these little ones they're so cute the really little ones yep my goodness did Summer bring my cookies summer did Summer bring my cookies don't worry I'll drop it's okay it's all right how's your mom I don't see p yeah she's doing good you said Patty was coming said Pat was coming that video was in s Thorns the Thorns yes every rose has Thorn did you hear that New Jersey has its first professional pickle ball team no not oh God time $750,000 to to buy the three years ago when they first started 2019 oh yeah was 21 anyway now the franch more than double exactly right proba double again years the prince do you know who the owner is Cruisers I think so there were a lot of like it's like it's football we're buying yes yes yes yes hang the Princeton bruisers the players are age 50 and up and all the teams they're 50 and [Music] we did not know oh 2022 six teams in 2022 and now they they expanded into six more you WR to good team by team it's not that wait why want help the trophies want me to hand up trophies Ryan are you ready absolutely I don't blame are you ready ex yes good evening and welcome to the February 27th 2024 meeting of the roadland governing body adequate notice this meeting has been provided Accords to the open public meeting act and at the date time and location meeting were including annual meeting schedule post on the public bu and board in the municipal building and filed in the office of buror clerk for those attending tonight's meeting via Zoom the agenda and any other relevant documents can be found on the bur's website attached to the meeting notice posted in the news and announcement section during the meeting announc we made prior to the two public comment periods anyone wishing to make a public comment via computer will be instructed to use the raise your hand icon and any wishing to make a public comment via telephone will be instructed to dial star9 at the appropriate time for those in attendance in person remotely please provide your name and address when selected Mr Watkins please call the rooll mayor spango present Mr part here Mr Baron present Mr Fishman here Mr Freda here Mrs parate here Mr Trill here please rise to the flag salute I pledge Ali to the the United States of America to the Republic for which it stands one nation God indivisible andice for all all right as you can tell we have a lot of kids and and trophies to give out so what we're going to do is we're going to go by team so every parent has a chance to see their child receive the trophy so we're going to start with the Thorns uh who are the coach of the Thorns of course right come on up um how many cultures all right girls so head coach Rich lupac assistant coach Marissa TOA joeun um first and second grade girls champion um we're going to say your name okay she going to give you a trophy you're going to come stand next to your coach we're going to take a picture okay everyone got it which want say anythings absolutely excellent unable this year I'm proud of each and everyone great who they be uh it's summer here go by your Co Ella Lily Addison Alana nicolina Savana Lena Alisa Avery Juliana Gabriel your name's not in here Nei there's a ringer your name's not on here and her name's she must to SC all the goals conations girls right here you goated they're all here what every this should be fine I think I think everyone's here all right I as much to say definitely Lop sa that ConEd right one time we give out the [Laughter] wrong [Music] so I need sorry said right this an easy one since it's Moose's team Co councilman tr's team I don't have to say anything he gets to do all the work uh all right so great great team rosand United not undefeated um one loss but a well-timed loss I always think is essential for a good playoff run um however Jimmy I know you'll appreciate this all season three goals we left up that was it we outscored our opponents 50 to3 you guys played great third graders fourth graders contributed um Camden and Maddie I want to call you guys out Camden I'm pretty sure you led the league with 17 goals and Maddie you might have been second with nine goals um but they only allow three goals off season it's all about defense and playing together guys you did a great job so come on up and let's take a picture and work on our next championship s the coaches Brian Meyer and Mike Russo Mike Russo is not here tonight then we had Dean fabri Ashton Fowler Kyle graski Vinnie crutz Mason Manning Brandon Muki Patrick Meer AKA PJ Ian Montgomery cam Navaro Maddie Pereira shre ready Lucas Russo Chris sh Sharma Tom Tommy Sher Matty schroer and Adam trill Smile Smile open [Laughter] up [Music] [Laughter] congrats guys congrats congrats oh yeah yeah yeah Sur just loop around the purple people eaters okay you guys W by yourselves that's all they needed just see if there's any the right you guys are official team the youth kickball Champions were uh the Purple People leaders what's your last name what's your last name so we have what's the last name Davis okay we have Harper Davis and we have Logan F pal F excuse me they put the wrong name down uh they're the representatives from the uh purple people leaders who won the championship here for kickball congratulations guys get the picture here we go two person team do um spirit I think it's normal I think it's 6 to eight we locked them [Laughter] out come on Spirit up here coaches I assume here who's gonna man the microphon woman the microphone okay so we have the rosand spirit we had one Anastasia Ella Juliana Harper Mariana Lucy Annie Amber Estelle eleny and Joyce elen sorry um head coach was Sally Sebastian assistant coach Wendy Constantino and Matt Mandel on the T Sally they were third and fourth grade co- champions and one more assistant coach Lisa um so proud of these girls we had such a great season they really came together as a team it's my first time coaching my own child and children in general um we were just so proud of them and we tied for first place with the other rosand team after two overtimes in the championship it was great sportsmanship uh the whole season couldn't be prder great job girl you move back a little bit back all the way back up against [Laughter] more moving fast moving fast better not know that how are you line up right alongs congrats the schroer yeah yeah no that I think maybe the size they do like one of the coaches has to talk so I don't know which one W nice right we have the third and fourth grade co-champions who I heard had a double overtime tie with the spirit who just left um both teams congratulations on a great season head coach Phyllis assistant coach Colette and assistant coach Farah we Natalia Emma talene Nina Audrey Riley Franchesca Sophie Emily and Mona congratulations which one of the coaches wants to come up and talk thank you thank you mayor um these girls were amazing to coach they were a joy every single time on the field during practices during games they really pulled together as a team every single time and it showed in the final and we're coach Champs so congratulations girls you're making a wall I congratulations job thank you one more he wants a picture great you're welcome good job coach congratulations conat see you next season great get your mitt [Music] ready no more kids are we sure my wife might have left mine behind I'm not sure that was nice yes it's always nice with the kids always nice with the kids get my steps okay so three socer championships next on the agenda we have two commendations for the police department police department it's going to be shuffling in in a [Music] second [Music] thank you we have two commendations one for officer Carlos Gonzalez one for officer Gerard Constantino um G have director chafy uh give a little background as to the incident situation and uh why offic Gonzalo with us and Miss Lang is here I'd like her to come up as well I'm sure she she's the reason that we're honoring the officers today so after director CH good evening everybody and welcome um tonight we're here for a special occasion and um I'm just going to give you a little synopsis of what took place that night so back on December 28th of 2020 three there was a a 911 call of an elderly woman that fell and um unknown injuries at that point officer Gonzalez and officer catino were the first officers to respond they took immediate action uh did what they had to do to stabilize the patient until the the medic showed up showed extreme compassion and stood there to the end until the patient was taken away these are certain things in this agency that we know are imperative we never know what kind of call we're going to we act as forid sometimes firemen to evacuate buildings and also obviously for Patrol police functions so with that I want to congratulate you guys on a great job appreciate keep up the good work thank you very much um my mother's in Florida and her than to both officers phenomenal personally I'd like to congratulate the officers and important that we highlight things like this because for every one bad thing you hear that's going on in law enforcement there's 99 great things that are going on that just don't get recognized and the people a lot of people don't realize the Humane aspect of it I had the privilege of speaking as a keynote speaker at the Police Academy graduation a year or a year and a half ago and one of the things in my address was that you don't realize everyone thinks that law enforcement work is just catching the B bad guy or putting handcuffs on someone and that's a small portion as the men and women of rosand police know you spend more time consoling your your residents mentoring your young children or just listening or being there for a family member than you do actually doing what people see on TV so things like this are important that we recognize them and we thank this L to bring it to our attention because we don't hear about the 99 good things that happen we only hear about the few bad things so we should take a moment to honor not just these two police office of our Police Department for the wonderful job they do every day that goes on record thank you both for the service stay safe we stand yeah we just stand in place maybe that's a good idea thank you thank you I thought he Oh I thought I saw you I know I got it I got it there's no flag FL I got um before our first round of public comment I'd like to bring up um member of the Board of Ed M jario who wants to make a statement accompanied by superintendent welcome hi everybody thanks for having us tonight um I am here as the vice president Board of Education Mr Leon our superintendent's here also uh board president Alice SC actually has another meeting at the school so she can't be here tonight uh we want to come and thank you for giving us the time to discuss our referendum with you at your recent Caucus meeting we appreciate the comments and your questions and all your support uh mayor spango councilman trillo councilman Kate we thank you for serving on our referendum advisory committee uh and I must say I'm very proud of the bond the stronger bond that we are creating between the school uh and the community and the school board and the council uh we also want to thank the Rosland planning board for uh its support and Tool as well uh as you know the project we were talking about includes eight classrooms four small group instruction spaces uh we truly feel that this project is necessary as we plan for an increase in enrollment uh we also feel the timing is right since we have previous debt maturing which means residents will see a net zero tax impact uh the plan also includes upgrades and renovations to the current building including replacing pageback units and boilers and windows uh and we feel including these items in the referendum is fiscally responsible as well because it means if the referendum passes we will benefit from state aid uh we believe this new addition to the school and the upgrades to the current building are all necessary in order to maintain the high quality learning environment we've come to expect uh we invite community members to our next Community Forum on Tuesday March 5th at 7M at no record and if anyone has questions please reach out to us or or visit the district's referendum website uh please remember to vote on March 12th polls will be open at our regular polling locations from 2: to 8:00 P.M again we thank all of you for your time and your support um and please remember to go vote thank you thank you thank Youk you thank you next on our agenda is our first round of public comment any member of the public wish need be heard come forward state your name and address for the record if you're with us via Zoom use the raise your hand icon and if you're with us telephonically press star9 68 street rosand I just have one question to ask the uh all of you the new construction that's going to be going on on um Livingston Avenue I believe it's multi multi-units of apartment units uh the taxes the uh all of our taxes have gone up okay fine and I'm hoping everything funds the public school because definitely that has to be done the person that or the organization that's building that building are they their taxes are there taxes with the tax Abate like Frozen for x amount of years well there's there's one two there's a depending on which project we're speaking of there's different developers on different projects right so we actually had an executive session with one of the developers before to talk about where the tax dollars what the tax dollars are going to be right so we are in negotiations with them now as to what their tax will be so I can't really speak to that right now in unless it's one of the ones that we haven't settled with because one of them was a restaurant and a hotel which is now gone exactly so we'll have an answer for you we're going to make a decision at our next meeting uh but if you're asking if they taxes are frozen right or I I I'm sorry I don't know the correct terminology but it's I under the impression that some of these you know they're building these big multi-units and they don't have to pay taxes no no no they do have to pay taxes okay so they will be paying property taxes yes yes okay I just want to that and the and to be purp honest the reason that we had the meeting with them is to maximize the amount of tax dollars we get back into the town and sure that the school gets air share and they're noted because to be very honest if we were to short a board of education all we're doing is Shifting the tax burden to a different place it would be unfair for us to say okay your Municipal tax would be less but your school taxes respons there was talk that you know they're building all these multi apartment buildings which you know is going to bring additional families which the school district's going to increase so they definitely have to do that build that add on to that building corre okay so I was just concerned and was hoping that whoever builds those they do pay they pay they're paying taxs just the way we are paying property taxes and supporting the community and the Police Department fire department and the first aid department that we definitely need okay an ambulance on site okay and especially the school district absolutely okay thank you for your time thank you thanks Mrs any other member of the public wishing to be heard come forward if you're with us via Zoom the man behind the curtain is give me the thumbs down wizard is good all right we'll move on to our first agenda item which is ordinance 2- 2024 Mr Watkins please read the ordinance by title an ordinance amending chapter two of the revised General ordinances of the buau of rosand entitled Department of administration amending subsection 2- 24.4 entitled the appropriate Authority and police committee there a motion to introduce ordinance to De 2024 so second I think it was all in favor I opposed hearing none Mr Watkins ordinance number 22024 will be posted on the Burrow's website and the notice public hearing will be published the progress public hearing will be held on Tuesday March 19th 2024 thank you next on the agenda is ordinance 3- 2024 Mr Watkins please read the ordinance by title only amending ordinance an ordinance amending chapter 2 of the revised General ordinances of the burough of rosand entitled Department of administration this is the same one an ordinance amending section 2-39 of the Rev advised General ordinances of the burrow of rosand entitled nepotism policy for burrow employees there a motion to introduce ordinance 3-22 so move second part trillo all in favor opposed hearing none ordinance number 32024 will be posted on the bur's website notice of public hearing will be published in the progress public hearing will be held on Tuesday March 19th 2024 thank you next is Introduction of ordinance 42024 Mr Watkins please read the ordinance by title only an ordinance to amend Chapter 30 Land Development Article 4 zoning regarding the rezoning of block 32 lot 9.01 from R6 to B2 the resoning of block 30 dot 30.01 lot 3 from R2 to ob2 and the repeal of the r2a single family overlay district there a motion to introduce ordinance 4224 s second Fishman parate all in favor I I oppos hearing none ordinance number excuse me ordinance number 42024 will be referred to the planning board ensure that the Amendments proposed to hear in are not inconsistent with the master plan the ordinance will be posted on the bureau's website notice excuse me notice of public hearing will be published in the progress public hearing will be held on Tuesday April 23rd 2024 thank you Mr Watkins next on the agenda is resolution 81224 approving the February 23rd and February 27th Bill list everyone received the bill list for questions concerns of recusals yeah if there are none do we have a motion so moved second TR bardy all in favor I opposed hearing none next we have adoptions of resolutions 1- 16 on your agenda by resolution number 82- 2024 through 97- 2024 like to move them in their entirety unless someone has a recusal question or concern I'll take a na so move second TR parate all in favor I I opposed hearing none uh next we have committee reports uh just want to congratulate all the kids that came before us this tonight uh on their Championship took us a little while to get them all in here of course we picked the warmest night of winter to pack 200 people in here but it was nice seeing all the kids and the parents uh celebrate their victories um I'll move on to committee reports Finance Administration councilman Bard thank you mayor uh we had our third budget meeting this past Saturday we have our last or hopefully our final budget meeting uh to be scheduled hopefully in the next two weeks or so we'll uh we'll publish that out and send that an announcement when that'll be that's all I have thank you thank you our Recreation councilman trillo uh so basketball season has started the playoffs uh we should be uh done in the next couple of weeks and moving on to baseball registration softball registration which runs through March 1st and I want to thank Mike and and uh Joe for coming out tonight uh and for the presentation at the Caucus meeting um and you know just say it feels good to know that the school's working together with the council again um and you know back in the day the church was the center of town nowadays Joe has embraced the school being the new center of town with everyone being a different religion nowadays and everything else uh and it's nice that we could work together and have you guys to count on so thank you thank you uh senior and family services the years's gotten off off to a great start uh seniors have seen um a lot of interesting and gathered a lot of interesting uh information from the programs we've presented so far and um there are a lot of good programs coming up also and pretty soon they're going to be um uh celebrating St Patrick's Day and on May 17th there's going to be the uh senior luncheon and um that's it for me thank you uh Public Works councilman Freedom um I don't have anything with Public Works mayor but I I I do have a just quick statement um with I Havey heart I take this opportunity to personally let you know that effective at the end of this meeting I will be resigning from my position as councilman from the rosand burrow Council believe me when I say this was a difficult decision to make I've enjoyed my time working with my friends on the council regarding many initiatives and projects even if we didn't agree on their outcomes from road paving infrastructure upgrades to water system upgrades our amazing recreational programs concerts and events to field upgrades and park improvements I have learned so much and will truly miss working with everyone but I know that upon my departure the burrow is an exceptional hands unfortunately my current position over the last few years as supervisor of the Municipal Water Utility in Edison one of the largest municipalities in New Jersey has become more demanding on my time as my daily responsibilities and my administ of workload increases I'm now also required to attend many of the Edison Council meetings to address the impact of our crumbling infrastructure on our budget and our res resources at times these meetings have conflicted with the rosand buroughs meetings and have had to make the difficult choice between the two I cannot minimize the extent to which climate change has directly affected my professional responsibilities our infrastructure both locally and nationally cannot withstand the extreme fluctuations of our weather conditions the water main breaks are a daily occurr and the maintenance and repairs are overwhelming time consuming and expensive while Edison may be where I work rosand is my home I am proud to say that is where I'm raising my family my interest in helping rosand be an amazing and safe place to live didn't just start with my winning seat on this Das I've been a volunteer in many capacities in this town since I turned 18 years old my entire adult life I've tried to give back whatever I could whenever I could to rosand and now it's time for me to give this seat back to rosand too I have to admit though that whatever I have given to rosand pales in comparison to what rosand has given to me my first adult job working alongside the guys that you all know and love from our DPW at 18 when I joined the fire department the firehouse was my frat house those firemen were my brothers they watched me grow up from being a newbie at DPW in the fire department to being their Council eaon they were with me at fairchilds when I met my wife they were all there with me on my wedding day and some of they were some of them were even at the hospital when Jess gave birth to my daughter the friends I made through campaigning and being politically involved I will value for a lifetime the babies I used to sit on my lap when I was dressed up as Sparky the Fire Dog are now graduating from college the kids I coached in basketball I've gone from watching them dribble as babies to teaching them to dribble as little basketball players I do love this town and I do love being a part of it I also acknowledge those who did not agree in how they handled themselves unfortunately for them I was never going to be just another rubber stamp nor was I going to be bullly to changing my stance on what I believe to be the most important issues of our time in closing I like to thank my wife Jessica and our kids Kate and William for all their support and encouragement during my campaign and my time on the council they've put up with a lot more than they agreed to when this all started In fairness to all those who've campaigned and supported my election and re-election I feel that I owe it to you to step down when I can no longer step up to do the job that you elected me to do so in the words of Kenny Rogers you got to know when to fold them so I want to thank the mayor and the rest of the council for your friendship and your understanding thank you um I'd like to thank Roger for the service I'd wish him and his family the best of luck in your future endeavors and your career which seems to be skyrocketing and The Testament to your work your work ethic down there I know how much you truly enjoy what you do for when you I've never heard someone so excited to talk about water when he calls me about things water main breaks but thank you for your nous best of luck to you and your family sessioning your thank you your service might be done but you know you you have basketball practice Wednesday and we have a game on Thursday just make sure chionship just making sure y I would also like to thank councilman uh Freda for his uh service of the burrow of rosand for the past five years I first met Roger in 2017 when we ran for Council together I got to know him as a hard worker who really cared about this town and and and this community but I've yet to find someone as knowledgeable and passionate about water just said um this knowledge served both himself and the burrow well and um and you know I I I really wish him the best with his career his future endeavors I I know he will not be a stranger we know he's not going anywhere and so thanks again for your contributions and most importantly Roger for your friendship Roger oh gosh thank you so much um for putting up with me I would call Roger we'd battle but we stayed friends um thank you for everything you've helped me with where it comes to water and DPW when I have questions you've always taken my call to answer them for the betterment of the community I'm going to miss you but I want to wish you nothing but the best of luck in your job and I still have your number on speed dial I still will be calling you but good luck to you and your family the only time I enjoyed being stuck in traffic on the park with when Jean would call me you enjoyed [Laughter] that I'm going to call you Raj lots of good luck Roger thank we were uh running mates together twice and walked a lot and talked a lot and it was an interesting relationship and um a friendship as well and we'll miss you yeah I'm going to miss up here yeah I I won't miss you up here so much prin but uh you know we'll be coaching the next several years while our kids grow old uh while we grow old and they grow up so uh I'm not going to say goodbye but uh you know I won't see you Tuesday nights just so long I'm the new guy so we really didn't overlap much here but good luck Roger just take it easy on me when you coach basketball against me I got Public Safety Council on par oh my god um first I want to congratulate uh officer Constantino and officer Gonzalez for the wonderful job that they did um I want to also thank the rosand police foundation for their do donation of the um Leupold Delta Point Pro reflector sites I think that's for their weapons correct um I want to thank them for that they helped the the rosand police department so much with the LPR readers and this I want to thank them for everything that they do um I also want to let everyone know that last Tuesday we switched our Dispatch over to West cwell I was there this week um so far everything has been running smoothly there have been you know a few bumps in the road as far as Administration as paper workor issues and who's going to do what but other than that it has gone seamlessly I want to thank assistant director maias for everything he's done to get this to move forward and of course DET um director chafi took us over the Finish Line he's been testing it he picks up the phone all the time in the in the um in the uh police department to make sure that everything is working so so everything so far has been has been going really well I was there uh the other day and it's just the technology there is amazing and to see the two dispatchers there and all the screens everything is covered I was I was really really really impressed with their setup I have to say I was really impressed so I just wanted to let every know it finally has happened with the S and there have been more and I've seen more of our cars on the road patrolling streets which is what the whole point point was is to get our cars on the road to patrol for the safety of the community and and that is happening so just want to say thank you to everybody who worked so hard to help get a push through and that's it thank you Capital infrastructure and Engineering Council BR uh not much to report um I figure that'll pick up once the budget season is over um I have reviewed the Lincoln Street speed hunt plan um that the burough engineer sent me I provided him some comments some back and forth regarding the P markings and the signing associated with it um but other than that uh not much I'll thank you um I just want to speak one more thing about the referendum which I think that it's important that's known is that um onethird of the referendum is for improvements to the school that would have been done regardless of if there had to be an addition and they're on a discount for lack of a better term because of being subsidized by the state um and I Ed the word Grant lightly but I would like to recognize that and you know the importance of in I said it at our Caucus meeting last year to the superintendent and to the president of the board that when people want to move to a town right first thing they look at is the quality of the education in the school that's directly tied to the success of this town outside of the infrastructure improvements and recre programs people look at that and that school is very important to the success that we enjoy and have enjoyed so it's important that we're supporting the referendum because at the end of the day we're supporting our kids and if we don't support our kids what are we here for so I just want to put that on the record for both the uh vice president and the superintendent best of luck uh next two weeks excuse me anyone else have anything to add to public comment okay there's nothing else sorry not the public comment to uh committee report excuse me next we have the approval of our minutes we have the February 6th caucus and executive session minutes and the February 20 budget meeting minutes with councilman Freda recusing himself everyone receive the minutes I have to abstain from 24th Bud me I only I only said the six and the 20th with councilman free to recuse it everyone received the minutes and they're okay I'll take a motion please so move second B parate all in favor I I next have approval of the February 24th budget meeting minutes with councilman bardy and councilman fra recusing themselves motion second bar parate all in favor I I opposed mayor who made the motion Sor Baron parate uh next we have our second round of public comment any member the public wishing be heard come with us state your name and address for the record if you're with us by Zoom use the raise your hand icon you're with us telephonically Press Start de sacko Calderon three pier Lane I'm just standing here to encourage everyone out there in the town to take this opportunity on March 12th to go out to vote in favor of the referendum I was privileged to be asked by um the current superintendent Mr Leon to be a part of the ad hoc committee previous to that I was on the rosand board of education for nine years when we did the last referendum um came in on time on budget and we benefited from it this town has benefited from the educ ation and the school system being the gem of rosand everyone has always moved here and made comments because of our school because of the class sizes that we have been able to provide for our students um the education the teachers that we have the superintendence at the helm of everything um we have benefited you can see by all the students that were here taking part in the Athletics how they thrive on the town to itself um I actually was born and raised in rosand went to the school this was the Amelia Kent library when I went here um my children went to school here um it's this time I know that you know the elephant in the room or the taxes but we have to look to the Future and our future is our children and we have to provide for them we provide for them a home a wonderful environment a great town and we want to continue to provide for them an education and in a school that is Stellar when it comes out there to our surrounding districts and what we have to offer so I just encourage everyone out there in town um to get out there and vote I can say I don't work for the Board of Ed and I'm another Board of Ed to get out and vote and vote Yes on March 12th so I please encourage everyone now aside from that I would just like to say thank thank you to councilwoman parate because she answered a text for me the other day about a water issue and she quickly reached out to Chris critchet who was standing at my door within five minutes so I have to thank the fact that and this is what this town has you know you reach out to these people and they respond and you reach out to the school and they respond to the needs of our students so I hope everyone just appreciates Rosland and what we have to offer everyone thank you your batter Roger you're lucky I didn't call you on that one any other member of the public wishing to heard please come forward state your name and address to the record if you're with us via Zoom use the raise your hand icon if you're with us telephonically please press star n a little slow though wow up give out a ticket or something right you mria on behalf of the police department and Fus of Emergency Management want to thank you for all the support over the years uh both professionally and personally I wish you good luck and uh you and your family stay healthy thank you okay any other member of of the public wishing to be heard come forward state your name and address or the record thank you Oz um the governing body will have an additional round of executive session to discuss Personnel uh members of the public should be aware that when we come out of executive session we will take no formal no formal action we will simply adjourn do we have a motion to close to Executive session so moveed second sh Fishman all in favor I I oppos hearing none thank you I