oh yeah next is patrolman Robert Lopez and family mo a little this way I state your name I patran Robert Lopez do Solly swear do Solly swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States that I will support the Constitution of the United States and the constitution of the state of New Jersey and the constitution of the state of New Jersey that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same and to the governments established in the United States and to the government established in the United States and in this state under the authority of the people and in this state under the authority of the people and that I will faithfully and that I will faithfully and partially and justly perform and partially and justly perform all the duties of police officer all the duties of the police officer of the burrow of seral of the burrow of seral according to the best of my ability according to the best of my ability so help me God so help me [Applause] [Music] [Music] God next is a patrol patrolman claudo Mendes and [Applause] family she's G talking to the [Music] microphone I state your name I clo Mendes do solemnly swear do solemnly swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States that I will support the Constitution of the United States and the constitution of the state of New Jersey and the constitution of the state of New Jersey that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same and to the governments established in the United States and to the governments established in the United States and in this state under the authority of the people and in this state under the authority of the people and that I will faithfully and that I will faithfully impartially and justly perform impartially and justly perform all the duties of police officer all the duties of police officer of the burrow of cille of the borrow of cille according to the best of my ability according to the best of my ability so help me God so help me [Applause] God con next we have patrolman Matthew pelic and family please I state your name I Matthew pelic do solemnly swear do solemnly swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States that I will support the Constitution of the United States and the constitution of the state of New Jersey and the constitution of the state of New Jersey that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same and to the governments established in the United States and to the governments established in the United States and in this state under the authority of the people and in the state under the authority of the people and that I will faithfully and that I will faithfully and partially and justly perform and partially and justly perform all the duties of police officer all the duties of police officer of the burrow of Cal of the burrow of Cal according to the best of my ability according to the best of my ability so help me God so help me [Applause] God [Music] we gonna ladies and gentlemen at this time if you would like to exit and go over the T you're more than welcome thank you to our police officers thank you to all of our family members that have come and we are so blessed to have the best the [Applause] best 308 have to get done with pictures and have cake and coffee cake and coffee too a lot okay we'll give a few minutes so that way uh the room can exit and then we'll move forward with our next present um let's keep we just let that and then we might as well do our [Music] that's fine ladies and gentlemen we'll bring the chairs back out we're going to move forward with the next portion of our agenda once our um what's our council chambers and uh exits we're going to move forward with our po presentation and then the rest of our our [Music] wordss who's right [Music] yeah is gonna to be done by Lieutenant nov Lieutenant Nova fantastic they made you wait in the back Lieutenant Novak because you're coming up for the pulse uh presentation so ladies and Gentlemen The Man Behind Facebook um you know the portable might work a little bit better I'm gonna try and turn this a little bit just because you can handle it back to the door is good thing I know so ladies and gentlemen this time we're going to move forward with the next phase of our agenda which is the uh pulse presentation which will be presented by Lieutenant Novak um again for those that are at home watching this is our face behind uh Facebook and the PBA so when sorry about that no I think it's great um so when he's not turning around and doing everything within the community from finding ghosts to tackling Toys for Tots um he he's also um pre finding these fantastic programs for us and I'm gonna turn it over to you lieutenant well thank you very much you're welcome I appreciate it um this program is something that um we created and implemented this past year uh it's something that I'm incredibly proud of so I appreciate the opportunity to come and present it to you guys today all right is that better sorry Mom so uh yeah I created a PowerPoint for you if you want to take a look over there you'll see what I'm seeing but um we created this program we call it pulse it's an acronym it stands for the uh proactive Union of law enforcement and Social Service Experts um that's pretty much exactly what it is I didn't come up with that uh Garen and shant came up with that one um I'll introduce them in a second um so what's the problem next slide please mle thank you problem the police are often called and uh asked to handle incidents that aren't necessarily criminal in nature um frequently the calls are for Social Service issues a lot of our residents uh struggle with mental health issues substance abuse issues homelessness you know just Etc all all the gamut of Social Services that are needed um and officers are not necessarily best equipped to manage these calls these calls often uh cause a tremendous burden on our limited resources that we have next slide so I just wanted to show everybody that I I know how to make a bar graph um but what this illustrates is just some of the calls that aren't necessarily uh criminal in nature um the first one there is uh calls for intoxic ated people um suicidal people overdoses and the last one uh people might not even think about but uh it's family verbal disputes um we believe and in our experience that most of the time that we're called to solve family issues uh generates from one or more of the family members having a mental health issue or substance abuse issue um so how bad could it really be next slide thank you one call for service um usually requires at least two officers and uh possibly a supervisor to respond um an officer will stay with that person until safe Arrangements can be made it's difficult to find the correct services for people um there are a lot of services available unfortunately navigating that and finding it is is often very difficult um as a uh a supervisor for 17 years on night shift I could tell you after 5:00 pm you can't find anything if you ever came into the police station on a cold day um when I was working there would probably be two or three homeless people sleeping in the lobby because we couldn't help them in any other way but keep them warm for the night um so generally uh people when we when we deal with people in this in this regard they went up in the hospital um we take them to the hospital they're there usually for a couple hours and then they're released they come home and they'll start it all over again often before the officer even completes the initial report for the first call we're there again next Slide the entire process requires uh multiple officers to be tied up on calls for several hours these this time could be used for anti- uh crime Patrol function but we're not we're sitting at hospitals we're sitting in the homes we're trying to help people out um the process causes overtime which any of the taxpayers watching right now this directly affects you right um it also leads to what a lot of people might think about it lead to officer burnout people become cops because they want to help people and when you go to these calls time and time again and you know there's no help to be offered other than will try and calm it down for the night it's it it actually it hurts your heart and it can it really it can Tire a police officer out so that that's a big one that people don't think about next slide so how does the pulse program solve that problem the post Pro uh program places social workers inside of the police department they work alongside of us uh when residents in the town are in need of Social Services they're usually identified through the officer the officers write their reports those reports get forwarded to the social workers the social workers will then follow up and try to help those people navigate the web of services and get them the help that they need um when adequate treat treatment uh or help is received We Believe future calls for services will be reduced thus allowing the police to actively uh you know spend more time patrolling the neighborhoods and keeping the town safe next slide but this is the big one what else does pulse too we believe pulse is actually sensible police reform next slide that was a fast one I'll say sorry I got creative there and slid that one in so next one okay uh people suffer from substance abuse issues often don't turn to the police for help um there's a common thought that if you if you have these things or or you have issues with that the police are going to arrest you that's not what we want to do sometimes that happens but that's not what we want we want to help you we want to help you uh you know recover from those issues um the pulse program changes the perception of the people um you know when when the police show up on your bed on your wor I'm going to kind of just talk for a second when the police show up to your house on a bad day and you're intoxicated or your having some sort of breakdown they often just show up and we're going to tell you what has to happen tonight you need to go to bed you need to leave we're going to pack you up whatever the case may be we become the enemy when we do this time and time again we show up on your worst day and and then we tell you what what's going to happen so what happens is that we become the enemy rather than the Ally pulse changes that too because when you get a call the next day when you're sober or when you've calm down from the police department from one of our social workers and say hey can we help you right that that lets people know we're allies in in your life and in your issues and we're not your enemies so that that's a big big point that this program addresses next slide but wait there is more next slide you can click this a couple of times all right so when we were looking at this program and trying to develop it um it was during covid it was right after the death of George Floyd in police custody um and and if everyone remembers cities were burning all over the country um there was protests everywhere so I began to think and and luckily I uh met Garen and Shante who are social workers they own the pulse program they're standing in the back there um and I said well what can we do c is this program the police reform that people are calling for can this address those deep-seated issues so what we came up with what I ultimately did was uh this next SL please I decided to look at our use of force numbers I looked at the years 2017 18 and 19 I chose those years because they were prior to covid they were sort of the normal years um because like I said well this was the lockdown when I was doing this um in those years uh there was a total of 55 incidents in the burough of CVO where police officers used force on a person um 26 of those incidents involved residents of the town and interestingly enough out of the residents on average the police dealt with them 16 times prior to the we had a use Force so I reviewed every one of those reports and looking at those reports I found three things that every single person 100% of them had in common history of drugs history of alcohol abuse history of mental health issues 100% every one of them so the thought was and uh speaking with Garen and shantee we were able to uh they they agreed with me they're smarter than me so that makes me feel better um that you know these might be the underlying issues that we should be looking at right if we really want to make change um out of the eight or out of the 29 incidents that were non-residents now these are people who showed up in cille one day they drove in for whatever reason the police were involved with them and we had to use force on we've only you know met them that one time 87% of those people during those three years were actively drunk High having a mental health Health episode 87% of them so when I looked at that number I thought like that's that certainly helps me confirm that might be on to the right track of fighting the flags right the things that might indicate future potential for us to have to use forcea next slide help me went backwards oh okay I'm sorry I skipped ahead there all right so this is just another bar graph that I made you're welcome um which just illustrates those numbers that I showed you was 2017 and 18 and they use it for you could skip that for the interest of time we'll blow right through that so pulse is a tailor fit program and it's designed specifically for this reason um it's customizable to your agency um it's based on size and needs of of your town it's easily adjustable as the needs change there are no full-time employees that require fringe benefits the program is designed to minimize wasted time and this is important because in order to make this program affordable and easy to implement um what we what we did was we took full day work out of it right depending on the agency our size we determined that we need about 30 hours per week so the social workers come in generally in the evening hours and on the weekends and specifically the reason for that is that's when the people that need help are going to be home from work that's when they're going to be able to make contact with them right so they come in it's generally 4H hour blocks of time so rather than 8 hour day where you come in you might only have four hours worth of work and now you're sitting around a water cooler talking to all the cops for a while wasting time wasting money this design kind of uh cuts that down um let's see uh oh the another big thing is that this is led by the police agency right there's no there's no person in a suit in a high-rise building in some City somewhere telling our social workers what's important this has run through the town where we know what our issues are right and by having the social workers in the building that creates a team effort um and it also helps helps them because they acclimate to the community's needs they know what the they become aware of what the issues are the community gets to know them just like any other officer right so next slide now this is an important point that I added in here because it's a question that I get a lot um what information is coming to the police department we are not getting your medical information when you talk to a social worker if you get help if you talk to a doctor therapist anything like that we don't know about it this is not a program where Big Brothers looking into your life it does not happen we get statistics how many people did you help that's it so I just wanted to add that because it's important that people know that their confidentiality is maintained how did we fund pulse we received a grant from the Department of Justice the office of community oriented policing um the grant funded this program as a pilot for one year um which basically means hey try it see if if it works report back to us so that's what I'm doing right now our grant period ends March 1st next slide so how's it going it's Garen and shant in the picture there I'm sure they're goingon to be happy with that you're welcome um the post social workers have helped uh to date over 380 residents in town find Services right 380 [Applause] residents those those the people that we probably would have been dealing with time and time and time again so if they find a service that's what we're looking for all right so regarding use of force I should have used different colors on this bar graph new to bar graphs but I can make them um so if you can't see it I apologize but this first bar graph uh just basically demonstrates 2022 compared to 2023 um this one is for non-residents these are for people that came into town the one time they did not meet our pulse workers they have not you know uh met any of our officers we dealt with with them um during that time the difference between 2022 and 23 there was a 25% increase in the use of force there was only three incidents in 2022 and four in 2023 so while when you look at the actual numbers it's relatively consistent but it is a 25% increase next slide all right so this is this is the big one all right these are the residents these are the people that that we deal with these are the people that we've had contacts with prior and uh the difference between 2022 and 2023 was a 40 over 46% reduction in use of force among the residents right now I would love to sit here and say pulse did that this is exactly what we want to see we need more time to determine that that this program works but ultimately that's what we want that's the goal 46% so I'm very proud of that number next slide all right so just some interesting facts uh just to kind of reinforce to me that we're on the right track in 2022 92.3% of all the people who force was used were actively drunk high or having a mental health episode actively in 2023 was 100% every single one of them right so that to me is just reassures me that pulse and this program is attacking the root causes instead of putting Band-Aids on the uh on the symptoms so next slide so are there any questions from anybody well I I can make it more next year py graphs yeah I'll get fancy yes oh yeah you know uh if you guys want to come up and let everybody see your pretty faces are we seeking any more grants or any more financial assistance and uh yeah yes thank you um yes that's a very good question um as as we're rounding up the the grant was for one year um so we are actively trying to find ways to fund this going into the future so so that'll be something I come talk to you guys about uh you know in the new year I guess so yeah in March right so this is Garen Nathan licens clinical social worker um and his partner Shante as we designed this program the three of us sat down and we went over all the problems that we that we you know see what potential could happen and uh we want to be able to do this without them and when we applied for the grant with them um luckily we got it and and I couldn't be happier we got the right people for the job and they're doing a great job so far for us for the town so thank you [Applause] guys is a Ser boy born and raised too lieen before you sit down and close out your presentation I just wanted to say that once again sbal we're standing up and doing something above and beyond and it's ever since our community service department was really put together how many years now has it been only four years the impact that you have had on the community is there's no other community doing what we do okay and that that goes to you and to the rest of your team from covid all the way through now I see it with the students that I work with and I see it with the families that come up to me and they say you have the best officers they have helped me so much and that's a big difference between what you are saying it's not a matter of just enforcement enforcement enforcement it's about the help that you provide one of the things that I'm excited about is I know that the prosecutor's office is keeping an eye on Sao right now in this particular program because depending on what we do here in Sarahville this is something that they want to be able to actually share with the rest of middle sex County and Beyond so we're literally the pilots here not that pilot easy Jim um different Pilot We Are we we're we're piloting this program to really be the staple and The Benchmark for what other communities can do and that's something that so often Cel doesn't get the recognition for the things that we do first the things that we do best and the things that we share with other people so lieutenant and to the rest of our officers thank you thank you I appreciate that a side note a side note with that um this program and and pulse the company was just uh brought into Redbank were they their Police Department is is instituted the pulse program there also so we're we're thrilled we were first though we were first yeah I love Red Bank no um that's excellent because it gives us another Community for you to actually work with and see what's working on their end as well absolutely just some more some more eyes some more uh some more ears to the ground but um if if you would indulge me for one more second I just wanted to say um thank you to Chief plumacher for allowing me to uh run with this program um this is quite literally the most fulfilling thing that I've ever done in my entire career getting this program started um so I couldn't thank him enough for trusting me with it the mayor and councel also for allowing it um you know for the people that know me in town um you know I'm I'm a cop because my dad was a cop here um but what you might not know is I think what draws me to this program and for helping the community is because I'm my mother's son and uh my mother tonight is her last counil meeting I know it's it is for a few of you but you know I'm gonna talk about my mom for one second um my mom has done this what 18 years the first time she was elected I was a junior in high school and now I have a Gray beard um she's been doing it for a long time um if you don't know she's a life member of the seral emergency Squad I mean thousand thousands upon thousands upon thousands of calls um that she's answered and people that she's helped so I couldn't have asked for a better role model as a parrent I'm very proud of her and I love her very dearly so thank you mom for being my [Applause] mom [Music] that's a pulse right there so thank you again Lieutenant well that is a nice segue into the next uh portion of our agenda and that is the presentations of awards for the council as this is our last meeting together as this board um next time that you see us it will be a different crew some of the same but a few changes um I'm going to turn the rest of today's presentations again over to our council president councilman nooha if you would thank you C mayor do you want to up I guess one at a time uh folks to the residents in person and those online our first presentation um we're going to have about three and they are going to um you know our folks on our executive committee here that have conducted a distinguished Service uh for all of us here in our burrow the first presentation will be going to Victoria cop Patrick for her distinguish service rendered as a mayor of as a member of the seal burough Council in years 2015 to 2019 and as The Honorable mayor of our burrow from 2020 to 2023 and this has been presented to you by our bur Council councilman Dan Bel councilman Vince Cony counc councilman Novak councilman Ana councilman Roberts and councilman zabowski thank you for all your service and this is our presentation to our [Applause] half if you don't mind we're going to hand the mic over to the mayor for a few parting words I'll save some for later um there is one name that's missing here um and honor that is in my hand but I will ask for just a moment of silence still for Council woman Unice June 4 oh in just a short amount of time made a huge difference here in this town and I was honored to know her I was honored to work with her and my family and I keep you in our prayers every single day so I'll just ask if we can take one last moment of silence as we pray for justice and we pray for healing for her enti her family thank you um yeah I think I need to because I'm short but I know I like the way she thinks I'm a big fan of that I wear heels tonight um I'll say a couple things and then we'll all right I'm okay now I can get through this maybe thank you if you would have said to me 10 years ago Vicki you're gonna you're going to be on the council and one day you're going to be the council president and one day you're gonna be the mayor of this town I would have laughed so hard I would have fallen down and said you're crazy I'm a mom I'm a teacher and I'm a softball coach and I love my town but that's not me that's I don't like speaking in front of people well clearly 10 years has changed that dramatically um and it's hard for me to really almost Envision what 10 years ago was like because it goes so fast but I see it the most when I look at my daughters who are here today who usually don't come but usually are at home listening to every single recording and video and they pay attention and they question me and they really give me hell for things that go on and when I look at them I realize how fast 10 years are um Aly when I started this you were five Addie you weren't even four yet and here you are now Juniors a junior and a sophomore so Mary I totally understand when your son says he was a junior um that's where my babies are junior in sophomore and I loved and I appreciate it and I learned as much as I could in 10 years from being in this position I learned that as much as you think you have all the information you never do in order to do right by people you have to continue to listen and listen and listen and read and listen some more and you have to use your heart as your guide and use common sense as your way of making decisions it is not hard to sit it is not easy to sit in the seat um I'm a phone call that I had this afternoon a wise fellow said to me Vic don't do a full autopsy on 10 years of your life as a council person and I'm not going to I look back a little bit and I asked myself did I do the best that I could for this town and I believe in my heart that I did might not have always been the most popular but I believe that I truly did make decisions that I thought were right in that moment one thing that I'll always remember is that when you're put on this Earth you're here to do something good you're here to make a difference in the world in the time that you can because you don't know how long you have and in my 10 years I feel like I've done that but now more importantly I'm here to do something even more important in my opinion and that is to finally just be a mom again um girls you don't have to share me anymore I get to come home and just be mom you don't have to worry about me taking 1500 calls you don't have to worry about me putting my finger up saying hold on wait you don't have to worry about me saying I can't get to the softball game today I have a few other places I have to go first you don't have to hear me say I need you to dress up and wear something pretty because we have a meeting to go to or we have an event you you just get me all to yourselves bill I don't know how you put up with me for 10 years um you know elected people we forget that our families get elected to these positions as well and the tough skin that I've developed as a mayor and as a council person and someone in the public I I got a thick skin but I forget that my family they they have to wear all of it the criticisms the harshness is the nasty comments um and I want to thank my mom my dad haey Addison Bill my brother who texted me before who's taking care of my niece right now she has an allergic reaction to her medicine um and I just want to say thank you because they walked this path with me for 10 long years and I hope I made you proud and to the residents thank you because you guys elected me to this position not once not twice but three times and that does not go without my utmost and most sincere thank you to put that kind of trust in me to turn around and be your voice and I'm okay if you're angry at me sometimes but I hope I made you look at things a little differently I hope I've motivated you more importantly to get involved there's nothing more humbling and H makes me happier than to see a packed Council room and one of the most powerful things I think that I've been able to help happen here in cille is to open up council chambers virtually to open up all of our boards virtually to allow you to participate not just in person but by phone and by computer your voices need to be heard now more than ever um I'm still going to be around I'm just not going to sit in the big chair and I hope that more and more of you will be around thank you to the people I've been able to to appoint into positions and for your service thank you to Jim Robinson for making sure I always have a f Minute Timer going but also knowing the importance of letting the residents speak because you are the voice we're supposed to listen to you and are supposed to follow what you need and what you want to my Council colleagues each and every one of you have made a difference in my life and I will say all for the good regardless of the fights or the wars or the disagreements every single one of us Donna I remember when you were elected and one of the things I will always remember is your support of me in the very very beginning you were just elected and the Very vicious attacks that were coming at me on a personal level I will never forget your support and your words of that day um and I appreciate that and I know that you lead by your heart and that you speak your mind and that you vote what you believe um and I'm looking forward to see what your future has as an elected official Vince the time that you have served on this Council there is no denying that your love and passion for recreation and for kids and for our community and for our families you wear that on your heart and I and on your sleeve and I know that and one of the honestly I I still have it on my phone to this day is just when you had sent me that text message because I think it was the first time that we had ever had an argument ever I don't think I ever um Ever Raised a voice and we move past that moment and I still see you driving sometimes past the middle school and wave um and I know that your your wife is going to be very happy to have you home and I hope that you keep traveling because I know you enjoy doing that Mary we've been through so much for such a long time 10 years right from the start you've been right there and um you know we we veered off a track a bit but Mary I will never ever ever doubt for one moment that your service to this town was done with the purest of intent in your heart and that you you dedicated so much of your life not just to this Podium but to your volunteer service and I know that you're never going to not be a voice in this town never because you well your family's here and and I don't suspect listen I so just call it a little break for now you you get to be a grandma to a whole lot of little ones and I know you're going to enjoy every moment of that and then over here to my left I'll start with Dan Dan I was so excited when you ran and to have you come over here from the Board of Education side to the council side we probably go back longer than anybody on this Council um at least 20 years probably um close to it since I've been a teacher and I know that you love to talk and I know that you absolutely love having the microphone on you and you are just the most verbose human being I [Laughter] know but it it's your brevity that makes you such a strong leader and it's also your math skills and your analytical skills that are going to turn around and be such an important part of seral moving forward and it's been an honor to serve with you and I'll keep calling and aggravating you anyway now our newest member who I've only had a chance to sit next to twice this being day two um listen you got a ski on the end of your name what more can I say you're G to do great here but the knowledge the wisdom that you bring because you've been here such a long time so you're going to be I just know that you're going to bring what makes ail so wonderful from before to what we need now and you bring both dichotomies to to the table and then to my friend Christian um I never thought a million years that one of the people that I would work the closest with from day one was yourself in Unice the two elected Republicans in a world where so many times people look at Democrats and Republicans as not being able to come together and you made me realize quickly that we are people we are not parties doesn't matter what side of the aisle you stand on or what color you wear or what column you're under when it comes to local politics it's about the person and Christian your person your character your faith your family and your honesty I said it before I'll say it again helped me to realize really what we're put here to do and that was with you and with Unice and I'll be I'm forever grateful for that forever grateful um and then I have my two gentlemen on my right and my left Glenn I'll pray for you no no Glenn I'm only working with you for a little bit a time but it feels like forever um I know you're going to help guide this Council and you're going to help guide this town and you're stuck here and every time I see you walking around palosi I'll be stopping um I won't be walk I'll be driving but maybe a couple of times will get you I'll get you out get me out there um he's the man behind the scenes that makes sure that we stay on track and do what we need to do and uh um I got a probably some things I have to sign and some pictures so you're stuck with me for a little bit longer but over here and then Jay how can I forget Jay oh my gosh if you don't know Jay Jay is like the Mary Poppins of cahille he and I mean that only because of the bag he carries Jay open show them that bag I thought I thought he was carrying a like a marionette with him every day that is the NeverEnding bag if you've ever seen Mary popping she pulls lamp posts out she turns around and pulls whole kitchen sinks Jay I don't know how old that box is I don't know what it is made out of but I swear the entire entire town of cille is packed inside this box raised Justin in there the first time I Justin you Justin's like yes we we sing around it and we dance around it as a family um Jay I have never met somebody in my entire life that has as much knowledge about anything anything it is astounding to me how much you know about our town and how much you care about our town and you can just recite it I don't think there's ever been a moment where Jay has ever said let me get back to you on that he just knows it and I'll I'll never forget Jay is also the most professional he is the calmest human being ever and I I God I think it was like maybe my second or third year when somebody came up and actually started to yell at Jay like yell and I couldn't believe it I I was like who is this person and Jay you sat there with such Poise and just you just took it and I I was in awe of you and honestly I aspire to have that level of control I'm not that good so thank you for that Jay and always taking my calls when I had a question and working to make things right um Denise you just made me laugh how many times I come down to your office I'm like what the heck is going on Denise I remember when you were hired I remember the candidates that were before us and uh it was pretty much a no-brainer and I hope that you stay on you have a great person next to you because you worked with him for so long u Denise knows her numbers and she's quick we love the word Grant and we love the word uh no overtime that makes us happy and no snow and no snow so thank you um but this year I really really really have to say this gentleman to my left you have helped me get through I think the toughest year as an elected official I could ever imagine you have served our town with such a level of knowledge and professionalism when it comes to attorneys and in this role you meet a lot of them I can honestly say aside from my friend Jeff seran Mr affordable housing everything there is no better attorney I'll say not just in New Jersey but really in the entire country that I would not have that that I could have thought to put in the seat next to me he has helped our town so dramatically this year the litigation that we have had without his expertise knowledge and that includes s and the rest of your team I don't know where we would be as a town in a community Sean you are an asset to any town that has the privilege to call you their attorney any individual that has an opportunity to work with you you you wear multiple hats but as an attorney you are topnotch and I would say that the residents demand demand that where we keep him where we are I don't know what will happen come January but we've got a lot of litigation still on hand and there is no doubt that this is the man that would be able to see us through each and every one of those things so the the town deserves to applaud [Applause] you there's a million other people especially these two ladies up in front of me that you guys don't always get to see you see the ponytails in the back of the hair but I'm going to tell you they keep us in check up here um Nicole you have made me laugh from the day that I stepped into this position run on down to watering my plants which by the way impossible to kill because they're fake but Nicole wanted to make sure so she just gave him a little drink of water for me just in case and yeah but just talking in in my office and making me laugh because sometimes you got to laugh or you'll cry in this place and Jessica Jessica call you got papers to sign mayor you gotta come check this out mayor are you coming in today mayor I'll be there Jessica you filled some big shoes when between glattus leaving and then when we had um Terry and you just did it all in stride so this town is in phenomenal hands there's so many other people that I would love to thank and we'd be here till midnight and the voice is on at 8 so my daughter's looking at me saying shut up because we have to watch the final competition but I thank you all so much for giving me this opportunity and now I can't wait to just be a mom for a while so I feel shorter now I feel shorter now my goodness the good thing is is there's only two more presentations um I'll call upon our council president once more congratulations again to you madam mayor for your years of service our next recipient of this glorious distinguished award for service rendered to our buau is presented to Mary J Novak for her distinguished service rendered as a member of the seral bur Council from the years 202 12 to 2023 and this is presented to you by mayor Victoria katrick council members Daniel Bala Daniel uh councilman KY councilman an NOA councilman Roberts councilwoman Roberts and councilman zabowski congratulations to you [Applause] man [Music] it's funny I I said to the girls and I can't call you girls because you're so much younger than me uh that when I was on the squad I used to ask that they not give me any more plaques because it was just something my children were going to have to throw out when I died and they said oh Mary you're getting another one and I said oh thank you though I really appreciate it I I I can't tell you what an honor and a privilege it's been to uh serve this town for a total of 18 years six back in the 90s and another 12 now I served I I'm honestly I've checked into it and I'm pretty sure I'm the longest serving council person Kennedy beat me with mayor and Council but I'm the longest serving council person um I served with four Mayors John McCormack Jim zagata Kennedy O'Brien and mayor Victoria kpatrick and I even had the distinct honor I was being on the council when our former mayor everybody called him Uncle John John turny we stood on a god at his funeral I've had five running mates Scott kevich and I I I pronounced his name right some people call him kenowitz but it's come on kabage the correct polish way and then I had um Grace Kinski um Lisa AER Vicki Kilpatrick and then Vince KY for any of you you know Ry was my running mate when we lost election back in 2000 and uh I said he was still my running mate for the next 10 years only we ran first aid calls we became practically the only Duty Crew in saille on and we rode approximately 800 calls a year if you uh when he's was my running mate for a long time serving with Vince I can't tell you how much I mean he was wonderful serving on the council and he was an excellent running mate the man walked his little feed off and all this time you know he was still running saal AA he had to take on that whole responsibility all at once as well as still being a coach and uh although Ry and I needed to find something to fill our time I think Vince has got plenty to fill his time and I went from no grandchildren to 11 so I am G to have plenty of things to fill my time from now on uh some of my accomplishments the best one I still can't get away from I I love it to death and it's still visible every single week in everybody's home in this town is the order automated garbage that was uh we had to work very hard um to make the town accept it before we implemented it we didn't try to shove it down anybody's throat we were in a NE unique position where we had a lot of retirements so there was no need to lay anybody off and it's probably the first and only time that the council actually made a um a commercial that was seen on channel 15 all the time where uh part of it uh Bernie Bailey was in a garbage can and his mother pushed him to the curb we wanted to let all of the seniors know that although these cans were big they were quite manageable so we always still I got a copy of that if anybody wants to see Bernie in a garbage can we also started the calcium chloride system which was something a lot of people don't even realize it happened but it it saved us a lot of wear and tear on the roads a lot of wear and tear on our storm sewers and it kept the roads uh ice free for a much longer period of time so it saved us on overtime because instead of going out two or three times to continuously Sal this would uh the calcium chloride system kept the ice from forming for a lot longer lower temperatures and another thing when I first got back onto the council back in 2012 we were we had not put any money in our budget for two years for roads we immediately went back to two million a year when Vicki came on we went up to three million and I'm happy to say we're up to five and a half million now on roads people always say when my Road's going to get done people don't realize we really do have an extensive Road uh program it's been our 20 our 10year program is what on 30 years now still trying to get through it every single Road and I know a lot of people have I'll talk to you later if anybody still wants to know about what's going on with South minis sync I I've gone to so many committee meetings this week and rather than the business of the committee they all want to know about South Mining and I try to explain it to them and they understand when it's done okay uh another thing that I was very proud of when I came back was we returned to residency preference in town for over 10 years we were hiring residents from outside of town and I don't care what anybody says you live in this town you should have first preference in this town nobody is going to do a better job for the residents of this town than people who live here grew up here still have families here and also of course lowering the housing Deads to that we were kind of stuck with at the beginning when I first came back on it it was tough because I you're you're trying to play catchup with what had gone on for many many years and uh it qu we quit became aware of the fact that we weren't being told exactly the truth and uh we worked very hard and we did manage even though people don't see it we managed to cut the amount of a regular housing by about 30% because we were able to drop the numbers down and work very hard okay there's only one regret I really have on the council and that's with the first aid squads um I was really very much in favor with going with Robin Wood to take over our daytime duties because of the cost difference I'm all of your your first aid is equally you're not getting any poor service you're just paying a lot more for it matter of fact my husband was telling me one of the at the PBA uh Christmas party one of the retiring gentlemen told me that he was stuck with almost a $3,000 bill for a ride to the hospital and it could have been cheaper and you would have had the best services but that's water under the bridge maybe it's something in future years you can check into okay let me see what else do I have here oh and pulse I I couldn't be prouder I mean I I know this is I couldn't be prouder of my son [Applause] and just like automated garbage we were pay Setters saal has become pay Setters with pulse and it is going to be it's not going to just take over middlex County because it's already starting in Mammoth County yeah and I'm sure before you know it it's going to be all over the state and it is going to help so many residents and protect our police offices as well I I thank you and like you said the chief chief pluma for allowing you to run with this it's and I'm I'm happy that you were able to come do this present I didn't expect the compliments but I'm happy you were able to do this before I left last but not least I'd like to thank my family my husband who was put up I mean this is only the second meeting the man has ever attended I no three three I think you're were here for three and all of my kids as my son pointed out the first time I was here he was uh still a junior in high school and uh my son Charles was in third grade at OLV so and my son Charles now has four children he has graced me with four grandchildren um I I can't thank you enough for everything you've done for everything you've supported me with the employees of this town are Second To None the professionals CME you've proved my faith in you for so many years like you you're part of this town you love this town I know you're going to do the best for this town and I I know your son's going to do a great job when you decide to retire um working I I have always had a great relationship with all of my working Council people Republicans and Democrats alike um but we've become I've become especially close to Donna over the past few years uh it's been a wonderful relationship with everybody up here Dan I didn't get to work with you long but I actually was a person who hired you back in the 90s and worked with you as second in command in finance stash only got to know you a little while you're going to do a great job Christian I didn't get to see you that much but I only get to see you on camera but uh you know I I know you put a lot into this uh Vicki like you said you know we but we were tied at the hip for a good number of years you know we we did a lot of walking too in the heat hurt Glenn it's hard for me to believe this man is sitting here with me we used to ride first aid calls together I learned more from this man as a paramedic I you learn from the books but there's nothing like riding with the like this and he even made me laugh quite a few times you and your father with the jokes and let me see the um all of the barel employees I work so closely with Public Works employees all of the we we're second T in this town the residents have to realize just how great your burrow employees is with absolutely everything you do the police department is great but most people could go their whole lives without a police officer not me but a lot of people and but you can't go more than a a week without seeing somebody from Public Works they're either cleaning your streets or picking up your garbage or filling your potholes every single employee in this town their job is no more and no less than important than another one and they all they supported me they supported the residents and and I can't thank them enough and then the ladies up here I've had uh I've served with three different uh clerks uh and it all those this is the first time we had the the deputy clerk in here with us too these girls they all they ank us look good because when we screw up they're Whispering little things to us and we have our cheat sheets up here so that we know exactly what we're supposed to say right they make us look good every year and they look good this also um they they had to learn this whole thing with the zoom on a fly and they did such a great job and the residents of the Town should be very very lucky to have you and I do I have any more notes Here I was scribbling so much that I didn't forget anything oh there was one funny thing I wanted to say back at St STS on Veterans Day uh future mayor Forma mayor Kennedy O'Brien commented on the fact that I had lost a lot of weight and I thanked him and I said it's good to know that the Republicans realize I work my butt off too [Laughter] so thank [Applause] you thank you again councilwoman Novak for your longevity and your application as well our next award is presented to councilman Vincent Conti for his distinguished service rendered as a member of the seral BAU Council from the years 2020 to 2023 this is presented presented to you on behalf of Mayor Kilpatrick councilman Bala councilwoman Novak councilman an NOA councilwoman Roberts and councilman zabowski thank you again and [Applause] [Music] congratulations well fortunately for uh all of you guys I will be much shorter than n and I don't even know how it was that long she's got one short paper with a bunch of scribble on it sorry so um but I just you know I don't have the history that both um Mary and uh and Vicki have here they have a ton of history as you can see um you know I was on for a term um so there's a lot of and it as you know if you've come here uh it takes a long time for things to develop it's not like hey we go to one meeting and the next meeting it's done it it takes a long time so you get a lot of things started uh in a in a term and then it's tough to see some of that through because if you're not on for a second um you know it's it's quite a challenge so you know I will just spend my time here um you know saying uh giving some shout outs and and thank yous uh I do want to thank the residents of our town for allowing me to serve in this capacity on their behalf uh I truly was honored and and grateful for that I thought that was you know to get elected to an to a position is really a is really an accomplishment and um I was honored that people put their faith in me back in 2020 and and put me on Counsel um so I was thrilled really thrilled with that uh very happy and uh you know as I said honored I've enjoyed my time uh at times it got a little long um and um but but you know that I think that's the thing I I I was never in politics before so I didn't really get how things were and you know I got a you know a big dose of it uh on the council and you unfortunately sometimes that's the stuff you've got to get through to to get results uh and it it takes uh persistence for and patience for the council to to make their way through things and to accomplish things so uh that is definitely something that you need if you want to get something accomplished you got to have patience you got to work your way through you got to debate things and you've got to collaborate with others if you're going to accomplish things and you know happily we did that a bunch of times um but that's what it takes so you I was certainly uh I've enjoyed my time I I will miss spending time with residents uh I enjoy going by somebody's house or business and talking with them about issues uh so I you know I I did like that a lot um you know somebody called me up when we were pounding the pavement so oh you know I got a problem with in my backyard and oh it'll show me let's go take a look um and something was knocked down back there I remember on on Main Street over here I think it was uh Miss pinkis um showed me this pole that was knocked down in the back of her house and I was like H um so let me you know let me and I made a couple of calls and and got it taken care of which was which was nice I will miss that um you know and I'll miss representing our bur at all the events that we have around town um you know whether it's uh Veterans Day or the 911 or trick-or trunk or something like that so I'm definitely going to miss that um yeah well maybe um but I I will miss that and and also just advocating for a residence you know when when you've got issues when you need something done uh that's what I like to do I've always liked to do that and um you know support our people fight for our people and get things done so you know I definitely will will miss that um I've always been one to listen to our people to our residents and you know like whether it's good or bad and and the residents have spoken out and and desire to change for moving forward so I I certainly welcome the next chapter of council members to the day um and uh you know of course I wish everybody well I think they will uh guide sville to a a better and brighter future I've got great confidence in these individuals that they'll do such a thing so um you know so I welcome you and congratulate you on that um as far as the people in our town so you know starting with Jess and Nicole you guys have been great uh been very helpful for me and guiding me and and um you know never steer me wrong which I I truly do appreciate um Denise with the numbers you know every time you need something she's always there and um clarifying something or explaining something I really appreciate that uh and Glenn you know I am I'm really I'm very very happy that uh I will say that you know a couple of us with the driving force and getting you in that seat and I'm really happy that we did that uh I think you you definitely were the right guy for the job and I'm really proud of us getting you here after seeing what you've done over the last year I I've got no doubt that you're the right guy for the job and that you'll be great for our town for years to come so I was it was one of you know Mary talks about her accomplishments bringing in the right people for me is is really an accomplishment um so I'm super happy uh about everything that you've done Glenn uh as far as department leaders you know again uh Chief pulm marker uh we were a couple of us here with a driving force to get him on in that position I think it was well deserved uh and I'm very proud of you know being one of the forces behind him leading our Police Department so I'm very happy about that uh and the the gentleman in the in the force that I've gotten to know Captain Kieran uh Lieutenant Novak uh Sergeant bril gets uh has gotten a lot of calls from me over the past uh over the past few years um you've all been great um so and I you know I know not everybody's here but oddly enough a lot of people watch these watch these meetings later on uh I go by DPW they got it on in the background I so you know these folks will see they'll see my uh my thank yous here for them but the police department department has been great uh PBA the entire force uh I really appreciate them and want to thank them for being there for me fire department as well I've seen um fire department and first aid they've always been there when we've needed them um Jonathan Anthony Nick Matt um Dexter and Kevin um you know I think the uh their super resp responsive which is which is something that I'm I've always been very happy people you know you're out and about and you see something I call on somebody for something and they're there which is good I sure maybe it's because I'm a councilman but the thing is that um I I don't think that's the case I think it's just getting a hold they want to help they want to do the right thing by our residents um so they're there for them and they're there for us and they're there for them which is which is something that I admire in in every everybody around town um you know obviously then you've got in DPW so you've got George you've got the retired Phil and Tony who were there you got Richie um and Craig and and their dedicated Crews uh those guys you know as I said they are super responsive if there's an issue out there uh whatever it may be sanitation roads um you know I need you to get out there and and go do something and they would do it they take care of things um so I'm I'm very happy that I got to work with them I can't thank them enough for everything that they've done and then you got Brian and Jeff in the in the recck department um Kirk Kevin and Andy and code and fire um I'm I'm serious these guys have just been super responsive uh throughout my time and they've done a lot of good things for our for our community um and I'm just really happy to have worked with them on behalf of our residents uh you know and I Echo what's been said about Jay Jay you're always there with information and it's it's really you know you can't you can't be thankful enough for something like that because it really gets you out of jams or really gets you through a troubling situation so I appreciate all that you've done over the years it's it's really great tribute to how how smart and how knowledgeable you are and I really do appreciate the guidance um throughout that time so I'm going to also thank some uh former council members as well um I came on in a you know in a CO in a covid year came on in 2020 you know when we when we you again and then me sworn in by and now I think there was two people out here um so it was you know it was tough but um former council members marah Enriquez Delina they really helped guide me through that time it was it was a challenge um you know I think Patty out there she's out there for guidance and support as well um the team of them have been you know really good really great uh to rely on and and great support um you know of course I most of all I got to thank Mary um for her help and her knowledge and expertise uh besides Jay I think that Mary knows more than anybody she starts going off about certain things things and it's just like what are you talking about how do you so she knows a ton of information and it's really helped me out um quite a bit um you know you're great friend and I and I truly do appreciate you it's been a pleasure sitting next to you uh so just in closing I I've got to say that I'm honored to serve our town for for the last three years uh I thank you once again for allowing me to do so and you know just to to close I wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year and thank [Applause] you thank you I appreciate it okay thank you all and have a good night no I'm only kidding we've got a full uh full agenda actually two of them before us so um without further ado time to do some work all right we will begin next with our uh public hearing on the following ordinances please ordinance number 30 41-23 an ordinance supplementing and amending ordinance 437- 19 fixing the salaries of certain burrow officials officers and employees for the year 2022 at this time open to the public for any and all comments regarding this ordinance and this ordinance only seeing none in person and none online I see none online there is oh apolog it's been uh let's okay thank you nope it's back up okay Mr Sayad is this on the ordinance that was just uh presented you're in the public now but you're muted okay you're now in the public without mute um we're only discussing ordinance number 4123 Mr sad honestly thank you for giving me the opportunity here and know unmuting myself unmuting I'm not sure whether about the ordinance or not but I'm going to take about probably one minute or or so to say thank you for everyone of you for working hard for uh the borrow of serval uh both the one who are outgoing and who are going to be remained as a our Representatives U making our streets safer and brighter and cleaner and having all the uh everything in order uh those who don't know me I'm the owner of those cats Nala you know I was going to say that Mr s i well thank you so much for everything you did for the for the city of Cel we really appreciate your help and I hope people who are going to remain will have learned something from each other and um great politics love it thank you thank you and please do me a favor keep sign in in keep paying attention keep speaking and keep an eye on those cats for me please thank you um let's continue so seeing nobody else to speak on ordinance number 4123 I'll entertain a motion to uh close public portion accepted with public hearing Clos the ordance adopted on second and final reading and advertised according to law second roll call please Council person's Bala yes yes Novak yes NOA yes Roberts yes senari yes public hearing on ordinance 4 2-23 and ordinance amending and supplementing chapter 2 of the revised General ordinances of the burrow of seral to amend section 2-51 seral economic and Redevelopment agency once again at this time I'll entertain any discussions on this ordinance and this ordinance only seeing nobody in the public or online I will entertain a motion to close public portion and adopt the ordinance I move the public hearing be closed the ordinance adopted in second and final reading and advertis according to law second roll call please council person Bala yes H yes Novak yes NOA yes Roberts sinari yes okay moving forward with new business I see we have no ordinances for introduction wow that brings us to our resolutions yeah oh that's right I forgot minor glitch in the system uh resolutions at this time then I'll open to the public for any and all comments regarding consent agenda resolutions only please step forward Mr Robinson americ Robinson New Jersey I'm just looking at the bill list because this is first thing on the agenda uh Turf maintenance synthetic field maintenance $4,900 is that for the field at veterans uh double is that our yeah it should be right and is that a routine expense do we pay that once a year is this the first time since it's been installed that I think it's a yearly gym but I'll confirm that when I get in the office tomorrow okay I think that might have been that the soccer complex too Oni sorry the soccer complex this is the soccer complex well it's both probably it's we still have the yeah the turfield maintenance agreement okay all right thank you very much thanks Jim okay moving forward then any other comments regarding consent agenda resolutions seeing none in the public or online I'll entertain a motion council president oh what's it uh yeah to close the public portion accept consent agenda resolution items you can say so moved so moved there you go roll call please council person a NOA yes Dela yes KY yes Novak yes Roberts yes sonari yes okay and at this time I also need a motion to accept the correspondence as listed on the agenda under AB C and D so much thank you very much second somewhere second thank you roll call Council persons Novak yes Falon comment though real quick can we have someone proof fre some of these Department reports because I noticed the one report talked about meeting with the law maintenance because the contract was recently awarded then it goes on to saying about the flags being put at half staff for the month of August then it talks about packing up and cleaning up after Cal day and it was the no November report and all this stuff happened long before November so it's it looks a little sloppy when we have some of these things showing up yes it's because they're you know so they should be read proof read and corrected before they hit us I think sounds like something was pasted you cut and paste yep con yes anoa yes Roberts yes sinari yes okay at this time we're going to move forward with our mayor and Council reports we're going to start with uh Administration and finance councilman Bala please thank you madam mayor okay the association of Municipal suit viruses went into mediation and they have memorandums of agreement signed once a few items get addressed the contracts should be settled and we should be buing that shortly year is fastly approaching and finance is very busy trying to get ready for the closing of the year uh I want to thank the mayor for her services to burrow as a council person mayor and teacher it was an honor to serve under you this past year I want to thank Mary for all her years of service as a council person volunteer for the first aid Squad I wish her all the best and same with uh Vince I wish you all the best and and for all the residents and everyone here I wish them Merry Christmas Happy you're and happy holidays and other than that progress thank you Dan once again as long as you can possibly make it thank you for um let's move forward with Public Safety councilwoman Roberts please thank you mayor um first I want to once again congratulate the um new police officers that were here earlier today and the those who were promoted um we do depend on them and um expect great things from them of course I have no um reports how however I do want to thank mayor um Kilpatrick for your service um we started out um with a lot of positive action and then we were hit with covid um you did assign me to Administration and finance for the first two years don't ever think I won't forget that you did a great job you really did and I think that one of the that's the bloodline of of the town so you did get to see those those dollars I did and you owe Denise a great big apology for that because she had to carry me the whole time um and I do want to say it was a pleasure serving with Mary and Vince and Vince you and I basically started at the same time in the middle of Co I think I had a couple of meetings on you here um present and I think really we served our first years together live um so I understand everything you said about um learning and learning from people who came before us and Mary I do appreciate the friendship we built and the and we're going to see each other at the library we both have little people that will enjoy story hours so um we'll be keeping up and um I have your phone number so I'm going to use it and thank you thank you for your service and I appreciate it it's been a wonderful experience and I look forward to seeing because I know all of you are not done um there's going to be more you're going you can't help it but serve and I know that because uh I've seen you work and I appreciate it and thank you for the time you spent here in the service you've given to the town and that's my my um Merry Christmas Happy New Year and we'll see you thank you very much councilman Roberts um moving forward we're going to move to public works now councilman KY thanks mayor um so no no reports uh for today just um I just want to thank uh thank you Donna for the kind words it's been a pleasure sitting next to you um and serving with you as well so we always saw eye to eye on things so I I uh appreciate that it was very nice um and refreshing for me uh Dan thanks for your kind words I appreciate that um Christian it's pleasure pleasure serving with you uh mayor it's a pleasure serving with you um I know it was a tough uh it was a tough go of it uh I remember the I think my first meeting was um about the fence good times and I and I think I was the I think I might have been the deciding vote on the on that first day that I got here um and I um but after all these years it looks so darn nice um closing that in like that it just looks makes it look nice um so it was a it was a pleasure being with you uh Mary as well same thing uh it's been a pleasure so and and ladies and Glenn uh it's been a pleasure being up here it's been a nice experience um so maybe uh we'll see each other again at some point in the future but uh for now just um signing off on progress thank you very much councilman Cony Recreation councilwoman Novak please okay Recreation updates have microphone on Honor's always been the one that reminds me to turn it on and off all the time she used to sit next to me and actually do it for me that she taught me how to use that computer too thank you for that okay Recreation updates for tonight the stem winter break camp with Legos for grade K through three the registration is open and the camp dates are from December 26th to December 29th the stem winter weekly after school program with Legos from grades K through three it will be held Tuesdays and it'll start January 16th to February 20th registration is now open discount tickets for the Ringling Brothers Circus at the credential Center are on sale through the recreation department the show is March 2nd to at 7 pm uh I have to apologize because when I was saying my thank yous to everybody I actually forgot to say thank you to the volunteers the The Volunteers in this town are second to none from sporting to uh but the fire and first aid um you really give up a tremendous amount of your life to do that and it's for absolutely no reward other than the thank yous from the people that that you work with and know I I've often said you can pave somebody's Street uh they'll be mad at you when there's potholes they'll be mad at you when the street is nice and flat they want us to put speed pumps on there to slow people down but nobody ever was mad at us at the end of a first aid call right Kev no matter what we did or didn't do they were very very grateful the F and we're very very lucky here that we still have volunteer at least in uh 12 hours a day and 24 hours a day on the weekend but and the fire department is 247 not too many towns in Middle sex County or any place in the state still have that so we're very very lucky The Volunteers in this town I can't tell you no matter no matter what it is they're absolutely wonderful and for the residents of this town I already said how I feel about all you guys up here so I already passed the tissues to Vince so I'm not going to do that again so uh I wish to the residents in this town everybody up here and everybody here Merry Christmas Happy New Year and please when you leave have some coffee and cake and cookies before you leave thank you thank you very much um councilman Novak I we're gonna move to water sewer and environmental councilman sinari thank you very much I want to congratulate Sergeant Robert for his promotion and the other officers that are on there I'm very proud of ser a police department also uh just thinking about the years of service that Vicki and Mary and and Vince put in and I want to congratulate them again on their years and years of service and wish them a merry happy holiday uh on a water and sewer I had the honor of Monday going with the superintendent I spent a half a day with him at the water treatment plan on btown Avenue and I was very proud of everything I saw my background was in that uh but on the other side and uh everything was very running extremely smooth uh and the other thing that impressed me is the morale of the employees everybody was just like seemed happy to be there they were all working together it was a very nice experience I'd like to continue that I want to go further out and explore more things in the water and sewer department and uh also I attended an environmental meeting and I want to thank Glenn for all he put in for the moving of the putting up the proposals to move the plots from from Macarthur Avenue to the new outstanding footwork on his part and I want to thank him personally for that also other than that that's all I have thank you wellow oh I told you uh that water sewer department is yeah Second To None it's impressive half a day easily and you could probably go back and still more so thanks for doing that I know that they appreciated that all right let's move on now to Planning and Zoning council president a NOA please thank you mayor uh that like to take a moment to first and foremost thank uh councilman Conti councilwoman Novak and yourself uh Este mayor for the you know the the time taken to uh enjoy the the privilege of of serving our burrow I think Council mcti um mentioned that it's it's uh a huge accomplishment I think in his words to be a representative of you know give or take 40 45,000 folks so I just want to take a moment to say congratulations again for for the uh the time put in and for the the huge and awesome achievement that that you've all have um risen to for the time so just want to say congratulations and you know best uh well wishes uh to your future endeavors uh and to the uh folks on the planning board I also want to extend my my thanks um I know I see one of you here and to those that may be watching online at this moment or in a future date I want to say thank you and congratulations um for to to the board as a whole for you know our experiences together and for um you know what we were able to accomplish together more specifically to the master plan and just our ability to represent and and and serve um the viewpoints of our residents towards you know all applications in their various capacities so thank you again and and congratulations to um all that we've been able to accomplish together and um wishing the board of course uh you know the best of well wishes um towards its future endeavors and to the new um applicants and potentially new new members even potentially from a councilman perspective so I just want to say thank you again and congratulations to the board as a whole um the the chair the vice chair all the new folks within the board so thank you and I think um I think so far that's that's what we can say for now we're grateful for the progress that we've had and uh looking forward to more progress thank you again thank you very much council president um for my remarks we have some business that I just want to tend to first while I'm here and uh one of the first things that I want to make certain that I remind everybody as residents is it is very very important anytime there is a change January is when things happen um so I'm going to implore everybody that's listening that's watching and that is here um January 1st and moving forward when there are appointments that is going to be the decisions that are the lifeblood of that of our town our professionals are who we rely on in order to help us make the best decisions up here and those professionals that will be appointed in January I'm hopeful that those that I was able to appoint will remain but in the event that they do not um please pay attention to that please make sure that you realize that we have a lot of again litigation and a lot of projects that are underway right now the professionals that are in place right now are aware of those things and there is a bit of a learning curve that comes with that so as residents um also remember that whenever there's a change in Council there is history it's just like when somebody retires okay you lose some of that history and that knowledge and there is no doubt in my mind that the council people that are coming in to sit here they are going to be focused and they are going to serve but it's going to take them a while to get their bearings um it took me a long time it's not something it's not a job that you walk into right away and everything makes sense you have to learn you have to listen and some of the issues that we have before us there really is no time for a learning curve as residents you have been paying attention so please come to the microphone pick up the phone get onto the zoom and make sure that your voices are heard again just because you spoke at previous meetings doesn't mean that every single person up here and every single professional is hearing what you have said they they're new they're different you have to do that this is our town it is your town and you need to make sure that the people that you've elected are listening to what you need so that is extremely important and that's why I want to make sure that everybody does taking the Facebook is one thing but Facebook doesn't vote the board votes this is where you need to come okay um in addition to that so please pay attention pay attention to what's going on secondly there is going to be committees that are going to have appointments made to them um we already have learned throughout the course of the past four years and beyond that the Redevelopment agency is one of the most important boards in addition to the planning board and the board of adjustments those boards they hold certain powers some of which enables them to not have to go before the Council on certain things some of them will make changes to the landscape of our town forever the individuals that are appointed to those boards need to know that you're watching they need to hear your voices I fought really really really hard in order to make sure that those boards are not just just meeting in a room and people have to come in person to see and hear what's happening please take advantage of that transparency now because as quickly as it's been here it can go away just as fast just as fast more involvement is what we need if anything if I could ask for anything over the past 10 years is to engage more residents don't let that stop find new ways in order to make the council bring more information to you um there were just two more things that I had forgotten to mention um one of which I can't believe because it's in addition to my daughters it's my other children um there's thousands upon thousands of them and I know that many of them are watching tonight because they told me Miss Kilpatrick is today your last council meeting as the mayor and I say yeah they're my people my students are my people um and I said yeah and they said so you're not going to be tired on Tuesday then right um I want to just say to them thank you because they surprisingly stopped me at every single moment of every single step of every single day and they will tell me what bothers them from Park to roads to buses to birds to trees you name it if there's gum on the sidewalk they're going to tell me about it but one of the things that always always always makes me stop in my tracks is they turn around and they look at me and they say wow you're really the mayor and you're a teacher and you have two girls in high school and and I say yes all of that is true and then I look at them and I say and you can do all of that and more I think one of the biggest gifts that this town has given me is being able to serve and being able to tell my students that you can do anything there is no limit to what you are capable of um and they see that and I watch that especially the young ladies they look and they you can see it in their eyes and it's funny because when I started teaching 22 years ago even though I tell them I'm only 25 and I'm like Sheldon Cooper and I started when I was three um they look and they go like a girl can really be a mayor I go girl can be anything a young a boy can be anything you want never let anybody put a ceiling on where you are and but the the the girls especially they just look and they say wow that's I want to do that so we do um New Year's resolutions and we do a couple of different things like your future self and I have watched over the years from prior to me being in these positions to now and you wouldn't believe how many of our young people in middle school now their goal are I want to be the president I want to be the mayor I want to be a council person I want to volunteer and honestly the residents here gave me that opportunity not for myself but for our future um and that really makes me proud Donna I'll say one of the first things that you wanted to do was you wanted to have our internships come in and our high school students doing that and that's really that's really my passion and I'm so grateful to be able to put 150% into that passion again um and I forget all the time my students remind me like you do you know Mrs Kilpatrick you're only the second female mayor in the town like get out are you serious um so I want to thank this town for giving me the opportunity to be a part of our history because long long after I am gone I hope that that just proves to everybody that anyone anyone if they want something hard enough they can get it I watched Hamilton with my daughter in New York City Addison's my theater girl and one of the things they say in Hamilton is put more women in the sequel put women in the sequel let's get more women because we've had quite a lot up here gentlemen I love you but there's just something about that keep putting women in the sequel long time ago when the first mayor served it was called petty coat Junction here because there were um herself and four other members that were women and we repeated that we repeated that it's going to be a little bit of a break but I say let's bring it back all right so thank you all merry Christmas happy New Year happy holidays and I'll be around so thank you we're going to move now to our public portion ladies and gentlemen um please step forward to raise your hand if you have anything for the good of the [Music] cause anybody anybody oh my gosh hand up uh let's see that's pretty far down oh no Sayad is that you again Mr Sayad yes am I muted am I audible no you're okay now I can see I can hear you go ahead perfect uh once again thank you everyone so just wanted to bring a situation I have on my street three Sophie Street poll number 755 I 755 or 756 the light is out since June I have gone and created a ticket with uh with the um light company uh as per suggestion last time when I was in a meeting that you guys don't fix the lights so I went ahead and created that ticket they came and they say we changed the bulb um apparently the problem was not fixed then back in I created ticket in back in August the light was out in July nothing was done they said change the bulb but back in November I again created a ticket the second one involve the manager and then she said that somebody will come and look at it so I guess it takes a bit quite a bit of engineering to fix one pole so anything in before your departure you guys can help us out to brighter street again that will create a bright future for you in your next at this point I think to get light is almost an act of God here um let me turn this over to Glenn Glenn I I mean am I going to have to climb a pole before I'm officially out of office it might have to happen no the update I got from Jersey Central uh was that we're about 80 85% through with the bulb Replacements they did identify a number of fixtures that need to be completely replaced there's a third party company that's coming in to do that work because that's separate from bulbs um I know I mentioned to Mr Robinson last meeting I owed him a street light survey that's not yet complete but we'll Endeavor to get that done to get a fully back your account but um you look I I share the when we got the initial list from the police department you know we couldn't send them in a batch so I sat and spent about a half a day doing individual work orders for all of the lights that were reported so we'll continue with the followup and if Mr say if you give me your street name again because I sopie street street name is Sophie Street and poll number is 756 sorry 758 and if you want I can also give you the order number or ticket number no that that's okay because I know that was on my original list as well but we'll we'll continue to follow up we've made great progress it's still not completely done yet I apologize if it was in our control we would have it done uh we Endeavor to continue but we fixed more than we now have broken and I hope in short order to have that done we'll continue to work on that problem I believe on light is at the end of the tunnel so I'm sure it will be fixed under when it comes to under your intention thank you for your Illuminating comments oh thank you happy holiday thanks Mr Sayad um I have another hand up AJ v h am I audible yes hi mayor kpatrick this is Julie vas I just wanted to come on and say thank you for um allowing me to be your Communications liaison for the last three years and have the esteem honor to work with the council um you know it started at something small and then three years later we've won awards we've competed against some of the biggest accounts and and three years later we have won awards every year we have over thousands of posts on Facebook we've grown our complete and utter presence in town um the burrow Blast has become a place where people come to information um and satv is more than just the town Council meetings um so I just want to say thank you to everyone to all the council members that always gave me content um to Glenn who's always sending me things to post to make sure that um you know the town is informed to the uh barl clerk's office for always again keeping me a breast of anything that's coming in and out and I just want to say thank you for allowing me to serve for the last three years I myself and also of singing my Swan Song and putting my pen down so I wish whomever is taking over um to continue with um the amount of rigor professionalism and Cadence that we have established for the last three years so thank you mayor thank you councel uh thank you Glenn um and the rest of the team Tom brocken um for you know partnering with me these last three years so I just want to say thank you good luck Mary good luck Vince and for the rest of the council thank you again for allowing me to serve you and the town thank you Julie thank you so very much um I don't think people realized I I just have to underscore this um four years ago when I took this chair we did not have any communication that we reached out to the township with other than sat TV and the wonderful work of our Police Department quite honestly their Facebook pages and our other department Pages were up and running um Glenn I think you know about our Facebook on our uh PD page but it's um we have very we had very limited reach to our residents and one of the biggest things it was before covid thank God thank God in teaming up with people here and bringing on Julie we very quickly established for the first time ever in seral a seral burrow Facebook page we very quickly established a burrow blast in order to get information out now we have tens 10,000 plus residents I don't even remember remember um what that last count was we actually had a way to reach out to Residents and it was crazy to me that it was 2020 and we had never done that um and and here now we have this rolling and I know it's going to continue um Julie you've done a great job with that I know that it will continue to be strong and again even bigger and even better um we need to be able to make sure that our residents knows what's going on it is 2024 people it's just got to get bigger and more often Julie I remember our first Campaign together stay home for sville um and we won awards on that very first one um it's absolutely we are recognized by state groups with our with our Facebook and with our social media platform and the sky is the limit we have to keep doing that so thank you Julie from the bottom of my heart for that and wherever you end up I know that whoever you work with they are going to be forever um grateful and appreciative of the work you did thank you um anybody else I've got I've got a bunch of people would it be mean of me if I I'm gonna start over here then I'm gonna go over here then I'm gonna go over here please come up hi can you hear me okay I got you all right yeah do I need to do my name and stuff first yes just yells if we don't okay my name is Carol Angley I live on ash Terrace been there since March 1954 reason why I'm talking now is I went to the last Board of Education meeting and I'm just disgusted at the behavior that was shown at that meeting I don't know if you know anything about it but I thought I'd make you aware of the situation and what happened um I also saw a video of the planning board they're aware of what happened as well um the board of education has a three minute time limit and uh I know here you have a f minute limit um at one of your meetings um that I attended one board member politely warned oh thank you thank you reminded the speaker in a very courteous manner that he was nearing the end of his time limit and he did go over a little bit but um nothing was said he was allowed to finish not once was he forced to finish speaking or threatened with removal at the Board of Education meeting they abruptly and rudely interrupted one citizen at the end of the three minutes while he was speaking and when he tried to finish his last thought they repeatedly spoke over him and wouldn't let him finish some of us even offered to give him our three minutes like they do in Congress I I yield my time right but they said oh no we don't do that here and the next thing I knew they tried to get security to remove him and uh of course he was speaking about the bus depot situation so of course they didn't like that much uh when he tried to go back up to speak on a slightly different topic and their policy is that someone can go back up once everyone else has finished when they you know to uh say something they were again disrespectful and rude the security people stood next to him and for quite a while they wouldn't let him speak since they had let someone else speak again to clarify a question that he wanted answer that he had asked this gentleman asked for the same courtesy and they did the grud ly let him speak to say that his question had not been answered and all he wanted to do was ask a question what sites besides Cheesequake Road had been explored the answer Dr Labby said bluntly and a little sarcastically that they would just have to use the sites by our elementary schools and High School this is someone who is uh supposed to care about our kids that's the reason why they started buying the buses in the first place they care about the kids now I understand the reasoning behind buying the buses um and we do need a place to park them but I still don't understand why they didn't plan on where to park them when they first started buying the buses years ago um and also as has been said several times it seems they didn't follow proper procedures I also got the impression from Dr Labby that this is what he wants and he is not willing to even work with the burrow to find a more appropriate site the fact that he's suing the burrow is a good indication of his intentions I don't know know if the attitude comes from ego an unwillingness to accept that a mistake was made or a refusal to accept the consequences of their actions there was no reason for this attitude at all at the beginning of the meeting they had honored a group of girl athletes and when they were done they left and I was glad they did because I had to wonder what would they think about what was going on you know I mean if one of them had that kind of attitude the board sure as hell wouldn't put up with it by the end of the meeting I was actually beginning to wonder if I was in America anymore it was that bad I don't know how things will end up I don't understand why they felt the need to sue the burrow instead of working together to find a better solution and know that you can't discuss pending litigation I hope something can be done I have no doubt that there are better places in town for the bus depot where it won't affect residential areas and would probably have better access to roads I'm just picturing the buses pulling out onto Bown Avenue or going out towards Bordentown Avenue with light there holding up traffic then the train tracks are there what if a train comes I guarantee that some of those bus drivers are going to cut through Laurel Park anyway that's why I wanted to come up I'm I I I just am shocked at what happened and uh sorry to see you go and thank you all for everything you've done and hopefully this situation can be resolved and merry Christmas happy New Year happy healthy New Year and uh we'll just have to see how it goes thank you thank you for coming back again I know you've been here quite a few meetings um um I I will say and I hope that this continues when I'm gone we do have a five minute limit that we do put on that we ask residents to be mindful of but I have said it from the moment that I've been in front of this microphone five minutes I ask you to please keep your comments to that so that way if there's other people that want to speak I want everyone to feel like they can speak on an issue but I will never ever ever and never have completely stopped a resident from speaking even if they've gone over or told them they could not come back up there's been only a couple of times it might have been Jim or it might have been Ken where um I know they had a lot to say but there were a lot of people so IID asked them if they would um pause where they were so I could bring up another individual and then let them come back you're the taxpayer you have the right to speak um so I hope that that continues um with the new mayor I'm hopeful that he will realize the residents are are the voice so thank you for coming and I'm glad that you feel comfortable here to speak okay um I'm a little partial here I have a young lady that I do kind of know that I think it's only her second no maybe fourth meeting total you can come on up so you have to state your name and address for the record Miss I'm Aus p katrick um1 with Sero New Jersey um that is my mom there the mayor Miss katrick and well all I got to say is I'm very proud of you you've done things that I didn't think you could and you tolded me that maybe one day I could be as powerful with your your voice with your mannerisms and you stand here very tall today even though you're short I'm wearing my stand here very tall today and you know I always love you and I want you to know that you've really inspired me you've inspired my voice I'm very softspoken and you made me want to speak up today to tell you that I love you and that I want to thank everyone here today that they are doing things to make this town better even though some people have other opinions and you know sometimes are rude but my mom has shown me that you don't need a Silence of voices just let them talk and talk and then when they're done when they're done you could do what's right and you always do what's right and I love you so much and I hope that one day maybe I could be a there maybe I could be president maybe I could do something meaningful that people will look back on fly the other one over there too and I know that you would say [Music] right wonder why I want bre [Applause] love they you probably don't have memories [Music] of lot I think that's the first time she's ever been in front of a microphone other than in third grade when she uh graduated from Wilson you just want to make sure I don't change my mind um thank you sweetheart I love you um okay I have more hands I promise Bob and I'll come to Jim and to Ken okay you are bigger than me love Duffy 111 Merit Avenue I don't know if I could beat that I just just want to say a few things uh number one the last two and a half years has been challenged it's remarkable and the only thing I could say mayor you were the right person at the right time I don't know what this town would be if you weren't there so right person Right Time Mrs Novak I want to thank you for your knowledge and also dedicating your family for public service you should have had more Mr KY I seen something on the other side of you couple of meetings ago how you were so entrenched about the children of this town it's nice to see that and also a good father I'm gonna ask you a favor go to the Board of Education meetings we need people there to straighten that that's a runaway agency you feel that strong you need to go there because a guy like you can change things okay now to the four remaining Council people I would like to say I've been around the block a few times I've dealt with lawyers before a lot of them some of are good some are bad what I seen this year the town attorney and his firm is outstanding it's no these o he strictly goes by the book knows the rules and regulations and how to protect the township I'm hoping the four use that are still on this board can take control and put him back in that seat it's going to be a rocky road after January and we had enough of people coming into this town taking jobs and doing nothing but lining in their pockets think that remember where we were two and a half years ago certain professionals and I have to thank this Council for getting rid of some of them because they weren't good for S thank you have a merry Christmas and a happy New Year thank you [Applause] Bob Jim come on up I'm Gonna Miss You Most scarecrow thank you mayor Jim Robson 11 Square in Parlin and like and like the others I I want to thank you and the two Council folks um who are leaving Vince I I when I was in high school I started working for John McCormack when he was the recreation director back in 1973 so I have a great affinity for the recreation department and I very much appreciate your involvement with the youth and what you've done there since since you put that fence up at the skate park I haven't I've given up skateboarding there um so I I haven't interacted with you as much over the years as I have with the others but mayor you and Mary you I really interacted with you on a on a very close basis during the covid situation that started in 2015 2016 and the people of this town obviously don't know what they owe you because of your dedication and your knowledge and your hard work and how because of your efforts that absolute mess was made less of a mess still a mess because of the number of market rate Apartments but it is much less of a mess and and people obviously don't uh don't understand um what you did there and what you saved them um and they're going to live with uh what unfortunately was was approved um and I do want to say this I've come up a lot since then and I and I hadn't gone to Council meetings since John McCormack left when he went out as mayor until I got involved in this COA situation and mayor you were the council president then Mary was on the council then later you became the mayor I've come up to this microphone phone many many times and some of my comments ideas and suggestions have been off the wall I admit that but you've always been kind and gracious you've listened you've been responsive receptive and respectful and one of the things I like about you is you're not suing the taxpayers like another board uh in this town is and that's and and that's a I appreciate that very much Still Still Still tough still hard for me to wrap my head around around that and mayor I want to say two things on a on a personal level um during the midst of covid I called you because my son and his wife wanted to get married and we were still wearing masks and you know it wasn't very easy to do and you said yep of course I'll do that when and where and we picked the park outside and it was just a a few of us um and you did that and I am very very grateful for that and now as you know there are many times you'll call me in the afternoon and you'll hear two little kids in the background because I'm babysitting and that that that is all a result of that marriage and also on a personal level I truly I didn't know what to get Jay for Christmas but a Mary Poppins t-shirt Jay are you a large or I think I'm going to get him a Mary Poppins t-shirt because of because of uh your comments and uh with with which I agree and I want to Echo everything everybody else said um about this governing body but it is close to the end of the year and I do have some um some business things that i' I'd like to bring up and one is the Board of Education suit I saw that there was nothing on the agenda I assume you've all received it I think I sent it to some of you I got a copy of it um still shaking my head about that I don't know who is going to defend the burrow but I can tell you this I have probably a dozen emails that I will share with Council that I sent to Dr Lobby and the Board of Education um about other sites about the Arsenal um traffic report and how much traffic there would be on Cheesequake Road about environmental considerations and about the need to go before the planning board and as you know um all of those things were disregarded and ignored so if my emails um can be of any help in this absurd ego-driven suit caused by the highest paid Public Employee in the burrow not getting his way I will be very happy to uh to share those things with you um so maybe at some point we'll we'll talk about have you received that and you've gotten all the attachments and and it is if I can the other just because I want to make sure that it does get to whatever attorney is representing us those emails that you have right now our bur attorney is here until the end of the year well yeah till at least at least December 31st okay if you send him that information that you have I be very happy to uh to I'm not GNA make you oate either yeah gonna send it to you I will say um the reason why I would want to do that is because in the event that God forbid Sean is not in this seat come January 1 you would then be able to turn that over to the attorney that would be representing I'll be very happy to copy the clerk if you think that's appropriate yeah thank you for that Jim so that we have that uh we're also being sued over the pilot Deni I saw one of those charges there was that it was made by motion not by a resolution they want a resolution let's give them a resolution um I'm not the attorney so I'm not going to get involved in that but I but I think that uh maybe there's something there at at the meeting that that was denied which I think was in October I then asked if the Phoenix report would be available um and I I think it was s who was here um I still don't know if that that Phoenix report is available to me I haven't got it I know that so I would have an interest in that um also there was um mayor you had called for an an investigation um into some things and I know that there was some we were looking at an auditor then there was a second part which was an investigator I want to make what's the status of that was that done you know we're nearing the end of the year um I want to make sure that doesn't fall through the cracks so where are we with that do we have any change to that we had made the uh the appointment went through as far as having the we we decided the council decided on who that investigator would be where are we in reference uh we heard from the investigator and their concern is that they won't be able to do any official amount of work for the not to exceed amount that was attached to the resolution that's what I was have you're going have to collectively authorize additional funding or a higher level that's what I was concerned about um oh well that could be done tonight couldn't it I would think so can that be yeah that can absolutely was the council aware of that I was aware that the guy wanted over 125,000 well well I I might have a suggestion that might that might address that too and you know the more the more I get into this that investigation is necessary um we have to look at everything that that individual was involved with and there's still a lot of folks in the Barrow that are here by virtue of his recommendation or involvement and I and it and it it extends beyond the burrow it it some professionals on the board of education might be there believe it or not thanks to his um suggestion or recommendation and and so it's it's you know we have to look at that and and a lot of us remember I don't know how many years ago it was five six years ago there was another situation and then mayor O'Brien called for an investigation issued a press release said we were going to do this that and the other thing we're GNA get to The Bottom never materialized was a press release and that was it nothing ever happened I want to make sure that that doesn't happen again and perhaps I'll even say this perhaps had that been done some of the other stuff that we are now finding out about you know some folks might have learned their lessons and and we might not be involved in some of the things we're we're involved in uh right now and mayor I do want to say this I read I I asked for a copy of the report that the planning board sent to the Department of Education um after the board finally finally came in um for their presentation I want to tell you you have made a lot of good appointments mayor your appointments to the planning board were excellent I read that report it it was fantastic and if the Department of Education doesn't doesn't react to that and rethink their approval there's something missing there um because that's how a board that takes its job seriously and follows the law and understands their obligation under the law that's how a board should work so I have nothing but the highest praise for the planning board and and and the chairman and the other members that you appointed because that that was really um that was very well done my worry Jim is a couple of those seats um one of those members he's actually seated here with us today and he gave the presentation um to the council the update that was a um that's Anthony spado and I can't say enough about him just as a person in general and as an individual that takes every job so seriously and does 100% Beyond um his term is going to be coming up so it's going to be before the new mayor whether or not um Anthony gets reappointed to that seat as well as um one of one of the other appointments that I was able to make which was hervey he is phenomenal and I believe his appointment is also up um so I I do have reservations and concerns um obviously the mayor has that ability to appoint who he wants without the consent of the council but I really hope my hope is that mayor O'Brien does see um the work the effort um the Precision to detail and the professionalism that board has some any points at some point in time I might talk about what I know about appointments to the planning board in the past and I'm hopeful that I I'm holding out hope and saying some prayers for all of us and as residents um again appointments are made but you're allowed to speak on those um get the right people in and I will say this I served on the board of education and I served for many years on the planning board had this board of education had the dedication and tenacity and taking their job as seriously as the planning board did we would not be in this mess but it seems I went to the meeting and and as woman indicated she couldn't believe what went on and I couldn't believe what went on and I'm not talking about how they try to shut me up I'm talking about how the members except for the president who just kept telling me to sit down and be quiet none of the members had anything to say on this topic there apparently was a Section 8 meeting but when they were asked questions they didn't even acknowledg that they had discussed this and they have surrendered their judgment and their authority to a superintendent who well I just have to I just have to question um but I I could that's not the way democracy is supposed to work that's not the way a board of education is supposed to work I don't know about anybody else here but I didn't elect Dr Labby to anything I voted for members of that board of education and I expected them to represent the citizens and the students and the taxpayers of the Town not to sit there dumb not to sit there silently I was I I I was shocked I'm not going to get into street lights other than to say I might disagree that 85% of what were out or have been fixed um there was a ballot question Glenn and I had a very brief conversation about this the other day there was a ballot question which was defeated and that would have allowed the uh money to be taken from the open space committee to be spent over here at the blue Acres project um and I oppose that as you know because I I thought it was too broad and there was no limit and we didn't know what the plan was but I would love to be able to support in the coming years something that will improve that situation there on Weber Avenue whether it be taking some money from the $2.6 million we have in the in the tree bank or or some other way just not the way that it was proposed so I I'd like to to to get in the loop on that and if there is a report Glenn said there had there wasn't any report I was I was a little surprised because I didn't think we would have a ballot question if there hadn't yet been an actual an an a report that was actionable but um do we what is the status of that is there going to be a report are there going to be ideas that we can build on going forward well in terms of the broader project that involved the referendum no because we weren't going to spend money on a plan without having a funding to back it up and to move forward with it so at this point the only thing that there was a plan for if you want to call it that is to plant wild flowers and Native grasses on the blue acre Parcels that were previously acquired by the state through the buyout that planting is should be done by the end of the week outside of that until we have a a a funding opportunity it's really pointless to move forward with any kind of planning because it's we are selling some property on Journey Mill Road for $20 million right we are and that's a little bit of a funding opportunity there is I would say so I I would hope that this would go forward my opposition to it was that there was no plan at the time so it it it was a was a blank check um and it shouldn't come from the open space fund which brings me to the next item on my agenda mayor there are two suggestions you made one was to buy the 40 acres behind Kennedy Park and one was to buy the property um opposite Sherwood Forest on Main Street and I know how other Mayors have dealt with open space and purchasing of open space and vetoing ordinances and discouraging the purchase of open space I want to make sure this gets done so where are we on this so glad you asked Jim so I was able to talk to Sean actually uh at the end of our last meeting and um there is a little bit of a what would you say procedural mechanism that needs to occur these and I'm going to have him explain exactly what has to happen because we can do this these these Acres can be preserved without a doubt they can be moved into that open space um uh category um what needs to occur I'll ask Sean to just go over it with you so again residents you're going to need to be loud and clear here and make this happen and Jim with your background in planning board experience you know that when the town introduces on first reading an ordinance to change the zone that has to go to the planning board for their scrutiny yes and so we just ran out of time and unfortunately we didn't run it we there's time yeah might for this year for this year okay maybe the new um Administration can take it up in January but when Jim said okay so now but are you're talking about the Cheesequake Road property um both um Mr Robinson's talking about two other Parcels not the I was you talking thees Quake Road property has to be put on the open space inventory and the planning board oh I'm sorry I jumped the gun here because I have 40.5 acres in my brain right now so I was thinking of those that's what he's referencing that's what Sean's referencing is as far as well the 40 acres doesn't have to go to the planning board does it what is the 40 acres remind me that's the 40 acres is the property immediately adjacent to Kennedy Park that the mayor suggested we purchase that that mayor McCormick has wanted us to purchase since yeah we should have we agreed that we would move forward with those discussions and negotiations with the two appraisals if the third one comes in then great if not we can still have those discussions um okay but I don't believe that where where are we with those negotiations there is no you the only knowledge I have of this is you ordered the the tax assessor to obtain the assess the appraisal the only and he has the two appraisals I haven't seen he hasn't sent them to me well just ask them for them that's that's why I continue to ask um just because I want to make sure this gets done I don't like when people within the in the town they know they know what the intention here was they should be communicating Glenn you got to communicate with um Joe because it's my understanding that at least two of the appraisals are in and we authorize as a council to say we'll move forward with discussions and contacts um and then await the third one if it comes in great and if it doesn't then we would stick that's right and I recall councilwoman Roberts agreed yes you'd go with the two and if you got the third fine but if not not but you know too many things too many important things fall through the cracks and it's important probably now more than ever the other thing there's been a lot of talk about the tree Bank ordinance um lately I think I well I know I wrote that and I think it was in 1992 and I've looked at those numbers and I know there's the equal biomass provision in there Jay but there's also I think it's if and so that everybody understands the purpose of that ordinance was to be a deterrent to knocking down trees but if it develop had to they would pay and I think that amount is $100 no pardon me 250 okay all right well that's that's an improvement because when I think we spent 26,000 for 87 trees and that comes out to about 290 that comes out to about 300 bucks so I think we ought to take a look at that was 250 a tree 250 a tree okay all right so that we're on target but as inflation increases we ought to take a look at that and and increase that if if we have to so there there is a lot of Unfinished Business there are those two Parcels of open space I had suggested and and Sean your I think it was s somebody was here and made notes I suggested a while ago that there' be minor modifications to our land use and Sarah applications and Sarah is important because they are the committee that recommends pilots and if something goes to Sarah it's a Redevelopment and is entitled to at least be considered for a pilot and so that I made a suggestion that would require disclosure of those who contributed to independent political committees as well as candidates and that have to be disclosed um I don't know what happened with that um I know this that if we were to have a second meeting this December is normally we have two and we canceled one because it's Christmas now putting aside the fact that you got your flowers and we all said these nice things and you got your plaques but I don't think the plaque has a date on them um this wouldn't be an additional meeting this would be a meeting because we canceled one so you could have a meeting on the 27th or 28th or 29th and the ordinance I'm talking about we could introduce by title now tonight by title and vote for it then if the council was so inclined because there there are the two open space things that you really ought to move on before the end of the year there's that modification um about people having to disclose their in the interest of transparency in the last election we had in this town transparency was a big issue so in the interest of transparency I think everybody would agree we uh should do that we could find out exactly where we are on that investigation and if something has to be done that could be moved forward so that that doesn't so the same thing that happened five six years ago when the then mayor said we're going to have an investigation that never transpired um you know so that that doesn't happen because th this is my concern that the former and future mayor doesn't have a good record with respect to open space or transparency when it comes to committees contributing to uh officials or investigations like the one he said a few years ago we were going to um conduct so you know you could tonight say that we're going to do these things and have a meeting before the end of the year I know it's a little bit of inconvenient people like to party over there everybody likes to do that but you know there is the people I I don't think you want to leave office knowing that these things haven't been done and these aren't minor things this isn't you know making a equipment operator one Equipment Operator 2 these are pretty important things and I I really can't think of more important things um that you've discussed in a while so in in the recent future so for those of you leaving thank you very much for your service um you've always been courteous even when I've come up with off toall ideas that are maybe a little inconvenient like having another meeting but I hope you will consider that to those celebrating Christmas and Hanukkah seasons greetings to you and but I hope I hope there will be one more time that we will meet and then I will wish all of you a happy New Year at that meeting when you conduct a lot of Unfinished Business okay thank you very much go ahead council president see mayor I think that Mr Robinson brought up a couple good comments um I wanted to know if we'd be able to address some of them now or do we still listen we still go into other public comments everything that Jim brought up here at the microphone I mentioned and brought to this Council for a reason because I wanted it acted on because I wanted to turn around and be able to say that we have moved forward with progress on multiple fronts covering multiple different things um listen I'll turn around and send haly and Addy to Grammy's house and I'll sneak out the door and be here for this next meeting in December if that's what it takes in order to get things done because it needs to be done if we have to turn around and put it on the table today and we don't get a quorum in order because you have to have a quorum in order to hold that second meeting we don't get a quorum then listen we brought it forward then it's going to be the responsibility of the next Council to see it to its end and if it moves through then it then the town and the residents are well served if it dies then the town and the residents need to get louder and they need to turn around and speak and they need to turn around and get more involved it takes a whole another year in order to have a new election so if we can turn around and introduce things tonight in the interest of progress moving forward whether it's a special meeting before dece before January 1 I'm for it if it's putting the pressure on the new Administration coming in to say see this through which is what we would want then so be it but it's got to show up somewhere because you know as soon as I walk out the door that's it I mean but but I have faith in Dan I have faith in yourself Christian I have Fai faith in ustach I have faith in Donna that hopefully you'll you'll see this Common Sense stuff through because you guys are going to be the voice here I mean one two three four there's four of you that's that's a passing vote right there that's a passing vote right there um so council president go ahead what's your thoughts Christmas is 14 days from now so what what other what other option days would that would it like the Wednesday of that week or what how would this really work I mean I'd have to defer over to Jess uh as far as looking at making sure we advertise in time and we make sure that we um so but there's a way to do but more importantly before we before we um even entertain the idea of a meeting we have to turn around and see if there's anything to have a meeting for so you'd have to turn around and put something forward but I'd have to defer to the attorney what can we legally do at this juncture for tonight's meeting yeah I mean if you're talk if you're talking about the the payto playay ordinance which would limit companies that are proposing Pilots I think that's what Jim was getting at you're you're you would be restricting how they can make political contributions or at least disclosing disclosing so the state statute past that took effect um for this coming year so people that are now responding to rfps and things like that state statute has trumped all local Municipal ordinances okay if you're talking about introducing an ordinance tonight that hasn't been written yet and you're talking about constitutional right of First Amendment free expression political contributions you know I'm not prepared to recommend that we introduce an ordinance that hasn't been written yet allow me to explain a little bit better perhaps I wasn't clear I you can explain it all you want I wouldn't recommend having the governing body introduce an ordinance tonight that hasn't been written yet our or well we've done that before when there was an emergent situation and our ordinance already provides that certain land use applications you have to disclose your political contributions isn't that correct Mr Cornell so the ordinance already provides that okay I don't know if the ordinance provides that for Sarah applications but it should because that is a much more important board than the zoning board for instance as if we drive down Cheesequake Road we'll we'll know that we'll see that so the suggestion is that since you are already required to disclose your political contributions if you go before the board of adjustment or the planning board we just add end to Independent committees that's all it's not a whole new thing it's just adding another classification so it you already have to disclose if you given to a candidate who sits on the council or sits on the board this would just say and if you also contribute to an independent committee that supports these candidates you have to disclose it so that's that's very simple that's the addition of four or five words um into an existing ordinance and the other would be to include it that same requirement for folks who go before Sarah and maybe that's redundant maybe that's not necessary because if you go before Sarah you have to go before the planning board but the timing is different the timing is it most times and in fact a former chairman of Sarah once told me the reason they put things in a Redevelopment zone is so that they get them before they go to the planning board so that they can do what they want there and the planning board really has no choice if the Redevelopment ordinances complied with it it it g game playing at its best and at our expense so all I'm suggesting is you already have to disclose if you've made a contribution to a candidate some candidates have figured out you can donate to this committee and nobody will ever know well unless we change our ordinance to say that has to be reported and unless unless we include Sarah so if we do it already with respect to contributions to individuals why not do it with respect to contributions that support those individuals just through a a circuitous uh circumvention so the new state statute preempts all Municipal ordinances it would preempt that ordinance you're talking about as well the law of the land is the new state statute so I'm sitting up here at 10 o'clock at night I'm not prepared to say we should introduce an ordinance verbally and you're talking about a complex subject matter I'm just not going there it's a good idea to strengthen it hey I think everybody's in favor of transparency but I'll accept that yeah but it's something especially since this was the year that we talked about transparency so I'm sure next year's Council ought to want to do it even more than this year's Council I'm curious you know what I'm curious about now and again I'm not supposed to do this I'm supposed to be a mom but now I'm sitting here wondering legislatively speaking at the state level we need to analyze that statute a little bit better um because if that's go and and I know that the law states that statute supersedes ordinance local usually in all things um so now I'm curious as to what was passed through the state and is that comprehensive enough is that enough transparency or not and that means that we'd be looking at going to a higher level as res think Sean and I would agree that the bill that the governor signed and was behind that was called was called the transparency or S some just how name that that that does the opposite of what it does um so we ought and I'm not as familiar with that as I should be um but we ought to take a look at that and and my whole point here is this if you're coming in for approval to build warehouses Mega warehouses or hundreds of condos and apartments and maybe you're going to ask for a pilot well you know what the people ought to know if to help help guide things along you've made a contribution to the officials or to a committee that supports those officials that's all and I think that's the definition of transparency so that's all 100% And if we can't do it tonight plenty of time in the future okay thank you but there are some other things that we talked about making sure that open space goes through um the investigation making sure we know where that investigation or those investigations are I mean at one time I know we talked about an auditor and an investigator then maybe it was just an auditor and then I raised the question is it also an investigator and now we're hearing well there's some some Financial concerns so maybe all of this can be sorted out so that tonight won't be the last meeting of the year I get to use my favorite word it'll be the pen ultimate meeting of the year the meeting before the last and and you can go into that good night knowing you have accomplished what you set out to accomplish this year that's all just trying to be helpful to to to to you and to the incoming Administration I'm with you okay thanks Jim may I I appreciate the clarity from from our from our attorney I think from my understanding there's because regardless of what Municipal law we develop because of new state law that would supersede it I guess the homework would be to uh improve our understanding of of the new law in place right yeah but uh there's another thing brought up I think towards our ba regarding the investigation right and it sounds like we have you know we put out an RFP for a job to be done and the company accepted it for a certain price and then at the last minute they said that they can't do that job for for that listed price or amount was there any you know um additional Clarity and and then what what exactly can we really do about that right like is you know how is that you know fair in a sense right because there were other people not granted that job then that also said that they may be willing to do it for that fee what you know so what what do we do in this in this case there was never a comprehensive fee settled on the direction that I got from the council was it not to exceed for $25,000 that was communicated to the respondent the triggered a phone call from the respondent and he explained to me he said you realize that this is not anywhere near enough money to even do a most rudimentary investigation based on the nature of the work that needs to get done it's very timec consuming it's very labor intens involving various Financial professionals and uh they're they're hesitant to embark on the work because $25,000 will go like that and they'll make not any kind of uh progress toward achieving what you're trying to achieve with the study but but again they're communicating this after accepting the award or or no no they had no IDE they had no idea they they put in the RFP okay the council trose them as the vendor the council set the standard by which they're willing to pay for it the were subsequently informed of that and they said we can't do anything formative for that little bit of money and that was my concern when we if you remember during that meeting in coming up with the not to exceed dollars knowing how big of a situation we were dealing with that this is not a surprise to me that we're in this situation um and it's not a surprise to me that here we are going on a significant amount of time that this has been asked for and we're still nowhere um that that's a problem that's a problem um and an attorney to turn around and come in and say wow look at all of this you know that the attorney that took this on um has been following the news and at least has some idea of what we were looking at for them to turn around say yo this is big we're going to need big I mean what does that tell you as residents that tells me holy cow there could be a lot of problems here but again I I have faith in a lot of the people that are up here and I have faith in some of the people coming up come January 1 what a disservice to the residents it would be if this just turns around and gets dropped because we will never be we will never get out from that cloud we will never get out from that worry we will never get out from whatever might be lurking in there if we just let it sit and fester and fester and fester you have an infe section you don't keep putting a Band-Aid and a bigger band-aid and a bigger Band-Aid on top of it you don't just turn around and put another carpet and another carpet and another carpet on it because eventually it comes out that's my worry Este mayor on that topic right I think I heard councilwoman noack mention a number that um you know the The Firm awarded uh mentioned I'm not sure if I if I heard it correctly though is was I guess to our ba is there an amount that they 1255 to do a fair initial job it could lead to the additional expenditure of funds but they expressed about 125 would get them into the area where they'd feel comfortable in producing a product for your satisfaction that would be before the council whether or not they want to turn around and actually move forward with that or do some other uh type of action but um at this point in the evening and everything and I wasn't in the office today I can't certify that amount of funding in legal I don't know that I have it and I'm I'm guessing I probably don't ahead you want to go something lower possibly um but I don't think it's going to be able to be doable at that number one just from a public bidding perspective I think you would have to rebid it because if you if you think it through logically you put an RFP out on the street for municipal prosecutor and you put in there it's going to pay 50 Grand a year then you hire the ABC firm they come in and say I want I want a 100 so now the all the other firms that didn't get chosen they have a cause of action because they were not given the opportunity so you would really have to redo it yeah unfortunately understood um Sean that's that's why you're here that's and I appreciate that so um Council you you see what's before you and I guess to our CFO would you say that there is um a higher amount but still I guess an amount still affordable beyond the 25,000 it'll have to be in next year's budget it won't be this year so definely not pay up this year that's true it would it wouldn't be something that was budgeted for this P this year it be future you have to certify the funds before you exactly the funds have to be in place I have to certify that they're there yeah I'm sure that there I mean as a CFO there's ways to turn around if the money isn't presented before inlegal in that line item when we have emergencies and circumstances that require legal you know there's ways to make that money available um some other way so line items are not completely unchangeable there's it's just what happens it's in your household too oh my gosh I only had $500 budgeted for my car and the windshield just went well guess what we're GNA have to move some money over from someplace else the burrow budget is no different we do things like that corre but the our last meeting of the year yeah no understood oh I I get it Denise don't worry on that all right anything else council president great I appreciate the uh the clarity so far okay and um I'm happy that it's also on the record too also for the residents and for the continuous communication and feedback yep um okay Ken Ken sheski 108 North Edward Street I don't know about any future meetings this year but I can tell you there're sure in hell trying to get rid of us tonight because they turn the heat off at nine o'clock and I'm ready for the smoke bombs to be coming out soon Soh that's where we are I've heard so many good things tonight I just don't want to stand here in parad them but uh so many great things I want to tell you people talking about how long they've been around I've calculated that I probably been coming to these meetings for almost 65 years starting in high school as a junior in high school through the time I sat there and on through I didn't start with Tony palowski but Harold Bane Eddie felich as Mayors etc etc it's been around a long time and I've done a lot of public speaking I've been to dozens and dozens of Freeholder meetings speaking the reason I mentioned that I'm going to say something tonight that I've never said before and you've probably never heard before about yourself mayor but I'm going to call you a canary uh I think you are a canary in the coalmine uh what happened to you when you took office and I I I can't stand here and repeat it it's too long you know what it is I know what it is because I sat there and I was I was not part of it but I was I was a a a subject hearing a lot of it and heard some of it from you one night outside of headquarters for about a half hour but uh when you got elected uh the the idea was that you were going to be told what to do you were going to be bossed and you were going to put in and make the appointments Etc that uh that were wanted and and that was the start that really was the start of the downfall of what subsequently happened uh with everything that's gone on here in the last few years and what you're talking about tonight uh which you've talked about for months and months of doing an investigation of this stuff that was the dirty things that went on and I I I just can't say enough good things about you mayor in regard to how you've handled yourself uh uh you know I'm a big advocate of democracy and fairness and what you say about public speaking uh and the length of time we're allowed to be up and I know tonight's an exception but but how fair you've been to everybody uh as opposed to what I've heard from the young lady here and from Jim and I didn't see the meetings but on the board of education you know something I've lived here in this town my life I was born here and I think you know my history you know it better than anybody I don't want to get into talking about my grandfather building the bur Hall next door but I can tell you I'm ashamed to say I'm from sville I am ashamed to say I'm from sville when I hear what's going on at that board of education and that that superintendent and and and the entire board should be ashamed of them themselves allowing people three minutes to speak that sounds like something you he in red China it sounds like something in the Soviet Union that's disgusting and everybody should rise up against that everybody should get to that to the board of ed meetings and rise up against that nonsense and don't ever forget at the next election get those people the hell out of there and and what what's been said here tonight Jim said it I think you said it you know somebody stands at the microphone here has said something ridiculous and and demeans people very much like we're hearing right now in Washington about the the Harvard and and upen and and what's going on to what what they've conducted there and people to sit and say nothing about it that you people would sit here if if if I said crazy things like that and you'd be silent that's a disgrace that's a disgrace to the town it's just disgrace to everybody you know you got to stand up you've been elected by the people and and if somebody says or does something and it's wrong it's against the principles of what that what is right and wrong you know what that is you can't be silent you've got to stand up for it and I hope everybody I'm I'm not trying to lecture you people because I'm not accusing anybody here have done that but I'm just giving you an example you're you're the Bor than I'm before you've got to stand up and talk about it if somebody says something here that makes sense you've got to you've got to join us say yeah you know we look into that Jay or or Glenn or whatever the case might be but uh I'm not going to take a lot of time so many of the things Jim said that that I agree with and What's happen and what should be done and and I I just can't say enough good things about you mayor and how you've conducted yourself and and quite frankly you you you got a black eye from from that nonsense and the way that things have happened in this town and the corruption Etc they tried to tie you that you not tie you into I I never heard it tie you into but they tried as a result of that that you're the you're the bad guy when the things you tried to do in a fact were the right things to do and the fair things to do and You' you've stood up for the people and when it comes you know I I couldn't as Mr Duffy said I can't be what your young daughter came up here and did but uh and and how you complimented your your family but I I particularly have to compliment the husbands and your husband Bill and what a great job he's done and and [Applause] how to the committee meetings with uh with these girls when they were this high I can remember they sit there and so but uh you know he sat home home uh and and sacrificed you and your time along with your children so you can leave with your head held up high and and and the reason I talked about how long I've been here I think it gives me some right to say out a judgment I've been around a long time I've seen a lot of people and and you have done a job where you your head should be held up on that means a lot to me Ken thank you because of the time you know what it's like to be here absolutely I do know i' I've served on I've served on almost every board in this town and I've served on the County Utilities Authority and I I've also been in professional organizations I I was the the chairman of the r Valley chapter of American production inventory control where which had the the leading companies in the tri Tri County Area here so I I know a little bit of what I'm talking about I I think you have to understand that I know YouTube but people up here Mary I I I go back with you God I a long time I'm not going to try to to to trace back the amount of time but I'm going to start by telling you something I just told uh Vicki I I I probably didn't see this but when your son and your husband walked out I went out after him I went out after Jim and I told Jim what I'm going to tell everybody here you know here's a guy that my first m of Jim I was uh I was a relatively new councilman he was a police officer and our headquarters was down Beyond below waa and and uh he came up I didn't know him very well I he was a cop he came up to me and said and I can't get into the details of some crazy stuff that went on with other members of the PD or one particular not not others one and and he come up and I want you to know I'm not a part of anything like that I'm here to because I want to be here and and be involved in the town but uh he was a great cop he was a great police officer I was there when he was there you know I had an office in the PD for four years as a commissioner in charge of Public Safety he was a great cop and I you can be proud of him as well as your other children of course the other thing about you and I've always told you never have I seen grandchildren behave as well as your grandchildren Perry they've always been with you all the time I do this all when I got to dinner and and there's somebody with kids sitting next to me when I leave if there will be I go to their table and tell them you should be congratulated on how well your kids behave and you should on on and how well you're they're your grandchildren but it's an extension of you it's from your your children uh you've been around a long time you too can can leave with your your head held high you've not been a part of Any of of this dirty nonsense that I'm just going to go we all know what one on Etc but uh I know you had a couple of stints in public safety I on the B Council I mean um I stood right right next to you what one time a couple of terms ago and the phone I was watching the board and which I usually am was right next to the tote board and the phones kept ringing and it was your children and you said I don't think I'm going to make it tonight and of course you remember and it pulled in the last yeah yeah yeah I was standing right next to you at that time so you you've done a lot in and who can who can who can top what you've done on the first aid so uh you can leave with your head held ey uh Vince I you know as you've said when you were up there you one term I don't really know you that well I can't sit here and make up things about you but uh I I I I know you're you're you're seem to be fair you're a gentleman uh you've tried to do what's right for the town I know that and and I think that the three of you can can leave here tonight if we don't have another meeting I think we've got basis for doing it but if we don't uh you this last meeting you can leave with your head held high uh your families can be proud of you and the main thing is that you've got the Integrity you've done what should be done for the town and you fight for the people of Cal and what's right and with that I want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year thank you thank you Ken move with what move the public portion be closed oh another hand sorry didn't see you Anthony yeah um Anthony come on up this feels a little bit like I think I just got back from vacation um this feels a little bit like when you're in the Orlando Airport and you see people that are just getting to the airport and they've got their luggage and they're super excited and then you see like Mary's just Wheeling that stuff behind her she's like I just want to get home um I I hope that the new Council greets um their terms with the enthusiasm of being about to see that that Mouse for the first time down Orlando um I am coming tonight I've brought my son's um Wilson Elementary School folder it is tattered and loved but it does say in the front um in a world where you can be anything be kind um which I love and I love the staff over there at that school um I now something a little lighter it was Kilpatrick's last meeting and all through the hall the mayor presided and smiled at them all the council was nestled quite snug in their chairs with visions of policies and debates in the air the agenda was sprawled on the table with care and hopes that resolutions soon would be there Donna with her soda and the clerks with their pens prepared for the meeting about to begin then when out on the floor there arose such a clatter Council folk jumped to see what was the matter away to the windows they flew to the dark Kilpatrick still stalked by that damned skate park but the Moonlight revealed a mayor so spry with a determined gaze and a tear in her eye she stood on accomplishments challenges faced a labor of love and a burrow embraced the council all listened with respect and with pride as the mayor recounted the victories alongside from budgets to parks and events So Divine they'd left a tableau of a burrow that shined but the time had come for the gavl to fall for the mayor to bid ADW to this Hall she thanked each council person with a heartfelt smile every up every down it had all been worthwhile as she stepped away from the deas head tall the residents Rose gratitude filling the hall the mayor now leaving with Grace and with might wished them Prosperity into the night the meeting adjourned the last of the year the mayor departed her loved ones drawn near in her wake a legacy of leadership so bright happy last meeting to all and to all a good night [Applause] what I've what I've learned in my time coming to Council meetings Board of Ed meetings commission meetings planning board meetings and the like is that public service can sometimes be a little bit boring um always always important but sometimes candidly a little boring um well when you put Vicky kpatrick in the mayor's seat you don't get to use the word boring pretty much ever service can be spicy it can be exciting and it can be a place that you bring your heart and your brain and your guts to it is honestly been a privilege to watch the ways in which this Council this crop of characters has worked together and what I think residents might not understand is how much respect each and every member of this Council has for public service for our residents and for our burrow councilman KY and councilwoman Novak thank you for loving this place out loud for so long and for so well um you have had to make difficult decisions balancing what's popular against what is right and my entire family is grateful for your choice to continue to choose to serve Shirley Chisum is is famous for saying that service is the rent we pay for the privilege of living on this Earth and sville is better for your work for your care and for your commitment even when you had to yell louder than Vicki to be heard um which is a challenge your fingerprints are all over this place that we love and I hope you know how thankful we all are for the work the thoughts and the care so thank you thank you both um Madame mayor thank you for helping me feel like a part of this place uh for your support over the years for your friendship for your leadership thank you for working to widen the umbrella on who is welcome in our burrow on who can be seen and heard and respected our children have watched you stand up to people in positions of power while wearing multiple hats and we have learned that it is hurt people who hurt people our residents have seen you put your party aside much to the Chagrin of some to push back against corruption against dishonesty and against bullying I wouldn't presume to speak for anyone who is no longer with us but I know of a Council seat previously occupied by a woman who followed your leadership example who learned from watching and learned from doing and who talked about counting herself lucky for having served alongside you who would be so so proud of what you are finishing here I've learned it's not only possible to weave who you are into what you do but that it makes you a stronger more dedicated more authentic leader when the Touchstone against which you judge your actions isn't loyalty to a party or to a person but to yourself to the thing inside of you that makes you work harder for your kids for your schools for your communities bringing who you are to work opens you up to immense personal criticism but the brave choice to do so results in people seeing themselves in positions of power able to affect change the people in places they love by committing to work that matters while it is your last meeting here tonight I know your thoughtful care for this place means that you will continue to contribute to sville but your legacy will probably be most fondly kept by your daughters who have so very much to be proud of I have a framed uh quote in my home office uh from a former senator of New York who who once ran for president who said you may know who that is yeah um who said pretty famously be as Fearless as the women whose stories you have applauded you have given your daughters that person you are a mom who keeps all the plates spinning a mom who loves and listens and leads a mom who cares and contributes and challenges under all of it there is a mom who dared to say I will do it you know a long time ago I lost an election running as gab's Dad but it is the thing that I'm most proud of in the entire world so please tonight and always from gab's dad to haly Addison's mom please know how excited I am for you to release the weight of that gavl I've got some great Netflix recommendations for your Monday nights you do know where to find me and I was sent this evening with my son's folder um and this that he drew of you getting some time with Haley and Addison and uh a rainbow above you guys that says we love you Vicky because you are a part of our family and you part of Saville's story and Saville's family so uh from from my tiny family to yours thank you so much for your service mayor but I will say you know um a good friend told me good leaders know when their time is done um and hearing all of this makes me feel good in knowing that it's that it is time this was a hard decision you know I you never know what the future is going to be and I tell a lot of people that sto me now and talk to me you know it's a pause for right now because you don't know what's going to happen happen but um hearing such kindness from all of you there are no words in that for me that's hard to say um but um this is something I'm so proud of because that flag that we hang and in front of art buildings um for pride month it's it's so much more than just that month and what it means and this proves it um I never thought in a million years I would make a difference like this in one person's life let alone more than that I'm touched I'm a good mom because of that Mom my mom over there that's nled up that Addie's nled up against nobody knows this but she listens to every single meeting she um comes here if I'm running late because she worries about me and she is the first person I call on my way home she's the first person I call going to work going to school and um I'm the person I am because of you and Daddy so that's why you have me because I had a good foundation to start with and that's why uh I've been able to do the things that I've done I can't keep crying like this oh my God my makeup's gone anybody else from the public wish to speak on anything else pleas please speak now and forever hold your peace all right anybody online I see none oh my God move to close the public portion second okay is roll call uh all in favor I any opposed motion to adjourn second all in favor I any opposed oh my gosh five minutes I may I'm not even gonna sit uh ladies and gentlemen at this time I'd like to call our second meeting to order for this evening with a salute to our flag I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all thank you very much statement of publication please Jess take notice that this agenda meeting of the mayor and Council being held this 11th day of December 2023 has been advertised and posted in accordance with open public meeting act chapter 231 Public Law 1975 roll call please Council person's Bala here kti Novak here an NOA here Roberts here sinari here Glenn it's on you have five personel items for your consideration that we require approval number one David wil from Sergeant to Lieutenant the police department retroactive December one which when his acting position started authorization to promote Jeffrey tayor the sergeant in the police department retroactive December 1st 2023 he went into his acting position authorization ofe Peter garboski Senor maintenance in dep Public Works Jam one authorization to promote Nicholas sapos to maintenance repair in the department of public works effec of January 1 and authorization to promote Metal magn Management specialist and Department person of December 2023 23 that's all I have Madam mayor thank you very much let's move over to our oh go ahead I'm sorry Dan number five we just made a position fulltime a couple months ago now we're making it promotional well I couldn't move her into the position until it existed in our too the position hadn't previously existed in the burrow but the position exist well full-time position began a couple months ago right and now we're making it a well she was part-time in there as a clerk couldn't make her like confidential secretary for at least a year in fulltime before we make another position like this based on the assessments of her immediate supervisor and my observations we found her conduct and for job performance to be superior and she would be fulfilling a need in the administrative operation of the burrow is this is there any posting required for this no because promotional doesn't require any posting you're saying she's also she's really training we we're looking at some uh retirements soon and she's basically uh learning that position am I correct and the personel and frankly she she's as Mrs Novak said we're trying to develop some depth on the Venture we're all getting a little older close to the retirement and and based on her performance and her educational achievement she's a prim candidate to be consider and we really don't want to discuss her job performance because she's not rice noticed cfo's report Denise M thank you thank you so much um let's next Jay hey Jay do me a favor when I'm gone um make sure that you talk about the change orders being a net reduction thank you um what does that bring us to next Sean I just want to say um wish everybody a happy holidays Merry Christmas Happy Hanukkah and it was a pleasure working here with everyone for the year happy New Year too I hope I hope we gave you some entertainment for a while absolutely ladies and gentlemen um I do not see anyone from the public that wants to continue to speak if you do now's your time seeing none I'll entertain motion motion second all right moot uh all in favor I motion to adjourn ah second second all in favor I go in peace one more