thank you s hi this meeting of the South River mayor and burrow council meeting number 18 held today on December 4th 2023 is hereby call to order statement of notice of publication Madam clerk in compliance with chapter 231 of public law of 1975 notice of this meeting to be held at the criminal justice building 61 Main Street South River has been published in the home News Tribune on January 6 2023 posted on the municipal building bulletin board the burough website the front door of the Criminal Justice building at 61 Main Street South River okay thank you roll call Mayor krenzel here councilwoman Ballas here councilman grensky here councilwoman mea here councilman olera here council president Cula here please stand for the flag I algi to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God ible liy and justice for all please remain standing for a moment of silence thank you please be seated there's no proclamations honors Awards and presentations there's nothing with the agenda session one thing we will change is because two of our members have to leave early we will be uh holding the consent resolutions after the ordinances moving on to the ordinance's second reading 20 23-28 Madam clerk ordinance 2023 28 an ordinance of the bur South River County of middle SEC state of New Jersey amending the burrow code of the burrow South River so as to amend chapter 258 entitled Property Maintenance make a motion wave the full reading second motion has been made by Mr siula seconded by Mrs ballis all in favor I I all against the eyes have it opening this up to the public for your comments and concerns and or ordinance that we have to require to have a salt shed to protect the salt that we use on the roads you may come forward and ask any questions or make any comments on first call second call third call motion to close motion by Mr grensky to close seconded by Mrs Ballas all in favor I I all against the eyes have it your pleasure on the ordinance move the ordinance the ordinance has been moved by Mrs balis seconded by Mr ol ER discussion I have a question Mr Mayor uh who asked to put this one on the agenda no correct me if I'm wrong but it's uh it was required by state law it was the Department of Transportation requires all municipalities to adopt uh protections for the salt just to prevent um environmental issues such as the salt draining into the water and that's why okay thank you okay roll call councilwoman Ballas yes councilman grensky yes councilwoman Mira yes councilman Ola yes council president Cula yes the ordinance has been adopted ordinance 20 23-29 ordinance 2023 29 an ordinance of the burrow of South River County of middle SEC state of New Jersey amending the burrow code of the burrow of South River so as to create chapter 261 which shall be entitled Redevelopment make a motion W the full reading or a motion has been made to uh wave the full reading by Mr SE seconded by Mrs Palace all in favor I I against the eyes have it opening this up to the public you may come forward please give your name and address and ask any questions or make any comments on first call second call third callose motion by Mr grensky to close seconded by Mr Cula all in favor I against the eyes have it your pleasure on the ordinance move the ordinance the ordinance has been moved by Mr grensky second seconded by Mr Olivera comments questions um just as well who asked to put this one on the agenda it was recommended that we have a Redevelopment ordinance it was recommended by the attorney so that when somebody comes and wants to redevelop property we would be able to have a ordinance that we can point to and say this is what you need to do these are the costs that are involved and then we at well burrow councils the one who becomes the Redevelopment agency that is correct okay and um would this only fall in our Redevelopment Zone yes okay that was my only question anyone else roll call councilwoman Ballas yes councilman grensky yes councilwoman Mira yes councilman olera yes council president Cula yes the ordinance has been adopted ordinance 20 23-30 Madam Clerk 20 2330 an ordinance of the burrow of South River County of middle SEC state of New Jersey amending the burrow code of the burrow of South River so as to amend chapter 155 entitled fees make a motion wave the full reading second motion has been made to wave the full reading by Mr Cula seconded by Mr grensky all in favor I all against the eyes have it opening this up to the public you may come forward please give your name and address you can ask any questions or make any comments on first call second call third call close motion has been made to close by Mrs Ball seconded by Mr suula all in favor against the eyes have it your pleasure on the ordinance move the ordinance the ordinance has been moved by Mr grensky seconded by Mr Oliva comments roll call councilwoman Ballas yes councilman grensky yes councilwoman mea yes councilman olera yes council president Cula yes motion has the ordinance has been adopted ordinances first reading by title only we have 2 2023 31 Madam clerk ordinance 2023 31 an ordinance of the burough South River County of middle SEC state of New Jersey amending the burrow code of the burough of South River so as to amend chapter 22 entitled boards commissions and authorities your pleasure on the ordinance mayor I move that the council pass ordinance 2023-the by title only and the clerk be authorized to publish the same as required by law with a second reading and public hearing to be held on December the 18th 700 p.m. by video conference via Zoom or in the council chambers at a criminal justice building 61 Main Street South River New Jersey second the ordinance has been moved by Mr suula seconded by Mrs Ballas roll call councilwoman Ballas councilman grensky yes councilwoman Mira yes councilman olera yes council president Cula yes we'll revisit this on December the 18th ordinance 20 23-32 ordinance 20 2332 an ordinance of the borrow of South River County of middle SEC state of New Jersey authorizing the sale of block5 lot 18.01 to Charmaine Lin and Jess buffalino in accordance with the provisions njsa 40a col 12-13 your please on the ordinance may move at the council pass ordinance held at on December the 18th 700 p.m. by video conference via Zoom or in the council chambers at a criminal justice building 61 Main Street South River New Jersey second the ordinance has been moved by Mr suula seconded by Mrs Palace roll call Council balis councilman kensky yes councila yes councilman olera yes council president Cula yes very good we'll revisit this on December the 18th as I said we're going to move to the consent resolutions because our two members have to leave Madame clerk if you can go to the consent resolutions whereas resolution 20231 authorizes the B Council to utilize a consent agenda to adopt various resolutions of a routine and non-controversial nature at one time now therefore being it is hereby resolved that the below listed resolutions are hereby adopted by the burrow Council and whole as that the same were individually acted upon consent resolutions 2023 332 to 2023 345 332 authorizing no annual power cost adjustments for 2024 333 resolution cancelling federal and state Grant receivables and appropriation Reserve balances 334 resolution accepting a bid from the public sale of burrow property 335 authorize the requisition of funds for payment to the custodian of school monies 336 resolution appointing James urick as part-time dispatcher 337 transfer of year 2023 budget Appropriations 338 cancellation of outdated stale items 339 authorizing place-to-place transfer application of a plenary retail consumption license 340 authorize certain utility refunds 341 approval to submit a Grant application and agreement for cyber security 342 except November 13 2023 regular and executive session minutes 343 authorize the bills and claims list 344 resolution appointing Cultural Arts and Heritage commission member 345 resolution to submit and execute a grant agreement with the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs your pleasure on the resolution the consent the resolution has been moved by Mrs Palace second seconded by Mr Cula roll call councilman ballis yes councilman kensky yes Council Mira yes councilman olera yes council president Cula yes with extension of 343 following numbers 23-3 058 02761 02904 02905 02975 03001 03054 and 031 159 okay thank you the resolutions the consent resolution has been adopted CFO is Happy the bills have paid all right going back to our agenda reports thank you for your patience sir Mr PCH going quick thank you um don't jinx us actually it's taking a very long time the 2023 local aid program is the project we are working on the 2023 Transportation Project's Grant uh we applied for a grant have not heard back yet the 20 24 local aid program you got a $66,000 grant um we submitted a proposal on that I'm sure you can wait till next year to move that along but whatever whenever you're ready is fine there's a 2024 Local transportation projects Grant if you have other rows that you'd like to submit please let me know and uh we will get those submitted for you the substation maintenance we had the preconstruction meeting I have to finish the minutes and get them out but a contractor is going to start um I think the next week or so and I'll issue the notice to proceed and then the storm water assistance grant they have the location of all the inlets in town is my understanding and they are going to move ahead with some of the other work which is uh connecting the pipes which is part of it as well and you should be another grant for that next year from the do in the order of another uh 25,00 ,000 very good any questions for Bruce I do Bruce um I saw that we did receive the proposal for you regarding the work on Fitzpatrick yes um I know it's not on here but are we discussing how we'll be moving forward with the Fitzpatrick Park anyone we are looking to include it in the capital budget next year okay cuz your proposal will be good for it it'll be fine it'll be fine sure okay my other question to the council is um we asked for the proposal for the park have we asked the Bruce to come up with a proposal for our water infrastructure yet anybody planning on asking Bruce to come up with a proposal for that we're looking into this this uh engineering consultant that's working with the uh um treatment plan operator is working on we have submitted with the fees to the for the chemical change and he is working on a plan on the target area which is the best way to address the first area have to break the town up into zones the worst to the best and start with the worst um and he's in the progress of working on that for the chemical part of it no for the replacement of okay okay so we're we'll be using the engineer and the consultant from the water company is that what we're saying right now it's under discussion with who be under discussion with the budget committee and with Council there are rfps out for water treatment plan engineer for 2024 depending on who the mayor and councel wants to pick a their engineer for the water treatment plant that'll depend on who does the work okay but the water treatment plant and the water the infrastructure wouldn't that be different no the water treatment plant and the water system it's all the same thing okay so why wouldn't the utility committee be in charge of that it's a budget it's first of all we have to know who gets appointed once we get appointed we need to get numbers on what they're going to charge and we have to see okay we have to put that into the budget included in the cost of doing the installation so we've had this from the capital project so we've had this information from the consultant from the water our company since July and now we're going to wait until the budget committee for next year under the original contract that is still open he is working on breaking up into town into areas and telling us how many feet of pipe how many hydrants how many valves how many Loops we may have to do before we can go out and get any idea of the cost okay that's all I have for you Bruce anyone else to Bruce thank you thank you Bruce Mr Anga nothing to report nothing okay very good to our head of [Music] DPW yes mayor on uh Monday December 25th and January 1st will be closed for the holidays there'll be no yard waste pickup on both of them days that's all I have all right anything for age no okay may I don't have anything nothing okay nothing from our police anything from the clerk's office no no legal uh nothing at this time hey PA only I want to report is that our new code enforcement officer is progressing quickly um falling into place it's working out well very good okay then uh our reports the uh Mrs ball anything to report um I have nothing to report for my committees I do have a cultural arts meeting next week uh but as a report on a commission I'd like to congratulate the rec department for their wonderful job at the tree lighting it was if you get a chance to go down and see it it looks beautiful at night that's it okay Mr sua no reported just time okay Mr Al uh as councilwoman ball said I just want to give a huge shout out to Terry and Jessica the Christmas tree lighting was a spectacular event they did an awesome job um believe it or not they put the lights on the tree age on the trees not in the pond um age thank you to the DPW the electrical department um we couldn't have done it without you guys you guys did a fascinating job awesome Partners um and as councilwoman B said if you have the opportunity please go out there it really is a beautiful site they put lights around the Gazebo the trees and it they're even considering leaving the lights all year round for age uh to have to change sometimes so uh again please go out there it really is a beautiful site to see and I just want to thank them for all their hard work yeah the ones on the trees nice touch so Mr grensky thank you mayor uh just a few things uh The Office on Aging is having their monthly their Christmas mingle on Wednesday hopefully every that has uh applied for it has vot her tickets and is waiting in line um on the 22nd and the 25th Christmas day they will be closed also on New Year's Day I believe they will be closed too also um with that that's all I have mayor thank you thank you Era uh yes with the library board I just want to mention that tomorrow December 5th at 6 PM they will have a Mac Christmas gnome event at uh the library if you want to come down make A Little Gnome uh they've got a lot of fun things for Christmas if you stop by they have grab bags to take home um and they're also in the process of interviewing for a new library director evina will be retiring soon so uh we will miss her dearly um in the environmental commission I'll save it for Richard if he's got anything to say today but we have one more meeting this year uh I do want to say we have a great group of uh volunteers that see seems to grow every meeting that we do have um you know we're trying to accomplish the rain Garden at the schools uh cleanup events um getting people more involved and more environmentally aware of things so I appreciate all that they do on their behalf and I know last meeting they had a long meeting trying to get um the tree applic tree removal applications going so um I thank them for what they do all year round they really work hard and uh put a lot of effort into what they do as an environmental commission a green team um and a an advisory a shade tree Advisory board so um thank you to them uh the schools all I have is that between this week and next week there's a lot of a holiday concerts uh the primary school is also having a uh winter Suare uh a lot of things going on with the kids there and I just want to wish everybody a healthy uh healthy holiday within the school district I know a lot of people have been getting sick so please remind your kids to wash their hands and cough in their elbow like the nurses say but U that's all I have for now Mr Mayor yeah that's a good point because a lot of adults don't do that they cough in their hand and then they you know touch something so you know all right I'll save my comments to the end uh we public comments I know there's something else okay public comments uh you'll have 10 minutes to speak you can ask questions make comments uh please give your name and address I'm dorianne Kerber 24 reeva Avenue miltown I'm on the Green Team and uh in terms of the rain Garden recers will be doing the project uh they hired uh a contractor and the request is that PO works assists with removal of the old soil and and removing it so that this way the project doesn't get delayed and it gets done in one day and this way they're going to be doing it towards the uh vacation time for the school so that we're not in the way of the construction crew because there's not going to be any construction uh that week Steve notified us so we're hoping that the Public Works will pitch in when they do there's two things we get additional sustainable Jersey points and number two when he uploads his report for New Jersey clean communities or the njd he gets credit as well and the more that we do together as a collaboration as a partnership the more funding we're going to get I know this for a fact um uh so I'm hoping that you know we will be able to have Public Works take out I don't know how many yards of dirt it will be uh it was shrunk from 25t to I think 20 foot uh as opposed to uh the what was laid out just to make it more uh viable for the kids to not be in the way of the construction crew or entering in the areas uh of the rain Garden so that's my uh my concern is I'm hoping that Public Works can you know because they're putting most of the bill I would hope that Public Works can come and remove the uh you know discard the soil so that would be that's what my request is at this time um in addition we do have sustainable Jersey uh grants coming up for $2,000 $110,000 and $20,000 it's due mid-February so hopefully we will get that together um and you can apply for the 2,000 and the 10,000 or 20,000 whichever you decide to do uh with the environmental Mission commission and green team as a combined effort um there are lots of other grants coming up they have the complete streets and just so you know there was big advertisements uh on the radio that for every town that has complete streets you're more more than guaranteed funding for uh roadways as well as um you know Green streets or anything that you're going to be doing to with Public Safety in mind um and I was like yeah miltown has one uh you know I Champion that I want to Champion here uh and hopefully apply for it it involves collaboration with everyone the elected officials Public Works police department and it's really beneficial because now you're going to be looked at okay you you you did the complete strees policy you went through and you get this document I didn't bring it tonight and it gives you all ideas of what to do at certain Corners uh to enhance your walking uh P particularly since uh pedestrians and and you know bicyclists deaths are up in New Jersey it's hasn't got decreased we thought it would it's been increasing so and in middlex County we did sign off on a vision zero policy back in 2019 um and they're it's looking to do multiple projects uh with towns I've reached out to the county and they've asked me um there's also Edison is applying for Grant and I'm hoping to include South River you'll know more about it after we have her meeting uh in the next couple of weeks uh they want to take and Encompass several towns to do green infrastructure projects or pollinat Gardens or whatever is planting of trees whatever the home combination is this particular Grant is only geared towards middle County only so we have a pretty good chance um they've involved Montclair University we have Ruckers University Chris abrupta myself as liaison between County and County officials as well uh so hopefully you know if we decide to get this together and say yes let's pick these locations and do this we can really you know enhance Our Town reduce flooding and increase you know awareness of all this to the town and it benefits the residents it benefits your businesses as well as anybody in in the town uh visiting and touring and the more beautification you do the more you do for flood mitigation the less likely you're going to have many many issues um and there's a multitude of projects which I'll present at the January meeting that we can focus on uh I can do a presentation as well just so that everyone can see it more and understand it more uh and of course Bill uh ner will be here for the street smart campaign um next year as well so that we do the combination it's so important safety is important we want to make sure our residents are safe and anyone visiting our town here in South River so that's my um take there's uh many more grants coming up for green infrastructure as well as the one from middle 6 County with um Edison but also with sustainable Jersey and the US EPA and us um EP so they're coming down the pipeline um things are due different dates but the more we do the more we talk about it the more we get input from people it's going to be uh really beneficial to them very good see Mr sories and Mr Linsky afterwards about the uh soil yeah because the one question I have real quick when is the rain Garden going in um if we get support from public works then they'll be able to um it's going to be the last week between Christmas and New Year's okay because that you're right art because we're we're going to have to see if uh the Board of Ed being it's their property if they'll allow us to to do that do we know if they've allowed I got confirmation from Steve he's the ground supervisor and he said that was the best time to do it okay recommend though that you get it in writing that you're allowed to go on the board of education's property when there's no one there okay yeah we have all emails so no believe you it's it really is it's just a matter of liability not that I no we understand thank you okay Richard good evening Richard burn 11 B at place um on the environmental commission as chair and so the the the only difference between what's happening now is that in you know we're still asking the same thing for Public Works to do the the remove the the the old soil ruter is hiring a contractor so the commission members and our volunteers aren't going to be doing the planning the ruter hired contractor will be doing that work so basically it they they upgraded their offer to to do this for us so they're doing the labor now too except for the excavation so and I'm personally excited because I just I want to see this thing go in and there's a a i I have a problem with water coming off that house and going and I there's a spot right in front of my house would be perfect so like getting this I want to see it so I can design my own one out and and and you know sort of get this water going the other way instead of into my basement so yeah so that's that's good um so in other news with our great Governor Phil Murphy um he in uh November 21st announced a clean air zero emission vehicle standard which yay we're going to get rid of these internal combustion engines um and so by 2027 they're going to require 50% of all new vehicles to be zero emission which in all practicality means electric vehicles and then all new vehicles goals will be 100% zero emission by 2035 under regulations about to be proposed which thanks to uh Charlie kaville who came here and spoke to us a bunch of times successfully got that nasty gas plant that was going to be built in Woodbridge cancelled uh youve probably read that uh orad who was the contractor building the Wind Farm off of Atlantic City which was going to be I don't know what was it uh 35 or 40 megaw of wind power has abandoned the project as being not fiscally uh sustainable so I don't see Governor Murphy proposing regulations for things like the ampacity increase that all of these things are going to be required and you know the the the vision electric grid vision is is nowhere in here I so but as as the bur we have our own electric utility that we need to start planning for this today um because we're going to have people doing you know 200 amp service upgrades to get their level two Chargers put in and you know I looked at to say do we have to put another set of Transformers in another set of mains maybe from PS this is this is this is big and there's absolutely no planning from the state on this end of it which I work for this company as the state for years and seen many many many times hey we're going to do this we're gonna do this well what about all the stuff you need to support it uh we'll get to that so um I mean being on our team I'd love to see us be out ahead of it uh so just fair warning thanks to Mayor mayor council already authorized a consultant to go out and examine our electrical system for upgrades absolutely brilliant um load onc yeah so we're ahead it's good to hear that that this is being considered now but yeah it and and the other thing is um they'll say we're not coming for your gas stove yes they are coming for your gas stove they're not coming for you for today they not coming for it for in 10 years but 20 years yeah uh the the commercial buildings with the electric boilers they backed off on those regulations this year they're going to come back next year with those it's it's you know they want to decarbonize the the entire State and those are worthy goals but it's the getting there that needs the planning right so yes and with artificial timing you know 235 why wouldn't it be more sense if 2050 and do it slowly yes but right and and once you know there's going to be a great import market for used cars in New Jersey where gas cars are going to be brought in because there's still going to be the demand to buy them yes so you know yeah it's operation so that's right all right so umk thank you all okay anyone else on first call second call lights well some some might not believe that uh good evening uh mayor prenzel council members Joe Donado I live 30 daily Street lifelong resident here in South River and again the water situation has come up at the meeting um I apologize it wasn't able to be at last meeting I got my dates messed up uh but what it happened at the meeting just prior to the election I believe was October 23rd I needed I felt we needed some clarification and that was in regard to the water distribution system evaluation report which um I had been asking for since uh May 25th of this year uh on May 31st I received an email from the municipal clerk advising me that the the the information wasn't available the town engineer didn't have couldn't find it and um this was also uh noted in the uh minutes of uh October 2nd of uh 2023 that uh I'll read it here so I don't misquote anything uh Joe Donado 30 daily Street Mr Donado speaks on a fire on Ferry Street in recent fires that have affected the water Mr Donado speaks on the ongoing water issue and makes a comment regarding a report from 1998 that no one can find um and that's what was conveyed to me by the uh by the Burl now on the 23rd oh excuse me it was on the uh 18th October 18th a few days later I was I received an email from the municipal clerk providing me with that document that the burrow engineer uh found in their records and I appreciated that um I reviewed that uh report found other information I needed and I put another op request for that which within two weeks I had uh received that information um now at the council meeting on October 23rd um councilman uh U gy was very upset about the water problems we're having he him also having uh the uh water problem now at his home which he's only a few blocks away from me by the way um and I found that uh kind of surprising because this is an issue that's been going on for long long time I'm talking about maybe 40 years 45 years and um the reason why I know that I got the I was able to obtain the uh prior information based on uh was a report done in 1978 by ESP which uh I believe at one time was part of uh CME it I don't want to go into that uh both of them done very very well they proposed uh what we should do how we should do it gave phases and so forth now the the apparently the 1998 uh report somehow another got lost and recently came up because I had in part because I had requested it and it was found so Mr gindy apparently got a copy of that and I assume since it went to the town that each one of the council members were privy to that document as well now Mr gindy indicated that um besides being upset about the whole thing that uh Sean howman was on the committee and he should have basically taken care of everything he hasn't done anything etc etc and I just wanted to everybody to know that I received the reports I've received a couple of reports by the way not only that which I doubt very much you should have but I doubt if you do have them um they had names on them and I said at an my probably the first time I spoke in front of the council and I'm sure most people remember that I said let's stop stop naming names pointing fingers and jabbering about what should be done we need to move forward got CME got the attorneys you got everybody in need you just got to give them Direction and again uh Julie councilman M also councilwoman excuse me also has been saying the same thing and I've been hearing ever since I started coming to meetings honestly I've this is the this year is the first time I decided to come to meetings and people have asked questions and have gotten nonsense answers to be quite Frank and I'm very disappointed in that um you have um two good two excellent reports yes they're old you have a few recent reports which sort of substantiate a lot of what those reports said so we're going back in many many years you have the information you don't say that oh yeah we have we're coming up with a plan you had the plan why the town hasn't done anything about it I can't tell you I wasn't involved with I'm not going to point fingers or do or point or name names all I can tell you uh is that 1998 report had also had two other names of council members that are presently sitting here I'm not going to name them it's not not important the important thing is the information that's contained in the reports got to take a look at the you've got to analyze it you may not need all the stuff that you're going you're going to be requiring the new engineer to do I'm concerned that you approach this whole project in a sensible manner where you're not wasting time and taxpayers money so far I've not been encouraged by what's been going on now I'm going to leave it at that and if anyone in the council would like to ask me questions or criticize me in any way Now's the Time to do it but I understand that our mayor elect is going to have a lot of this solved shortly by that I mean a few years I will be here to see that I'd like to see that but do it wisely do it economically and go to the worst areas of the Town first their family and we have to take care of our family I've got nice water in my house I get occasional rust it's like everybody else does but when I see what was been thrown over Facebook and mayor Ken you're right they should be coming here and not putting it on Facebook um when I see that that's not what I want coming out of my faucet and I don't want it to see coming out of their faucets so let's put it together anybody has any questions or comments criticisms now is the time to do it congratulations to those who were successful in the election um you're going to have a I'm assuming now everyone's going to be on the same page so I expect a lot of good progress to come within the next few years excuse inting of fingers you need somebody that's going to get you the money so you have to have the qualified people on staff to do it okay thank you very much I appreciate your time thank you Mr okay did you have anything else you wanted to say before you go no nothing no nothing nothing Mr grensky you're all set yes okay pass it down John I'll talk May anyone else on first call yes please come hello hello my name is Franchesca um I live at 34 Joseph Street here in South River I've been a resident for about two years um I'm a nurse at Robert Wood Johnson um part of the United Steel Workers Union and we've been on strike for more than 120 days since August 4th 201 23 we've been fighting for safe Staffing and so what's happening with Robert with Johnson we've been on strike over 100 days and we're fighting for a contract that is appropriate and enforcable for nurse to Patient ratios we are organizing nurses in our communities to go across and ask that we get support with the bill s304 A4 536 passed in our state um why does Staffing matter for nurses less staff leads to an increased patient mortality poor outcomes for our patients such as infections and bed sores longer stays at hospitals medical errors nurses leaving the profession altogether due to lack of support and stress why does safe stat why does safe Staffing matter to every resident of New Jersey at one point or another a loved one of yours has been in the hospital and due to that reason you don't want them to be the sixth or seventh um patient to that overworked nurse if you are or your loved one is the chances of death increases by 7% how do you win safe Staffing in New Jersey we can call and email our state legislators politely to pressure them to pass safe Staffing bills um and yeah I'm just here basically asking for support to pass us to um those two state laws because it's it's been a toll for us as nurses at Robert with Johnson um and all over the state as well not just us but we're fighting for everybody across the board when we ask to for your support with the state um laws because with every increased patient that we get it is um a lot of stress on us and it does take away um time and resources and like patience that we can use like with our patients um a lot of times things don't get done and they get pushed over to the next shift then the next shift then we see over and over again with um patients that are misdiagnosed and mistreated um a lot of nurses especially within the first five years of their profession get a master's degree and they go into education or they go into Administration and a lot of nurses are being lost at the bedside and this bill is passed in California California is one of the only states that has safe Staffing and at the bedside they're doing a lot better than New Jersey um and there's been a lot of um like research done that shows that there is a 7% increase chance for every patient to um have mortality with every increased um patient for nurse and and it's been like a very emotional and over and like very stressful situation 150 days is too much but thankfully hopefully they've come to their senses and gave you a good contract would you send a copy of those bills to our Clerk and she'll send it out to us we have one more meeting okay okay I was going to ask Mr Mayor if because I know they've been going to other Council meetings as well do you guys have a resolution written up to have resolutions in other counties do in other words do you have one a template a template no I don't have one with me but I can no but no then email it to yeah thank you okay thank you for everything you do okay anyone else on first call second call third call to close motion made by Mr pal to close second Ed by Mr ala all in favor I all against the eyes have it we've gone through our the rest of the agenda there's no new business uh any last comments Mrs Mar do you have anything uh yes so um first I'd like to thank the usw to have somebody here to um in support of uh residents who work for Robert Wood Johnson I know we have quite a few nurses that live in South River uh I have been following you guys on Instagram and I know all the support you guys have been getting from other uh towns um in accomplishing wanting to get this bill passed so I applaud you guys for um never giving up um my next thing I do want to say we spoke about Vision zero here in South River um I want to ask real quickly if by any chance we have begun our continued the Whitehead traffic study to the chief yeah okay are we I don't know you don't know okay it okay so I am hopeful that with the white head traffic study we can continue to push especially with vision zero to get more um pedestrians uh crosswalks or lights or anything to slow down the um the drivers on Whitehead Main Street all of our very busy roads because we see those constant accidents and um uh this week we'll we'll be reminded another six months have gone by since we lost that 14-year-old boy here in town um so just wanting to push to continue to um fight for getting those those types of money and grants for vision zero and improving our streets for walkability and for all of our residents um my next question mayor I just want to say uh I know we appointed some members to commissions this evening uh you know we tabled the human relation commission members um but yet we continue to approve other members I'm hoping there's a Rhyme or Reason for it I I've had people they said so yeah I'm sorry I was at the Honduran Festival they said wait until the uh New Year so okay okay um I've heard rumors that I don't want to believe that we are still thinking of dissolving the human relations commission I'm hoping that something that doesn't happen when we have volunteers and people that want to put in the work to improve South River we should continue to offer those positions to people who want to do it um my other question this evening that I didn't get to ask was uh why councilman gindy was sitting in the audience this evening and not up here councilman gindy resigned um and uh so but don't worry he'll be back on January 1st okay am I the only one that didn't get a notification for that I thought we would be aware when council members resigned no that's okay I didn't get a one either found out this morning okay so B clerk can we get a copy of the resignation I mean we get them when people uh over to the ba and the burrow attorney after that okay I was aded send his letter out to all the council members and it's always required the law is just that whoever wishes to resign has to file it with the clerk and that's it um you know again I understand if the news was shocking but it was a shocking receipt Friday as well so but it's pretty proor because he's going to be the mayor he can't hold two positions at once so that's why he has to resign just a matter of timing okay well it would have been good to receive the notification because I didn't know about it I just saw him sitting in the audience this evening so um I mean that's all I have for this evening we still have one more meeting I want to thank you for putting on first reading um the changes that we put for the green team for our Junior member um the only thing that I want to mention that shouldn't be a problem because it does say the junior member is for oneyear term uh we've been as a green team have been doing one school year not uh you know calendar year if that continues used to be okay um that's just how the green team has worked cuz like that we get a whole school year out of a child who's volunteering for the Green Team I wouldn't think you'd have to change that I just want to you know mention it since it's just as onee term we've been doing one school year term okay um other than that I'm we'll be here again at the end of the month thank December 18th okay thank you Mr aler so uh Mr greni asked me to pass along that the VFW will be having a blood drive on December 15th which is a uh a Friday from 12: to 5:00 p.m. in the main hall there's a possibility that I may not be at the next meeting due to work obligations um so Council mamera I just want to thank you for everything uh being a guide I know we may not always agree on everything or see ey to eye but you have been an inspiration not only to the Portuguese Community but everything you've done um you know it really we I've spoken about this quite a bit and it takes uh a special person to come and run whether you win or lose everyone should be applauded for their efforts and I just really want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for accepting me as being a member of this even though we're on the opposite sides you've been very welcoming and I really want to thank you for everything and Mr Mayor um you've been a mentor you've been a a rock bed for this community for what 12 years 12 years um thank you I know you're not going far I will definitely be calling you um and just thank you um these positions being mayor counsel very ungrateful positions you know always negative negativity but we stick together W red blue white green doesn't matter uh and again everyone that's up here should really be applauded for their effort and I want to thank the both of you guys for everything you guys have done for the last 2 and a half years with me um and hopefully we can continue to see you guys on different committees and Boards uh to continue to give back so with that mayor that's all I have okay thank you Mrs balas well I can I have one more meeting with you guys so I'll save that for that but I I do hope that you all continue to stay active in in town to the nurses thank you for all you do I have a sister who happens to be a nurse in Georgia I saw what she went through during covid and how she spent no time at home where she actually had to send her family to a hotel to stay because she couldn't be in the same house to anybody who works in the medical field thank you so much thank you and to those who celebrate happy Hanukkah that starts on Friday that's right happy Hanukkah you're welcome that's it yep uh thank you for coming forward with your uh report I mean we see a lot of it in the news but uh as councilwoman Mera said it's right here in South River it's not far away uh the problems of Staffing with nurses is right here and it's appreciated that you did come uh just briefly again things going on in town the tree lighting excellent uh the cheerleading spaghetti fundraiser uh I stopped in I didn't stay there because the noise level was was somewhere that of a jet engine but uh it seemed like everybody was having a fun time there kids Galore and that's what it's supposed to be it's supposed to be a fun time those things do go on in South River will continue to go on in South River and I hope that you're all part of it last time I finished up I talked about the past now I'm going to talk a little bit about the future uh we can start off with the water utility over the years beginning with Mr epinger said up here the water utility has been elevated to that of the electric utility was always the you know forgotten stepchild not anymore um it is going to become an independent utility for water and sewer uh there's no reason why to keep it into the current fund and in fact nowadays it's financially not a good idea to have it at one time there were tax income tax tax reasons but not anymore so it's on its way to becoming the water and seore utility which means that the meter program which keeps getting started and stopped uh are going to be installed so that's going to be coming to your uh house very soon hopefully this next year and that's the reason why we need to have accurate meters so that we can have accurate sewer charges at the same time we're going to do the line repairs and Replacements you heard Mr uh lensky talk about that about the fact that uh we're now looking at the data going through it and then make our plans in terms of doing it I will tell you right now because I'm not going to be here next year and it's going I can say anything I want so it's going to cost a bundle and yes there probably are grants out there and Loans somebody's got to pay them and grants little secret about grants usually they're matching grants so yeah the state will give us a million dollars you have to come up with a million dollars expect a water utility increase next year um other things that are going on like the electric uh constantly we are keeping that running smoothly because you know Heaven Help Us we have a 10-minute power failure we hear about it but we have to also get ahead of things and we are doing it you heard about that today yeah electric vehicles our beloved government above us uh oh yeah yeah yeah we're going to all go to Electric um they did a study average block seven houses if how many houses could actually have you know superchargers there to do their vehicles too but if we're all going to Electric what about the other five you're going to see the entire town rewired and it's going to be more power is going to be needed and where is that coming from you keep reading reports it's going to cost us a bundle and it's not South River's fault it's simply because we're getting rid of our nuclear rid of our gas so look out that's coming down the future other stuff you know uh little things that go off making the library more accessible to the disabled didle the parks having special uh places where the uh disabled can uh play like on the swings and things like that uh Recreation Recreation has exploded in the past few years uh we're going to have to meet the challenges because people want to be part of our excellent Recreation Department uh it looks as though we're going to need new fields to have and take care of all the baseball the soccer everything that's growing uh talking about Cricket now uh all different things that we're not used to more things coming in uh and possibly a recreation building uh I remember those of us that are this side of the dinosaurs remember the O Rec building on Whitehead Avenue there um that's something that's going to be uh looked at to now that we need a new one there uh redeveloping Main Street something which has been talked about um but if we can bring more people onto Main Street it helps us more customers for the businesses to do that we have planning you've saw the Redevelopment ordinance passed today we have to think new ways out of the box uh doing things like eminent domain that's something that hasn't been done in this town but if we could buy an old deric building because it's just been sitting there through eminent domain or buy a vacant lot a lot of times you just talk to the people who own it and when they see you know money coming down the pipe for something that's a waste of time hey we'll do it well it's an idea that whose time may have come different ideas of the future and of course we never know no nobody ever expected Sandy to do what it did we don't know what's coming up there but we've got a good government good people are working for us so we know that we can handle anything that comes along my next time I will tell you some of my personal thoughts about being mayor but if there's anything else to come before us and if there isn't may I have a motion to close motion to close motion by Mr Olivera seconded by Mrs Ballas all in favor I all against we'll see you on December 18th we are adjourned you should come more often