when we got that grant that we had to buy the houses out or the the um residents would not receive any dollars whatsoever and we wouldn't receive it either so once something substantially damaged and that's how the Army Corp that's how these flood mitigation things get set settled that way um so I don't know if you got flooded out in 2011 cuz that was a bad flood over there so I I remember it well okay any other uh resident good evening uh I'm Dak I live in glenm uh first of all I'll thank the council members from May uh for taking a big action against the I me to take a big action against the developer for the roads I really appreciate that and look forward for Qui resolation on that uh my my main concern here like what brought me to I was here earlier I'm going to talk about the vac and plan in Seasons GL Drive uh where which was supposed to be a part but let me make it clear I'm not talking about or asking anything about the uh part here right in the last meeting few months back when I was here I raised the concern about that property not being maintained at all right and it still Remains the Same now can you speak closer to the mic sir oh uh is it better now yeah all right so now now it's still not being maintained at all uh now we have at least like 3 to 4 foot of grass and we have wildlife and I myself cited the bar on the very same place few years ago and kids uh school bus stop is right there and my friends and neighbors were writing to May's Action Center you know about it and we are getting conflicting information about who owns the property right so my first question is like uh can we get clarified on who owns the property and if it's the Builder who's owning the property uh while there is no action being taken against a person who's not maintaining the property and what what is that the township can do to get that maintain for our safety you can just ask you to take a seat sir after you sign in thank you mayor if you'd like to respond yeah the property doesn't belong to the township it belongs to the same developer uh with regards to that and I from what I understand the developer was contacted uh but I I think the zoning official and um I don't I don't think they're going to cut it um that's what that's what that's what I was getting um but I will find out more from and I'll get a hold of I guess if I have one contact VJ po user if I call you with regards to they want to do now the property in 2017 they were going to give the property to the Township okay so then the new mayor came in and then and you have to do this you have no you have no choice you have to do environmental phase one study and they did not want that to happen so the township could not take that property uh we can't use uh we can't take property that doesn't have Environmental Studies uh so that's what happened there so we don't own it it's owned by the developer okay any uh any other member of the public good evening Council good evening mayor uh prip kin Dan Glen mon Commons just trying to follow up on the positive message the mayor gave and the council approved of the mayor's stance uh just trying to understand what is the timing do you expect to kind of file a legal action the only reason I ask is I you know don't want to be asking the question follow-up question one month down the road when he said it's going to take us two to three months right but that's my only question thank you so much yeah it it should be imminent uh I'd have to talk to Michael Avery on the specifics of it but I think we anticipated this coming so it shouldn't take long and council president just to point to clarication Mike is is sick um but he is working so he should be able to be working on this this week okay thank you I'm sure Wade will talk to him tomorrow yeah so hello mayor and all the council members again I'm from Glenmont Community uh again for with respect to the same question uh thanks that you're going to sue the developers that's a good initiative you said it will not take too long but we would like to have a due date maybe whether it could get done by end of June month or by June 15th or July 15th or some date so that we know that's a due date within that due date the Sue documents everything has gone to the developer so we know that from that day onwards we can count that okay when we would get the response back yeah I think we should get a complaint out within the next two weeks at a minimum okay so by July 15th it would okay I just don't want to back and forth if you can just answer the question so uh so he said in two weeks if there's anything else you want to say I just wait till don't answer he's finished you have any other questions sir yeah I I have one more question so once the Sue documents have is it a public document where we get to see it and third point is uh again I live in a single family home we have no relationship with the developer uh so any any sort of uh public uh support or any documents we need to sign as a residents who are paying the tax and we have to do anything against the developer we are open we are almost 175,000 and average parip pen or mean property tax mod people are paying heads almost 5 to 6,000 and we are paying almost more than $155,000 so we need some actions on it and uh just from the township attorney perspective so last time for the meeting it took 9 months the place where we work we all work if we are not doing anything with respect to our work we get L out we not taking action right away they take so we need some proper quick action on this at least by next year we need a response from the developer or they they should pay for the compensation or the road should be done thank you you're welcome thank you sir wait if you'd like to answer that yeah and as it relates to the uh documents being public record anything filed with the courts are public record so you can have access to those any other [Music] member good evening my name is markk philhower I live at 590 Veil Road caty corner from the old high school um my wife and I'm here to correct what might be a misunderstanding if not then that's great um my wife and I went to the mayor's Roundtable um we were expecting or hoping for a really wide ranging discussion of pros and cons of Pilots um we came away disappointed that um there was very little opportunity for questions um when we got home we decided to write a letter expressing our disappointment we sent that letter to two local websites um and then we heard through the grapevine and here I'm hoping it's not the case but that there was a suspicion that we had not written the letter letter that we had just attached our names to a letter that somebody told us would be written for us um so I'm here to say that gay and I wrote every letter of that that letter that's my one no one who knows either of us would question our Walkers reciting our credentials would not be necessary but there may be some who doubt so here goes my wife taught English literature and writing as a grad student for two years at Monclair State another five years as an instructor at the College of Staten Island while she worked on her doctorate she had an article published in a professional Journal presented her work at a meeting of the modern literary Association following her academic career they turned her talents to Medical writing and editing her Works has been presented at medical conferences and published on online on websites such as WebMD during my 304 years of teaching and coaching at Montville Township High School I wrote many letters of recommendation to colleges and for scholarships I took my responsibility seriously and worked at writing letters that expressed the strengths of each individual student as hedge coach for cross country and track for many years I had to present the most value and most improved Awards to my top athletes before an audience of several hundred parents and athletes though there was no one to ghost right my speeches they were always well received if someone doubts that we were the authors of the letter that we put our names to they should have come to our house and talked with us that they didn't is a shame literally Mark Phil Hammer and gay Bole thank you for your attention council president may I please respond yes go ahead uh first Mr Phil Hower you were outside protesting if I'm correct actually I'm sorry I hold on I apologize Mr Phil how's before you start we just make sure that Mr Phil Howard takes a seat and then I will ask you to respond mayor need you to take a seat sir thank you okay so now um like I said Mr far I saw my own eyes maybe you weren't protesting but you're actually protesting so um one question I would ask you and I can talk to you offline if you handed something like this out because I know the councilman did uh a great par a great place to work play and Bri uh public officials so if you handed that out uh I don't know if you did or didn't uh I would like to know now um um if you did write the letter to the together that's that's that's fine but also there was comments made with regards to the fact that the mayor's against affordable housing and you tried to make me look like a goat and I'm against affordable housing and you had every opportunity in that meeting to come up and say something and speak at the round table but you didn't do that um so you wrote a letter to the Ed instead of coming up we would have taken your question that's number one uh number two um I'm against high density housing there's a difference between affordable housing and high density and that's what's being shoved down our throat I'm an affordable housing administrator I got certified with r University um I understand you we need affordable housing but what's going to be rammed down perp Thro and that was the whole idea of that meeting was to have mayors that are going through the same thing that I'm going through and you know those Mayors contacted me they wanted us to do something together we're doing more I have uh I can't tell how many Mays in Bergen County that loved what we did we let the public know instead of all the misinformation you were getting you got the right information and there was some may up there that actually didn't wouldn't do pilot programs why because their Community has doesn't lose as much pipany would lose okay but that mayor also said maybe if I was the mayor of pipany we would have to do pilots why with a largest Suburban Corporate Center in the state of New Jersey I have right here these are vacant buildings in parcion 11 water view 15 Waterview Boulevard 100 Kimble Drive 200 Kimble Drive 30 landed decks six silven 169 lacana which we hope to get off and 30 Lander decks um and then you have um I got these today DSM over across the street here they're probably going to be leaving as well wind them hotels so what does the town do ignore it no cuz if we ignore it you think your taxes are high now they're going to be H because you're going to take the burden that's what the meeting was about it wasn't about anything out and I read all the letters to the editor and everyone that wrote a letter to the other could if they were there I know you were there um you could have come up and spoke and every mayor and myself would have answered you and I I will speak to offline and I will show you the things that we're facing in the future uh and Paran is facing so if we want to sit here and ignore the fact that we're losing ratables we can do that and if we want to sit here and ignore that we're not going to do pilots we can do that too but when the shift goes from 60% residential to and 40% um commercial to 70% residential and 30% that's what's going to happen you're not going to see I think it's co-star is the name of um the real estate um firm you're not going to see recovery to 20 2040 and we have to do something and we're being proactive uh and stuff like that so Mr Phil Howard I would love to speak to you offline because you seem like a really nice guy um and I know exactly where you live across the street over there you always wave when you see me sometimes and I appreciate that sir we we can't have any if you want to talk to the mayor offline you can we can't have any back and forth though that's that's our rule we could talk right after the meeting any other member of the public Richard Suarez parci um couple of things couple of quick things uh Mr cryan I still haven't received any information from your office I know it's busy graduations etc etc so if you can get back to me before the next meeting I'd appreciate it yes sir um we just had a tree go down I think on on null road and it caused Havoc for a while from what I understand um last summer there were eight or 10 trees cut down on North beverick between Route 46 and Veil road because they were obviously a hazard for some unknown reason there's still another eight or 10 trees on that same road that they hopscotched past and they're in as bad or worse shape than the trees were last year I just don't see what the Rhyme or Reason was to cut down some on a street and take care of that whole issue on that street and leave others M maybe there's a reason I don't know the last thing I want to bring up and I think we can all all agree on this and I know Route 46 is is a state road and we recently had another person killed at at that in intersection and I know it's the state road but couldn't the city contact somebody in njdl about improving the sight lines there the sight lines whether you're coming off of um uh off of uh North beverick make making the right or if you're continuing from east to west on Route 46 the sight lines are bad there's also no bus stop where the people get get off on on the westbound Lanes now I have seen people in bad weather because there is is no bus stop charge across the um um uh Street there maybe if there was a bus stop if at least if we could get a bus stop people could wait and not you know run out in in into the street if the weather's bad and I think it would be something that the town maybe could push the dot on a little bit and I also think that that whole intersection there going from east to to West on both sides of North bever there it's it's just I mean there's no Sidelines there that that that are adequate for lack of a better word and if anybody here could do something in that about that so we don't have someone else get named or lose their life I think it would be a worthwhile thing to do thank you thank you um we will reach out to the um the do with regards to that site I know exactly what you're talking about um at the bus stop used to be where St peters's was is but I think that would be the side going west found and where the gentleman got hit was more toward Starbucks um the I think the only thing that we might be able to do and ask them to do is and I don't know if this is something the residents want is to extend that fence that's exactly that's the that's that's one of the biggest problems we have um and they and they would actually you know if we make that recommendation then we got to live with it mayor can you just clarify the intersection just for the record the intersection that you stated which intersection was that that's the corner of um baldman Road and um what do you call that with a bus stop going westbound on on what do you call over it's actually not too far from where the gentleman got hit all right sorry you're talking further down North oh you're talking about there two SES okay we'll look at both any other member of the public good evening I'm Bridget kazeto um I just like to touch on the mayor's Round Table um I was standing outside um the round table that night mayor and you did say that those people standing outside should talk to you face to face um and there was um they they did leave a few minutes at the end of the meeting for questions um and I could have asked a question um but you know I had to like read the room and I didn't want to come off aggressive and everyone seemed to be in a good mood so I decided to write a letter and it was suggested I guess last I wasn't at the last council meeting that I didn't write the letter and that's okay but um I write lots of letters to person and um and I don't want to be a coward and hide behind a letter um because I don't put my name on anything I don't believe in and that goes to a lot of things I've written to person Focus um and the thing um what I was upset about um the reason why I wrote the letter excuse me is because of um when the pilots came up and when we heard that John Ino was part of you know several of the dealings representing several several of the um it just it brought me back to 2017 and I've said this before at Council meetings that to me is what lost your election I he this town has paid him millions of dollars and it caused so much controversy controversy and I understand that you're going to say that it has this hasn't it's just you don't like the word corruption I completely understand that but it's to me it's unethical um and I feel that um I feel that if if this if parity leadership is going to continue to somehow find a way to still be in bed with John engino then we're going to have to need new leadership and that's how I feel and um it was hard tonight to speak because it was it's hard to follow those young police officers being sworn in and um and I don't I want to be respectful but I did write the letter and that's how I feel that's fine okay now I'm going to respond um this is the same campaign in 2017 that the former mayor ran with regards to John Angelino um and now councilman Melle is doing the same thing and the individual that spearheads it I don't know if you know who he is his name is Tom Jones um you know he's not here to defend himself but I hope he does come to a meeting with regards to you know the whole engino thing just so you know John J Lan's attorney okay that's what he does for a living he's met with all the council members they all know he's a lus attorney um I've just recently met I can't tell you about how many developers and guess what they're most likely going to look for a pilot and they're most likely going to look and if they don't get it they're going to leave it's not a John engino thing for me it's not whatsoever but I get doing an election you got to use something um and that's fine use it all you want cuz you're going to get the truth from me um when someone writes a letter to the editor I will respond to it but I don't respond with letters to the editor I respond in a way like when you guys came up I'm going to talk to you offline I'm going to be very candid cuz that's just the way I am I'm going to be very up front and I'm going to just give you the scenario what's going to happen to Paran if you think it's John Ling Lino then they they really I don't know what they did to you but it's not it's precip is a lot bigger than any of us up here in even John Lino it's a lot bigger I've been here since 1964 I've watched it grow I watched the things that take place I watched the ICS in the past and this is all political right now I don't have time to be political I have to I have to I have the time to fix this town that's all I can do and that's what I'm going to do I mean just recently I mean you know I you know we're getting accused of a assassination plot you got to be joking me what the heck is this town coming [Music] to I mean you know I'm going to respond to that tonight that is kindly ridiculous so and I'm not going to sit down and let this happen and say okay well you know I'm not going to let this happen but this is kind of that's not par cpony that's not parpy at all so but you can disagree with me I have no issue with that and that's fine anybody here can disagree with me when he say there an assassination plot that's a little off the rails it's kind of ridiculous ma'am if I could just add obviously people in here probably know that you know I haven't always seen eye to eye with Mr engo myself but you have to remember these developers he represents the developers they're the ones that hire him so we as a town cannot tell you as a developer you can't do business in precipi if you're going to have him as your attorney that's just something we cannot do legally so that's you know he they hire him that's their return we have no control over that whatsoever well I think what's important here and the mayor is just clearly desperate to deflect from the fact that um a a very controversial figure in his previous administration was the sole beneficiary of all of the pilot deals while he was doing business with the town so you can mention every single name you can try and run away from the fact but you were directly responsible for why people perceive what took place in December as so dirty and as so compromised and you can run away from it but the residents in this room are never going to forget it okay so I'm going to respond to that this is the gentleman that went out with that same guy the Capitol Grill on several occasions knew these were going to be it's notal we need Li detector it is true it is true prove it how dare you say that I I'll say what I want to say just a fact without proof you meet with himay I nobody's going to enough enough enough you can have your turn after he talks good God but he knew about these pilots from day one told but he needed an issue that's what he needed that's all it was so on December 28th the professionals couldn't be heard cuz he was too busy texting come to my meeting cancel it cancel the meeting you made it a unconditional place to be at and December 19th you know what I meeting was canceled because of him the meeting of December 19th this could all have been cleared Loretta grani was scared for because of the way some of the individuals are acting that were with him that's unacceptable you've Liv in this town for 3 years and you come here thinking you can just go throw anything that's going to stick to the wall it's not going to stick to the wall with me and this assassination plot are you kidding me holy cist you can make all no I'm going to read I'm going to read the report to the record you can go you go out you go to you can make every single personal attack you want which is the line is this not issues that people care about that's what we're doing tonight we're talking about pilot talking about this do me favor meet morning let's go to the prosecutor's office go ahead go ahead go ahead people felt that that intire process was compromised by figures who benefited directly from all of the deals you had the commercial real estate broker who benefited from the sale of the property which was the spokesperson at that palal meeting and then you had the attorney who was representing the developers and doing business with the town at the same time and maybe there was a universe where we could have talked about how a pilot could have been beneficial for the no no you didn't you started off on a rush process you didn't want to have the public so let's just be clear about the facts and what took place so let me ask you a question did your secret service here today CU I'll I'll say that for my my closure statement let's just bring it up now let's just go right now you let's move on now you know I'm hearing a lot here about you know those taking benefits from developers well I'm just going to say this you know two of us up here are adly against uh the developer for Glen we wanted to go after him one person didn't we're not friends with that developer that person is that's a fact and if anyone up here says it's not I'll deny it what are you insinuating I'm not insinuating anything you are saying something I'm saying you wanted to continue litigating about this there's nothing to litigate we get enough with this developer it's time for us to go after him and let me be clear if any developer does something wrong by our residents in a court of law we can prove that I don't care who who the developer is I'm happy to support that what I asked for was I asked for how much would it cost and how long would it take if that outcome will produce a better result for our residents I'll happily support it so don't get it twisted no I'm not getting it twisted I know what I heard and basically we need to go after the developer so at this can we move on yeah so um any other member from the public if you'd like to come up please do so at this time we have quite a few members so we'll go ahead and point you guys out Atty for San 41 Robin Hood Road moris points New Jersey I like to thank the mayor for having the Council of Mayors meeting we got was cl to the m it was very informative uh to it uh I also liked the last panel meeting Frank N made a comment about uh corruption and going to the prc's office which you didn't want to do uh so you're in agreement for First Amendment rights I'm going to issue My First Amendment rights I have a view sir so I just face to face and I keep my can you just go into the uh talk to the mic please and most of you know as Council people I keep it face to to face and when it's untrue and people are being ridiculed for it and trying to say p I'm a resident here 40 years that's not you sorry last last person thank you Council and we'll be working okay any other member of the [Music] public uh Nick comc Lake Kai wat uh there's a good book out I suggest you all reading it's called The Quiet coup in neoliberal neoliberalism in the Looting of America by mashra par parad Daran and yes there is a lot of things that going on in the background and my contention with the 30-year pilot deals was you were helping a man like John angino who RI this town before enforce the same regressive tax system like you say the the developers are going to pull out we're not going to have any money and you're going to pay well that's what America's all about now the people who have the money don't pay we pay and I'm going to give you an example this Warehouse that they're trying to stick in 2030 ladex right they don't want a pilot deal because warehouses are the hottest thing going and the things that this developer would have to do to squeeze that warehouse into an inappropriate location by a Schoolhouse by a residential neighborhood the storm water will probably affect the lake it's a totally inappropriate location but this developer is going to go Full Speed Ahead and he's going to get all the contractors lined up and you know why cuz he's gone on make a lot of money cuz it's a warehouse so yeah what are you going like this for I'm going to I'm going to resp trying to get AE no back and forth at this time between the public and the in the council Mr Mel there wasn't even a you said a protest that little thing out there with the signs that was a mild demonstration not a protest and we even had the police there like what was going to happen like we're not civilized we're from pacify we're with our councilman what are we going to do because cause a riot cause a riot I remember when engino when he just started with his spiel about the affordable housing he started off with the norc riots you know how it started Mount Holly a black neighborhood free blacks living in New Jersey even since before the Civil War and they jacked up their taxes and they said you can't pay the taxes you're out of here and they won the law suit and then everything got out of control so you know you can't be best friends with your enemy unless your enemy you're going to stick them in the back later and that's what engino did to this town with those 30-year pilot deals and nobody knew anything blank Space Blank Space yeah nobody there was no language for anybody to read and you wondered why people were upset and and I don't care what you say you talk to anybody who knows John losino from Rock away when he was the mayor they don't have anything good to say about the guy he's a developers attorney he's not in our best interest and he proved it when he was here and I can go on and on about it but I won't but thank you councilman Mella for uh being diligent and standing with the people against the corporation and their attorney thank you okay I'm going I need to respond to that counil President this time let let me just make one thing clear uh with Nick with regards to the warehouse um first and foremost that if the developer comes with an application for a warehouse that's that's what the developer wants or you're going to get the housing you got to decide you want a warehouse and so you know the warehouse market is starting to decline um square footage wise at least um or do you want housing that's that's the trade-off um somebody owns that property just like uh uh Waterview Waterview plaza where you when we went to try to get a grant um a $7.5 million Grant and you get you're shaking you have about I was at the meeting with you a 7.5 million Grant to purchased the the 3 26 Acres we had two protesters there and Nick was one of them um and we didn't get the grant mendum got it $10 million we got nothing so what happens on May no March 10th 2015 the Supreme Court came out with their affordable housing ruling and that property went from a $7.5 million Worth to $25 million but we couldn't afford $25 million to purchase it so now what you have over there is a Whole Foods okay at that time though it was Farmland assessed the property is Farmland assessed which mean we were receiving I think like $1,400 a year in taxes and the schools got 63% of that and I think they got $1,200 a year now the schools get $630,000 a year on that site we get about a million a million dollars in Revenue positive Revenue why we don't have we don't have to maintain it we don't have to pick up their garbage we don't do anything and no school AG children okay so when we try to do something right uh Nick's at the county with us uh and he's fighting against us getting a $7.5 million Grant I can't figure that out I mean it just doesn't make sense to me I I no no no yelling no yelling from the audience Mr homc thank you all you can speak to him offline uh all right uh with that with that with that being said uh any other member from the public okay uh go right ahead man' why don't you why don't you come up come up to the and anyone back here I saw a hand back here if you could just come up to the front you can come up to the front just sit over here hey everybody good evening my name is t gon and I am here because I believe in transparency it's important as somebody that works up and down New Jersey I want to ensure that residents particularly Morris County where I grew up and I have an affinity forn will if you could just face face us absolutely have that full transparency so Justin you claim that you are against the developers you're not Mr development is this not you April 30th at a large networking event specifically designed to network with developers is it not true who which was hosted right by Matt gillson who is an attorney what kind of attorney land use and Redevelopment did he not and are you not making deals with him that if you were to be in a different position here in parney that he would be the land use attorney so you claim and were you not honored with Holly shapy who is known for her overdevelopment in Bergen County by Developers feel free to respond well my first question would be is where do you currently reside if you're if you're done if you can sit down it doesn't matter yeah well well if you could say for the record where you're from that would be great no I would like she doesn't well let me speak to you let me speak to your points I am not anti-development I am pro- free market and there's a very big difference that doesn't mean I believe taxpayers should subsidize developers but I welcome every single business to come and invest in this town because we also do have to recognize that we have serious issues here and we need to bring in new ratables but I don't believe it should be done on the back the backs of the taxpayers and then in regards to your other stuff it's absolute false hearsay nonsense so uh you can keep coming to every council meeting but we all know you're not from Pary okay Danielle valenzano I've been attending these meetings pretty regularly lately I have a few things I would like to mention when I was at the last meeting councilman Mella was confronted by Frank neglia for accusing a board member of taking bribes very serious accusation to my surprise Mella did not deny it and instead seemed to justify it by telling us about a meeting that was held on December 28th where he claims 900 people showed up and he didn't like the way it was handled he was then asked to bring the name of the accused and a police officer to mayor's office the next day so they could be dealt with or apologize to our disappointment Mella turned and said that is not going to happen this is outrageous outrageous behavior for a councilman on the night of the meeting that the councilman loves to talk about and brag about he called upon an incited and angry mob of people in an to exceed occupancy hoping to have a legitimate and legal council vote shut down a stunt like that could have caused a dangerous environment for the attendees I know it caused quite a headache for the fire marshal and this conduct is completely irresponsible and Unbecoming of a sitting councilman since taking office Mr Mella has done nothing but obstruct back door the very Council he was elected to sit upon as an elected official his job requires him to to make unbelievably tough decisions for the greater good of the entire Community not just the ones you agree with but instead he Dodges his obligations by trying to derail meetings thumbing everything down and instead holds his own office hours at coffee houses leaving the not popular tough decisions for the rest of the council to handle so he looks like a hero to the public as you all know Mel's Antics have earned him the nickname fre which is the character in the movie The Godfather very recently my husband was approached by police officers over a comment on Facebook where he compared the part of the movie to Mel's tanking political career the police report said that Mr Mella felt as though my husband's movie comment could have been an assassination plot against him Yes you heard that an assassination plot by that cute little guy right over there Mr Mella was as we found out encouraged and egged on by a man named Dennis lets I have no idea what let's agenda is or how he is tied to Mella but I believe we're going to find out soon enough I find the councilman to be derelict in his duties as he has neither successfully participated with the council to push forth any serious action nor has he successfully stopped any action presented to the council so essentially he has rendered himself lame duck once again we the people are pissed off I find myself saying that a bit I came here tonight to ask that Mr Mel step down or resign his position on the council as he has failed to serve the community that elected him he has also failed to support or substantiate his ridiculous accusations about the council member taking bribes and this supposed assassination plot if he not steep down I believe the council should pursue charges against him for the greater good of this community because if someone in his position or a Mr lets can throw accusations around unchecked you can just imagine what either one of them would do if they were handed any power at all well a lot of that is just outright silly so to answer your last uh your T your your last charge no of course I'm not going anywhere I'm going to stay and continue doing the work that the people of this town elected me to do whether you like it or [Music] not good evening mayor council members my name is Deon Shera uh Glenmont comments uh resident I moved in the community in 2016 beautiful Town love it 20 I'm not sure of the timeline but 2017 sometime there was a um inauguration for a vacant land um was supposed to be a fallen officer's name I do not remember uh that was supposed to be inaugurated for uh that was the uh mayor barbaria was present with a billboard with beautiful Park sign um council members were there there was a female council member who is retired actually uh uh my kid was there actually and uh and and we were as a resident promised that there'll be a beautiful park there actually currently as one of the resident mentioned 5 ft tall grass actually requires attention um somehow while that event was happening um previous mayor Sorano was also running against Barbaro had passed his business card to me and says whatever that guy is uh promising you I'm going to go ahead and do uh unfortunately L barbaria didn't win the election um and Sorano came in um and the sign somehow has uh had disappeared after 3 months that beautiful full sign disappeared after 3 months actually and every day we drove by with a child in the back seat dad is there a Park coming over here what's going on and then as we Pro Sano every month same thing there there might be some issue with the land okay we'll figure it out we'll figure it out his term ended and during that period actually I I'd mentioned to Sano that I'll donate funds to have uh EPA testing done I was told by Sorano that the township is financially capable to do so uh and we'll come up with the results never happened look I mean the administration after Administration changes actually okay it's a small little Park basically just a it's a it's a it's a corner land who owns we understand come on I mean if it's a 5T grown grass actually if I have as a resident do not maintain my front property the township will come in and give me a summons it happens and another property in Belleville which I rented out in Jersey City which I rented out uh we get summonses we pay for these things why can't these developers receive the summonses that's number one okay whether the park has not happened let let's come to the terms help the residents okay safety is a number one one issue absolute uh valid point that there's a wild animals coming out actually kids are there help us doing that that's Point number one actually Point number two at that uh uh during sorano's Administration several times I'd mentioned to him about the road safety issues as well actually and uh it's like a constant history repeating okay there a six seven years of same issues over and over for 9 months we kind of grouping together the same number of people actually from Glenmont common com commment coming over and requesting these things now after this long we at least came to the term that uh we'll go ahead and suo the developer what the results will be we do not know okay but we'll come we'll go ahead and Sue that's a good direction that we're taking we need concrete results if as a uh a responsible resident I don't pay taxes I'll be in trouble with the government I don't maintain the property I'll be in trouble with the government if I have a broken uh uh water line I get it fixed by the third party vendor uh and there's a 2T road that I need to fix that belongs to per se it's not even does not even belong to the city but City will come in and give me a $500 summons every day until I get it fixed sir time times up I understand but let's let's come to the terms we're going to keep on coming here to represent actually but we need these responsible come and change something for us thank you for your time thank you sir any other member of the public okay um come on up Sir can you get the answer for this question uh that's at the discretion of the mayor and Council uh if you'd like if they don't answer you can always approach them after the meeting can you uh the question about the the grass being 5 feet high is there anything we can do about that or I'll send them tomorrow yeah we'll send somebody there tomorrow okay thank [Music] you so my name is Saro JMP I'm also a glenan lifelong president uh thanks for your public service I have a followup question to the legal issue that we talked about earlier has been 20 years I'm glad that legal action has is being initiated but in the meantime we all know that may take few months or sever years right is there a plan to maintain these roles on a monthly basis on a quarterly basis to make sure that they're safe right now I'm sure all of you know that they're not safe we're paying taxes as you were several times from from my accounts so is there a concrete action plan that you can come up with just to maintain roads right to be safe and can we sit with you in the office and figure this thing out I'm a former professional licensed in ch this could be done in a heartbeat right so like a response for this placee from anyone oh you get um you can meet with me in my office like I said I just have I I will contact VJ because it's EAS to contact one individual with regards to that and um we we try to maintain them we plow them and all that kind of stuff uh to keep them safe as we can I I get um but once the lawsuit goes in we're going to we're going to come up with a plan um so I'll keep I'll stay in touch with VJ and BJ you can you know you know go within your community and let us know and then we will set up a meeting any other member of the public have anything okay seeing no one can I entertain a motion to close the public second motion made by Mr neglia seconded by Mr Mella roll call Mr Mella yes Mr neglia yes Mr kifi yes okay the floor is closed moving on to the consent agenda be resolved all items listed with an N strict are considered routine and noncontroversial by the township Council will be approved by one motion there will be no separate discussion of these items unless a council member s request in which case the item will be removed from the consent agenda and considered in its normal sequence on the agenda motion to approve the consent agenda please motion second motion made by Mr neglia seconded by Mr muella roll call Mr muella yes Mr neglia yes Mr kifi yes motion passes moving along to the approval of minutes uh we have won the agenda meeting of May 7th 2024 and then uh the regular meeting of May 21st 2024 motion to approve the minutes please yes make a motion second motion made by Mr muella seconded by Mr neglia roll call Mr muella yes Mr mlia yes Mr Ki yes motion passes I'm moving on to presentations and reports mayor thank you CDE with regards to the uh June 10th mayor's Round Table uh which was a success I a lot of residents have reached out to me to do it again um and other Town Mayors want that weren't there want to do it again so we're going to pick another venue in par siany here um I expect to have a much bigger crowd so we're going to get a bigger place to do it in um I we we got a lot of accolades on it uh the information uh session was very good um and like Bridget said uh some Mayors from other towns took questions and you know we all cooperated the next day and they they everybody was every every mayor was happy about it h happy that we could all work together uh because we have you know an albatross in our hands most mostly when it comes to affordable housing um and high density housing really that's what it comes down to uh so I'm going to um hopefully get the Mayors in Baron County involved and Mayors all over the state because um we got to do something because pipan is going to get hit the hardest now and with regards to like we said we have 462 units to carry over right now we might have an additional 150 on top of that 463 if um other projects that were already approved in 200 I think it was 19 20 don't get done they'd be carried over to 20 uh 25 and if we don't have our plan ready by June 30th of 2025 um we're going to be sued by the developers uh they're going to go for um Builder remedy and when you have a Builders remedy lawsuit um I know a lot of people don't like to hear this uh because you tell them the truth and they get upset uh Builders remedy lawsuit is once you lose it you lose all your zoning um your planning powers and everything like that and the judges and these affortable housing um decisions make the decisions for your town and that's a fact I mean that's a fact that's not something to ignore um I forget is it West Milford to Milburn one of those milburn's going through it right now because they ignored their obligation for 30 years and now the courts are kind of come down hard on them and that's what we don't want to par we want to be able to control what we can control uh the C of property uh I'll explain to you what that is that's an attractive land on off a no Road um we finally um finalized it and now the township owns 5.4 Acres of it and prior to that we purchased 11 acres and this here um what do you call makes the whole track of land um open space and one of the things we're looking to do is passive Recreation um Recreation for special needs and stuff like that no ball fields or anything like that will be going on there um so I'm pretty um H happy about that that that took a long time to uh to facilitate because you know we had a a tough negotiator who wanted more than really property was worth so um that being said we did speak about glemont common roads and with the action we're going to take and the overgrown grass we talked about that and the action we're going to take with that uh summer concerts our first summer concert was um this last weekend it was very very good uh this week we have um what's the name of them they the next band is Twilight the desirables uh so disciples disciples I can't read my own handwriting disciples um I got to tell you it's well attendant because we have the Farmers Market at the same time now we moved our conest from Thursday to Friday so people can enjoy the farmers market have something to eat and then enjoy the concert um I gave you also if you're going away call our Pro R PD for the um summer Watch program they you notify them they watch your house over the period of time that you're away um right Chief so um he's out there himself um I read I did get into about the vacant buildings that we have and more that are coming here in pipany um so I'm going to give an update with that probably every month because um I spoke to the tax assessor today and we're looking at possibly a few more tax appeals and and I do believe what what you say that we're going to have tax Appeals um um from Glenmont Commons as well so we we have to you know prepare for on any type of tax appeals we have um Economic Development um I'm thinking about creating the mayor's uh committee on economic development and um you know I'm going to have certain individuals on it Township planner tax assessor zoning official a business owner School Board member um Economic Development chairman um all involved in it um and we take it to the next level uh because we have to do something here in Pony and if we don't um you know and I think you know when you put those individuals the zoning officers and everybody in place um so that's that and that's my report for tonight coun oh also as you know we have water restrictions from June 1st through September 30th for residential and for commercial as well non-residential ones so you know adhere to the um the rules and then on July 4th is our summer concert and we have the big rock show I can tell you right now they a phenomenal band they come from California one of the members grew up here in Paran I know him well I used to play with him as uh we both are musicians uh he's much better than me but I I might play that concert with him because it's been a long time since we played but it's time to enjoy ourselves enjoy life enjoy you know the residence and that's what I plan on doing um and I think that's it council president thank you mayor just a quick question I know in Economic Development um you know cannabis has discussed as a new Revenue Source just trying to see where we're at with that yeah we're going to um have it in the first meeting in July what happened was we had a meeting um and there was a lot of stuff left out uh what I wanted to be discussed and it wouldn't be ready for this meeting here so we're going to have it for the first meeting in July Township Council I just uh want to say I I I received the report from um Mr cry regarding crime in town and I have to say I was very impressed by it our crime is down our crime against persons is down 33% our crimes against property is down 26% and our crimes against Society is down 25% for a total of almost 28% Dro in crime and uh I think that's really good that's putting us in the right direction um I I'm going to assume Chief you can Nodge your head having more police officers is a big help for that because that puts more police officers on the street and in presence and as we all know a police officer's presence is a deterrent against Crime and uh I just want to say thank you for your hard work and uh you know thank you mayor for having the insight to hire much many more police officers and I hope we get some more because the more the better in my opinion I I want to see this you know go down as low as possible I think you guys are doing a great job and thank you council president do you have an update no um well I first just want to on a positive note I want to thank every single person that's reached out to Courtney and I congratulated us on our news um of you know our baby that's doing December really touched by all the emails and text messages and and calls that we received and uh we can't wait wait to raise a you know baby boy here um you know the the other matter I just wanted to follow up on is uh you know for those who are not aware I was scheduled to speak to the lake hawaa seniors at the uh upcoming August meeting at the senior center um but then the president of the club was told that I am not allowed in the building and I did email the administration in our Township attorney to try and do the right thing first which was address this privately but I didn't get any response so I just wanted to see what the answer was council president sure um there was a a memo sent out by mayor today that uh mirrored this Mir uh memo that went out from uh uh former mayor Sorano uh talking about the roles um and how uh Council people can deal with the employees um everything goes through the mayor's office office uh or a business administrator um on mayor's behalf uh so if you're looking to have a meeting at uh uh the community center uh you would go to the mayor's office on that that's to avoid kind of what we saw tonight and and like you know we're starting to enter a silly season with politics and all of that stuff trying to keep the politics out of public service so and trying to uh uh Shield employees as much as possible uh from that so anything after hours is allowed to be political anything during uh business hours we're trying to uh minimize the politics of it well I understand where you're coming from and I agree with you in our form of government town hall employees department heads answer up to you no no dispute about that but this is a different case this is private organization that meets at public property regularly and to their knowledge has never been told that they can't have a speaker come to their meeting so why is it that myself a resident and a taxpayer can't speak to them on public property at a private meeting of residents with no employees there bottom line is this um with regards to the community center which is a public building your intentions aren't to be update your intentions to be political I spoke to the lady I don't even go in there I'm not political I discuss all they discuss is I I'll talk about the budget and all that kind of stuff I I you know and that's what that that bill is f now if you want to go meet them at a private setting that's fine you can do that well well mayor you just said it you you can go and speak to them about non-political issues I was invited to go with the no you weren't invited they told me you invited yourself I I was invited to speak and we were not there to talk politics I was there to talk about the work that I've been doing so well the last meeting you had there that's not exactly what they told me um so I'm trying to avoid that but no be that as it may be that as it may Justin am I not allow are you saying that I don't have a constitutional right to go meet right here we go you're the only one that has constitutional rights but nobody else does we're not allowed to have freedom of speech but you are mayor you can scream and yell at people but we can't but mayor that's how that's how it is you have I can't speak to what letter you sent to M Lavery or the specifics of the situation but it's a it's a public building and I if there's any uh public employees in there that are working there so like Kwa seniors there's no Center Senior it's a senior center or employees do work there yeah so are they Township employees that are employing the senior center they're not going to be in this meeting this is a meeting of residents that meets monthly and I was invited to speak so I I I I can't speak about something I don't know we can talk after the meeting as I get more information I can just want the same rights everybody else has of course business administrator thank you council president thank you um just a couple of things I wanted to um mention first uh congratulations to the four uh new uh officers coming on I think they're going to do a great job uh under Chief's leadership um please have been doing thank you to councilman Council vice president negli for mentioning that uh uh the crime stats uh police have been doing a very good job on on uh a number of things in it it does directly have to do with a better presence in the street uh which is more police officers out there so we appreciate you uh recognizing that on the agenda there's a couple of items I wanted to point out there's uh a number of resolutions that uh deal with upgrading our equipment to help serve uh you better um new garbage truck replacing one that was uh uh from 2010 that is done completely done and being held together by you know tape and glue and all that so we're happy that uh uh you're uh considering that um the Troy the hills of Troy playground equipment replacing the place structure there um it's we're replacing very old outdated uh structure uh and updating it um to better serve our residents uh thank you for doing that as well um and a couple of vehicles which are uh definitely needed um I wanted to point out something from uh our last meeting's agenda that uh I didn't have a chance to talk in detail about uh the June 11th agenda uh had uh a resolution Contracting with John Keef Jr Esquire for special counsel for posos litigation we uh did that during an agenda meeting uh because it was We There was a a deadline that we needed to get uh on um the posos is something that has been talked about and you hear about in uh the media and it's something that may not be uh as understandable to most people from my our purposes or for my purposes what I really concern myself with is the environmental issues yes that's something that I deal with with my family and all of that it's the cost that our residents are going to be uh uh that are going to be thrust upon our residents we had our water superintendent come during the budget hearings and talk about the multi-millions of dollars that we will have to do to upgrade our systems in order to uh uh contend with the updated rules and regulations for this so we are Contracting with Keith Law Firm which is known law firm in the state they have represented other municipalities many other municipalities and have won uh uh multi-million dollar lawsuits uh for Tom's River against big corporations that have um you know uh uh been deric in their duties so with this substantial litigation that's ongoing against posos manufacturers uh 3M dupon deur shamur Tao uh they have an expertise in this issue so they should be able to help us with that um and that will generate uh a savings for residents and they will be fighting for that so I just wanted to point that out for you that mayor and Council are uh thinking of other things uh to help make sure that the burden isn't placed on you um and that's all I have thank you just quick question will this attorney give us some guidance to how to comply with posos and um how we're going to have to deal with that yes okay I don't have a report at this time moving along to ordinances first reading ordinance 20241 ordinance of the township Council the township precip nroy Hills County of Mo state of New Jersey amending chapter 205 Highlands Regional master plan of the code of the township precip Troy Hills be it resolved that the above ordinance be introduced read by title passed on first reading at a meeting of the township Council of Township precip Troy Hills held on June 25th 2024 and that sers be further considered for second reading and final passage at a meeting to be held on July 23rd 2024 at 7:00 p.m. prevailing time or soon thereafter as the matter may be reached at the municipal building in set Township at which time all persons interested shall be given an opportunity to be heard concerning set ordinance be further resolved that the clerk be authorized and directed to advertise set ordinance with the notice of introduction thereof being published in the official newspaper according to law motion to approve the above resolution motion second a motion made by Mr neglia seconded by Mr Mella roll call Mr Mel yes Mr neglia yes and Mr kifi yes motion passes moving on to non-consent r224 r224 102 authorizing awarded contract to PM Construction Corporation for pting stone Heights Road reconstruction program phase two in sanitary sewer improvements motion to approve resolution make a motion second motion made by Mr Mella seconded by Mr Negley a roll call Mr Mel yes Mr neglia Mr Ki yes motion passes r224 104 authorizing change order number one final for the 2023 Road resurfacing curb and sidewalk program project awarded to Riverview Paving Incorporated motion to approve the above resolution motion second motion motion made by Mr neglia seconded by Mr muella roll call Mr muella yes Mr neglia yes Mr kifi yes motion passes r224 105 authorizing the purchase of one 2024 Ambulance with options through a national Cooperative purchasing agreement from first priority emergency vehicles motion to approve the above resolution motion second motion made by Mr neglia seconded by Mr Mella roll call Mr uh muella yes Mr neglia yes Mr Ki motion passes r224 106 authorizing the purchase of one Chevy Tahoe utilizing New Jersey state contract motion to approve the above resolution motion second motion made by Mr neglia seconded by Mr Mella roll call Mr Mella yes Mr neglia Mr kifi yes r224 107 authorizing the purchase and installation of playground equipment at the hills of Troy playground motion to approve the resolution motion second motion made by Mr neglia seconded by Mr Mella roll call Mr Mella yes Mr neglia Mr K yes motion passes r224 108 authorizing the purchase of 2 220 2024 4250 vehicles with options motion to approve the above resolution motion second motion made by Mr neglia seconded by Mr Mella roll call Mr Mella yes Mr neglia Mr kifi yes r224 109 authorizing the purchase of uh leech rear rearload re refuse body with options motion to approve the resolution motion motion made by Mr neglia seconded by Mr Mel one roll call Mr Mella yes Mr neglia yes Mr kifi yes r224 110 authorizing the purch of Dennis Eagle proview 4x4 chassis with options motion to approve the above resolution motion motion second motion made by Mr Mella seconded by Mr neglia roll call Mr Mella yes Mr neglia yes Mr Ki yes motion passes moving on to applications for license and permits R 2024 101 approving a new limine license for Royal Coachman Leasing and leros point to point Incorporated motion to approve the resolution make a motion second motion made by Mr Mella seconded by Mr neglia roll call Mr Mella yes Mr neglia yes Mr kifi motion passes r224 103 approving fireworks displayed for Mount Taber Children's Day celebration motion approve second motion made by Mr neglia seconded by Mr Mella roll call Mr Mella yes Mr neglia yes and Mr kifi yes motion passes approval of payroll and bills list CFO Leonard ho recommends authorization for payment number one authorizes pay of the June 21st 2024 regular miscellaneous payroll estimated at 1, 650,000 and number two payment of bills from voucher list of june5 2024 through June 17 2024 which is 3,248 37994 motion to approve the authorization for payment make a motion second motion made by Mr Mella seconded by Mr neglia roll call Mr Mella yes neglia Mr Ki yes may I please have a motion to adjourn the meeting second motion made by Mr neglia seconded by Mr Mella roll call Mr Mella Mr neglia Mr Ki yes okay meeting adjourned have a great night everybody good night everyone good night