[Music] the following is the agenda for the regular burrow council meeting of the B Council L mayor council and Municipal Corporation in the county of to say the meeting will begin at 7:30 p.m. on February 28th 2024 in the municipal building 251 Avenue PPT L is consistent with the open public meetings act the meeting will be open for public comments and shall be in accordance with the terms and conditions of the Burrow's municipal code and bylaws who stand for Flex pled to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation God indivisible liy and justice for all please bless this mayor and Council deliberate them for the best of f lives in conformance with the open public meeting Law Public Law 1975 chapter 231 adequate notice of this meeting setting forth the time date place and purpose of this regular meeting through notice posted on a bulletin board in the municipal building mailed to all have requested and paid for same and publish in the Suburban Trends roll call please thank sir here council president here councilman Cruz here councilwoman Ken here Council here Council here coun here using our attorne Andor Michael okay thank you uh we all just attended a nice ceremony to honor all our firemen that were at the house explosion and our first aid Squad well-deserved honors well-deserved Awards I'm sure everybody will talk about it more but at the end of the day as I said at the site you know these are volunteers in town they put their time and energy in to help the residents of Pompton Lakes and we have to really appreciate what they do on a daily basis from time to time sometimes it's a minor thing and other times it's a house explosion where they could lose their lives so they don't never know what they're getting into when they show up okay can I have a motion to open the meeting for public comments second uh councilwoman Paul Dory councilman Cruz all in favor hi against anyone public like to address seeing no one can I have a motion to close the public session so move council president line councilman venon all in favor I against motion to approve the following minutes regular meeting minutes February 14th closed session meeting minutes February 14th 2024 so move council president dine count uh councilwoman kilberg uh somebody was not here I think last meeting was it you Bobby exuse me soain abstain okay okay all in favor I against motion to approve the following Bill list as stated below can I have a motion motion councilman uh councilwoman councilwoman uh P Dory who was the second councilman venon all in favor I Against before we start resolution 24 135 is being pulled it won't be on the agenda does anybody need any agenda's polls no okay list we as the mayor and bur Council B cons consent agenda consisting of various proposed resolutions whereas the mayor counsel of the burough of p l does desire to remove resolution from Individual action from that now therefore be it resolved that the following resolutions on the consent agenda are hereby approved resolution 24-1 129 through 24-1 143 and resolution 24 135 is C motion to approve the resolutions motion councilwoman Paul adori second council president dine all in favor I against okay [Applause] ordinances okay ordinances will be presented for second reading and final adoption on March 13th ordinance 2410 Bond ordance providing the improvements of various roads in and by the B of contemplation the county of Cade the state of New Jersey appropriated 890,000 therefore and authorizing issuance of 627,000 bonds are no to the bough for financing such appropriation motion to approve ordinance 2410 for introduction so move Council Cruz second councilwoman kilberg all in favor hi hi you have a roll call down here do we need a roll call that roll call please yes roll call okay um we may need to talk later she mix up once I do it all the time yes Council benon yes councilman Cruz yes Council yes Council yes ordinance 24-11 an ordinance amending chapter 4 of the revised FAL ordinances of ver establishing a fe for sponsorship of community welcome motion to approve ordinance 2411 for introduction motion councilman bennon second council president dine on fa against roll call please Council yes Council yes counc Ben yes Council yes Council yes Council yes ordinance for second reading disord has been advertised and posted on the municipal bulletin board ordinance 24-9 ordinance amending chapter 7 section 7-33 mint block crosswalk of the Barrow code to established crosswalk okay before we get to the opening public Mike you wanted to say anything about it or uh yeah thank you mayor uh I guess just a quick comment uh at the request of our traffic Bureau and the police department uh there was a request made to codify all the midblock crosswalks in the burrow those include uh four crosswalks and as a result of this ordinance and to follow up on this we will be implementing the proper traffic signage at all four uh crosswalks so that's coming uh you know by the summer okay thank you motion open the meeting for public comments on ordinance 24-9 so moved councilman line Second councilwoman Paul Dori all in favor I against anyone like to talk just about this ordinance seeing no one motion to close the meeting for public comments on ordinance 24-9 motion councilman bennon second councilman Cruz all in favor I against motion to approve ordinance 2409 for final adoption so moved councilman uh dine second councilwoman kilberg roll call please councilwoman yes councilor yes Council yes yes I'm sorry sorry reading more coun yes coun yes okay thank you like I mentioned before we had a fire ceremony honoring all our uh volunteer uh the Departments for the fire you know I'm sure I think everybody here at one point went to the fire scene if you had got to that scene you would have been amazed on how no one lost their lives there the RO the roof was blown across the street um you know the explosion happened from the inside out while our fire firemen were going into the building some of them got blown out of the building uh you know so we are so lucky that nothing serious happened out of that um and and and it just tells you what happens when you're when you're involved in one of these uh organizations you just don't know what you're getting into and our ambulance Squad was right there to to take care of the injured we did have injured firemen luckily it wasn't serious but we did so I thank them all I I appreciate the time and energy they put into our burrow speaking of that uh I attended a ceremony uh where count uh Congressman pascrell came to the firehouse and he had appropriated $238,000 for our fire department for safety equipment they bought uh Scott packs with it um I was impressed to see when they're explaining how these Packs work you know each pack is $110,000 and there's communication within the mask to the next person and and they can speak to each other they're vital parts of of the fire department so we are very honored to have Congressman pasel come here and personally give us the check and to fight for us to get the check um while he was here I did speak to him uh each Congress person in in Washington has some money that they can use for what we call pet projects and one of his pet projects in in New Jersey in his region of New Jersey is our public library and uh we're hoping to get $500,000 from him to redo our library he said the money's held up right now in Washington but it's appropriated through his office to be given to us and as soon as it's let go from the Washington itself we'll be getting $500,000 to redo our library that would be windowing and roofs and siding and all the things that we have some issues with he recognized that it's a historic building in our town we recognize it as a historic building and everybody recognizes pton Lakes by the library so that's a great grant that we can do and I I think Michael might even have report we're even putting money ourselves into the project before we even get it because there's some work that has to be done at the library uh I had a meeting about the Civic Center that's moving along uh we should have a uh answer on how and when they're going to start rebuilding our Civic Center I'd like to get that open as soon as possible not having that open does hurt us you know for anybody who remembers we've we used to have a meeting there every night uh so not having that building available to us is making it tough so hopefully that'll open up soon I met with a couple Council people here and our uh administrator and the engineer to go over uh plans for the Jo Grill project uh which we're waiting to get new numbers on and then we walked over to the greenway uh moris count Greenway and you know there was some damage done to that Greenway during the flooding event and our engineer does suggest that we're going to have to reinforce the wall to to hold back the ground from coming down so we're looking on how we're going to do that I am going to reach out to the county because the county helped us with initial person who paid for that project and then handed it off to us I'd like to see if they'd be willing to jump in and take care of it if we don't fix what we're losing we're going to lose the walkway because the a lot of the walkway has started to fall into the river already from all the rain we had so I'll keep you posted on that had a couple meetings with Finance uh went to the zoning board meeting last night W meeting uh numerous meetings with the administrator um and that is my report council president GL uh thank you thank you may first of all I want did want to as Al evangelistas walks into the room I did want to recognize the um the firefighter ceremony tonight it was a great ceremony Ser certainly um deserving of the recognition um you know from an outsider perspective it's easy to to look through the Litany of everyone that was given citations the unit citations the notorious citations and obviously Valor citations like well everybody gets a certificate but it realistically that's what it takes it's a it's a real team effort it's it's our it's our first aid Squad it's our firefighters it's multiple um trucks from our firefighters responding to that to that event so everybody that you know went up there really deserved it from people taking the calls and things like that so um again AL thank you for organizing that um H having it happen um because people those people really do needed to be recognized for that for that night um a couple weeks ago I attended the Redevelopment meeting uh there were two concepts uh shown there were no actual active applications uh one was an updated concept for 198 222 wue Avenue um that includes uh vasin building and a number of others um that that's under that uh that ownership um from what had been previously shown back in August um the the project has been I think scaled back um quite a bit um at the time of August um most most importantly there were about 380 units this has been scaled back to about 210 units so it's a little bit more in line with what is being built at Capital deagle Meridia it drops the height um it reorients a little bit the building so um again this is not a formal application at this point the Redevelopment agency is not acting upon what came to us a lot of the devil is still in the details um if and when um this becomes an application for the Redevelopment agency um I still think there's a long way to go to even get to approval because I know a lot of the I think there's a lot of concerns like well we're just been getting this building Bill let's see what happens with this it's going to be a long time before this even gets through the approval process and I'm I'm even not even going through everything else that has to be changed prior to them getting approval getting into the the building permits all of that stuff so again long way to go it is Improvement on what he had previously showed I think he had listened to the public and the Redevelopment agency that night um maybe it's not what everybody wants exactly but um again I it's my opinion that it's a much improved project at this point uh we also saw a concept for the the veterans housing at the County Garage location um is it's sort of a p County project but it's p County Housing Authority so they're fundamentally a private organization um interestingly enough they it's it's it's kind of like our pomp Lake Senior Housing like it's not a governmental entity it's it's a uh a corporation um of of the county um so interest so they're they're looking at building if you don't know about the project they're looking at building uh about 52 units uh dedicated towards veterans and seniors uh Pompton Lakes residents get first priority veterans obviously get first priority and then UPC count residents get first priority there 52 units we have an extensive waiting list on our senior housing I don't doubt that those factors are going to get this project uh filled up very quickly um again it is a concept plan uh they will end up seeking a pilot from the buau um so in that regard it actually takes what is a non-t taxpaying property into having some kind of Revenue stream associated with the project itself because obviously the county being a governmental entity does not pay taxes this again is supported by the county but it's it's not quite the county either um so again again that was a concept plan not a formal application I think they're a lot closer to doing a formal application than the previous project I referenced um so we will be seeing that in front of the Redevelopment agency in in pretty shortly um last Wednesday I attended the Municipal Utilities Authority meeting it was the reorganization meeting um the Slate of officers and Consultants were reappointed for 2024 um as I mentioned last year and eventually dial back um John wegley who had been the executive director for the redevelop or for the MUA um is retiring at the end of April beginning May 1st begins his retirement um in the next couple months I would like to do a proclamation um at this council meeting recognizing his long service um as the executive director um obviously we can reach out to Mary to get a lot of finer details but um as long as I've been involved in Palm the Lakes when we dealt with the sports groups or fields or things like that we've needed to reach out to the MUA and John has always found the me to W make it work and support the other groups as part of it too um I know again especially at Carlo field I know that was that was some a bit of an issue um the MUA went through a number of projects being applied to through the New Jersey infrastructure Bank um it is it's like a bank but it's it's it's funded through the state um for spefic specific infr infrastructure projects mainly sewer and water which is what our mua obviously does it is low interest interest loans um it has principal forgiveness attached to it basically um if you let's say you do a $1 million project you might get up to $250,000 back as part of funding it through this project so it takes care of the principal debt um it drops the cost obviously that's a benefit to our taxpayers and rate payers uh through the MUA but some of the projects that they are looking through the ibank include uh treatment for certain wells in Pompton Lakes um the Ringwood Avenue water main upgrade and then Pompton Avenue Hemlock Avenue water main upgrade and then finally um the replacement of the north Pump Station um and then lastly um related to Redevelopment the MUA is undergoing a wastewater treatment plant Capacity Analysis what they want to say what they want to see is based on how we operate our Wastewater system how many more um G cubic gallons or whatever it is however they measure Wastewater um can we support a growth in that amount and you obviously have a certain Factor if you have a one-bedroom unit um you might generate on average X number of gallons of Wastewater so they kind of want to know what's our capacity for development uh Redevelopment new development all that obviously takes takes into account if you remove uh a building that is using Wastewater now you've increased the capacity a little bit then you're building something new and that requires more so they're trying to get a real hard number about where that is obviously there's opportunities to upgrade um that capacity but that also requires uh additional cost so but again the the main point of this Capacity Analysis that they're wrapping up is to have a good understanding about how many more units uh they can support as part of Redevelopment and that concludes my report okay uh Liz uh can you reach out to the MUA to see what date Works available for him because I'd like to have him here if we're going to do a proclamation um or you can help I don't know you know between you and Liz let's try to get a date that that we can work out that the members would want to come to so okay um okay great thank you uh councilwoman Paul Dory thank you I also would like to thank all of our First Responders uh for the service to our community um as well as the rest of of my Council people and the mayor here on the B that was a really nice ceremony and welld deserved uh I attended the Coalition meeting virtually for the first time as the newly appointed parent representative so that was a really nice meeting there was a lot of people on the call I learned a lot about what you are doing in what we have coming up um Bobby are you're the leis on right which committee for so I'm not going to go into too much detail about The Walk For Hope or anything you'll cover all that that's F yeah I'll just cover that um I also attended the bid meeting one of the I guess the most discussed topic during that meeting was the issue with the garbage Iana QV our bro administrator was with us he did bring to the attention of everyone there that he will be looking into some options and some potential Solutions are were you going to discuss that today uh yeah the intent was to bring it up during workshop at the March 13th meeting okay so then I'll hold off on that um more to come and we were going to revisit signs for Heroes as well Michael and said you had a okay we'll revisit that at the next meeting as well okay perfect um I also attended the site visit at willowfield to look at what if anything needs to or can be done or if the project can be implemented as is waiting to hear back on the engineer from from that uh I was invited by one of the councilmen up in Franklin to join uh alongside of our OEM coordinator Al Evangelista uh presentation that they had asked for us to give to them um pertaining to implementing their own C team the councilman that had reached out is is from Pompton lake so he was familiar with some of the work that we did here and very impressed and of course Al um you know being as well ver and and having the leadership role and and the experience he does was the perfect person to bring up and it was nice because to see another town look at what we do and want to take that model and implement in their own town and to be able to present how successful what we do here is um it was it was good so more to come on hopefully we'll continue that dialogue and help them put that program in place as well uh I also would like to thank the library board and councilwoman kilberg for getting approval for my being able to continue this year I don't know if you remember last year I started a financial literacy program for the month of April April is financial literacy month so every Wednesday for the month of April from 4: to 5:00 p.m. I do a reading for fifth and sixth grade aged children uh age appropriate books with stories that tie into financial terms basic Financial Concepts to kind of um broaden their knowledge on on basics of Finance which is something that you know with my background I personally feel is very important to have in our schools so I look forward to that that will start the first Wednesday in April I attended the budget meeting um also so hosted an international Outreach for our pton Lakes Women's Club which we do annually to celebrate the Chinese New Year we had a nice dinner everyone together uh I attended the Redevelopment meeting and I also attended a movie premiere at the Compton craft house in Compton Lakes it was um a movie or a documentary that was made not exclusively about but largely centered around our own flip side records and growing up here that was a store that in high school we were in all the time so the gentleman that made the movie actually is only a few years older than me and it was his first job so he talked about his journey in the record industry and how much of an impact our store had on his life so there was a lot of footage from the streetscape from what pton lakes looked back like in the 9s um and then all the way through to today and they actually had a nice Cameo and Spotlight on the station one record store so it was really nice to see so many residents come out support one of our local businesses and watch a documentary featuring two of our other local businesses it was really well attended um and uh and to see some local business owners in in the little movie was really nice and one last question for our administrator I Saw the Sign we pushed the finished the sign uh resolution for the town entrance signs are we still working on the pricing and how we're going to implement signs for the dog park it's coming up at the next council meeting I'm working on the ordinance and the resolution for that so moving forward on that good well thank you all good news that's my report thank you uh councilman Bennett thank you mayor I also want to congratulate our first uh First Responders that were recognized this evening and thank all our First Responders for for taking care of our community uh last night the historic commission met uh we discussed the spoken history project where I believe uh Al Evangelista will be our first um VI victim I mean our first person we interview to record uh all the information that he knows that's up in his brain regarding the history of of our burrow um we also discussed the semi Quin Centennial of the United States which is coming up on July 4th 2026 that's a 250e anniversary um of the signing of the de Declaration of Independence um just kind of spitball ideas on what how we can celebrate here in Pompton Lakes since uh George Washington did did spend some time through this area uh planning board meeting uh 735 Hamburg Turnpike that's the um building with the the uh area that was cut into the mountain was discussed and um what happened was the county imposed additional storm water uh retention requirements on the on the owner and the Builder and they had to shift some things around and the and the uh communication didn't flow back to Pompton lake so there was that that was basically May correct me if I'm wrong that was basically the the gist of of what happened there so they were looking to uh get approval for a retention a retention wall retention wall retention wall thank you and um so that they can continue working on the project hopefully by Spring and that is my report uh and I'll just add to what you said about planning board so the concern was there was a Dugout some of the mountain and some of the uh Condominium Association that lives on top of the mountain was concerned about it and there were numerous residents from the association there uh to ask questions I think they were satisfied with some of the questions they heard and some of the work that's going to be done there you know just so the board understands or the council understands they were putting up that retaining wall without a permit so they dug away a lot of the mountain without permit uh because the county told them to do something that they didn't come back to us with so it was a little miscommunication like councilman venon said but a major mess up right you know when you're take a mountain where you can't put it back so that becomes the issue um so that's where the the and it's still ongoing they needed some more information um but obviously they can't leave it as it is so that's the determination they have to make right now with the planning board uh counc Cruz thank you mayor I just have one item to report tonight uh the Coalition and the municipal Alliance will be having the annual Walk For Hope um this is going to be held on May 11th there is no rain date um this is for old ages group sizes are welcome uh to this event uh for those of you that know this is an ongoing stigma-free campaign for mental health awareness um this will begin at the high school with ceremonies at 11: and remember this is on May 11th uh the walk will start on the front lawn of the high school and walk down to Ramapo on the sidewalk to hereville park and loop around the walking path in the park Park and back to the high school where food activities and giveaways will commence um if you'll find right here on the table there's going to be an information sheet that's right there with a QR code that you can scan and fill out the form as well online they will be having registration at 10:30 as well in person and we'll have follow-up reminders just for everyone as we get closer to that date um and that'll do it for my report manam and just remind that's open to the public open to anybody who wants to attend uh we did have good numbers in the last couple and a lot of the high school kids are the high school kids coming this year so we had high school kids that came out you know maybe had 100 150 people do it the last couple years so uh it's an enjoyable event you know so you feel like a taking a walk that's a good time to be doing it uh councilwoman Kent thank you mayor uh it was an honor to attend the uh firemen ceremony today with the not meritorious awards that were given out and um Ally did a wonderful job with that whole program and uh I thank you very much I thank the firemen for all they did and keeping us safe uh um I attended the Bay County hazardous mitigation meeting along with the OEM coordinator with the uh police burrow Clerk and regarding the pay County mitigation plan and the upcoming plan and how we're going to be involved with the burrow I also attended a zoom meeting following up with that meeting on the with the New Jersey state OEM officials uh mayor Sarah and B administrator Mike Carelli were on that call and we discussed flooding issues we discussed the dam uh trying to obtain either some type of funding or grants for flood control mitigation measures for damages that had occurred in the past so I want to thank you Michael for uh for setting that zoom up and we're still mayor we're still going to be talking to the um it's actually the state uh M State Police on on the OEM group on where we can get some more money so they they've gave us some um ideas but money's tight right now but we're we're we're trying trying very hard just so all residents know we're not walking away from this uh I also attended the budget meeting we're looking at trying to get a budget that everybody can live with i attended the uh uh the uh fire department ceremony with Congressman Bill Pasquel and mayor mayor Sarah and that was a really nice event they had a lot of pictures the congressman gave a his historic overview of what it's like to be in a fire apartment for like 40 years 50 years and that was very that was very interesting because you kind of forget where you come from and where we're at today so that that was very interesting and we got the this SCBA uh equipment which can save lives there's just no to about it so was a lot of money and I'm very grateful to the uh Congressman for that we ALS I also attended the site visit with our burrow engineer Tom bua and the ass and uh his associate with mayor Sarah and councilwoman Paula duri regarding the willow field Improvement projects we discussed a multitude of issues and including cost estimates and the proposed plan and whether or not major modifications are possible and anything related to that so that's an ongoing project I met with Ryan Ginger from the prevention Coalition because we talked about crowd control because we're hoping to have a big big crowd and uh I've been very involved with crowd control with River cleanup so we went over a couple items and uh that was a very uh really good discussion that we had that day at at the Coalition office I also met with the Pompton Lake High School youth adult program and they were wonderful and they made jewelry and they sell the jewelry and then they take the money and then they they and uh so I got for a dollar I got pton Leake High School earrings which which are like little beaded C you know so if you ever get a chance to buy some other stuff stuff the money goes to a really good really good cost that was very sweet um I also attended the Chamber of Commerce dinner uh and evidently the high school is thinking of doing a program with the Chamber of Commerce which is connected to the bid but there is a separate group and they're going to try to get some of the uh the the students that are not really worried about going to college but maybe starting a a business or getting involved with local business uh Mentor with current business owners which is a wonderful opportunity for these kids to see how how to run a business so the um the the principal of the high school was one of the guest speakers and uh that was very interesting and I'm I'm hoping that that that takes off very soon uh and at the same time we also talked about the garbage cans in downtown area and I'm you know uh looking forward to that resolving that because when I was down there on Friday I have to thank the DPW they did a great job in cleaning up everything but it's it's it's a chronic problem and we've got to resolve it and and and I see uh our bid folks out in the audience and you know I'm going to work with you best I can to get that thing done and that is my report okay thank you you reminded me that um I signed a letter today that our administrator put together uh to the D commissioner uh and I think you guys s saw the copies of that basically asking uh to to have a meeting and uh was speaking with Michael we're going to maybe try to invite some of the local Mayors to it to discuss the whole flooding and the dam working and who's operating it and all the questions that have come up since the last flooding hopefully they will respond hopefully the letter I thought was well written and I hopefully they can uh respond to that and we can go somewhere with that so and and years pass uh we when Katie Cole was mayor we used to have a once a year meeting with the Mayors to discuss the flooding ISS issues and and I talked to Michael about maybe bringing that back so we can just sit with the other Mayors and kind of feel them bounce things off of each other see how what they're doing what we can help or not help and um you know I I got a call from a resident from Panic who you know saw saw something I did on television and said I'd like to be involved with your flood Advisory Board here in pton Lakes so he's going to come to the next flood Advisory board meeting so you know we start getting all the towns and the communities to get involved in this it'll make an easier fight you know just having one man talking doesn't make things the best um I do want I I also reminded me I do want to thank the DPW I did reach out after all the the noise about the garbage and Dan was able to send men down there and clean up the you know that was a onetime fix but we we'll we'll work on that and we'll see where we can go with that uh councilwoman kilberg do you want to read your things first or you want to do whatever you want well I'm going to do the motion yeah sure okay motion to approve a carnival license application by the Pompton Lakes Els um to be held at 15 parent a Pompton Lakes New Jersey on the following following dates and time Thursday August 22nd 2024 6:00 p.m. through 10 p.m. Friday August 23rd 2024 6 p.m. through 10 p.m. Saturday August 24th 4 p.m. through 10 p.m. Sunday August 25th 4 p.m. through 10: p.m. no alcoholic beverages to be served at any Carnival or on the premises of the license SE during the conduct of a carnival no license granted under this article may be assigned or transferred by the leny violation and penalties subject to fines on the application to be reviewed inspected by police fire prevention first aid construction official Health Department all right can I have a second who was the second uh councilwoman Paul Dory all in favor I against okay next one motion to approve Pompton lak's prevention Coalition Walk For Hope in conjunction with stigma-free campaign and mental health awareness month to be held on May 11th 2024 rain or shine registration is at 10:30 a.m. at the Pompton Lakes High School walk to begin at 11:00 a.m. from Pompton Lakes High School to rampo a and ending at hersfield Park and returning to Pompton Lakes High School using the same reverse route walk route approved by police County permits not required police fire and first aid Squad notified can I have a second second councilwoman Kent all in favor against thank you okay um I also attended this evening's award ceremony for the Carman and first aid Squad um I would like to congratulate all that received Awards um but most of all I need to thank you for your um Fearless acts of heroism in the face of great danger um I also attended the Redevelopment meeting I attended the flood board meeting and they are looking into possibly sending out the emergency preparedness um booklet that in the center of our calendar out separately we discussed that um I attended the library board meeting um and the board did approve um Pride day on the library lawn for June um I attended the recreation meeting and uh we did in start the discussion about the increase in fees for summer camp and um the Easter egg hunt has been moved to March 23rd at 2 p.m. pfield Park rain date is the 24th and last but not least um the uh pay County had a poster um competition for fourth graders in all the schools in Pate County and Pompton Lennox school and Pompton Leakes um one and they are February on the 2024 um County calendar that's good I don't know why we have to be a cold month but okay we have to talk to somebody um uh and just to remind me there is still an opening on Library board correct there are two openings on the library board so we have two openings on the library board if anybody's interested especially a teacher that would be interested in helping out and set in curriculum for the library they only meet once a month they don't meet in the summer and they meet for about 45 minutes on a Monday night starting at 7 o'clock any can anyone who's interested you can contact myself councilwoman kilberg or or the clerk and we'll get you the right information okay uh bur attorne sir thank you mayor um a couple things came up over the course of the month that we'll be talking about in work shop so I will hold up until Workshop to report on those um I will say as a predicate to our bar administrator's report there are he will be U Mr Kelli will be reporting on two person uh well there are two Personnel matters um that were to be held in Clos session one of the employees that was the subject of one of those has waved having it done in closed session and so that's going to be reported on in his b administrator report and I just want to remind the council that this is this is nothing that requires Council action this is only something that's being reported to the council it is being handled by by labor Council and our bar Barrow administrator if that um employee is here they'll have an opportunity to speak to the council during the public comment period within the parameters of our public comment period but again it's nothing nothing requiring Council action so this is just just really being reported on that's all I have thank you administrator report thank you mayor uh just a few items before we get to that uh that issue uh I met with the folks at the business improvement district we talked about some maintenance and and streetscape issues that have Arisen so we're going to be looking at things like uh fixing crooked signs crumbling pavers putting in new flower baskets on our street poles and kind of you know sprucing up the the uh Street for the summer months so looking forward to that can I ask one question about that I I noticed just and they must have just went up where do the signs come from do not par you only Park parking meters are in use from Monday to Saturday they don't look really great where where they are that was a sub that was a subject of our meeting and being look all right we got to fix that a little bit Yeah okay uh thank you uh at tonight's council meeting the governing body introduced uh Bond ordinance I would just like to reiterate that uh this project is for the Dos Highway uh improvements project which is the full milling and Paving of the full length of do Highway um normally this would be included in our annual Capital plan but uh unfortunately this well fortunately enough part of this project is funded by do grants and we are subject to a timeline in which we have to award the project by so we really wanted to get started on this sooner than later so that we can adequately uh implement the project project so more to come on that uh throughout the year you know we are looking to facilitate this project by the Fall um I'm in receipt of a request from the Board of Education and I will go ahead and schedule a meeting but it is my understanding that the board is potentially looking at relocating um no okay I'll bring it up at the next meeting it's it's about our Fields um we're having a budget presentation meeting on March 13th from 6:30 to 7:30 so more to come on that but we'll have a formal uh budget presentation that will be on all of the TVs and publicized to our residents uh in the public so looking forward to that and I believe one more item I was reached out to by the governor's office um the governor's office is putting together a application to FEMA on behalf of some of our residents uh for purposes of elevating homes in the floodway um so we're working with the governor's office to reach out to those residents but the governor's office is targeting four homes that are eligible for uh the elevations those include two on River Edge Drive one on Magnolia a and one on popler a so we're working with the governor's office to get them in touch with those residents I think it would be beneficial to all um two of the homes are the only homes left on one of those roadways so you know there's definitely uh you know there could be uh uh Pros to doing so so we're working with the governor's office on that uh and I would just say that the program is voluntary on behalf of the resident but there are incentives involved so you know we're working closely with the governor's office on that um and then the last item I had uh as a followup to the burough attorney um so we have had an incident uh involving DPW uh supervisor Tim Duffy um he has waved his right uh and wanted to us to discuss this in public he has the right to do that as an employee so I'm bringing forth what happened and uh you know how to move forward um so you're all in receipt of a Civilian Complaint from a resident at 413 Lincoln AB um this happened on uh February 13th at 9:40 a.m. and essentially the the incident uh was with regards to Mr Duffy driving his plow vehicle down the roadway uh during heavy snowfall uh this said Resident was out at the curb snowplowing his driveway his or her driveway um and the complaint uh has made accusations that the supervisor was driving too fast and he nearly clipped him in on the sidewalk and he was uh buried in snow he so claims so the Administration has taken the complaint we're working with our labor Council on further action uh I will tell you that uh disciplinary actions if applicable are in negotiations and I should have a further update for the governing body at the next meeting um but again I just wanted to make you all aware of the incident and we do take it very seriously and we will handle it internally um and with that that's all I had thank you and the only reason we brought this up in public is because he had had asked us to do it this way yes employees have the right to request uh when the when they are in receipt of what's called a rice notice they have the right for it to be discussed in public he has wished to do so so that's why it was in public um and that uh the the email that I sent you is that the one you're talking about with the homes is yes okay did you did they identify they didn't identify the homes to me did they identify the actual and do they want us to contact them or they're going to contact them want us to provide the contact info to them and they'll Reach Out they'll reach out okay any questions for the administration I just have one as far as the selection process that female uses to identify the homes how is that done they yeah thank you good question they have to identify severe repetitive loss properties um I would defer to actually to councilwoman Kent on that Tech techn uh technical uh term uh but it's a certain criteria as to how much damage they occurred and you know over the course of the last few years so there is a criteria there it can't just be you know any home it has to have all these standards in place thank you it's repetitive loss is the key to the whole thing so if they have repetitive loss over a certain percentage that they can prove then they can go to you know try to apply to it um some people uh you know have one loss lose a lot and think they can get bought out that's not necessarily true so it has to be repetitive I mean I'm grateful that he's you know was willing to step in his office obviously and reach out and coordinate this obviously but on the broader scheme of things obviously we know that there's bigger issues that we need to address with the governor definitely hopefully as we move forward he'll be a better partner with ponon Lees to address some of the ongoing issues yep had a question yeah I had one thing um do Highway was identified as a priority Corridor in our complete streets um implementation plan so I'd encourage our Engineers review that in conformance with our policy as well thank you uh you bring up an excellent point I'm in contact with the flood Advisory Board chairwoman okay uh to talk about storm water enhancements as well uh so our engineer is looking into both in terms of the uh design thank you any other questions no okay all right so we're going to move into our first ever workshop and no way for the public this is just a discussion among the council to just talk about some projects that are upcoming um no action is taken it's just a discussion uh really it's not a public interaction at that point uh if you had a concern question you could bring it up in Open Session but there is no public discussion it's just with the council and I'm going to let Michael start with the first one which is the uh model tree removal and replacement ordinance that we're looking at thank you mayor um so I'm in receipt of a notification from the Department of Environmental Protection um at the burrow uh is a 2023 tier a ms4 permit uh under the storm water management regulations with the state and the state has uh put out this new tree removal and replacement model ordinance it's something that us as the permite have to uh comply with um and at a minimum adopt a CommunityWide tree replacement ordinance so I'm in receipt of the model um it's a fairly standard model and I guess I'll just preface it by saying all of the municipalities have to abide by this new regulation it's not just singled out the Pompton Lakes if you look across the board every town has has been adopting this ordinance there are some waivers that towns may be eligible for um in terms of if you're registered with the urban urban and Community forestry Management program and if we're designated as a tree City USA which both of which we are however our ordinance and our storm Water Management Consultant and burrow attorney has a has advised us our ordinance is so outdated that we are not eligible for said waiver so you know here we are with the model ordinance um there's two key points that I wanted to talk about um the first is that right now Pompton Lakes regulates Street trees this new model ordinance would require us to govern private trees so now we're getting into the private tree business and you know our great cha tree commission inspects all of our street trees but I don't necessarily know that they have the bandwidth to start start getting involved in private trees or go on and at the same time in terms of a liability issue we would require a LIC professional to do so so the the first topic was about the implementation of the ordinance um and I would recommend the hiring of a Forester to imple implement the permit process uh there would have to be a full you know expanded permit process the Forester would have to go out and inspect the uh said tree that has been requested to be taken down um there are exceptions with regards to dead dead trees hazardous trees or um ash trees which have been subject to disease over the last few years so those are three exemptions that I'm aware of there could be more when you say exemptions it still requires the Foresters review it does uh but and they still have to submit a permit application but they would not have to pay pay a fee right they could just take down the tree on their own okay um and then the next point I wanted to bring up is with this new expanded permit process um we have to talk about fees and you know if the governing I'm looking for direction from the governing body if they wish to charge fees so there would be a permit application fee and then there would be a fee with regards to the um replacement schedule and what that is is this new model ordinance requires residents if they were to take down a certain diameter tree they are required to either replace said tree with either a one for one or a two for one or a three for one replacement schedule so if I took down a tree that's over 36 in in caliper I may have to plant three new trees which most people do is take down a big tree they don't take down small trees so that's that's the first requirement um um and the town has a right to either charge a fee well let me put it this way the the resident has a way to the resident has the right to plant the trees or if they don't want to plant the trees they have the right to pay us right so if I'm building an addition and I'm taking down a large tree and I don't have space I as a resident could have the option of paying the burrow a fee instead of having to plant that and the thought process there is we could use that money to offset the cost of our Forester our shade tree program you know we'd have to see how many permits would come in but you know that that's one positive out of the whole thing um and then the last aspect of the ordinance is it requires a list of tree species that are suggested for the replanting schedule so I'm under the impression that the shade tree commission has a list they do right now so we're going to use that list as part of the ordinance um but the purpose there is you know if you're taking down a large oak tree you know I don't want you planting a Japanese dwarf maple right that's that's an attractive landscape plant when you're taking down a very large tree that's why we would have the suggested list to kind of properly make sure that the proper trees are being replanted back into our canopy so so I just want the public to understand this is a St Statewide ordinance that we have to follow we don't we're not choosing to do this by say we're being told we have to do this um I don't 100% agree with it on going on private property to address concerns but the state is telling us we have to do it then we have to do it so now we have to decide you know there's going to be fees involved so it's you know becomes an issue so so I have a question states are making it mandatory for municipalities to dictate what people do on private property yes this is a requirement across the board and there's there's no way around this if we were eligible for the waiver we could could probably get around it in some way but at that point our ordinance would be so in line with the model it wouldn't really matter so I mean it it is it is a requirement at this point are you aware of any challenges at this point by any municipality against this just specific elements of it not the entirety maybe not um I haven't heard anything yeah I haven't heard anything about that there was a public comment period And when when when when the state put out revisions to this ms4 permit um every state leg pie of legislation or or policy update cuz I don't think this was actually legislation it was a d policy update there is a comment period And I believe actually Pompton Lakes we did send in a letter um outlining a number of concerns related to this ms4 permit update including this model true ordinance because it is a one- siiz fits all so you have to adopt this ordinance in pump and lakes the same way that you would have to do in Cape May obviously these were two very different environments from each other but D is not good about parsing out differences so we all get the cookie cutter ordinance that we have to adopt as a result and what happens because I know what's going to happen and look it's an educational to the public also but there's going to people say I'm not even telling the town I'm taking a tree down right and then what happens well that goes to our whole enforcement program which would be bolstered with with a new Forester right um and then I would like to add I I've seen this program work in other towns where if if I require you as the burrow to replace your tree um we could word it as we give the resident 6 months to do so um and then the Foresters responsibility would be to go out maybe twice or three times a year to follow up on these permits to make sure that the resident replanted the tree or to collect said money right as to the replacement fee so I think one of the top topics I wanted to discuss is if the governing body you know would wish to charge a fee for the replacement right so I think I'm looking for a direction there I will tell you that Panic Oakland and Riverdale are all charging a fee for the replacement but not for the permit application and and when you say the replacement say It's a larger tree that has to be replac does that change is it one Fit One Price fits all no it it's broken down into four categories so the category one is a a tree that is less than 2 and 12 in I'm sorry between 2 and a half and 6 in you have to yeah it's still tin you have to replant it one for one or pay a fee of $50 then Category 2 is 13 in to 22 in you have to replant one tree for two trees and the fee is $75 Category 3 is 23 in to 32 in if you take down one tree you have to replant three or pay $100 and then category four is anything over 33 Ines uh you'd have to replant with four trees or pay a fee of $200 to the bir so you have to pay for the trees yourself and the permit well you could either pay for the tree and plant it or you can say I don't want to plant the tree I'll just pay you the money $75 and you don't have to plant anything well it depends what the size of the tree is payment in L okay in Li of planting the only thing I'm conc about is we're in Old Town we have a lot of old Big Trees I don't see a lot of people taking down 15in trees I see them taking down 50in trees you know so uh I they're going to be right at the top with four trees or the payout whatever you want I'll leave it up to you guys about the number I you know I I'm not a fan of the whole thing but I know we got I don't like anything about this this is terrible now we be the curve here as far as you already told me that panic I guess you mentioned Riverdale and Oakland all are already charging this fee and and applied this ordinance and approved this ordinance already correct so what he's asking for is guidance on the fee schedule we have to do it so here's here's the thing and this is this is my thought process is charging fees or permit fees for this kind of stinks um but at the same time like we are going to have to have an additional cost related to having a a Forester come in do the inspection processes stuff I'm assuming that this gets processed through the building department so our building department is going to have an extra workload associated with this there's costs involved in that and the question becomes do we spread out the costs among all the taxpayers in the burrow for the use of this Forester then they're not charging a permit fee and if I don't have to charge if if I'm I've done what I needed to do or I never have to remove a tree why am I paying for this Forester so in my mind I think what I think we should part charge a permit fee and I think the the charge of the per permit she permit fee should be in line with the cost of having the Forester conduct their conduct their work associated with this ordinance is it a permit fee or is it cuz I thought he said we would there wouldn't be a permit fee and it would only be a fee if you rep there's both there's both so you actually have to pay a per a permit fee to replace a tree on your own property yes so to that point about someone already having done their work residents aren't here permanently I mean there's a turnover in Resident people come people go this is going to be you can't say you know I live here I don't need a tree you could move and someone else could move in absolutely so yeah I mean yes the cause should be spread about every over everyone if we're being forced to do this but this is like I don't want to be in the business of telling people what they can and cannot do on their private property all the way up to wherever this started this is terrible so what is the salary the hourly rate of this Forester because I've never heard of this position we need to know that too so I've I've myself hired a Forester before in Oakland and in Riverdale anywhere I mean it depends on the season right the work is more heavy in in the summer months I've seen an annual cost of anywhere from 30 to 50,000 for a Forester to implement we're not count we're not collecting that in fees and but do we even know it needs to be an annual salary one year maybe this is only three people and then one year maybe it's 50 people of course the cost would be significantly Less in the winter months you would think uh I've seen it you know higher in the summer months due to more outdoor activity but you know the aggregate cost usually is about between 30 and 50,000 again dependent on the amount of permits that are taken out sure you could have a year where you know there's very minimal permits but you know it's usually a steady flow you be paid on on an as needed basis he he's paid hourly yes it's not a it's not an employee it would be a a consultant that we would bring in is his job to to go around town and look at trees and find trees that need to be replaced or it's only no it's only repl okay yeah does this replace our shade tree shade tree would still govern Street trees per the ordinance this is only to amend the removal and replacement section of the ordinance to incorporate the state language we and again I should have said I met with the shade tree commission I went to their meeting and talked with them about this you know they're obviously upset about the the new model um but again it's something that we have to comply with otherwise we you know are putting our permit in Jeopardy and could be subject to possible fines and penalties at some point uh so it's definitely something is in our best interest so I think what we're asking right now so we because we could talk about this all day are and we don't have to have an answer now we're not voting on anything he's just looking for guidance on are we going to charge fees or not charge fees um maybe get an idea of how much the fees are he just gave us an example of some of the fees um I'm okay with the example he gave I'm not okay with the whole program but I'm okay if we have to do something with that schedule the only concern I have is so you got a property that's an acre and you want to take down six trees you're now you know you're replacing 25 trees at that point if they're big trees or you're buying or you're opting out this is terrible well in all the you know in all defense to the to the burrow I will add that you know I've seen clear cutting of properties before and there certainly wasn't a mechanism in place so this you know this could prevent that you know if if developer was to come in and put in a new complex and they have to take down 100 trees I mean that you know if the ordinance wasn't in place we wouldn't be collecting that money and he would still be doing that work but that's yeah and I get I understand that but when you're talking about a homeowner who happens to have a lot of trees on his yard you know he's removing trees now we're we're the message we're going to have to make sure everybody understands is this is coming not from us we don't support it we have to do it we have to impl it's like collecting taxes support FL effect as a flood affected uh resident I I find it interesting that it's pouring outside as we're discussing this my neighborhood is devoid of trees because we had some families move in and clearcut and the heat during the summer on some of those streets and the fact that we flood there needs to be something in place I actually looked into this a couple years ago when I was ordinance chair didn't get much didn't get far so while yes it's on someone private property you got to look at the big picture about how bad it's been raining the fact that we flooded for the first time in 11 12 years 12 12 years so I might be the only sending vote here and I plant a tree do I have to pay a fee no no it's a tree removal or tree removal so it only pertains to the taking down correct of a tree so you can have no trees and plant 10 trees and there's no feet of course and you don't need permission and you can plant whatever you want yes but if I have an oak tree and I take an oak tree down now you're telling me what I have to replace it with yes based on the size of that tree rep species species will determine what you need to replace it with or you can pay your fee and you pay that fee and the right of white trees what has that for it is subject to this yes so right now the right we have a lot of tree line streets right and the trees are in the right way I happen to have one in front of my house it's 50 in wide if I want to take that down am I falling into this or is that in in shade trees real that would be sh that's a burrow tree that's a burrow tree we only front yard trees not in the RightWay trees correct and and I guess as a follow-up to that the Forester would have to go out and and determine right because there could be you know maybe confusion as to if the tree is actually in the right away this Prof we need this professional to make the recommendation you know yeah I mean I I see a lot of struggle with this and a lot of people fighting this and a lot of people mad about this but we have to do it it's just what it is out of our hands uh but I'm okay with the with the and I'm not saying we're voting on this but okay with the fee schedule he presented if unless somebody else has a different feeling of it we don't have a presented fee schedule because we we at some point we have to develop an application fee I think we should it may not cover the full cost but I think there should be some kind of fee associated with the application but even a $50 fee how much are we covering on well send us a sampling of what some other towns are charging that have already implemented it along with the sampling of a couple of Forester ranges of expenses so I can't we see what this could possibly cost us and what we could collect we have a forest we have we use John Winson and I'm sure we'll take I'm sure we'll keep him because he's done a very good job for bondon l i I could certainly provide more information I think I think what I was going to propose was um I'll work with our burough attorney we'll kind of come up with a draft maybe subject to some of the fees right we'll maybe do an analysis uh for the surrounding towns and present it to the governing body in the next workshop I'll also send it to the commission for review and comments and then you know we'd have to start introducing this in April to move it forward is it when is is April yeah so we have to adopt this by May 1st so we have to intro and and adopt in April so March is our only chance to revise anything so we have a month to do this to come up is this something all towns are facing now unless they've already qualified for a waiver yes correct okay I'm okay with that is everybody okay with that yeah yes all right thank you uh the next Workshop topic is uh at the request of councilwoman poori uh to talk about the Redevelopment agency I'm going to kick it back to the burough attorney to start the discussion perhaps sure um so I think that you were all provided um our answer um this started with the initial question that was asked two meetings ago about whether the fact that a member of the Redevelopment agency is no longer a resident whether that created a vacancy under the vacancy ordinance and we took a look at that question and we found that it did not and the reason it did not is because unlike some of the other agencies and commissions in the town the Redevelopment agency ordinance does not require the members of the agency to be residents and therefore that ordinance that discusses vacancies is not triggered and so you can have members of the Redevelopment agency that are non-residents continue to serve they are not that they're moving out of town does not create a vacancy um the the followup question then came up as to whether if it was the will of the the burrow Council to require residency for the Redevelopment agency whether that ordinance the Redevelopment ordinance could be amended to require residency and we took a look at that question and we determined that yes that that could be the Redevelopment ordinance could be amended to require residency I am aware um that there were um some other opinions on this prior to us coming on board but we looked at that and um those opinions were based on the silence in the uh in the law but the appellant division has now come down in a case uh involving a Sewer Authority which much like a Redevelopment agency has no residency requirement and the question uh was in this for this buau when they adopted changes to their Sewer Authority ordinance when they added residency as a requirement whether they were permitted to do that in face of the silence on the sud authorities law on that and the Appel both trial court and the Appel division said yes they can you can't read that much into the silence on these sorts of questions so while um while there may be a challenge to a a a revision of the Redevelopment ordinance we feel um rather strongly that we would be able to uh that that that challenge would fail if it were if we were brought to court so that's that's where we are all right so we have a Redevelopment agency that has uh members of the public and they've all put been put on that board for certain reasons um we have one member who does not live in town he was our planning board director for a long time and then Redevelopment director for a while uh he he attends all the meetings he doesn't miss any meetings he he's involved in every in every way that you can be involved in this uh does a very good job I think and he's very non-partial on how he makes his decisions um you know that's what I'll say with the boards I I hate going after any volunteers that we have in town who are giving free of their time to say we don't like what you're doing and we'd like to remove you I just don't appreciate that so I don't think that the the problem is that we don't like what he's doing he's the only board or comme in this town that allows for someone that is not a member of this community to serve on it I think it looks uh I think it's a in bad precedent right so should someone that works as diligently on another board or committee uh the director of the recreation the lead of the shade tree have all been long time community members and residents taxpayers with a vested interest in this community very good at what they do should either one of them decide that they would like to sell their home and move out of the burrow are we going to then further accommodate them so that they can continue to sit on other boards and commissions as non-residents there's no argument here that he is passionate about what he does is he qualified I don't know I can't speak to that he does not come from a profession that you know anyone else could come from that they could learn the same things he has learned I'm just not sure why we're making an accommodation for one person on one board and I like uniformity so if this is something we're going to continue with and I think we should relax that requirement across the table on all boards and committees and anyone that should prove that they are good at what they do in this town and wants to move out of the town can still continue to sit on whatever board or committee they want before we go any further I I I just want a clarification because we seem to be getting into a discussion of what individ idual do we I mean we haven't named that person obviously but do we have to consider a rice notice because it seems like now we're going into an individual and not a broader discussion among the agency membership we're we're not in close session um but um this is this should not be discussed on a person on an individual basis this is really the broader question of whether residency is required so I I appreciate that comment and we should refrain from discussing any specific individual instead we should just approach the council should approach this on the broader question of whether residency is something that is um something that that they want required for the Redevelopment agency and I should say um I should have should have added that you know we our our view is that the buau is free to free to amend their ordinance it's not a recommendation that you you amend it that's that is purely a council decision whether you do that or not um our our our opinion is merely that that you may amend it okay so speaking in generalities without alluding to any one particular person we have um 11 12,000 residents in this town I find it hard to believe that we couldn't find enough residents in this community to fill that seat should it need to be required to be uh a member of Pompton a resident of Pompton Lakes um it's one of the biggest things we have facing our town right now right it's going to literally change the structure the services just about everything we can think of and I I truly believe that that board should be comprised of people that have skin in the game that sit in the traffic that have kids in the school that pay taxes that own a building or a business or even at very least have family here um so again I'll leave it like this if if uh if what's good for one board should be good for all so we either make it a requirement that everyone must be a resident to sit on a board in this town or you don't and then anyone on any board can move out and stay isn't their state statute for planning boards and zoning boards yeah yeah I I was I was going to say the the kind of flipping it that way there are zoning boards and planning boards are required to be residents I would have to look at whether all boards could be so excluding anything that's not covered by state statute we could change the language in flood Advisory Board to say that it should we want a non-resident to sit on that board you don't have to be you don't have to be a member to sit on flood Advisory board or any board actually the language for those are specific in saying that you must be a resident we Che I don't know they language is specific in every other one that he must be a resident it is the only one that allows for a non-resident so let's make it an either or none right let's open it up to everyone anywhere that wants to stay um or no one and you must be a resident to the extent not not otherwise not covered by State statue see I'm looking at it from and I'll let everybody else speak I'm looking at it from a different point of view we have some uh you know say we had a resident who was very qualified this is a very specific position uh saying he's not qualified he was the planning board director for 15 years no said he wasn't qualified you said you weren't sure if he was qualified talk about individuals um so you know there is reason to put other people on boards because they're qualified not insulting our res to think that someone would not be able to fill that seat and have equal or better qualifications in any seat on any board so the way that that chairperson works in that Redevelopment agency it's picked from within the Redevelopment agency so one of the members sitting up there right now will be the new chairperson um and that's how it is we don't pick a chairperson no but then he vacates his seat and it's replaced with a resident correct yes well I think that gets I mean I I I I I get there's I get there's a consideration ation of people's talents and strengths and things like that when we appoint people to these boards um and I have two thoughts is again one everything being neutral um regardless of who may or may not sit on any of these boards right now would we lean towards having a resident and making it a requirement for a resident to be a member or making a Reit to be a resident to be as part of these boards I think that's one question the second question is given the fact that we obviously appoint multiple people to this this agency and a number of these boards again based on their strengths based on their their willingness to serve um shouldn't we also recognize the fact that given those strengths given those things any of of them should be capable of doing that job voted among themselves as chair um because they're on there for a specific reason as well um you know we have a number of people and and I'm the liaison to the Redevelopment agency we have a number of people that have specific strengths and talents um that serve the Redevelopment agency well um and so at the same time any of those people because they're on the agency should also be able to serve on that capacity as the chairperson in my opinion right but the chairperson's picked by that right no I understand that but I'm saying like if we're comfortable appointing these eight or nine members of the agenc then any of those people should be considered strong enough to be part of the chair and that should apply for uh another Resident that comes on that we feel strongly enough saying that this person would be a good fit for the Redevelopment agents yeah except it would be a new new it would be a new well it would be something new boards and committees all the time people step off people step on I'm not saying we don't there's absolutely no reason to be insulting to the people that are taxpayers in this town to think that no one could be qualified enough to sit on that that I don't think that's come up no one's brought that to my attention no one's brought up the intention you know that I'm insulted that he's up there or anybody's up there that's not living in town um you know the determination becomes you know if we feel the board is doing a good job and how we feel about this this is how it was set up it was set up with the intent and maybe we didn't know this at the time when it was set up but we were told by the state that this is the procedures in place when you set this up and this is how we set it up so I'm I'm a big fan of things being equal across the board so we will continue on the path of allowing non-residents to serve so so let's so let me ask you this now so let's just say a member steps off predevelopment and creates a vacancy someone else from from Wayne or Oakland can throw their hat in the ring and then thereby take another we vote on that we vote no if we don't want that but what if they were highly qualified and you still don't want highly qualified and and they said I live in Oakland but I just want to say and that might be a good fit for the board and does that makes sense it might if they have a lot of knowledge in that yes the seat should be filled by our residents I I believe that I mean Redevelopment is a big thing in town right now and I think that we as residents you know I if I'm voting on something I'm going to be I'm going to really take it into consideration because I live here and I have to see my you know see my neighbors I have to see them in the store I see them on the streets and I have to answer to them but when you don't live here you can you make a decision and you leave it's not the same thing I think you give a little more consideration to something if you have to live in it like if you have to live there if you have to live in town and you have to deal with the traffic and more people and whatever Redevelopment brings it's different I how do I put this I don't necessarily have a problem with the requirement my concern is is that this being that we seem to be focused on one in particular individual if I had to look at this and apply it as a general rule that us as Council are looking to implement as something going forward instead of focusing on what seems to be one that does not live I have a problem with that because if we're looking to apply this if it does impact someone that happens then that's fine but we seem to be applying this because we're specifically focused on one and that I do not like I I do not disagree with the residency requirements but we're throwing around a him a person so it looks like we're taking this you know updated ordinance to Target one individual obviously that should not be the way we do things no but you can flip your script and say that the accommodation was made but this is no no no no no but this has he's from my understanding since we're bringing up a he has been doing this for a very long time and to my understanding I don't think anybody and I'm hey I'm only on Council this is going into my third year but there are folks that have been here eight years nine years already and I'm assuming he's been on there just as long if I'm mistaken on as a he's been there just as long so do I think there should be I'm I'm okay with that but we should not be focused on ordinance to taret one individual we should be focusing our ordinance to better the agency and that's what it is to better the agency as a whole so better the agency as a whole fact that we're throwing around a you know one particular person I don't think that's fair but I think that my my statement is a blanket statement because I don't know anyone on that rment agency I don't know any of them I have well it's unfortunate that it has to Target one person there's no way around it because person it applies to we don't design ordinances to focus on one or two and we design the the ordinances are in place as a how do I word this correctly a as a way uh I don't know what the right word would be to as not a rule not a rule but a a guide to a certain or something that can be applied to a committee or other you know as a general rule of what they need to follow and what the processes are in place we should not be looking at an ordinance just to Target just just to do it to Target one individual and some person brought up to me and I thought it was good compromise they said going back to Bobby's point we shouldn't be attacking or going con concentrating on one person but speaking of that one person we can you know make an exception for that one person then moving forward if you want to make a residency you make a residency you can do that then but now you are focusing on now you are making it grandfathering in because he's been there right and we are also heading into an environment where we have uh four or five at one time projects coming up so there's going to be a lot and it's going to be a lot of conversation and to councilwoman kbr's point it's someone that will make decisions for multiple projects that are contentious that are raising a lot of public scrutiny and he doesn't live here he's he's not making decisions it's a board that's making decisions he does not make any decisions well so and and it was related to me that does do a lot of the interacting directly with the developers and then turn and votes with with with the subcommittee of other developed people which how technically should be the the role of the paid employee on the board no that's it gets to the paid employee a conceptual is just that it's a conceptual is supposed to be the liaison between the developers and the board not not until they get past conceptual conceptual explain to me by by that Ro you were explain WR that he shouldn't be negot ating and voting all right I think we're getting into a different subject so so this is no voting we're not voting here this is just disc just a discussion so I we I think we've talked it that so that's where we are with this whole thing and we'll have some more conversation on it as we move forward so where are we leaving we will then change it so that all boards allow for we're going to have more discussion yeah I mean that would seem fair okay that's we're going do I think we should discuss it further I think we should discuss it further because I don't disagree with the premise it's how it's being argued and applied right now okay so I I I don't disagree so I think we should have further discussion on that um do not leave it just uh here next uh back to the attorney open public meetings act thank you so a question was raised over the course of the past couple weeks about um BR council members attending the the meeetings of the agencies when they're not either the mayor or liaison and where when you count the the heads of burrow uh council members there is a quorum of the council meeting there's more than three council members present at a meeting and I think you all received in your package my memo addressing this and an email an email sent to and an email um so just to underscore when when there's more than a quum there those additional members who are not the additional council members who are not there in some official capacity and there's four or more of you there it's important that the council member not participate in the in the in the discussions or in the deliberations of that agency nor par nor get up and make public comment because what you're doing then is there's a quorum of you discussing um burrow business and if that's to happen then a notice needs to be done you know you have to con conform with the open public meetings act and a notice has to be posted and published that the bur Council because there's a quorum of you there will be taking up burrow matters at that meeting so there's no the open public meetings act does not prohibit council members from attending these as long as it's just as I said in my memo you're just present you're observing you're not participating otherwise somebody could bring a claim against you know one of you that you have violated the open public meetings at um now there's I rece any questions on that yes are the previous attorney told the that is not the way to proceive this you said that if you you should if you see four and it's four in this case for Council persons or council with mayor that that's a corner and you should not be going to these meetings because there's two and I'm going to be real honest there's two meetings that are that are pretty hot right now one is the Redevelopment meeting and then the other one was the bid meeting and I personally got thrown out of a bid meeting okay because there was four four of us even though I was just listening didn't I didn't participate I just wanted to hear cuz I didn't know um when was that way back when they were on zoom and uh there was um councilman beg and sembling and Rooney uh and the mayor told me I had to leave I I hung up the phone and then that we that came up with with uh Mark samera our attorney and he said yeah that's you know that was the right thing to do you're saying something very different yes I am I am I'm I'm taking a less conservative approach than that your mere presence so that you're not as I said your mere presence alone observing the meeting not participating in any way right does not trigger because there is not a quorum of the council that's discussing burrow business and I I I agree with you sure so okay um I think that brings up an interesting question because say that we do have a Redevelopment agency obviously the mayor and I are there in our official capacity um but let's say the entire rest of the council comes in they're sitting in the audience don't sit together don't one don't sit together yeah don't sit together and two realistically none of them should participate because of the number that are in attendance it's not just like well as long as one other council person only participates in ask a question but none of the other ones do it's okay it's just if if again if we what would normally constitute a quorum we should just basically sit there and just not participate at all yes unless you're there in official capacity yes even as a resident that maybe I'm fine if I go as a resident with a concern and I want to speak I can't you cannot so sorry to tell you that okay if Eric and Mike are present in their official capacity and Bobby is the only other council person there then Bobby can ask questions and speak yes yes if Bobby and then Lisa comes in now no one can speak now no one other than those there in an official capacity so and just to take this one step further not related to Redevelopment but how would that and and we've asked this before because there are four of us up here that have children in the school how would that apply to Board of Ed because that is not Council business can we speak as parents and residents if there are four of us at at a board of ed meeting you are permitted as a parent at a board of ed meeting to speak yes so just not things that would pertain to this yes because that's not that's not burrow business that's that's Board of Education you're not speaking there as a as yes it's a it's a it's a different it's a different topic so you're not you're not yeah so I have a question just because just of the the way things work from a from a planning board Redevelopment agency zoning board yes this is Dan there's a separation everything's easy when you go to a flood Advisory board or a bid meeting and everybody's sitting around a table you know in a in a circle you know it's not like it's your chance to talk everyone's just talking right so you're saying if there's two members there or three or more none of them should be talking than about anything except for those that are there yeah that are part of it that's that's going to be very difficult to happen when you're sitting around the table yeah no because our open space meetings are around a table we accommodate for public that sits in the back the bid accommodates for public that sits in the back almost every meeting that takes place in here has the meeting here and we have public sitting in the back so there's certainly a way deliv no but like I use the bid they sit around the table they sit you know across from each other in a circle but if there if chairs and a couch in the back of the room Council woman can't come in she can go sit in the back of the room correct correct they should not sit at the table they should not even sit at the table public should be sitting at the table period when do public ever go to a bid meeting and sit at the table with the bid numbers they they changed that well the bid shouldn't be allowing that I mean that's not normal protocol we wouldn't have a member of the public come in and sit at the round table at an open space meeting technically in that position you would be a member of the public MH so don't sit at the table yes you are a member of the public but you're stripped of your ability to participate the public as a result of the fact you're a council person I was on a phone for those of you that don't know this issue came up because and and I am going to use this as an opportunity to say this the the way that you spoke to Lisa and I in that meeting was was completely inappropriate and out of line I have my attorney advis yeah that's actually that's actually that's on me um when when this when this came called us out in a very I didn't call I said one I said one of you has to leave you were incredibly unprofessional okay and I wasn't me I asked the attorney that was his advice and I was I was in a meeting you asked the attorney after we watched you sit down and start texting yes I had to before you even entered the room you didn't even make it to halfway through before you be I'm going by with our old attorney said so it wasn't this attorney it was the old attorney no this attorney he he reached out to me I I was double checking I was in the middle of a Utilities Authority meeting when I saw the text we were not able to I obviously I'm not able to speak to the man to find out what level of participation is going on so I ER on the side of of of of making sure that nobody had a opma violation claim brought against them and just said no have them leave response came in after we had already been approached and I appreciate your response well well that's true going by what what we told to us PR and and it was so loud that a member of the public advised your so anyway um no no no no I think I think we put the matter to rest we understand what our responsibilities are we don't I don't think at this point we have to go can I just make more points of this so so this this does extend the open public meetings act does extend to text messaging and emailing as well it's important that you not have group text messages to each other anytime you're discussing barel Affairs it has to be at a publicly noticed meeting it doesn't matter that you're doing it over the Internet by phone or by text you can't have for instance if you have a a group group text amongst you you should you should wipe that out if you have a group email you should wipe that out what I do when I have to communicate with clients because you know on boards like this is I either say Do not hit reply all to avoid an OP opal violation or I just divide you into two groups and I said half off to one half off to another without that warning so that we don't get a reply all that starts a dialogue in violation of and that's and and I and I agree with that but the only if we and I'll use an example today we had you know the fire is a thing sure we can send a group text saying reminding everybody to come to that that's not that's not a violation no and people can respond and that's not an issue it's only when we talking about town business burrow business right I can say there's a bid meeting at 4:00 that's not an issue that's correct okay okay okay mik you got anything else thank you nothing okay okay okay can I have a motion to open the meeting for public comments motion councilman Benning council president dine all in favor I against anyone from the public like to address seeing no one motion to close sorry come on you ran G five car street I just want to thank you all for talking about The Walk For Hope uh and administrator Kelli and clerk branis uh for their help on getting this started guys this is uh an event we haven't run since 2019 um and as you can see in the photo uh that's why we chose the photo for the flyer it's kind of an homage to the first one we ran next year I'm kind of hoping the photo doesn't fit on a piece of paper anymore uh that's how big we're trying to make this thing so we're asking everybody to come out in Unity on May 11th uh we're going to have uh military veterans speaking uh before the walk starts we're going to have water we're going to have uh even potentially the chef over at the high school and uh the principal and the vice principal potentially cooking for everybody so um it's really going to be a fun event we're going to have swag giveaways everything so uh I say it to you guys we invite you guys uh everybody here we want to show uh that this town's unified and stigma free and obviously invite all the public to come out and find your friends family uh call your in-laws in from out of state I don't care uh bring them to the event sign up register with the QR code and uh let's turn this thing into an awesome event so thank you guys for mentioning it uh let's keep pressing on about it thank you hey Ryan would that be Chef Foley yes yes chef Foley so I know he's he's a fan favorite amongst the kids all right desserts are ready just to put it out there anyone else from the public like to [Music] address no yes you walking this way no okay motion to close the public session Council blind councilman Cruz all in favor I against thank you uh yeah right of course thank you for what you're doing over there um I don't know if we have have we actually hired your assistant yet or not if I may to that point I I left this out accidentally in my report uh the governing body tonight uh hired uh Dr P former principal of pton Lakes High School as the assistant Coalition coordinator so he will be assisting Ryan uh and the Coalition in implementing their programs and activities and kind of being a good spokesperson advocating for the commission and getting people to events and attending clubs and and other meetings so I think it'll be great for the burrow um so thank you yeah and it'll be a good fit and I'm sure there'll be a radio show coming out of that very [Laughter] shortly um could I motion to close the public session did I do that CL session yes I have one close s oh you do I thought okay motion to close the meeting for public comments motion we did that we did that okay motion to rejourn into Clos session motion remove councilman benon council president D line all in favor did you privilege of the floor oh is priv of the floor I'm sorry priv of the floor a night it should be before yeah it's before I'm sorry yes I would like to ask that we try to do better up here as far as the way we address each other in front of other people and I'd like to remind the council that we do not answer to nor do we work for the mayor so when we speak to each other there should be some level of respect because we are all up here working hard for the town and whether you agree with me or not the way you spoke to us in public at that meeting was completely inappropriate I don't agree with you at all you never did okay and there's a reason uh okay motion to go to close session motion okay councilman venon council president uh dine all in favor all against okay sorry I got three out in close session we discussed the Personnel matter uh motion to adjourn motion V councilwoman kilberg all favor against Mike I forgot to ask you open how we making out oh go