she I that's fine you you you have four years to make it up to me here we go good evening good evening everyone one good evening everyone good evening everyone it's a very good evening everyone if I could ask you all to quiet down for a moment thank you Chief yeah it's a it's it's one of the special nights in this room and we're all incredibly excited to be here tonight so let's begin tonight is the Village Council regular public meeting the date is April 10th 2024 the time is 7:30 adequate notice of this meeting has been provided by a posting on the bulletin board in Village Hall by mail to the Ridgewood news the record and by submission to all persons entitled the same as provided by law of a schedule including the date and time of this meeting roll call Deputy Mayor paron here council member Reynolds here council member Whit here council member Winograd here and mayor vagianos here will you all please join us in a salute to our flag I pledge aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all I move that the bills claims and vouchers and statement of funds on hand as of March 30 31st 2024 be accepted as submitted second parin yes Reynolds yes whites yes Winograd yes vagianos yes and we're going to go right to our proclamations but we're going to take them slightly out of order so we're going to begin with the proclamation of tree planting month Siobhan would you take that one please sure whereas the village of Ridgewood is proud of its many trees which contribute so much to the beauty and comfortable Ambience of the village and whereas trees wherever they are planted are a source of joy and spiritual renewal and whereas trees can reduce R the erosion of our precious top soil by wind and water cutting Heating and Cooling cost moderate the temperature clean the air produce oxygen and provide habitat for our wildlife and whereas trees in our village increase property values enhance the economic Vitality of the business area and beautify our community whereas Arbor Day is now observed through the nation and the world in recognition of the importance of trees and whereas the village of virin has been recognized as a tree City USA by the National Arbor Day Foundation for its extensive plantings and its program for the maintenance of trees now therefore it be resolved that the Village Council of the village of Ridgewood does hereby Proclaim April 2024 as tree planting month in the village of Ridgewood and April 26 2024 as Arbor Day and urges all residents to plant trees to support efforts to protect our trees and woodlands and support our villages Urban foresty program and additionally pick up your free sapling at Earth B in vaness Park from our shry division thank you Siobhan and now we have a proclamation for National drinking water week Pam thank you whereas water is our most valuable natural resource and whereas drinking water serves a vital role in daily life serving an essential purpose to health hydration and hygiene needs for the quality of our of life our citizens enjoy and whereas only tapw water delivers Public Health protection fire protection support for our economy and the quality of life we enjoy and whereas the hard work performed by the entire water sector designing capital projects operators ensuring the safety and quality of drinking water or a member of a pipe crew maintaining the infrastructure communities rely on to transport highquality drinking water from its source to Consumers Taps and whereas any measures of a successful Society low mortality rates economic growth and diversity productivity and Public Safety are in some way related to access to Safe Water and whereas we are all stewards of the water infrastructure upon which future Generations Depend and whereas each citizen of our village is called upon to help protect our source Waters from pollution to practice water conservation and to get involved in local water issues by getting to know their water now therefore be it resolved that the Village Council of the village of Richwood does hereby Proclaim May 5th through 11th 2024 as National drinking water week in the village of Ridgewood Thank you Pam and we now have a proclamation for building safety month Evan where is our village continuing effort to address the critical issue of safety Energy Efficiency water conservation and resilience in this in the built environment that affect our citizens both in everyday life and in times of natural disaster give us confidence that our homes buildings and infrastructures are safe and sound and whereas our confidence is achieved through the devotion of vigilant Guardians building safety and Fire Prevention officials Architects Engineers Builders trades peoples laborers and others in the construction industry who work year round to ensure the safe construction of buildings and whereas these Guardians dedicated members of the International Code Council use a governmental consensus process that brings together local state and federal officials with expertise in the built environment to create and implement the highest quality codes to protect Americans in the buildings where we live learn work worship and play and whereas the international codes the most widely adopted Building Safety energy and Fire Prevention codes in the nation are used by most US cities counties and States these modern building codes also include safeguards to protect the public from natural disasters such as hurricanes snowstorms tornadoes Wild Land fires flood and earthquakes and whereas Building Safety month is sponsored by the International Code Council to remind the public about the critical role our community's largely unknown guardians of Public Safety our local code officials who assure us of safe efficient and livable buildings and whereas Mission possible the theme for building safety month 2024 encourages us all to raise awareness about building safety on a personal local and global scale and whereas Building Safety month 20124 strives to ensure that the places where we live learn work worship and play are safe and sustainable and recognize that counties that countless lives have been saved due to the implementation of safety codes by local and state agencies and whereas each year an observation of building safety month Americans are asked to consider projects to improve building safety and sustainability at home and in the community and to acknowledge the essential Services provided to all of us by local and State Building departments fire prevention bureaus and federal agencies in protecting lives and property now for be it resolved that the Village Council of the village Ridgewood does hereby Proclaim May 2024 as building safety month and encourages all residents to join in participation in building safety month activities thanks Evan and now we're going to have a proclamation for older Americans month Lorraine thank you whereas the village of Ridgewood includes a growing number of older Americans who contribute their time wisdom and experience to our community and whereas the village of Ridge would benefits when people of all ages abilities and backgrounds have the opportunity to participate and live independent L and whereas the village of Ridgewood recognizes our need to create a community that offers the services and supports older adults may need to make choices about how they age and whereas the 2024 theme is powered by connection which recognizes the profound impact of meaningful relationships and social connections on the health and well-being of older adults and explores the vital role that connectedness plays in supporting supporting Independence and aging in place by combating isolation loneliness and other issues and whereas the village of Ridgewood can promote the benefits of connecting with older Americans by sharing facts about the mental physical and emotional health benefits of social connection promoting resources that help older adults engage like community events Social Clubs and volunteer opportunities connecting older adults with local services such such as transport transportation that can help overcome obstacles to achieving or maintaining meaningful relationships now therefore be it resolved that the Village Council of the village of Ridgewood does hereby Proclaim May 2024 as older Americans month and calls upon residents to join in recognizing the contributions of our older citizens and promoting programs and activities that Foster connection inclusion and support for older adults thanks Lorraine and now we have a resolution for slowmo May Pam thank you whereas pollinating insects serve a significant and critical role in propagating the food chain and their ideal habitat is one comprised of mostly native wild flowers flowering grasses plants shrubs and trees and whereas slowmo May is a community initiative that encourages property owners to reduce the frequency with which they mow their lawn during the month of May to provide early season foraging resources for pollinators that emerge in the spring especially in our Suburban Landscapes when few floral resources are available and whereas re research has shown a significant increase in both abundance and species richness of butterflies and bees in less frequently moan Lawns and that a two- week mowing regime supports the highest B abundance whereas the village of Ridgewood would like to encourage interested residents to increase pollinator friendly habitat by encouraging pollinator friendly Lawn Care practices on their own properties now therefore be it resolved that the village of Ridgewood does hereby Proclaim slowmo May to actively promote and educate the community about the critical period of pollinator emergence generation of crucial pollinator supporting habitat and early spring foraging opportunities and be it further proclaimed that the village that the village of Ridgewood encourages Village residents to participate in the slow mo may program voluntarily slowing their lawn care until June which will allow pollinator species to emerge and early flowering grasses to establish thanks Pam we have one more Proclamation and we're all going to come down there to do this one this is one of the nicer nights that we'll ever spend in this room and I'm going to ask Rich Brooks and his entire family to come up and join us if you would also Stacy anen and Julia Buckley will you come and join us right over here rich rich come on over so for those of you who are unaware Rich Brooks is the chair of the Parks and Recreation conservation board and on January 23rd near the end of the meeting he collapsed and suffered a massive heart failure and his heart stopped beating for 35 minutes he was shocked seven times and he is standing with us today because the people in the room took all the right actions jumped into The Fray and truly saved his life and it was a Monumental effort by many many many people most or all of them are in the room tonight and so I'm going to read this Proclamation and we read lots of proclamations as you can see this one is very personal for me because this man and this woman have been my personal best friends for over 35 years so whereas Richard books has been a dedicated and tireless unteer in the village of Ridgewood coaching lacrosse and soccer at Ridgewood High School serving on the boards of the American Red Cross the March of Dimes and ridgewood's Parks and Recreation and conservation board for decades most recently as the chair of the PRC board and whereas on January 23rd 2024 while serving at a PRC board meeting Richard Brooks suffered a heart attack and whereas both Stacy anen and Julia Buck Buckley who were in attendance at the PRC board meeting were nothing short of heroic in beginning CPR compressions on Mr Brooks and continued to do so until the fire department engine 31 crew and EMTs arrived on the scene and whereas there were many who banded together to save this one life as PRC board member Victoria van djk called 911 gave Direction and delivered verbal commands and fire engine 31 crew fire Lieutenant Jordan ziles firefighter Matthew musicant firefighter Chris me EMT and firefighter Matthew bomas ambulance 46 along with Dr Robert leita the medical director for the ambulance group responded quickly to the 911 call and whereas Deputy Mayor Pamela perin called fire chief John judge and she shared verbal CPR commands from chief judge and whereas other members of the PRC board in attendance David sales Liz cloak Jim Morgan Board of Education representative Mary mcau Dina cat of the parks Division and Nancy Bigos director of Parks and Recreation lent moral support and other assistance where needed and whereas police officer Shane broglia and police officer Andrew van djk responded to the call and assisted the fire engine 31 crew and EMTs by retrieving equipment as necessary and whereas once at Valley Hospital doctors and nurses continued to keep Richard Brooks heart pumping and were able to get his heart to beat on its own after 35 minutes of CPR compressions now therefore be it resolved that the Village Council of the village of Ridgewood extends their appreciation and thanks to all who participated in this life-saving effort especially Stacy anen and Julia Buckley whose quick action in initially administering CPR allowed Richard Brooks to survive his heart attack returned to the PRC board's March meeting and join us here this evening and be it further resolved that the Village Council wishes Richard Brooks many more years of good health and time spent enjoying his family and friends thank you good to see you nice job nice gentlemen outstanding job I'm good good job good job before we begin taking pictures I want to tell you something that the cardiologist told Gail Rich's wife he said people do not survive this there is no reason why he survived he said when she asked how he said it was absolutely divine divine intervention I present to you the people who are doing God's work they are divine intervention okay I just want to say that um I really value the AMS and fire department because this is I always wanted to be one but it was so stressful I thought well and I'd never done CPR except on a mannequin it was my first time but I just love rich and when it happened we all embraced it and um we just needed to be do what was done I mean most people sometimes don't do what they need to do but um I couldn't think of anything better when I walked in the room and saw his smiling face and I'm just so grateful that he's here with us today so thank you um similar to Stacy I just have such an appreciation for our emergency responders being in that position and having to do it oh my goodness once is enough for me but I'm so grateful tonight to walk back into this room and see this Healthy Man and remet him that was my first time really meeting him at that meeting that was my first Parks and Recreation board meeting so it was quite an introduction to my service for this town um but I'm so happy that to remet him this evening and see his wonderful family and thank you all for this night and as Julia said this was her very first meeting and yet she came back for a second one um and Stacy was only there because she was making a special presentation which she was supposed to make in October but didn't work out supposed to make a November didn't work out December meetings canel so she happened to be there in January if that's not divine intervention I don't know what is and now I give you my friend Rich Brooks well I guess I guess this is one of those moments that you really don't want to relive um on the other hand it was a great first meeting um I can't I can't say enough about the people um up here and on behalf of my family my wife Gail my daughter McKenzie my son Ryan my beautiful granddaughter Gemma who turns one next week um thank you from the bottom of my heart as fixed as it is and it's pretty fixed I have a lot of Hardware inside but it all works and I'm thrilled to death to be here as you can imagine um the doctors did tell me basically what they told Gail and Paul um there's no reason for me to be around um they gave a lot of credit to not only the humans involved but this machine that I'm learning about the Lucas machine which I don't even know what it looks like but I'm going to find out that's not only did it save my life but most importantly I survived with all my brain function um being down so long really doesn't lead to a positive outcome for uh brain damage I had none I remember the things that I want to remember I did remember one thing tomorrow is my 34th wedding anniversary and hopefully she'll stick around with me for another 34 but I am truly blessed to have to first of all to live in this town I'm truly blessed to be surrounded by people who are smart active and willing to put it to practice I will say this everybody should learn CPR everybody should learn CPR because you may need it someday you may need it for a parent or a friend or just a chairman of the board of the Comm comme that you're serving on but it's very important I learned it because I coach it's not something that you want to use but you're glad you have it in your back pocket in case you have to pull it out but thank you very much thank you to the council thank you my friends thank you Paul and thank all of you [Applause] this is for you remember what rich said let's all get out there and learn CPR I know CPR she knows CPR let's and she does now too she she learned on the job training so let's all let's all do this let's make this our commitment going forward we have already expanded um purchasing more um uh electric defibrillators known as aeds and there is now one at the health Barn where this took place and so this is going to be a movement that we hope will reverberate beyond our community thank you all so much tonight okay we're good great job great job oh no we take oh no we than now take pictures now take I forgot the pictures forgot the pictures she should be in the front I'm serious she should definitely be in the front l everybody everybody [Applause] yeah and now we have more good stuff y can we talk about this later I got to get this yeah yeah we're not going to get okay and that was nice but now we have more we have more nice stuff I'd like to call up fire Lieutenant Gregory corkran and his family I don't have where's who's going to hold the Bible you want to hold the Bible of will you hold this hold this up high for Daddy hold this up get everybody dad talking come on I got I got detained by somebody I don't I don't blame you you hold it with Mommy okay okay and now we get to do more fun stuff if you guys all thank you so much you ready if you'll repeat after me I Gregory corkran I Gregory corkran do solemnly swear do solemnly swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States that I will support the Constitution of the United States and the constitution of the state of New Jersey and the constitution of the state of New Jersey and that I will Faithfully I will faithfully impartially impartially and justly perform all of the the duties and justly perform all the duties of the office of fire Lieutenant of the office of fire Lieutenant according to the best of my ability according to the best of my ability so help me God so help me God congratulations that what's [Applause] the Greg Greg did you sign next up Volunteer Fire Lieutenant Jeffrey krian and your family will you please come and join usate are here raise your right hand and repeat after me I Jeffrey crean I Jeffrey krian do solemnly swear do solemnly swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States that I will support the Constitution of the United States and the constitution of the state of New Jersey and the constitution of the state of New Jersey and that I will faithfully and that I will faithfully impartially impartially and justly perform all of the duties and justly perform all of the duties of the office of fire Lieutenant of the office office of fire Lieutenant according to the best of my ability according to the best of my ability so help me God so help me God [Applause] [Music] congratulations Jeff need you to sign yeah inefficiency sign do you want some pictures you good great right one more and now I'd like to call up an old friend Captain Robert peacock and his [Applause] family would you uh like to do the if you'll repeat after me I Robert peacock I Robert peacock do solemnly swear do solemnly swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States that I will support the Constitution of the United States and the constitution of the state of New Jersey and the constitution of the state of New Jersey and that I will Faithfully that I will faithfully impartially impartially and justly perform all of the duties and justly perform all the duties of the office of fire Lieutenant of the office of fire captain misprint of the office of fire captain office of fire captain according to the best of my ability according to the best of my ability so help me God so help me God congratulations and and I and it said Captain there get a new one for and now we're going to get on to less important things good going to go back to scho and he was I think more words have been said and then he was telling col I where to go sending pictures and and before we continue go I don't think so I got right here before we continue I want to spend send out a very special thank you and warm wishes to our village clerk Heather Mander Heather had an emergency appendectomy a couple of weeks ago and so she will not be returning until probably next week so we all wish her a quick recovery but just as importantly I want to point out the type of dedication she has she she is the person who drafts all of the proclamations and she drafted the proclamations that were read this evening from home while she is recovering from surgery so again a very special shout out to our good friend Heather we need you back soon please hurry [Applause] back and now we will go to comments from the public on good evening mayor and Council Ann loving 342 South Irving Street it is now spring and along with the many joys of the season comes the application of dangerous pesticides by landscape companies as well as businesses that specialize in insecticide treatments many companies apply pesticides via fogging to The Lawns trees and shrubs of their clients the technicians who do so usually wear full respirators and often protective jumpsuits this can happen as often as monthly throughout the spring summer and into the fall the disclaimers and warnings about these poisons regarding skin and eye contact as well as inhalation risks are frankly alarming they are after all poisonous chemical no excuse me and just a moment Tony we have to leave the door open thank you um Frank's going to go out and ask the people to just be a little quieter it's okay yeah we've all we've all made that move so and let's make sure Ann gets some extra time yeah we should stop the clock or give her back like 30 seconds we'll make sure okay and go ahead thank you the disclaimers and warnings about these poisons regarding skin and eye contact as well as inhalation risks are frankly alarming they are after all poisonous chemicals as always with such matters the risks increase for those who have respiratory disorders are elderly or are otherwise compromised repeated exposures amplify the negative effects homeowners who contract with these companies are given advanced notice of upcoming applications so they can close their Windows go indoors and bring children and pets inside for a few hours their neighbors are not given such notice in recent years Don culo has posted an announcement on the village web page informing residents of the dangers of inhaling these chemicals and of everyone's right by law to be informed when a fogging is going to take place in their neighborhood explaining how to access the D website in which the legislation is explained in detail and she also offered safe alternatives to deterring Insects when you are Outdoors this no longer appears on our new web page so I am hoping the manager will direct the health department to put it up front once again this spring and summer I gave a paper copy um of the announcement to Dawn before the meeting as a side note Mr gruan Hogan of the D explained to me that these chemical applications are basically useless unless you're having an outdoor Gathering or a party a few hours after the fogging he also explained that the damage to birds and animals who cannot hide indoors can be significant Mr gruan hogin said that a fan is one of the most effective ways to keep mosquitoes and other insects from bothering people as they sit outside and enjoy a cookout read a book or take a snooze this method the fan is obviously risk-free so again I gave uh Dawn's to Dawn and uh if I think she said she has an electronic copy so hopefully the manager will allow that to be posted thank you thank you Inn hi my name is Elizabeth Burke um I'm at 377 Hopper I am the direct backyard neighbor of an Elizabeth if you could speak more directly into the mic sure can you hear me better now much better great thank you uh I am here for the first time excited to live in New Jersey um and I wanted to I don't have prepared statement I'm sorry but I wanted to ask I suppose I know that there are a lot of neighborhoods in Ridgewood that have had a lot more flooding and drainage issues and that the city is working hard on fixing what it can um my street particularly is very flat and some residents of the street have regraded their property some residents have filled in and and worked on trying to fix their individual drainage issues to varying levels of success we're working on our own projects um and I would love to ask since I've never lived in a village before with any kind of water service at all um who I would talk to about a holding Pond that is a little bit uphill that has started to back flow onto our street Street and has killed I don't know how many trees just sort of in in progress um so I wanted to just level that that is happening it's something I see every day because it's right outside my house but probably not something many people in the village see but I believe that it's affecting the whole neighborhood adversely um yep that's it thank you Elizabeth anyone else from the audience Rohan D Silva 521 West sou River Road I'm not sure uh where's the tech person do I keep this on do I not keep this on you can keep that on okay no feedback nothing not so far I'll let you know okay and and if you could just speak into the mic Rohan if you could speak into the mic can you not hear me um it's it's better we can hear you better if you if the mic's a little closer okay yeah no I I don't I can step forward to it please keep that in mind when youall are speaking too so it's it's important for communication so a few months ago maybe I think sometime in January I spoke with the village manager and I was promised information to this date I haven't been provided any information I'd like to know what the problem with the information gathering is and why it hasn't been sent out to me so that's number one I we still vehemently oppose your plan for the shedler property it's you're talking about flooding today there'll be many houses that will be flooded because of your plan in the shedler community and sorry no one said anything I heard a sound somebody C okay so that's that's essentially it I continue to oppose your plan I think it's shortsighted you've already put um I'm trying to look search for the correct word here but checked soil onto their property and I find it incredibly callous when I hear the message from the village to be well we're not going to hold anybody accountable because it wasn't based on malice when I speed down 25 over 25 on the road There's No Malice then either but I'm still given a ticket if I'm caught by the police there's accountability that has to be involved so everybody who didn't do their job on the council not on the council but in the village and I guess also on the council should be held to the same standard every citizen is so if somebody allowed soil that came in there didn't check it didn't follow the proper procedure they should be held accountable and if you don't hold them accountable you should be held accountable because it is your job to look after the citizens of Ridgewood that's it thank you thank you well hunt fetra dilva 521 West Saddle River Road um f r TT r a d s i l VA thank you thank you um my comment is uh there are a lot of pieces that continue to be added in connection with the review and implementation of um the plans for the shettler property and uh I think it would be beneficial to the entire Community to have an understanding more more comprehensively of what what's going on maybe in one place uh it may be on the website because it seems as if you know there's um this test for this amount this consultant for this this report for that it would be nice to see how much in total if we have an overall budget for this uh if we've allocated a certain amount in total to look at these things um how is it being paid for and if it could be in one place that would be very helpful I think for the community to know how much money we're spending uh in connection with with um the the the review and and the responses um that that's that while I'm not in favor as my husband has stated with the proposed plan um I do think it's of interest for the entire Community to understand exactly all of the pieces that seem to be kind of disjointed and the money that's associated with it thank you thank you fra anyone else from the audience seeing none we're going to go to our Public Access Greg you're up you there we go thank you thank you for taking my call my name is Greg lenberg and I live in Westfield New Jersey I'm calling tonight to express my deep concern about the proposed artificial turf project on the shedler property Greg if you could give us your address please yeah it's 528 Grove Street in Westfield New Jersey thank you yep so first let's call it what it is it's plastic grass 40,000 lbs of plastic grass on a typical field that's equivalent to millions of plastic grocery bags the ones the state banned two years ago because of the plastic pollution crisis these plastic bags are made from polymers derived from fossil fuels and typically contain numerous chemical additives including ultraviolet Inhibitors flame retardants col an plasticizers and per and poly floral alal alkal substances otherwise known as pasas these chemicals leech out of the plastic and pollute the water soil and Air in the local community and Beyond many of these chemicals are known to elevate the risk of negative Health outcomes especially in children whose bodies and immune systems are still developing plastic grass fields are a triple threat to climate change the plastic blades off gas carbon dioxide and methane in perpetuity particularly when exposed to sunlight these fields create heat Islands reaching temperatures significantly higher than surrounding natural spaces and finally they replace natural ecosystems thus destroying a carbon sink the plastic blades break apart into smaller and smaller pieces eventually becoming microplastics these microplastics migrate from the field and contaminate the water soil and air microplastics are everywhere including in the food we eat and in our bodies the hundreds of thousands of pounds of infill used on these plastic Fields is another issue entirely tyrum is most commonly used and is a chemical cocktail of carcinogens endocrine disrupting compounds and neurotoxins even alternative infill materials contain additives with similar health concerns in short the safety of artificial turf materials has never been demonstrated and the impact to the climate and the pollutants these fields shed into the environment is indisputable I would encourage you to invest in renovations to and organic maintenance of your natural grass fields overseen by the sports field manager with the expertise needed to get the most playing time out of fields without the negative impact of the environment or the youth who use these fields protecting our natural spaces should be a priority for all of us I hope you agree thank you for listening thank you Greg surub you're up can you hear me we can good evening M and Council um thank you for your service and thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak uh my name is s Dan and I live at 390 bford Road um I'm calling today because there was a press releas and uh s if you could speak just a little more slowly um the connection isn't that good and and a little louder okay so um I'm calling because there was a press release a few weeks ago regarding a safe route to school Grant and that was a federal Grant and the photo op and the release was from the congressman um and the Federal grant uh subsequent to that press release I saw another press release from our assembly men um for our district and that was for a state grant for the similar title and the Federal Grant and the congressman's press release mentioned 178,000 and the State Assembly men's um press release mentioned $157,000 but I've not seen any mention of that in any of the Ridgewood press um at the manager website or Village website so I just wanted to know what these part of the same Grant are these two different grants and uh is that going to give you any opportunity to reduce our taxes thank you thank you SAR Jean you're up next you're on mute Jean there you go my name is Jean limberg I live at 528 Grove Street in Westfield New Jersey I am calling this evening because although you might not realize it the land use choices that you make as Ridgewood Town Council Members impact all inhabitants of planet Earth regardless of zip code your plan to blanket shedler park with a plastic grass Athletic Field will not only poison ridgewood's children but children throughout our state country and world if you find find this idea shocking or offensive then you are likely unaware of the negative impact of plastics on human and planetary Health you owe it to current and future generations to become educated about Plastics by watching Plastics impact on human health with Dr Philip landeron this webinar can be viewed on YouTube and the website beyond plastics.org the health concerns raised by Dr landrian applied to each of ridgewood's existing artificial turf athletic fields as well as the new plastic grass field planned for the shedler property a plastic carpet makes up the top or visible layer of all artificial turf fields each plastic carpet contains millions of Blades of plastic grass which break apart into microplastics pieces of plastic less than 5 mm in length due to the weight bear and tear of sports activities and exposure to the elements the microplastics and the toxic chemicals they contain including pasas migrate off the field and into the air soil groundwater storm drains and eventually into the food chain and US communities in Massachusetts and Maryland provide a model for creating natural grass athletic fields that are rain out resistant and designed to withstand sports activities these Comm communities have a reverence for soil health and the determination to create natural grass athletic fields that grow stronger and more resilient over time with the use of organic and regenerative maintenance practices please bolster your knowledge about how land use choices can either exacerbate or mitigate climate change the soil story a short video produced by kiss the ground illustrates why healthy soil is crucial to having a habitable planet another short video organic management of natural grass demonstrates a proven method for creating strong healthy natural grass athletic fields as elected officials your actions have a greater impact than those of individuals please act to stop the destruction of our planet by taking to heart this message from Dr Seuss's environmental Fable the Lura quote unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot nothing is going to get better it is not end quote later is too late to do the right thing for our environment thank you so much for listening thank you Jean Susan you're up all right um Susan Ruan um 705 Kingsbridge Lane um I'm going to piig you back on a few topics that were discussed and that was one from one of the statements about flooding um I know that um there has been a notice that you know the Army Corps of Engineers is coming in to review flooding in Ridgewood and I was wondering when will residents be um meeting with them to discuss you know like the situation the the speaker spoke earlier of um and people who are along the river um and what sort of up toate will be given for um residents to keep informed of what's being done um because I believe there are two i i attended the green meeting and you know he spoke about the different ways to get funding and approval for um um for items concerning flooding um all right the second is um and this is again just about notices um and that's Kings Bridge the foot Bridge um will residents be given any notification to when the foot bridge will begin um just you know just to know and stuff as well as for West Saddle River Road I believe it is slated to be repaved and I just want to know when will residents be given notice for that just so they could take Alternatives or know what's happening for the road um and that's pretty much it thank you thank you Susan Jane you're up you're on mute Jane there you go okay um my name is Jane Conrad I'm um I live at 35 Roosevelt Road in Maplewood in Essex County and I'm here to comment on your situation um regarding the artificial turf fields in your town that are flooding repeatedly um it's no secret that we're all facing the same problem all over the state um you know there's this 10-week period in the fall in the spring when fields are in high demand by organized sports but as we also know um you know Turf is extremely expensive um contains pasas which I know is the last thing rwood needs more of and it you know whereas Turf seemed like it was helping in an earlier era um when it didn't when we didn't have quite so much rain it really cannot handle the extreme rainfall era that we're headed into um because it does not allow water to soak into the ground under the field and so as a result it's it's still you know concentrating it in the drain system and sending it out into the storm water system which gets overwhelmed and that's not what we're supposed to be doing in New Jersey anyway we're supposed to be managing you know the idea is keep the rain where it falls manage it right on the property where it falls so that we won't over burden our storm water systems so I I just wanted to bring up you know and I think you've heard uh a couple times here that there is an alternative which Maplewood and other towns are are starting to look into and that is to follow the example of communities like uh Springfield and Marblehead Massachusetts that have figured out ways to maintain high-use grass fields that you know it's like 1,000 to 2,000 hours of play per year you know right up there with what Turf delivers and there are case studies available online um that you could check out they document you know these hours of usage and they also show you how it's done and what encouraged us is um seeing that one person can manage 70 Acres of of parks and sports Fields doing the extra operations that are needed to make them um work at this high level of usage so you know I feel like Richwood could do this I bet you could get Green Acres money to convert your turf fields next to the river back to grass and they would probably work better than ever you know the the DP and the Army Corps of Engineers would probably really support that you know you could install grass on top of those Stone drainage layers and um you know anyway people forget that healthy soil is 25% air space so there's already like in foot of soil there's already three Ines available that you know can fill with water and so on so I just I urge you to investigate it if Massachusetts can do it New Jersey can do it you know we are supposedly the Garden State so if we can't grow grass then who can anyway thank you for listening thank you Jane and seeing no one else I'm going to close public comment and we will go on with the rest of our agenda we'll begin with our village manager report and oh does anyone have any responses for anything Keith um I do but I can hold them until the council's come I do too but do you want to go them first before the report sure okay um so very quickly to Mrs loving um we can recreate that um informational flyer and I think Don can start working on that tomorrow so that we can get out that out there for the spring season um Elizabeth um welcome to Ridgewood I want to introduce you to Chris rudis Houser he's uh the gentleman sitting to my far right um he is our village engineer um and after we adopt the budget if you'd like to connect with him in the hallway I'm sure he can help you um with that inquiry about the flooding Chris wave a little higher CU she can't see you all right there you go he's he's the last person in the room that you'll Miss Elizabeth he is a delight and welcome to Ridgewood uh Mr D Silva we can we can speak offline after the meeting about any information um that may be owed to you based on our conversation earlier this year um but I will tell you that with regard to the illegal soil dumping um I just want to confirm that Chris rudish Houser was the one that reported the illegal dumping in July of 20 to the Ridgewood Police Department um the folks who were caught baking that deposit of soil uh were reported to the police they were caught on camera they were issued two summonses by The Ridgewood police department and they appeared in Municipal Court where they pled guilty and took on a fine now what I can say beyond that is that wherever that went with prior Administration I can't speak to um whether there was an investigation into what type of soil was deposited there what direction came um at the time I can't speak to that but I can tell you that the incident was not ignored Ed it was actually brought to Municipal Court here in Ridgewood so I want that to be clear uh Mrs DVA uh there are seven items that are have been requested with regard to the shedler park development application by the D I think I reported on them uh rather concisely at a previous council meeting um we are in the process of responding to that letter from shipo uh we are utilizing Suburban consulting which is an engineering firm uh to help us do a Fields analysis study and help prepare the formal response to shipo um as a separate work effort uh we've been working with grub Richard grub Associates who is an archaeological firm they have provided a phase 1B study they are now going to be authorized tonight via Council resolution to proceed with a supplemental phase 1B because shipo came back and requested additional information depending on the result of that study uh shipo may decide to ask the village to pursue a phase 2 archaeological study and at that point we would pursue that with Richard grub Associates as well so I hope that clears where the the professional service contracts are and both of those are on the agenda for tonight for Council consideration and potential approval um moving on to um Mr Donnie um sir we did receive a $178,000 grant uh through a federal appropriation ation which was announced by Congressman gottheimer I reported on that at a previous council meeting and tonight under the manager's report I'm going to report on a second grant that was also received to support our safe roots to school initiative which was is do funding and it was announced by Senator curado assemblyman def Phillips and Senator and assemblyman barless last week so we have $178,000 Grant coming from the federal government and $157,000 Grant coming from the state um on tonight's agenda via resolution 24134 there is an award of contract to nv5 in the amount of $143,000 to help design that project and those funds that are going to be received by the state and federal government will go to support that contract award that the council will consider tonight um Suzanne you spoke about the Army Corps of Engineers meeting we are look we are looking to confirm a date hopefully by our next council meeting which is April 24th with the Army Corps for a mid June inperson and hybrid meeting here in the courtroom uh the Army Corps of Engineers will come in and make a presentation to the public we will notify everyone who is um affected by flooding uh we have those areas pinpointed through our GIS mapping and through some records in the engineering department uh we will send out notice with regard to that and the Army Corps will come and present both their short-term programming to address flooding and their long-term opportunities uh that the village can pursue to address flooding um which would that's going to take a little bit more time and finally with regard to the foot bridge and any paving at West Saddle River Road um once those contracts are awarded after design uh the contractor is traditionally required to notify the residents in the immediate area who are affected and I have no doubt that both for the foot Bridge Project and for the paving of West Saddle River Road the contractor will be required uh working with our engineering department to notify all residents so mayor that's what I have in response to the public I don't want to defer to uh council member winterr sure so I want to say two things to the hopper resident I believe your first name is Elizabeth if you'd like to write me and Deputy Mayor parin there are some citizens groups who've been involved from both HOA Ridge and from Hope Street which is even though they're by Street further away from if you walked along the river pretty close so if you write us our emails are on the website and they have a long-standing effort and they're your neighbors but just not by street through the woods up the river and that way um that's one two um with respect to Safe Roots I feel I want to say this we are extremely fortunate to get this and because there are parents here and people this is a great time to start talking about walking um an ex Orchard chair we're going to receive a lot of funding both federal and state and that's exciting and that's making our community more more walkable to school so I hope this is the next step is that we all think about that and start walking to school a little bit more and reducing congestion and I'm really grateful to both of the state and the federal agencies that are giving us that money it's exciting for Ridgewood um thra I we are putting as much that we can on the website as Keith said some of these letters are dense but I too share your concerns because I wanted to take a moment with everybody understanding that the historic declaration for the house is a good thing but the minute that occurs the price of the project goes up because in order for people to touch that land that house now you have to have premium more highly specialized people so the initial cost of the house was around $800,000 is once it was declared historic and for other reasons it went to $2.6 million so there is an over um there's a budget there's a long-standing budget it's been contributed over the years by many councils but that historic declaration makes decision makers like us relyant on highly technical specialized people in addition to that we have scenarios that we're just going to pay the best people to do the soil contamination is a serious thing and we want to hire the best possible people to make sure it's addressed so um these fees are expensive when the house was dis declared historic it instantly goes up anything historic makes it more expensive so I just just wanted to say that if you want any of the detail it is on the website um it's listed we're identifying it each week we disclose this we're listing the numbers tonight even in uh the sunshine binders you'll see how many how much money we're spending for grub and for the services to comply with shipo so I just want to make sure everyone knows it is expensive and it is adding up archaeological studies are not cheap and the historic Declaration of the house the minute that was done rightfully it increase the cost significantly for the overall project um and I think that's it that's it everybody good good let's move on Keith mayor under the manager report uh first I want to uh say Eid Mubarak to all those who are out there celebrating the end of Ramadan um and in sad news it's um it's been a sad week here in the village um on Friday we learned that we lost our court administration Kim McWilliams um I want to express on behalf of the entire Village staff our condolences to Kim's family um she not only served us here in the village but she served the um folks in Glenrock and in woff through a shared services agreement um when I think of Kim MC Williams who I have only had the pleasure of knowing for a short time uh the first word that comes to my mind is that she was a warrior when I first met her she shared with me that she was battling cancer but if you ever encountered Kim in the office or in the hallway you would never know that she was she was always smiling she was always professional she always had a plan for the future of improving the Municipal Court operations here in Ridgewood um and I know that she is going to be missed by our entire staff um under the manager's report tonight um commissioner Donnie stole my thunder on the $157,000 grant award but I do again want to thank Senator curado assemblyman def Phillips and assemblyman baras for their efforts in delivering those funds through the Department of Transportation uh to enhance our safe roots to school program last evening uh Recreation and Parks director Nancy BOS and I had the opportunity to meet with the residents who live in and around Veterans Field to talk about the lighting project um we circulated uh this informative packet that Nan put together um I H am pleased to say uh that the main concern amongst the residents was that there would be an extension of time that the lights would be on beyond the 9 or 9:30 curfew we assured them that we did not feel that there was an interest or desire on behalf of the the council or even on behalf of the Board of Education through what we've learned at the fields committee uh that there is any interest in extending the time of Play on Veterans Field so I think the residents understood that this project has the ability to improve their quality of life uh directional lighting technology has improved tremendously since these lights were installed in the late 1980s um and I think everyone walked out of the meeting confident that this would be an improvement at vets field uh we also extended the opportunity for the residents to visit maplefield while the lights are on so that they can see comparable technology that already exists here in the village I also attended last night the shade tree commission meeting I want to thank Neil galone from our Mis division at Ridgewood water uh for working with shade tree and director beos on establishing a tree inventory that I have to say is second to none um the mapping actually depicts all of the trees that are currently in the municip IAL and County rways throughout the village it also identifies any stumps that are in need of being removed and it also uh shows future planting locations and what the spe specifications are around those locations so that our Parks and Recreation Department can plan out with the contractor where the best places to plant trees are and where the largest need is within the village so I want to thank Neil and the shade tree commission for their efforts in that space um this Sunday Valley Hospital will officially close its doors uh for traditional Hospital Services the emergency room will close at 6: a.m. and all patients will be diverted to the new campus at Valley Hospital in pamis uh yesterday myself Chief Lions chief judge and director kimman had the opportunity uh to visit the new hospital uh we met with the leadership team there who is in charge of transition along with many representatives from from County OEM and the pamis police department um I can tell you that I am very confident uh that this transition that's set on Sunday where we will have up to 75 ambulance which will stage at Gren North and South uh to transport at this point somewhere around 350 patients um from The Ridgewood campus to the pamis campus um it's a Well organized operation and the best thing that we can do as resident and visitors to the village is avoid Lynwood Avenue on Friday until about 3 or 4:00 I'm on Sunday until about 3 or 4:00 in the afternoon um their transition process begins Friday evening um but the actual shutting down of the emergency room and traditional Hospital operations and the beginning of the transportation of the patients from Ridgewood to Valley will commence at 6:00 a.m. um I also want to announce on the recreation front that maple field will be closed uh for the morning and into early afternoon um anyone who is participating in any type of sporting or athletic events um back here on fets field we're asking you to please park in Village Hall parking lot um and not disturb the ambulance operation over in the gron area um we have had two meetings this week um regarding our capital budget for 2025 and I want to thank uh Chris Rutter Houser and Jim Fels from the water pollution control facility um for their foresight and thinking about what type of Capital Improvements we will need for our sewer system heading into 2025 and yesterday I met with the um emergency Personnel folks Chief Lions chief judge director kimman Bob Rooney our CFO to talk about our Communications needs moving into next year um I report that out because while we're adopting the capital budget for 2024 t we're already working on what our capital budget is going to look like in 2025 um I want to thank uh rich calby and Sean Hamlin from our sanitation and recycling division um this past Saturday we had a shred day over at Gren unfortunately we filled up the truck very quickly and they fill it up once and then the service ends um they were able to add an additional shred shred day for this spring which will be May 12th I understand it's Mother's Day but come in the morning we'll probably fill up another truck um but get there early because uh the uh the shred day is a popular event and I want to thank recycling for putting that together a few announcements online registration for grade and pool and the tennis pickle ball badges began on April 1st you can still register through Community pass preseason badge distribution or in-person assistance will be available Monday through Friday at the stable from 8:30 to 4:30 and in person at the Gren Badge Office on Saturday May 11th and May 18th from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. yard waste pickup began on Monday April 8th please check the village calendar for your collection area and also please remember that the address lookup feature is now live again on the Village website you can just type your address in and your collection dates will populate the rbsa opening day parade will take place on Saturday April 20th parade will begin at 9:00 a.m. at the Ridgewood train station and continue down Ridgewood Avenue to maple field and end behind us on vetfield the 2024 daffodil festival and Earth Day Fair will take place on Sunday April 21st in Memorial Park at Vans Square from 11:00 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. uh Ridgewood Health Department uh will be hosting a discussion on lme disease and ways you can protect yourself on Thursday April 25th from 10:30 to 11:30 a.m. in the youth youth Lounge on the first level of Village Hall to register please call 201 67055 extension 2312 or register on community pass the health department will also be hosting its annual dog rabies clinic at Gren pool on Wednesday May 8th from 6:00 p.m. to 7: p.m. you can contact the health department for more information upcoming Village Council meetings April 24th is our next work session May 1st work session May 8th will be our next public meeting May 22nd is a work session all start at 7:30 p.m. and that concludes my report mayor thank you Keith and we will now go to our Council reports sioban sure so um yesterday we met with the fields committee I want to say thank you to cynth Oi for making some recommendations I know some people had trouble getting online um we're working with the Board of Ed the Board of Ed issues the agenda and we're having uh an opportunity to enhance our compatibility so thank you for letting us know we very much appreciate feedback like like that so the public can attend um it was a a lively discussion uh the fields committee is a joint board between Bard ofed and the village and we had a celebrity guest Ross from Suburban who is the consultant that we hired to assess the demand the true Demand on our fields for the shedler application and this is a unique opportunity because the last time we've really looked at our fields holistically was in 2006 and in 2006 um we didn't own shedler and hackel had yet to be developed so things have changed a lot and we were the Board of Ed was incredibly welcoming and inclusive with Ross and I think the sports Community was grateful for him to be there some interesting facts were noted that um all of the sports groups have paid for field significantly outside of our district during this time of flooding and rwood Lacrosse said that last season there boosters organization that spent upwards of $35,000 um so I want to thank our groups I want to thank Nancy beos it was a long these meetings start at 700 a.m. and uh they sometimes end if we're lucky by 9: and sometimes they go all the way to like 1 o'clock but uh thank you to everybody there and thank you for being so welcoming to Ross and the concept um last night I had the pleasure I'm the shaon and as Keith mentioned we had Neil galone who came and uh presented the gis survey so this is a really interactive almost like a video game of how people who are in decision-making spots like the council can look at what's missing what is the tree inventory for Street trees uh it's very cool you can look by block you can look by species you can look by size of tree it'll be a massive help in determining a big tree status how many we have of the trees we have missing how many are big medium or small and I I know I'm going to go down the tree Rabbit Hole a little bit here but but um it was interesting to note that there's 3900 is 30 sorry 3,900 is trees that are missing as potential gaps on our street however only 440 are in the category of medium and large which is interesting because we know those spots are achievable and we can move quickly on that so when we're now going into our planting for this year we're going to try to put the medium and large in the ground because we know the spaces will accommodate them and now the entire shade tree commission has a log on where we can use real live data to make a better decision I also want to let everybody know on the council that we reviewed a very lovely uh draft revision to the ordinance and I want to take the time to thank um Paul and Pam sit on the ordinance meeting which I can't go to but my committee made recommendations and then Pam picked up my committee and dealt with them very nicely she stayed for the whole entire three- hour shade tree meeting last night and had a great discussion and Matt has worked very well with them as well drafting some enhancements to make this ordinance have a little bit more teeth um I also want to thank the engineering department because they've worked very closely with the shade tree commission to find out how we can make this work a little bit better um for private land owners so get ready because that's going to come back to shade tree in May and it will you know have some edits and then it'll probably come to us in June and um no spoiler alert but Lorraine you're going to be pretty happy too and uh and then lastly um shade tree and our newly adopted Girl Scout Troop will be in vaness with um hopefully everybody on the council to celebrate Earth Day and daffodil Fest for the Hales especially because I I got it right Ric um in addition to that I just want to mention that the community center is fundraising this is pretty awesome because all of our committees always talk about fundraising and they are offing a myriad of um Beach TOS which is great for Gren or for your travels they come in multiple colors and water bottles so that is online it's a great way for you guys to have a Ridgewood memorabilia and support something that's very very important to the town um they're great for graduation gifts and I promise Liz cloak who's done a lot of the heavy lifting here and Dean shab that I would mention it and lastly um I just wanted to take a minute and say um thank you to Valley hospital um I know several of us up here were boret Valley um my grandparents lived on Meadow Brook and my mother watched it be built probably was one of the her first patients with a broken arm um and it's it's going to be a little bit Bittersweet there'll be no more Ridgewood babies unless somebody has a home birth and I want to wish them the best of luck on Sunday to them their staff and their patients and just say thank you for everything and um I really wish them well in pamis and I hope that their campus here stays open been thriving and providing Healthcare like they have been for the past several decades thanks sioban Evan great thanks so much Paul um so I do also want to wish all our Muslim friends and neighbors ID Mubarak um this past Sunday I had the real pleasure of attending as was a gathering of families with young children with Down Syndrome um was really pleased that the village was able to provide space for um these really wonderful group of folks to get together meet um have like a really large play date it was just really really fantastic um but one of the things I was particularly um noteworthy that I want to call out um one of our village employees volunteered their time to set up the room uh break down the room at the end and make sure that everyone there had um everything they needed um Deanna and I'm going to absolutely butcher her last name schin um Deana I just know anyway she just wonderful um caring nurturing took care of those folks um you know I I was going to say it's exceptional but it's not it's not exceptional because all of the Village um employees go to um you know just go to the utmost degree to take care of our residents um but it's still when you see it you should call it out and I just want to thank uh Keith I want to thank her and I want to thank your entire staff for that that sort of thing um Friday night got to attend the rid Art Foundation fundraiser really wonderful event featuring a ton of rid artists uh that were performing um and they were fundraising for um to give out even more grant money to a lot of those rid artists so great organization and I was really proud to attend and then finally um I'm beyond super excited so Rood Arts Council which I'm the liaison um this past week sponsored an event uh that featured um presentations from the Monclair Museum uh it was in the library but coming tomorrow night so excited for this um we have a wonderful author here in Ridgewood named Elena corova she's written three books she's gotten a claim from um almost every major newspaper you know large uh literary critics as well um she's been a resident R for last 20 or 30 years if you read her second book Ridgewood gets a shout out um it's really and and it's just I've read two out of the three they're just wonderful um I'm going to on behalf of the Richard Art Council get to lead a conversation with Elena um tomorrow night at 7M at the library would really invite and hope anybody who can attend to please do be talking about you know how she became a writer later in life um her journey from uh Russia to Ridgewood um you know just her writing style it's just I I sat down with her and spent about an hour with her last week prepping for it and I'm events I'll probably have more fun than anyone else there will um but um really really exciting event I'm sure my fellow council members will all do their best to attend but obviously would ask uh all of you who can make it tomorrow night 7 o'clock at the library thanks Evan Lorraine thank you um so before tonight's meeting there was a cash Rell meeting and I just wanted to announce that a week from tonight so next Wednesday all day lunch and dinner food and drink the steel wheel is going to donate 20% of their sales to cash shell so go to steel wheel next Wednesday have lunch have dinner have a couple cocktails whatever and you know 20% of your bill is going to the cash off shell so shout out to them and thank you um I just wanted to repeat that this year on Thursdays Casher shell will have somebody June through September 5th on Thursday nights from 8: to 10: they will be invited bands or um you know bands that we're going to pay pay September 5th the last one will be the Nerds on THS on Tuesdays in July and August one of our local musicians Joe oriente is coordinating bands for every Tuesday for those two months July ju and August and they will be from 8:30 to 10: every Tuesday night um the schedule will be announced this weekend about what bands will be here on Thursdays next Thursday week from tomorrow seesac will meet April 18th 7:30 in the Garden Room everyone is welcome to attend and just another shout out project Pride our planting day is Sunday May 19th anyone that likes to get their hands dirty or doesn't like to get their hands dirty we can use all the volunteers we can get you can email me at L rennolds ridgewoodnj.net um or my email address is on the website and I hope to get a lot of people volunteering as we all say many hands make light work so hopefully we will have many hands thank you thanks lorine Pam thank you uh green Ridgewood met last week we spent a lot of time uh planning for the daffodil Fest and Earth Day Fair we hope all of you will come and your dogs too uh because we do have the Daffy dog parade that day and uh the band will be blue plate special we also are planning for the Columbia University School of International and public affairs to make a presentation to council here on May 1st regarding their research on flooding and decarbonization in Ridgewood um I too attended the Ridgewood Arts Foundation event at the Unitarian Society and it really is amazing how much talent we have in Ridgewood it was just a great night and I felt privileged to be there um Chamber of Commerce had a grand opening on Franklin Avenue of the golden hour salon it is a full service salon and I got to cut the ribbon so that was nice the central business district advisory committee meets tomorrow morning 8:30 a.m. via Zoom the agenda is on the Village website along with the link if you would like to join us we will be discussing among other things blade signs um which we're voting on tonight uh introducing that ordinance and also amendments to the zoning um ordinance and as well as looking again at a perspectus that one of our members has drawn up for the central business district the open space committee will be meeting on April 18th at the stable um anyone is welcome to join us and that's all I have thanks Pam and I just want to take a moment obviously tonight was a a lovely night but the day started out just as lovely um uh Keith and Evan mentioned um Eid as a uh as today is a day of that the the Muslim Community celebrates Eid spelled e and ID Mubarak means blessed Eid it's like when we say Merry Christmas it's what you say and Eid just for those of you who aren't aware because 10 years ago I was completely unaware and this morning I was invited to attend um an Eid celebration at the Muslim at the uh Muslim musque in Midland Park known as El Zara I've been there many times um it is such a lovely day um uh much of our growing and large uh Ridgewood Muslim Community were there they invited me to attend um it is a truly a lovely celebration it marks the end of Ramadan and again for those of you una aware Ramadan is a about a 30-day uh period when Muslims fast to uh uh realize how fortunate they are um and for and to realize that there are those who are far less fortunate and today is a day of Celebration and feast and let me tell you when they Feast these people Feast um but it is a lovely day and I urge you all to learn more and to find out more about our Muslim Community about their customs and traditions you know we know about you know Christian traditions we know about Jewish Traditions um and and this is truly a a lovely lovely wonderful community and by the way their food is really good so um you will enjoy that and that's all I have for today and so we can continue with our regular agenda and so we're going to go to our public hearings and the first is an ordinance that I move the clerk read ordinance 3993 by title on second reading and that the public hearing thereon be opened second pars yes Reynolds yes whites yes Winograd yes vaganos yes will the clerk please read the title of ordinance 3993 calendar year 2024 ordinance to exceed the municipal budget appropriation limits and to establish a cap Bank the public hearing is now open uh good evening mayor and Council boy a loving 342 South Irving Street no comment on this public hearing but I do want to ensure that there are numerous public hearings tonight and will people who are online also be able to participate I believe the clerk has advertise it at such so I would ask the mayor to ensure that if there's anybody waiting that they are also able to comment on the public hearing thank you very much thank you for pointing that out Boyd um I have the the hybrid access um right in front of me so if I see anyone I will call on them and just so you know Deputy Mayor perin is always making sure I pay attention and elbows me kind of hard sometimes if I'm not paying attention thank you seeing no other public comments I move the public hearing be closed second paron yes Reynolds yes whites yes Winograd yes and vaganos yes I move that ordinance 3993 be adopted on second reading and final publication as required by law I second the motion paron yes Reynolds yes whites Yes W Brad yes and vaganos yes will the clerk please read the title of the 2024 budget 2024 budget for the village of Ridgewood New Jersey the public hearing on the 2024 budget is now open mayor can I just stop you there we're going to do the presentation before you open I I just got ahead of myself I was so excited thanks Keith may I by all means and uh we will not open the public hearing just yet okay um at this time I'd like to uh call up and he's already on his way our Chief Financial Officer uh Bob bruny um tonight we are going to give an abbreviated um synopsis of the budget amendments uh these are some slight modifications to the budget from the time we introduced just over a month ago um as Bob takes his seat I do just want to take a moment uh to thank all of our department directors and our supervisors uh for their support in this process which as I mentioned at the last budget meeting began last September um I do want to acknowledge um those who are here tonight we have Chris ruteshouser our Municipal engineer and Department director for Public Works Jeremy kimman our office of emergency management director Chief lions from The Ridgewood Police Department chief judge from The Ridgewood fire dep Department Nancy beos our director of Parks and Recreation uh William Palumbo our tax assessor Don centu our director of Health Heather Mander who's not here but capably sitting in Eileen young our Deputy municipal clerk uh Lori steinbacher our director of the public library Dylan Hansen Our IT director uh rich calby is not with us tonight he is actually commuting back from Washington DC uh where he met with just about a dozen members of congress with regard to water related issues um and also was advocating for additional funding for Rich for Ridgewood water so I want to thank uh director calbi for for making that trip Anthony Marino our director of the building department um Bob Rooney our Chief Financial Officer and I also want to thank from Bob's office Steve sari um and Olivia who both worked very diligently on helping to prepare this budget I also want to extend thanks to uh Carol B our new communications director who was not necessarily part of putting the budget together but she has certainly done a Yan's job in educating the public over the last month about what it contains and Beth spinato who is uh my right hand in my office uh who has helped us along this process so with that um and there are PowerPoint copies of the PowerPoint presentation um over near the transparency binders um but we're going to move forward with the 2024 budget amendments and to discuss the changes um that the state made with regard to our general revenues I'll turn it over to Bob good evening and thank you very much for um addressing the amendment to the budget tonight as well as the final adoption welcome Bob thank you it's been a long journey and hopefully we will finish it tonight so we have amendments that were required by the state because of some Revenue adjustments that were made after we introduced the budget the result is a 9 $359 increase in energy receipt tax Municipal re relief funds of $65,900 for total revenue adjustment increase of 188,189 to use these funds to increase the amount for other insurance for employees to offset any increases that we are picking up this year in the amount of 54,4 7 we are using 3,558 to support the supervision of our class three officers at the Board of Education $ 62450 for equipment for our class 3 officers $25,000 restored for uh funding for our volunteers for EMS 40,000 vehicle maintenance restoration for cuts that we made previously for vehicle maintenance and 3,000 for summer concerts for cleaning costs resulting in the total of 188,50 so Bob if I may just on a couple of these issues um you'll notice that the the offset with the revenue the increase in revenue and the Appropriations is an equal amount 188 415 um with regard to insurances um we went through a process earlier this year um where we revised all of our um assets and our infrastructure report um and our vehicle reports um that we submitted to the Joint Insurance Fund um there were some significant updates to those documents uh especially in light of the water infrastructure that's being built out by Ridgewood water uh so we do have uh we do we will we will absorb a slight change to our assessment in both 24 and 25 in light of those additional assets um so that was the reason that Bob and I um wanted to um add some support uh to the um to the other Insurance's line uh with regard to police operating expenses the 62450 will be for startup equipment uh to launch the class 3 police officer program in conjunction with the Ridgewood School District in September of 2024 uh we have confirmed with uh superintendent Schwarz and I know Chief Lions has has met with Mark a number of times on the uh launch of this program uh that the board of education has included funding in their budget uh to create these special three officers uh moving into the new school year beginning in September uh Fire operating expenses uh we added back in $25,000 to support EMS volunteer training at the request of chief judge um Central Garage one of the cuts that we made um when we were preparing the Budget prior to introduction uh was some money that was set aside for vehicle maintenance uh specifically for the police department um in talking with Chris ruteshouser um our director of Public Works um and Mike Juna from Fleet uh we made the decision to restore $40,000 uh to make sure that we have adequate funding to be able to maintain our police Fe Fleet in 2024 and lastly uh Recreation operating expenses there was some question at the time of introduction of the budget as to whether or not the summer concerts on Saturday nights at vanas Square were going to continue this year we've subsequently met with the uh the committee who is going to organize that it's been confirmed that they do plan to have concerts um in June July and August and we have added some overtime costs so that our Parks division can support those summer concerts on Saturday evenings throughout the summer so those are the that's the uh synopsis of the adjustments on the appropriation side any questions on that mayor okay well good all right we'll move to the adjustments um in water and these uh were made primarily by the state so Bob you want to take it from there sure the adjustments are the result of reclassifications that the state required to conform to the revenue streams that were realized during the year so there was no change in the total budget um and the allocations are or the revisions are as shown on this slide so the next is your adopted budget summary uh I will be asking Council to pass a resolution tonight to to adopt the budget with the following items to be considered in General Revenue Sur anticipated of 5 and5 million overall miscellaneous Revenue anticipate of $1,959 06498 receipts from delinquent taxes $567,500 658 26668 8 for total revenue stream of 61 mil 473 8884766183 195 13978 operations excluded from the cap 3,799 8748 down payments for improvements 425,000 Municipal debt service 7,651 719 Municipal deferred charges 272,000 for a total operating budget in the general fund of 61,7 3847 66 under the local Municipal tax rate our budget is 1.2 million under the tax levy cap and under the appro appropriation cap by approximately $798,000 our assess value in 2024 increased approximately 17 million over the prior year Municipal Taxes are projected at for 2024 at a rate of 6687 our 2023 actual tax rate was 6509 so Bob if if I may as we transition slides here this next slide is going to articulate exactly what was presented to council at introduction um there is no change based on the amendment that's before you tonight uh that changes any tax impact uh to the taxpayers here in Ridgewood yep so there are no cuts and service to the residents of Ridgewood the adjustment to tax is a 0169 increase per 100 $100 of assess value over the 2023 rate 2024 average home in the village is valued at $110,100 77,500 that results in Municipal Taxes for 2023 of 465 $5 on the average assessed home and for 2024 $474 for an overall increase in the municipal rate of $144 on the average home which is approximately 20 $12 per month the municipal tax increase has introduced and also is adopted for this evening is 2.74% Which is less than the rate of inflation today so with that mayor we'll open it up to questions from the Village Council we also have all the Department directors here that if there's anything too granular or too specific uh they can come forward and respond questions I don't but I would just like to make um the public aware and for those tuning in um I know the budget hearings were not well attended um I think we spent upwards of 20 or 30 hours in just budget hearings numerous emails uh I think we've had at least four or five separate presentations during these meetings so um I'm interested to hear what the public has this but I certainly feel that I've been given all the information I need um and want to thank uh Keith and the entire staff for the immense amount of information that we've been given over these last couple of months on this budget anyone else yes I'm very pleased to see this amendment of $25,000 for EMS training and um chief judge I was just wondering what your thinking is why did you decide to do this and and uh how it will be used Chief can you come forward this gets us about I'd say ballpark reasonably starting with about eight people eight or nine people unfortunately EMT schools almost $2,000 now a person to go to plus then um clothing them as well so you're looking at almost $2500 per person just to start so possibly upwards a little bit more so that's kind of where we're looking at to start with and grow from there okay thank you you're welcome anyone else yeah I want to say a couple things so first of all thank you Bob um thank you to the entire staff it's like thank you just doesn't seem big enough but John I want to tell you this before you leave last year when I I I took my seat because I told Paul this too um the beginning of the night we had this lovely lovely event and um last year when I took my seat in January one of the first capital recommendations which was $60,000 was for a lucus machine and I got this paper you know I was new here and I read it and I said what the heck is this and I called and at that point they said call Fire And I spoke with a fireman and then I spoke with Will kevit from EMS and everyone said this is a good thing because sometimes you know it's a compression machine that'll keep somebody alive if they are down and out for a long period of time and I asked questions and Pam and I were asking questions and we were talking about this because we live so close to the hospital how how often would it be used and how How likely was it and because of all that input from our staff this whole Council voted yes to that machine and when I heard that that was the machine that saved Rich's life I felt like thank one thank God we voted yes and then two I I really think when you see budgets like this and even the Amendments for those if you went back to the slide all of the lastman amendments were regard Public Safety public welfare and then the last little line is community Gathering and a party in our park and I think that says a lot to the delicate Touch of what we do here we're so lucky to have police and fire and these are things that get criticized during our budget all departments get criticized um so I'm very grateful um to the access that I have to staff I'm very grateful that sometimes when I'm unsure and we all leave here with should we should we not that our staff really advocates for what they know to be true and most of the time if not all of the time the staff is 100% right so I want to say thank you for that and I want to say again thank you to Bob and his staff and your new addition of the baby whose first budget looks so good and um I just feel very grateful that I live in a town that values these things and took the time to make sure that this summer at the on top of being safe you're going to have fun in our downtown so thank you to everybody you know I forgot to say that this budget really reflects the priorities of our residents there are safety measures um there's there's more lights so that the sports Community can can play more on the fields um it's it I can't wait to see this executed I hope you feel the same way Bob and I I just want to thank everybody as well all the department heads really I mean the budget is honestly almost a year in the making you know starting on next year's budget already and cuts are made and then more cuts are made and then more cuts are made so I really appreciate everybody willing to you know just ask for what they really really need to have um and as Pam said and sioban so many of the budget items this year went to safety I'm thrilled about West Glenn sidewalks about Kingsbridge Footbridge Clinton Avenue sidewalks east east Glenn sidewalks I mean it's it's going to be a lot of big changes it'll be it'll be great and thank you very much and you know I was going to bring this up at the end but I I think because we're now commenting on it um I I went back over this first of all I want to thank the my fellow council members um again tremendous amount of work we've all agreed to this budget we've all all spent more time together then than um than you probably could imagine with your co-workers we've all gotten along really well we've all had our an our questions answered um but just a couple of quick highlights first of all no cuts and services Glenside walks all the way from the RO to Maple Kings Bridge is finally getting repaired probably 3 or four years after it should have been done Clint sidewalks are getting done $2 million for Paving is getting done four new cops two new firefighters we're putting State of-the-art lights on vets we're doing Hackle uh Pavilion but we're not just spending money we're also being a lot smarter with our money uh first time ever we're getting a syncing fund that way we're prepaying for things so that another Council isn't stuck with a huge bill we're starting to put a syncing fund together for uh Maple as well as for a new fire truck that's what responsibility looks like um long-term planning for next several years purchases if you looked at our budget you could see projected expenses we were going to have over the next several years that's the way businesses are run that's the way real budgets are run and we had that this year um we're running larger Surplus this year than we have in the past to make sure that we have enough money to meet our obligations we've kept our head count flat um I love our village employees but they're expensive and we got to make sure that we're we're judicious with our dollars and we don't bring on more people than we can afford we kept our head count largely flat we did all this without any of the covid money that we've had to boost up our budget in the last couple of years and despite adding all the things that we've added without H and while being financially responsible we came in at a tax increase that is substantially below the rate of inflation we're at 2.74% um Keith Bob outstanding job line Paul Pam Shan thank you guys um for the partnership we had up here I'm looking forward never thought I'd look forward to actually like spending money um but I'm looking forward to all of us voting on this tonight after we've all had so much time together to talk about this and um Bob is answered all of our silly questions I do want to hear from the public but I would have been remissed if I didn't go through that list of just wonderful things we made to get done by this Council this year thanks EV um and I have similar comments but before I do I I want to share with you um something that Siobhan mentioned about the Lucas machine um I think John knows the story when um when Rich had his heart heart attack uh shortly after that I was talking to Siobhan about it she said you know last year they came to us in that very tight budget year looking for for a Lucas machine which I don't know was it $65,000 it was it was pretty expensive and I remember how we were trying to save money everywhere because we had just run out of Co money and we had not yet adjusted and my first thought cuz I didn't remember what we did and I said to her please tell me we bought it and she said we did and I thought thank God because you know that's where something really hits home that we made a decision that affected someone we know that being said I'm just going to Echo everything that Evan said everything giant capital projects being done Lorraine and I worked together on a bunch of them and it was fabulous um more cops more firefighters um and again doing this all while maintaining a 2.74% budget increase that is below the rate of inflation I'm going to say it again below the rate of inflation and oh and by the way maintaining our AAA Bond rating that every municipality in New Jersey does not have so uh my fellow council members I am so proud of this budget this is our this is our first budget that's posted covid that we have been able to to work on without the constraints and of The Hangover of covid and I am so proud I am so proud of the work that all of our department directors did remember government is about prioritizing and that's really what it is there's a million things you want but they know the job um Bob Keith um Heather thank you all so much because this is a tireless effort and as you can see we have not yet adopted this budget and already they've begun working on next year's so again let's go Mary you need to open it to the public now I thought I did that oh never mind you tried okay so um the public hearing on the 2024 budget is now open uh good evening again mayor and counsel boy a ling 342 South Irving Street I did not want to disappoint councilman whites who said he wanted to hear from the public and it looks like I'm the only member of the public that you're going to hear from so no someone on on hybrid access oh okay thank you thank you Mr Mayor for letting me know that okay just a couple of uh questions about um some things that appeared on some of the slides here and I've also have a comment and a question about something that appeared on the slide deck that was shown during the budget introduction but it has not been shown again tonight um I was um attended via Zoom the Board of Education meeting that took place this past Monday and there's quite a bit of discussion uh during the Board of Education meeting regarding the class three officers so i' just like to understand in terms of what what's on this sheet here how many class three offices are you budgeting for come on up Chief and we had previously heard that the Board of Education was going to be responsible for some expenses with respect to the class three officers and the village was going to be responsible for other expenses so if the chief would just kindly indicate uh what the village responsibility will be with respect to the officers and again how many officers are we talking about I believe I heard the number three from the manager but I don't know if he was referring to class three or the number three so that's why I want to clarify the through you mayor um Chief Lions has been having these discussions with Dr Schwarz since the summer um since he took his position as the chief of police Mark took assumed the responsibilities of school superintendent and this has been a um almost a weekly topic between the police department and the school district so I'll turn it over to the chief to talk about where we landed um as both governing bodies the Board of Education and the Village Council uh finalized their budgets so a very common uh way that this is been do being done in multiple jurisdictions is that the school board pays the salaries and the police departments pay the equipment and vehicles so what we budgeted for is three three class 3es but not the salaries and wages we just budgeted for um Firearms radios uh uniforms and the vehicles that they would drive so they have a a good kind of operating base at each school so that's all we budgeted for and then the school would be picking up the actual salaries and chief with with the three officers can you just talk about what the discussion thus far has been as far as assignment goes so right now the idea is to put them in uh the high school and the to middle schools that could change but right now the idea is that this will provide the most coverage that we can possibly have at the the older schools what we'll do at in a police department uh realm is we'll increase our patrols of the elementary schools and not have to um Target the high school and the and the um the middle schools as much because now they will have full-time people there during all the the the higher risk times let's call it and chief can you talk about potential future growth I know that's been an area that you and Mark have spoken about so I mean obviously as uh as the police chief uh my primary function is to make sure everyone in the village is safe and the most at risk Community is the children as you can see unfortunately with tragic events all over the nation schools are often targeted my goal would be to increase this you know this is a good first step my goal would be to have a class three officer in every school um that is the model that many jurisdictions use uh it is more difficult than Ridgewood I'll be the first first to say cuz we have a very large school system we have a lot of schools and a lot of campuses that would need officers but uh a lot of local jurisdictions and neighboring towns have you know seven to eight um class 3es which is in effect one for each school so that would be where I'd like to grow this at this time I think the uh board of education is doing a fantastic job just kind of beginning the process of saying hey let's let's target the uh the big the big schools right now the three biggest we have let's get those see how this works I mean I'm very confident it's going to work it's worked in multiple jurisdictions I think we can make it work very very well here um and then we can grow from there my uh expectation and what I plan on doing with these class 3es is to have them train with us do all the active shooter response with us all the Firearms with us so they are as up todate as possible on all the modern techniques that you can possibly do when it comes to uh threat mitigation uh deescalation all that will do all that training with us so they will you know they even though they're retired officers they will be at the top tier of the training that we provide right now and chief just on that retired piece could you for the Public's edification who may not know the definition of what a special three officer is can you just Define that so the Public's aware so a class three officer is actually uh it's relatively newly created in the last you know five or six years it uh in order to be a class three officer you have to be a retired officer who retired in good standing and basically you have to have retired within 2 to 3 years um if you're outside of that time frame you have to go back and get uh additional PTC which is police training commission uh training um but most of them will be have retired within the last two to three years and they are still once they are back under the fold back under the wing of the Ridgewood police department they are active officers while on duty the only difference is their off-duty Powers would be different from an active officer but for all intent and purpose they can act as police officers that's why we're going to train them as such and they will be primarily just you know dedicated to a school or perhaps two schools so they can float back and forth but it will really give us that intrical link so we have a police officer already inside so when we're responding we already have eyes and ears that are there and that can take immediate action so that's the main part of that program and it's why it differ different iates itself from having um a regular security guard this officer will have a police radio and police training so when our backup is coming we are already fully briefed on what we have to do and what is going on in that situation thank you Chief Lions um so just to clarify you're budgeting for three if the school district decides to take less than three that means that there will be extra money left over in this budget is that my understanding well again we're we're our our budget calls for the essential equipment um and the startup costs including training for this function so if the school district decides to go back to two we'll we'll have a little extra money um you know knowing the chief um additional training is always something that he's talking about so I don't think that the the money will be ill used let's put it but if you budget for three cars only need two you'll have that money left over for the that $66,000 though 662 that that doesn't include new vehicles let's be clear about that well if we lease them it would be hopefully included we had put that in there right so what we would do is we would lease two instead of three thank you very much um I there's an align item there $25,000 for EMS volunteer training I don't understand what that is I I did not know that the volunteers were being used are the volunteers coming back or is this something that I I just don't understand what the EMS volunteer training is thank you white shirt for another white shirt we're gonna swap out Chiefs right now sorry one more time $25,000 for uh EMS volunteer training I didn't know we were using the volunteers anymore we going back to using the volunteers or something so we right now we're fully covered 47 by the fire department as you know right we are going to look into starting this up again however we are under the realization that the entire State it's not just us everywhere around you has a difficulty getting volunteers right there are very few places that have there's every day you talk to you know Mammoth County now has an ambulance service for the whole County as of last month couple towns around us their ambulance course just closed like this week it's just the direction unfortunately we're going to attempt to restart again yes okay thank you I I was not aware of that so you're going to attempt to restart the program okay thank you very much uh the last thing from the the the slide deck that was shown tonight is that there was an item about new cell tower is that a cell tower that's being constructed or is that Revenue that it's going to come onto the existing tank in Midland Park so the cell towers in up and running it was started in July in August of 23 this additional F these additional funds are how I had to report it to reflect uh 2024 so so a tower was constructed somewhere it's in effect yes I I I couldn't say it's a tower it's a terminology that is used by the state okay uh I couldn't tell you where it's located Michael this is Michael Kors our business manager at Ridgewood waterer Michael you want to talk a little bit about that Revenue Source yes the new uh Tower is not actually a cell phone tower excuse me Mike if you could speak into the mic yes thank uh the new tower it it is located on Glenn have tank okay um so it's the existing tank just took on some more antennas it is yes okay that's that's I was just curious to know if a tower had built been built somewhere okay my last comment concerns a slide that was in the slide deck uh again that was shown uh at the hearing at the budget introduction I'm comma uh I'm sorry and uh the slide was entitled long-term structural budget recommendations and there was an item on the slide that caught my attention and it was develop a plan to enhance communication services with surrounding municipalities into a radio communication system that is currently being developed uh the reason that caught my attention is because all of you know Frank Delio Frank Delio used to be in charge of the county communication system and um the last time I talked to Frank it was my understanding that there were the county was basically building out two communication systems that could be used by any municipality in the county one was going to be devoted specifically to Public Safety and the other could be used for any Municipal purpose so my concern is why are we developing a shared communication system and why would the Ridgewood taxpayers be interested in funding a separate shared communication system when we are already paying County taxes and the county is building out a system for the same purpose that is that any municipality can use I realized that the police department has some technical uh issues with using the County's Public Safety system but in terms of a system that would be used for municipal government like uh the signal Department the streets department something like that I just don't I didn't understand what that meant on that slide whether we were going to be investing money in building something that duplicates the county system or this was going to be something special so I think the key word in that Slide line is enhan we already have an existing system with the burough of Glenrock and with central dispatch um we actually just had a meeting yesterday about this that I referenced under the manager's report um this would be upgrades to the existing system so GL we have a dark we have a dark fiber network uh that is maintained by signal um that supports the communication system that we have in place um that is due for some upgrades um in addition to the capital budget that will be considered this evening uh where we need some additional Hardware uh we need software upgrades and we need some infrastructure upgrades so that's what that is referencing to to I will tell you that I will not limit the possibility of expanding this out to other municipalities if the infrastructure is in place and it makes sense um because there could be a revenue stream there again that's a long-term concept that we would have to explore with signal um I know signal does some um maintenance um through shared services agreements that we have with surrounding municipalities like Midland Park uh that might be an area that we can grow um but that'll be for future consideration okay again my concern was I was concerned about Village taxpayers funding A system that was uh a duplicate of a system that the county has when we're paying County taxes it's not something it's not something new okay thank you very much that ends my comments and I hope that uh I helped you out councilman whites thanks Boyd and now we have someone on hybrid access Susan Ruan Susan you're up um hi Susan ran 705 Kingsbridge Lane um to begin with I just want to thank you for putting the um foot bridge and repairing it this year um I I have residents all around me very happy about the news um and I just have a question in regard to the grant money that we're receiving for um safe walk to school how does that can any of the grant money be used to help um build the sidewalks on Clinton and East Glenn that's pretty much it thank you thank you Susan so through you mayor um the safe roots to school Grant uh was initiated in the village back in 2016 um there are specific locations that have already been identified um for that funding um Chris correct me if I'm wrong I don't believe any of the proposed sidewalk projects for the 24 capital budget are included in that safe roots a school area is that correct that's correct okay so that money would not be able to be utilized for that but obviously that would be able to be funded if tonight's capital budget is adopted seeing no one else I'm going to close public comment and I move the public hearing on the 2024 budget be closed there we go second Deputy Mayor parin yes council member Reynolds yes council member whites yes council member winegrad yes and mayor vagianos yes and we will now vote on the amendments to the 2024 budget we have a motion so moved second pin yes rynolds yes whites yes Winograd yes and vaganos yes and now finally the adoption of the 2024 budget do I have a motion so moved second pin yes Reynolds yes whites yes Winograd yes and vagianos yes very anticlimactic but getting great work everyone the best I could do and so let's move on and so I will move the first reading of ordinance 3 998 second paron yes Reynolds yes whites yes winegrad yes vagianos yes so ordered will the clerk please read ordinance 3998 by title an ordinance to amend chapter 269 of the code of the village of Ridgewood water at section 269-8999 be adopted on first reading and that May 8th 2024 be fixed as the date for the hearing thereon second Kon yes Reynolds yes whites yes Winograd oops vagianos yes she stepped away we'll move on I move the clerk re ordinance 3994 by title on second reading and that the public hearing thereon be opened second perin yes Reynolds yes whites yes Winograd vaganos yes will the clerk please read the title of ordinance 3994 Bond ordinance providing for distribution system repairs and replacements for the water utility in and by the village of Ridgewood in the county of Bergen New Jersey appropriating 4, 56,000 therefore and authorizing an issuance of 3,853 ,200 of bonds or notes of the village to finance part of the cost thereof the public hearing is now open seeing no one I move the public hearing be closed second pin yes Reynolds yes whites yes council member winegrad is not here vagianos yes I move that ordinance 3994 be adopted on second reading and final publication is required by law I second the motion Haron yes Reynolds yes whites yes Winograd I don't think we'll we'll wait for her yes and vaganos yes I move the clerk read ordinance oh excuse me yeah no 3995 no May okay I move the clerk reading ordinance 3995 by title on second reading and that the public hearing thereon be opened second parin yes Reynolds yes whites yes Winograd yes and vagianos yes will the clerk please read the title of ordinance 3995 an ordinance to amend chapter 145 of the code of the village of Ridgewood fees at section code chapters the public hearing is now open uh good evening again mayor and Council Boyd a ling 342 South iring Street uh this is the water rate increase is that correct yes yes somebody say yes please yes yes okay thank you very much um does this increase go across all four municipalities served by Ridgewood water or does this ordinance affect only the residents and water subscribers who live in Ridgewood this sets the rates for all consumers throughout the service area so Midland Park Glenrock white don't have to pass their own ordinance no because they're we we're the governing body that um establishes the rates for Ridgewood water okay thank you very much um Can somebody please uh tell me what the current P search charge is for a residential customer who has the smallest meter I'll invite Mike back up actually I'd like to know what the pasos charges are for all the meters if you have that data or an average what is the average pasos service Char service or search charge that is now being uh build or propose that is now being built uh the average charge I know it's different depending upon the size of the meter correct um yes it is set according to each meter uh I do not have them by the average right now I could do that quick calculation but tell me what the lowest and the highest is uh the lowest one for our 5/8 meter and our by 3/4 meter is 2471 that's the proposed charge and our highest meter at 4 in is 6117 and 75 okay um how much has been collected thus far in total for p service P search charges do you have any idea how much you've collected so far the P sear Char charge has been in place since when Mike do you have that easily accessible or is that something we can get back back to Mr loving with tomorrow I think that's something we could more easily get back tomorrow okay if you could make a point to respond to Mr loving with that number tomorrow when you get in I'd be happy to yeah no okay um a number that you should have what is the estimated total cost to remediate posos in the system uh the estimated total cost is around uh $140 million $ 140 million $140 million and that's going to be funded by the P search charges plus it looks like on 24-19 later on going to be asking the federal government for 12 million and I believe there's an outstanding lawsuit is that how we intend to fund this so if if I may um previous administration authorized the umth authorized Ridgewood water to move forward with a treatment um plan treatment program um that will cost up to $150 million somewhere between 140 and $150 million it has been said countless times um at meetings that I've been at um since the summer um that the posos treatment um sech charge um is the end game for being able to fund this in the meantime there are there's active litigation um that hopefully in the next month or so will'll be able to report back on um to the public um we are looking to recoup some of the funds um in order to offset those costs through those lawsuits there is also an aggressive effort last meeting I think we all we passed a resolution or the council passed a resolution that was proposed by Ridgewood waterer uh to solicit up to $12 million um from the state government we've already received $2 million uh for the goel road treatment facility through the federal government through the efforts of Congressman goheer um so there is a systematic plan uh to try to offset what the ultimate sir charges will amount to through pursuing the litigation State funding and federal funding to offset those costs I guess my final question on this is that as someone who's current currently paying a search charge and it looks like I'm going to be continuing to pay a search charge and the bill is going to be50 million my concern as a rate payer is that what if this is completely funded via a settlement and state and federal government funds in other words what if the 150 million is completely funded without the need for the charge is that going to be practical at the risk of uh the gentleman sitting to my right yelling at me I think that's highly unlikely okay I I have no idea what this lawsuit is what how much we're seeking and and if I may and I I I don't want to go down this Rabbit Hole too far tonight but the um the EPA announced this morning even more stringent posos regulations that are going to affect every municipality in the country so when gets back from Washington um we've already set up a series of meetings to discuss how this affects us although I think that effect will ultimately be minimal because we're already ahead of the curve with Ridgewood water on building treatment facilities that by the end of 2026 will pre bring posos to undetectable rates which will be lower and less than the current state D regulations and which will ultimately be less than the Federal Regulations which were announced this morning I see the gentleman to your right wants to say something no I don't oh okay so you're holding I saw you holding the mic I thought you were going to say best I can say is that I'm listening intently okay all right um my my point in saying that to you Boyd is you know W this affects the rate payers in um in the four towns that Ridgewood water serves and I'll be the first one to admit when I when I arrived here I was staggered by the number number number to invest in this system but I will tell you that what was announced today is going to force every municipality every water utility every water service provider throughout the country to make these same hard decisions that Ridgewood water has already made well as as the manager knows and I don't know if you know Michael I had asked for some data and uh to compare Ridgewood water rates with water rates for other neighbors of us in Northwest Bergen County uh it was indicated to me that I would have to get that on my own that the water department was tied up and I did so and what I find out is that the only water company in the area at least by the numbers that I obtained that is charging more than Ridge Water right now is Hocus everybody else is is a bit lower so as a rate payer I'm somewhat concerned that we're up there at number two and how much longer is this going to go on but it looks like with $150 million bill and possibly more coming down the road it looks like like we're going to be continuing to um pay higher rates and I guess the reason for that is that we're using water that can easily be contaminated uh by the ground and the other question is are th are those other water service providers under a consent order with the D that I don't know and that that that's meaningful when it comes to rates now the gentleman does want to say something have they started have those other water utilities started their treatment programs as we have because we've been ahead Ridgewood water has has been at the Forefront of not only asserting itself in terms of the litigation but also in terms of treatment so some of those are far behind us so they may not have incurred that yet yeah I I I think VY what's going to happen and I don't wish this upon anyone is that um all those other water providers um both in New Jersey and across the country their rates will begin to climb yeah um because they have not begun treatment facilities and we have almost completed them and not everyone but quite a few will have to begin water treatment facility programs as we have and they will all be scrambling at the same time for all the same equipment and the same expertise that by the time they get started will be done yeah I mean to be clear I'm not happy about $150 million either but I'm far happier about Safe Water the federal guidelines will have uh it down by 2029 we're going to have non-detectable amounts by 2026 so listen if we get more money than we anticipate I have no problem giving some of it back void I will hold you to that I will remember that forever okay with that I I I share um Keith's pessimism time um but more importantly because of the forward looking view that Rood water has taken on this issue we are far ahead of a number of municipalities are about to go through a lot of problems to do what we've already uh done and well will continue to do through 2026 the new EPA rule is four parts per trillion of posos imagine how small that is thank you very much ladies and gentlemen thank you thank you Boyd Rohan to Silva 521 West Saddle River Road so this 24 amount is that per what per month per year per what that is set at per quarter per quarter so we're charged thankfully I don't look at these bills my wife does but it would be even more upsetting to me if I was paying for past treatment and mayor vaganos doesn't think it's a problem to add more posos into the water table of Ridgewood as he stated it's all over the place it's in carpets it's in dental floss it's everywhere so let's add some more if the federal government thinks this way do you may mayor vaganos do you think you should alter your position Rohan it's vagianos I'm sorry V rather than I can't hear everything so I understand so how about if I just call you mayor by all means okay so mayor maybe the mayor should consider altering his statement in order to to correct this P never existed in our water system correct P posos has been in our Water System since since posos has been made and manufactured so it's been for years I understand that so four parts per trillion is four parts per trillion more than we ever had but P has been manufactured and we didn't know that but now we do so let's make the correction and and I applaud you I applaud Ridgewood for being ahead of the game but you're making contradictory decisions here I'm going to I'm going to have to just interject that and I hope you can hear me that when you have a discussion about a public hearing or on a public hearing about an ordinance the discussion has to be about the ordinance itself this is not going to be about shedler and about that I'm not talking about shedler I'm talking about all the artificial turf fields in rwood you're talking about something different than the new ordinance but but we're introducing more p and we're paying for p remediation don't you think that's contradictory I don't think it has to do with the ordinance that we're trying to put forth right now with regard to the SE charges for the P treatment centers that we have to put in well if we didn't have the issue we wouldn't have any SE charges and and we're on the aquafer we're on the T on the water table right we have we have wells that we provide our water from correct if you have questions or statements about the ordinance itself then please go ahead this while I understand your position Matt it's not mine it's the way the law is okay while I understand the the way the law is this still doesn't make sense the the law is there so you know okay fine um I'd like all the data from all the meters not only the one the big one the small one I don't know how many different metas you have I don't know what meter I have and I have to have that information to to counter you or be more educated about the process in the future so I'd appreciate that the other thing I'd like to say to the de is that when you say something when when any member of the de says it was another Administration it's sort of deflecting responsibility from the current Administration so I think it might be better to say in 2015 or 16 or whatever the the date was that's when that happened it's like you're not taking responsibility and the whole point in you're being up there is to take responsibility and take corrective action thank you thank you Rohan I now move the public hearing be closed second parin yes Reynolds yes whites yes Winograd yes and vagianos yes I move that ordinance 3995 be adopted on second reading and final publication is required by law I second the motion perin yes Reynolds yes whites yes Winograd yes and vagianos yes the following resolutions numbered 24-14 through 24-120 are to be adopted by a consented agenda with one vote by The Village Council there's a brief description beside each resolution to be considered on the consent agenda each resolution will be read by title only award contract water meter test bench award Soul Source contract spare parts kits for chemical and poly phosphorate pumps award contract under State contract water quality testing equipment and supplies award contract under State contract server equipment for scada systems Ridgewood water and water pollution control facility award contract under sourcewell Cooperative purchasing program various materials supplies and equipment maintenance and upkeep of Ridgewood water facilities request bipartisan legislative action for $12 million in funding for posos treatment authorized shared services agreement Ridgewood water lead service line replacement project Glenrock Midland Park and woff so moved second Deputy Mayor parin yes yes council member Reynolds yes council member whites yes council member winegrad yes and mayor vaganos yes I move the first reading of ordinance 3999 second paron yes Reynolds yes whites yes winegrad yes vagianos yes so ordered will the clerk please read ordinance 3999 by title an ordinance to amend chapter 190 of the code of the village of Ridgewood land use and development to permit freestanding signs in the P P2 and t-zones and to modify the standards associated with blade signs I move that ordinance 3999 be adopted on first reading and that May 8th 2024 be fixed as the date for the hearing thereon second Haron yes Reynolds yes whites yes Winograd yes I want to just say thank you to HPC and cbdc this is going to make our Charming downtown more charming and it's the little things so thank you and fanos yes and I also want to thank um Glenn Carlo who is the president of the Chamber of Commerce who took the initial cut at the first draft of this and uh upon which our ordinance is now based yes and now I move the first reading of ordinance 4,000 second Aron yes Reynolds yes whites yes Winograd yes vagianos yes so ordered will the clerk please read ordinance 4,000 by title an ordinance to amend chapter 145 at section 145-40 entitled police services for extra Duty I move that ordinance 4,000 will be adopted on first reading and that May 8th 2024 be fixed as a date for the hearing thereon second Reynolds I'm sorry paron yes Reynolds yes whites yes Winograd yes on number alone and vaganos yes mayor if I may on this particular ordance I just want to publicly thank Chief Lions and the leadership of the PBA here in Ridgewood um this ordinance not only addresses the um the fees for outside duty but it also gives us a better chance of having Ridgewood police officers Staffing any of our road jobs utility jobs anything like that we've had a history over the last few years of having to bring in police officers from other agencies and working with the PBA this will give us uh this will put us in a much better position to have all those jobs staffed by Ridgewood police I move the clerk read ordinance 39 96 by title on second reading and that the public hearing thereon be opened second parin yes Reynolds yes whites yes Winograd yes and vaganos yes will the clerk please read the title of ordinance 3996 yes Bond ordinance providing for various Capital Improvements in and by the village of Ridgewood in the county of Bergen New Jersey appropriating 4,469 990 therefore and authorizing the issuance of 3,838 655 dollars bonds or notes of the village to finance part of the cost thereof the public hearing is now open seeing no one I move the public hearing be closed second mayor just to confirm there's nobody on hybrid for this right nope okay great or else um the deputy mayor would have elbowed me just making sure yep okay parin yes Reynolds yes whites yes Winograd yes and vagianos yes I move that ordinance 3996 be adopted on second reading and final publication as required by law I second the motion paren yes also because this is the one where we are allocating or um or appropriating $400,000 Plus for tree planting so I'm a yes okay Reynolds yes whites yes Winograd yes and thank you to Shad Tre and vaganos yes I move the clerk read ordinance 3997 by title on second reading and that the public hearing thereon be opened second Haron yes Reynolds yes whites yes Winograd yes Janos yes will the clerk please read the title of ordinance 3997 yes an ordinance of the village of Ridgewood in the county of Bergen New Jersey providing for the special assessment of all or a portion of the cost relating to lead service line replacement the public hearing is now open mayor I do want to note that we do have uh the entire team from Ridgewood waterer uh who's heading up the lead service line replacement project in in case there are any questions from either the public or from the Village Council so I'm Cynthia Lis at 577 windir Avenue Cynthia if you could speak into the mic thank you so much okay so I do see that my home is one of those I'm very lucky to have a 1920s Ridgewood home that seems to have galvanized pipes going into my home home so I have a very particular situation in that I am a senior and I am on a fixed income so I do have some very serious concerns about the cost to me of what might come down here and what I'd like to know is how will further information be disseminated how will I find out everything I need to know about you know personal cost in this project Michael um we're at the start of the campaign and going through the excuse me Mike if you could speak into the microphone thank you so we at the start of the campaign of communicating out some of these messages so the exact costs are associated with a lot of different factors and in order we have to first find out how many people are looking to opt into the program to get some of those costs so as we go through the first St the stage we're in right now where we are proposing the ordinances throughout the four towns and then when we go into the optin opt out period we will be disseminating more information at different stages along the way but until we know how many people are actually into that opt-in or opt out stage we don't have we can't provide any of that information because there's some contingent upon that number of people and how the costs split okay and I understand that you do have the option to do nothing at this point but then at what time would you be required to change the service into your home that is one of the three options you have available um but you are correct we don't know how the laws will evolve as we move forward so so there's just a lot more information to be forthcoming before I can know anything really about how this might have an impact on me personally I recognize that I'm probably in a unique situation in this regard but I mean obviously it is going to be extremely important to me I mean as a senior you know I've lived in this town for 38 years I love Ridgewood I have really a great desire to remain here but with each additional cost that is levied it becomes more and more difficult to see that as a future option so that matters greatly to me personally so I will look forward and that's one of the reasons that it's so important that all of the customers who were um sent these letters respond because that's going to be the key uh to be able to frame out the program and do the estimates on the cost so that we can relay that information back to the customers right because that could really make the difference you know between remaining in this community I mean it really is that significant so thank you appreciate it thank you do you want ainger do you want AER I'm checking to see if I have a Leng too for you sorry no I'm checking to see you heard me ask you want a loinger because you sound so horse my family is just getting over the flu yeah so it's been a rough week but we are on the menend and we have tested negative for everything so if you want one I have one I just felt like your voice was getting weaker thank and Mike we appreciate your being here obviously you don't feel great and we also appreciate the common courtesy of having a mask on so that others don't get ill soan rohanda Sila 521 West Sal River Road thank you for all of this work that yall are doing um I am concerned about um I don't know enough but we too are on a fixed Inc we will be on a fixed income soon and it should be a concern for everybody including the Des that uh costs be kept to a minimum and that we do intend on living on Ridgewood in Ridgewood unless we're forcibly removed by cost so please consider that in everything yall do and say thank you thank you Rohan anyone else seeing no one I move the public hearing be closed second parin yes Reynolds yes whites yes Winograd yes and Banos yes I move that ordinance 3997 be adopted on second reading and final publication as required by law second Deputy Mayor parin yes council member Reynolds yes council member whites yes council member winegrad yes and mayor vagano yes uh the following resolutions number 24-1 121 through 24-44 are to be adopted by a consent agenda with one vote by The Village Council each resolution will be read by title only award Soul Source contract purchase of effluent pump and discharge pressure switch award Soul Source contract risk management tools for public safety and New Jersey State Association of chiefs of of police accreditation Services maintenance of policies and procedures and mandated training for New Jersey police lure title 59 approval and award contract for 2024 Road resurfacing and repair V various Village streets title 59 approval and award contract for NJ doot Municipal Aid North Monroe Street resurfacing title 59 approval and award contract for horic Co supplies Parks and Recreation title 59 approval and award contract irrigation system Services Parks and Recreation award contract under State contract ammunition Police Department award contract under Bergen County contract purchase of equipment service and licenses access control and closed circuit TV Police Department award contract under sourcewell Cooperative purchasing program leasing of police vehicles award Professional Services contract extra work scope of services for safe roots to school design assistance to address storm water management rules award Professional Services contract administrative agent for affordable housing award Professional Services contract njde shipo response package and independent field analysis shed shedler property award Professional Services contract should be supplemental archaeological phase 1B study Richard grubbin Associates authorize application to New Jersey state historic trust Grant Rehabilitation of pedestrian tunnel at Ridgewood train station matching funds accept name change of vendor for Polaris utility terrain vehicles authorize refund of tax over overpayment 854 Auburn Avenue nomination of village-owned trees for njdep Forest Service big tree program acknowledge installation of two small node telecommunication low power antennas Verizon Wireless except ation upgrades renovations to various Municipal baseball softball fields endorse sloway in Ridgewood so moved that was second okay Deputy Mayor pin yes council member Reynolds yes council member whites yes uh council member Winograd sure I I do want to highlight because there's people who have advocated for this th this will move the sugar Maple amongst other trees through to nomination so that's kind of exciting that the big tree program has been launched and that tree is now on this list so yes and mayor vagianos yes okay the following resolution number 24-1 145 will be considered separately and read in full 2445 established 2024 dates for dining Corrals whereas The Village Council of the village of Ridgewood wishes to reinstate a program of dining Corrals for patrons whereby eies are permitted to extend the dining area into the parking spaces on the street in front of their eateries through the use of barricades and whereas The Village Council has unanimously agreed to establish a fee for the dining Coral at $300 per parking space per month which is payable to the Village of Ridgewood no later than the tenth of each month and whereas the majority of the Village Council Members have agreed that the dining Corral shall begin no earlier than May 1st and shall end no later than October 31st now therefore be it resolved by The Village Council of the village of Ridgewood that D and Corral in the central business district May begin May 1 2024 contingent upon the paving of the central business district streets being completed and extend through October 31 2024 and be a further resolved that the Chief Financial Officer of the village of Ridgewood be and he is hereby directed and authorized to notify the participating eateries of the fees which must be paid to the village in order to participate in the dining Corral program payment shall be due no later than the 10th of the of the 10th of each month herein after due date for payment of monthly fees and be it finally resolved that any owners of eateries who sign up for the dining Corral program and do not pay the dining Corral fee by the due date each month shall lose the ability to utilize a dining Corral in front of their eery for the remainder of the 2024 permitted season so moved second Deputy Mayor parin yes council member Reynolds so I just want to say that these dining Corrals were created during Co and at that point they were a great thing restaurants could not have people in them or you know 10% 25% 50% whatever um I'm not told totally opposed to dining Corrals but I am opposed for a six-month period I truly feel that in the months of July and August at least last year I very rarely saw people in the dining Corrals except for a Friday night a Saturday night and the rest of the week or month the Corrals are empty they're ugly in my opinion they take up the street parking spots which are you know premere and I think that if we did two months in the spring if we did like mid April to Mid June and September and October it would be a little bit of excitement you know an incentive to go out on a beautiful spring day I really don't think that having them there for six months is a good idea and I truly don't think that July and August people utilize them except for maybe on a Friday or Saturday night so I would rather you know I'm going to vote no I would rather only see them for Snippets of time and then me P people might get excited to go and and dine whereas if they're there for six months it it's not exciting and I I feel like last year The Pedestrian Mall kind of gave us an insight as to you know people needed it during Co they desired it but now I think the bloom has worn off the rose as they say and so I vote no okay council member whites so I'm going to vote Yes and and I have a great respect for councilwoman renold's comments um I mean to me it's an issue of safety it's that if we're going to expect folks to invest the money and expect the village to put in these very large heavy blockades to make sure that our our diners are safe we can't just move them and then put them back move them put them back move them and put them back uh we need to establish them I think it's also a safety issue for drivers who may not know when they're there when they're not there um and listen if ultimately the need is not there and and businesses don't want them then we won't do it again next year but from a pragmatic standpoint and especially raising the issue I mean it's April we're supposed to get these things next month um to raise the issue now potentially moving them back and forth given um the to me the serious safety concerns because he's have to be big and bulky I I don't think it's pragmatic I don't think it's feasible our business Community wants them I know our residents love them um if ultimately there's another option that's great but I'm not sure why we're having this discussion a month before they're supposed to go down I vote Yes to be clear okay uh council member Winograd sure um so when I used to come and watch these meetings I always used to question why the prior Administration and people who were decision makers would think that they would know the business Community better than the business if this isn't working for the businesses they're not going to pay the F and it it's um you know I I respect you and I hear you Lorraine I want to tell you that on Monday did anybody go out have a drink a snack or something in town on Monday because when I I walked my dog from 4: and then later at 8 the whole entire town on Monday was buzzing people love eating Outdoors our businesses love increasing their footprint we have vacancies still and anything that we can do to attract more foot traffic and more business to make our town more vibrant we should be doing I'm really excited to vote Yes for this you know people say oh I'm in town every day I'm Legit in town every day I live two blocks away and I think this this is only a good thing um and to evans's point you know it's dangerous to keep moving the objects in and out and back and forth and I think this is awesome and if it doesn't work the people are going to tell us it isn't working are the people paying the fee not us yes okay and mayor vaganos um I'm voting yes and and again I completely respect what what you suggested Lorraine and certainly we've seen a lot of things change after covid that worked great during Co um uh Evan raises a bunch of great points but the big point is is the one that was raised by Siobhan which is believe me when I tell you um uh restaurant owners will not pay $300 per parking space per month if this is not worth it to them if they're not getting people out there I never said it wasn't worth it to them it is if they fill it up on a Friday and Saturday night no problem they're making a lot more than 300 I'm just saying for the rest of us if it's empty 80% of the time when it's 95 degrees and humid I don't want to see you know I just think it's ugly and and we and we always talk about when you say Well they're going to want to do it because they're making money we talk about wanting to have a thriving downtown um we have to do the things that help the downtown business business owners in order for it to be thriving and um and the truth is that it hasn't been thriving as much as we'd like it to postco and so you know whatever help that we can give our downtown I think it's important that we do so that's why I vote Yes Eileen did you get my vote I did okay yeah I think yeah got you okay good and with that we will move to comments from the public rohanda Silva 521 West Saddle River Road Matt just as a point of order can the mayor who is a a business owner a restaurant business owner and a property owner that houses restaurants should he not recuse himself from this vote yeah we've we've talked about this before this was brought up by um when um the mayor was first brought onto the council and again earlier in uh in the year uh the way that the local public uh ethics law works for elected officials is that as long as they are a member of the group and everybody in that group is being treated the same they can vote it's anticipated that an elected official is going to have connections with the town going to have an interest in in the town itself and as long as they're being treated the same as everybody body in the same group and that group in this instance is the central business district they're permitted to participate and vote on any any matter so are any other members of the council gaining monetarily from these I have I have no idea if anybody's if any member is being he is but the mayor is but I just I just tried to tell you that the local public ethics law says that you can participate if you are a member of even if you have a financial gain from it you can participate could you send that to me please could you send that outline it and email it to me I I I I prepared a memo that I read and I shared and I'll send that over to you thank you not not to be confrontational mayor but I think in order for us to move forward positively that there can't be any conflicts of interest so that's why I raised this issue and and I respect that completely Rohan yeah because I know you've recused yourself from other things before so I just found it odd that in this instance you did not so yeah and when and when I and and uh and Matt uh when this when this first arose I had conversations with Matt he did um legal research and statutorily as well as in case law um this is not considered a conflict of interest it's not so um I know that he's recused himself U Downs tree service because he's personal friends with Downs so he's recuse thems on any matter that involves Downs tree surface in the town so does a lot I'm sorry Downs does a lot that's that happens every now and then but uh from something like this where everybody in the central business district is treated the same and given the same opportunity he's allowed to participate okay thank you thank you Rohan boy a ling 342 South iring uh i' just like to comment or add some additional information to a comment that was made about the illegal dumping that took place in 2020 at 460 West Saddle River Road uh the manager indicated that the the person was identified and went to court and was issued two summonses i' just like to add to the record that one of the summonses was dismissed by the judge so only one the person was only found guilty of one charge and I believe it was the charge for the April incident they they actually pleed guilty it was guilty guil guil he pleed guilty but the the second summon was dismissed yeah there were probably that's all I wanted to clarify that there were two summonses issues but one of the summonses was dismissed but the individual did plead guilty it was a technicality that resulted in one of the summons being dismissed thank you thank you boy was this cling public comment U we we're in the middle of public comment right now and anyone who has and and anyone who has not yet spoken still has the opportunity to speak because I I ended my comments before I thought there was a closing of the comment no you had an opportunity to speak come back up actually we give everyone one bite at the Apple um every night I thought we addressed that some time ago and can come back no speak more than we we okay I believe we amended the ordinance that dealt with that some time ago let me take a quick look I for I thought it was once at the beginning and the same person come back and speak at the end but I know the rules always because it's not crowed let as was time we're going to here I'm I'm I'm relatively certain that it's one bite at the Apple in at the beginning one at the end but by all means okay thank thank you but but I want to I want to be clear it's an exception so that when we don't I understand thank you for the exception could could I just say something because this is where it gets confusing for the public we have three opportunities for public comment we have initial like every meeting has initial public comment which is three minutes and final public comment which is at the end when we have public hearings inside the meeting that's the opportunity of the five minutes that's specific to that ordinance and I just want to say that because the next tomorrow you know people will say hey what's up with public comment so from like a Civic standpoint I just want to make sure that you know inside the meeting where that five minutes is it's it's constrainted we didn't have public comment just so you know on the dining crows because that was a resolution and not an ordinance so I just want to explain that because I think it's some sometimes helpful and sometimes people get very like my public comments this does that make sense do you have any question it makes perfect sense except that let's move on no well I just just to clarify I didn't understand that and so when I came up I thought I was speaking to the boat I understand not final comment it's fine I just want to make sure so Rohan D Silva 521 West Saddle River Road my in my in the opening comments I said that um there was soil at shedler I'm not talking about the illegal dumping I'm talking about all the all the soil the ones that were approved by the town and the ones that were illegally dump by whomever so all of it when uh the village manager addressed it he said he brought about the illegal dumping and that was reported by The Village engineer I'm and I'm using positions rather than names so I don't offend anyone by butchering the name thank you yeah so I'm not talking only about the illegal dumping I'm talking about all of it all of it was not done correctly and the accountability must be enforced not overlooked because accountability is a must so I heard at some point The Village manager say nothing was done in Malice and so he's not opening up it has to be opened up you have to determine people hold these positions because of licenses certifications whatever else they have so they are professionals and as such they have to meet they have to be accountable just like all attorneys have to do cles all um medical Prof uh doctors have to do continuing Med medical education so that's it anything else do we have any El do we have anybody else no no one else is there anything else Rohan no no I didn't know whether we're good have anybody else online no hang on oh yeah it will yeah good and we do have someone who just came online um Mr haliy you have the potential opportunity to wrap up the evening well for for good news uh your your address please roric hbe one Frankton Avenue and let's have some good news uh cind and I went up to Hab neckel and boy oh boy does that look good thank you Keith thank you Nancy for tearing down the horrible horrible barn and I can't wait to see when the shelters uh get built so congratulations and it was an absolute pleasure thank you very much thank you Ruck anyone else seeing no one I'm going to close public comment and we will now entertain a resolution I I'm sorry paron I'm just GNA say it and I'm gonna say it again and again and again so Rohan I want to I I feel your frustration and I don't like feeling that there are two separate issues I'm going to use the word dirt at habac at shedler I'm sorry it's late and I've had like kind of a week the burm which you know no one on this Council knew that's not not you know a defense mechanism it's a statement of fact because you know there's different times here the burm was built prior to US during the time that it came over due diligence was done our engineering staff tested it there were six different pieces it went in there we have a highly technical great department so that that was done it went into the BM at some point during this shedler discussion a resident um had questions about that and called that burm into question question and the D came back and they said and they let all of us know there were six sites to which none of us knew that before and we were like wow and their analysis wanted further technical information that we don't have the skill sets here and even in our lovely engineering department they didn't it's highly specialized soil testing at that point we in a responsive way because we are holding people accountable we engaged in a contract with a third party that does that testing and I've gotten it wrong so don't judge me tomorrow I think it's 35,000 is to pay a company called Matrix and I remember that because of I'm not going to say it but I made a joke with Kate little whatever we are in the process of testing that soil last week's meeting I said the same thing I'm going to keep saying it because of the excessive rain that soil needs to be dry in order for that company name Matrix to take it out and test it the excessive rain has delayed the testing there they're going to do that that's cool shipo knows it the public knows it until we get those test results back we can't respond because we don't have any additive information we know as much as we've disclosed to the public and the next place where we'll be able to respond is after that third-party highly technical company comes in and gives us the results Additionally the full Council until February when a statement was made regarding Sam Oprah that was pulled that I can't find still but I did get the police reports there was this Police Issue and now I'm definitely not going to say too much because when the police get involved I never know what I'm allowed to know not know they Keith and Matt brought you up to speed on that illegal dumping until February we had never even heard of this or been notified again we are running two parallel paths to talk about the BM and until Matrix comes back nobody up here can say anything and until we talk in close session and Matt tells us what we can say we can't say anything about the other stuff we're aware of both issues and we are addressing them we are addressing them we spent $35,000 of taxpayer money and we're going to get information but at no point even under the prior Administration did anybody Shar the responsibility with the testing the resident inquiry called it back into question and we're reviewing it so I hope that helps and I'm sorry to my Council because everyone's like please stop talking because it's late but I do hear your frustration and I want to respond so sorry to my counsel um we all need a snack and I didn't bring any and I hope that help wait you're still talking and you didn't bring a snack I have some law and jurs that have been and with that we will entertain a resolution to go into closed session so moved be resolved by The Village Council of the village of Ridgewood that the Village Council meet in close session on April 10 2020 4 at 7:30 p.m. or soon thereafter as the matter on the agenda can be reached and that said close session will be held in the caucus room of Ridgewood Village Hall 131 North Maple Avenue Ridgewood New Jersey and be it further resolved that the matters to be discussed in closed session is limited to Legal contract negotiations and Personnel manager Office these matters are allowable under njsa 10 col 4-12 at SEC and be it further resolved that the minutes of this meeting shall be made available to the general public when such matters have been deemed completed by resolution of the Village Council I have a motion so moved second pin yes Reynolds yes whites yes Winograd yes and Vagas yes for