know e e e e me councilman samuka here councilman gar here councilwoman s here Council Mas here council president here please rise for the salute of the flag and remain standing M of the entire police offic the com Lees Nation indivisible andice for all meting all Council memberss 2175 the public is hereby advised that any statements made during the meeting of the township Council of the township of S Brook may not be improve so protected that persons or entities who take issue with such comments or are offended by saying May in have in the past so it leg will redress through the courts any member of the public who addresses the council speaks for themselves and okay presentation good evening everyone and thanks for coming tonight I'm very very proud to announce the promotions of Rebecca rero L Lupen and Irving kierz Sergeant now these promotions are very well earned each of them have a promotional examination and uh which is very difficult and um they both scored well enough to be considered and that's why theyve been promoted along with the fact that they have both have excellent records and they were recommended by our Command Staff so I want to congratulate them and their families certainly wish them well in their new positions I'm very very confident that they both are going to do well serving the residents of sorg with honor and integrity we also glad to announce many of you already know we do have three new police officers that are finishing the Basic Police Academy and I look forward to them joining the ranks uh of s Police Department being on the road um having more police protection out there and I'm going to count on these two newly promoted police officers to lead by example and show them the way um at this time I'd like to turn it over to uh Chief Bob goler say a few words thank you mayor honorable mayor council members Township Representatives officials friends and family of two very important people tonight is my honor to be here it's my privilege I've been a member of the police department for 40 years and I know the history of many if not all the police officers past and present but tonight we honor two individual two police officers that earned the right to be here tonight sorry iring but I know Rebecca more than you I know Rebecca's family I know her history was your father is she your father father he probably still celebrating the soccer the Columbia almost Victory but anyway I I know Rebecca for many years probably probably her whole life even before she was born because I both went to school with them mother and father and Juan Sanchez and Jackie wer with two important people members of my class and I know what history you come from but even more than that I know your history in the shadow police department Irving I know you too I know you uh you didn't want to leave pluton County when you came here to Bergen County but I know you made the right choice Irving is a guy that is always smiling regardless of bad news good news or anything in between he's always positive and that's that's a quality of a police officer because there's many times that we come across bad times and good times but I want to congratulate both of you I want to thank the mayor and Council for seeing fit to make these promotions happen um and if I say anything I want to say this to the two officers that are promoted tonight you take tonight as a significant time in your life any promotion any significant whether be birth marriage death but a promotion is a positive ceremony and you're deserving of your recognition tonight you deserve to be promoted and you deserve after this was and bony show ceremony to go outside celebrate and have cake have something to drink have something to eat celebrate with your friends and family but after it's all said and done the reality is that the responsibility to be a public servant especially a public servant in law enforcement is a very high value because everybody not only in this room is is not only cheering for you they're counting on you and the legacy of a police department from the beginning from the Inception till eternity is based upon the activities and the honor or sometimes dishonor of police officers tonight is a very proud moment for your families very proud moment for me I'm sure it's a proud time for each and every one of us here tonight but I want to congratulate you didn't raise the hand yet okay I want to congratulate to the lieut Senate the Police Department Rebecca and J to be Sergeant Irving want to thank you for your service thank you for joining the shadbrook police department and being part of the great family I want to thank uh all of our colleague offices and family and friends will being here tonight to share this moment of time and I want to congratulate you on a well deserve promotion and may God bless each and every one of you and every one of you thank you very much mayor our officer in charge Captain John Z say a few words pleas I'll be brief everybody because I know we have a lot we want to get to uh I just want to recognize all the officers from our department who came tonight thank you for supporting the officers and supporting our Police Department it's really great great to see yeah thank you to the mayor and councel for these promotions tonight very much thank you uh good evening to family and friends who are here to celebrate the promotions of s rero and police officer well I'll just say briefly because I said I would be brief they deserve these promotions because I think if you you don't take a promotional exam a law enforcement promotional exam you don't realize what they went through they dedicated many months and made many sacrifices to give themselves an opportunity to do well on a very difficult exam very difficult test it took a commitment for all those months to stay focused because material we need to study it's not carried in a book pack it's rolled around in a suitcase a lot of material and it's very easy to just go I got takeen break for a couple weeks however you're not going to be able to compete or succeed that way so they were able to stay focused and stay committed and they accomplished what they set out to do and that was to put themselves in a position for a promotion to further their law enforcement careers and you should be very proud of your accomplishment because it's not easy so I like to personally congratulate both of you on your upcoming promotion and wish you well on your transition to your new command and supervisor position from the Department congratulations thank you okay let's get this done Rebecca you're first come raise your right hand on so this is the open Office for police Lieutenant so repeat after to me I I Rebecca rero Rivero affirm affirm that I will support that I will support and comply with comply with the Constitution of the United States Constitution of the United States the Constitution and the laws the Constitution and the laws of the state of New Jersey of the state of New Jersey and the ordinances and the ordinances of the township of Saddlebrook the township of Saddlebrook the rules of regulations the rules and regulations of the Department of police of the Department of police and the law en forcement ethics law enforcement ethics and I will bear true faith and I will bear true faith and allegiance to the Saint and allegiance to the Saint and to the government to the government established in the United States established in the United States and in this state and in the state under the authority of the people the authority of the people and will perform the duties and will perform the duties of police Lieutenant police Lieutenant for the township of Saddlebrook to the township of sad Faithfully faithfully and partially partially and justly justly to the best of my ability to the best of my ability so help me God so help me God congratulations luten [Applause] right hello everyone thank you for being here in support of myself and seem to be Sergeant feras I just want to thank mayor white and countship Council for making this happen chiefer captain Captain cigan Captain Johnson for the support throughout the years I'm excited to take on this new responsibility and I look forward to see what this future holds for this department and thank you for my husband and my wonderful daughter for the support and love and understanding all the sacrifices that have been made in this career thank you friends and family for being here today all right thank you thank you so [Applause] much okay you ready IR anybody in family coming okay you know the drill already right right hand left hand okay this is the oath of office for police Sergeant all right iring Gutierrez Gutierrez affirm affirm that I will support and comply affirm support and comply with the Constitution with the Constitution of the United States of the United States and the Constitution and the Constitution and the laws and the laws of the state of New Jersey of the state of New Jersey and the ordinances and the ordinances of the township of Sal of the township of Sal the rules and regulations the rules and regulations of the Department of police of Department the police and the law enforcement code of ethics and the law enforcement code of ethics and I will bear true faith and I will bear true faith and allegiance to the Saint and allegiance to the Saint and the government established and the and the government established in the united states in the United States and in this state in this state under the authority of the people under the authority of the people and will perform the duties and will perform the duties of police sergeant of police Sergeant for the township of saddle for the township of saddle Faithfully faithfully impartially impartially and justly and justly to the best of my ability the best of my ability so help me God so help me God congratulations 10 K uh first and foremost I want to thank God for uh allowing me to be here with uh Lieutenant rero as well as uh all my fellow officers that are here today I also want to thank mayor mayor white the council Chief Couer Captain Theo Captain cigan special thanks to my lieutenant uh je has been amazing to me so has actually B to me very well and I look definitely forward to working with him um and also my squad special thanks especially to my family but more so my wife always need to have always have my back and always believe in me to my two boys my daughter my granddaughter cannot ask anything more and also I want to thank for the township of Sal for believing in me and uh look forward to working and serving the community thank you Our Town photographer Thomas Dan Winkle wants to take a few pictures so this time we take like break so we get together continue meeting when conratulations [Music] congratulations that's it Tommy anyone would like to leave the meeting you can anybody that wants to stay please yeah I was thinking congratulations congratulations he T picture very ni will [Music] you have with Lake how does it work out with the work [Music] just talking to Jacob yeah sh they was cut they give chance how you feel 100% was funny the see you later oh I think they're free mayor to do that yes what I am not asking anything I don't speak I told you child you got the EXP you're the veteran [Music] obviously yeah yeah I've seen that yeah here meeting to the public for 202 budget hearing motion all favor I open for Budget wish speak question is this the second reading here public hearing on the budet just second the reason I was asking is because usually open first to the public um usually this go the ordinance goes later because basically this is an ordinance this is a [Music] second um goodg s uh council president um just to be on the same page I don't think I call the Division of Community Affairs uh government services and just to let you know there is plenty of mistakes right here on the budget and you have a professional here that and iiz you're going to vote down this good or bad today I would like to bring up a lot of points right here and plenty of mistakes plenty so I would like to bring it up so you got professionals here in attendance but I don't think that with 3 minutes it doesn't apply to a second reading this is a budget I don't know if any of you know how many PES are in here any of you by any chance there are 74 Pages 20 items per page uh the first question I would like to say how many budget means did the council has or did the council have how many can budget Council [Music] needs yes do the the um through the chair typically on a on the public hearing on the budget it's a Public's opportunity to make comments on the budget and they can ask questions but it's not a it's typically not a back and forth so my suggestion would be is that uh you know you take down the questions and when they're done with all their comments and questions and everybody gets an opportunity to ask all their comments and questions then you address it of course you can do it otherwise but my recommendation would be not to get in it back and forth I don't want I don't want to get it back of course I don't want to to waste his time on questions so if you do have questions is here to answer any question you have Mr jne if you may with do all respect to your profession actually the body the elected body is the one that got respond not you they hav't ask for your comments so right now this is not a legality this is not a legal question this is a procedural question all I saying is how many budget mean because I would love to attend and try to address some of the mistakes that we're going to see here so just in case we're going to start with this just just to give you an idea how could it be [Music] possible okay this is for me and this is for you as a president if you would allow me I Dr this so we on the same page some to the not to to [Music] the first St on the budget we are saying I'm talking about the um orinas 1715 21 one of the mistakes he says that the minimum pay for labor at one is $25,000 and the maximum pay for a labor is $102,500 can someone explain that to me who's checking this paperwork we have so many professionals it doesn't even mean the legal W the minimum wage that's the that's the the that's the salary scale that's the basic salary 25,000 but then you just read under the labor one underneath that what it says 33 hours per hour is the minimum no matter how you size it it is impossible to achieve $25,000 so it's outdated these things this paperwork need to be change and how could it be that the minimum is 25 and then the maximum is $102,000 we going to find plenty of mistakes right here this is against the law $25,000 doesn't even have the minimum wage so who's doing the job but this is just to begin this is just to begin yeah in the other page okay I can I can address that through the chair if you would like me to so as is very common with the municipal governments they establish a salary range in the order they set a minimum salary and they set a maximum salary because the employees depending on what level they're at or how many years of employment they have as we all know in any job that you have you get an increase every year so rather actually it's a cost- saving move because every time you change someone's salary you had do an ordinance you'd have to reintroduce the ordinance you'd have to pay for the advertisement you'd have to have an adoption all that takes time and money and as we know it's human nature when you're getting would like to be put in effect as soon as possible so by having a minimum and a maximum salary ordinance where as set forth in the budget it allows the governing body by resolution at at a at a council meeting to vote to establish the salaries of the employees if the employees are part of a collective bargaining agreement so that they're covered by a contract that allows the salaries to be automatically implemented in accord with the contract so again this is all common practice and municip throughout the state of New Jersey and it and it's not a mistake it's been stated by C President we do always respect to the legal attorney right here I don't think that he should interfere I don't think that he's understanding what what's going over here well my point is $25,000 is impossible to pay any new employee that is no way by no means that you can get me a $25,000 under the minimum wage so that is wrong that's what I'm trying to point it out another thing that I want to point it out the other paper that I just gave you on police Min attorney just let me deal with the council that they are going to vote upon this thank you very much okay I'm sorry I have right now counc president council president justs that's what they're hear and if I may and if I may if I may I don't take I don't take directions from you I take it from the council president if he wants me as you saw first two times I asked him if he would like me to address your question he said yes Mr attorney you're not you know you don't you don't you know can I when you talk nobody interrupts you just common courtesy I may not you may not agree with what I say I may not agree with what you say but let's let's set a good example for the public and let everyone speak without interruption so as I was stating I don't interrupt you I ask the council I go through the council president if he says to me he does not want me to answer the question I will answer the question but if he tells me to answer the question then I'll answer the question oh I'm not pres council president I'll leave up up up there because there's another problem but if anyone including the attorney needs a calculator I just put a new calculator so they can make the numbers can someone just prove it to me that $25,000 exist in the town sub it is impossible no one can be paid otherwise we'll be against the law if you're working part time right no because all fulltime all these are full times all these are fulltime so there's no way that's number one that need to be corrected another problem business administrator under the uh ordinance 17 31-23 that the one color just got pay raises recently we can see the business administrator $6,000 on the budget I also saw that how or why this hasn't been amended this is not the real salary of a business administrator of $6,000 in the paperwork I just gave you this needs to be addressed because on out of which account is is coming and I'm going to prove it on the on the budget itself on the paperwork Page by page that we have mistakes and not just to be on that and also was mentioned on the other page I just gave you last month last month it was said that the business administrator that I was lying that didn't make $300,000 I just provide you thank you thank you very much very I just gave you the the paperwork these are the contracts uh if look anyone else need to use a new calculator they can use it and please come out this is true and fact this administrator $300,000 now if you allow me these are the problems that we have in the budget okay I'm looking at the budget itself and I'm just going to point out five you say you're saying our business administr makes $300,000 excuse me you're saying that our business administr makes $300,000 no the prior one that it took me a year to complain and complain and complain and it's right there the me and I said that we were paying too much because that business administrator in that town in Edison they just found a replacement in less than a month in two weeks but we keep it right here for a year $300,000 so that was not an emergency emergencies a month or two no more than three but not a year so I'm looking at the 3D in parenthesis to why I'm going to point it out this the town was paying $4 million to be exact $485,000 in health benefits and he's getting out of the employees $225,000 so of course every year is going to go up but now um um number four what it says curent fund anticipated revenues right we can see the anticipated Surplus $3.2 million and at point was more than five so it's supposedly healthy all right let's let's just move on [Music] here there we go I'm going to go into number 12 please can someone explain it to me some no no I'm going now in the real budget I'm in the real budget now right here 74 pages right here number 12 can someone from the council from the council that they going to V this or tonight on 2023 on the first line item we pay $154,000 now well for 2023 we budget $ 120,000 but we spend 154,000 how could be that now now we are budgeting $300,000 on the Wes can someone please explain to me through the chair yes sir yes sir in 20123 under contractual Services we spend $250 $52,000 the budget this year is $45,000 that's because the 2023 administrator was not a salary employee she was contracted through a company to provide business administrative services and I don't want to get into the long history of of Mr Leo and and all that happened and we the town had a big problem Pete was laying in the hospital and needed somebody to run the town this year the salaries are 300,000 because they include all the other administrative and executive salaries plus our full-time salary administrator here that so I assume that contractural service of the 252,000 now it was reduced to 45,000 unless year was $230,000 correct okay so last year but last year 400,000 400,000 in change was spent this year we're budgeting $345,000 so we've saved $55,000 from 24 to 23 that's another type of discussion I'm going to speak about about later n here on the public uh on the just just as a point of note last year was budget 100 ,000 for computer services contract but unfortunately for some reason or the other I guess we're using a lot of computers uh we spent $173,000 as point no through the chair um that's because we moved into this building and we had to spend a significant amount of money to set up and start up and now we're in a much bigger building and it's costing the ex to more money to provide the services that we have to get from our computer people if I may I like the concept that we when we just move in we were going to use more resources equipment but why again on 2024 we are going to project it $165,000 on a computer service contract because you have to pay to service and upkeep and have contracts on the new hardware and software is any of the council members are aware that every time that we are just doing these contracts even though that money be needed on this on these buildings is something that every year is going to keep on going out but then again the taxpayers deserve some kind of break so we going to have to look for other avenues in trying to work it out um then I go to the next page which is 13 under Financial Administration salaries and wages we budget last year 267,000 but we just spend a total of 230 and Reserve we got 36,000 but we're bugeting again now for 2024 335,000 and someone of the council can I explain me the difference from the council seeing now Mr auditor if you can there's more people working in the finance department now there's another there's another employee we've had the the township has had some issues over the last couple years in attracting and keeping people in the finance department they now have a full compliment and that the salaries represent the employees that are now employed by the township so in other words we keep the same number of residents in S Brook we move to a bigger Town Hall so we needs more employees that work is the same whether you work out of a castle or out of a small parking lot but anyway I'll keep on going it's enough to to do it and statements not to respond but I just saw that never we put anything but we are just buting $21,000 for financial statements or for statements which it doesn't catch my eye but there is a bigger issue right here I'm almost like if we go to number 21 number 31 page uh page 31 is dedicated water utility budget right me all right are we there I asked before in the month of April month of May if we have received a letter from the water company if they were increasing the numers I couldn't see no letter but in 2023 we have a surplus of half a million dollar on 2024 and someone from the council explain the res the surplus of 215,000 plus underneath under rent additional he shows $361,000 and someone from the [Music] council anyway you guys are to what on the budg not the professional the professional just put it together is your doing that's your name responsibility this coun uh through the chair the Surplus at the end of 2023 in the water utility is $215,000 not $500,000 so it's right here onine $215,000 I just mentioned 2023 the Surplus that is showing is 400 I'm 98,000 that's what was used out of the Surplus that was at December 3122 that was used in the 23 budget okay at the end of 23 there was 215,000 in serus in water and we're using the $215,000 now in terms of the rent's additional it's not 361 it's 3814 381 3814 50 and we hadn't had an increase we hadn't increased our water rates in four or five or six I think it was 2019 2019 so in 2019 almost 5 years we have gotten increases for the purchase of water of anywhere from 3 to 5% a year since 2019 during covid we didn't raise the rates countship didn't raise the rates because we did have plus and we used it judiciously over 3 or 4 years in order to not raise the rates specifically because of Co there was the state moratorium on selling leans for for water utilities so we waited we increased the rates I think it was in March or April of this year for this year to supplement the budget to add enough Revenue to balance the budget so that the utility users not the taxpayers would pay for the operation of the water utility uh if I may if I may translate what the gentleman just said the utility users all the residents are utility users all of us are users all of us and four or five years it's not even santic because this is what I'm call to St four or five years the waters might not increase a why because we are generating Revenue this is a surplus already of 250,000 that we have and we're using it okay you can use it but then again there is no need to generate Revenue because we making money out of the cell of the water all is one second you see because you don't know the thing right here back in April I was here and I was told and Le on the minutes that we don't make any DME from the sale of the word the point I'm trying to make to all the s residents there is no need for a watering increase but again they are using it as a revenue to have a surplus to pay out this then we should say it the way it is because right now we are not broke we're not a deficit we are just generating if we didn't raise the rates and we didn't weren't able to balance the utility budget we would have to have taken $381,500 from the current fund budget from ta the taxpayers in order to balance the budget because under under local budget law the budget has to be balanced and again we've had increases in not just water purchases in a water utility just like everybody else we've had increases because of inflation and in health insurance and salary increases over the last five from 2019 to 2024 but we didn't raise the rates we had Surplus we utilize that Surplus over 5 years and now the rates had to go up to balance the budget it's that simple it's not nefarious it's not whatever you think any you think it is it's the way government works if that's the way the government works I feel sorry then for all seniors that got property tax freezes but they don't have freeze on the water rates increase whether they use the minimum or not they going to be would increase so would you suggest that that the taxpayers that don't have a property tax free pay additional money to subsidize the water utility so that the users are not paying their fair share you can't have it both ways I'm not saying I have other ways to do that actually you should tie your BT in all points of this budget there is a lot to do in this budget believe me there is a lot it's a lot of F and it's enough is enough to just go on now after the taxpayers for all these bills and try to hire as many people as they can if we can just do a more efficient job I believe that the budget could be much much better thank you for listening to me have a great day I'll be back thank you just to clarify we're not voting on the budget tonight you are you are there's a resolution to amend the budget to amend for two two tactical issues brought up by the state and it doesn't the amendment doesn't rise to the point where it needs to be advertised and have a separate public hearing so once the public hearing is closed you'll entertain the resolution to amend and once that's adopted contain the resolution to adopt two-step process correct and not unusual during the technical review by the state you know they they find stuff anyone else wishing to speak on budget 24 budget saying no one motion Clos talk about the's question about the yeah may I may I speak hi um I I live at 16 har place um I don't know if this is a venue to open up this discussion but um I have a video that I like to share with the committee about what I see as problem infestation R we'll give you this is just on the budget if you have a seat we will give you time to speak on it yeah only I want to mention is that I have been in contact with um the tra from health and um and also with Lisa and as I see one of the problems is that that there are certain people in the neighborhoods that are not maintaining their properties um that's another issue uh but I don't know the extent uh of the problem itself other than the fact that what live video shows that in in my neighborhood on my street that obviously is is a serious problem lived in s for 53 years and I've never ever never ever had problem okay um so I don't know what the next step was about how to engage other people I don't know if anybody else is here um I was under the impression that this might be a topic tonight not realizing that there was another issue with the budget but um so I don't know what the next step is council president I um I think U the mayor and I could could address that but maybe at the the the public hearing for public comment outside of the budget moment do you have time to have to take a seat and yeah that was see that was the understanding gu that this meeting might be about because I don't know the extent of it the problem but so this is our our council meeting and there are a couple public comment session uh moments and the one right now is just for the budget there is a general public comment uh portion which we could we could respond to your your concern okay all right thank you problem a second motion all favor meetings to the public motion motion hi did you guys make a motion did they make a motion yeah they make a motion they may we can't hear you they may be voting on two resolutions first I thought you made to the public okay it is I did I'm I'm sorry that's okay no problem I'm waiting to we have resolutions to amend budgets [Music] um an amendment which our order probably explain again this is just two two actually three technical issues that the state's requiring us to uh amend the budget so you need to introduce the resolution the resolution a motion second favor hi Mr should that be a roll call do a roll call on the two resolutions involving the budget councila yes Council M gar yes Council Sanchez Council council president yes next is the resolution to adopt the 2024 Municipal budget motion to adopt motion second councilman samuka yes councilman Garett yes councilman Sanchez yes councilman baser yes Council yes thank you very much now we can open meeting to the public motion all in favor council president I would like to address the roading problem that Shel brought up okay you can do that first we have't come back up yeah yeah did you want to I I I think many of them have seen the video the video has been yeah certainly County Animal Control is aware of the problem okay and also the people yes sir this I I know you mentioned about uh Property Maintenance and there are there have been two individuals that were warn even on high area yes and uh that area does seem to be um the problem is isolated to that area no it's not it's not isolated excuse me but that that's not necessarily the case because there is when I say isolated to that area I don't mean it's just on Harley like I know where you live okay you know I've been very involved with this you spoke to my secondary maybe your wife we received we have received reports we've been receiving reports for better part of 6 months but it started totally in the North End and then it kind of gradually worked its way South the major problem when I say isolated that I'm aware of is Harley place this is where we've been getting the complaints along Fair long Parkway Alberta nle mostly towards the Midland Avenue side so that when I say isolated I'm not saying you're the only one that has this problem believe me this is a problem I agree I agree and we're we're trying to address but you brought up specifically about the property maintenance yes Property Maintenance is important because if the property is if you have a lot of garbage around if the rodents can get inside your garbage pales uh if you have places where they can Burrow under like in your case I believe it's under your air conditioner um that obviously is not that's something that's not a problem you know it's under your air conditioner but other people have piles of wood other debris and and it attracts them so four food sources attracts them as well if you have a bird bird feeder um if you have a bird bath cuz they they need water so they'll they'll drink the water from the bird bath or freeing water puddles such as that so that's important so we're it's important to keep the property uh in in a in a good state that it doesn't we're not harboring we're not drawing them to that location but as far as as what you need to do you're on your property uh what I would recommend is you're going to have to hire an exterminator to come in I understand it listen I completely appreciate what my responsibilities are I know that okay I been trying to deal with that alone okay I'm trapping the animals myself okay we trying to be in contact with a with an exterminated deal with this problem but the problem is bigger than just my block yes no I I agree and we I sure when I spoke to Tracy okay we discussed this okay one of the things and also with Lisa about sending a letter to our neighbors to give them a heads up about what's going on we did do that that was now as I understand the letter that went out okay was only sent out to people on my block cuz when the letters went out that day I walked around my entire area okay and we're the only ones that received the letter now you know my thought okay I'm perpendicular to the center okay yes and you know there's there's the town of the Town store okay there's a Chinese restaurant okay I don't know if anybody goes up there to inspect them periodically make sure they dealing with their garbage because I know those areas not clean they're not as clean as they should be okay now I personally haven't seen any infestation of there okay but then I don't have a camera there at night to see what's going on okay I know for a fact in my block because I have cameras out there to try to find out how to deal with this problem because when the rats that dug under my air conditioner right there were two adults okay and she gave birth to five R okay they multiply very quickly very quickly and those two individuals within a year can to have thousands of Offspring very true so it's very we talking about an exponential growth or over a relatively short period of time if these things AR dou need and that's my concern Tracy mentioned to me I think she had a really good idea about bringing up to whom never about having maybe the town's exterminator exterminator if if somebody called in like in my case if I was able to call in to the town and say look I have an immediate problem that it was dealt with immediately it might help to reduce the PO ation because I know one thing is that of the five that that that she gave birth to okay as far as I can tell and I'm not 100% confident that four of them I trapped or killed in a relatively short period of time but there's one other individual and the two adults I can't trap they will not go in because they're sensitive to them they're not dumb animals they know how to avoid traps so this is a serious problem so you taking care of yourself right well dealt with the adults the adults are still out here okay and I see them since the 11th of July until last night one of the adults keep showing up to one of the traps that are set by my shed but refuses to go into feed yeah I I believe that I I understand what you're saying as far as notifying the public I do believe it's out there we do have we do have something rack control measures that are on our town website um when we do get calls we have been getting calls and like I said most of the calls are from that I don't want to say isolated because I guess that's the wrong word but in that immediate area there so but uh yeah we we could go further we could we could mail a letter to to everyone listen I don't know the extended the problem okay I just know what my immediate problem is okay but there is this web page called Anonymous mothers of SG or something like that because but they're getting it out there that's that's that's a good thing you know it's not misinformation they're correct and the town is confirming that when people call at the end made a comment which I think was a good idea maybe there's got to be an open meeting about it about trying to find what's the extent is it just Alberta is it har place that's one thing well we're doing that behind the scenes I mean if if you think I wouldn't be opposed to a meeting but I don't know I mean let's talk to the council maybe that's something they might want to do but I I I don't know if it's necessary I think we have to just get the information have to take it seriously which we are and this is not a problem that's just outled by the way this problem has has happened it started up north W Ridgewood faon faon was before us and really our problem from what cuz I've spoken to exterminators that come out and that have serviced our area and it seems like the problem they're saying the experts are saying that when Fon was on Route 4 and they were digging in the road they were changing drainage and the catch basins on rout FL that's when the problem came came South to us I know maywood's got a problem cuz it's out there um Monclair which is not really buron County but so maybe we shouldn't say that but Maywood is going through the same exact thing we're going through now uh and I'm sure many of the other towns so takeing back of what you just said okay about the extent of these animals moving about from one town to another okay if the town decid just to give the letters out to my block and not blocks let's say that was blocks around my area okay if those SS might have gone on to them right those rats travel at least 100 to 200 ft from your nesting area I know that for a fact okay so it's not just paring place and that block okay I'm not convinced that it's not further than I I agree with you I just said that I apologize from I just want to I just want to um chime in on just the the letters cuz I did oversee that with you know internally with um with the health department and also our public works department um the letters did go out to residents on Harley Graham chrisy Alberta and nli um and then all the so they were hand delivered and all the complaints were getting in are being tracked and monitored and given to to the county to to Monitor and inspect as you know as best as they can and uh within their duties and um and then also on top of that Cote enforcement is being very aggressive with uh Property Maintenance violations in those areas um you know um engaging those residents that may be in a in a violation on their property with whatever it is and um speaking with them issuing notices um violations if necessary to to make sure that they uh they keep their property you know up the code and uh in clean to to prevent this issue but I understand what you're saying but I just wanted to to give you some background on what we've been doing I agree with you sir and I I appreciate that I can tell you though that at least in one case my neighbor for example okay he's been warned several times about cleaning of his property he just recently received a letter that was sent to Harley place and he's taken no action since then now I realize he has 10 days yeah next week do something yeah early next week yeah the um early next week is that due date I am familiar with with that address and that incident and um and we have given we're pretty much uh given Authority and preparing to to go in with with our staff um and placing the lean on the property if necessary um with the taxes to to clean it and aate the issue all thank you and sir I I do agree with you that perhaps we we should put it out for the entire time okay that that's a mistake that's that's on me okay thank you and 3 through 7 Street for Council in November I just want to wish everyone State happy yeah 128 ad um just want to remind you everyone watching this the mayor youth group that we're always accepting registrations for anybody going to grade sport 12 s um and anybody who's going 4th through 12th grade September of 2024 we have the registration form up there um at on our website Youth Group website sb. we.com so sb. we.com sg. we.com looking ahead will be getting involved and helping out with different things going forward like National Night Out in August and then the town picnic later August on the 24th um also as we head into the fall we really start to get involved with a lot of different activities in town all the Halloween and and Christmas events so it's a the marage group is as I always say It's a Wonderful opportunity for our youth to get involved in community service in s and that's all I have to say thank you s to 36 L have a couple of things first when you refer to a traffic study who does those traffic studies Police Department okay does there have to be accidents involved to request one cuz we're going with the light red up here right by Mayhill when you're coming at Mayhill and you get stopped by acne I almost got creamed three times this week the left lane tells you you can make a left and then go right the right lane you're going to the left and you're staying in your lane then the left lane comes over and if you're not paying attention you're going to get creamed the signage clearly says don't you turn that bin you can go left or right I think that should be looked into CU I did almost get cream three times this week we did do a town engineer did do uh did look at that and there was some changes made I don't know about if you want to you're coming on Mayhill coming on Mayhill from Market no toward market so you're you're on Mayhill you get stop of Light by acne got stop by of light acne there's two lanes and right the left left lane the right lane can only go right or curve to your left okay the left lane you have to curve to your left once you go to your left you can cut over to your right so if you're not paying attention and you made that curve you're going to get creamed by somebody else in the lane next to you yeah cutting over because they want to make the right that lane should in my opinion be strictly left lane and the right lane should be straight or right those still do the same thing no because you're turning you're not going to cut over to the right that lane is going to be strictly for the light up on Market to make the left I know all right I'm just saying that's that's one the second thing is we're like almost four weeks into summer and the racing behind Walmart gets worse every freaking night which leads me to my other issue I received a letter that Walmart is looking to I get expand again there's no time date or meeting on this letter I have no idea it came from an engineer they're talking about adding another um a compactor and a loading dock do we not have a right to come and Voice or opinions or here because there's no time or data or a knowledge of anything where to go for this meeting and when all the issues Walmart has in the back I I really think they should be looked into they would have to do that in order to do it the right way I don't know what the letter says I will show it to you I I don't know anything about it so the residents got certified letters it's from bowler from from Walmart representing Walmart I guess so I like I said there's no meeting date time place nowhere to go voice your opinion it's telling you what some of their plans are which are very concerning I live there I deal with G they're going to have to they can't just do it and then they're going to have to do it follow the procedure like you have in the P yes through the chair just as the mayor stated by by Statute if you appear before whether it's the planning board or zoning board you have to give no notice to I certified mail can be hand delivered to Residents within a 200 ft that must State the date the location and what the application for now I'm not disputing what you have but that notice would be defective which means that they wouldn't be allowed to proceed because the first thing that is done at those meetings is they have to Prov provide proof of notification and not only do they have to give the notice by mail to the residents within 200 ft but they have to put a notice in the newspaper as well and if either of those notices do not have the date the time the location and what relief they're seeking the notice is defective even if they got approval the approval would be void of challenged and the board would not allow them to go forward without the proper notification so again I'm not doubting that they didn't put it in that all I'm saying to you is that notice that that's all they do it's defective and they won't be allowed to uh pursue their application what they might be doing so I have a feeling what they might be doing is they may be testing the water because is there is there any number on there to call because if you recall the last time wmart was going to do that loading dock and then there was so much resistance to it I was there right they back away from it so maybe they don't want to go through all that and pay professionals to to draw a plans they want to see what the temperature is before they do it understandably but how can they see that when they don't give you an opportunity well maybe there's a number there to call for the chair well again just to be just to be clear if it's a concept if it is a concept where they not seeking approval they just presenting something for board input that you would not have to get individual notice on it's only if they submit a formal application so again if they're going there just not submitting a formal application just we' like to get the board's input if we were to pursue something like this that you would not get the notices I just described okay is what you got syvia was it something that was titled notice of meeting or was it simply a letter from a engineering firm it's generally the letter any kind of notice or letter would come from an attorney not not from an engineer to chair we we just received something too and it's a either environmental Wetland they're applying to the state it's not us but we were notified it's a flood Hazard area verification and a flood Hazard area individual hermit for Walmart the proposed takeover Edition block blot number um Township of Albert buron County and then it has a file number Jersey file number that's it and it just starts off with dear Sarah Madam and goes into what they want to do yeah that's not a formal notice that's that means that they're going to they would have to seek approval from one of the boards either planning or zoning most likely zoning um and that's not the notice so there's no meeting that you haven't been invited to because there is no meeting okay I understand that why would we get this though if there's it might be a state regulation that everyone has to be told of that I'm not sure about the state regulations but they might have to send it to um to to all residents in that neighborhood and I'm not sure it's limited to 200 ft it could be 500 ft because there might be Wetland issues okay and what are we going to do about the racing back there we going to call the again I've already gotten complaints and I sure you have I have the police department on okay this I mean it's one thing but when you get woken up 2 3 4:00 in the morning it's ridiculous night after night I just hope something's done thank [Music] you hello everyone my name is j I'm running in the upcoming election for a council member I wish everyone a happy summer and cold and thank you thank you one of the uh ideas that I would like to propose for you to entertain is the same way that you have minimums and maximums you should have some salary CS it's time to start working with that meaning and unless is amended when someone reach a certain pay rise 200,000 250 220 whatever it stops that's the most of the person can go the employee can go but that is now the topic right now now in the budget what I would like to propose in the budget you can see that the police department have a budget of almost $4 million a year however we have a volunteer fire department and we just allocate 16 $6,000 and spend around 110 120 in truck if it's much money other municipalities pay for the fire department can we Institute a plan that automatically we can increase our budget of 20 or $25,000 more per that's something to be considered back in the day when I was sitting there and they send the idea about the Loa benefits because that's the only thing that they get I believe that that is the least that we could have done from them so I throw it up there something for you to entertain for the near future um again I still have the calculator for anyone that would like to use it at the last me in June he was said that the health benefits to begin for the audience and the residents whoever is new elected members or new elected council members get elected in November they will start in January 1st with no health benefits since councilman s Luca made a case as an attorney try to defend his benefit at the last meeting and meaning that that's the only reason why he's sitting there because of his medical benefits then I'm going to put entertainment now and I'm going to ask a few questions and the questions are as follows you can stop if it's true I'm not answer any questions from you if it's true excuse me sir if you're an attorney you got to know that I have it for you okay answer I'm just telling you EXC you're wasting your time you took 20 to 25 minutes to just try to justify your health benefits what happen is even if it's true that you yourself are in the plan you can change it if elect it again you can include your wife again at any given time no one can stop you no one so if you remarry someone else then that me family also will be in your medical plan and the township of s will have to pay and that's nothing new it just happened not long ago with an elected official that we have to pay medical benefits for life when you said that your life expectancy is 10 years I don't know if you got a magic goal or something to say that you just got a life expectancy of 10 years but what is more of an embarrassment and now of the Council on has yes sir could you do this at like a debate or something instead of at a council meeting uh this is what you attacking somebody could you just have a debate he was for 20 minutes at last meeting I wasn't here at the last meeting so I'm sorry I just want to tell you that he said that he doesn't want to be there because he SE some old people that shouldn't be here in this world basically that's what he said and that's why he doesn't want to leave no more than 10 years who is he to dictate how long he's going to be here my mom is 90 years old my mom read with no glasses my man my mom dance and I'm pretty sure that she's not happy by him saying that she doesn't deserve this world not just the seniors inside of her but all the seniors around the world they got a right to leave I didn't understand what you're saying well you were not here so basically he made a no he made a comment he made a comment at the last council meeting that some people 90 something that he doesn't want to reach that age because they don't look good and they basically an embarrassment and and that is not a way to say it so if you watch the meeting and we will put it we will say those words because basically what he's trying to say is that trying to justify to say in an arrogant way that his medical benefits he will just call one Niel to the residents and taxpayers that's what I brought calculator and please don't say what school you attended because there is no way in Earth that your medical benefits of $1 million will cause a Niel to the residents there is no way unless you got a scientific scientific uh calculator I don't know from another planet I guess and to say that anyone that wish or don't wish to pay your nickel they can come and you will pay them back the Niel shame on you that's arrogance that's arrogance because if you think that you can pay or afford that payment of a nickel then why don't you pay for your medical insurance yourself you're an attorney or at least relinquish or at least give up on your medical benefits and run with no medical benefits but to take 20 25 minutes and just to justify that that's your worth that that's what you're doing as a coun I think it's a shame I in Clos it and closing I would just like to say that it's not just about elections I've been doing this for many years and all of you have seen me for more than 2 years coming sitting down bringing some ideas so this is not about an election that I'm here but I believe there is a lot more work that can be done and the reason why I believe I is because I seen lately that we are just moving in One Direction but no one ask questions no one always is there afraid to ask the topic a question why we got to spend this why not we don't do this why not that now right now the only and and it's being affected the only Lobby that I seen from councila is all those canab stores that we going to be one of the first corridors in the state of New Jersey that have everything related to cannabis there is no other town no new no p no C nobody has it like s that we're going to have cultivation manufacturing packing resale but we don't have an ordinance yet in place and how those offices or how those businesses from what time to what time they're going to open what kind of ventilators they going to use we don't know nothing but then we're going to have the corridor and thank you mayor for bringing more police officers because we're really going to need a lot more because we don't know the outcome of with the opening of all these Canabis stores thanks to our councilman Sima and the rest of course of the colleagues thank you very much have a wonderful night thank you 24 Harris avue um I just want to bring up a I don't know if you guys have heard of sustainable Jersey they like sponsor basically the Green Team teams in municipalities around New Jersey paron has a green team Garfield Maywood a bunch of other towns um and there's the opportunity to you know get like grant money through the psng foundation for like sustainable projects and stuff so I I would just the municipality usually has to apply for this kind of thing but I think it would be a good idea to have environmental or green team in our town I spoke with the mayor Fon I attended their green team meeting last month I just it seems just a good idea thank you thanks anyone else wish to speak see no one motion close second all favor any comments okay thank you council president I want to start out uh with the budget um which uh we adopted tonight um look I worked on the budget along with our professionals and business administrator Jimmy Hy and uh Vince Bono or CFO and and obviously our our aor Steve Walcott but we did everything that we could to minimize the increase uh without cutting services um including using more Surplus than we would have liked to no no one up here wants to raise taxes I can tell you that no one and uh as our auditor said there's fixed costs that account for the majority of the increase and prices have risen due to inflation um garbage recycling collection pension contributions Health Care they've all gone up and you know we continue bonding money for essential Capital Improvements and those projects uh for which we've been awarded Grantline and we you know some of these things we have to get done it's important it's important our our sewer system our infrastructure so anyway just to address something that M Mr Rodriguez said contrary to what he's saying we haven't hired any new employees we have we have replaced employees um you know that have left or retired so that that's uh not a true statement uh I just want to go over some some things that you know myself I try to I try to keep myself a breast of what goes on and you know when it comes to I'm not a professional but when it comes to the budget I care about it I I know my colleagues do too um you know what what's what causes why do we pay taxes what causes increases and things like that and and what I looked at it there's really six factors and if you look at these six factors several of them have an impact on us and because of what's going on with the economy uh it's it's affected it's affected our taxes so the first one is the market value of your house when your property goes up your market value goes up and like it has many all over town prop property uh values have increased considerably over the last year uh and the housing market is at an all-time high so that's one number two the cost and this is you know just the this is what I just basically went over when it comes to uh um increases and and and the rising inflation but the cost of Municipal and County programs inflation has affected this Factor bit time I mean the cost of everything has gone up I mean you know yourself you go to the gas on you go to the grocery store you see it and that that affects the municipality as well um most of the spending is fixed cost salary and wages and I want to say that you know our Our Town employees do you know do a fact they do an excellent job they really do and layoffs if that's something that you we we would think about which really was never on the table but if if you do that you know you're going to impact Services you're not going to get the same services so and also the cost of Capital Improvements when you new construction every everything's G up so those two right there are are two huge things the cost of our Town's Public Schools okay and I've always been a big proponent for education I still am good schools are essential essential to and a strong education system attracts professional people businesses and Investments it's well known very well known and I believe that we have a good school district okay does it need improving sure everything needs improving but the superintendent and the Board of Education they do a commendable job they have the right attitude they care they they're trying to do their best and I think they're doing a good job they're improving and making progress again it's always room for improvement but overall the performance is respectable and I think that the students receive a quality education to go to sber my three kids all went to sber and they're doing fabulously they went on to college and they're all gainfully employed and doing well all right here's number four and I'm glad Omar brought up the marijuana the Canabis canabus for example okay availability of other revenues right now for example the hotel the hotel we have two major hotels in town they pay a hotel tax it's it's a considerable amount of money during Co they weren't nobody was staying in the hotels right and and it hurt we got hit with that now we got compensated the state gave us money um Co money which helped so I think you know we're moving forward with selling Old Town Hall okay we have a um a resolution on tonight and we had a planning board meeting on Monday we've declared the Old Town Hall and police department 73 and 93 Market Street as an area in need of Rehabilitation we we want to sell that property we want to be part of it and that we want to we want to work with a uh developer and by declaring an area in need of Rehabilitation it gives us flexibility when it comes to zoning we can work together find out what can be built there okay sell it make money on that and then put a nice rable there so what I'm thinking about I don't know if it can go there but something like one across the street by EDS that helps a taxpayer it helps all of us because now they're paying a share of taxes and it's always a good thing and it's just the property is just sitting there the old police station 2006 we knew moved into the new police station that's a long time ago that's almost 20 years ago just sitting there doing nothing deterior so anyway the town will work with a develop to build something there that's desirable for the town and the residence next year hopefully will be generating revenue from Cannabis sales okay so that's good thing that helps the taxpayer they got to pay 2% on every license they have 2% of their profits and that could mean a considerable amount of money could mean close to a million dollar if all of them open up okay number five I'm going through this list tax exempt proper properties we don't have too many but you know that does affect because the more tax properties you have the rest of the taxpayers have to make up for that churches right you have the VFW the American Legion our our senior housing project across from the senior center they don't you know they don't pay taxes they do pay some some funds but not not taxes the last thing is when it comes to taxes is the total value of all the taxable properties our tax base determines the tax rate and because we have a lot of commercial properties and industrial area that really helps the residential homeowner the residential taxpayer okay because they do pay more taxes than we do than that the homeowner does so you know I I think and when you look at that because we have that I know I know people don't realize it and they don't nobody likes to pay higher taxes but you know our TA if you compare our taxes to the rest of the county we're it changes year to year but I we're we're in the bottom 10 we're in the bottom 10 yeah out of the the 70 municipalities we're in the bottom 10 so that's a good thing so and other thing this is the last thing I want to say about the budget there's no frivilous spending you know Omar likes to talk and he looks at the budget he picks it apart look the only thing that could even remotely be considered frivilous is special events okay and we try to get local businesses and professionals to help def Fray the cost they sponsor events some events but I'll give you an example we have the fireworks a couple weeks ago right that costed the town now let me back up the VFW used to pay for that the whole thing okay not including the overtime cost from the DPW and the police department but they paay for it now you know they fall up some hard times they can't afford it anymore for a while they were paying us half the money and you know got to a point where they couldn't they couldn't pay us you know they were generous enough all these years to pay us but you know they couldn't so we get a decision to make are we going to not do the fireworks that many many residents enjoy that want those fireworks and I'm going to tell you you know with the when we didn't do it the one year I think it was Co we we got land basted people really enjoy those fireworks so you know what it's a service it's something nice that the town's offering to people so you know should we cut it out you know should we just take it out and say you know heck with it I I don't think so I I don't think we should discontinue it but you know we want to go with a fine two comb and say well we can cut this we can cut that you know what there's going to be some unhappy people too so that's all I have to say about the budget I got a little more I'm sorry I I it really went over a little bit but so anyway on the budget we're awarding the 2024 road paving program tonight through contract uh Samson Street got awarded to saell at 163,000 and and then our 2024 the the the road program that Samson Street was a state uh State Grant um 2024 Road program uh was awarded to ajm at about $848,000 those streets include Orchard Lane Sterling Place Lincoln Avenue Van Orton Place Elm uh Street ashav um Dyer Place Nale Road um the Garden State Parkway bridge over the SD River Road will continue with their construction this weekend weather permitting uh they need to have good weather all the way through 6:00 p.m. so s River Road will be closed 6: p.m. Friday July 19th until 6:00 a.m. Monday July 22nd as vours all over the place this is the second weekend they did it they need to do it two more weekends to complete the project Public Service Gas and Electric will'll be replacing gas lines they've been doing it in the south end of town I have a list somewh uh Westminister McKenzie South Street harab Outwater Madison North 6 4th Street Third Street Grace and North 7th Street lza so those are the streets they're going to be doing they're working very fast but uh they are doing the gas main that we're going to pave um they pay for half the road we pay for the other half uh ordinances is second reading tonight State mandate storm water management second reading on the calendar year ordinance through exceed appropriation limit and establish cap Bank also Congress Street um we spoke about it in the work session no parking during school hours 7 to 4 7:00 a.m. to 4: p.m. Monday through Friday excluding holidays um the west side of Congress from the dead end Library entrance dead end of Congress to the library entrance on the east side from alany to the house just north of the library entrance so that's going to be uh if that ordinance passes first reading uh Township events the fireworks which I mentioned were July the 3rd at the s River County Park we received many compliments we finally got a good weather uh a good weather night and we weren't worried about rain I've been there many many times with Chief cougler over there worrying that we wer going to get him in because it was a storm coming and we always seem to get him in which is a good thing I want to thank the Police Department fire department ambul score uh and uh for their assistance um special thanks to Fire Marshall Mike sits office of emergency management coordinator Tom Dickman Captain John Zolo DPW superintendent Bob hiah fire chief Dave mcki UL Court Captain Lou Rodriguez also I'd like to thank Rafael Gonzalez for videotaping and Thomas vanwinkle for taking uh amazing photos um okay also on Saturday last Saturday July 13th we had coffee with a cop at Starbucks I want to thank s police and Starbucks uh for for that event upcoming events senior citizen chicken Bingo Sunday August the 4th called Joe lesie our senior director National Night Out the police department that's Tuesday August 6 6 to 9 here at the municipal complex parking lot Elton John tribute band uh it's a makeup date will be Monday August the 12th 7:30 p.m. here in the parking lot the town picnic is Saturday August 24th 12: to 300 p.m. sadle River County Park the mayor's walk is the morning of the picnic 9 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. around the pond uh the rain date is for both events Sunday August 25th also we have an 80s Revolution band that was cancelled last night and is rescheduled for Tuesday August 27th 7:30 p.m. here and then the night after that alter state is a band that was scheduled we did four concerts this year um and that's scheduled for Wednesday August 28 7:30 p.m. I want to compliment our our summer Recreation program uh it's the first time we've ever done it for a month we have 50 children that are enrolled it's running very well we we have received very positive feedback from parents and the kids um Andy Gallow Diane boner and the whole Recreation staff are doing an exceptional job uh we could use more volunteers um we started with 10 and we're down to five it's it's hard work but uh if uh next year somebody you know sees it can volunteer it'll be a good thing uh I also want to announce that this meeting is being live streamed um this is uh the first time our it people including m laosa u Rafael from laosa video are testing it live streaming it to the town's YouTube channel and I didn't realize but rafhael told me that we have like 3,000 people that are signed on to our YouTube channel that's a lot I don't think they're all residents but anyway um it's just being tested tonight so we will when we go live and we're all set and ready to go we'll make an announcement and put it out there um I want to announce also finally the deaths of some longtime residents in town Nancy small Joe Marston and Dolores barar I Cent these go out to their families and friends they all spent many years over 50 years living in Saddlebrook and were really part of the town's fabric also uh police officer Tom leader Thomas leader my heartfelt condolences to to lead her family I worked many years with Tommy uh at the side of a police department he's a good man and'll be sorely missed he died of an apparent heart attack at 70 years old and if you uh many people that saw him recently he appeared to be in great physical shape I guess the lesson here is regular checkups with your doctor early detection is key enjoy the rest of your summer thank you uh good evening everyone uh I'd just like to congratulate Lieutenant thany Rivera and Sergeant Erving gueras on their promotion SBR is very proud uh we have a great Police Department um we had a flood committee meeting on Thursday June 27th uh residents in attendance with Pete Leo OEM coordinator Tom Dickman uh Emily Wong Gail sski the mayor and myself uh we discussed flooding along the Saddle River uh Tom Dickman mentioned uh the storm hurricane predictions for the year uh it is very high um we're anticipating 25 named storms 8 to 13 hurricanes and four to seven of those being major so it's something that obviously we're concerned about uh we also talked about obtaining a high water uh vehicle through a program uh the 1023 program and that's something that's going to be coordinated with the police department all right but we're looking to be prepared in the event the worst happens here okay uh the mayor mentioned the budget uh we had garbage huge increase in garbage 100% increase in garbage uh waste removal so with that type of increase and we're not immune to inflation like the mayor said we're not spending one more nickel than we we have active um between that the health care the pension obligations contractual obligations to the employees also the board of vet is under the same same thing they're dealing with the same thing they're dealing with increased costs also the residents passed a referendum a much needed referendum okay um schools are very important I've been in education for 28 years I'm an administrator in the schools my daughter goes to school here she's having a great experience at school it's important that we invest in our schools and invest in our community nobody likes to pay high taxes nobody wants to pay high taxes spend more money than we need to spend we happen to be one of the lowest taxed in in the county okay so we're doing the best we can here we'll continue to do the best we can when it comes to this budget uh on a different note fireworks were great thank you to all the people that participated and made that possible possible that was very very nice um hope to see everyone at National Night Out on August 6th hope to see everybody at the township picnic on August 24th um thank you very much have a good evening thank you council president uh I too would like to congratulate uh liutenant Rebecca Rivera and also Sergeant Irving GL fedz on the well deserved promotion thank you for your dedication and your service to our town pleas basing um Sol also I'd like to extend my um sympathy and prayers to the family of the leader family and also um long time friend of our our Township amamos sudo uh to his wife um and family and our condolences well so thank you have a safe summer thanks oh by the way I'm running for Council thanks I hope everybody has been enjoying their summer I know it's been a very very hot one so I hope everyone is staying cool um I too would like to congratulate you know Lieutenant Rebecca Rivero and Sergeant Irving guer is on their promotions as well well deserved thank thank you I'll start off with the promotions and I um want to congratulate uh Becky and nvan uh the Sanchez family must been something in the water there because I never see them not smile and my natural face is a Grimace and they're always smiling so uh God bless him and well deserved and I believe the first the female lieutenant in Saddlebrook history uh irin I was uh honored to sit in on the interviews way back when when he was hired uh mayor Chamberlain asked me to sit in and I did recommend him I uh thought then that he would make a great addition to the force and uh that's been born out uh in regard to also the police department on on a sad note uh Tommy leader passed away I didn't I'm friends with a bunch of police officers I I didn't get to know uh Tommy that well I did have some interactions he was always Pleasant to me and from speaking to my friends who were who worked with him he was a pleasure to work with and just an know around good guy uh Flo brought up amamos sudall he was the uh was involved in the in the Democratic Club he was also I believe on the planing board his zoning board I think the planning board uh Amil was he was a piece of work he was he was a good guy and we always had a lot of fun with him and he'll be missed uh I was kind of shocked when I heard that he had passed uh the mayor had mentioned the concerts uh we had the bad luck of having rained for two of our conscience so far but we did have the good luck of being able to cancel them in time so this way we didn't get charged for them and the uh a lot of times what happens is you look at the weather outside and you say it's 8:00 and the concert's supposed to start at 7:30 like why did they cancel this then 8:30 the heavens open up and you know we made the right choice relying on weatherman is not really fun and uh you know it eats at your stomach because you're hoping that they were right but so far they got it right twice uh Road program they talked about uh I think uh that the town is doing a a great job in systematically Paving all the roads I know for years uh the roads were in horrific shape and uh sometimes uh people thought that saving a couple of bucks on the budget uh was worth uh losing a kidney when you're driving down some streets uh this Council uh doesn't think that way and believes that uh Public Safety and uh infrastructure improvements are a high priority so uh along with our engineer uh I think the the town is moving forward and uh improving our road conditions every year we try and get five or six you I don't know the exact number of roads in town but eventually they'll all be done and then we start over again but we do have a specific Road program in place my writing is horrible uh in regard to that we are applying for and have received grants uh and I believe we have a number of firemen in the audience here uh assistant chief wiel and uh they received a grant for some of their equipment not enough to cover everything but any grant that we get is money that we don't have to spend uh the gentleman talked about the rat issue and there is a property maintenance um it's a property maintenance concern so certainly if you have a property maintenance concern uh our we do have a maintenance officer can't see everything so if you've got a problem uh make sure you contact the town because we'd like to get input from everyone so we appreciate the gentleman who spoke over here Harley plac is three blocks from my house so I've had a similar issue not as bad but a similar issue on my property but please be sure to contact the town if there are any property maintenance issues and we will look after it uh there was one in particular uh that receiv received some notification about and if you go past that particular property um you'll see that it's been uh it's been rectified um in terms of the Cannabis I I mayor I'd like to correct you but in a good way you said 2% of the profits it's actually 2% of the revenues um and I believe that all the most if not all of the uh companies that are going to be operating inside book or potentially operating inside of book somebody talked about the fact that we don't have ordinances in place well no one's been totally approved yet and they're not going to open up until we have an ordinance which specifies certain things that they must comply with but I I believe at least two of the three have also voluntarily see the 2% is required State um they have voluntarily agreed to pay an additional 2% of their revenue to the town so it's four a total of 4% so for every million dollars that uh that they take in not profit but whatever they take in we get 40,000 times that by 10 it's $400,000 which which does a lot to help us um and in terms of again a gentleman came up and talked about U you know pot alley or whatever you called it uh I think everybody drives up and down Route 17 and if you go on Route 17 rochell park has one of the largest dispensaries in the area if not the I I bet most people who drive on Route 17 in Rosell Park do not even know that that dispensary is there I mean it's not a head shop it's not something where it's a methadone clinic and that's the misinformation that's getting out there uh it's legal in New Jersey and Saddlebrook is taking advantage of the legality um and lastly you know every time the individual comes up here he never fails to U never fails to disappoint I know that they had uh a debate on about 2 weeks ago and each side if you listen to Fox that's how many how many lies Biden told and if you listen to CNN it's how many lies Trump told well I counted about five or six just in the 5 minutes that he's up here uh when someone comes up and their sole mission to come up here is not to benefit the town but to try and get elected especially when that person was a drain on Saddlebrook that person was as he proudly says was council president four four times in in eight years it was the most divisive time in s the politics and maybe we'll get to that again the next four months I think what do we got we got four more months before the election so I'm assuming he's going to come up here and um and it'll be uh musty TV again for some people they'll come up and see them yell and point fingers and direct it to me you know uh I'm part of the team there's three people running and um it's good to see Mrs ISAC Mr Shaheen here good luck to you uh it's tough to run somebody uh you know somebody mentions who's a tough guy and who's not a tough guy you know it's tough to get out there in the public and put yourself out there and run it's easy to sit behind a computer and just type some some stuff um so uh and lastly couple of days ago or last week there was an assassination attempt on the president and thank god um it was a failed attempt but what shocks me is that there are people out there that are upset that the shooter Miss they're looking to see somebody die and the fact that there's so much hate in some people's heart it it just baffles me that people can be like that so you know just be kind to each other that's all I got to say thanks thank you want to say was for as the budget goes listen we all live in town we pay taxes here we don't want to raise taxes we raise your taxes our taxes go up also unfortunately utilities go up uh pays go up everything goes up we've curved it for many years by using Surplus unfortunately the Surplus is running out and we as well as what we are residents we have to pay how our taxes are going to go up unfortunately that's just our percentage we still don't get the County's percentage yet and we don't have this school budget yet so I don't know how much more our taxes will go up um but like the mayor said in order to have a good school system you got to pay for it in order to have a safe town which we relatively are safe even though you hear stuff like the counil S said people on the computer sit behind a computer and they talk nonsense anybody could be like you said a tough guy behind a computer anybody could be a tough guy with a TV on but listen when it comes down to we don't want to screw nobody we don't want to jeopardize anything we live in town our kids hang out together we go to restaurants together we go to church together we're bad people just for sitting up here because we are that 1% that want to try and make a difference so I applaud these two gentlemen here for want to get involved with politics cuz it looks great from back there but sitting up here looking out there every one of those people that sit out there are looking at you like you're the bad guy and we're not the bad people we're just trying to do what's right for the resident ourselves as well um you know and I just want to give a thanks to our professionals the mayor for doing a great job they do with the budget and keeping a tight grip on it because they really did keep a grip on it regardless of what people say and do at that Podium I want want to congratulate Rebecca and Irving as a law enforcement officer we all strive to be to get rank it's not easy some sometimes when you go against 80 other people like one position it's hard so I wish them the best in their new positions their new roles and I I wish another book success for for both of them um Jim I thank you for coming up with regard to the uh the rat problem I get a mouse in my house it's like the end of the world I couldn't imagine having a rat so it it doesn't go on hurt we listen to you we're going to try and do the best we can to help you and the other residents out so thank you for your concern um the racing in Walmart I don't know I'm sure the mayor knew about this the first I've heard about it cuz I usually you hear about it hear about hear about it haven't heard anything all somewhere about it usually we hear on the radio at work this just past weekend thought it was I think there was an incident this past weekend July was horrendous and this past week again um uh Steve left but I just want to tell the Green Team I think that's a great idea maybe something we can Implement with the town but I I wish he was still here because he's here excuse me every meeting every work session and this is the first time he left it up and uh apped for something so I just want to thank to Steve mayor the fireworks are absolutely beautiful this year I think it's the best has been since I've been here in the 22 years they were absolutely beautiful um National out is August 12th um I'm sorry oh 6 I I got it written different spot uh come out and support your First Responders um they do a great job uh not just the police firemen EMTs and the a s try what else we have here and I spoke earlier I don't most you were here about um everybody's concerned with the uh the Cannabis coming to town that's regulated by the state so they can't do anything illegal my problem as a father and a resident is every time I go down the street there's new vape shop open they're not regulated they can sell whatever they want because nobody's going in here to look at them um it's a proven fact that vape shops sell Leal weed but nobody wants to spend the time or the resources to shut them down so me me I would like to if we don't I believe we do have some type of ordinance but I'd like to implement an ordinance to limit not only how many but the times of business hours and the age 18 and over 21 I don't listen you can't get Al 2 21 so I don't know why we can't put an age limit of 21 on on a vape store um and I just want to too sleepy with we're doing the best of we can for everybody out there we're not here to line our pockets because believe me we we do this for almost for free um the the money we get it goes back to wreck Little League fundraisers so we're legitimately here trying to do the best we can for the town and I just want to assure you that no one's here trying to pull the wool over your eyes and just I that's all I really have to say is uh have a good summer and to you outside workers stay cool CU been there done that but stay healthy thank you next on the agenda ordinances we have ordinance 17 52-24 ordinance of the township of South amending chapter 173 of the code of the township of s entitled storm water management for a second reading motion for a second reading second all in favor I in ordinance of the attachment to s b amending chapter 173 of the code of the township SB Andor motion motion all in favor hi uh this is now open the public for uh public hearing anyone wishing to speak mik is yours motion motion close all in favor I we resolv by the township Council of the township s that the ordinance entitled an ordinance of the township sber amending chapter 173 of the code Township of sber entitled storm order management is now pass on second and final reading and at the Township Clerk be directed to adage St or to tile the Press together with the notice of the DAT of passage of set ordinance according to La second all in favor IO you need a roll call for yeah we should have a roll call for the adoption of Ms aoll call yeah just on the adoption everything else could be as you did Council mooka just for the public this is something that uh is required by the state of New Jersey for storm water management purposes and I vote Yes councilman gar yes Council Sanchez yes Council yes council president yes next ordinance 1753 d24 calendar year 2024 ordinance to exceed the municipal bu budg appropriation limits and to establish a cap bank for second reading motion motion second all in favor I calendar year 2024 ordinance to exceed the municipal budget appropriation limits and to establish a c bank motion open to the second all in favor I is open to the public and we wish to speak on thein none second all fav be resol by the township Council the town that the ordinance entitled calendar year 2024 ordinance to exceed the municipal budget appropriation limits and to establish a cap does now pass on second and final reading and at the township cler will be directed to advertize set ordinance or title there in the Press together with the notice of dat passage of set ordinance according to the LA second roll call councila yes councilman Garrick yes Council Sanchez yes counciler yes council president yes first reading bond ordance to authoriz the Improvement of Cambridge Avenue in by for Township of Sor in the county of Bergen state of New Jersey to appropriate the sum of $400,000 to pay a course thereof to appropriate the state Grant to authorize the issuance of bonds to finance such appropriation and to provide for the issuance of bond anticipation notes in anticipation of the issuance of such bonds for first reading motion motion mot fres one second favor yes councilman Garrick yes Council Sanchez yes Council yes council president yes now therefore be resolved by the township Council that a bon ORD to authorize the Improvement of Cambridge Avenue by imported Township of c and the county of Bergen state of New Jersey to appropriate the sum of $400,000 to pay course thereof to appropriate State Grant to authorize the isance of bonds to finance such appropriation and to provide for issuance of bond anticipation notes anticipation of the issuance of such bonds here to4 passed on first reading you further considered the final passage and a meeting to be held on August 1st 2024 at 5:30 p.m. or soon there after this the matter can be reached at the municipal complex 55 May Hill Street when at such time and place all person's interested be given an opportunity to be heard concerning said ordinance of of law with the notice of its introduction Mage on first reading have time place when we set ordinance consider fin Mage motion to approve first reading second councila yes councilman Garrick yes councilman Sanchez yes Council amazing yes council president Anam yes next we have an ordinance for first reading an ordinance amending chapter 196 to establish l no parking During certain hours and days on section of Congress Street and to restrict parking at the Saddle Brook library parking lot for patrons only during Library operating in hours motion second councilman sucas councilman gar yes Council Sanchez yes Council Maser yes council president yes now therefore be resolved by the CH Council that an ordinance amending chapter 196 to establish snow parking during certain hours and days on a section of Congress Street and the STP parking at the S Brook library for Patron only during Library operating hours here to for pass our first reading be further considered for final passage at a meeting to be held on August 15th at 20:24 at 7:00 p.m. or soon thereafter as the matter can be reach at Municipal complex 55 mle Street as such time and placeold persons interested be given an opportunity to be heard concerning said ordinance according to law the notice of its introduction passage on first reading of the time in place when we said ordinance be further considered for final passage motion motion second councila again for the public this ordinance is based on uh con concerns uh of the residents in that neighborhood for High School uh students parking not in the designated parking lot but on that street and thereby uh you know eliminating parking spaces for them and I go yes councilman Garrick yes councilman Sanchez yes councilman mea yesc president yes then the ordinances for all items list to within n or considered routine and noncontroversial by the township Council and will be approved by one motion there will be no separate discussion on these items unless a council member or member so requested in which case the item or items will be removed from the consent agenda and considered its normal sequence on the agenda the one motion signifies adoption of all resolutions receiveing prial letters correspondence reports and approval of minutes and applications motion second all in favor hi hi now part of consent agenda May 2nd 2024 special public meeting who's second yes councilman samuca yes councilman Garr yes councilwoman Sanchez Council Maser counc pres yes two you have business man yes through the chair thank you I just want to uh I want to speak directly to Mr Mrs escuto and Mrs Elli uh I want to thank you for coming tonight uh I want to let you know I am very concerned about what's going on in your in in your situations and uh you know I'm going to do everything that I can to to resolve it and help help help you with with this problem um yeah I I I just want you to know I I care and that's the one thing and everybody up here we care we we really do um I would rather you be annoyed with me or or say well he didn't he could he didn't meet my satisfaction he couldn't get it done if it's because you know because I I you know I failed or whatever that's you know that that's not not right with me but I would rather you think that than think that I don't care because I do care and and we're going to we're going to work on that and you brought up a lot of excellent points so um it will will resolve it trust me and if I if you ever need to come talk to me directly uh my door is always open and I'll come I'll come by you and and talk to you and and look at the problem um just have to schedule an appointment you know to and I'm available I'm around all the time so um anyway with that said um I also want to mention that Mr simuka I do believe I I'm well I'm I'm positive we do have an ordinance that that regulates the operation of the canus uh facilities um we do have it I mean and I know as you said we can amend it or add to that if we want to put other further restrictions but it is he heavily relate heavily regulated by the state um and mrar Mr Rodriguez mentioned about police officers um that we need to hire more police officers um we are going to in the near future hire police officers because I want to make sure that we have the maximum amount that that the table organization calls for but um the ordinance says and the state requires them to have their own security so and he's he's made mention of a couple of things I've heard come back to me he didn't say it here tonight but uh I just want people to know that these uh cannabis retail locations they they're not they're not bars they're not smoking lounges you you can't you can't consume on the premises so people purchase and they leave so you're not going to have people wandering around if they they get High I mean they want to purchase it get eye in their car well they're going to be in big trouble especially if they get stopped by the police but um you know they're not going to they're not going to sit there and do it they're going to take it away so that's that's important to knowe um I also want to thank Steve um he's been coming to all meeting he actually came to the planning board meeting uh this week and uh you know he's he's uh you like to get him involved in something because he's he's very interested in the town and what we do uh and his idea about an environmental commission or a green team is is is good uh and we should really consider that and last I just want amamos sudo I failed to mention him I passed away recently he was a he's a good friend of ours and uh him and I had our battles but he was a good guy and we always uh we always ended it amicably so so we'll miss you an thank you anyone else all business no business open a meeting for agenda items only Mo second all in favor anyone wishing to speak on any agenda items n second motion toour final comment just under comments I just want to mention Amur as well I was witnessed to some of those B battles between Bob and Andel he's a great guy um very interesting good person uh also I guess I'll be the last one to declare that I'm running for reelection while everybody else is doing that so I figure out throw that out as well uh and then one other thing I just want to mention is uh my friend Tommy Johnson from a captain from the police department is going to be retiring effective August 1st uh so I just wanted to mention that to everybody uh Tommy worked 29 years at with the police department and I mean I know we have August meeting to recognize Tommy and stuff but I know a lot of the residents know Tommy and I just want to mention that he's going to be a great loss for our Police Department so thank you anyone else comments second I can I see your r