e e e e e good evening I'd like to bring the March 12th 2024 meeting to order start with flag I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liy and justice for all moment of silence to remember the service and sacrifices of the armed service members who protect our nation and the First Responders who protect our neighborhoods clerk please take the all councilman freedlander here councilwoman noon here councilman Brooks here councilman sacket here councilwoman Brooks here councilman Quinn here councilman voitovich here vice president salberg here president Chris here adequate notice of this meeting was provided to the Daily Record in the Star Ledger the official newspapers for the township of Rockaway notice was posted on the official bulletin boards of Rockway Township the township website and notice was filed in the office of the Township Clerk uh before we get going I'm going to hand over the meeting to the mayor turn our backs everybody sorry so uh it's always a great honor to have um Eagle Scouts uh participate in projects uh Eagle Scouts from our community so this James Olen earned a rank of Eagle Scout recently James can you tell everybody grew up in Rockway Township what schools you go to sure um well when I was in elementary school I went to uh Birchwood Elementary and uh for middle school I went to Copeland middle school and right now I go to uh I'm a graduating senior of moris s High School nice and third B about the project you did for Eagle Scouts sure thing for my uh Eagle Scout project I built 12 easel for uh celebrate the children which is a school in Denville and I um it's a special education School so I um I built easel with multiple different levels so uh for for the art class students of all sizes and all abilities could use the easel to paint how old you I'm uh 17 years old 17 I ain't doing anything nearly that good at 17 um so t t or James and his commitment to Township and what he's done with his life so far we created a Proclamation so whereas service to community which benefits the common good is necessary and is Honorable whereas the Boy Scouts of America is a volunteer organization that for the past 114 years has provided the opportunity for thousands of young people to develop strong character and resolution and to grow into healthy and productive adults and whereas James Olsen of troop 113 has steadily risen through the ranks of scouting and has taken leadership roles of increasing responsibility along the way in his current role of senior patol leader James has led the troop through the planning and running of meetings as well as C campouts he has also actively work to help other Scouts develop skills and enable themselves to move up the ranks whereas James Olson has ear the highest rank honor in the Boy Scouts the rank of Eagle Scout and for his Eagle Scout Prospect prosp project James designed and constructed 12 easel out of Oak for the art Development Department of celebrate the children In a Special Needs school in Denville on his journey to receiving this award James has developed many leadership skills which he has applied in other areas of his life including as captain of the high school bowling team and concert Master of the Morris Hills Orchestra now therefore I Joe Jackson May to Township of Rockway to hereby congratulate James olssen on this disting distinguished achievement of earning the rank of Eagle Scout and call upon the citizens of Rockway Township to extend their congratulations and best wishes for a life of Happy happiness and continued success [Applause] congratulations hoping okay good luck thank you so much thank you council president thank you uh we're going to move on to the approval approval of the minutes uh from the February 27th Township Council regular meeting can I have a motion so move second please take the rooll councilman Fred lender yes councilwoman noon yes councilman Brooks yes councilman sacket yes councilman Brooks yes councilman Quinn yes councilman voitovich yes vice president salberg yes president critz yes that's nine yeses motion passes uh the approval of minutes for the February 27th Township Council executive session minutes can I have a motion so move second cler please take the role councilman friedlander yes councilman Manon yes councilman Brooks yes councilman sacket yes councilman Brooks yes councilman Quinn yes councilman voitovich yes vice president salberg yes president critz yes that's nine yeses motion passes uh we're going to move on to the open to the public portion uh I will call your name from the signin sheet uh when I call your name please come up to the microphone state your name and address for the record and I am uh as a reminder there is a three minute time limit Bob Norton thank you president and council members I'm Bob Norton I live at 53 cuga Avenue uh enjoyed living there 24 years now with my wife Franchesca and my concern is from what I'm hearing in the news constantly by our Congressional legislators that uh every state is is a border state so I know we have a security um roving security around White mle Lake um and we've had that in place for many many years I'm wondering if if you ever considered a um uh Watch program as many other towns as well as parcion um if that's something that's ever been on the books something that you've talked about considered um as a senior C I'm a little bit concerned about what's happening in New York City some Overflow what might we be be concerned of how to protect ourselves that's what's on my mind okay uh if he's inclined to I'll ask the chief to comment on that when it is part of the report in the past years we've had the neighborhood watch in the different areas of the township unfortunately like everything else people move away interest wains what happens is that the uh know the program just go to fun but you know by all means if we can get the you know the interest you know we'd be more than happy to to S whether just for White mle Lake or for any other areas Birchwood telar what have you you we've had it in the past and the problem has been just that you know after a while people just they drift away or they lose interest so maybe what we'll do is that we'll put the two of you in touch maybe after the meeting and we can discuss if there's any actions we can take right yeah I love my neighbors and uh I keep an eye out as I always have like uh my neighbors cross the street went off to work left the front door open so you know understood we'll see if we can get you guys together thank you arasa good evening reaf 138 white M Road Rockaway uh I want to start my uh three minutes by wishing you a blessed Ramadan this is the second day of the fasting month where Muslims around the world are fasting from Sunrise till sunset so uh I will make my remarks short because I need to go back home and join in the feast that's being prepared for us uh Rockaway Township through its council president and council members mayor's office and administration is taken the lead in discussing debating and considering for adoption a very significant resolution that clearly rejects any acts of racism against Muslims and any other minority and any other person so uh I applaud you for taking the initiative accepting our invite to consider this resolution I hope you will adopt it and this will be the start of uh uh Statewide movement to cons to have other towns and cities consider similar resolutions and uh I wish you again a blessed Ramadan and I thank you we are hopeing we're hoping that you will uh take the decision as soon as possible so that our members can return to their homes and prepare for their uh dinner and also for the evening prayers thank you again did anybody who did not sign the sheet wish for an opportunity to speak name and address good Council stepen please I'd like to thank you for this opportunity and would like to express myself and my family and my community why we should we adapt this resolution as we just pledged our Legion my children and their children your children every day they go to the school and they pledge the legion to be all Liberty under one country and freedom of religion freedom of expression themselves when my kids go to school I would like them to feel free Sarah she's 15 years old she decided to put the veil on herself unfortunately one of the kids came one day wrapping himself with the bathro tissues said oh I'm Sarah I don't want my kids to be in this predicament I'm sure you don't want your kids to be in the same predicament the other kids also had another incident where her teacher called the r in and her happen her number was nine one student next to her she goes 91 and he give her that face so I would like you to adopt this resolution to fill our community to be safe under our constit constitutional right for freedom of religion thank you thank you anybody else from the public wish to speak okay okay we're going to move on to the consent did somebody raise their hand yeah uh yeah sure don't be shy stick it up there name and address please Asia Malik 28 Hillsboro Court um I just I wasn't planning on speaking today um but I just wanted to say I applaud everyone who was responsible for bringing the islamophobia resolution to light um I know uh council person Brooks councilman uh Freelander Ry and uh mayor were at a Ramadan event that we put together rather quickly um but it ended up being an amazing event and for the kids especially who live in this town um it was like the first time they really felt um that they could celebrate who they were obviously they're American children they participate in everything that goes on in town here but they're also Muslim and for them it was a very important thing and so this I feel like will solidify um that feeling of unity that we're trying to bring to Rockway um and I also have a 5-year-old daughter so who just started kindergarten so to have something like this P it it would just warm my heart because I would know that she's protected in the schools as she continues in the school system thank you thanks uh and I feel to mention it we will also sign this and post it out front like we we do with similar resolution okay anybody else go once okay okay consent agenda r24 d53 r- 24-54 r- 24-55 r24 d56 r2457 r24 d59 and r24 D60 can I have a motion so move second clerk please take the role councilman Fred lender yes councilwoman noon yes councilman Brooks yes councilman sacket yes councilwoman Brooks yes councilman Quinn yes councilman voitovich yes vice president salberg yes president chrit yes that's nine yeses cons sent agenda passes go eat time to party thank uh all right I'm GNA move around the order a little bit we're going to go to the uh appointment to the Zoning Board of adjustment Eric wielki for a two-year term can I have a motion so move second clerk please take the role councilman friedlander yes councilwoman noon yes councilman Brooks yes councilman sacket yes councilman Brooks yes councilman Quinn yes councilman voy toich yes vice president salberg yes president Chris yes that's nine yeses motion passes congratulations uh we're going to go to reports and just uh so everybody knows after reports we are going to have a closed session I don't anticipate any action being taken after the closed session uh but we will not be ending the meeting as soon as this is done just want to let everybody know that uh let's start with councilman freedlander I was going to say Jack but he was taking a drink I didn't want all right go ahead okay uh Library all the programs are going strong uh the discussion was the planning of the uh Library Festival so I'll keep you posted as far as that uh substance abuse Alliance is going strong uh the next phase is three where we have another guest speaker and and uh this the plan we're planning the celebrity day uh May it's uh May 30th it'll be starting rly with Copeland and there's going to be a tremendous amount of uh guest speakers that day uh the let's see let's see substance okay uh environmental committee the only thing on discussion was uh the reviewing of uh Christ the church uh area with the planning board and the discussion uh with the proposal warehouse and Rockaway burough that will affect Rockway Township tremendously as far as that area uh Historical Society project is going uh as planned they just finished the AC in the Ford F house we're just waiting to hear what the septic was you can't do anything with the building until the septic and water is running through and that's that's the next thing uh program uh may may you know his Pathways that's where we're involved with the the county and uh planning uh more programs right after that until we finally we're able to open it up and uh yeah that's it councilwoman then yes couple quick things um I just want to thank well I don't know the chief or I went down mouth Prospect where the signs were missing I know we discussed it with the chief and with Paula so I did go down they are up so thank you for that um and the other thing is there's a telephone poll on Rockaway Road and CBS I guess there was an accident I want to say going back to the fall and they just left half the it's just all over the place so who's responsible for cleaning that is it J cpnl I'm assuming yeah I can contact our government representative okay thank you that's it council person Brooks thank you first I want to start off I know they had already left but I really appreciated the invite to the Ramadan celebration on Friday night it was a fantastic time to learn a personally myself I didn't know as much about it so that was really sweet there was a the kids had put on a performance and they sang and it was amazing amazing then to find out they put it all together there had to be what 20 30 kids ranging from 4 to maybe 10 and they put together this song and this little performance in what I was told a week on zoom and it was awesome there's one little boy who's definitely going to be on America's Got Talent one day uh he was he was fantastic um but again uh heartfelt thank you for that I learned a lot and it was a wonderful celebration and I can't wait for next year um secondly the Board of Ed meets tomorrow at 7:30 at copela middle school they're going to be recognizing some students from dbo the CB uh CMS theater company is also going to come in and perform a song from their into the woods uh that's their production this year uh tickets for that I think go on sale on their website starting tomorrow opening night is Thursday the 21st there's a performance on the Friday the 22nd Saturday 23rd um I hear they go like hot cakes um I'm a lucky parent who got like first dibs um also the Rockway Township Education Foundation was in desperate need of officials and people to take over their board the individuals who were doing it quite some time and it was time for them to step down and they had found some people to step up so they're electing those and last but not least I want to congratulate Lieutenant Kepler and the nolles hills hockey team um they brought home their fifth state championship last week um and here's a little fun fact that I didn't know uh we're one of five p school programs that have won five state titles along with Del Barton brick Christian Brothers and Randolph so it's pretty nice company um out of the 10 seniors douy correct me if I'm wrong uh 10 seniors um five of them were from Rockaway Township and I have gone through the Rockaway Township program so congrats to those kids congrats to uh Lieutenant Kepler that's all I have councilman rovic I have uh nothing to report but when when it comes to the chief if Chief if you could just explain if whatever you can information provide to us I know at the last budget hearing you talked about the Pond View incident where DEA and AK47 was involved so when you get a chance if you could please provide some information to us to be great sir councilman Brooks thank you council president um couple things uh on my end I know uh I don't know the date of the Mars Hills School play but I know the Mars old school play will be week I think it's already passed oh that one was passed past weekend the NES one will be uh this week on Thursday Friday and Saturday uh I I think I'll be attending the Thursday show uh which it's Legally Blonde if I remember correctly so that should be pretty fun um in terms of the uh recreational uh hockey program uh our season just ended last weekend we had several of our pro teams in the finals and our uh squirt uh team won the championship so uh and my daughter was on that team so pretty exciting there so and that is it on my end councilman second thank you council president uh I attended the uh Morris toown St Patrick's Day Parade over the weekend and it was honored to march with all my fellow elected officials throughout the county it was a great to see the Rockway Township Fire Department there I took the train in with uh sha Deo and uh we all trained back and uh it was really fun day it rained quite a bit but great to March and see all the elect officials and a ton of residents from Rockway were there as I was marching through the route people you know cheering so it was great over 10,000 people were there so great time over the weekend also um received a thank you note from one of the residents so just wanted to uh read it dear councilman sacket thank you for your assistance with our property tax issues we are for we are very grateful Naomi and Steve Ric so I also want to thank um Administration for helping me get that thank you note and doing a great job and uh um making the residents feel uh very thankful so thank you so much that's all I have councilman Quinn yes thank you um March the planning board cancelled our next meeting is going to be April 15 uh Recreation committee we cancelled there wasn't enough people to come to the meeting to many people are doing a lot of uh spring Sports have popped so everybody is running around as everybody knows and we'll move on let's see dial ride is having its St Patty's Day party tomorrow at moldun in the mall so we're going over there and the residents that use di ride are very grateful for this and they really enjoy it it's something they look forward to at least getting out other than going to doctors and or uh physical therap occupational therapy or whatever and same thing with the kids that are go to that are special needs that go to OTC training uh they're all welcome and it's open to anybody in town that wants to do it h they just have to get into Veronica and let her know and they can drive there and meet us there or get on the dial ride list then they'll pick them up but you have to fill out the paperwork and be certified [Music] um let's see what else uh yeah uh congratulations like uh C councilwoman Brooks brought up about Mars nolles Mars Hills hockey uh it's great U I really enjoy watching the kids play especially my grandson when he plays with the Rockaway team and now lacrosse is getting ready to kick baseball's kicking so at soccer so everybody enjoy the spring Sports hopefully this weather will break it's crazy when it rains snows hails in one day and then the Sun comes out but you know it is the eyes of March are coming so let's get through this and move on thank you Chief can we get some extra patrols at mun tomorrow when you gotta watch them drunken people that's why we get a bus we'll just come the bus throw everyone in the back Council vice president you nothing to report but I do have a request for the administration and if we could have this by by the next council meeting just I was hoping to get an update on the Town Master Plan haven't heard anything about that and I believe that is due um and also did hear from a few residents wondering if we're having a Rockway Day this year so again I was hoping to uh get an update that I can pass along on that so thank you mrao good to see you in uh Better Health thank you um I'm going to defer to uh close session um but anybody who says I sound like veto Corleone's in trouble how are you um so on the 28th Mr freder mentioned I attended the uh Denville planning board meeting uh with uh M karelli um and other members of the Rockway Township community that spoke uh basically I think our concerns went unheard the planning board uh unanimously approved the warehouse to go in in Denville so um it's going to be constructed they don't have tenant yet so we really don't know what's going to go in there um the you know my understanding from the people that spoke is that some of their ordinances were changed so that it didn't have to go in front of their planning board or um there their Board of adjustments so it's done um the only inspections that'll be done from an environmental standpoint are by their own health department so it was disappointing um and for those you get the citizen the there was an article about it uh that talked to and I had some quotes in there and some members of the Denville Community had some quotes and that was thing it was funny that people from Denville were apologizing to the people from Rockaway that were there so um just you know just no sad things so I think the budget meeting went well and I want to thank um the council for how they conducted themselves I think you guys act asked great questions I think there was good debate good discussion and uh you know that's how meeting should be conducted and I appreciate that um councilwoman Brooks mentioned the um passing of art crane um and uh I actually attended the wake and you know got to listen to you know when you somebody who's been in this community and parted me so long in in the waiting area people talked stories about him and how he impacted their lives in a positive way and we had great representation from our fire department so he will definitely be missed in our community um at the most recent Historical Society meeting they did a presentation on uh Revolutionary War weapons and uniforms and things like that it was very informative very cool if you guys ever get a chance you try and go to meeting um they're they're very cool uh I met with a eagle scout candidate um we have another Eagle Scout candidate who is looking to uh his for his project to be to replace the flag pole outside the senior center and make improvements around that area and put up like a legit flag pole maybe put a sitting area things of that nature um Miss fante's already told me she'll get a chainsaw and cut down some trees for us and it'll all be good um we heard about the Ramadan awareness event it was really touching and moving and and Jeff's not here right we were definitely in violation of fire codes because there were a lot of people there there were like over a hundred people in the senior center and it was just great um and then over the weekend I was able to marry a couple which was very nice um besides the noes um hockey Hills NOS hockey team there are also other great things that happened um in town so the Morris NES um boys relay team at the uh New Balance Nationals uh ran a 328 38 which is number six in State history um and and you know no no other team was able to beat their time so they came in first um and the lineup is uh Greg Palmer Elija bastos um Tyler spleen and um yeah I didn't want to pronounce that how is it say it again yeah so great great job by all them and then I don't know if anybody had a chance to look um I think this is the citizen 2 um a mother and a daughter uh Miriam and Lexi Donley visited the capital on Tuesday to urge lawmakers to support uh foreign assistance and help combat preventative and curable illnesses across the globe so Rockway Township residents going down to DC and making a difference I thought that was pretty cool and then I'll end with um we had a really nice uh call from a resident uh commenting about one of our police officers saying that uh she reported her wallet lost her stolen at shopright um the situation very stressful um and the professionalism and compassion uh that the officer showed her really made a big difference and she wanted uh his superiors to know about it and uh you know it's really cool to get feedback like that we have a great police force and uh I was just proud to get that so I wanted to share that too and that's all I have for tonight just to kind of add on to to what the mayor was talking about the uh zoning board and you saw we had one appointment tonight I still have two positions open on the zoning board um so zoning board our zoning board if anybody is interested uh I would encourage you to go on to the website fill out an application um it's a very important position it's a great way to start getting involved if you're not already miss coo Okay thank you council president I just want to let everyone know the township applied for 800 approximately $895,000 with a federal assistance to firefighter Grant uh the township applied for p25 compliant radios p25 compliant radios will be uh compliant with all of the mutual Aid communities we are uh we affiliate ourselves with which are quite a bit I just want to give a shout out to our fire director Jeff heiselman who did a great job it was a bit of a nailbiter because me being new here the federal government did not update their records so I couldn't submit the application I had the uh FEMA online I had the fire a grant assistance online but we were able to get it through uh I was told to Polie calm down ma'am a few times but it got through um we also received $50,000 from the state assistance of firefighters grant that $50,000 will be used to purchase fire hose and some self breathing uh self-contained breathing apparatuses for our firefighters so um that's very exciting we're going to also look to apply for the leap Grant which is the local efficiency achievement program we're going to implement something here in Rockaway we're looking to get about $300,000 right now I'm working with DPW and Engineering with regard to the top projects that would bring in you know the most success um typically these are shared services agreement with a a minimum of another town so some towns have won awards for going in and purchasing a jet vac to clean out our catch basins that kind of a thing you know big pieces of equipment that maybe towns don't use every day but cost a lot to have and maintain and you share the cost of that we're looking at perhaps maybe a a multi Town D snagging or uh some interconnections with mutual towns so we're we're looking at that um and I just want to I know we're talking a lot about the budget it's a very big process and a lot of time and effort goes into that I'd like to thank our CFO Lisa who does uh the bulk of all of those things she follow she's got to follow a lot of laws and I'd also like to thank the folks that are here and that are not here our department heads and division heads who put a lot of time and effort and put the needs of our residents first always when putting those numbers on the paper we make every effort to have a net zero increase and you know congratulations to the mayor and you for achieving that um so I'm very happy to introduce that budget at the next meeting and uh thank you very much and and yes I will say uh Samia who uh organized the whole Ramadan event I spoke to her um she did an outstanding job she organized that whole event in a week and a half um so and and her enthusiasm I said I think we need you for Rockaway day getting to C vice president so I will get back to you on those two concerns Miss pal I have nothing to report tonight thank you Miss fron has she done enough with the budget no report Chief uh as was already uh mentioned we assisted moristown PD with the parade we had both officers down there assisting with crowd control we also had our motorcycle unit down there leading the parade uh our new recruits will be graduating the B County of Police Academy on March 21st first at 7 p.m. once they graduate they'll be starting their eight weeks of field training and once they're done with that they'll be shadowed by senior officers until they're you know competent to uh handle themselves also just to as a FYI we've been getting a lot of uh fraudulent calls to our residents where uh these uh fraudsters are call identifying themselves either as Rockway Township police officers or Morris County Sheriff's officers and what they're doing is they're trying to the people usually the seniors into sending them money or these Green Dot cards otherwise they're threatening the uh these residents with immediate arrest well just to set the record straight you should never give your personal information to anyone over the phone unless you know who it is and second of all if there's an arrest warrant for you we're not going to let you know we're coming for you we're just going to come and get you so just you know be forewarned if somebody calls up and stting they're either Rockway Township officer or sheriff's officer do not give them any personal information do not send them anything as a matter of fact one resident was down in the lobby talking to my brother who's a detective sergeant and she received a call from somebody claiming to be Rockway Township police officer so needs to say my brother got on the phone and discussed it with the person on the other end and conversation didn't last long but you know just be on guard if we want you we'll come and get you that's it okay um like I said before I'm going to be calling for a close session now once we go into Clos session I'm going to set a limit of 30 minutes if we are going to exceed those 30 minutes and we'll come back out and tell everybody if you're still here uh like I say do not expect any action taken as a result of this meeting today uh so resolution R 2461 resolution authorizing an executive close session in accordance with the New Jersey open public meetings act to discuss Personnel matters contract negotiation and potential litigation can I have a motion so move please take the councilman freedlander yes councilwoman noon yes councilman Brooks yes councilman sackin yes councilman Brooks yes councilman Quinn yes councilman voitovich yes vice president salberg yes president chits yes that's nine yeses no I thank you thank you thank you very much so 30 for e e e e e e e e e e e e e e for e e e for e e for e e e e for e e e e e e e e e e e [Music] e I'd like to make a motion to return from close session so move second second CL please take the rooll councilman fre yes councilman freedlander councilwoman noon yes councilman Brooks yes councilman sacket yes councilman Brooks yes councilman Quinn yes councilman voitovich yes vice president salberg yes president crits yes it's nine yes's motion passes like to make a motion to adjourn all in favor I thank you everybody stay [Music] well