e e how are we technically I don't I don't remember no good evening everybody if you could please take your seats do we have an echo I'm hearing an echo think you're just loud you don't hear it yeah okay this is the Ridgewood Village council meeting work session of January 31st 20124 it is 7:34 p.m. and um I'll call this meeting to order 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 to same as provided by law of a schedule including the date and time of this meeting roll call please Deputy Mayor perin here council member Reynolds here council member whites here council member windrad here and mayor vaganos is absent please join me in a salute to our flag i al to the flag of the United States of America and to the rep for it stands one nation under God indivisible Li and jce for all before we go to public comment ma uh mayor vaganos asked me to read his newsletter regarding the closing of the bow tii Cinemas he writes as most of you have heard by now yesterday marked the final performance of our beloved Warner theat movie theater in downtown Ridgewood losing this movie theater is truly one of the saddest days our Central business district has ever experienced we all know the reasons behind it with the Advent of streaming services attendance has dwindled to a trickle consequently it has become almost impossible for small movie theaters to survive in the digital age the company that owns the theater had at one time 70 movie theater locations across the country to today they have only two theaters remaining the Warner Theater opened in 1932 with a screening of the Dark Horse a Betty Davis movie at that time the Warner was a grand and beautiful single Auditorium movie theater when my children were small we made a PCT that we would come to this theater to watch all the new James Bond movies when they came out and for many years we did the closing of this movie theater is truly the end of an era for all for us all that will create a void for our community that will be difficult to fill I have had several discussions with the movie theater owners during the course of last week who have been incredibly forthcoming with the status of the theater going forward here's what we know Deputy Mayor Pam parin and I met with representatives of of the theater this past Friday morning along with construction and fire officials from the village to discuss taking down the partitioning walls that converted into a four Screen Theater that converted it into a four Screen Theater decades ago they will also be removing all of the seating in the theater and anything that is not part of the original 1932 theater there will be no construction or installation of new seating stages or anything that would make make it a functioning theater at this point they anticipate beginning this work within the month and expect the project to take about 3 to four weeks once this demolition work is accomplished the Warner Theater will be a single Auditorium Theater once again the hope of the theater owners is to ultimately return the theater to its original Grandeur by converting it into a Performing Arts Center that will be both finan financially viable and of benefit to our community and while they have already begun in investigating this possibility returning the theater to a single Auditorium Theater is the first step since the announcement of Warner's closing last week I have had hundreds of calls texts and emails from residents of our community offering to support the establishment of a Performing Arts Center as well as those who hope there is a way to save the movie theater let me Begin by saying that we are less than a week into this process and it is far too soon to know what the Warner will look like going forward just as importantly it is important to understand that while the theater belongs to our community in so many ways this is a private privately owned business on private property to that end we will continue to work with the Warner to assist them in in turning this theater that is such a central part of our community into a theater that will serve our village for another 100 years stay tuned Paul vaganos Mayor of Village of Ridgewood um another thing I would like to to say today we have received a well over 10 Communications from residents of ran Court about parking on their street and we on the council actually were unaware of the change in parking there what happened was uh someone in court challenged the or challenged a ticket and it turned out that there was no ordinance to support parking restriction on the South and West sides of rain and court so our administration had to take down the signs and that's when parking increased and um I have now pulled every member of this Council as their desires for uh what should happen on ran Court we are unanimous in the intention of restoring the parking restrictions on R and Court particularly on both sides and that would be no parking allowed uh September 1st through June 30th Monday through Friday 8 to 9:30 and 1 to 2:30 30 so that would be on both sides you will go back to we won't vote on this um well 14th well actually I would like to speed up this process as as much as possible because it is very disruptive to the residents of ran court and I'll ask the clerk can we do this by a special public meeting on February 7th to introduce we could we could introduce then and then also um adopt on the 28th which is our last meeting of the month is everyone here going to be in attendance that day those two days I I will be certainly yeah I will be okay I just want to make sure okay we can do that and can I suest if everyone's in agreement yeah and can I suggest Keith that we get the signal folks to have the signs ready to go up is the day after we vote on it so the the the deputy mayor asked me about that today and I indicated that if there was consensus amongst the council tonight I would ask uh Rich's crew down at signal to start preparing them immediately I wouldn't encourage us putting them up until the ordinance is adopted but we can but we can have we can have them in the shop ready to go that that's what I'm looking for like I literally we'll vote one night and put them up the next day so we don't it's effective 20 days after 20 20 days after but we we'll we'll have them ready for the day that they need to be deployed that's that's what I'm answer and I also want to thank the numerous reain and Court residents have reached out to us as well as the folks here that uh advise us of what had happened um and as Pam said I know we're all in agreement on this and I know it's probably a bit anticlimactic for everybody that showed up to voice to have their voices heard but uh we heard you we heard you loud and clear we're moving as quickly as possible to get this done we apologize for the disruption uh we'll go now to public comment each person is limited to 3 minutes please state your name and address just just a minute pull the microphone down and then there's a button and make sure the green light is on okay push the button on the microphone got it like this and then just speak into the microphone okay hello everyone I am Estelle shimy and I am Sophie we are both 12 years old and go to George Washington Middle School you you need to I'm sorry you need to be closer to the mic because we can't hear you lift it up there you go hello everyone I am Estelle shimy and I am Sophie's relac we are both 12 years old and we both go to G George Washington Middle School we are here today to talk about the issue of the theater closing it has come to our attention that it is being changed and we have a couple of things we would like to say first off we do understand that it is private property but we would still like to keep part of the space for a theater we have evidence from the citizens themselves I'm sorry you really have to get closer to the mic in order for everyone to hear you um first off we understand that it is private property but we would still like to keep part of the theater um I'm sorry I'm sorry we're we're having technical difficulties with a reverberation it's the yeah the speakers on the on the computer in front of you yeah it is yes Dylan are you here is anybody Gabriella we shut the speakers could you help us the speakers on the laptop are reverberating just gotta turn the speakers off on the laptop and girls really you use your outside voice okay not your inside voice let's use the outside voice okay okay I going to start from the beginning okay start from the very beginning thank you hello everyone I am EST shimy and I am Sophie's relac we are both 12 years old and both go to George Washington Middle School we are here today to talk about the issue of the theater closing it has come to our attention that it is being changed and we have a couple of things we would like to say first off we do understand that it is private property but we would still like to keep part of the space for theater we have evidence from the citizens themselves that will hopefully help change Minds we have a physical petition in Hand of over 3 00 signatures that we've personally collected signed by the people of this town who are in favor of the reopening and restoration of the theater we understand the financial viability of a movie theater is no longer possible so our proposal is that we keep one floor of the movie theater and have it stay as a movie theater the other floor could be changed permanently into whatever is wanted during the day when kids are at school you can have people rent out the two movie theater rooms whatever is desired it can raise more money and that money can go towards the company and purchasing new movies not only is it convenient to have a movie theater right in town but this theater is a part of our Town's history and getting rid of it would be like getting rid of that history so please on behalf of the people in this town do not close the theater we ask you the people who represent all of us including the 70% of kids under the age of 15 to let us play a part in defining our town thank you for for your time and remember the public should always have the final word as Roger W weard [Laughter] said EXC thank you girls would you like to hand up to the clerk your petition thank you thank you guys thank you hello my name is Savina vachan and I was born and raised in Ridgewood so was my dad I a second generation Ridgewood girl I go to George Washington Middle School and one of my favorite memories of the theater is going to see the Taylor Swift aist Tor movie a few months ago with my friends and seeing our lungs out because we were having so much fun it was one of my favorite me memories of this year and having those moment moments with your friends is important we know we can't retain the theater as it is now but we would love mayor Paul and the Village Council to advocate for us retaining the screens on the second floor as part part of a new art pack we could use it for all types of screenings film festivals and events I know so many other kids my age and adults feel this way too I agree with Estelle s and Sophie Z on this important topic thank you so much for your time thank you hello my name is j Sur and I am a seventh grader at George Washington Middle School I agree with Estelle s and Sophie Z's statements about saving the movie theater here's my story one of my favorite memories that I had in the Ridgewood theater was when my grandma took me to see the new Mary Poppins movie I was so excited to spend some time with my grandma especially because she only comes to Ridgewood every few months we had the best time I felt so comfortable and warm in that little theater watching one of my favorite movies it is really sad and disappointing to hear that this theater is closing especially because of how many people have such amazing memories over the years there I understand that it's a difficult situation but me and all of my friends here would be so grateful for anything we could do to save this theater thank you for listening to us it's appreciated thank you hello all right hello I'm Jamie dealo and I'm a I'm a 13-year-old at GW I agree with the stelle's and Sophie's statement about saving the movie theater this is my story about the movie theater one of my favorite memories of going to your movie theater was when me and three friends went to see the Barbie movie it was a hot and Midsummer day preparing my Ken outfit which people liked a lot it was the perfect thing to do right after Camp ended and it was one of the highlights of that summer we caught to laugh a lot in that small theater and reminded us of what movies and friends were for I've always loved that movie movie theater feeling of going outside right after an amazing movie that would change my perspective it would suck if your movie theater closed because we wouldn't find a place in town quite like it I've always loved walking in town to see which four movies you would be playing that night just to text my friends about it your theater even if it is small and forgetful for most people was one of the places that meant a lot for me to go and it should stay open at least for a 20 years I don't know thank you hi my name is dtia pomi I am 13 years old and I go to GW Middle School I agree with Melle s and so about trying could you pull the mic closer to you to yourself yeah that's good hi my name is d uh I agree with Estelle s and Sophie Z about trying to save the movie theater this is the last story our group is presenting the theater in town is a an important part of downtown I have lots of fun memories in that theater my first memory of the theater was going to one of my friend's birthday parties it was a very fun experience and since then I've had many more great experiences there I went to the Barbie movie with my friends it is one of the best parts of my summer I have many positive memories with my friends waiting the lobby getting the tickets in the movie itself and the chatter about how good the movie was after we walked out of the theater those are all important memories associated with the theater whenever I go to town I always like going to the theater to see the movies that they're playing in my opinion it's way more fun going into the theater than going to the AMC theater and if the theater closed going to other theaters would it be same as as same as going to the vual theater it would be awful if the theater closed it's an important me part of Rood it's a source of happy memories for people thank you for listening to us thank you good evening uh my name is Steven Del persio I also very upset about the movie theater closing I have yep I have a very fond memory of watching the original origal Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie there when I was a middle schooler at BF many many years ago I won't you have to do the math to figure out how long ago that was but um I am here as the recently installed chairperson of the central business district advisory committee I'm sure one of the things we will be thinking about very seriously in our upcoming meetings is the future of the theater downtown um but what I would like to talk about tonight is a white paper of recommendations that are committee prepared and I email to the Council on January 24th um I'm here not only to encourage you to read our white paper follow up with us or our amazing liaison from the council Deputy Mayor perin um but I'd like to read you those read the recommendations um to you tonight um so they're on page four of the the white paper when you go back and look at it um so the first recommendation at this time we don't think we should plan on closing any many streets in the central business district for the 2024 summer season however we should continue promoting the destination Ridgewood brand and programming from last summer which was very successful Although our committee does note we'll have to figure out a way to fund that um that initiative uh we think the venue or the the location for the destination Ridgewood events or anything related to that programming should be in and around the vaness square area which was um in our view the the focal point of what was successful about last Summer's pedestrian Plaza uh we support the Village Council revisiting the dates for the dining Corrals and perhaps extending them into the spring and the fall shoulder Seasons um and also we encourage the council to remain focused on how the village can help our restaurants uh improve the Aesthetics of the Corrals moving forward and then finally this summer uh our committee is committed to continuing to engage with the guild the Chamber of Commerce uh all of the other Village stakeholders solicit feedback on what isn't working what might work moving forward um uh in terms of programming with destination Ridgewood and anything else that might uh come forward this summer and finally we will update these recommendations this white paper for the council moving forward um at the conclusion of this summer and we'll report back with some recommendations for how we think uh the plaza the plaza could take shape for 2025 so thank you very much for your time and attention I hope you read the white paper and good evening thank you Steve Dana Glazer 61 Clinton Avenue uh first off as a filmmaker as a film lover as a film Professor I have to say thank you so much for coming out and speaking on behalf of the movie theater and how important important movies are and I think it's it' be a wonderful thing if we could keep that theater going in some way and I certainly as a film lecturer would be happy to donate some time to to help with that process uh totally unrelated I'm also talking as a resident of Clinton Avenue um so every weekday morning I drive my 17-year-old to school to high school I drop him off at Brookside Avenue and it's like Clinton Avenue Brookside intersects with with the High School uh it's the main road leading straight to it if you've ever driven your kids on Brookside at that time it is fairly chaotic uh there are cars double parked teenagers climbing out between cars cars doing u-turns uh I don't know what the situation what the statistics are with accidents but I suspect that there have been some and so the idea of turning Clinton Avenue into a similar driving situation but now with smaller Children at Risk is a frightening thought for me and for the residents and for my wife uh and that would certainly happen should sidewalks even on one side be installed because even with the best intentions the street would no longer be closed and parents would insist that the street be used for this type of chaotic drop off and pickup when my family and I moved to Clinton Avenue in 2008 uh the street was closed for vehicular traffic from 8:00 a.m. to 3:45 p.m. which gave a clear message to most drivers not to drive there but around 2012 uh full day kindergarten was instated uh and so there was a rally to make it only in the morning and only in the afternoon for closure uh and so that is what happened uh and so we are concerned in the name of safety for that implementing sidewalks on our street would inevitably lead to the street being opened full-time and Clinton AB being transformed into a situation like that of Brookside uh I know I can speak on behalf of all the residents of Clinton Avenue that safety is of the utmost importance uh and that our street is odd in the sense that it is wide in some places and narrow in others and they're treat along the sides um so in 2017 there was a major decision to not do this for that reason uh there are unintended consequences for these sort of things and I I encourage the Village Council to really consider what those consequences might be uh you know at the bottom of our street the intersection of Godwin and Clinton uh there was repaving done over the summer and now there's a big ice lick because it was done differently than had been done previously and that's a dangerous situation we don't want to have any more dangerous unintended consequences as a result of just going and sticking something in in in a place where it's might not necessarily belong just one last thing to say is that for the last 75 years there really has not been an issue or an incident involving uh a child or even an adult uh having a a runin with a with a car uh and getting hurt uh and I think that that should speak for something so that we you know you don't you don't fix uh something that's not broken thank you very much thank you [Applause] Dana uh Bob Ferman 49 Clinton Avenue uh I came here tonight to compliment the mayor on his state of the village message there was one section in there which really differentiates this counsel from a lot of uh others that I've been I've been a resident since the late 80s and I just want to read that it's three sentences transparency is just a word people use communication puts transparency into action by actually getting people the information they need the past year we began a process getting information to our residents that has never been done before take you back to last spring uh a council member for very aggressively to make sure that all stakeholders over a particular issue be informed included and heard that issue went on in front of this Council for several several months okay now is that plus or minus to me it's kind of a plus everybody was informed and they were heard uh unfortunately that same council member participated in three meetings in October November December uh regarding Clinton Avenue and told the members that were there in one of those meetings not to inform the residents of the street so therefore denying the rights of information to a large group of of stakeholders uh now just to a reminder before the denial comes in there are an average of 16 people at each one of those meetings and unfortunately that council member was identified as the person who said that so what I would suggest Miss Deputy Mayor is you take a look to your left to your right uh and and inform the mayor that someone clearly did not get his inclusive message thank you thank you Bob uh good evening uh roric halbe 1 Franklin Avenue three items uh West Glenn uh thanks to the signal Department for putting up the blinking lights on West Glenn and Oak the lights are very noticeable and should hopefully slow traffic down uh I'd like to suggest two solar powered radar speed signs also be installed on West Glenn heading east one at Heights Road or nearth area and one closer to the rail railroad Trestle these two are highly noticeable and should slow traffic uh further the second point is about a pedestrian safety Master review by The Ridgewood police department and engineering department uh I few months ago I wrote to the Village manager the police chief and the engineering department on the need of a basic proactive pre preemptive strategic study of various pedestrian Crossings in the village I don't mean a study that takes place after an accident happens but one that would be preemptive if you will the study should review among other things the difficult to maneuver by pedestrians uh of the traffic lights at Glenn and maple the one at Franklin and Maple and the one at Franklin and North Broad and and the last one we need better lighting there uh and I was Wonder if anything has done been done about the study uh my last uh uh my last point is about C the central business district Street lighting uh I wrote some time back read the street lights in the central business district and I'm pleased to say that many have been fixed but the ones at North Broad and Franklin have not and be good to uh good to get a word as to what's happening there my last last point which I just want to uh mention is nothing pleases me more than to see these young people stand up say their thing really it just makes me so happy thank you thank you Eric good evening uh my name is Leon yod I 32 Chelsea Place um I actually have pretty quick comment uh we moved here 7 years ago and U from the GetGo I was actually quite shocked at the condition of the West Sal River Road uh it has so many potholes it looks like a road in fua so um I've inquired few times in the village engineer got no answers and I'm curious if it's ever going to be repaved or at least uh repair it in a normal fashion and the speed bumps probably should be installed because people take off from Route 17 on the exit it's dangerous we have little kids there a lot of little kids now in that neighborhood people walk the dogs there's no sidewalks it's extremely extremely dangerous and I don't understand why it's happening until nobody seems to be doing anything about it so I think it's pretty uh serious urgent issue I know it's kind of connected to what's uh next on the agenda with the shutler property I I know if that's going to happen then but it should happen like soon thank you thank [Applause] you good evening uh my name is Matthew nister I live at 120 Highland Avenue um I have three lovely energetic children uh and a crazy dog named Sammy and I'm here today to also talk about Clinton Avenue um there's been discussion um and I'll just give a quick overview again um Clinton Avenue is a a Road between Godwin and West Ridgewood Avenue that pretty much dead ends into the Elementary School uh and then the other side dead ends into Godwin um there are signs at either end that Express um you know you're not allowed to enter the street between these hours it's generally between when the children go to school and come back um there is also a a bit of a half-hearted effort there's like a plastic barrier that covers half of it um this kind of superficially provides a sense of security and safety for children they look at these symbols and they think I'm safe and I should be walking here this is okay uh the fact of the matter is that none of this is enforcable they're all essentially deterrence as I understand it uh the problem with deterrence I I suppose superficially on the high level deterrence are great but often times the people that follow deterrence are all of you and I we follow rules we respect these things that we see uh but if they're not enforcable the I think there was a mention of unintended consequences before which is the only cars that go in there are uh commercial trucks big box trucks because they're cutting through they're you know they're either doing deliveries they're going to their next job um the prod the majority of cars are are large vehicles uh so you unintended consequences for sure I think that's part of it and once again because nothing's enforceable nobody's standing there writing tickets they can't even if they were uh they're just for show and giving a kids a false sense of security I would challenge my six-year-old who loves to run um to understand the the the uh the hierarchy of jurisdictions and who's in charge of what and what signs mean and what's enforceable and this is a rule but you don't actually have to follow it it's just sort of there um I think there's a healthy discussion right now on what the solution is but I think there needs to be something and and I think there are probably a few different viable Solutions uh but the main thing that seems to be um pedestrian focused and the most safe are are sidewalks um you know you can install uh speed bumps you know things like that that maybe slow people down but um I I would like to think we want to think about pedestrians and get people walking as much as possible I think that's a great uh great thing to kind of instilling our children and and our ourselves I think we should all be walking a lot more uh frankly right now I live like a half mile away from the school I could tell all my neighbors hey let's just drive up there and park there because we could nobody's going to give me a ticket I'll just drive up there and we'll just park and we just won't walk so we'll just use our car for a half mile trip because frankly the only sidewalked route is probably a mile long uh so so that it's kind of you know it's it's it's not helpful um alternatively if it's purely U I'll be real quick alternativ if it's purely a money thing take all the signs down make it a through Street and then it's very clear to children that this is a street that cars are allowed to go on and that's no problem but uh as a lifelong Runner myself I the most dangerous traffic laws are are those that are not clear they're not the strictest they're not the loosest it's those that aren't really clear or understood and so I think there needs to be a lot more clarity one way or the other right now it's ambiguous and everything is a bit of a show people can go as say please thank you Matthew thank you um you know what before we go we have we have I guess one more person to speak in person we have four people lined up on on remote uh and I'll ask the council do you want to wave the 40 minute limmit so that we hear all these people sure okay limit to just the four and then Cynthia yeah great so um Cynthia why don't you go ahead okay Cynthia o 542 West Saddle River Road um I'd love to commend these young people for their passion about the theater I too went there as a child um lot of memories and as they said there is so much history attached um to you know the theater and the passion that the people have to keep something as unique and um precious as that in our community um that being said I feel the same thing about the shedler property um and that's the neighborhood that I live in and um there was a great article that came out it was actually an ABC News article on the dangers of pest and you know I don't know if everybody in this room knows that the shedler neighbors are against the artificial turf and Eco Turf that has been proposed for that multi-purpose field um you know the neighbors did um Embrace an open space that you know young people and and old alike can enjoy they can walk their dogs they can you know have a a a chat sit on a bench um you know unfortunately what that property proposal has turned into is something that is not welcome in the neighborhood um and as the gentleman said earlier the potholes and West Saddle you know we know that it's been earmarked for um Paving once the plans have been approved but you know I'm sorry that's just s you know subpar um my suspension and everybody else in the neighborhood is probably getting ruined uh which is unfortunate so yes we do have to deal with that on a daily basis um and so you know I'd like you to you know continually on a daily basis has take into consideration the turf and the size of the field I think it's unacceptable to the neighborhood um and I look forward to hearing about the soil um contamination and uh what the situation is with the use of the house I know Shaban you said you would invite The Neighbors in as soon as there was a certificate of occupancy and I hope that's still the case um and you know we we would Embrace uh you know people using the house for the right purpose and and you know I'm looking forward to hearing the presentation from the newcomers um thank you very much thank you Cynthia we'll go now to um the online uh commenters Susan you're up still on mute there you go hi um hello let me get my um all right Susan Ruan 705 Kingsbridge Lane um um I want to thanks thank the Village Council because I listened to the budget meeting um and the Kings Bridge Lane as well as West Glenn are steamline for it um repair and installation so thank you for um trying to um push them through as projects for next year um and it is very nice seeing the children and teens speaking about the movie theater that is something that will leave a huge void in Ridgewood and hopefully it'll be addressed um and I do agree with the resident from Chelsea Place about um West Saddle River Road needing repaved I know that's a sore subject to some people um but um I do also agree with him that it should have a speed bump because as soon as um it is repaved people will be speeding down that road uh more so um I'm also calling and regard to the I know I spoke about it at the budget meeting but um I want to emphasize about having some sort of maintenance done for all the waterways in Ridgewood because I believe there is flooding issues that um need to be addressed and I don't think blue acres is going to be a simple solution for everyone as I will point out uh I have a friend who lives in Oakland she was she's in a flood zone she applied for blue Acres because she was flooded for her Hurricane Irene and she was denied so it's not going to and it's not a simple solution so there has to be some sort of long-term maintenance that needs to be done and it has to to be allocated in the budget and it has to also be organized with the state and maybe the federal government I know that everybody applauded the the engineers which they did a great job for um working with so many agencies for repaving the roads but this is um you know this is somebody something else that they need to work with multiple agencies to do because we're not going to um have any sustainable living homes if it's not addressed properly and I don't think blue acres is going to buy everybody out in Ridge with that gets flooded all right thank you thank you Susan Stanley caka you are up next good evening all and uh thank you for your time my name is Stan kakula I live at 500 East Saddle River Road um I just wanted to address uh I to Keith I saw the portal about uploading pictures from past floods I have no problem doing that I'm just wondering how is the D um going to look at these pictures is and I also want to know um there is a easement on my property and I've been back and forth with um the engineer um I believe his name is Chris um that's on the tax map it doesn't show there's an easement when there clearly is I think the tax map is probably wrong or is not correct it's showing it on the opposite side of the river um I inviting the council or the mayor to come out and see our the problem we have when we get flooded um it's very painful for all of the residents here um been here over 20 years uh um I just want to know what's being done I don't I see Emergency Services when there's a flood but I don't see council members mayor helping the residents assuring them that they're with us um please help us um this is far too often and we we just can't do it anymore um we're still the in the I'm still in the midst of remediation myself um back and forth with insurance companies getting you know um estimates on getting things fixed around my house um I just hope something can be done and I hope my neighbors are with me on this as well thank you for your time and I hope to speak to you and have you out here to see our issue as soon as possible thank you Stan give us your address again how is he off already five 500 oh he you got it okay cuz I I got it I got got it 500 m east Saddle River Road all right thank you thank you mon leemon hello uh this is uh Luis Lopez 494 East Saddle River Road uh what I would like to do is just give my support to suzan and Stan we're neighbors here in East Saddle River Road and we also suffer from uh the multiple problems and things that we have to do in our house whenever there's uh just a forecast of of heavy rain now it's sufficient to upset our Our Lives entirely so we look forward to meeting the The Village manager and and to learn more about what what's possible to do uh to alleviate the situation that we're in thank you thank you Christina Christina Millian 530 West Saddle River Road um on September 28th I was on an email with council member winegrad The Village manager and the village attorney um I had reached out on behalf of the Neighbors at shedler to ask about how residents can and should be included in the discussion around the organization that goes into the historic zisy shedler house um and the future use of it the neighborhood um also has ideas for how the space should be used and in that correspondence I was told that a certificate of occupancy would need to be issued to further quote grow conversations about the future unquote tonight there is a proposal for the house um and I'm looking forward to hearing it but I'd also like to know if a certificate of occupancy was issued and also ask how this presentation is consistent with what residents were told thank you Christine CF hi okay hi Christine fman 518 East Saddle River Road I'll be quick it's commendable the young people advocating for the Pres of preservation of the theater kudos to them Keith want to thank you for visiting homes impacted by the flooding on the Saddle River 14 families have signed up and I know we're corresponding over email I appreciate you and all the things you're trying to help the Saddle River residents with Lewis stand I'm at 518 East saddle um and I just would like to say that I've been speaking with environmental engineers and doing a bit of my own research in trying to help find a solution 27 years on the Saddle River three floods six water events in the last three months we're all PTSD is real okay um but I would like to bring up um the foundation damage that I'm now learning about which is very common with reoccurring floods and repetitive flood areas that's something now that I would also like to bring up in the future and two suggestions uh made to me were a water Bas and an underground drainage I understand the Army Corps of Engineers who's been engaged I know it's a process but there are other towns that have done remediation and there are things that uh we can still be looking at so I hope that the council is on board to help its residents not only on the Saddle River but on all the waterways that impact our homes so thank you very much for your time thank you Christine uh our next commenter will and last will be Sandy B hello can you hear me yes okay I have just a couple of comments well your name and address first please okay well 338 Queens Court your last name pardon your last name Bartlett thank you go ahead um I had a couple of comments one on West settle River Road I know for a fact it was last paved over 30 years ago my grandson was three and a half and we went down and watched it every single day and he just turned 34 so so that's the time limit on that the other thing is the shedler property and I don't know how many people are aware but under the ground that was under all the new apartment buildings in Ridgewood on Broad Street and continuing was placed on shedler dump truck after dump truck big rocks little rocks Crush rocks garbage Etc we had two um car vehicle sales and repair shops on Broad Street one of which we used and the uh emo gas station was on Franklin all the dirt under that is currently on shedler I was given a guarantee by Susan that she had paperwork that proved that it was safe but she never ever gave it to me and it's hard to prove something that's infiltrated with gasoline and other chemicals can be considered safe that's all I have to say tonight thank you thank you with that we will close public comment does anybody on the deis have something to respond that they want to say I I want to say a couple things do you want to go first Evan um you go ahead and I'm just going to speak quickly but you please Shan okay so um although we're running late on time I do want to congratulate the kids and say how GW Middle School proud I am of all of you um fun fact uh my grandmother's first movie was at Warner when it was a single theater my mother's first movie was at Warner and mine and this is equally fun when it was a two a duplex because it wasn't always four um so I'm really proud to see our school in action I also want to do a Shameless plug and while Warner's closed now um the library does have media capabilities and your parents are here the library can be rented they do movies at the library and it's a unique opportunity for you guys to maybe partner with the Municipal Library engage with Roberta panani who wants real voices um if it's your birthday get your parents to rent it and give the Li liary some money so um we all feel for the community for all of us we are members of this community and I just it's going to be a work and process and everyone is deeply committed to making sure that this Historic Landmark is honored and we do the best that we possibly can with the private property owner but thank you um I also want to say with respect to a couple of the comments uh I want to thank cbdc for the white paper and say how awesome it is and I'm hoping rather than have them come um at public comment maybe we can put them on the agenda the next time cu the paper was so great and I'm so grateful to that committee and I feel like it was truncated into 3 minutes and um with respect to the light polls because there's kids here if you see a light out in town what I would really love everybody to do is all the lamp posts have numbers on them report it and let us know so the we've taken Lighting in the central business district seriously and if we get self-report we will fix it and there was one more thing um um that's it I'm going to I think I'll address the issues with newcomers in the presentation and I just want to say thank you to everybody it'll come to me in a minute great so I just too want to really thank all the kids and all the parents that came with the kids tonight anytime we get um our kids involved in democracy and advocacy you just make for a stronger Community um I too agree we really need to do something wonderful with that theater um we need to make sure that we get input from the from the um from the public which is why I think that petition is so valuable so that we can really influence the developer and use whatever power we have on a private property owner to get them to do something that's conducive with what we all want and I think the louder you guys are the more often you you know show your faces and show how interested you are in that property I think the more likely it is we're going to get what we need over there so as a citizen as a council member I want to thank you all on a personal note I think my son is one of your classmates and he sitting at home right now watching TV while you guys are advocating for democracy so me and my kid are going to have a little talk tonight about raising the bar a little bit and so guys thank you for prompting that conversation I just want to say say thank you as well um when my kids were your ages they actually spoke at several Council meetings and planning board meetings and it brought back some really good memories for me and I really know how difficult it is to get up there and speak and you all did a great job thank you um I'll say that everybody has a story about the Warner Theater and what the first movie they saw there was mine was Jiminy Cricket and as you leave the room turn over that piece of paper that's on the table and if everybody would write down the first movie they saw there I really look forward to reading it at the end of the meeting um um and with that Deputy Mayor I have a couple comments on the public portion um first to the gentleman who asked about West sad River Road and the resurfacing of that road um it is slated in our 2024 Road resurfacing program at our last council meeting the Village Council introduced the ordinance it'll be adopted in February um and then shortly after that our engineering department will begin to roll out our resurfacing uh as the weather breaks in the spring I can tell you that West Saddle River Road I believe um I was not here for this decision but I believe it was held back contingent upon whether or not there were going to be bumpin for parking along the shedler property um but regardless of the outcome of the shipo application uh that will ultimately be sent down to the state for consideration on that property uh we have every intention of Paving that street this year so I wanted to make that clear um with regard to speed humps uh that is something that I will need to talk to Chief lions at the police department um we like to have a traffic study conducted to determine whether or not speed humps would be warranted um on any Street in the village but that's C certainly something that I can bring back to the Chief and he can discuss with the Traffic Division um to Susan's comments about the waterways um we have had our parks department in addition um to our Public Works folks out there clearing debris um in both the Hocus Brook and the Saddle River uh that work effort is ongoing as a matter of fact Matt andula and his team were out there today meeting with some residents uh to try to determine access to be able to remove some debris in the waterways um with regard to the blue Acres Program we have put that information out for public consumption we've had at least two residents inquire um I believe one to my office and one through a council member about the possibility of participating in the blue Acres program that is obviously a big decision for any property owner you're asking the state to come in and essentially buy out your home um with an intent to relocate um so obviously that decision is not for everyone and I agree with Susan in her public comments uh but we are sharing that information in case anyone in the village who has had a repetitive loss due to flooding um is interested in pursuing that uh with regard to Stan at 500 East Saddle River Road um Stan I will be out there on Saturday um I'm meeting with the residents in that neighborhood I believe at this point we have 13 or 14 uh homes to visit that after that morning and afternoon so we can certainly add your address to that list so that we can come by and get a better understanding of what your flood experience has been um I'll talk more about the portal under the um manager's report uh with regard to Christina uh we do not have a certificate of occupancy on the Z brisky house as of yet the only thing that is pending is approval by shipo to utilize the existing gravel area as a temporary parking area until the future of that property is decided and the installation of a um stone dust pathway between the parking area and the Ada accessible ramp uh both of those initiatives need to be approved by shipo and Tony Marino our construction official cannot issue the certificate of occupancy until such time as those two work efforts are completed um I'll have councilwoman winegrad when we get to the presentation talk about the discussions that have been ongoing uh with newcomers uh but just to be clear no one has been in the house including any Representatives from newcomers uh to inspect the space because we start we still are pending a certificate of occupancy um to Christina again I will be out there on Saturday looking forward to meeting um with the residents out there on East SLE River Road uh to take a look at the um at the flooding conditions and lastly uh to miss Bartlett she mentioned um one of the agenda items that's on for tonight uh which is some soil testing on the shedler property um she is correct uh there was soil testing prior to that soil being removed from four different locations both in and out of the village between 2016 and 2021 um that relocation of the dirt was done under prior Administration and it was in fact tested um at this juncture the DP is looking for some additional testing and that will be considered by The Village Council this evening Keith uh would you like to continue with the manager's report thank you um first of all very pleased to report uh that S&P Global has sustained ridgewood's AAA Bond rating uh we received that news late Friday afternoon and I want to congratulate Bob Rooney from our Chief Financial Officer and our team in finance for their continued work in making sure that the long-term out Financial outlook for the village is strong secondly um Rich calbi who's with us tonight our director of operations and director of rid Ridgewood water has recently sent out letters uh to those individuals with private Wells um specifically uh letters have been sent to Residents in the shedler neighborhood who have private Wells um we are looking we encouraging any residents who are interested in considering hooking up directly to Ridge woodwater and in essence abandoning their private well uh to reach out to director calbi to further that conversation um we've heard at many Council meetings over the last number of months that there is a concern uh with regard to wellwater and the potential development of that property and this may be a viable option to Abate some of those fears we also launched over the last two days the flood portal I want to thank Neil galone and our GIS division under Ridgewood water uh who put together the portal with the support of Our IT department uh here at the Village we are encouraging all residents who are have been impacted by residential flooding to please submit pictures and descriptions and further information about the damage that they have sustained over various flood events for each specific flood event residents can upload five pictures one video and put descriptions into the portal so that we can collect all of that data and share it with the Army Corps of Engineers I will tell you that the more submissions we get that will strengthen our case as we further our discussion with the Army Corps to ensure that we can try to get some state and federal Intervention when it comes to flooding here in Ridgewood and this is very important on the residential side I cannot stress it enough uh this week we also put out information about the continuance of the veterans banners program uh for anyone who is interested in sponsoring a veterans Banner to be hung in the CBD for Memorial Day to Veterans Day please visit our website go under the spotlight section and it you can download the form to be able to apply for a veterans Banner The Village calendar has been delivered uh to residential homes I also want to mention that it is available at two locations on our website both under the spotlight section and also the residence tab at the top of the website there is a downloadable uh link to the Village calendar the printed Village calendar um we started our budget meetings this Monday this past Monday uh spoke to a number of our departments and we'll continue our budget schedule this coming Monday that meeting begins at 5:00 p.m. I also want to thank Sean Hamlin and his team at sanitation uh two leased sanitation trucks were delivered on Friday to the Village um once everything is is registered uh with DMV and the insurance is extended to those two trucks you will see them out there on the street uh collecting garbage in the coming weeks um and lastly um I want to mention that Clinton Avenue uh we had a productive meeting with the residents and some of the parents who were concerned about pedestrian safety in that area uh we will have a second meeting with those groups on February 8th at 7 p.m uh so I just wanted to make sure that all the residents of Clinton Avenue and any other interested parties are aware of that date just a few announcements uh first of all the a reminder that garbage pickup during snow and ice events um if it is snowing when you leave your home in the morning we and if or if it's icy we ask that you place your garbage cans at the end of your driveway um so that our village staff has a clear path to them uh we appreciate everyone's efforts in that regard to keep our employees safe jeree is preparing to set sail for an unforgettable Voyage on February 8th 9th and 10th this year's show is entitled smooth sailing for three nights only cruise with us as we journey far away from our beloved Ridgewood to inspire new inspiring new destinations um I want to congratulate jeree it's their 78th year counting 1947 as year one of this endeavor um February is American Heart month join Valley join the Valley Health System our Ridgewood health department and our Parks and Recreation Department for a conversation about Women's Health on Thursday February 15th at 10:30 a.m. here at Village Hall on the first level please register through Community pass and the senior bus will also run and make Transportation available uh the reservations can be made through the village manager's office all Village offices and departments will be closed on F on February 11th and February 19th in observation of Lincoln's birthday and President's Day there will be no garbage or recycling pickup and the recycling center will be closed on both days please check the village calendar for garbage and recycling pickups for these two weeks as they will change due to the holidays we also encourage you to sign up for the recycling coach app which will remind you about changes to garbage or recycling pickup um during the week Village upcoming Village Council meetings February 7th is our work session at 7:30 February 14th we'll be celebrating Valentine's Day together is our public meeting at 7:30 and February 28th is our work session at 7:30 and I I just wanted to mention it's February 12th and February 19th I'm sorry typo February 12th and February 19th will be closed that's all I have Deputy Mayor and the the Clinton Avenue meeting where and when is that it's um February 8th 7 p.m at the lower level in the senior Lounge senior Lounge yes okay uh and Evan would you like to give a council report yeah I'll be I'll be brief I know we did a lot of speaking sort of out of turn tonight so there are only two topics I just want to hit upon really quickly first wanted to thank you Keith uh Bob the all the um department heads I think we had a great start to the budget um looking forward um to the next budget session um really would encourage folks to turn out I know we usually get a nice audience for these meetings I think amongst most consequential work we do is that budget and we don't get a lot of folks that show up so we' really encourage people to to show up make comments and and really watch watch how we do what we do but um again it's run really well and thank you Keith for that um also do want to reiterate um Keith's comments on the AAA Bond rating it's one of those things that's incredibly boring doesn't actually get much notice but is incredibly important uh when we borrow money and keeping our taxes down um it is a huge win for us and a real vote of confidence for good government in Ridgewood that the street is giving us a AAA rating on our bonds again super boring but super super important um what's not boring and what is important on February 10th rard Arts Council will be sponsoring a cookie decorating contest at Paris Baguette from 1: to 3 um we it's up on a couple different websites um going encourage uh people especially with kids to think about coming out it's free um rwood Arts Council is really doing some great work and I look forward to decorating and then eating some of the winning cookies on the 10th sioban sure um so I have several things to report so last Friday we met with axess and we were very pleased to welcome Paul Aronson who works as the state advocating for Disabilities um it was a great discussion and um the access committee was very excited to have him and uh we also decided that we were going to invite at our next meeting which is open police and fire because two of our firemen have taken specific training as to how to handle autistic respondents and the fire department and the police department are going to come and partner with the access Community because rates of autism within our own access committee are high I also want to thank Jamie Davis um who hosted the third sensory friendly dinner um was very successful I was not there I was traveling but thank you to Mayor Paul who attended and there will be at this point this has been so successful it's a monthly occurrence so we will be releasing the next one soon but thank you to Main Street for always supporting the access group and thank you for Jamie Davis and all the members of council have showed up and supported this I'm equally as pleased to say that we had a meeting uh the village manager and the Board of Ed and uh we are going to be restoring the end of the Year celebrations for Fifth and eth grade at Gren pool um this was collaborative uh between Parks Andra Keith's office and the Board of Ed and the hsas so I want to say thank you to PRC Keith and the Board of Ed and the HSA members who made that happen um that's big you know again it's a year but we were moving more and more in terms of recreation away from covid um today I had a meeting with our pride committee for Pride day the official day will be June 1st our committee is actively working we're creating art workk and um Deputy Mayor Parn helping us again if anybody has any ideas or wants to be involved these meetings are on zoom and you can just let me know but we are working and we're very excited to our two new members Christine and Lissa and then I have some very exciting news um as many of you know and several you have attended particularly Pam who's worked the event in 2016 before I was on the council I was a small part of creating the Elder dinner which offers a Thanksgiving meal in you know for Elder senior members of our community who don't have access to it it's a chance to celebrate old pamis church generously gener gener uh donates their space and the program has grown and it's great and our parks and wreck um representative de shabi nominated us and we won the Daniel M gule birdie Recreation programming award I want to thank everybody and you know I don't like doing the roll call because inadvertently I leave everybody off but big shout out to health Barn theor family who who always donates in loving me memory of their father and they donate that because they wanted to see their donation in action um and of course Reverend Miller our parks department and aging in place so this is huge and I'm really proud of them they will be having a service and I think I hope the whole Council and the community joins me and saying congratulations to them and lastly um you may be seeing this uh this is preliminary but it's very exciting this is a a street sign and that is the street that the high school's on which is why we generated last year um logistically and economically we sustained a significant amount of theft on street signs and it you know it it is a crime to steal it it shouldn't be done we've had has Heather has told me we've offered amnesty programs and um it ends up being a big burden on our signal Department it's it's a cost to the taxpayer and it's really unacceptable so we were trying to get creative and the fun story is that one of the kissing balls fell in a snow bank and I had to go pick it up and I went to signal and so what we're going to proactively do is partner with the charity at the school and we're going to make them to order and we've involved the police and they will be marked so you know we will know if you have this Mark on it it's not stolen property and we're going to be promoting it and I want to thank the signal department and I'm going to even though he's not here Chris was super excited about this I wanted to show the council and because we can't meet I just wanted to show everybody here it's not exclusive to the high school or the school so if you are you know a long-standing resident there'll be the ability to buy it and I'm just very pleased because as we're in budget season everything counts and this will you know prevent property crime and it will help promote something and I know many kids will want this up in their dorm room so stay tuned for details that I just want to show everybody and uh it's pretty cool right cool what's little r mean that is so one of the things when we involve the police is that so so like if I have this and I stole it the police need to make sure they can say you know you're a you stole that so this R is to say that it was a replication made we are working we may end up putting the high school kopa here or something but we have to distinguish it because I'm in possession of it and you know like the cops came into my house for whatever reason they came and it was there I could be charged with stealing it unless it was distinguished so is it only here man's place or could we we could request I didn't I was like thinking should I put Maple but then I didn't want to do that you know for village hall because we're collaborating so that's the street that the high school's on but it is only people can only purchase the hearing no no no you can do John Street you can do deir that was my question I just didn't want to put like Ivy one because my street address is so boring and then I figured I'd just give a nod to the fact that we're running it through the school and it's uh it's also a Long street address so we can see placement okay thanks that's it and that's my Council report Lorraine your Council report thanks Pam yeah um citizen safety advisory committee had a meeting on January 18th more site triangle notices had been sent out since our previous meeting in December and three more residences have come into compliance so that's good news I appreciate anybody who acts upon a notice that they get that their corner it has a sight obstruction and to trim their Hedges or cut back things we really appreciate you doing that the uh there were a discussion about lighting in the CBD it had been previously reported in September that there were 22 street light outages in December there were 14 reported but most of those are new outages so psng is saying they fixed almost all 22 street lights um um and roric we will find out about the light that you were talking about I will uh I will ask them the CC liaison to the CBC Committee reported that CBC feels that the lights in the downtown should be warmer for a better Ambiance but Sergeant Ward at the seesac committee said the brighter lights make for a safer pedestrian environment so unfortunat you know we're not going to have a better Ambience we're going to have better visibility for the pedestrians at a previous meeting a Committee Member felt that the stop lines at Garber square and West Ridgewood Avenue as you're approaching from The Underpass were too close to the crosswalk and she felt that she really couldn't see pedestrians in the crosswalk because the line line to stop was so far up so that was looked at by engineering and they did agree so the stop line will be moved back about 5T to allow better visibility to see residents Crossing or to see anybody Crossing in the crosswalk we discussed the meeting held regarding possible solutions for the intersection of Oak and Glenn Avenue I reported those Solutions being worked on at our previous council meeting and I will follow up and hopefully uh we will have a better outcome at the intersection of Oak and Glenn where we have many many accidents we discussed briefly the rule to remove snow and ice from sidewalks and walkways Ridgewood has a rule that within 24 hours of the snow or ice event ending you have to clear your sidewalks and your walkways if if you see a property that doesn't do this and you want to you know make a complaint call the police the police will address it I think they will really only address it if they got a complaint they're not going to drive around and look for people that haven't shoveled but if somebody calls they will go talk to that person the next CC meeting is Thursday February 15th as you heard from Keith there was a meeting on January 23rd to discuss safety issues on Clinton Avenue since September the police department has received many concerns regarding Clinton Avenue at the meeting the chief of police was there along with four other members of The Ridgewood Police Department a member of the engineering department our village manager a member from the Boe several members from the cack committee and several residents of Clinton Avenue as well as some parents whose children use Clinton Avenue to walk to school the police department provided detailed analysis and recommended that sidewalks are the safest option this was also echoed by the engineering department this is consistent with ridgewood's safe routes to school initiative as well as ridgewood's complete streets program that we have adopted there was a robust and very respectful conversation between all of the residents I believe everybody wants the same outcome safety several residents of Clinton Avenue were unable to make the meeting so a second meeting has been scheduled for Thursday February 88th at 700 p.m. in the senior lounge and the and the discussion will continue since that meeting Village staff has met with the manager to discuss all of the options that were talked about that night participants at the meeting requested that the V Village provide visual representation of all the potential options which were painted sidewalk Lanes um so just you know painting actually in the street to make a sidewalk where the kids should walk sidewalks on two sides of the street and sidewalks on one side of the street this will help facilitate the conversation at the February 8th meeting the police department requested that Clinton Avenue residents provide a list of any M municipalities that have these painted sidewalk Lanes as they you know they had put it in a letter that some towns do this and our Police Department is unaware of what towns might be doing it so they wanted to know and that they will contact those police departments and see how it works out um participants also requested the police department asked the village attorney to get clarity with the current signs that are there I've spoke with Matt Rogers he's checking into that and I'm sure he will have something to report by the meeting I also want to Echo what Evan said about the budget meetings that please come I mean these meetings are so important this is where we decide where your tax dollars are going to be spent so let us know let us know what you like what you don't like what you'd like to see um it's important for us to know and that's it thank you thank you Lorraine okay I'm gonna go through these as fast as possible because we're running a little late uh the library is now open on both floors their renovation is nearly finished they still have some shelving to do the elevator were is in operation to get from floor to floor but the stairwell is not open yet yet um our special improvement district steering committee has been meeting and exploring what their mission should be and goals etc etc green Ridgewood last night had a really interesting meeting we brought in um uh facilitators for what's called a climate fresk uh and we really learned a lot it's set up as a game but it is very challenging and uh even those of us who do a lot of reading learned things we never knew before um the open space committee also has met recently and we finished scheduling the park walks that we will be conducting in the spring summer and fall um The Parks and Recreation conservation board met and uh I filled in for sioban winegrad because she was out and we had a report from um Stacy an teen at the health Barn as to what her program is about um the central business district advisory committee will meet on the second Thursday of this month via Zoom at 8:30 in the morning um we do have a lighting subcommittee and they are looking into um whether the Lights downtown the lamp posts downtown actually meet the recommendations of our master plan in terms of kelvin's and brightness safety uh and that sort of thing um on Friday night I attended the friends of Music concert at GW it's it was all local talent people you know and and uh they were were just so wonderful the voices were terrific the the musicians were really astounding and if you can catch one of their con concerts in the future do so uh I attended the grand opening of booknook which is uh a new shop on Cottage Place they are enhancing Literacy for kids 18 months old to 12 years old there's nothing else like this in Ridgewood it was so interesting to see how they encourage kids to love reading um there are Nooks they have three or four Nooks where kids get together and are guided through through books that are appropriate for them but layering on music and play and toys and movement it's just a wonderful program they are changing their name soon to wise Wonder uh so keep a lookout for that and that's oh no one more thing with regard to Blue Acres uh the D is conducting presentations so that homeowners who have been flooded can find out what the requirements are for eligibility and they are having in-person meetings uh February 1st at 5:30 25 Lennox Avenue in Compton lakes and then on February 8th at 5:30 one Memorial Drive in Loi and then there will be a virtual option on February 15th at 6:30 um via Microsoft teams and you can register on the the D website using the QR code um this this is downstairs in the lobby on the table you can find one of these flyers that has the QR code and that's all I have for now and we will go to the report by Justine calman who's been very patient oh wait did you want to say something first sure so Deputy Mayor thank you um we have one presentation on the agenda tonight um this is Ridgewood newcomers um and the potential uh for them to use the zisy shedler house um as a home uh newcomers reached out to us and we were able to have a preliminary meeting with them um as I mentioned tonight we are still awaiting approval from shipo uh to do those final touches on the outside of the house so that we can be issued the certificate of occupancy and invite the public in to view the space um but at this time um I'd like to turn it over to councilwoman rrad who was in involved in this conversation sure so um thank you you get like an A+ for waiting I I just want to reiterate some things almost so we're all on the same page in in order for us to have any real meaningful conversation about what goes in the house we have to engage shippo this is simply a conversation so the full Council can be aware of an expressed interest we have not talked to shippo and we have not discussed it we can't discuss it except here in the workshop so it's a discussion um there were several things if anybody wants the copy of the letter that newcomers wrote us it's in the sunshine binder if anybody wants an email copy after we discuss it tonight don't bother opening you can just write us and we'll send it to you um but ironically I've known newcomers I was a newcomer at one point and they a wonderful organization that's here in Ridgewood and they do a lot and when I was running a social media platform about our underutilized space in the central business district and the old taxi cab station came up I engaged in some conversations the conversation of all our underutilized space led to some discussion of shedler um they crafted us a letter that shows their interest and I'm going to let Justine speak to the letter but I just want to be clear no one's been in the house the way that newcomers took the tour was the video tour that I posted on social media I sent to the organization they're very on they've been following it there's been there's no commitment we haven't discussed money or lease Matt has not been engaged and at this point just so everyone this is a discussion and an idea and we're very grateful that you waited all this time tonight and we're very grateful for the letter so if you come up Justin and to speak about how you see it fitting and some of the ideas hi I'm Justine Kaufman as many of you guys know me um and my husband very involved in Ridgewood downtown and Ridgewood Community we both grew up here um I found myself back on newcomers with my second child I have one nine-year-old and one two-year-old so I found myself back on newcomers as a second newcomer twice around to um just kind of you know meet new people and engage in the community again so they asked me to actually be the community liaison for newcomers so that's how I found my role here um and then discussions that we had that I got looped into with a taxi stand they they wanted a space you know and the newcomers don't have any sort of a space we used to be part of the YMCA which many people know for years and now it's um it's their own private private not private their own 501c3 so they're not affiliated with the YMCA anymore um that being said many members host you know events or Gatherings at their house they use the community to host events um but the discussion to have something more permanent similar to like the chamber has a space you know wouldn't it be great if newcomers could also have a space you know we want to encourage many people to join newcomers not just feel like only newcomers can join we want it to feel like a neighborhood and a newcomer place um you know and and over the years too there's been um all different types of groups with in the newcomers familyfriendly activities um you know uh book groups you know empty nesters and um you know empty nesters in particular started breaking off into their own group because they didn't have you know a space to gather and they felt like newcomers was only with young members so they are actually meeting at the Dayton a lot my mom's there they're they meet over there so again it was just kind of came out of a Synergy of feeling like where can we find a space that brings the community together the newcomers together where we can kind of have you know activities that range from family fun stuff to book club stuff to empty nester stuff to people that are interested in you know just getting together and not at someone's house and not feeling obligated to host events but where can we go and that's where the shedler when it was kind of thrown at us a lot of people have to be honest we're like what shedler where's shedler you know I think when we're here everyone is like it's it's a lot that everyone knows it but outside of this a lot of people are like where is shedler so again I felt like this would be a good use um for the newcomers to expand you know our footprint also in Ridgewood and not just say okay it's just the downtown it's just at like you know these um newcomers homes but it this is a part of Ridgewood and just the synergy of the history of shedler and the history of newcomers we felt like it would be a good um fit to but like sioban and and Kei said I I don't even I've not seen the place myself inside I had thought a video and I was like okay trust you guys you think it's good much better than the taxi stand you know so let me take a shot and see if see if it's something that that works for us and for for the town so and are we considering like they would have exclusive use of of the house or they'd be one of sever uses like what's the thinking or or is it still evolving we my main reason is to hear what you guys are thinking about the concept I have no we don't know we haven't discussed anything it was just to begin the conversation one thing that Justine left out that I think is very cool when we were having the discussion is that newcomer runs um an event if you buy a house you can through the Historical Society so newcomers partners with the historical society and if you buy a house and it's like one two three her man's place you can go and they run the certificate and they tell you all the owners and they give you the history and it's Revenue generating and it ties not only like a long-standing meeting and Gathering Ridgewood organization but they have that historical element so I felt you know we've we've H been having all these discussions about what we're going to do how it's going to be you know who's going to maintain it how we're going to look at it and I just thought this was a unique idea because um I couldn't sell them in the taxi cab stand and I do think that to Justine's point you know the when the park is developed the house you know for younger people it's got a playground it's got things that can be used there it's for you know the empty nesters it's got going to have a walking path and it just seemed like a very nice fit um because there's such heightened sensitivity about the project and the house I I felt like it was wise to have this discussion out front here um I also think we all met with Sarah for the N from Hub quarters about non-traditional uses and this is a non-traditional use um so that's it I don't really there's this isn't going to move to a vote it's just a discussion it's a way to engage the neighbors let people think about it let it marinate and and also like I said I mean newcomers anybody can join newcomers so anyone that you know if this does turn into a thing and they say newcomers is a great fit for the shedler then great join newcomers if you want to be involved with how we would use this space and what kind of events we would have there we would welcome anyone in the community to join you know newcomers um I I definitely encourage that I've even tried to Rebrand it as newcomers new neighbors because we do want to have people feel like someone like myself you can always you can join newcomers at any time it's a place to just connect again so so I would recommend to the Council next steps let me get an idea from Chris rudis Houser as to where we stand with the shipo application um it's been submitted we're pending approval down there so um once we know that if we approved we can start that work effort um and then Tony Merino from our Construction office can uh can issue the co and then at that point I think it's it's imperative that we get folks in there to be able to see the space um in it in its finished State um I think there's one punch list item that's left from Conley and hickey it's uh it's actually light fixtures so it's it's really of no consequence um so the only thing that's pending is the uh is the approval from shipo for the Ada accessibility so I'm just curious has there ever been a maximum occupancy I believe it's 49 49 it's 49 okay all right and how many members are in newcomers I would assume a lot more than that right yeah I mean we probably I think we have um 150 um you know give or take because it's like you know a family could you know it could be like a family of four but there's one or two members so when you have events do you typically limit the number uh yeah well obviously depending on the space like as Siobhan had said we had hosted the Historical Society event at the um Schoolhouse Museum so obviously you guys have been there that's super tiny we had to limit the event and that was such a successful event because people could give their address the historical society would look up your address and give you a little certificate about the history of the house but we had to limit it you know 30 people or whatever it was I think it was even less maybe 20 because they were having an exhibit there at that time you can only fit a certain amount of people so we were like how wonderful would that be to oost an event we could you know essentially okay so you think you can work with that number yeah definitely I mean we're I mean we're we're having a galala you know in a few weeks and you know even with that you know because of the ticket price is like 50 to 60 people that that go to that so most of these events we do try to encourage a little bit smaller intimate events because again you want to be able to meet with people and actually have conversations and when they get too big we all know you don't get to really talk to everybody so whatever the space restrictions are we you know here too I love the idea of newcomers and neighbors because I've seen so many of the events that you're putting on and I thought oh well I'm not allowed to go right so I would love to participate yes and then we and we're again that's part of our you know hopefully rebranding and you know having a a community space like this I think will help us too you know I always say a lot of people that are members right now are like in the Willard and Ridge District and I'm like where are all the Haw moms or the travel mom you know there's just even within our own own little you know newcomers Community it gets a little bit you know even smaller and we want to also expand our reach you know to people so I'm definitely interested in having the conversation i' love to get them in there see if it works for them and then I'm sure I'll have a thousand more questions on on both sides but definitely C and thank you Siobhan for bringing this up um I mean I've been very loud and outspoken about we need to do something with the house and especially because you know we're going to continue to Cur costs in terms of just electricity Heat making sure it doesn't fall into disrepair um so we got to find something to do with the house um this sounds on on first reading like a really good like Synergy but want to keep the conversation going I do would be interested to know again would it just be them exclusively or would they have it when they have events but we could open up for other things um because I do want to make sure we get as much use out of our investment in that property as is possible um but this could definitely be part of the solution and really appreciate you coming and speaking to us and and again having the conversation and and through through you Deputy Mayor it's my intention uh councilman to host some sort of open house like on a weekend as the weather breaks and we have the certificate of occupancy in place so that you know people throughout Ridgewood not necessarily with an intent to want to occupy the space but people can come in and see what you know what the investment that has been made in this house over time um you know what the what the fruits of that are so you know we plan to conduct something like that in the spring it's a great idea I mean you've heard me say it before they paid for it they should see it um and again I've been in the house and I think there'll be a lot of folks who be surprised in terms of the way it's laid out and what we actually got for our money but again stolling courage that we have an open house event so people can see what what we got thank you Justine thank you so much thank you for waiting yes of course thank you through you Deputy Mayor um under our agenda items tonight for our work session uh we're going to start off with a number of items from Ridgewood w I'd like to invite up director cby to walk the council through those requests good evening quite a few number of items tonight uh to kick off the year uh for service contracts that are required for utility and a couple carryover items from the prior year so please bear with me as I I go through each one and please ask any questions that you have uh the first item 9 A1 um this is an additional award for a poly Ortho phosphate chemical uh that's used for corrosion control his additional award is for the 23 service contract which had an original contract amount of $185,000 um that was a natic seed um we went over that we underestimated the amount of chemical for the year so an additional $2,869 is required to complete that purchase for 23 um and that is with the company ESC environmental and this funding comes out of the water utility operating budget any questions next um I just did want to say this clearly demonstrates how expensive chemicals have become we were talking about this at the budget meeting and here it is is and then um you explained to me uh why we needed this additional expenditure and perhaps you could do the same for the public yes so that this chemical is necessary to prevent lead and copper corrosion throughout the system it's added to every gallon of water that gets distributed for the system at the beginning of the year when we award the contract it's uniprice contract we pay by the gallonage or or pound that they use to produce the chemical uh we make an assumption based on number of gallons that we believe are going to need for the year but of of course that can never be exact uh so for the year we did underestimate it by the the amount of $122,000 in change thank you forthcoming will be the contract for 24 we'll probably see that in next meeting or two for this year okay uh next item is 982 uh this was an emergency that occurred at our 20 treatment facility uh emergency was declared by the utility um and approved by uh the village manager and Village CFO um it took some time to get the media replacement for this emergency it did actually arrive today um this was for our two um packed towers that exist at the 20 treatment facility these are for the treatment of VTA organic compounds U they've existed at the facility since 1990 uh the media has a life about 20 to 30 years uh so got in excess of that out of this media and it's du for for replacement so we're doing not just the one tower that fell but both Towers so it's emergency purchase in amount of 132,00 $450 to the company Pack 2 LLC um they'll replace the medium B Towers at the 20 facility this uh funding is also out of the water operating budget any questions uh next item is 9 A3 uh this is annual contract for the servicing repair of electric um at our rig water facilities um this is by a licensed electrician this is an annual contract that we rely on every year for repairs and Replacements on the last contract that ended in December of 23 um we bid it out and open bids on January 4th um there was one bidder uh venor Electric Inc uh venor has been a successful contractor on the service in the past so recommending award to them um first year of a two-year contract um then it will be and not exceed of $250,000 but it's build at the unit prices for their hourly service and parts based on what work they do and this is also out of the water utility operating budget good nothing okay um let's go on thank you thank you uh 984 um is the other complement to this service is our annual contract for servicing of repair and replacement of wells and pumping facilities these are things like well re Rehabilitation replacement of well pumps uh cleaning Wells replacing pumps at um Pump Station and transfer station throughout the um system uh this contract also ended in 23 um this was bid out and we opened bids on January 4th again one bidder William stoff company this is also the firm that was utilized the last contract year they've been very successful we're recommending them for this contract year one of two this will be a ntic seat of $500,000 per year again based on unit prices for hourly work um equipment and materials based on the work that's completed and this is also out of the water utility operating budget no questions nope okay uh 985 um this is awarding year two of a contract that was awarded last year for posos laboratory services this is the laboratory service that we Lely for all testing of posos at all Wells and points of Entry or treatment facilities Pace Analytical Services is the company that was awarded two-year contract last year so we're recommending again an additional year year two at $882,000 not to exceed based on the schedule of cost that were in the bid you know it's a price per per test based on the contaminant for posos um this is also out of the water utility operating budget and in another couple of years you you anticipate that we'll be able to do this inhouse our our hope is to propose that the equipment is very expensive so we have to do a full cost of benefit analysis but that is our goal to bring in in house we have better quality control and speed up getting the results thank you any any questions uh 986 this is another Award of a year two of a contract this is for tree M maintenance services so this is for tree pruning tree removal at all rigid water properties throughout all four municipalities in the service area wording year 2 recommendation of down tree service in a not to exceed amount of $80,000 this also this contract also has unit prices for the work you know time and material so they're only paid for the work that's done uh this funding also come out of the water utility operating budget I have one question because your property's separate do you retray it like or does that come from us when you take these down no we that's paid for out of the utility okay and and when you when you do this if they come down are you putting new ones back in uh not one for one it it depends on what it's usually done with a project that's then happening at the site okay if we're putting a new facility up we we provide Landscaping thanks thank you uh 987 this is Award of year two of the two-year contract for all cold water meter and accessory supplies this is strictly buying the materials these are the water meters that go in all the homes water meters that we use throughout our system to meter the water that's pumped from the wells and pumping facilities this is through Rio Supply um all the Meers are installed by our Personnel it's a not ex seed amount of$ 23, 63441 um and this is again unit price is based on the size of meter and materials that we purchase and funding out of the water utility operating budget 988 award year two of two for laboratory analysis this is for all other contaminants exclusive of posos testing these are for contaminants that we are not certified to test in house um voc's is one of those chemicals that are providing this contract but we are getting the ability to do that inhouse very soon so this will be reduced in the future this recommendation is to Pace Analytical Services a not to exceed of 179,0 640 $40 this is out of the water operating budget and again this will only be paid as you know build according to the contaminantes that are tested for on a monthly basis okay getting close uh 9 A9 this is Award of the billing and data collection services this was a three-year contract recommending Award of year three the final year of the contract to comput tell Inc this is for all the bills that are prepared and Ma mailed out to every water uh consumer throughout the four towns it also includes the platform that our customer service department utilizes to maintain all the data for customer complaints requests a history of all their billing um it's a natic seat of $320,000 and9 $320,900 this is award through the sourcewell Cooperative contract this is again is an annual contract that we recommend is for the purchase for generator maintenance inspection and repair recommending an annual award for 2024 not exceed of 42,71153 14 auxiliary generators they come yearly to do inspection make Rec recommendation on necessary repairs um also test the fuel when necessary to make sure it's not spoiled or if it needs any additives recommending this award funding out of the operating water operating budget yep last one is 9 A1 um this is our annual hydrogeological services this is with a licensed firm that can provide hydrogeological services for the utility they've done so for decades the firm is wsp USA um not exceed of 100 $9,000 um this is everything from submitting permits for well modifications doing tests on Wells to determine if they're their yield is reduced and we need to do further cleaning on it various other tasks associated with groundwater monitoring um contaminates Etc involved with the aquifer um this is also funding out of the water operating budget thank you the next two items uh these are recommendations from the village CFO I happy to run through the and answer any questions as best as I can um 9 a12 is the annual payment from the utility to the Village uh for land taxes for the properties that are operated and owned by the Water Utility also in front of you have a total land assessment and then there's a tax that's that's paid it's uh for 24 it's $17,250 52 so any any questions on that and the last item is just the 9813 is the annual codification of the interest rates and penalties for consumers that do not pay their bills on time um it states the penalty based on the amount that is delinquent um you know interest and then an extra penalty if there's outstanding delinquency in excess of $110,000 for any account so any questions on that 18% is pretty high is that what use usually do is that standard that's standard statutory all right you and Deputy Mar if I may just add a a bit of information the utility is doing work on the psng right away uh we're continuing our project to rehabilitate and replace the 20-in trunk line that runs through both Glenrock and the village of Ridgewood up the PSG RightWay along the Old Trolley line uh we completed a project last year that ran from East GL Avenue down to about the high school sports field uh we're now doing a project from there down to about 100 ft south of Spring Avenue um notices have gone out um to local residents as we're actually meeting tomorrow with psng to discuss some findings that we have along the area but I bring it up because it includes about 100 ft on the Dunham Trail where we need to re replace a main um we are going to be photographing the area before there's any disturbance um we're making notice out to the joining properties it's going to be about a week's worth of time that that small portion of the trail will be Clos will be closed um but we'll be fully restoring the dirt Path U Back to its original state um after we're finished do any of those big sycamores have to come down we're trying not to remove any trees okay that's take all the Japanese not weed you want you could tag that and flag it for us um and and and through you Deputy Mayor we have had uh some phone calls into the office I think Rich spoke to one of the residents that we referred to them today um you know that that had some concerns about restoration um and Ridgewood water is fully committed to to restoring that property as they make this Improvement um in addition to that we've had direct communication with the folks at the high school um on this so um their Communications team has also put this out so that we can keep everybody safe during the construction project definitely that's that's our goal and additionally the further southern part of Dunham Trail is marked out so people may see blue flags we're not doing any work there yet we marked it out um because we got a very good tip relative to the erosion that's occurring on the stream and we want to make sure that there's not going to be any effect on that portion of the water main so if you see the flags on that power D Trail we're not going down that area uh we're just sticking to about 100 feet that's just south of Spring Avenue that's the extent the project so is that what the trucks were on Spring Street today for they were out they're out to contining doing the monitoring we're actually go out there and Survey what we Mark out and then do a comparison to see how things have changed there's quite a bit of erosion if you haven't been over there lately um you Mr Rogers lives in the local area he's pointed out some of it to us as well thankfully the road was clo Spring Avenue was closed in one direction for one or two blocks um how long did you that was saw cutting as part of the same job that's that's being done so how long do you think they'll be that road will need to be closed and Spring Avenue that I I couldn't I couldn't give you an exact um time frame I just know that the Dunham Trail work is a priority and that it's 100 fet it should be less than a week but I'm saying a week to be conservative you know but there'll be signs up um you know warning people you know to stay out of that area thank you I do just want to say this because denim Trail is part of our Park system and for everybody on the council who hasn't been over there um I was really surprised to see the erosion and the path is sort of split and I took have to talk about it Sheamus the dog and it got so steep at one point you know you're like I hope he doesn't go over there so um if you've never walked it before it's an opportunity Dunham Trail is a treasure but the erosion is concerning and people when you go particularly if the whole Council everybody on lunch hour walk down it it's it's you'll see it right away and you go so go to Spring and then head towards Grove and then come back on the right of way and look across and you'll be able to see it um and and don't drive your car there because there's really no place to park and be careful as you look along the banks of the stream because some areas are undermined um it might not be visible to you at along the path um but underneath where you could be standing um could be undermined I've been worried about that for a while Dr Dunham was a teacher in the school system and uh I had her in the second grade I I love when I call Pam and I'm like do you know who Dunham was and she always knows which is great all right thank you anything else for Rich no okay thank you rich thank you uh Deputy Mayor next on the agenda um is under parking is uh the reigning Court I think that decision's essentially already been made there's a consensus of council to move forward Heather you you just want to review the dates that we would introduce and adopt sure so we would introduce on uh February 7th and a special public meeting during the work session and then our second uh work session in February is the 28th so we would do a special public meeting during that work session for adoption and then it's 20 days from that date that it can be enacted so mid-march but that saves us a good three weeks I think so thank you for that and and I do just want to thank Heather and the clerk's office because I know after the last meeting you put this all together for us and thank you for compiling it and taking all the information from the citizens I'm sure it wasn't easy but it was much appreciated yeah okay and then under budget tonight we have the award of contract under the Somerset County cooperative purchasing system for solar Tech Message Board um this is what um Dawn had been intending to purchase uh for the police department through through the Ridgewood health department grant um total amount $27,900 we're going to purchase one message board through the grant I'm I'm just not quite clear is it a matching Grant or is it 100% grant money that will be used to purchase the boards I believe it's 100% to to purchase the board nice all right um the next item on the agenda is to award a contract uh for soil investigation for the burm at the shedler property as I mentioned earlier uh following public comment the New Jersey D has requested that the village conduct uh additional additional investigation into the soils imported for the construction um of the burm uh This was done obviously under prior Administration all of the testing results that we received from 2016 through 20121 have been sent to the D um and there is a letter attached um asking us to do some additional soil testing so I've authorized Chris rudis Houser uh to select some to solicit some proposals um we received two one was from Matrix in the amount of $38,040 the other one was from VHB in the amount of 59522 and Chris is recommending the award of contract to Matrix to conduct the New Jersey D requested soil investigation as soon as possible and where's the money for this coming from this coming from the coming from the shler bond it's coming from the shler bond okay okay okay um items three through nine are all Finance housekeeping items uh the first is Award of contract for the annual maintenance for software for the finance department that's to Edmonds and Associates number four is the establishment of the interest rate for delinquent taxes and non-payment of Assessments and other Municipal leans for 24 and to set a grace period for a due date sort of ulating the uh same resolution that'll be passed for water five is to establish interest rates for delinquent payments for significant sewer discharge bills for 2024 number six is to authorize the mailing of estimated 2024 thir quarter tax bills um it has been history here in the village after talking to Bob uh that we do do estimated tax bills here in Ridgewood seven is to authorize the electronic tax sale eight is to authorize cancellation of tax overpayments and delinquent accounts and nine is to authorize the tax collector to charge for mailing of tax sale notices again all housekeeping items under the finance department that concludes my portion of the agenda Deputy Mayor if no one has any questions we'll go back to public comment we have any public commenters here in the courtroom if not we got somebody okay Michelle Italia uh could you get a little closer to the mic and repeat your name and address uh Michelle Italia three Betty Court Ridgewood um is is it on do you see the green light green light no the green light's not oh green light is on right can you hear me now pull yeah that's better pull it towards you towards me perfect all right I don't project well um I just had a question in reference to the uh soil test that's being done um what's the difference between in in making the decision between the two individ or companies that you are using um for my own benefit I'd like to know how did you come to the conclusion of choosing one over the other as far as soil testing is concerned are these is this company both company sharing the same items that they are examining um is there something special about one company do they go extensively over it or not so so both companies have extensive experience doing this type of soil testing um we sent the document that we received from the New Jersey Department of En Environmental Protection to actually three companies I believe only two chose to submit proposals and they submitted proposals based on what the Deb requirements were um in this case we are selecting the the lesser the less costly proposal that's okay I just wanted to know they were they were both given they were all given the same documentation in order to develop their proposal yes okay that makes it clear for me and understanding it sure thank you I appreciate that my pleasure anyone else here in the courtroom hi Patty Infantino 6 Betty Court um I got up here before but I think many of the things were answered Keith answered many of the issues that I was thinking about first of all I wanted to thank all the young people for uh speaking up and I was so strick and heartbroken after um hearing that the Warner Theater after 92 years was uh going to be defunct and um I was also concerned about West Saddle River Road I had always heard that it was a uh I thought it was a County Road and I thought that's why it was so miserable and I and when the mayor had his letter go out and say how pleased he was with everything that he had done with all the Ridgewood roads and I bumped my whole way home on West s River road which is a mess so um that road was just abandoned but you said you're going to be looking after and it's not a County Road no it's not a County West West sad Riv road is not okay so I was mis informed um and uh so in the end once um there's a certificate of occupancy on the shedler house you might have we might have an open house and we might have an opportunity all to get to see um how it's been restored uh I saw it before it was restored so I'd love to see how it's going and then you then you can get more um you know uh creative about your thinking about what we can do um and yeah I think those was those were my main issues for the usual the shedler issue how do we know what's in get the BM how do we know that it's safe and uh for to you know for this the kids to play there thank you Patty Patty I hope you got those kids to sign up for the League what was that I didn't hear I said patty patty is um a long-standing voter service member of the League of Women Voters and whenever she sees activism she typically recruits them so I'm hoping all those seventh graders have been signed up and are going to be at the next registration ah gotcha okay cynth ke 542 West s River Road so I just you know sitting here listening I'm just a little curious um about two things um the grub I guess it's grub Associates who did the archaeological survey um you know if we're talking about like environmental and soil that maybe was potentially dumped there I don't know where this dir came from it's sounds you know that came from various locations and could be suspect um was that soil on the BM part of you know this did it was it extracted and looked at as part of the archaeological assessment because it came from so many different locations in Ridgewood it would make sense that like if they're looking for artifacts they certainly wouldn't find them there or it wouldn't be relative to to you know the house so I'm hoping that the Sur I didn't read it myself I should have but um I'm hoping that the assessment that they did on the archaeological fines were done closer to the house and maybe in other areas of the property um that was all I wanted to ask thank you uh good evening mayor and Council Boyd a loving 342 South Irving Street uh tonight was the first opportunity I had to read the December 11th 2023 letter from the D concerning the soil uh investigation quite frankly I'm alarmed by it for many reasons one of the primary Reasons I'm alarmed by it is that I sat in almost every meeting of the council during that time period uh regarding soil movement and never ever was there any public discussion about the soil coming from many different locations absolutely shocked for CU I thought all the soil of actually was six the letter says there were six locations and I'm quite shocked because I thought all the soil was coming from the Dayton complex on South Broad Street there's a private house on windir Avenue and the soil came from a private house on windir Avenue why did we take soil from Bergen Community College now I know it wasn't your house line well why did we take soil from Bergen Community College from Route 208 I just don't know why we'd have done something like that it was like we were begging for soil almost that we would be taking soil for all these places and to the best of my knowledge the public was never informed of that because I never heard any discussion at a council meeting about it and quite frankly I'm wondering if the council even knew about it or this was something that was done in the engineering department without knowledge of anybody other than if you were in the engineering department you knew about it and I would ask the manager to undertake an investigation to make sure that something like this doesn't happen again that is one thing is said in the council chambers that the soil is coming from a location that everybody knows about and then you find that something completely different happened and now we're in this boat that we've got the d That's all over us asking us about all the soil was proper testing done and who knows how long this is going to hold up the project at shedler the other thing that concerns me is I don't know if any of you read the letter in detail I just did and the letter is dated December 11th 2023 the letter says in the last paragraph that an action plan is due within 60 days you're not going to award this contract until February 14th which is after the 60-day period to me that speaks that this council is not taking the appropriate action the last paragraph of the letter specifically states that he wants you to take appropriate action you need to award this contract prior to February 14th in order to comply with the 60-day Mandate either that or ask for an extension and I would hope that you wouldn't ask for an extension I would hope in good faith you would try to adhere to the demands that have been placed upon you and get this action plan to the state by February 11th 20 24 thank you and loving 342 South Irving Street it was really nice to hear of the children earlier today and especially to hear uh Estelle shimy quote Roger wean that was uh for those of us that knew him and loved him that was great uh on a completely other subject um as many people are proba aware the person who you could go to for tech support at the library is no longer there at the library for various reasons and I ran into a situation about a week ago where my e-reader wasn't working properly and I got concerned because Charles had always helped me and I just want you to know that or anyone who's listening to know that all you have to do is call the library and a young gentleman named Elias Rosner is available ble to help I got an appointment that same day and um he you know is very diligent he's very thorough he's very patient with someone like me who's not super tech and uh I just wanted to mention that CU there hasn't really been an announcement about a replacement for Charles or at least not one that I've seen thank you anyone else okay we'll go to uh the remote commenters first up is s dannie good evening um my name is sorab Danni 390 Bedford Road in rwood um first I want to mention that uh my comments are in my personal capacity and I'm not representing any organization um second thank you for uh giving me this opportunity to speak here and thank you for your service I just wanted to share one observation um from today's meeting that I found really interesting that um when they will have Village manager and the uh Chief from Department of with the Bridgewood water they asked if anybody has any questions none of the council members had any questions or concerns for bids where we are getting awarding bids for 250,000 not to exceed 250,000 or not to exceed $500,000 where we are only getting one bidder there there has to be a better process where we are able to secure more than one bids for a town like rwood um everybody wants to do business with rwood so if if you are getting only one bidder to bid for that that large amount 250,000 or 500,000 um it's it was very interesting to see that nobody had any questions or concerns on that so thank you so much thank you s Rob uh next up Christina Millian Christina Millian 530 West Saddle River Road I just wanted to also Echo U Mr Loving's comments um I've had an opportunity to review this letter and frankly my mouth is completely on the floor at the end of the of the letter it concludes quote please be advised that Ridgewood Village's documented use of contaminated Phill at the shedler site is in violation of the solid waste management act end quote you know people walk through shedler they walk their pets there every day is the going to be putting up signs so that people are educated that the ground that they might be walking on with the animals that they love could be contaminated I want to know what visuals this the town is going to put up to help educate people on what is going on over there it is alarming I I know I Echo this neighborhood's uh sentiments that we would like your plan to njd to be escalated as soon as possible I have children who are 5 years old and I have pets and I have a family here that I love just like numerous people in this neighborhood and we deserve the data to know what is going on with that soil thank you there being no more public comments uh I would ask for through through you Deputy Mayor I have a couple comments I to make if I may um to to Cynthia on the archaeological study um I don't believe it extended into the burm area um there was a map that was provided by grub um right now we are pending shipo approval which is required to go into the phase 2 archaological study um as that develops we will again share that on the website like we did with the with the phase one archaeological study uh to Mr loving I I share your frustration on this soil issue um you know I don't think anyone was on this day um when this occurred I can't speak to you as to what happened under prior Administration I can tell you that whatever testing was done under prior Administration was sent to the D and then that letter that you read in the transparency binder um was provided to us we now have an obligation to fulfill what the D is requiring us to do um the action plan was conveyed to the DP uh by the engineering department at our Direction soliciting these uh proposals in order to do the testing is part of that action plan um I don't believe that we'll be out of compliance um with any requirement that the DP has set for us by approving this at our next public meeting uh but there's no doubt that based on the D's requirements we need to undertake this um it's frustrating for me to inherit this it's frustrating for me to have to pay for it um because I think you're right I think this should have been done back when it was required to be done um so there are a lot of unanswered questions many of which I have and we'll be continuing to correspond with the D and the testing firm that we are going to um approve at the public meeting uh coming up with regard to to miss Millian you know she's aware of this I know she's had her own correspondence with the de on this particular subject uh we did meet with Representatives out there uh myself and the engineering department uh they did not indicate to us that there was any threat to Public Safety so before that message gets put out I want to Tamp it down because we met with the D they did not indicate to us that any part of that property needed to be shut down that there needed to be any signage posted um and I don't believe there is any public health concern because they had the opportunity to share that with us if there were um and with regard to the inquiry from Mr Donnie um we go out and publicly solicit through the open public through the local public contracts law um bids for various projects um there are times that we get many bids there are times that we get very few bids um I can tell you with items specifically related to Ridgewood water uh there are limited companies that do some of this specialized work um so it's not uncustomary across the utility water utilities in northern New Jersey that you may only get one uh one bid um so I don't think that's any lack of effort um on behalf of the village or on behalf of Ridgewood water um I think it's just the nature of some of this specialized work that needs to be done when it comes to undertaking some of those projects at Ridgewood water and just to add to that I know there have been times when we have reviewed where theyve where it's been recommended that we reject that single bid because of one reason or another but you you took the words out of my mouth I know I've talked to Rich about this before it's very highly specialized there's a handful of companies that do it and I do have some Faith because I have seen times when the recommendation has been to us to reject the S bid and to go back out because we think we can do better or we're uncomfortable with it um Keith one question I just want to be clear because I think I heard you address this the earlier soil testing that was done by previous administrations were there any issues then or was no no the the testing that we received back allowed the the the village to feel comfortable at the time I believe I wasn't here um to take the soil um and now and you know shipo approved it retroactively from what I gather the the the construction of the burm I I do because I share your concern too I don't want folks hearing something and taking it out of context the earlier testing was safe no indication from from the state that there's a problem now in terms of safety but we are required and we are going to comply with that to do further testing as as again I'll also say that I believe that there were some regulations that at D that may have been changed during that time period I don't exact I don't have total Clarity on that I'm not exactly sure the technical nature of that uh but I think that may be playing a factor in what we're dealing with here as well and I I just want to mention you know I think the councilman is is very much on point um we do cost estimates on all of these major infrastructure projects if we do receive one bid or multiple bids that exceed the cost estimate that is a trigger for the potential to reject the bid um so there are protections put in place from a purchasing standpoint and from a Contracting standpoint uh to protect the taxpayer um if in fact a cost estimate does not match up with the actual bid amount when it's submitted so could could I just say something too um so one I I I was stunned I thought there were two locations and when this came out I was unaware and I want everyone to feel very comfortable that upon finding this out we've hired a highly technical specialist to help us solve it to the tune of $60,000 so I do agree it was disappointing because prior to this Council being assembled there was an absolute clamoring for information regarding the project and I'm this is super disappointing but the what I'm proud of is we're letting people know and we're taking good money to assure that it is safe so I want to thank Keith for doing this and I you know I just want to say I Echo the I was really surprised I had no idea with all the discussion it was always the central business district dirt to shedler and I was unaware there were other locations until I read the letter and I will say I am in no way shape or form interested in playing the blame game here at all um but I do believe that one of the motivating factors was that the soil was free um you know I'm not going to say that the due diligence wasn't done at the time with testing because we have testing letters that that bear out that some level of testing was done um but it it should be know it should be mentioned that you know these these donations of soil were free um and I'm not sure where that will lead as we as we do the uh the additional testing that's required from the state anything else so I take a motion to adjourn second no I need I need a motion to adjourn so moved second all in favor hi anyone opposed thank you