yeah I'd like to call the meeting order it's 7:01 [Music] time call Mee an order 701 open public meeting act according to the open public meeting act the meeting of October 25th 2023 was sentv November 29th November 29th was sent to the Our Town the director was published on January 9th 2023 posted on the bton board and Minal building and Ro Park website and Facebook and has remained continuously posted as a required notice under the statute and is being recorded in video tape in addition a copy of this notice is and has been available to the public and is on file in the office of Miss call committee woman Arta here committee woman bonf here committee m m here Deputy Mayor bti here everybody rise for the pleas algi Al to the United States of America and to the Republic for it stands one nation under God indivisible liberty and justice for all ask for a moment of silence thank you [Music] I'd like to start the presentation I like to ask for honorable County Executive James Des thir step up for the swearing in of committeeman member [Applause] Thomas good evening welcome hey welcome [Music] to well that's it oh good excellent ready of the office [Music] raise your right hand put your hand on repeat I Thomas Miller I Thomas Miller do solemnly swear do solemnly swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States that I will support the Constitution of the United States and the constitution of the state of New Jersey and the constitution of the state of New Jersey that I will bear true faith and allegiance that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same to the same and to the governments established and to the governments established in the united states in the United States and in this state and in this state under the authority of the people under the authority of the people and that I will faithfully and that I will faithfully impartially impartially and justly and justly perform all the duties of the office of Township committee perform all the duties of the office of Township committee according to the best of my ability according to the best of my ability so help me God so help me God than congratulations [Music] [Music] coun [Music] [Music] cic to the new [Music] member [Music] on behalf [Music] people behalf of the people of gon County it's my honor to be able to present a certificate of accommodation to Committee Member Thomas Miller in honor of recognition your election to the township Committee of rochell Park and appreciation of your pledge to the better of the township its residents in the county of Bergen the township of Ral Park swearing in ceremony November 29th 2023 congratulations know the chief just gave you pin but I I'm honored to be able to present the county pin to you and hopefully you'll wear this on occasions where you're you're interacting with the folks from buron County and uh wear it proudly and last this is the county executive coin I get to present this to people that uh that are not only friends of mine but also that have contributed or will make contributions to the county of ber and it's my honor to present this to you and thank you for the work that you will do on behalf of the people of Bon County and Rell Park congratulations [Music] you do the owner [Music] St yeah you want to do another rooll call and yes like ask for new rooll call committee woman ARA here committee woman VF here committee men Miller here and committee men mosa here and Deputy Mayor B here I call for a motion to vote on resolution number 0232 217 promoting Detective Ryan Galina to Sergeant I'll make a motion second first got a second okay committee woman Ora yes committee woman Bona of course yes committeeman Miller yes and committeeman mosa yes and Deputy Mayor Basset yes I have the floor yes all right MERS of [Music] youring a police officer he began his La an recruit to Mama ly hired by the Randolph Township Police Department in 2013 3 years later he returned home and became a police officer here in Ro Ryan began his career with our department of Science and control division where he worked on Squad A1 my direction Ryan was always one to go the extra step and was not afraid to work and was always there to back his Squad mates up even when needed most expedite in 2021 in recognition of his high level of dedication to our residents trustworthiness and willingness work hard he earned an assignment to the detective Bureau as detective Brian a to utilize the investigative skills learned out control and grow them through training and exerience to condu criminal investigations which have led to numerous arrests subsequent convs as well criminal assets that have been convered to Police Department comes to the CH tax the tech believe is one of the Department's resiliency officers as well as the CPR instructor Evidence Officer and PBA representative there is no doubt that his natural leadership abilities combined with the work ethic knowledge gain over the years SP Bureau will certainly the fire department as he moves up to the right of Sergeant he's joined today by his wife Melanie his two children GI and Anthony and also in attendance with us is Mom Michelle his father Anthony and his grandfather Frank by the way was our Memorial Day um Grand thank you for joining us [Music] Brian swear affirmed that I willfully and partially perform all duties of police swear affirm that I will faithfully and partially and jly perform all duties of police Sergeant for the township of Russia Park according to to the laws of our Township state of New Jersey and Constitution of the United States of America is to the best of my ability to help me gu for the Township Park according to the laws of the township state of New Jersey Constitution of the United States of America the best of my ability so help you [Music] guys [Music] [Laughter] happy yeah best ni Anthony over here there you [Music] thank you thank you guys [Music] we going to square in two probationary officers but they're working tonight ask Chief theal if you can step up say a word or two about them Deputy Mayor unfortunately the two members weren't able to be with us tonight due the work uh um the first member coming up for probationary member of the aen cannon he's a lifelong member of the township uh his two other brothers are also on the department one is a probationary member firefighter the other is still a junior member Aiden was a junior member with us for two years he just finished firefighter one training and he's going to be moving up uh as of tonight uh probationary firefighter the other would be Jake P Jacob padaa Jake comes to us from Rivervale he moved to uh rochell Park on Pake Street within the past year couple of us knew him he approached us came down the firehouse talked to us he wanted to join he comes to us as a trained firefighter from Rivervale uh he's excited about joining so both will be coming on that makes about 15 new firefighters in the past 5 years or 15 new members some being junior members some being firefighters some that had to go through the training but in total 15 over the past five years just about so thank you awesome thank you uh also like to ask up [Music] P thank you thank you congratulations to our newly elected council person uh Poli Sergeant I promotion two new firefighters the fire department as probationary members what I'm here for is I'd like to welcome two new members to the Rell Parks 13 uh Lea and shat alos and recognize them for their accomplishments anding training in the following areas the act of preparedness and disaster psychology uh T by our own Crisis Intervention team member J Santa uh disaster medical operations classroom and practical at the EMS Training Center inas terrorism awareness disaster fire supress classroom and practical at the HST fire academy in Mawa light search and rescue which was put at the last class by our fire Char dreco and a final written exam practical exercise on Saturday morning at the life station complex inas before they could actually take the training there were some prerequisites to take in the basic class besides those that I just mentioned all members complet female home independent study courses and the introduction to inent command system uh ics1 100 and ICS 700 which is the national management system or men's and both are used by OEM to reactivate and clear disaster or state of emergency i' like to I know um if you please just be recognized thank you for and as you will see in a minute the training and dedication of our certain team goes beyond the basic training that they receive they're always looking for opportunities to further their education and improve their skills and life safety life saving techniques excuse me the following members recently completed CPR and training Tau by our own police department members Brian and Jared sh if here just please stand if I when I call your name Dian rowski G Deo Pat donel alos Karen lerio ber Holzman Bob Casmir antista Mark May Michelle genin and Y and the following completed stop the Bel class at the bur County EMS training center and what they were taught was recognizing Life Safety sorry life bleeding and how to app pressure attacking and apply the ter and those members of theam were Mary monio monio Patty Don ganowski Su melao and and the training and the service provide to ro Park are certain members you will see at times of emergency and disaster they're out there they're in our Emergency Operations Center providing M support logistical that we logistical support rather that the need and we ask of them and they're out there helping the TV they're out there helping the F uh doing fire rehab as we complete the training courses so you can see them on large scale fire and just really just a great great group of f any correspondence no uh like to make a motion of approval of the agenda um one minute I have some to pull um first of all in January when the calendar was being uh approved I talked about these two months uh this November and December being the two last month of the year a lot gets done and I question one meeting each month and the reason why I'm showing that is there's about 16 resolutions here and some of them I don't even know about they just appeared here yes the administrator called me on some but other ones aren't here and that's why I'm talking next year you need to put two meetings in this month because this this shouldn't be like this and the fact that we didn't talk about some of them so I would like to pull resolution 23207 resolution 212 resolution 213 resolution 215 the rest are fine uh to go with um to go on consent I just 212 that's all right3 1335 12 13 15 right yep not 14 no 14 no 14 15 thank you that'll be four yep sh 72 250 I'd like to say um since we again don't have a mayor up here on the de I believe that we should nominate a mayor for this rest of this year just to have continuity of government and so if something happens we have at least a mayor and a deputy mayor so I'm going to make a motion to make Gail ARA the mayor until the end of the year is there a second so is this being add to the agenda we're doing this now well it's up Pon add I'm just doing it now are you calling for a motion now yeah I'm calling for a motion now tit call for for a motion now is there so parently you made a first right is there a second they're on so uh thank you Perry um I wasn't expecting that I'll second that it's up to it's up to this on the clarify it is up to the township committee as to whether or not you want to appoint a mayor for the end of the year if a mayor is not appointed then obviously the deputy mayor takes the role of the duties of the mayor until the mayor is appointed so there's a call for a motion parin was the first Gail seconded the motion and you can ask for a roll call now committee woman ARA yes committee woman bonface no committee men Miller no committee men mosa yes and Deputy Mayor bti not at this time though okay so motion we only have one more meeting right just one more after this I think that's a mistake but for one more meeting C just to have continuity that's all it's more than just a meeting a first in Rell Park three Mayors in one year cool you want to go back to the agenda so committee commune woman bonf pulled 207 212 213 and 215 is anybody have any other items to pull from the agenda okay then we need a motion to pass the agenda as aend amended I'll make that motion I'll second committee woman ARA yes committee woman B yes committee man Miller yes committee man M uh yes and Deputy Mayor B yes okay correspondence did we do correspondence that okay approval of the agenda want discussion [Music] engine good evening Bruce Rockwell from Boswell engineering hello how you doing I'm here to provide the engineers uh status update report first project I'd like to report out on is rochell and railroad Avenues the intersection Improvement So within the last um reporting period we received four requests for exhibits updated exhibits from the county from uh Gene Murphy who we've been working with closely and we responded to the last request on October 31st on November 14th uh the railroad accepted the sidewalk and utility easements and the county is now waiting a state approval for the paving of the associated uh project right away and once that approval is received and the county has indicated they will execute utility easements and will schedule a a meeting project coordination meeting with all the utilities in attendant also on November 14th the railroad affirmed that they will have funding in place for the project as of January 2024 oldest street improvements the uh pmrs is complete as of uh October 31st 2020 2023 NJ do has issued payment of $139,500 and there's a final payment of $46,500 that's pending unless that's been received uh this project is complete and will be removed from future updates the sanitary sewer pump station replacement project the basis of design is advancing there have been uh periodic meetings with DPW with Dave Brown and the extended Boswell engineering design team all the proposed development projects for the township have been incorporated into the design and the station capacity has been adjusted to accommodate that proposed development uh the location of the generator was finalized uh within the last 30 days and uh FEMA issued an RFI to Boswell engineering on November 8th and our responses are being prepared and will be submitted back on honor before SE 5th 2023 and that's in furtherance of the brick brand application and I just put down the next steps just to clarify since this has been a a topic of interest that you know we're going to finalize the basis of design um secure a sign off from uh DPW um there's njde permit tww that would be a next step flood Hazard permit and of course the uh final approval of the brick Grant and full funding ms4 storm water mapping this is GIS digital mapping of the storm water sewage system fieldwork has been completed and we remain on track for now completing the digitizing the maps by the end of the [Music] year Howard Avenue drainage and resurfacing Inspection Services proposal was submitted on October 26 and the amount of of $153,000 a preconstruction meeting was conducted on October 25th the initial payment voucher uh the grant was sent to the township on 1026 23 the two other grants are handled under the pmrs system initial payment vouchers have been signed for 75% initial payments initial payment of 1 15,750 $50 for the 2022 NJ do Grant was issued by New Jersey do and the township has confirmed a receipt of payments from the other two grants are pending and the contract with the contractor laforza was executed on November 8th 2023 Eldorado court and Crescent Street improvements uh our work task have been completed and therefore project will not be included in further reports digital ta tax maps uh we have been coordinating with Jim Teague and the township boundary line with Shadle Brook is being finalized we're on schedule for submission to the state by the end of November which is tomorrow good schedule was oh sorry um fiscal year 2023 CBD cdbg grant for Dorothy Avenue gertude Pleasant Avenue Road improvements a bid schedule was developed and that was accepted by the township on October 11 2023 bid opening was held on November 22nd 2023 uh we had five of six biders responded we reviewed the bids and on November 27th we sent a recommendation award to award uh to DLS Contracting who was the low bidder in the amount of $139,600 and uh this project was well funded and I believe it was on resolution for tonight Harvey Avenue uh from West pic Street to Han Avenue uh this will also address pwning in the area of Howard Avenue this is uh NJ doot 2024 grant funding this project was awarded a grant of $27,700 on November 8th our office submitted a proposal for surveying and Engineering Services in the amounts of $1 13,350 and $339,950 respectively storm water Control Ordinance uh there's a new requirement from the state to uh for townships to issue a storm water Control Ordinance a sample notice letter was sent to the township on 105 2023 we've had some follow-up discussions uh and uh the state's requirement um was was discussed that uh this relating to private salt shed ordinance it must be adopted by January 1st 2024 and I believe that resolution is also on for tonight for that order first reading first reading Lincoln Drive in Chestnut Avenue it's 2025 2024 to 2025 uh cdbg Grant the Draft application with cost estimate in total amount of 131,000 including 71,000 of soft cost was sent to the township on o October 18th preliminary construction cost estimate is $360,000 design is estimated at $28,000 construction inspection estimated at $43,000 application uh with support information is now complete and we're waiting the Township's directive to submit uh unless that's been provided but up I wasn't aware up to the state that that's been provided and the application submission deadline is December 15th and that that's the end of the report for this evening thank you have a good uh related to this yes you want to open it up now or do you want to it's up to you hang around to public motion you open open up just have a motion just a motion a motion to open up to the public have a motion open uption I'll second hi how's everybody doing Andrew Matson 14 Eldorado Court where to start all right on uh October 21st of last year I came down and I sat with Dean as his role as administrator to express how when El Dorado courton Crescent was redone the improvements as I use air quotes because they certainly were not improvements to my property I was told those contractors would never be able to drive through town without being weighed we'll go after them I was told in email we'll go after them to the fullest extent um I emailed everybody that was sitting up here at the time only Linda responded um it's very upsetting that my family has lived in that house since it was built and now that it's been repaved there's like a lake at the bottom of my driveway and the catch Basin is about 200 ft downhill there's no reason for that at the October 11th meeting of this year my property was discussed and it was called a lowo and there's nothing we can do about it it was never a low Point since the 50s we're talking 70 years it was fine then there was improvements when I moved into that house I redid the driveway some of the sidewalk the the whole curb line everything and it was fine and then a few years later these improvements came and now my property is worse off and the only thing that's happened is the contractor that did the road came back and lowered the road they heated it and rolled it out which makes it lower this is a low point they're saying is the problem the curb is too low there's correspondence that the clerk is on everybody it's public record the curb is too low you can't make the Road higher than the curb it's Common Sense the road is right at the curb height this these improvements are not settled I'm sorry I will not accept as a taxpayer that this town came through and made my property worse and I don't think a firm that's down in Florida with their head up their ass knows what they're talking about and that's all and I'm very upset that this was discussed at the October meeting and I was not informed of it and Dean I put that on you because you and I talked about this if I may that actually was brought up by committee woman bonface during conversation that we had and because I've been talk because she's the only one that reached out to you're putting on me I never claim I am putting it on you if I may can I have order so I can respond um I don't ever claim to be in construction or an engineer that's why I Rely Upon Our professionals committee when bonface brought some what we thought may be some solutions to the issue we brought it to the engineers and they told us and what a shame that she's never been on a committee in this town that means means a damn you guys put her in the corner to do nothing not you but all the Republicans up here she's the only one that reached out I sent everybody an email nothing no it's a one square mile town you want to sit up there you want to be elected cool good for you why to not respond to a taxpayer unacceptable I think if I'm a Democrat if I was a republican that would have been fixed you sir I went to a neighbor that lives behind you because I heard rumors that a driveway was fixed it looks like you got masons from Italy off the boat to come and do a perfect job on their driveway mine got ruined and I paid for that when I moved in out of my own money for the town to come and ruin it is unacceptable and to hear nothing from anybody Beyond unacceptable hi everyone uh Michael Warren 181 West older Street I couldn't hear much of the report from Boswell did you mention when what the next Road Project is in Rell Park we have Dorothy and gerud so I know that Dorothy and gerud Harvey AV as well when are they SP scheduled to be done I'm sorry if this is a bother to you you look very bothered by my question I'm not bothered well you look like you're not interested so maybe fix your face just really answer the question I'm sorry I'm asking a very easy question give a chance so Harvey Avenue uh is we are waiting on the proposals to be uh approved by the town let's just uh this is a 2024 Grant you mention thank you you mentioned Dorothy and gertude when are they up that bids on for tonight I'm not trying to be a jerk you know I have a short my patience is like this contract was uh signed on the 8 of November and that's on for resolution for tonight we had the preconstruction meeting already out there with I know that Dorothy gertude and Harvey retain a lot of water I've been there I've walked those streets myself um I've been doing a lot of reading on uh a policy that was passed in 2019 called the New Jersey complete streets policy have you heard of that policy or is Boswell involved in any of the municipalities that are um passing a resolution for complete streets which basically means adding green infrastructure to the roads to better uh uh contain a runoff of water um design the roads differently meaning that uh you can uh shrink the road a bit to add more easement to add more green space I see Amar nodding over there um to uh in order to help better uh get water off the the um the pavement essentially is BOS well to the best of your knowledge and I know that you're not Mr Boswell is Boswell involved in any of those types of projects in New Jersey and um I'll bring my binder next meeting I didn't know this was going to happen this meeting but I've been doing a lot of reading about it so we are involved in projects uh like that but specifically for this project um we applied new storm water uh regulations like what so the new regulations I'm just asking I don't know what they are so so I'm asking you okay so and I'll try to do it as simple as possible so previously we us use you know chage pits uh to retain water but what the state changed in the regulation is they actually want the pipes in the ground to be larger to contain larger volumes of water and handle larger volumes of water and that's been applied to the design for this project so a lot of the the storm water control is going to happen Underground ground and not necessarily above ground the surface so the streets will look the same but you're telling me underneath they'll be able to carry more water yes okay that's wanted to make sure I'm clear on that um have you been involved in any other projects in any other towns that have radically redesigned the road to include more trees you guys know I want to talk about the trees but um uh or any other kind of mechanism Islands Etc that uh are able to hold water not necessarily uh drain them into a pipe so to speak well the the regulation requires pip drainage that's a requirement and that's a new regulation okay and we represent more than 50 towns so for me to sit here and say I know everything that's going on in every I agree I understand I just I couldn't answer that I to know if you had maybe involved with them yourselves as an engineer with those town so I know there's about 160 towns that have moved toward these complete streets um to address several issues I to know if maybe you had a personal hand in them so if you don't that's okay I just thought I'd ask I I have not had a personal hand and a okay thank you so much thank you guys mayor can I talk about some um when when Madison AB was redone so many trees came off that street we looked at w a widening between the sidewalk and curb the cost was like 600,000 above the estimate to just put the curbs back where they were and uh we were looking at also lowering the street because the curve line was so so down the street was higher but it was like a cost the 600,000 and I I can I'm sorry mayor May resp respond please briefly okay I understand that the cost could be a factor upfront but when we talk about water how many millions of dollars has Radell parks's residents either paid out through insurance or whatever the case is because of the way our streets are designed so I get what you're saying is The Upfront cost is probably going to be um more expensive than just redoing the road exactly as it is right um I know that these roads these Road projects are bonded right so there there's not an immediate impact to the taxpayer when we Bond those things right which is why we do that right so I'm trying to think of and I don't have a total of this but Gail you always talk about your experience with the flood right I picture a homeowner like you paying a lot of money to get your house raised and fixed and and whatever you got to do for the damage right now multiply that by 2/3 of the town which we know flood how much is the roell park resident laying out to try and fix damage from Waters that maybe as a Township we can try to mitigate better so that's really the gist of what I'm trying to get out I get it but we'll never unfortunately stop flooding in this town I agree I agree with that but maybe I know you could help yes but maybe we can mitigate it better I don't know I don't pretend I have all the answers but I'm just saying is it's an idea next time but I appreciate tree commission I will I'll bring it up at the public session thank you any more comments any more comments before we close for this motion Clos I'll make that motion I'll second committee woman Ora yes committee woman Bonas yes committee men Miller yes committee M yes and may yes uh discussion minut Fe and ordinances you should have all been given or in the packet I'm assuming Amry um so several months ago our former Municipal Court Judge came to me and said hey a lot of our ordinances our fines are outdated um is there any way maybe we could take a look at the fee schedule and the fine schedule um I Ted Lieutenant kakowski with that through the police department uh he went through several different municipalities pamis Mawa ourselves and um one other one is that in this packet yeah it's in there yeah is it near the [Music] back all right so you'll see those different municipalities and Their fines I'm sorry this isn't in color but anything that's highlighted is what our my suggestion is at this point and it was Lo roal Park Lo Ma and pamis which is a pretty good bre of you know look around different parts of the county um there were somewhere Road shell parks findes are on par with you know the highest and and what's more current um there's obviously others that we would like to see updated and the reason the judges like look most people are you know part of the penalty being a fine it will you know curtail people from taking part in these activities uh if they have to pay you know more substantial fine so I I forward this for this committee to take to look at and consider um you know going forward that we update our our code book and our ordinances to reflect these more modern finds and Adar court and holding people responsible through [Music] finds AG is it it's in the packet or no where is it where in the in the middle in the middle after Boswell the right corner and these were again these were the specific ordinances or code violations that the judge pointed out to us that he would like to see updated um that's why these were studied by Lieutenant Kowski reviewed by myself and now submitted to this committee for review sure I can start with expectoration in public disturbing the peace dog licenses um curbing of dog unattended barking dog I'll go down maintenance of premises uh disorderly conduct temporary signs uh food establishments and restaurants not having proper licensing um prohibited dumping prohibited parking clearance over sidewalks fighting tobacco sales I mean there's there's a ton there's a lot and they haven't been updated in several uh generations for the benefit of attach Comm Dean had sent these to me to review because I'm a prosecutor in a couple of towns I reviewed them Lieutenant did a very good job he was thorough in terms of getting a good uh snapshot of what other towns are doing and some of the fees more obviously than some others and some were okay but a majority of them were definitely outdated in terms of what other courts are charging so that was another set of eyes to look at it as well I mean as an example curving of a dog and I know anybody that's been the victim of that the minimum fine is $5 I don't think anybody's going to you know B at I'll just pay that ticket right maybe not change their behavior so we were looking to kind of bring it up a little bit more you know that's just one example [Music] literally 25 bucks some of them [Music] were and listen this is a good way to curb your repeat offenders because unfortunately with some of the small pettier crimes you have individuals that are in town that continually are repeat offenders because of the fact that some of your finds penalties are merely a slap on the wrist so you know this will work towards carving some of those issues see it a lot with loitering things like that pan handling times like that I'm all four you trying to figure out I'm okay with it yeah so Mark maybe for January we could have this yep we can't do anything for the remainder of this year as far as ordinances go but it wasn't on for [Music] [Laughter] tonight yep open up the roell and sorry so we heard um Mr Rockell discussed the road shell and r intersection uh improvements the r 101 in his report I can tell you yesterday I had a phone conversation as well as a follow-up email from Jee Murphy who's the principal engineer civil engineer for Bergen County Department of planning engineering uh he forwarded me which you should all have a copy of the U resolution from the county back in August 2nd of this year there were some changes made to it and the county did that through all of their boilerplate resolutions uh most of these projects now and the biggest change is that Ro Park would be responsible for providing traffic control I can tell you I know from my past experiences with past administrators anytime the town was on the hook we did not pay overtime we would try to do it within uh those who were working and work with just you know detour signs road closures and maybe uh you know ConEd cones Etc uh so that's that is normal that's the norm now uh they do need a concurrent concurring resolution um so again I I provide their resolution for you this project has been lying in wait for the longest amount of time basically 2011 yeah for a very long time um I know I first went to a meeting I think I was it was before 2020 I was still Lieutenant I went with then administrator Bob Davidson um so yeah it's it's about time it's going to widen up that one turn area in front of CVS it's going to provide a new traffic signal be a left turn Lan added there um and it'll be vast improvements to the curving as well uh I see no reason why this committee wouldn't want to do a concurrence resolution and we should do that in December's meeting but again I leave you their resolution to take a look at and if um you all have a resolution prepared if we're not in agreement we don't have to pass it next month but I just wanted to bring that to everybody's attention and this has nothing to do with the way do improvements but while we're on it I have to say um for this town to leave 10 and probably more million dollars on the table to improve our main road through town I think would be a mistake I think we should start our dialogue with the county I know the county executive was here uh he and I have had offline conversations nothing official but I have run into him several times whether it be at the ice skating rank at vanon or down at Atlantic City at the Le of municipalities and I can tell you the county understands where roell Park is coming from and I really believe they will do what we want done in order to improve Rosell Avenue the right way at no expense to our taxpayers but only to a benefit so again I throw this out to this committee and asked that we uh strongly consider that dialogue and get it going again I'll make that motion that it needs a motion it doesn't need a motion right now I appreciate we can do that in December if we want to get together concurring resolution between now and ends a short amount of time I would like to sit again with the county execu or the his his team his administrative staff I know um retired Chief arberg is now the Deputy Administrator in Bergen County he and I have had a long-standing relationship you know I also had some offline conversations and I I I believe there may be even more funding if we push um which I have don't let me forget under my report I want to thank uh talk about funding for other things but anyway I let's get back to R railroad again I think we should have a concurring resolution for uh next meeting for Rell and railroad project yeah I agree everything said all right Madam reop the discussion disagre no no no thumbs up all right to my report then your report all righty Mary thank you um in continuing the good news I know as we all are aware the Garden State Plaza uh you know has made application to the burrow paramis to build about 1,600 apartment units on their property there's only couple minor variances I believe so chances are it's going to get approved um we sit here south South the brook um so we know what happens when water runoff impacts us from the north uh reached out to their Council um their rep the attorney for the Garden State Plaza as well as the plaza uh we've gotten Boswell U involved and they've done everything they could to share all of their plans all of their designs their specs their water storm water any document they could they've shared with Boswell um and Mark I can report on the agreement yeah so I'm happy to say that you know through negotiations I met with Mr CI um Mr depa and I through several conversations uh the Garden State Plaza is going to f the $10,000 bill that it's going to cost Boswell to continually review plans and make and provide us provide you the taxpayer with a report that discusses any impact if any from that project on roell Park so again at no cost to the taxpayer um so I'm happy to report on that not so much but uh always great thing I happen to see in one of my emails an SNY playball Grant I said sure let me try for it and I'm happy to report our recreational basketball program we be getting uh free 10 28.5 t500 Spalding basketballs that was an easy one I'm happy that's great we'll take it whatever every little bit helps um and I know for years we've been all waiting on the what's been called the elevation of Home Grant it's actually the uh New Jersey Hazard mitigation Grant or flood mitigation Grant we were awarded that I've had our kickoff meeting committee woman Arta James D Maria the construction official attended with me um we met with syia hry from the New Jersey State Police office of emergency management um I can tell you this it's going to be daunting amount of work but part of that Grant was monies towards the administration of it I would say this I cannot do it and I don't believe there's anybody on this de or even in this audience that can do it on a part-time basis um so I'm going to seek uh professional help Mr Di Maria has experience with several firms one he worked with in Little Falls other he knows from talking with other construction officials so we're going to put together an RFP RFQ um and and seek that out so I will get letters out to the 13 homeowners I will say this it's going to be work for them it's going to be difficult um and unfortunately between the time we appli for this and now we all know what happened to lending rates so my heart and my sympathies do go out to those homeowners because it's going to be a little more difficult than it would have been a few years ago but that's not on us that's on FEMA um but I'm happy to report that and I'll continue to give updates as far as that goes I think that that's all I have for now oh so I wanted to talk about the good news so back in September committee woman vonf reached out to me sent me a screenshot from Facebook and I have to be honest with you I was offended it was Senator sarlo handing out checks to municipalities in South Bergen for flood mitigation and I'm looking at some of these towns that on a cliff and I won't say What town but you know Cliff near a park put it together um I immediately sent Rebecca Schwarz Senator lagan's assistant a pretty scathing email but professional and that was at the you know advice and consent to this committee I said I'd like to do this uh We've since been provided $100,000 legislative grant for flood mitigation I have the paperwork inside I just got uh signed tonight and I will forward that over to our grant writer um and they will submit it it's due tomorrow uh we will have that so again $100,000 we're going to look to apply it towards the pump station because that's something we have tangible plans for and that's pretty much what's needed um and and again it'll offset the cost to the to the tax PIR at the end of the day I think there something else I want to report on Patricia oh well yeah so um I know Patricia is here from Heart to Heart right so I we could have probably brought that up the discussion rather than my report but uh Patricia hi would you like to remind this committee again what it is I know we provided them with plans last meeting we talked a little bit it's the Township's right away it's at the dead end of a RightWay and you know what it is you need and would like to have yeah so company speak your name for oh Patricia scnava I Own Heart tohe hearten Associates I just bought the building two and a half years ago in roell park I'm happy to be here um I have a clinic for developmentally disabled children to adults and we try to do all kinds of social skills and stuff and one of the things we came across is teaching our kids how to ride bikes teaching our adults other means of of transportation and those kind of things so I wanted to get a bike rack only it's not appropriate to teach the children indoors to use a bike cat but my property I think you're all familiar with um has a very narrow parking lot and not much property no place I'm I'm putting trees in pots just to make it look nice but at the end of our sidewalk it's a dead end it just stops and and it can't be used because there's a wire that comes down so I came up with an idea to put in a very small three section bike rack which I I think you've all seen I sent pictures of it and stuff it won't interfere nobody uses those sidewalks anyway um because I'm the only business on that street so on on that side of the street there's even the other side of the street are just parking lots so so I I I reached out to Dean um and to see if it was possible to put some potted plants and to put the bike rack but I was apparently approved or was approved to put in this very small bike rack um so you know I hope that this is something that's gone through I appreciate it immensely um I myself ride my bike to work all the time because I want to teach the CH you know it's just one of those things I live very close to the building and uh trying to save parking spaces you know what nightmare that was for me and uh so I appreciate it I appreciate the time I know how busy you are I know that this is just a minor thing for you guys but for us it's a big deal and we we really do appreciate it you know I don't know how professional it is but I got thank you card so I I appreciate that thank you I know I know the town attorney one thing so does anybody have any questions for me about it so I just want to add one thing to Township commy because it's a business and because it's on property you know it' be prudent for us to have sort of execute some sort of indemnification agreement because it's going be owned by business used by your business invitees uh again however the township decides is entirely up to you but if you decide move forward with it we just need to do an indemnification agreement that's sure and I've already reached out to my insurance company and it will be covered under my policy so can we make that part of a resolution Mark yeah absolutely we'll do that for there have to be a signed identification agreement as well which we can attach to the resolution and then if you contact my office we'll touch base in the next couple of days okay and get me that inform so we put something together that we're both comfortable with okay I say something um hi I'm Tommy uh hi Tommy congratulations thanks so much uh I actually volunteered at heart-to-heart over summer we did Disney karaoke with the kids and it was so fun I'm a special education teacher I work with students with uh multiple disabilities and I really respect and I can relate to your passion to trying to teach them those daily living skills so important y so yeah I really appreciate it and it's not going to be the first time you see me here but I really I love rochell Park I live in paramis and um so I've served 911 and Emory's uh dad and I serve together and uh you know I'm here for the town as well if there's anything that you guys need from me I'm a phone call away I'm just happy that tree finally came down the safe for God's Sak the tree it's uh this committee is not aware of the tree okay you can fill them in later but yeah the nightmare of the tree thank you so much I appreciate it and I appreciate all your hard work I know how hard it is to work as a team even with you know different politics and stuff but we all have to try to work together to make it work so thank you I appreciate it here and if I because I see Mr Matson standing in the back and I I I if I may Mr B yes I believe there's you know some leeway with road projects right Roy if there's like a 15% that if not used on a certain Road Project we may be able to move over so I'll task Boswell once again or or you know um you know if that doesn't work out we also have negly as on Alternate and maybe a new set of eyes can can look at that problem again but just thinking out loud I tried you know I tried that's it report parent um construction report for October 2023 uh permits issued were 30 uccc inspections were 129 total value of construction was $371,500 permit fees collected 4,655 zoning permits 1,840 zoning inspections were seven zoning applications were 18 zoning violations zero con continuous certificate of occupancies $2,850 standal loone inspections with 10 Property Maintenance violations issued with four complaints one CCO inspections were 16 and total fees collected for the month were $193 45 and year-to dat revenue is $494,000 455 all right um the court report I didn't do a um we didn't have one for last month so I'm just going to read yeah I don't think I read it out for last month but if I did whatever I'll do it again court report for September of 2023 and October of 2023 um so fees collected in September were $967 fees collected in October were $1 13,915 198 total of $3,914 the year we are currently um $116,000 behind from last year there was a session today but there was there's you know November and December so we're we're looking like we're going to get over that amount which is which is good um for this year and I just want to mention one thing um I know our the resolution 20 0232110 was cancelling the lights at at Carlock field I I'm not going to be here but I I really think this town needs lights and at some field because even I mean I don't know whoever coaches soccer or flag football when that comes back again in the fall it gets dark at 5:30 at night and and these kids they have no place to go I see cars at Midland school with lights on so they could play soccer I mean I think as a committee that should be done I know it the numbers came in high but I I really feel maybe you guys could look at that again for next year we're cancelling 202 270 if I go the numbers it's it's over $200,000 that we could be used towards lights I just think that's something that this committee should do we could always reapply to if this committee decides that the way they want to go we could always reapply for those similar grants but yeah the light came in around 700,000 so for $500,000 I think it's worth it I really do but you know that's something for the kids in this town that I've been trying to get and and I know it's been a lot of push back but I think you guys should really look continue to look into that maybe we get more money again next year and look into it but the lights are only going to get more expensive you know down the road but that was that's it may one B face all right and part of the this I uh part of this I wrote before the chief talked about it um hello everyone Thanks for attending first and foremost I would like to thank the Boy Scout Troop 114 special shout out to Eagle Scouts who did communitybased projects a beerup uh if I screw this name up I'm sorry to him but a beer up CAD CAD vadu uh who added flowers and solar lighting to the Garden by The Firehouse Chris Alvarez who rehabed the Gazebo Brandon pomaro who installed the benches at the triangle opposite Lexington the administrator was involved in this my brother's Vinnie's lifelong friends wanted to do something in Rell Park to honor him at the same time Brandon pomarico was doing his Eagle Scout project installing benches Dean put this together my brother's friends paid for and dedicated the bench in the tri triangles my brother Vinnie I am grateful for all involved I would also like to thank the winners of the election I saw a couple things on Election flyers and social media I'd like to address them number one Rosel Park will not be able to stop the winding the Route 17 working for 36 years in road construction this is the business I know I've asked around the answer is this construction project is going through the funds are eor I'm suggesting that the township Committee in 2024 work with the county for the Ral La project do not miss the opportunity to get these funds to alleviate traffic and Rehabilitation of Ral lab one thing I am against and I let the county know my feelings and I think the taxpayers of Roso Park will agree with me Roso Park is not footing the bill for the purchase of the post office to straighten out Central LA I have yet to get a straight answer on why this needs to be done yes the township will lose ratables we're also getting an unheard of Revenue with cannabis sales number two rocho Park needs another cannabis business number three the township Committee in 2024 needs to work bipartisan we are a one square m M Town party shouldn't matter I I have always wanted what's best with the town I didn't care if they were democrat or republican I wanted the best person the best firm for us unfortunately that didn't always happen and it only hurts the residents of this town number four you cannot stop development but you can control it you can work with the developer I know everybody says the traffic but you know what that's going to be here this area is growing we are 20 minutes outside of New York City with no traffic buses run on streets either side of the Township in 2016 the developer across the street asked the township committee not to pass a Redevelopment plan toer had just bought the property from maaly the township committee denied their request to not vote on the Redevelopment plan they just wanted a chance to look at it the township committee at the time voted to pass the Redevelopment plan would you like which which would which resulted in a lawsuit by tlra where they received the pilot in the settlement in 2016 I was sitting in if I was sitting on the township committee I would have worked with tlra I would have done my best to talk to Township committee out of not voting for The Redevelopment plan and pulling it off the agenda and sat down and negotiated with tlra number five one thing I want to point that is that we are in legislative district 38 the state senator that represents Rosia Park is Joseph Lano the assembly we are represented by assembly one woman Lisa Swain and assemblyman Christopher Tully can you please work with them a senator not from your district is not going to fight for Rell Park number six Township Committee of 2 24 do your homework read what's given to you if you don't understand ask someone for help understanding you will get an answer if someone is telling you something look into it you may find that what you are being told is not the truth actually far from it I know I will think of other things so I have one more meeting to talk about it I wish everyone well have a good night and get home safe Comm me woman Oh there's uh lots of congratulations to go around tonight congratulations to Mr Miller and his family for being sworn in this evening welcome to the team um there were lots of babies here so it's so nice to see your little ones how old are they Max is five months and Mila is three all right well welcome um and also he already left but a special welcome to County Executive tadesco for his visit to Rosell Park for swearing you in congratulations to Jennifer aichi and Teresa judge Calo on their election wins we look forward to your swearing ins in January congratulations to our new um probationary uh members to the roell park volunteer fire department it's so nice to see the fire department growing and to have young members so we welcome them congratulations to my fellow C team members who were recognized tonight for their trainings in CPR and stop the bleed also con congratulations and welcome to our two newest members it's so nice to see families volunteering together special thanks to Pete and Patty Donatello for organizing these trainings for our volunteers and finally congratulations to Brian Galina for his promotion to S Sergeant he has done fantastic work in the police department and in the detective Bureau and we look forward to him excelling in his new role I attended the paramis planning board meeting at the beginning of the month for the multif family mixed use project at the Garen State Plaza to hear more testimonies about the project the next meeting is uh tomorrow and I have plan on attending as Dean already mentioned I attended the uh kickoff meeting for the flood mitigation grant for the elevation of the homes um with Dean Amry and James D Maria to obtain information on the requirements the documentation and the inspections required and uh for the Rosa Park Library their uh continuing programs the children and their grown-ups can join the library every Thursday at 4 : for a fun story time followed by a craft at 4:30 regular programs are teen advisory Council book club adult crafts and Tech tutor slow stretch yoga is available on Zoom every Wednesday at 12:00 noon and then there will be a recording available on the social media for the week after the program and as always please see the roell Park Library website for more information on these and other [Music] events short not congratulations house few words yeah thank you thank you Deputy Mayor um my report tonight is just uh me saying thank you uh for those who don't know me my name is Thomas Miller but please call me Tommy uh I want to start by thanking our Bergen County Executive Mr James Tesco for administering my oath of office tonight uh I'm thankful to be joined by my wife Jessica our daughter Mila and our baby boy our son Max my family is my meeing of life and we chish the life we're building right here in Rochelle Park additionally my mom uh Molly Miller who resides in Maywood is here with us this evening and uh let's face it moms are superheroes our true anchors and I'm everything I am because of the compassion love and laughter my mom has brought into my life I'm deeply grateful for the trust this community has placed in Me by electing me to serve on this committee I believe the recent election reflects the vision the residents have for our local government and I extend my thanks to all who participated by casting their votes and showing up for our community while I'm deeply thankful for each vote I received I'm committed to tirelessly working for the betterment of every resident in our Township one of the best parts of this journey was the opportunity to connect with so many amazing residents over the past year individuals whose lives and stories taught me so much and now I've been granted the privilege to serve and work on behalf of them I am grateful and truly understand the responsibilities that lie ahead I've learned from the residents how important it is that leaders be responsive and well informed throughout this year I've heard residents repeatedly Express gratitude for committee woman Linda bonface for consistently advocating for the rochell park taxpayers along with her diligent research and prompt responses to the Public's questions and concerns it's clear to me Our Community Values leaders who embody preparedness understands the issues and demonstrates unwavering advocacy on their behalf you know I was inspired to run because of people in the audience tonight who have come up to the microphone and persistently demanded answers from their elected officials rain or shine freezing temperatures or warm summer nights you have shown up for roell Park and I'm excited to work alongside my colleagues to honor the voices of our community and navigate challenges with practical and common send Solutions this governing body that I'm now a part of we must work together and collaborate with the residents to gain ideas regarding strategies for change to move our Township forward and to truly unlock rochel Park's full potential I'm excited I'm honored and I look forward to working across party lines to put the residents first put people over party and give Rochelle Park a local government they can trust and believe in and one they rightfully deserve lastly I just want want to take a moment to acknowledge my dad my father was a professor of political science for 30 plus years he was a sta Republican and we had great respect for each other and that was because my father and I always put the work in to understand each other's points of view we were extremely close we were the best of friends and my father passed away last year and he would have really loved to have been here tonight next to my mom one of life's greatest Joys is relishing in celebratory moments however the reality is that not every celebration will include everyone we hold here so my greater message tonight is call your parents your siblings your kids tell them you love them tomorrow will always be uncertain so say what you want them to hear today and I just want to close with that thank you so [Music] much last minute DPW has pleaded the following street sweeper was weekly was weekly 45 hours of DPW installed nine new lead solo flashing stop signs one flashing pedestrian in an effort to assist the PD with learning the public of the stop signs metal curve sides on Monday for recycling is called the DPW you have decorated gazebo in the town hall for upcoming tree lining event electronic pickup is every fourth Wednesday of the month please call the recycling hotline 201- 587-7711 they have three calls for reports of sewer backups uh reminder that December 11th 23 is the last day for grass and leaves pick up until 2024 you also clean inspected Ro roof rains on the town hall AR roof multiple times with all the recent rains the painting repair process is complete he's pleased to work what they have done all the residents should be reminded that Ral Park does not allow for the placing of any leaves in a street all leaves need to be placed in paper bags or garbage can or barrels no plastic bag we picked up so water coordinator report conducting the Alpo inspection County Road Department notified me that they found a large tree Weds underneath the Bic Street bridge and pinned up against the SE line that runs underneath the bridge they Brown met with the county and deployed a crew the back assist the county and removing the trees and they cut it down into smaller pieces uh Recreation this Friday December 1st at 7:00 p.m. at the Min building is a tree there will be food music dance singing and Santa please bring any unwrap toys for the police drive the holiday trolley ride are Saturday December 9th from 4: to 7:00 p.m. and they are filled up at this time all slots are filled uh holiday house decorating contest please sign up online by December 8th and best slaughtered tonight uh police report for October 23 motor vehicle crashes were 49 total Police Department call service 1231 total Summons of forcement actions were 306 motor vehicle stops 167 emergency medical calls two community outreach were 11 fire department responses were 13 with a total rest of 25 this time I like act for a motion open up public portion I I just have two things sorry may just two things from my report I make there's two is on for first reading tonight first ordinance is an ordinance to add a elevator sub quote official uh to our fees we previously had a catch-all provision which would include but it became apparent to the uh business administrator who pointed out to me that we really needed to be more specific with regard to an elevator subcode official so we're putting in an entire provision for that along with the fees second ordinance that is on that my office worked on tonight is an ordinance regarding privately stor stored salt storage and I think that Bruce from bos touched on this the njd along with our Engineers put together a uh a sample ordinance for municipalities to pass because what D found is that uh several deicing materials including salt would start to seep into the St water and spread all over town which is a real problem so there was a model ordinance that was presented I tweaked it a bit there was a section in there one substantive change that I made is there was a section in there that allowed private individuals to store large storage containers on their properties I found that prop problematic for a Municipality of this size because there are certain zoning requirements in addition just the sight and look of storage containers on people's properties not only I think per sense a hazard but is unsightly for a Township of this size so I did remove that everything else in there is intact I reviewed it the minor changes I made again were more towards wording and how Clarity but the one substan change I made is to remove it the removal of Permitting a residence to uh allow storage containers if anybody would want me to to add that back in they can raise that tonight when you open up the ordinance on first reading but my position after reviewing that section is that that would not be prudent for this Township to permit and that's all I have Deputy Mayor now time motion open up public portion I'll make the motion I'll second public portion open please come up for the mic limit it to 3 minutes try your best what try your best try your best all right hello everyone Mike Warren 181 West Holder Street tomorrow in the hour town I have another letter going in there not sure if you've been following my weekly letters um but uh this time I talk about Glenn Rock and their shade tree commission uh they recently got a $35,000 Grant to do a tree inventory in their town uh from the DP um and I write extensively about that and I'll let you read that tomorrow I'm not going to recite the letter are here but um when I was writing the letter I kept asking myself one question I've been coming up here for uh since the summer of 2022 and I noticed the extensive amount of trees coming down and I know the heart to--he heart woman just said A tree came down by her that that wasn't you know that wasn't replaced it was our private property I get it I get it Dead with it I know I know well ask myself this question and maybe the people in the audience and at home might have the same question why is there so much red tape to go through to get one tree planted one parin leaving office have you planted any trees no Linda have you planted any trees no Madison Madison where people's property people's property thank you I'm not sure why I I have been up here mostly every month to talk about the fact that our we are losing trees in town but yet none no one up here wants to take any action on it so I thought about this question and I said Mike maybe the answer is that you're Mike Warren the Democrat so I don't know if you read my last week's our town but I have resigned from the Democratic Club in town and I haven't been the chair since February a lot of other reasons you can read the letter but I am willing to foro politics in case that's what you think I'm up here for because I cannot imagine why there is so much red tape to get one tree planted one it's been a year a year and a half now I'm sure but it's it's winter we're not planting any trees right now so let's talk about next spring 24 summer of 24 I really think this committee needs to re to consider a shade tree commission I'll be back here next month and in January again about it there needs to be a body of Volunteers in town who are going to hold the township committee and the administrator accountable for these types of things the shade tree commission is written into the land use law in fact the shade Tre commission can uh assist the planning board when it comes to people coming in into town who want to build um we can assist or we can ask for recommendations when it comes to developers which has been a topic up here for many months many years you know with tlra Etc I will I am just beginning so the fact that I was able to resign from my political position in town I have other plans I am just beginning those plans but I asked about the complete streets policy I hope all of you look it up tonight or tomorrow to see what I mean there is an opportunity in rochell park which I hope is bipartisan you guys do your bipartisan thing because I like that I think they like that where we can make a real change in the way we design our streets the way we build them the way we design the Aesthetics of our of our town to improve the town to improve the property values and if you're worried about people complaining about trees being planted in front of their house you could always do what pamis does make it illegal to damage a town tree I was outside talking to Dave Brown I shared with him the complete streets model uh we talked about how he did go speak to several towns about it you can make it illegal for someone to damage a tree right so uh he said to me on West oldis we got the guy I asked about that so thank you for that I don't know what you got him for but couple thousand dollar that's hey that's great I hope that is not going to the general fund it's going go to okay I'm say it's got to go somewhere right but hopefully maybe you guys can put any of that money into the beautification that you get from I know you get $10,000 a year these things work you know um so I am willing to do what I have to do like if you guys are considering anything I'm I'm open to it we might have had our differences in the past I I can't say I'm not gonna say that I'm Not Innocent of it absolutely I know everything I've done politically so whether you take that at face value or not I think everyone on this panel knows I am someone with credibility and integrity and when I'm wrong I'm wrong and when I'm right I'm right and I will call out bad behavior when it's necessary I've done it you've all seen it trust me I've heard it yes what do you point I'm not pointing at you H not you trust me no ly and don't don't think ly and I don't get into our our issues that's well but um I'll be back next month for you for something special but um I think there needs to be a productive conversation around this and I'm thinking a shade tree commission is a way to go so I hope you guys again consider it you can read my letter tomorrow I even tie Christmas into the tree store I mean you know guys I'm doing everything I can so um I hope there are others out there I know there are others out there been contacted by people who've read my letters who share the same passion so [Music] um you guys all know how to contact me I'm I'm open to help finally Dean I do have to thank you and I always forget Sergeant or Lieutenant bermudes what is liutenant Lieutenant Peres uh I asked about the street lights in town um on my block they're pretty dim um so I did email Dean and and and Lieutenant Bermudas helped me figure out if we can get PS CG to look at some of the street lights there's a cost to it obviously uh I said I would do my best to try to research the best I can to try to find a way to pay for it um but I thought psng was going to replace those for nothing but I guess they're not doing it for nothing so if I may through the chair you got W I'm this is my last comment don't worry I got you yes um so we reached out to our contact PS he actually told this I thought I he explained this to you he said within the next couple years there's a a Federal grant coming down Public Services going to change all of their lights anyway basically they can't keep up the demand of their own street lights so that we said well why spend the money but if it continues to get worse you know for the $30 a year I I think we can you know I've done it down on Harvey Avenue if I may continue um I will say this and this committee knows that when it comes to redoing streets I I'm not in agreement with the old way that it was done here I tell Boswell we talked about Dorothy ger I know there was a flooding issue I had to driveth through in all those years and ponding issue I have to deal with the concer resident complaints I told them I don't want that anymore I want the the standing water mitigated and they have to do within D guidelines you talk about different street Scapes Street designs I can tell you with C Chestnut Avenue in Lincoln I've already tasked Boswell I said look speed humps are not uh desired by my DPW for plowing I said however let's narrow some curves let's put some green Islands in thek so I I could tell you and that's again this committe know that's how I operate there going to be AOSS up front but we're getting grant money maybe like a newsletter Dean maybe like a also if I may I also and I know I sat up here several months saying I've instructed the DPW to plant the damn trees I don't care Dave took responsibility I had them out in the hall so we are we are push and I was able to get free free trees from public service we will get those We are following up like you said I still think a sh commission is a way to go for the future but that's not your decision correct thank you very much thank you Mr Warren just a question so what what did when you were an elected official did the trade sha tree commission exist no and did you implement it I no and why not well we weren't removing trees at the speed that is happening now I was I was up there from 2017 to 19 and the trees were not being removed uh at the rate at least at the rate that uh that I'm aware of now I mean they're coming down by blocks and you can see this as the as the prime example okay that's all so Gale you're your right to ask me is say Mr Warren you were up here for three years right what about the shade tree commission have some kind of um board to go off of if you did a great question because and I and I'm going to be honest with you it wasn't something that was in my thoughts at that time only because I didn't see an issue with trees coming down okay over the past year and a half I have noticed those trees coming down some on my block alone Alone um and um so I'm to me that's something I'm passionate about and I think when you find people in the audience you know you have people here who are passionate about firefighting SE volunteering I have something to give I think you know and I think you know that Gail even if we disagree a lot you know I I I think that there's a way forward where we can restore the way our town looks as far as the Aesthetics of having you know shade trees and uh and still work together I I mean you know I just think that um and like I said I was up there for three years not even on my mind so 100% honest with you until I saw in 2022 a lot of treats coming down that's when I started to look into it more okay and I'm not up there anymore I'm not up there so I have to come to you guys that's all yeah that's fine just wondering where we could start off with if you had done any initi absolutely no I I wish I did I wish I did but thank you all right thank you guys one minute wait one quick question yeah Mr Dave Brown are there still trees available if people want them I forgot to mention or they're fill we only have 16 people that want Tre great start 16 you said we wanted to put out 40 and only 16 people will they still be available if people want them you're going to have you're all an opportunity come order I was with the compy I location to get Tre um the one company that I wasal that I was dealing with I I had some I talk Also may with was using uh this new guy that I started deal with um and I I opened up uh I set up a new with this guy um his prices are pretty good um good thing is with him he came out already he met with me he took me over to parames j3e yard he gave me like a whole tour of of trees that he had staged there waiting to be planted um it it was an education that that I've never kind of been through before uh walked me through everything with with with the trees that he could get his recommendations of of what we can use what we should do what we shouldn't do in the limit uh locations that that are in place that we have um in town between the curb and the sidewalk uh so it it was a real big education of Eye Opener that that we had we then came back to the office he looked at the recommendations from our the arist that she gave me his recommendations off those so there was a lot that came on my plate real fast between his recation what we should purchase the her recommendations so I have to decide I had to decide um at that point I kind of pulled back because I don't want to buy just anything and not be able to get the stuff in the ground fast enough and then have stuff die on us that's just a waste of money I wasn't willing to do that um so going forward I have the winter a look at uh the locations I I knowed 16 locations that we're going to plant the trees there's a lot that's going into it I can't just say I'm going to plant the tree right here and and and it's right on top of some Su line I'm not willing to do what's been done in the past and and that's a lot of what I'm dealing with I've had uh there was a resident over on East Park Place the sewer line was being crushed by the tree uh a harf in similar situations the trees got to come down so I'm dealing with more still trees that have to come down because of the damages that are being caused by improper placement and not knowing where you put the tree I don't I countless location that they put a tree right on top of the water cap um we're we're grinding the root and we're getting uh water caps getting washed at the guys you don't know it's in there even when they do the markout you're not sure so it's poor placement of of years past that did De so I'm not willing to put a tree on top of water lines gas lines um sewer lines that's the homeowners you know [Music] um you know stuff that that they need they need that you know I'm not willing to put on top of their so there limited I got home owners that one two trees on on their property you know I I can't justify in some of those locations to be able to do that I need to give that space um you know unfortunately doesn't work like property so there there's a lot that's going into it it's not just go put down one down and it just the time went fast so there I'm looking for people to tell me yes they want it we're working get the Tre uh uh to the right locations and as soon as I as soon as I can do that I'm working with this this new uh vendor and and he's willing to work with me coming out even to to spot location thank you as you see who really cares there are people Mr uh Deputy Mayor I just want to state that I want to thank Dave Brown because he has been in constant communication with me about these things so I just want to leave two things one is maybe contact Glenn Rock because that's that's really the reason why what Dave explained is the reason why they're doing their inventory where are they where are they placed Etc and then finally um you know I just wanted I just I what my last thought was but um uh I just I think we have to escape the mentality of like when something breaks in the police department you replace it you repl we should be replacing the the trees that are broken which which a lot of them are so that's all but thank you for thank you for my time oh miss I just want to talk about why the trees started to come down yes because we realized that we could apply in the roadway uh grants the dot grants we were allowed to include the curbs and aprons that's why the trees started to come down because they were hanging over the curve they were too big so that's that's why all of a sudden they started coming down and I understand and thank you for that M AR I guess that's you know again outside of my outside of my jurisdiction of being on the township committee but um they should be replaced even though they're being taken down and for good reason they're broken so thank you very much [Music] guys um on the topic of the trees I know like the town the E Andrew Matson elor Court the town has 10 ft from the curb and I know that kind of creates a problem with the sidewalk maybe we could increase that footage and maybe we could put a tree on somebody's front lawn where they actually want it and I don't think anybody really wants the tree in that little small patch of grass next to the sidewalk I mean maybe some people do but I think that inevitably you're going to have damage to the sidewalk I think not having a shade tree commission you notice we don't have many shade trees in town so maybe it just kind of goes hand in hand and I I do think it's important that somebody from the public gets up and I agree with Dean that $10 million from the county we should go after that I know at one meeting people were making comments that oh we can do better maybe maybe we can maybe we can't but we should take that 10 million and see what we can do and then if we need more the county knows that they have to help us get more and also as Dean said you know it's great to reach out to the county you get a response you reach out to LD 38 you get a response think about it as a taxpayer's point of view if you reached out to your county committee and you didn't get a response you know so I think we're all in agreement with that that's all sounds like Miller absolutely thank you um Patty Saka I have a question um I'm new to roell park what about businesses so I I asked if I could remove my the sidewalks and plant the trees myself I asked if I could put them in pots and so I have come up with Solutions and asked and although now you know I was grateful to just get the uh bike rack and I shut my mouth but now that everybody's talking about the trees there's not one tree on my block there's a bush I put two um pine trees in pots in front of my doors but I I contacted and I said I would like to get those industrial pots nobody's on my sidewalk and I know that doesn't matter legally whatever but I said I will buy the pots myself I'll pay for the trees myself I would do anything it's the ugliest Street you've ever been on in rosan park am I lying so although there are no trees you know I'm a business owner owner am I allowed to like what's my right for shade trade like May you're a taxpayer I I I pay more taxes than everybody in here for my building so yeah so when Patty reached out I immediately forward it to our zoning and and code enforcement and construction official as well as our Fire official right because at the end of the day Daryl deot has an obligation to make sure God forbid something dangerous happens in your building that our fire Personnel can get exactly um James de said same thing it would be a zoning issue so we run into those types of issues maybe that's something a shade tree commission working on you know on the commy medi but I'm doing it by myself because everything else just not not poted trees we talking about something it was going to be blocking the driveway and the Fire official was not the driveway the sidewalk the sidewalk which leads to but again I I read that the sidewalk is this big nobody needs that big of a sidewalk to walk but I get it I just want to come up with some kind of compromise what can I do to get some Greenery on side of the building no bamboo do we even know bamboo I I promise not to do bamboo but I have one Bush and that's the only green on the whole block it's it's sad and it's ugly guys drive down Legion Place mine's the prettiest building and everything else is a a mess uh I mean no I'm the only one covering my um garbage dumpster everyone's else is out on the street that shouldn't be allowed it's so filthy and dirty just put a fence around the damn thing you know why does it have to be such a mess all the time so yeah I mean I think there are things that we could do just take a ride down the streets you know what I mean I pay a lot of taxes I don't have a damn tree somebody get me a tree a bush but but drive down the street I mean you guys just drive down any of the streets that we're talking about and just make note of it you know yeah I think over Overlook was once at sh trees I think that that be void of any trees so it's the void yeah and I'm the last I guess I'm the last drain on the Block to and since some of my curbs are also this big and my business flooded twice already and I've only been there for two years and it never flooded for 40 years until you guys took out in order for me to buy the building what looked like a speed bump but it wasn't it was actually to prevent the water from going behind so I think we just need to be listened to and foswell doesn't always have all the answers because somebody needs to ask more questions so he said take it out and and it cost me $220,000 that my insurance didn't cover so a tree anything so whatever I can do as a business owner you're telling me I still pay taxes here and I have rights to okay that's great um I appreciate it thank you so much thank you I was just going to say it sounds like your story really does support the need for a shade tree commission within our community yes um because not only can they support residen but also businesses as well to help plant and maintain and if you drive down Legion place you'll be ashamed that that it has that it looks like like that there's red um orange orange right there's not supposed to be parking on the street nobody gives crap I can't get little tiny school buses in and out because they're parking on both sides of the street um it it's dumpsters at the curb when snow removal I mean it's a nightmare at on those streets and that there are about six little streets that are all um businesses then I I you'd be hard pressed to find a tree on any of them yeah and maybe if they the CH commission could reach out to them and ask them if they would like a tree and then they could support them in planting and maintaining beneficial for everybody yeah thank you and the dumpsters are a problem yeah I'll kick it over to zoning you know I have feeling the answer is going to be that a pre-existing non-conforming in yeah our zoning board chairman sitting in the audience yeah the dumpsters are disgusting and uh mine is neatly packed away because I care about roal Park I care about what it looks like I will forward it over to J thank you thank you I apprciate [Music] it Dian Hassel Forest Place um first I just wanted to let everybody know the Boy Scouts decorated the tree over at the Winter Wonderland at the bur County Park so I have picture but it's you know it's very well decorated and um i' like to ask you know people go look at it it looks really nice I was there the day before you done if we you could have come yesterday and helped us put ornaments um I unless I missed it when you guys talked about the tree lighting is there a rain date just because they're predicting rain so there is it's the following evening um Saturday yes same time just in case yeah okay um this is something Dean if you brought it up I apologize if I missed it we've talked about the smoking not a municipal property I have not brought it up that yeah so um I don't want to take away from your time okay well you know what I'm going with that okay um then another question I had when we were talking about the Garden State Plaza before how much money did we get this year from the Garden State Plaza is part of our negotiated security agreement I we have that I don't ask me off the top of my head but it would show up in Revenue yeah but I I have a letter and the letter the followup and the check that was received we get that or'll reach out to Kathy tomorrow we have no problem sharing that right yes agree yeah I I actually have the actual okay letter yeah this is we get money from the Garden State memorandum of sitting on my desk actually the actual me okay and the other thing I appreciate de when you were talking about the um raising a fines for certain things I think that's a great idea I would like to ask if you could or the committee could uh spread it out to other things that's why I asked it was an extensive list and more oh no these things may be on it but I mean this is something I've brought it up before Planning and Zoning gets very frustrated they approve something with very specific restrictions and then nothing happens and there's one or two things where Mr D Maria has even gone to the property and told people they have to get a permit or they should have gotten a permit oh well they don't and again not to take away M bassel's time but we literally had a resident who's been cited by James new Maria for about three years now failed to show up for court today it's in the Court's hands at this point so even with enhanced findes if people just could choose not to show up unfortunately the legal system in New Jersey's changed over the past several years under this uh the current leadership and threatened uh to where we can't even Warr for people anymore unfortunately I'm hoping we're going back that was kind of an excuse due to co but um it's you're right it's frustrating and the frustrating thing is that a lot of the people eventually they get away with whatever even if they're told they can't we offences that there's one right near my house and I brought it up 6 foot right on the driveway it is on the way the kids walk to school or if they're going down to the sand pit those people cannot see when they back up they will not until God forbid a kid is standing there I know Jimmy has gone there Jimmy Mr de Maria has gone there and the people first lied said the height of their fence now it's 6 foot eventually what I see happening is it's going to just go away and they're still going to have that fence until something horrible happens there's another place that put a pool in the backyard way over the allotted amount of property coverage no one's going to tell them to take the pool down we have properties in town that are breaking rules the place across the Street's not supposed to have tires they have the big high thing of tires he was addressed yesterday L received an email today um matter of fact Don Cod Force went there yesterday advis the owner you cannot have the tires unregistered vehicles on the property today those unregistered vehicles are gone the mistake of the person working there says well I don't even own it I'm renting it he cited them for not having proper not coming before the I mean again the work is being done it's and unfortunately enforcement is one aspect of it well and then the other one is we all know the well not gas station garage that he maximum seven cars if he has ever had that little on his property it's not same thing it just looks horrible people drive through town it looks like a used car lot he was told by Planning and Zoning seven Vehicles it's a full parking lot constantly I mean those just examples that you see on the main streets in town whether it's b or roal app it's all over town we had a thing how many months ago where there was a thing you w up the basketballs with the basketball hoops we people were told they had to remove them two months later they were all back out and I'm not trying to give Mr de Maria or the other guys work but on the other hand the only time they seem to go out is when somebody contacts them and says hey did you see XYZ that I can tell you is not true well that's what he told us that's what that came James maybe but that Don's out there no I'm a questioning Don Mr de Mar and I'm not blaming him I've brought this up before we need to get a full-time guy in that job whether it's Mr D Maria whether it's somebody else because he has so few hours that he can't cover all the things he needs to do so as a committee I'd like you to think about that extend his hours give him the time to do the job he's hired to do anyway thank you thank you um if I may Mr Hassel touched upon Deputy Mayor the no smoking ordinance um I believe when I first made Chief in an anticipation of the Cannabis law is changing I actually came to the township committee and said hey I would consider making no smoking of anything on public property um we still haven't done that and with this gazebo looking the way it does now and it kind of seems to attract those who like to smoke um and I don't think that's a proper place especially with the amount of effort work and the woodwork uh woodworking that went into it that we allow smoking unfortunately our current ordinance doesn't prohibit smoking Outdoors on Township property so I do suggest and something this committee consider again we can push it uh forward to next year is updating our nooke smoking orance making where there no smoking of any type of substances in any Township owned property or on Township owned property because again I don't think it's right to have people smoking in the middle of carlot field um whether you smoke or not and I love my cigars I don't think smoking around children playing on swing set as proper but I leave that to this body to consider and that's something you know anybody that knows school property you're not allowed to smoke on school property the people teachers F staff have no problem going to the sidewalk and I will tell you knows we talked about it and Davis mentioned it the bottom of the Gazebo there's a space underneath which I'm sure was put there for you know reason the wood airs if a spark of people smoking the whole time goes there by the time you realize you know of leaves and whatever underneath something we'd like you to really consider thank [Music] you it can I make a motion to close I'll make the motion second I I thought you motion yeah that's fine I'll second committee woman ARA yes committee woman Bon yes committee men Miller yes committee men M yes Deputy Mayor bti yes minut approval of minutes um ask for a motion to approve the minutes listed below work session and close session minutes dated 1025 23 make the motion I'll make the motion second committee woman or TOA yes committee woman Bon yes committee M Masa yes and Deputy Mayor B yes ordinance introduction introduction ordinance number 2023 just I think that um committee Miller should just put his exstension on the rec since he's in the roll call now so just call committee with Miller for his position and again you should abstain yeah committee Miller abstain cuz he's part of the new roll call introduction of the ordinance introdu introduce ordinance number 2023 d017 an ordinance to event chapter 80 of the code of the township of Russell Park entitled construction codes code enforcement department I ask for a motion to Inu by the title the first reading ordinance 2023 017 in ordinance to amend chapter 80 of the code attach of roal Park entitled construction code code portion Department by way of number 023 224 it to be published in full in the B record with notice of public hearing to be held on December 13 2023 make a motion I'll make that motion second I'll second committee woman Ora yes committee woman Bon face yes committee man Miller yes committee M yes Deputy Mayor B yes as for a motion to introduce by title of the first reading ordinance 2023 018 and ordinance to amend chapter5 of the Cod of the township BR Park entitles land use and development regulations at a new section entitled privately own salt storage by way of resolution number 023 d225 and it be published in full and the beron county record with notice of public hearing to be held on December 13 2023 next for motion I'll make that motion I'll second committee woman ARA yes committee woman Bon yes committee Noah yes committee M yes Deputy Mayor bti yes take those you actually got to take five off too you got to take off 207 212 23 why don't we can I ask a couple questions okay um the grants receivable and I may have forgotten but when did we talk about canceling that so if you recall when we brought up carlot field and doing the lights it was it would never pass this body so um we're looking at those funds sitting there we we have to we have to because it's probably they were 2021 so they again we could always reapply for these grants but sit and the CFO here to explain it no no no that's F you got it I'm good but I just had to bring it back um the other thing the road surfacing program what which number I'm sorry 20 215 yeah that was the bid that was the B what and oh that's that project and again it came we're very fortunate the time of year that we're doing it and again um Boswell worked with us on this you to get winter work and get it out ahead it's going to we're going to have plenty of have to do pipe work on this yeah we're going to have plenty of funding there okay you can put that back on am Marie okay so 212 and 215 um committee put them all back on okay so that would be so we're going to put back on two uh 02327 0232 one question payroll services are we renewing a contract so it hadn't been renewed since 2019 um the CFO brought it to my attention that we were due for renewal it's uh it's actually the same company we've been using yeah I read that about them they have like how many pounds yeah you could put everything back on okay so so we need a motion we made to put back on 212 215 213 and 207 yep I'll make that motion second I'll second all in favor I okay those Mo resolutions have now been added again to the consent agenda and now you can take a vot on consent agenda I need a motion for the consent agenda I'll make the motion for consent I'll second okay committee woman ARA yes committee R yes committee Miller yes committee M yes and Deputy Mayor yes okay pass that's it now we're going a motion to go on session for the Public's benefit in close session uh there'll be discussions matters related to litigation negotiations and client privilege there will be no formal action taken after Clos session the motion to go and close I'll make the motion I'll second all in favor [Music] I off appreciate okay you got those reports right