for thank you everybody and welcome to the agenda meeting the first regular monthly agenda meeting mayor and Council will being held at 18 Donaldson Avenue Monday February 12th 2024 starting at 6:30 Missy could you please read the role mayor nunziato council president mcowan presid Council B Roberson Council Gman here coun de here coun here coun cley here if you're willing and able could you please stand for the salute to the flag I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America the it stands Justice for thank you missy could you uh please read the provisions in compliance with the open public meetings Law chapter 231 public laws of 1975 notice of this meeting was transmitted to the record in Herald news and file with the bur clerk on December 26 2023 and is posted on the bulletin board outside of barow Hall thank you uh reviews to the change yes sorry mayor I have uh one introduction to introduce the agreement to accept a donation for a specific purpose that was not already included I have the change proposal from Council regarding the football field I'm sorry the baseball diamond um that'll be included with the changes to the proposed agenda as resolution [Music] number see 56 authorizing the burrow of Rutherford to accept a donation from Vincent Keeler in a sum of $27,600 in addition to that we'll have another resolution on consent resolution number 62 authorizing the tax collector to amend the tax records in accordance with the financial agreement for Block 73 lot 20.02 and then going back to resolutions on page two which are separate from consent we'll be adding the resolution number 56 what I just reference which was the donation also under consent uh resolution sear from consent we will be adding resolution number 63 authorizing the renewal of a shared service agreement with Felician University and that's all I have for changes thank you missy anybody else have changes see none may have a roll call motion I'm sorry motion I have a motion by councilman C have a second second second by councilwoman Del R con any questions or comments by the council seeing n council president McAn yes councilman Guzman yes coun Del con yes coun quone yes coun kley yes thank you we'll move on to the engineers report Bri thank you mayor uh we're having a bid opening on February 15th for the U NJ do funded improvements to Veterans Boulevard uh we come up with a design plan that will help relieve the flooding over by um where it comes in and makes the first Bend and around the uh the uh Insurance building uh so that b bids will be open on the 15th and hope we can get that work going soon that's supported by a $600,000 Grant from AJ do uh we're working on your road program uh we're doing the survey now uh we've been in discussions with Memorial Field improvements my uh Engineers report is in no particular order on what will be phase one just to be clear on that and that is when when that's settled we'll get that uh into design as soon as possible and we've been working on Van Winkle Sunset Park irrigation is ready to go as soon as the weather breaks and the water company allows uh construction to occur again uh and those are the highlights that we've been working on as well as we had a pretty productive meeting with uh Burton County for Jackson and Erie uh they are they really want to see the profile change over the former Road railroad tracks so we're going to provide them an exhibit showing what we can do there but while balancing cost and not having to re relocate uh major U ities but that has been moving forward and we met with them last Wednesday I believe or last Thursday last Wednesday so we made some progress with that uh project as well so that's uh that's what we've been working on on the engineering side thank you Brian does anybody have any questions for him Council thank you hi Brian thank you for that um with regards to the traffic light at Jackson and Erie is so that's a separate ask from when they asked us to speak to the levels of the of the surface you clearly I'm not an engineer so I'm going to say who's he what's it and they asked us to lift the road or lower the road but now you're describing a different ask is that right the same one same to just to be clear uh when you come over there when you come up from East ruford Jackson ey it rises then it dips down a little bit again so that's the county so we pointed that out to the county that if you take uh a little bit from the rise and bring it over to the car wash but not changing the profil as much plus or minus 4 inches is going to get me to where I need to be for their request for better visibility so that's so you know you drive it enough times you'll see that when you come up from East Rutherford you go up then you go down again and then you come back out again it's not that pronounced but that makes a difference to keep that and we can close a driveway on Jackson at nearest the intersection SE for the car wash so that's helped me work the grades out and they don't use that driveway anyway so that so that's what we're our next presentation to the count anybody else would like I just going to say you've been working on this forever you want to ask a question thank you very much Brian um in terms of I I know that there's still legistics to be worked out but just for the purposes of the the residents trying to understand timing here do we have any sense of timing as to when this is actually going to take place how how far away are we from this actually happening right right now it's on me because we met last Wednesday at the county and they told me what they wanted we showed them the profiles so now my staff uh we had a design meeting this morning Wednesday we are going to design it and Friday I'm going to get back out to the county so then they review it so this week I own and then uh then they'll review it and then when we bring it to a certain schematic design phase it goes into Burton County and they do uh the traffic signal design and then it becomes bid as a county project with Town support because we don't have any easements that we need to acquire when we clarifi the tax maps uh that makes easier process overall so I can see this being out to bid from weeks thank you very much Brian um all right so Brian as councilman who M has been working on this and took the project over several years ago after we started it um just make sure you guys stay in the loop on it yep Absolutely I'll let them do the submission Friday um nobody else nobody else has any questions appr okay thank you Brian you're welcome you can put the microphone back in the middle so we're going to change things up a little bit the hearing of citizens is usually five minutes per person um but we do have a group here that came in um with request so instead of moving it to an agenda item and then letting them all come up and speak I'm sorry we're not going to move it to an agenda item we're going to let them all let one of the representatives or one or two come up and we will extend our time uh as opposed to giving everybody five minutes somebody could just come up and speak for uh we'll give it 12 minutes so so anybody wishing to come the microphone please state your name and address and keep your keep this presentation to 12 minutes or less license man Michelle could you please state your name and address um for the record I'm sorry could you st spell your last name for me thank you for e for for for e name an address sorry d e e e for for thank you very much is your green light on I was covering the directions sorry okay so uh like I said in to start off with I helped uh open up the five retail locations inside of Missouri so actually the day I landed the first store opened up and uh 30 days recurring after that we just opened up every store um each one of those stores uh which you know probably a store in an area like this with this kind of population density a little bit higher than you know our average store out in Kansas City um actually probably double here um there we have between 30 and 45 people working at a store here at minimum uh after we kind of ran the numbers of FTE for the store e e e e for e I'm sorry you're you're hit 12 I'll give you three more minutes to thank you um I'm not sure if you're familiar how it works so we let everybody come speak um whatever their situation that they want to bring forward and then we respond to everybody that came up to speak so that's basically how it works there anybody else from the public wishing to speak can you please state your name and address and keep your comments the five minutes or less e e e yes sir anybody else from the public wishing to come up to speak can can you just check the mic is it is it green hello now it is hello Frank Wilson 171 Mantra of ruford uh just a couple things to go over uh first um I'd like to request that whoever's in charge of DPW follow up on the circle there's a crater that's going to suck up a car one of these days as you go around it's been there for a while I can't believe DPW sees this and doesn't repair it but there's a huge crater between the circle and the train station uh second thing is uh I don't know what it would take to turn those yield signs at the stop signs I don't think people drive today know what yield actually means so everybody comes buzzing through the yield sign so it's back in the old days when we had RPD directing traffic was great but now that we have the yield signs I don't think drivers know what yield actually means so you can look into the possibility of taking those yield sides down and actually putting physical stop signs in it may deter some of these folks that just don't stop and burn burn on through um another thing I saw in consent me thing tonight was the um the uh 51 Union for the Redevelopment project if it's the same 51 Union that just sold for 1.7 million uh according to Zillow the plan is to put nine two bedrooms in and 12 one bedrooms according to this if you look at it it says plans are for 21 unit development sold for 1.75 million it's going to be nine two-bedrooms and 12 one-bedrooms and the reason why I asked this is that if you give away a pilot on this thing nine bedrooms definitely means a child and based on the board of ed saying at each child cost about $18,000 you're looking about $166,000 so before you delve too far into this thing for redevelopment and just toss away a pilot according to this you can look it up wh it is there it is that's what the plans are for 51 Union so before we give a pilot out please take a look at that because um we all know that 60% of our taxes go to the board of ed uh if this moves in it'll become 65 or 70% of our taxes go to the board of ed so that's it thank you thank you Mr Wilson anybody else from the public wishing to speak hi Julia seagull 32 Grand Avenue um I wanted to talk about the agenda item about the Memorial Field project um and I speak tonight uh part of being on the Green Team and part of our role as a committee is that we bring advice and Counsel on different issues and one of the topics we've been discussing for the last couple years has been how we can um influence storm water management um better practice best practice green infrastructure and we're concerned that want to make sure that um that during the consideration of this project storm water management and point pollution um aspects are considered uh you know the State went through a massive um change to how storm water ordinances had to be done we've adopted updates in the last couple years ourselves we have another one to do this year um we are on Deadline that we have to adopt a new one um making changes to conform to the state law and I just want to make sure that when we are considering that project we know that that site floods um it's flooded twice in the 10 12 years that I've lived in that neighborhood um and I know that if we are considering doing a um turf fields um we're introducing less pervious um material and you're going to have an impact on how much water that land will absorb naturally as it does today so I just want to make sure that those considerations are strongly considered um also if you're taking out trees trees drink up a lot of the water there's a lot of different things that would affect um the neighborhood you know it would it's you know potentially going to increase flooding in in that neighborhood if we don't take those things into consideration and just want to make sure that those um objectives get included in your evaluation of whatever you plan to do with um the park landsite um and while I'm up here talking because this is the first time obviously I've been off my feet for a while um just wanted to congratulate the buau on sustainable Jersey certification um for those of you who U missed the press release we were one of just 69 communities in the state of New Jersey to reach the prestigious highest level of sustainable Jersey um the most incredible part of it for me this round this was my fourth round of doing the certification was just how many new actions the bureau uh took on and and accomplished uh we didn't get any of our tree actions which was you know disappointing and hopefully we'll we'll re remedy that in our next round but we took on health actions we took on uh food actions we took on many other actions energy actions that had never been accomplished by our community before so we really grew our certification and sustainability in a large um and significant way and I want to thank everyone um within the burrow Community whether it be um elected officials that have helped support us but also our burrow employees and um Mr keski uh you know obviously with your leadership were able to make that a reality so congratulations thank you drew anybody else wishing to speak pleas just say your name and address keep your comments in five minutes or less yeah hi my name is Peter Peter Lewis and um and I'm from 241 Grand Avenue and I'm the CEO of World cast live where a live streaming company that was formed in 2014 and we do concerts festivals throughout the US and also outside the um us and we also are a doe vendor within New York City and we have created a live production curriculum for students to be able to learn all the facets of live production from the audio mixing mastering cameras everything even the business side and what we're looking at doing is bringing this to ruford also and that teaches the students 11 to 18 all the different areas so that they can not just get careers within this area they can even create their own separate businesses and with this we want to be able to produce shows cover the sporting teach the kids to actually produce everything that happens within the school from the sporting events to even the local town I'm Hall meetings can be produced by the kids within the tower thank you sir anybody else from the public wishing to speak my coms minutes I get 30 seconds give you a minute yes one minute possibly the most important thing we missed and that would interest you guys you may or may not know that there's a 2% Municipal tax on gross sales the average dispensary that's well-managed and successful in New Jersey right now gross sales $2 million a month $40,000 a month into the municipal coffers most successful one on 17 Ascend in rochell park they're averaging sales of about $3 million a month puts that three4 of a million dollars into rochell park on property that was probably paying $50,000 in in real estate taxes so on top of that 720 from that one I would say a safe estimate is $40,000 a month in gross sales and into the city cers anybody else from the public wishing to speak seeing none I'm going to close it to the public and now open up for any Council comment councilman K thank you sir Mr mallister and team thank you guys for making the time today and and presenting um I myself and have been working to kind of educate the community on all the processes related to the cannabis industry so very well thought out appreciate putting faces behind the businesses it's very important that we understand who our neighbors are and who is actually looking forward to Growing this industry in a proper and responsible way um uh let's see Mr Wilson uh to your qu I just had a quick question for the bureau engineer you might be able to answer that yield sign into a circle as someone who grew up in the Somerville Circle like that it's notorious for these types of engineering designs can you put a stop sign at the entrance to a circle is that even a or is it a moot point Thank You circles as are designed should have a yield entrance that you yield to the people in the circle that are already in a circle and then it's your turn that's how a circle is supposed to work so if you are going to put a stop sign you're uncir the circle and so you're make and you'd have to reconfigure it to make like T intersections into the Hub because it wouldn't operate as a circle anymore and then we'd have to go back to Bergen County because the circle that you have is on a Bergen County Road with their permission but it's a town traffic circle so we'd have to do that as well we have to go back to the original agreement and change that I'm saying it couldn't be done but it's counter to what this how the circle should function I know that there are people that don't understand the circle which is the bane of Traffic Engineers when they try to explain a circle but uh you know it could be that it's and then we go back to uh education enforcement and then engineering with respect to traffic issues so uh maybe we could put something on the we the burrow website to educate people how to negotiate the circle sometimes you need a refresher that I don't not maybe what Mr Wilson wants to hear but that's usually how you have to do it thank you for clarifying and I agree with Mr Wilson it is kind of treacherous at times and especially with some my son is about to be driving in two years so I'm going to go over that u in much detail uh Miss seagull thank you as always for your service um I'm in full agreement with you in terms of paying attention to how this park system plan is developed um we are having internal discussions at length about how much surface area should be turfed versus grass retaining some of the just general magic of Memorial Field and so on and so forth but please thank you stay with us stay on top please continue to contribute uh to these decisions Mr Lewis nice to see you again glad you can make it this evening I know we ran into each other Chamber of Commerce uh event loved the business that you're in and how you're working through it um if there's anything we can do to help I myself am not AAS on to the recreation department or anything like that but we can certainly help make an introduction um it sounds sounds like something fascinating my son is in the the creative arts um and so really something that sparks my interest as well so thank you for your time this evening thanks mayor um the mallister team thank you for the presentation it was very interesting and informative thank you for coming here to do that I especially want to commend you on the program to transition um formerly incarcerated people into the job market and into the industry I think that's a really valuable and worthwhile project and I wish you luck with it and thanks for telling us about it um Mr Wilson thank you for the information you know for mentioning the issue about the bedrooms and 51 Union I'm sure that we have talked about this and looked into this many times and you know we can continue that conversation I am happy to talk to you oneon-one on any issues you have about pilots and how they will affect the the school system and the funding of the school system so please don't hesitate to get in touch with me directly on that for the uh Julia and the Green Team thank you so much congratulations on getting that designation on you know working with us to get that designation it's really fabulous and a great achievement and please again also I would love to meet with you I'm on the Memorial Field project subcommittee this is something I'm really really digging into I'm very concerned about the ecological effects and I live near very close to Memorial on Clark Avenue and my basement flooded last last year and I'm very very nervous about the flooding issue so I'd love to meet with you to educate myself even more on that issue as we really start to ramp up this project and Mr Lewis thank you for talking about your uh company there are so many residents involved in production and TV film and theater in in town because of our proximity to New York so it really sounds like a very interesting possibility so we'd love to talk about it and think about it more thank you thank you council president thank you mayor um Mr Lewis uh I too find what you're speaking about out incredibly interesting um I'm also the liaison the Felician University and we have for the last few years had a partnership with Felician that enabled our Recreation Department to offer podcasting and basic introduction to I'll use production in the big the big sense but not certainly not nearly as detailed as you presented this evening and I would welcome a follow-up convers ation with you that perhaps could engage the university as well in their media studies program um especially since they have a hub in uh in the town um and have started something already that perhaps there's an Avenue to build upon because I do agree that we have lots of young people who are incredibly interested in this um so I'm I'm thankful that you came this evening to share your information um Julia um the work of the committee has been outstanding um I know that uh councilwoman Del con got to stand very proudly and represent all of you um at the league of municipalities this November um you know uh we talk about the fact that we get a lot of credit for stuff that we ourselves are not the champ you know we're not we're not out there running around doing it and yet um the number of folks over the years that have really embraced this and how it's just gotten better and better and better and now it's like the fabric of what we do here um and that's that's kudos to all of you and and certainly to uh chrisy and and her leadership with that as well [Music] um the the Redevelopment thing uh Mr Wilson so it is my understanding and of course I always yield to the pro administrator but it is my understanding when someone sells a property and this is the misnomer when especially something like Zillow or any of these onlines um the perception is they're selling the project when in reality the permissions that are given from the municipality do not transfer by sale um they have to go back through the entire process and so I want to thank you I think your comments are welcomed um and I appreciate the the redirection because we do have some new folks to this this and so I think it's an always a good reminder to us um to not just assume that because it was a conversation that maybe worked well five years ago it's something that is still gerine and works well today and and Bob has been a great Steward of this for us um and and I Bob am I am I way off base about that the permissions kind of sort of the permissions do not can I speak to it sure okay uh so let me give you a little bit of history on this project um uh this is part of the a agnu area B Redevelopment plan uh that was adopted in 2019 uh the fall of 19 the then owner of the property uh received approval from the planning board for the 21 unit project that Mr Wilson referenced um obviously in 2024 that project still hasn't been built uh last year the owner then owner sold the property to its current owner um council president is correct that approvals don't necessarily transfer over I think what you're really referencing is if there was a Redevelopment agreement um executed on that um the owner then owner of the property if he got his approvals never executed the agreement with the Barrow Rutherford so technically the the project does not have to be honored at this time um the the current owner will have to go back to the planning board um would have to do probably like a refresh he is also I think looking to make an amendment on the uh the plan so what was approved then uh may not necessarily be the same project that gets approved if it gets approved moving forward uh tonight's action is strictly to designate the current owner the redeveloper of the property that he currently owns and also to establish an escrow account that when he does bring plans before the for the burrow that our professionals will be able to review it and there'll be funds in place not taxpayer dollars but the developers ta taxpayers dollars to pay our professionals so there is a long process still planning board and then eventually if anything does get approved at that level uh come back to this Council either in terms of a an amendment to the Redevelopment plan Andor a redevelopers agreement and you know who knows it's the Redevelopment area they usually do apply for a pilot so I'm sure be a conversation that will be negotiated later in the year or next year thank you Bob I appreciate the clarification thank you um and um to the the members of elicit Gardens dispensary for their presentation tonight during um um the hearing of citizens um I appreciate what you've shared so much of this had been previously shared um prior to the question that was recently put on um on our November 2023 um elections and I'm sure that you are aware that um that question did not pass at a vote of 2256 no to 1845 yes um and so I appreciate the fact that councilman kley continues to try to educate the community but um I I do re recognize that this is something that just happened only 6 months ago um not even is it six three months ago holy cow feels like six months let me tell you um and so um although I appreciate what you're sharing I do think that the community um this community is still evolving um you know perhaps to outside folks you know when they talk about liquor licenses and everybody's doing this for Rutherford it's been you know it's been a very slow Evolution um but it also speaks to finding the balance between what is what has been um and and what we're trying to see this community develop into and so um I do appreciate the time that you've given but I I did want to express the fact that I I just feel that this is you know the residents literally jet spoke in the the most recent election and so um that is all I have made thank you oh one more thing actually I'll save it never mind thank you thank you thank you mayor um Mr Schneider with regards to um your comments on lighting which I know you and I have spoken about before I just wanted to clarify um we were un unaware I was unaware I think the rest of the council and and the governing body was unaware that you um raised those issues about Burger King with the board of adjustments um and I I can't speak to why um they didn't follow up with you or what was done with that and I I I I we're not always PR to what the board of adjustments is doing behind the scenes with regards to the lighting ordinance for residential I just want to make clear that I think you said we promised you a residential lighting ordinance and I just want to be abundantly clear that I think what we said or what I said was that we consider we would consider a residence relighting ordinance I don't think you were present at the meeting where we did actually have one up for discussion where my colleagues raised a number of concerns that we are looking into including um enforcement including the fact that there were some concerns raised about safety um and so I I just want to sort of level set the current state of that issue which is um my colleagues raised concerns the burough attorney did draft an ordinance and we're looking to see if we can elay those concerns um I'm happy to I don't have it in front of me now but I can certainly point to you to the meeting minutes from that meeting where that ordinance was presented for a discussion um so that's still very much in very much um something that we're considering um Mr Wilson I know you got most of your questions answer but now I have another question for the burough engineer because um I am responsible for DPW and you said that there is a crater in the circle and then I heard the burough engineer say that that is a county road is that something that our folks should be fixing if it is in fact there and if so I will address it but I wasn't clear on who would be responsible and you may have my the circle and the repairs of the circle are under your jurisdiction okay so then we would have to find out if it's like in the between area between the two and then we can of course we we would talk to the county road department but for the most part the uh the the circle and the arms of the circle are mostly rifer the fact that a circle has arms is something that I guess I'll just work through on my own but um so Mr Wilson I will uh talk to um our director of DPW and and make sure that he's aware I think he probably will be rather busy for the next 24 to 36 hours if we do get the blizzard we anticipate but as soon as he's through that I will make sure uh to raise it with him um Miss seagull you and I obviously talk often about Green Team efforts I appreciate you making it here um to address the memorial fil project I do um hope that our subcommittee um consists of count our council president councilwoman quatron and councilwoman big Roberson and maybe as we flesh out at the Green Team meetings our concerns they would indulge us sharing with them um what they are and how they're thinking about it I think the best thing about our Green Team or one of the best things is you are a wildly educated group with regards to these issues um so I think that you'll be able to provide some insight to the subcommittee um as those plans continue to uh develop themselves Mr Lewis I was also excited to um hear about your organization um I have a student actually studying production in college she's currently doing a film program where she's making a film and it's a really nice way to introduce um children I think I grew up in an area where I was told I could be very few things um that I didn't really understand the full scope of of what jobs were available to me and I get excited about companies that look to teach children about other ways to earn a living besides what you would think of um sort of comes naturally I think there are a lot of avenues for you to make contact with our community certainly uh our council president had I think the best one and a better one than I would have had with regards to Felician but um we have an Arts committee we have an Arts Council I don't know if you've gone to the Board of Education meetings but they're also public so if you want to partner at all with the education folks I think that would be a good place for you to start um they're a really um great creative group of people that are looking to expand um and then there's the Rutherford Education Foundation which is um a nonprofit that provides funding to um our schools to provide other projects and programs so I think there's a lot of opportunity for you and I appreciate you introducing yourself um to our folks from elicit um I I I'm I don't know that I want to ask whether you traveled all this way just just for our meeting oh good I'm getting an okay perfect I I was feeling badly about it and my empathy was coming out um I think that sharing of information on the topic of cannabis is super important and I'm not sure enough of it was shared prior to our referendum I do agree with our council president that our referendum rendered the results it did um I think the only only thing I would add is it was a really low vo or turnout year I think a large number of community members missed that question entirely I don't know what the stats are specifically but I do know that to be the case um so I think this is an educational moment um for a lot of us and I encourage our residents to ask questions even if your answer is no um whatever you voted on the referendum if you did find the question um and answer it I just do think it's important that we continue to educate ourselves um and keep ourselves open to um these other ideas that you know we are I think I definitely agree with our council president we are still evolving um Evolution requires education so I do appreciate you being here and that's all I have mayor thank you thank you mayor um uh Mr Wilson uh as always thank you very much for bringing concerns uh to to our meeting tonight and always bringing uh very important uh points up um can appreciate the the comments about the yield signs and I mean we've all traveled the roads here we all seen uh cars flying around there and I can and and I can agree with you more that it becomes an issue um hearing what our B engineer had to say and concerns about County ruins and whatnot I'm not sure if they this is as opposed to post posting things on the internet we get a lot of outside people that come in or I think maybe I don't could talk with our police Chief and our B administrator to see if there's a way that we can uh get the writing on the on the road itself you know the yielding uh sometimes if you know things are worn and maybe some of the lines are not there right now maybe we could just Spruce it up to make sure that people are aware that there's something they have to do there before entering that Circle um so um if we're not able to get stop signs there maybe we can simply uh refresh the area with uh some uh Road signage if you would uh as to that similar to uh painting on a cross crosswalks um thank you very much for bringing that up um Miss seagull um congratulations on the silver award it's a great achievement on behalf of the burrow um there's there's uh no re it's it's quite amazing that uh the approach of the Green Team the aggressive respectful approach helps get things done and that's that that's to be applauded every single one of you on that team bring something to the table I was liaison about a year ago with you guys I was able to see you in action you and a team and how you maneuvered with the burrow and and with the help of the burrow administrator and the department heads um it's very nice to be able to see this award come home again to Rutherford so kudos to you and the team and thank you very much on as being a volunteer and bringing this home for for Rutherford that's that's quite an achievement thank you very much um uh Mr Lewis um thank you for bringing this this uh program to light to us uh if I may suggest maybe contact our B administrator send your information to him so he can review that and see if it can funnel through any of our programs here and get that to some of our directors I think that would be a uh great asset to be able to see something like that for our kids um and perhaps maybe there's a program in there somewhere that can uh feed through the barrel um I think that's about all I have and thank you very much thank you councilman uh we're going to move on now uh council president thank you mayor all items are authorized to be consent by the council will be enacted by Mo one motion and these items are routine in nature motion motion by council president M second second second by councilman Guzman questions or comments by the council roll call council president McAn yes councilman Guzman yes coun Del con yes counc Clon yes counc kley yes yeah thank you next are the resolutions that are separate from consent first is resolution number 58 designating 51 Union Avenue LLC as conditional redeveloper and authorizing the execution of inim costs agreement motion of a motion by the council president May second second second by Council Del any questions or comments by the council see none M council president mcowan yes councilman Guzman yes counc Del con yes counc M quatron yes councilman kley yes thank you next is resolution number 56 the resolution authorizing the burough of Rutherford to accept a donation from Vincent keler in the sum of 27,600 motion I have a motion by the council president I have a second second second by councilman Guzman any questions or comments by the council counil thank you mayor um I just wanted to note for any of our residents who are not going to read the resolution um what this is pertaining to um so at our last meeting a group of interested citizens came forward asking to make certain uh refurbishments to field number two Diamond number two at Memorial Field um they had some concerns about the um surface and the fact that it did not have any s the burrow is going to embark on uh fixing much of the surface but the donation we're accepting from Resident Keeler is to go ahead and install some sod into that field um so I just wanted to take a moment to make sure that the purpose of the donation is clear for anyone that doesn't read the resolution and also to just um thank our burough administrator this all happened sort of Fast and Furious as well as our burough attorney to try to um help us get the appropriate documents in place to accept this donation and do this work thank you thank you anybody else from The Count Council thank you sir uh just real quick I want to TI my hat to councilwoman Del Ray con for her vigilance on this effort uh it was a lot of work it was a lot of energy to digest and figure out exactly how this needed to work to take care of all parties so gentlemen again thank you for bring it to our attention we're happy to be a part of this effort and uh kudos to councilman Del Ray con for staying on top of it thank you Council counil councilman Council coun thank you very much mayor um I just want to also bring make bring a comment to light you know one of my concerns of uh this very generous donation by Mr Killer wanting to do something very nice for the community obviously was my concern was about the high school program itself and them uh maybe being displaced and whatnot not and I'm very happy to report that the high school um has acknowledged the that the fact that um they could be displaced should things not end up on be completed by deadline so it's at the end of the day I'm was very very very happy to hear that the high school is aware of the entire project and that they will make all any changes they need to should uh this go beyond schedule so thank you that's thank you councilman councilman anybody else uh we had a fun night the other night didn't we been I still can't even talk um yeah I think that the um my statement of the last meeting and the work that we did in the inter room when uh was brought to my attention that there's no way we can turn that field because a the trees are historic and the fact that the trees fall within the field so we're not turning the field so your your donation which we really talked about in dep obviously um I'm very happy that the council's considering accepting it and I take full responsibility for my statements from the last meeting and the fact that we we came to a better determination so um that's it yes moving on resolution number oh call sorry council president mcowan yes councilman Guzman yes counc Del con yes counc Mone yes councilman Copley yes I'll talk to you when my voice gets better again thank you next is resolution number 63 authorizing renewal of shared service agreement with f University motion I have a motion by the council president second second second councilwoman sorry um any questions or comments see none roll call council president mwan yes Council mman yes Council con yes councilman Clon yes councilman kley yes thank you we'll move on to uh the uh Memorial Field committee report president thank you mayor yes the Memorial Field committee subcommittee um that you had appointed uh met oh gosh a week ago already a little more than a week ago um I think Council woman quatron who is present um and we have been working with councilwoman um beg Roberson uh who was unable to attend because of a work obligation um we reviewed the um initially proposed um area and suggestions we also made recommendations for future investigation um it is my understanding at this moment this is a fairly evolving situation and as um I think uh well and I will be speaking about in moments under my committee liaison report we are about to embark on our uh 2024 uh budget and so uh we were graced with an incredible uh recognition by Senator sarlo and the district um the legislative district 36 team in um securing an appropriation to help us with the fields but I think um there's a lot of things that we need to consider cost of course being one of them and ensuring that we have a uh an equitable plan moving forward that um all the members of the council are in agreement with and so I think we're certainly well on our way um but uh it is my understanding that we are not presenting something tonight but I do look forward to the conversation with the burough administrator [Music] um is it the end of this week right we're meeting with you Bob and I'll be speaking about that um the work that we'll be doing with the finance committee and hopefully being able to connect those dots um I know that the councilwoman certainly um has some follow-up questions I certainly have a a number of them I know councilman kley has expressed several of them um you've already heard councilwoman Del con reference uh some concerns um that came up tonight with the Green Team and I know that uh councilman uh Guzman uh also as he's referenced so this is a very very active discussion um and I certainly open it at this point if there's anyone who wants to add anything further see none we'll move on Council president's report thank you mayor uh um so a few things I'd like to share number one a a less than gentle reminder is about our 55 Kip Center um they are doing exceptional work and I know during the holidays it gets a lot of air time but I want to remind us that the holidays are over but we still have a community that is in need of of our time talent and treasure so please if you are a a part of a Civic organization kindly consider going and serving lunch um it is an amazing part of fellowship if you really want to see what makes the that place something extraordinary you have to be in there um and I I strongly recommend that if you do you show up with cupcakes it's the way to their heart um and and um and as the standing bad joke goes uh they always ask me if I bake them I tell them I bought them and then they say fine then I guess we can eat them um so I just a gentle reminder about that also there pocketbook Bingo that's coming up on April 28th save the date please um it sells out super quick because everybody wants to be a part of the great work they're doing um I also want to point out they're doing the meet the nurse um um from service helpers on March 5 at 10:30 in the morning please share this with members in the community particularly aging members of the community um so many members want to stay in their home right so many of our residents want to remain at home but they need access access to care uh this is a free opportunity please encourage people to attend um last week uh we held uh our first 2024 meeting for Access for all the discussion around Memorial Field was a very gerine discussion for that group um uh as as I've shared previously concerns about um accessible Lanes walking Lanes um and also about the plaza um the the area that currently is behind Trion field um and so I have wonderful feedback from that committee which is newly engaged and on fire they I love where they're going um and so they are excited to be a part of that discussion and finally our finance committee update uh councilman Guzman who is second on finance and I will be meeting um with the burough administrator um and our CFO uh to review the status of requests um and then the meetings begin to engage and then we also uh re-engage all of our Council Liaisons and of course the Mayors are part of the entire process um so that they will be ready to propose a budget forthcoming that is all I have for tonight thank you thank you councilman councilman thank you mayor under police um i' i' like to uh congratulate uh police officer Andy Hine for his 25 years of service and uh he's about to retire so I want to wish him nothing but the best in his retirement and cannot thank him enough for serving his community I wish him well on another note um I'd had had the opportunity this weekend of uh going to an rjf fund uh an rjf event where um we were celebrating three uh Super Bowls under the rjf program which is quite an impressive accomplishment and I believe they are the very first uh town to ever do that in one season have all three win all three Super Bowls so big shout out to all those kids it was a great event over 500 people at that event it was something certainly to celebrate and see these kids with their getting their new jackets and the smiles and the the energy in the building for the football program what a great feeder program that is uh that is um created by the rjf so I want to just congratulate each and every member of the rjf their families and especially the kids on their accomplishments this year that's all I have thank you thank you councilman councilwoman Del R thank you mayor um I just wanted to uh remind the community that the Civil Rights Commission is still accepting applications for Commissioners I also wanted to note that it's um as many of you probably know it's Black History Month and um our metaland museum has some really wonderful programming about black history particularly about um our elders of color from Rutherford um Robin brra does just brilliant work I know the Civil Rights Commission is going to be holding its um public meeting there um I believe it's a week from Wednesday so it would be the 21st um where we're having our monthly meeting at the metaland Museum um I really encourage you to attend or at least uh pass through there's a lot of Rich history with regards to our black residents um there's there was a beautiful program that was done last week about Mount eror at church um which is still there um sitting in all its uh Glory run by uh Pastor Shawn Pate so I just encourage you to sort of open your minds to Black History this month certainly if if not in a broader scale but uh definitely with regards to Rutherford and the Meadow Lands Museum would be a great resource for that um the only other thing I wanted to mention is that the Chamber of Commerce put on a wonderful event on Friday night um at the Hilton I just I I think I said to councilman kley no less than a dozen times that I'm just sort of Blown Away by the growth of the Chamber of Commerce since I moved here a number of years ago um the effort is not lost um by Dan Meredith and the others on that team so um it's really a very important aspect for all residents for our businesses to feel fully supported by the community and I think the Chamber of Commerce does a really brilliant job of making sure we know what's accessible to us and for also allowing them to collaborate with one another in a way that helps Foster um their own growth of their businesses so I just wanted to note that wonderful event as well that's it thank you thank you coun yes thank you mayor um I on the public library assignment I just want to remind people that the library's two biggest fundraisers are in March and and the first one is March 1st and 2nd it's the mini golf fundraiser and tickets are going really quickly I think the family day um event is already sold out although I think you can get some tickets at the door and the adult only event there's still tickets available it's a really really fun event and I encourage people to go and the second is March 23rd it's the annual Library Gala and it is actually honoring and celebrating Dan Meredith who was just mentioned by my colleague who's the head of the the Chamber of Commerce a I think Middle School friend of mine who's done an incredible job uh in this role and just really kind of trans transforming downtown downtown and the new Union AV area in a beautiful way so it's really happy that they're honoring him and it's really the library Gala is one of the most exciting fun Gala events I've ever been to so I encourage people to attend if they can and it of course goes to a good cause thank you thank you Council Council M thank you sir uh a couple of points of business uh first and foremost um I know it was done in consent but uh regrettably accept the resignation from Augustine delal from the Rutherford fire department I thank you for your service regardless of how short of time it was and wish you the best of luck in your next uh chapter uh in closing the Arts committee the youth art Banner program closes uh registration Thursday the 15th uh again incredible opportunity to display your child's uh creativity as we have had children as young as two years old as old as 18 uh display photography crayon drawings you know charcoal drawings things of the like it really is a beautiful way to kick off the spring uh with those banner up banners up on our lamp posts uh it is incredibly simple to create you just take your iPhone Android whatever the case may be stand over the top of the artwork snap a picture and send the highest possible resolution file to the email on the flyer so uh again it is an incredible opportunity for your children to you know build up their pride and confidence uh and hopefully all become graphic designers later on in life and put me out of work so thank you thank you we'll move on to my reports uh have nothing to report Julia I left you out before I apologize you you know how I feel about the green team so uh I'm there reine's in my office so whatever you need all right um I have some appointments eron Petrino permanent appointment to senior purchasing assistant in accordance with the rules and regulations of the state of New Jersey civil service commission effed February 13 2024 ask for Council consent motion motion by council president have a second second second by councilman any questions or comments seeing none I'll just make one that she's been doing doing a phenomenal job uh since she took this role especially with everything that we all the changes that we've had going on and all the all the um different variable of work that's been dumped in her lap did you say so B yes uh Missy council president mcowan yes Council M Gman yes counc Del con yes counc Quon yes councilman kley yes next Dennis Gentile permanent appointment to laborer two in accordance with the rules and regulations state of New Jersey civil service commission effective February 13 2024 motion motion by council president M second second second by Council Del R call any questions or comments by the council see n m roll call council president McAn yes councilman kley yes counc Del con yes counc Quon yes counc m cley counc yes I didn't get you I'm sorry next I have Conor Fox provisional appointment part time 21 hours code enforcement officer training step one of the salary guide effective February 26 2024 ask for Council consent motion motion by council president M second second second by Council quatron any questions or comments by the council see none member Ro call council president mcowan yes Council MC Gman yes counc Del conen yes counc yes counc M Copley yes thank you next I have Regina masag teacher at the rate of $20 per hour effective February 13 2024 ask for Council consent motion motion by council president May a second second second by councilman councilman councilman Council Gman um any questions or comments see on M roll call Council presid McAn yes coun M Gman yes coun yes coun Mone yes coun m cley yes next I have Lori ciso teachers a at 3 $15 per hour effective February 13 2024 ask for Council consent motion motion by council president May second second second by Council any questions or comments by the council see n Roll Call council president mcowan yes councilman Guzman yes counc Del con yes counc quatron yes councilman kley yes Christine yeah Bano next I have Christine bonano teachers Aid at the rate of $15 per hour effective February 13 2024 motion motion by council president May a second second second by councilwoman Quon any questions or comments see n Roll Call council president McOwen yes counc M Gman yesc Del con yes counc quatron yes counc kley yes next I have Maria Ville Board of Health member alterate two toe term 12 31 to 20 2024 motion motion by council president M second second second by councilman de Del con any questions or comments seeing none roll call Council PE mcowan yes coun Gman yes coun Del con yes coun quatron yes coun kley yes next I have Carol Marshall access for all threeyear Term 12 1231 2025 motion motion by council president may have a second second second M councilman Guzman any questions for comments by the council see none at roll call council president McAn yes councilman Guzman yes councilman de conen yes Council Quon yes councilman kley yes next I have Tim conell Street saf committee 1231 12 2024 that one I don't need consent for um moving on to ordinances on second read read Finance council president thank you mayor uh this evening on second reading is amending the salary ordinance for school traffic guards uh Miss e can you please read the ordinance by title only an ordinance to amend and supplement an ordinance and title an ordinance regulating the employment tenure and discharge of certain officers and employees of The Bu of Rutherford under the provisions of the Civil Service Act of New Jersey thank you I'd like to make a motion to move that the ordinance be passed on second reading and advertised according to law I have a motion by the council president second second second by councilman Guzman now going to open it up to the public on this subject this subject matter only anybody anybody from the public wishing to speak seeing none I'm going to close it to the public you can open it up for any Council comments seeing none I'd ask for a roll call council president mcen yes counc McMan yes counc Del con yes counc M Quron yes counc M cley yes thank you I I'll take a motion to adjourn motion motion by council president all in favor I have a great night