I call to order the meeting of the mayor and Council of burough of River Edge for November 13 2023 regular meeting I ask for uh a moment of Silent prayer for those um who are dying and those who are suffering in the Middle East um and especially for um all those who are seeking to find some sort of resolution ready salute I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all statement of compliance with the open public meeting act this meeting complies with the open public meeting act by notification on January 9th of this location date and time to the town news and the record by posting the same missable bulletin board and um excuse me um most Municipal bulletin board and the burough website and following notice of the same with the municipal clerk Madame clerk roll call please councilman Keno pres council president cman here councilwoman Montano Cohen here councilwoman canella here councilwoman Mal Larry here councilman Benson here mayor Papo here okay now um so our first order of business is a presentation historic commission followup for PR uh QR codes on the street and that will lead us perhaps to a authorizing historic preservation commission QR code project which would become a resolution uh Eric and um who else is here for this just you Eric I am I'm not supposed to be the only one here but I'm trying to reach out to Jim he's the technical person I'm giving how about this how about this I move on to something he's joining he's joining right now okay great thank you I'm here sorry no worries um so we are uh at the historic commission the followup for QR codes on the street so it's Eric and James uh Eric and James would you please just State your names and addresses for the record and then you can begin I'll go first to Eric Modell 178 bogert Road in River Edge Jim hook stra 402 Windsor Road in River Edge all right gentlemen you have the floor okay so I guess what I have to share is the uh we revised the the decal I guess you could say so can uh may do I have the ability did you share my screen yes okay let me see here all right share screen think I can just do this all right can you see it yes okay so that's what I did um I put in um there's the QR code Riv historical commission our logo the town's logo I mean and for instance bogert Road uh left it Square figuring it's going to be a lot easier to get decals in a square um like this as opposed to making it elongated which I know you guys were talking about um I mean subtle we could we could still make changes um but thoughts on what we have here well I don't know about the council but yeah I think it needs to be rectangular and it needs to um it needs to follow the same orientation at bogert road so that uh it can be placed on um poles um oh this will this will work on a poll but it will wrap around so um it will not be as visible to the people in the sidewalks but that's just my feeling I don't know where the rest of the council is a member of council like to comment on the current um rendering uh oh councilman Barry you have and DOD listed oh Michelle was going to update that sorry Michelle I think I dropped out and had to log back in oh okay I'll fix it mayor I think um I think though if we're putting it on POS rectangle means that it's like going to go like all the way around and wrap around on itself right because we're going to be putting it on like a you know the circular pole so I'm thinking more truncated probably would be better just to see how it how it looks yeah that's my thoughts too anybody else I'd agree mayor I think uh this this rendition is good and we can just um revise it if it doesn't work no I was saying something different and Barry was saying something different I was saying fation is not good that it needs to be more rectang rectangular than Square so you're disagreeing which is fine yeah I'm agreeing with Barry Barry were you agreeing that the square version was better yes yes it was me who misunderstood unless mayor you're thinking rectangular and it would be like on some kind of plaque or something or you you so I'm thinking rectangular meaning it would be like this not like not Square so it would not be trying to okay so um so I'm thinking that it would look better and I don't know if this will show up because sometimes it doesn't when I just like like this instead of like this like this that's it yeah I would agree for visibility and you can read Boger Road better that way think I I've seen this type of sticker and PS I think this would work fine but if everybody prefers a rectangular one I think that would work fine too but as far as what I see in front of me I think that's perfectly adequate well it wouldn't be a big deal at all to make it elongated my only concern is and I've never I don't know about cost of stickers I don't know if you're if you if it's more expensive or it's harder to get a rectangular longer one than it is to buy a square one that's something we still have to kind of figure out but it would be very simple it would take me 10 minutes to make this similar butong you get a price and come back and before you just get a price you should consider that it's probably not just a regular sticker that you're looking at because regular stickers will wear out because of weather very quickly Mike ginch has already he's done all the research part on that um and I know he's he's the weather is certainly a uh a consideration that they've taken into account account okay all right why don't you oh councilman Benson no I that's okay I I I'm okay with this configuration but let's see what the council says well I think if if I think we need to I would like to see another version that's elongated and I think that the council and I would like to know what the price difference is okay I mean if the price difference is $75 that's not a big deal the price difference is $750 well that would be a big deal Eric are you still there I'm here yeah do you do you recall I don't what Mike had researched as far as prices and that sort of thing goes I I don't remember he I don't think the cost difference was significant but I don't have particular numbers okay we'll have to find that out all right is there anything else you guys want to present at this point uh I had nothing else Eric did you nothing here it doesn't seem to me that we're ready to move forward with the um authorization but maybe the council feels different Lizette do you want to uh weigh in on where you think where we you think we should go at this point I think for the sake of time if it's approved and if the cost is minimal um since I have access to the HPC budget if it's minimal we could just go ahead with the order okay was there any I know when we met the last time they were going to look into any safety concerns that with the I I don't remember I think Chief Walker had brought that up I don't know were there any or are we good to go with any of the other concerns so um the just a couple things one um Jim if uh if it could be periodically checked just to make sure that somebody doesn't put a scan over our scan as deviant as that sounds you know then the kids will be scanned as something that could be really inappropriate so like a once a month just walk around town and see what Mak something like that yeah I mean I doubt it but I I can't help deviant sometimes in this day and age it's not a bad idea yeah and then you know there is concerned I I don't I don't know that we have to worry about this but I guess if we do see it then we might have to readdress this which is you know if it's given out as a school project which would be awesome but if we have all of a sudden 10 kids congregating around a street sign there and they're not paying attention and in the roadway that could be a problem you know um I guess we can keep an eye on it and see if if that uh becomes an issue and then and then we have to revisit you know if we can if we can uh you know allow them to not realize they're getting that close to the roadway other than that you know you just can't put it on the the sign itself which wouldn't make sense because you'd have to be 10 foot tall to scan well I guess you could scan it from low but you know what I mean yep yep only the pole yep yeah so and again that's what one of the reasons I think it should be elongated because if it's elongated it would only face in one direction towards the sidewalk and there for there would be no walking around the pole but um that's neither here nor there I think uh if the council is interested uh we could move forward with the authorization uh is the council interested I make that motion it's been moved I need a second I'll second all in favor please say I I okay uh Lizette would it now go uh is are we now adding to uh tonight's resolutions or um or was that an approval that you can accept um we need to add the resolution to the consent agenda okay so it would now be 23 what um be 23 uh 310 and then the bill list would be 23 311 okay I'm writing that down right now and the bill is and Michelle would you also write down 23 311 because she'll be reading the list in okay so uh this will be the uh so 23 310 is now the um historic commission right all right uh Eric and James thank you for coming that was efficient so do we need to come back then and show you the the the longer one what I would like you to but you don't need to I mean you can move forward with it but and but it would be good to come back and let the council see uh what you're doing and how much and uh it's going to cost us okay yeah we can we'll come back we'll talk you know with Barry and arrange a time when you know we have more information to report okay sounds good thank you um hold on one second um I just realized putting it on the poll doesn't involve just the police it involves the DPW has the DPW been kept in the loop so that they know that this is not something they should scrape off when they see it um they they know of it conceptually but I could let the superintendent know once it's been approved that this is an authorized sticker okay sounds good and we still haven't ordered the stickers yet so it's not like they're going to go up tomorrow I you know I would hope before the holidays you know before you know the end of the end of the calendar year and you know at that point then we can let you guys know that they're up good and um and I assume since you talked about uh school things that you've been in contact with the superintendent about this and sure and that they um oh actually have we uh Eric have we been I don't think so have we been have we I was intending to uh be in touch with them about another matter so I'll just add this on in fact I'll call tomorrow so okay because um it part of your your justification was that it could be used for students and we would want to know that the that the Board of Education superintendent agreed that this would be something they could make use of and that they feel would be a safe project for the kids okay all right um so gentlemen thank you for coming um and uh we're gonna let you go right now and we're going to move on thank you thank you thanks uh we have for discussion we have score update uh who will be addressing that Benson go ahead so uh last time I was on I was telling the council about uh how we were looking at some other venues for score however I just want to give an update I think we're going to also now just go back to the temple they've been you know real helpful and stuff we're going to go back to the temple and see if we can uh kind of renegotiate the contract we had last time because with you we're using kind of less space and not as many days so um we're still looking for a venue but uh we're going to try to kind of readdress with the temple so so when you say we councilman who do you mean as we Le well I was thinking of the of the of me and Joe and LTE but LTE is going to approach the the temple okay anything else yes um I did uh one of the things that we are facing in score is uh Henry and Carol are going going to be retiring at the end of the year so we do need someone to take over the Runing of the program and I had talked to LTE and Joe and we did budget for a part-time wreck person to support Joe and i' I'd really I think it would be very helpful if we can get that part-time person starting as soon as possible in 20124 and one of their first things would be the handoff of the score program so they can run it uh Henry and Carol are going to stay a part of the score program so they'll be there to fill that person in and Coach them but um I just wanted to see I think L you had mentioned we we need to kind of move that forward and get it budgeted and stuff um get the yes we had it in this year's budget but it was um removed because we didn't have a director for a certain amount of time and we wanted to make sure the director was in place first before moving forward with an assistant and um the thing is if we if we wait until the budget is adopted we're looking at April May that we don't have anybody running score and um we've reached out to the group to see if there were any volunteers who would take over the program and no one who was Resident was able to provide that commitment um Joe had asked around our other volunteers and some were able to pitch in every now and then but this um program needs consist um you know verifying following up since it's a weekly program and you know the seniors need somebody who's accountable and reliable yeah and if we so if the governing body approves that I mean right now it's November 13 but the time somebody's hired it won't be until person won't start until January anyway so I guess what you're looking for right now is a motion from one member of council to hire and you're saying that there is money in the budget for January no we would have to put it in the budget for January I would have to tell the CFO this position will be funded started starting January 1 we had it in this year's budget but it was removed because the department was still in flux okay so uh open for discussion does the council how does the council feel about this before we before we ask for a motion Council M canella this the partam person would not just be for score it would be to assist Joe in um our rec director with all of all of the activities not just simply a person to handle all score matters correct correct the majority of the work would be score it's only a part-time position and then anything else would be helping with whether it's with cultural Affairs or setting up events um planning and helping to expand our programs is there a set amount of hours that um we going to ask for parttime is 29 hours okay any other questions or comments from Council councilwoman Mon sanen de said and what what just for thinking about the budget next year what are we looking into what are same cost analysis that we did for this year or or uh what would that be like for Budget purposes impact of this position I could ask the the CFO I mean it's it would be uh a $40,000 position um I mean I have right now a current up-to-date expenditures and revenues I could ask the CFO for a more updated version to distribute to the council to see where we are we are doing well with revenues especially with the extra programs like the the film permit um and um we you know we don't we don't have any transfers yet um it looks like that that we won't have too many transfers this year our budget is pretty consistent with our estimates thank you any other member of council wish to enter into debate discussion or ask questions is the council at this time interested in moving a motion or does the council wish to wait silence would be the council wishes to wait Council woman C I'd like to make a motion to move forward I think we need to do this um Joe has said I believe that he doesn't have the bandwidth to do this as well so is there a second second it is now open for formal debate is there formal debate for Pro or con seeing none I will call the question all those in favor please say I I I by are there any opposed or any extensions hearing none it is unanimous Lizette do we need to put this on for resolution uh at the next meeting um no I would just start working with our Recreation director and developing the the ad the resolution would be a resolution of appointment but um like I said out for 30 days by the time somebody's interviewed um vetted and hired it would be early January if not mid January all right then very good uh next item for discussion proposed amendment to chapter 400 parking of the burrow code uh Chief Walker I believe you're here for that Chief you are muted yes I'm sorry Mary what was the question or um proposed amendments to chapter 400 parking of the burrow code that would be for the u-turns right I believe we're looking at yes yeah yes so so yes we'd like to move forward with the uh the no u-turns on Summit EV from um Continental to Lincoln um and they we because of the different functions and things that happen at the school we believe it should just be um you know all the time in that area it makes sense um and the signage I talked to Sergeant Diamond about it and it is not uncommon you can stop it so you would you would have a sign at linking going northbound that says you know um you know end of no u-turn area so that way from Lincoln to you know the ell border you could permit it okay uh questions from the council liette uh this would be essentially a this is a discussion in preparation for tonight's ordinance 23-21 correct yes but we had two other items um the prohibited parking during school hours on Summit and the stop sign on River um on River Street at the intersection of center right okay so the the prohibited parking on summer what we ran into um because they they tweaked their uh drop off with people coming in on Summit um which which greatly increase the traffic over there um what's happening is you're getting cars that drop off off but you're getting cars that double up and we basically have that so it's it's uh you can't go north on Summit from Continental during that drop off time in the morning and the afternoon but because they're double they're basically uh you know in two lanes we can't get onto the roadway in an emergency Northbound or or you know um because it's three cars wide and that's not it's not a wide area so what we're looking to do we believe we have to do is in the emergency services I believe we all on board with this is the uh east side of the block will have to be no parking um for a period of time um you know the afternoon's probably not as bad but it'll be no no parking for that period of the drop off which would be you know it's it's probably seven to n or something like that a twoh hour period okay we don't see when we monitor that and we watched it there's no way to get an emergency vehicle up there and though it's 20 minutes 20 minutes is 20 minutes you know um we don't see way around that any question or comment from Council yeah go ahead councilman so the east side is the one that's closest to kinder KAC that yes the west side is prohibited all the time okay so I mean I'm just thinking of the residents there I mean how many of them what what will that mean for them is there room in their driveways is that going to cause so so when I when I look at it yes they actually that is an area um a block where they do have uh enough space in their driveways and generally you know if we're going to do a time limit parking often we' talked about this before I know the mayor has you know if it's going to be for commuter issues or something we actually can confer with the residents to say hey do you guys want this or you don't want it but when it gets into an area of Emergency Services where we're saying listen we can't get a fire truck up there we can't get an ambulance up there then it becomes more hey look we got to do this there's no we don't there's no way around this it's tough to to uh for example if they I'm not worried about the driveways so they have long driveways inconvenience that they can't leave their car overnight in the street I I'm sure we might hear from one or two of them but um they'll be able to park in their driveways okay and and how is it communicated to them then how how would we tell them about this so we would let them all know we would you know it's easy enough for us to go house to house and then um and also you know we're not going to write tickets you know the first give warnings a period of warnings it does affect a couple things look some of the teachers managed to park there also but you know it's the same thing you know that's that's a cause and effect of of some of the changes all right thank you Chief any other member of council wish to ask a question or make a comment okay chief is there anything else so there's the uh the stop sign member we had talked about the stop sign at Williams and center and uh s Sergeant Diamond who who actually did the homework on pretty much everything I'm talking about tonight so I certainly want to give him credit um and you know he confirmed that because it is a municipal roadway both Center and Williams that the council can go ahead and put a stop sign there um once you once you put it through then the uh we need the burrow engineer or I think we're using Dynamic traffic right now either one of them are Engineers just to sign off that they're in agreement with it and uh we don't see any issues with that at all um there is a big hedge if you noticed and that uh they had to cut some of it out put the stop sign in so we have the code enforcer speaking with the land the resident there to just make sure that you know the the Hedge is uh trim properly for view of vehicles and the stop sign itself okay um so any questions from Council or comment and that one was remember that's at the request of the residents down there they were looking for that stop sign yeah no no all right it uh silence is consent essentially so Chief uh anything else you want to bring up with the council at this point sure um so was brought up a couple times and I don't know if the the resident is here the the ma but um you know the the uh down on Center in that same area there was a couple requesting that handicap spot there um Sergeant Diamond again did a great job he went down there he spoke with him he he you know basically surveilled it he did have some signage changes uh because they felt that their line of sight was being affected they happened to live where the where one of the uh paper Street cut throughs or not cut through but is there um so we took care of that we helped their line a sight and they do have a driveway and they have one car um we just don't see putting a handicapped parking space there um that that t that can be a can of worms um because I'm not quite sure how you say know once you do it and um you know for example that that took off with the apartments I don't know what we would do you know if we to start putting handicap spots in streets we have done it once before um the police department really wasn't um big on on um agreeing with it but it did happen it took its course and interestingly enough it was a few houses down from where this house is which you know I'm not I don't you know I can't say for sure Sergeant Diamond spoke with the ma but I would imagine that they saw it there and said hey you know why can't we have it um so I think you have to be very careful with that and we just don't see it you know if they had a situation where they couldn't park in the driveway or uh we couldn't help them with the line of sight like we did then um you know there might be something more there you know I know they do they are not happy with the fact that people parked in front of their house um there's a multi dwelling um across the street um I'm sure that causes for it but it is a public roadway and uh we deal with that every now and then throughout town where people kind of might jump up and down a little bit and say that's in front of my house I want to you know that's my spot but in fact it's not it's it's public roadway so this Council has historically uh agreed with the police department that we uh should not be putting in handicap spots unless there is serious reason or warrant for it uh does this Council wish to revisit that decision appear is not Chief okay great um just while while I have you I just want to give you an update we we passed a big uh step with our accreditation we um were evaluated for the building and um all of our Sops and things like that were updated Sergeant Z's um you know just couldn't have couldn't have aced this better he made it uh easy for us to to contend with the the gentleman that came in they walked through and they look at a lot of different things your evidence rooms just whatever really they want to look at and um we had not one issue which was which was awesome um so what'll happen now is we wait until spring that's when they have uh one of their that's when they have their interview spots where I have to go down um to the office down South Jersey and they kind of put me through a little questioning thing about you know the department where it is where it's going and then um you know I I feel confident about that and then I'll come back to you guys and um generally what they they like to do is they like to do presentation so I'll make you aware of that um you know so you know you can see uh exactly what it entailed and hear from them and and we're accredited at that point which is um which is awesome actually I think it's a it's a huge move for the police department and the borrow to be able to uh have that um level of um you know with everything that we're doing Chief a lot of that is due to your great leadership uh I know the council is was that was part of our the interview process and you've done a great job with officer zines on it in fact you're you're entire team the entire police force is doing a great job which leads me uh to uh congratulate you uh the annual AAA Community traffic safety award program luncheon is happening on the 30th I will not be able to attend you to work but I uh I understand Chief Walker you'll be receiving a safety hero award so congratulations to that thank you thank you I think uh Sergeant Z Sergeant diamond is is uh my guy there that that makes that happen and uh you know with some of the some of the the um things we took on the uh the crosswalk enforcement on kinm was huge to them and I don't think anybody touched this with the amount of um the amount of tickets that we wrote down there and uh and other initiatives that that we do in town um and as you know I'm sure there's some people watching you know we're always wrestling with the speeding we're always trying to contend with different ways to address that but overall I think um we do we do a pretty good job with traffic and and it is a nice award in it and it's representative of the burrow so I thank you guys too for your support especially with the accreditation that did cost us money as you guys know and um but in the long run it's it's it's um absolutely worth it so Chief before you go um it's not just uh you who's being awarded and recognized the residents are also recognizing and offering letters of Praise uh I you had sent them to me and I was going to mention them but when I realized you were here uh would you like to speak about uh the letter of praise for patrol officer Matthew pki uh that you sent me on uh which I failed to bring up on October 12th uh the one for uh officer Scott which you sent to me on uh November 9th and one you sent me to me today about the uh uh rivered School letter it would be great it if I caught you off guard we can bring you back or no I think I recall I recall the three I think there's three of them um so there's one for officer petki and that has to do with his uh the diligence and the and the on the work that he put into shoplifting at CVS which is which keeps us busy down there I tell you I don't know you know towns like pamis and Fort Lee you know the shoplifting just uh it's got to inundate them I'm sure they I'm sure they have units just to contend with it actually but um you know what what we tend to find is our guys will go out of their way and sometimes these corporations like CVS or these big corporations they're not used to that because you know uh bigger towns they they may not be able to do that where we we I try to make sure that the guys can go out of their way and uh and follow through with even the the core cases and things like that to make sure that it means something to make the arrest and make sure that you know the the uh you know the criminal World they do communicate interestingly enough I have few you know few stories I can go back on about that but they will communicate and and they will say you know dude men just don't go to that CVS and River Edge you know and and that's what we're looking for you know um I wish you never shoplifted but you know do me favor don't shoplift here you know is is what we have to do sometimes and um and Matt did a great job following through with uh you know they go down there they look at the cameras they get the the evidence um they deal with the the corporate office um they get statements from the management or whoever the Witnesses are and they obviously deal with the bad guy and WR the complaints up so that was what Matt did which was uh which is pretty neat to have corporate do that because those guys are pretty busy yeah that was the regional manager David lro uh from um who who s signed that letter and and yeah uh Chief that's thanks to you thanks to all the police officers but especially to officer petki for for really making River Edge proud and doing a good job I think next one is Scott no I think it is that kuchi is it an a call um I think it's officer kuchi right it is officer kuchi so sorry so that was an aid call and and we will get these from time to time sometimes I just get phone calls you know um we have quite a few Aid calls and the officers are usually the first ones there and um you know they're off they're either picking people up um or or people are having heart attacks or Strokes um or they're under the weather and they're not sure what's going on and um and uh we do have the equipment we need we have the oxygen we have the defibrillators and in this particular case um and it's not unusual for to hear this about enery officers really is is the compassion I think that that was shown by Officer kuchi you know um which goes goes a long way with anybody when they're in when they're you know concerned about their health and maybe we see it we're like you know they're going to be all right but you know it's when you have oxygen or you think you have a heart attack um you're you're scared so uh you know officer kuchi is he's a he's a big guy but he can be warm and fuzzy when he needs to and uh and that's what I saw when I read that I said you know Gabe stepped up to the plate and uh and made that those people feel um comfortable and and know that we were there to help and the ambulance and the Medics were were not far behind them who who obviously deserve praise too because those guys uh get out there and get that bus and get them to the hospital ASAP yeah that was uh Linda Scott who was uh in a serious situation her husband Kenneth and Linda wrote the letter quite beautiful letter and again a great job from you Chief and the department and the training and the community policing model and great and now the school oh with uh superintendent Danny so that was a um a grant that that uh that Kathy had seen and uh we'd spoken about and um you know we we work very close with the school security as you guys know we have the class 3es in place now which is which couldn't be uh which is awesome and they're working out great they seem to be loved by everybody um so Kathy at one point needed um you know um my input if you would from the Chiefs about um for that Grant and and that was uh no-brainer on our part you know uh we know how well we work together we know um what is needed or what she was working on with the doors and and uh we all know how much money that costs so the ability to get that Grant was uh was awesome for for uh superintendent Dan with all the work she did I just provided a letter but she did a great amount of work to to make that happen and um and uh you know it makes our our schools that much safer that that coupled with putting the class threes in we just jumped as far as I'm concerned I said that to Super Dany we just jumped the level of uh security which is uh which is a great place to be yeah I think the grant was for glad for you sending this information to me so uh congratulations to uh all the officers who are involved with that and yourself and the department for its uh great public commitment thank you welcome Chief anything else no I think we're good at this time thanks okay cool thank you for coming Chief all right thanks for having you guys all right have a good one bye bye uh the next is a request from Girl Scout Troop uh 9790 ornamental sale at tree lighting ceremony uh Lizette I think you're speaking to that um sure the Girl Scouts um couldn't have a representative available this evening but they're asking for permission to sell ornaments to support troop um 97 900 at the Holiday lighting ceremony and this is a ceremony where um no one is allowed to sell any items so but the scouts are helping the recreation department with this event so what we're looking for is confirmation for them to sell these ornaments since it's typically not allowed so I don't want to be the Grinch uh so I'm gonna call Mr sarlo Mr sarlo if we Grant permission for this aren't we opening the door for any group that wishes to sell at the holiday event no you know mayor I mean it's again Case by casee basis that you have to um you have to evaluate it on um you know the need for it the organization and so forth like that so you know I I understand the concept of the you know one for all all for one concept but um it's the Girl Scouts and I think it's again so that would be great so the council could approve this without I don't think that it gives you past precedent that anybody that comes in it is a it's a it's a town organization so you know I think it I think it would add to your uh to the to the program so no no issues from a legal standpoint that if you come to me that another group that you're are hesitant on doing my answer would be you'd be okay saying no all right excellent uh so councilwoman canella uh yes mayor I just like to address that as well um it was brought up in our last Rec meeting and um the rec commission uh unanimously unanimously voted yes for this and um it in they the girl Stouts are always supportive of the tree lighting ceremony and they come and they sing um uh every year and so we thought that that would be something that would be nice excellent so this really is case sensitive it's this case is certainly supported by the rec commission our burough attorney has said that this is not going to create a precedent and it has a lot to do with that this group is an internal group and that there the sale is connected in to some degree to what we're doing so is the does the council wish to ask questions on this issue seeing none would there be a member of council to move to allow ornamental sales by Only Girl Scout Troop 9790 only for 2003 and only at the tree lighting ceremony can I just say so moved yes so moved second second and it's seconded it is now open for formal debate is there formal debate hearing none all in favor please say I I I any opposed any extensions hearing none it is unanimous could I have a motion from Council president Kaufman and second from Council Migo well hold on Miss iel not miss u m u aola um is there uh any other item for discussion there's nothing on the agenda just in case um no but I just want to make a good news announcement that through the efforts of our DPW superintendent he was able to secure from the Department of Environmental Protection a $25,000 Grant to um help us meet all the brand new storm water requirements it's um it's a drop in the bucket but every dollar counts and it was through the efforts of Mr molo that we were able to receive this funding all right so round of applause to Mr molo yeah it's it's better that it doesn't come out of our taxpayers our our property taxpayers pocket whenever we can and these are requirements that we are obligated new requirements that we are obligated to fulfill so uh thank you Mr molo Jason always doing a great job um oh by the way I forgot uh and my apologies um um Council elected glass uh is here with us um councilman uh congratulations on the unofficial uh position of council elect we are glad to have you here um and it has always been the tradition in River Edge that when um someone has uh become uh Council elect unofficially uh we uh we allow you to be part of the deis deis right now is uh the u YouTube the zoom tube Zoom we are in and you are free to ask questions or make comments as you see fit thank you Tom um can you guys hear me I'm having some Wi-Fi issues loud and C okay yeah really um appreciate the welcome it's great to be on board um I'm looking forward to working with everyone and um I'm ready to work so thank you for uh the welcoming you're welcome welcome okay could I have a motion from uh the council president and second from uh councilman kigo to open the public on any item on the agenda so moved second all in favor please say I hi hi hi any opposed any abstention hearing none we are now open to the public council president so we right now have one attendee if you would like to answer ask a question or make a comment please raise your hand and I'll allow you to speak does not look like it could I have a motion uh from councilwoman monan Cohen and a second from uh councilwoman canella to close to the public I'm moved second all in favor please say I I I are any opposed any abstention okay it's unanimous appointments in Personnel change could I have a motion uh when I finish from uh Council malari and a second from councilman Benson appointments and Personnel changes uh approve the salary increase of Matthew Farley Department of Public Works from laborer step one salary of $ 46,50 to laborer SE to 49,1 153 due to satisfactory completion of the CDL licensing requirement retroactive to January 2nd 2023 prove the retirement sadly sadly sadly of Judy o Connell deputy bur clerk effective December 31st 2023 approve the appointment of uh okay ad DT Puri to the Environmental Protection commission as alternate to through December 31st 2024 effective November 13 2023 and finally approve the salary increase of an DOD burough clerk assistant administrator from an annual salary of $93,000 plus $7,500 00 stien to $96,000 plus $7,500 stien per the employment contract and resolution 22- 359 effective November 29 2023 second all in favor please say I I I okay I just want to uh I want to go back for a second to First Matthew uh getting the CD license is not an easy task as it used to be is that uh correct me it I think it takes six months now to get the commercial driver's license that they would need yes it takes um it requires a lot of training um knowing everything about the vehicle also and um just scheduling an appointment with the Motor Vehicle Commission and if you know somebody doesn't pass it takes a while to get that second appointment it's not like you could come next week or in two weeks so it's very um it's difficult and very timec consuming yeah I would even say it's laborious but uh dad joke time okay Judy um what can we say about Judy how many years has Judy been 30 years I believe 25 years with the bur 25 years incredible commitment to work work ethic uh outstanding in her interactions with the council um never ever waivers from uh from saying yes whenever she can to the public and always there for the for the elected and for the other members of our staff um Judy's absence will be very sorely missed I wanted to say that before we moved on I don't know if any other member of council would like to um chime in or just say ditto but we we are grateful for 25 years of service by judio o Connell and um and everything she's done yeah I just want to Echo that from the time I started on this Council she was tremendous and helping with everything any question I've ever had she's answered uh she is sweet she is wonderful and she'll be missed d I Echo that I Echo that too Mr Mayor and I wish uh her happy retirement we're gonna miss her yes agreed we're definitely gonna miss her happy retirement to Judy happy retirement Lett or an uh it's not normal that we do this but um we're we're in zoom and I think it's appropriate for Judy as Mr s said it depends on the situation Judy certainly is a situation of High Praise Is is there anything the two of you wouldd like to say you don't have to because you know uh but if you did you could say that at this time Judy is um she's such a breath of fresh air always he always had great laughs no matter how crazy we were with an agenda with an election with an Oprah um you know she just brought she always brings such positivity into into everything and I will definitely miss her laugh yeah I just want to say what a valuable asset Judy is to the burrow and she will be greatly missed I just wish I had more time to work with her um and I wish her well in her retirement so we wish her well we will miss her and um she her her absence will not go unnoticed all right um good and thank you to uh D DT for uh joining Environmental Protection and um an you're always doing a great job and we appreciate everything you do we have several reports um monthly reports from the fire department land use Board Store commission tax collectors and Library board and if any member of public would like to uh see those reports they just need to contact the clerk's office uh we have a capital budget amendment um that we're uh looking at now um Michelle and and lazette how do we how do we want to move forward with this just make a motion or um how do we want to do with this yes um this just requires a motion second and roll call since it is financially related and the reason why we need to amend our capital budget um if you see later in the agenda and the consent agenda we are um accepting a grant agreement for the Community Development block rant program for 2023 and what had happened is the timing the time frames have changed normally we would be able to include this um in next year's budget but what has happened this year is the deadline to complete Grant projects was moved from December to June that happened to us this year even though we received the grant agreement in May and municipalities were given an extension to the first week of December but now the new deadline is completing Grant projects by June and following the regular budgetary process we wouldn't have funds available until the end of May and there's no way in a month we could prepare bid specs go out to bid complete a project close it out and submit for um for reimbursement and this um the funding the capital um project uh the majority of it is being reimbursed the cdbg Community Development block rant reimburses 100% of the construction cost so The Bu would only be responsible for the soft cost of engineering and traffic Duty excellent all right so um council president Kaufman you are also our finan chair would you please move sure second how about this I'll move it and I I'll I'll could I have a motion for a resolution 23- 296 capital budget amendment so moved and could I have another member of the finance committee second second it has been moved and seconded all in uh oh we need to do a roll call uh first of all debate is there debate seeing none uh Madame clerk roll call please councilman Cano Darry you're muted apologies yes council president cman yes councilwoman monano Cohen yes councilwoman canella yes councilwoman M yes councilman Benson yes okay so that's unanimous um and we would now go to agenda item number 11 first reading of ordinances um could I have a motion from uh Council marari and second from uh Council canella uh after I finish reading into the record a motion that the following ordinances be introduced and passed on the first reading and setting November 27th 2023 at 7: p.m. or as soon thereafter as the matter can be heard as the date and time and the zoom as the virtual platform for the hearing of said ordinance ordinance 23-21 an ordinance amending and supplementing the revised General ordinance of the burough of River Edge chapter 400 vehicles and traffic ordinance 23-22 or Bond ordinance to authorize replacement of sidewalks including construction of ADA ramps at Rucker's place phase two in by and for the burough River Edge in the county of Bergen state of New Jersey to appropriate the sum of 185,000 to pay the cost thereof to make a down payment to appropriate a Federal grant to authorize the issuance of bonds to finance such Appropriations and to provide for the issuance of bond anticipation notes in anticipation of issuance of such bonds and finally ordinance 23-23 in ordinance to amend chapter 206 of the revised General ordinance of the burough of River Edge entitled fees so second it has been moved and second it is now open for debate prior to debate Council uh no uh business administrator apola if you could for the Public's benefit do a quick synopsis of 23 21 22 and 23 absolutely 2321 um amends the code the portion of vehicles and traffic to update the u-turns provision it clarifies the limits of the existing u-turns and it adds about six or seven more areas where u-turns are prohibited 23-22 is to finance that cdbg project that I had mentioned with the capital budget amendment of The 185,000 almost 125 is what falls under the grant reimbursement and the balance is the soft cost that the burrow is responsible for and 2323 is to amend the fee schedule with respect to the recreation department and it's to add a fee for the new running club starting next year all right is there debate dialogue uh inquiry seeing none since is the first reading I think we can do it by acclamation um all in favor please say I I I any opposed any exstension hearing none it is so passed now the second reading and hearing of ordinances needs to be done separately uh because of the way I think they were uh first published so so we're going to do that uh we have to open to the public then close the public and then we have to move to adopt if Council chooses to do so so um the following uh the following ordinance published here within was first read by title only on October 12 2023 posted on bulton board outside the burough clerk's office ordinance 23-18 an ordinance amending and supplementing the Revis General ordinance of the bough Riveredge chapter 400 vehicles and traffic could I have a motion from Council president cman and a second from councilman Benson so moved second all in favor please say I I I You're Now open to the public council president so if if you have a question just raise your hand or comment and I'll allow you to speak does not look like it uh why don't we just flip it uh councilman Benson can I have a motion from you and second from Council president Kaufman to close to the public so move second all in favor please say I I I I all right could I have a motion from councilman kigo in a second from Council in monsan Clen to adopt ordinance 23-18 so move second all oh hold on it has been moved and seconded to adoption according to Robert's Rules we have to open for debate is there debate hearing none roll call councilman Cano council president cman yes councilwoman monano Cohen yes councilwoman canella yes councilwoman Mal Larry yes councilman Benson yes okay could I have when I finish reading it an or a motion from Council malari and a second from Council woman canella uh the following ordinance published here within was first read by title only on October 23rd 2023 posted on the bulletin board outside the clerk's office ordinance 23-20 and ordinance amending and supplementing the revised General ordinance of the burough riverb chapter 192 Drug Free Zones so moved second all in favor please say I I I uh Miss aella I think I failed to come to you for ordinance 2018 and now I need to come to you for both 2018 and 20 and 23 2318 and 2320 just to give a short synopsis for the Public's benefit yes 2318 was to um codify that no parking um will be permitted on Third Avenue as recommended by our Police Department specifically our traffic Bureau and 2320 is to um create the area for crossing guards at bogert Road and Reservoir Avenue as well as Summit Avenue and web Avenue and this was also recommended by our Police Department based on pedestrian activity council president Coffman I'm I'm sorry today is there anyone who wishes to open to the public yeah if you have a question Ju Just raise your hand and I'll allow you to speak does not look like it very good um could I have um could I have a motion uh from the same two uh members of council to close to the public so moved I forgot who I asked it was you indir and I'll just second it all in favor please say I I could I have have a motion from uh let's see Council Mali and second from councilman mon Sena Cohen to approve the ordinance uh 23-20 second uh this is open for debate is there debate seeing none roll call please councilman Cano yes council president cman yes councilwoman Montano Cohen yes councilwoman canella yes councilwoman Mal Larry yes councilman Benson yes okay we're about to move the resolutions by consent there has been a renumbering uh uh the published agenda 23-31 was payment of the bills it will now be 23-31 and we are inserting uh resolution 23- 310 uh Lizette what's the formal name for 23310 um it is to um approve the designation of QR codes on street signs by the historic preservation commission okay great could I have uh who have I not called on councilman Benson uh move and uh councilwoman canella second resolutions 23- 297 through 23- 310 re numbered so move second is there any debate or request to pull one out for separate hearing none all in favor please say I I I okay the payment of bills is now 23-31 councilman council president caufman uh Finance chair would you please uh move that ordinance at a regular meeting of the mayor and Council of the buau of Riveredge County of Bergen state of New Jersey held on November 13 2023 be it resolved that the mayor and Council of the Bureau of Rivage approve the following expenditures current fund 8,775 1856 Capital fund $176,800 $6,795 Animal Control fund $360 trust other fund $3,250 old fund $60.95 unemployment trust fund $2,998 191 developers escro fund $3,731 75 Recreation trust fund 85691 so moved second it's been moved in second all in favor please say I I I I any opposed any abstention hearing none is unanimous new business is there any new business old business is there any old business Miss aella if you could do an update of where we are with constructions and other issues um I only have two items uh construction updates with Vorhees the contractor is finishing all the concrete work and restoration this week all the piping and um detention Chambers are in the ground and are operational um final inspection will take place in two weeks and with the kbg swim club parking lot Paving started today will continue tomorrow striping is expected to be completed by Wednesday and final inspection in that project will also take place within two weeks wonderful wonderful wonderful um thanks to Jason's thanks to you Miss appella thanks to Casta engineering thanks to everyone who has been working long and hard to get get these projects done we really appreciate it uh is there anyone we need to shout out lizza um no everybody you know it's effort between our DPW superintendent and our engineering project manager they they get the work done they're there on site to um make any changes as as necessary to just keep the project moving along and within budget as much as possible excellent excellent excellent um okay uh public comments could I have a motion from any member of counil to open to the public in a second Mr Mayor before we do can I ask a question to L said about construction project sure uh L said could you uh update us and the public about the uh constr the repaving of the parking lot in the train station is that state On Target yes that is still on um On Target it was paved this morning is expected to be striped tomorrow and that project had to that parking lot had to be repaved again because um the asphalt wasn't binding in most of the area and you know since it was a product defect the burrow is not um paying a dime for this repaving this falls under the responsibility of um of the contractor he has to work it out with the the supplier but um there's an no additional cost to to the burrow and you know it was done within the past few days and the fact that it has this extra layer of asphalt it will actually be a stronger parking lot especially since it leads into the dpw's compo site councilwoman mon car thank you so very much for making sure that we we say that in a public session um you're quite right to bring that up anything else all right uh can I have a motion and second to open to the public on any issue no moved thank you all in favor please say I hi hi so if you have a question just raise your hand and I'll allow you to speak or comment does not look like it but I have a motion and second from any member of council close to the public so move all in favor please say I I hi Council comments any member of council please raise your hand if you'd like councilman can you go uh I just want to congratulate you mayor uh andira and Dave on your Victory uh Dave welcome to the council I won't be on it you're taking my place and uh good luck to you going forward but congratulations to you all you all uh ran a honest fair forthright campaign and you should all be proud of yourselves thank you thank you Dar thanks Daria I might be seeking guidance from you occasionally hopefully you'll be available I'm here I'm not going anywhere any other member of council with a comment okay uh we are done for the evening good work everyone could I have a motion in second to adjourn the meeting second been moved in second of all in favor please say I I I all right everyone have a good night thank you