World councilman Schwarz here councilman beler here councilman Goldberg here councilman Oregon Deputy Mayor Catz Deputy Mayor G here mayor Pagan here adequate notice of this meeting has been provided by resolution number 299 d223 sending a copy to the newspapers official designated for 2024 by way of resolution number 2224 finding a copy in the township clerk's office and posting on the municipal Wen bulletin board and the mayor hereby directs this statement be included in the minutes thank you Mr Mr cler good evening and welcome everyone to tonight's council meeting Township Administration president at tonight's meeting are Jacqueline hashmat our new Township manager who we welcome and are excited to have as part of our te family Doug russion our Township Clerk Scott salmon our Township attorney Christian Den Nora our Deputy Township Clerk and Ron Goodman our volunteer cable C cable master for The public's information we are currently holding a hybrid format meeting we have people in person and on Zoom if our Wi-Fi at the municipal building has an issue where the zoom meeting drops we will aim to retrieve the connection and restart the meeting the next televised regular council meeting is on August 22nd and begins at 6:30 p.m. with the public portion of that meeting beginning at 8:00 pm this meeting was scheduled for August 20th but the clerk issued a sunshine notice rescheduling that meeting to that Thursday Council met in close session earlier this evening to discuss the following a cell tower Sagamore Park diversion sagore Park drainage Council classes contracts affordable housing potential sale of Township property vacant and abandoned properties personnel and advisory boards public roadways Cedar Lane parking water billing and legal issues and opinions regarding items on the Open Session agenda ordinance 18-202 24 litigation updates and Oprah our next order of business is presentations and first up is our swearing in of our new Township manager jackn hashmat ma'am the floor is yours I promise you that Miss hashmat has actually already been putting out he's grabbing that one very eloquent um good evening mayor and councel Township residents colleagues family and friends it is my great honor and privilege to introduce someone who has played a pivotal role in my professional Journey Mr Steve Lako Mr Lako currently serves as the burough administrator of North Arlington a role in which he continues to demonstrate exceptional leadership and dedication to Public Service before taking on his important position he served as the city manager for the city of hackensac from 2005 to 2013 I had the distinct pleasure of working under Mr Lino's guidance during my tenure in hackin saac in 2011 he recognized my professional potential and promoted me to work in his executive office his mentorship and Leadership had a Prof found impact on my career shaping my approach to public service and management being one of the best in the field it is truly fitting that Mr Lako swears me into this new role his leadership platform has not only guided me over the years but has also prepared me to lead the township of EK with the same dedication professionalism and commitment to Excellence please join me in welcoming Mr Steve Lako I'd also like to call out my husband Adam with my two children Luke and Leila please hold the Bible stand on you know before before we swear Jackie in just a few words I want to uh share with those of you uh here in tenek obviously the mayor and councel uh I I think you've made a wonderful Choice obviously to lead this Progressive leader municipalities forward over the next number of years this is a very very competent young woman uh she is unbelievable in the way she attacks any problem which may come up you know I've been I've been in this game a long time and I've come across a lot of uh a lot of public employees and I could say without fear of contradiction that she is the most capable competent committed hearing public official or Public Employee I have ever worked with and I mean that from the bottom of my heart so I think it won't take a it won't be long before you realize what a great choice you've made certainly I'm I'm happy to be part of this but it's about her and I think that uh she's going to be an outstanding leader as we go forward and why don't we get you sworn in so you can start taking all those calls here after me I have do solemnly swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States and the constitution of the state of New Jersey that I will bear a truth faith and allegiance to the same and to the government established in the United States and in this state under the authority of the people and that I will and that I will I should have my glasses Faithfully that I will impartially and justly perform the duties of the office of pip manager the office of Township manager to the best of my ability to the best help me God thank you so much you know I can blame her for everything Mr Mayor yes Deputy Mayor if I could say I'd like to Echo what Steve mentioned this Council went through an uh extensive search to try to find the right fit especially after an amazing manager like Dean kazinski someone that would work with our very intelligent engaging um educated Community um and someone who would be very responsive and uh um Jacqueline was on the list and I saw Sho was from hackensac and I reached out to some of my friends from hackensac and uh the response was she is a doer she uh is behind the scenes she doesn't run for Fanfare um her father has an exceptional and I said this to her during the interview exceptional reputation also worked for hackin sack for many years with the same reputation um I will tell you as council members we don't get inspected um by the tck building department um you know people always say oh I wish we had special treatment Like You on the council I'm like yes with me they put the plans in it takes 30 days for EK to review then they send it to hacken Zac and it takes another 30 days when you get your plants put in it's only 30 days so you know I get the special treatment of getting an extra 30 days weight on my inspection but with that said um I had a property inspected this week from uh some Hack and Sack inspectors and they come in clusters because they got to come together in one car from and and they like to do it one shot all the different um inspectors and they walked in and the first words they said to me is we're very sore at you I said why what did I do I knew the inspection wasn't going to go well they said you stole one of our best seeds so I want to tell you you have an amazing reputation we're very fortunate to have you we're looking forward to amazing things and uh thank you very much for agreeing to take the position and we wish you a lot of strength and good luck oh needless to say I failed that inspection by the way anyone else I just want to say um welcome Jackie I mentioned to you before over coffee that um I'm really looking forward to working with you um you C certainly have a passion for for community and people and uh it's lovely to meet your your family and um I know that uh you're prepared for a lot of late nights thank you for Mr Schwarz uh if she's still here now then she's staying I would have quit anyone else my hand up I'm sorry go ahead Danielle I also just want to say thank you Jackie we're so excited to be working with you and shout out to your family for being here we're so happy they were here today and thank you for Lending us Jackie because I know we're going to keep her busy so we appreciate you all as well thank you Deputy Mayor and Jackie it's already it's only been two weeks but you're already doing a great job a number of constituents have told us that you've helped them a couple in the audience actually told us that you helped them with a couple things so we welcome you to our tinic family we're so happy you're here and if there's ever anything we can do to help you help our residents please don't ever hesitate to reach out thank you everyone appreciate it and our next order business is certificates of recognition youth Advisory Board Deputy Mayor cats thank you very much I want to tell you that I was the founding me uh chairman of the youth Advisory board when I was 15 years old um today I'm 50 um but uh it ca it has come a long way and probably one of the best additions that we've had we've always had a great group of young individuals that dedicated themselves brought fresh ideas uh Innovative um great energy but one of the best additions to the youth Advisory Board um has definitely been the parent advisers um because you know while we used to have Council Liaisons I think the parent parent advisers are really acted more Hands-On and the council aison step back to be more in a supportive role I do want to call up all the parently asons that are here to join me thank you very thank you all right um who would like to uh maybe say a few words but also let's start by giving out the certificates to our amazing young group from this year you like thank you Deputy Mayor my name is Dwayne Harley I'm one of the adult advisors for the Youth advisories board um this year we had amazing amazing amazing students they worked very very hard diligently as you are aware they uh this group is responsible for um participating even from last year we did um um different relators that now that our Sports uh leagues have to use um this year we put on an amazing event um chaired by our leader right here um it was a um career day and we also had the Civics event which was was awesome so um I'm very grateful to still be a part of the group and um let's not delay anything further brother hi good evening my name is Maxine angel I'm a new member of the adult advisers to the youth Advisory Board it's so such a privilege thank you so much for the opportunity to serve in this way it's all about the teens and their ability to put these wonderful programs together come come across from all over tinac and it's a huge commitment it's every Wednesday night and if you have a teen and you live in Tac we we welcome you um and it's just wonderful to be part to watch watch these teens come together put together these wonderful Community programs and I can't wait to see what you do next and I look forward to working with our our returning members next year as well as new members so thank you so much we have two parent advisers that are not here Juan G a few words um Shay Lewis co-advisor to the youth Advisory board thank you to all of the students that have raised their issues to a a level that the council is able to access and amplify thank you for your leadership thank you for your tenacity thank you and best of luck going forward in all all of your future endeavors thank you all right Miss KRA gako missa she's not here okay yeah Miss G marel Miss Kayla belman okay this this is her brother Mr Matthew beat him in uh Miss Caitlyn Raymond Miss Olivia Vasquez I don't see Adeline Perez rainc go Mary Kramer a do anyone on Council want to say anything councilwoman belshire I just want to congratulate our our youth leaders um because I think you guys are have such a bright future I was in the uh planning board meeting last week and we were talking about the master plan and one of the members said wouldn't it be nice to find ways in which we can get our young people involved with even things like the master plan so I I just encourage you guys you're doing some awesome work in our town and super super proud of all the things you're doing Deputy Mayor G yes I just wanted to say congratulations to all of our students um I was at a meeting a couple of weeks ago where there were students trying to figure out what could they be doing to take on leadership roles and I was so proud to see that one of the students there was a youth Advisory Board member and she was able to share what she does as a member of yab um and how she's able to share those stories as she works on her college application process and and I just think it's such a wonderful thing that you all do you are like years ahead of most people your age in terms of getting involved in the community getting involved civically and so I'm just so unbelievably proud of you I also want to thank all the adult advisers um you've all done a phenomenal job this year recruiting new student members and really keeping up uh the great work so thank you all and I'm sorry that I I kept one of your adult advisers away today he's actually with me here out of the country so congratulations to everyone thank you Deputy Mayor G I also want to say congratul but more over thank you for being leaders in our community it really matters and what you guys do helps I also want to thank the adult advisers and congratulations and please keep it up because we love you we appreciate you and we need you you guys really are our future they used to tell us that when we were little but it's the absolute truth so please keep doing what you do and thank you so much please give a round of applause everybody and happy birthday the ell white cats yeah if anyone wants cupcakes Ellie brought some cupcakes our next order of business is work session items and first up is miscellaneous does anyone have anything under miscellaneous Mr Mayor yes um Personnel the full Council met with applicants for advisory gours last meeting and I would like to make a motion for the following nominations AI Berliner as the soccer rep for Fields Advisory Board Ryan Lugo for the football rep for the fields Advisory Board Howard Rose for the Cedar Lane Management Group and Stephen Becker for the hackin sack River Greenway Advisory Board I'll second that so sorry one more time Obby Berliner for soccer for Fields the fields rep for soccer Ryan Lugo the football rep for Fields Howard Rose the Cedar Lane Management Group and Steph Becker for the Hackensack River Greenway that second I'm GNA let nominations to be considered at the next meeting be a resolution first from councilman Goldberg second from mayor Pagan councilman Schwarz councilman beler yes councilman gold yes Deputy Mayor Cass the nominations nominations yes de mayor G yes Mar Pagan yes we will see resolutions in August does anyone else on Council have miscellanous no hands does anyone on Council have anything under old business sorry I had I have my hand up Sor Dan is your hand up it was up yes I'm sorry go ahead um I I guess a point of clarification so I did have a comment regarding the budget do you want me to speak to it now or later um later during budget if that's okay yep that's fine thank you mayor does anyone have anything under old business does anyone have anything under new business I see Sunshine notice making August 20th council meeting to August 22nd Doug that was you just an FYI yeah anybody else have anything on their new business moving along Communications committee reports by Council liaison schedule budget meeting to begin forecasting 2025 is that you councilwoman Goldberg or no I haveb report but I think budget is council member Schwarz though if he wants to go Schwarz is that you sir yes and we can maybe talk about in a budget we talk about it now I'm not sure if my mic's working um we uh would like to schedule just to keep everyone you know informed tonight we're going to be voting on the budget I know at at this particular point every meeting the last two or three months people have asked about the budgets we've discussed it the night that we've all been waiting for is here but to jump start to next year obviously every family person work in municipality is going through hardships so what we're looking to do is just jump start our meeting schedule for next year's budget uh it is looking obviously rough and so we want to start looking at um ways we can take action so when we come to cycling voting on it next spring we will have uh we can hopefully have a much smoother process um there was a meeting set I I don't recall the date it was um councilman may we said wow we said uh September but I think uh if we I think we should probably Talk Sooner in August if we can even if it's by Zoom I think we have a lot of vacations but it's important so Mr C I think you wanted that also you wanted us to move the meeting that was scheduled um Deputy Mayor G uh if that all right if we communicate and move the meeting up from September into August if that's all right yes that's fine CFO okay so we're gonna we're going to start working on that so we can kind of start narrowing it down and maybe even get a zero Mr SEO is that looking for good for next year with a bunch of double digits in front of it no he doesn't have a microphone so he has micophone can't respond he not it's a nodding head on zero y okay so you could do it we have confidence thank you Mr Schwarz anybody else have anything committee reports I have a pprb report um so pprb met last week uh their next next meeting is September 4th um there was some discussions on Resident requests about Splash paths and other parks and mulch replacement Glenna said that there's po entered for the mulch so we're waiting on those replenishments and August is movies in the park for everybody um there's also some discussion about senior classes for non-retired individuals over the age of 50 so if anybody's wondering if you're over 50 and still working you can still attend the evening classes but they're not for free um there's been more discussions about pocket parks and quiet parks and those are two different things so once identified the areas for some some of the ideas that were discussed were walking paths bench benches chess boards um some potential discussion about a pocket park in the Ardsley Court area um but pprb and most are going to be looking at that finding a date for a Parks tour there was a presentation about Brooks Park um where there was some issues identified about the water fountain the walkway potentially being dangerous with scooters and pedestrians getting in the way um and also there was a request about signs I already sent that to the manager and she acted on that immediately so thank you for that um and then there was some discussions about Wi-Fi in the Parks and vote pool I know Glenna was checking to see if we can expand the access in the B pool area so people that are working from home over the summer can work in the Parks um if not I know that there's some grants for this exact reason on the federal level so maybe that's something we can look at um and pprb voted unanimously um and I do support this idea uh we received grant money for Sagamore park for next year which is scheduled to be the park to be renovated next year um engineering and the Environmental Studies are not budgeted for or scheduled so pprb asked that we authorized the manager to begin the environmental and engineering studies for Sagamore now and use the most funds to do that so that in 8 to nine months when the funds come in from Green Acres the project is ready to go and our residents don't need to wait more time for that Park re uh renovation um so they voted unanimously that we authorize this I support the use of most funds for this so I wanted to actually make a motion that we ask the manager that next meeting um we do a resolution to uh get the work started using most funds for the engineering and environmental study which are first Sagamore Park thank you isn't that exploratory aren't we exploring this it's explor the Park's already on the list we already got the Green Acres funds so it's just the engineering and environmental work needs to be done looking into that we don't need a formal vote so we can do that is everyone well I think every want to make sure everyone's okay with that I'm okay with there was a first from councilwoman Goldberg and a second from mayor Pagan councilman Schwarz councilman beler are we exploring this or we we're voting on it now what are we we're directing the manager it's voting to have the to have the manager bring the contract so engineering can get started so that when the Green Acres money comes in and it's ready to go residents don't have to wait so that we're doing the work now everything else is coming out of Green Acres but using most to just do the work now so that um eight to nine months whatever that time is we can get to work and we don't have to wait another eight to nine months ahead okay J we continue with the role I'm so sorry uh councilman Goldberg yes councilman organ sorry de May cats yes de G yes may pan sir okay Miss hashmat will do that thank you m CL because anyone have anything else on your committee reports Miss beler yeah I just historic preservation uh met uh our last meeting before the break for summer uh we talked uh extensively about U markers that are going to be placed that are slated to be to uh be place in the next few uh months between now and the end of the year so there are some exciting things that will be coming up in terms of um um historic preservation I just remind people that there is an interactive map uh which uh Mr clerk we can make sure that we can get that um on our new website once we um you know uh stand that website up um just also want to mention the planning board is um in the midst of uh in the last meeting last week they had a great presentation by Barbara Davis um regarding the uh open space Recreation plan um we are looking to have a second meeting open to the public this this week and on the 18th Thursday the 18th so those that want to come out and hear more about the um open space um Recreation plan please do so uh it also will be um uh videoed so uh that's something that is important because it's been a minute since uh the planning board has really uh looked at uh this plan and so it it it's a real real win-win for our Township and lastly the ma uh planning board's uh master plan review is in process and um you all should be hearing more about that shortly thank you miss beler any Mr Schwarz yes we had our the cedan management group had a seedan meeting as you heard tonight Howard Rose was nominated Howard Rose is nominated to the board we also had quite a bit of attendees including uh Dr yuck who's here tonight as well and um learning more and more about this the CED Lane Management Group so uh that meeting is usually the first Wednesday or so of any of every month there and if anyone likes to come wants to come on out please do so 6:30 first Wednesday of every month thank you Mr Schwarz anyone else with committee reports not in thank you next order of business is Council listed items proposed resolution councilwoman Goldberg amend 2023 2024 Council subcommittees the floor is yours ma'am yes so I mentioned this last meeting um after good and Welfare we've been getting a lot of conversations about from residents about traffic um and I I'd mentioned that it's it's we're looking at this oneoff as residents come by and and it's it's we should look be looking at this holistically um there's already and again we talked about this briefly last meeting there's already the leaf subcommittee which um so my motion my resolution proposed uh resolution is to amend the leaf uh subcommittee to include um pedestrian safety so to speak um so that's Deputy Mayor Catz councilwoman Oregon and myself um so that this is following up on what um I raised at the end of last uh meeting after good and Welfare so I would like to make a motion to add this to the consent agenda so it's to look at The Pedestrian and traffic safety that residents have been raising holistically rather than one-offs this way we can look at the work holistically at the town and then come to council with suggestions instead of saying okay this street this street this street it's a holistic approach we're amending Leafs just expanding it's Mr Mayor I have my hand up oh sorry go ahead the floor is yours dep G um so I'm interested in that topic as well um I'm not sure why it's merging with leaves I think there are some of us are you know there are fewer committees that may have more time available that could address this so I just wonder if there's a way to spread to allow other folks to raise their hands to cover this as well rather than tacking it on to an already existing uh committee um like leaves I'm fine if somebody else wants to do it Mr Mayor I'm F giving my position to Deputy Mayor G did your hand is up again Deputy Mayor the floor is yours ma'am oh no no no I forgot to lower it sorry about that I'm fine with a deputy mayor's suggestion I think it's very kind of um Deputy Mayor um Pats to give up um this position only comment I would make I think it's a it's a good idea I think that you know since we get we all get calls from different residents about um scenarios like this that it it might be good to look at where we all live in light of you know maybe having representation from different parts of the Town that's the only comment I would so actually on that note I know technically the environmental commission is not meeting till tomorrow but on their agenda um they're talking about doing a walk audit um so kind of in line with this but they want to do it's following the AARP model and literally exactly what you're saying so they would be picking a neighborhood based on the street repaving schedule so that way we're not looking at something that was just repaved that can't be done and working with Agee friendly and residents across the board um to be able to walk neighborhoods with pre pre-made sheets by a ARP so that way we have the data and it's whether it's residents pushing a stroller or it's it's disabled or old young I mean we all have different experiences and and we all walk differently so to speak um so they're going to be identifying their own neighborhood they're statutory board so it's a totally different um thing but to exactly to your point of different neighborhoods but I just think we get a lot of traffic legitimate traffic stuff and we should be looking at it holistically so that we can really look at it overall so 100% um and the EC um the chair of the EC hild is going to be looking at that too through ARP and including age friendly sure and another great resource is our um we have five neighborhood associations in our town so perhaps even looking at them as a source of um a resource yeah there's a public the EC is a statutory board so there's a meeting literally tomorrow they're discussing it so if anybody wants to go tomorrow and listen in that's being presented I think by HBY tomorrow Mr clerk I think we have a first and a second on the floor do we have to amend the motion so it's it's Deputy Mayor G councilwoman Oregon and councilwoman Goldberg or I don't care if somebody wants to with me I'm okay okay so we had who was the first apologies Hillary Hillary councilwoman Goldberg second mayor ban councilman Schwarz yes councilwoman beler yes councilwoman Goldberg yes Deputy Mayor Catz yes Deputy Mayor G yes mayor Pagan yes this is resolution 236 d224 on tonight's consent agenda thank you Mr clerk our next order of business is our Township manager's report Miss hashmat thank you mayor and good evening everyone I would like to begin my report with several announcements um due to the heat advisory in place through tomorrow cooling centers have been opened at both the rotor Rota center from 4: to 10: p.m. and the library from 9:00 a.m. to 900 p.m. please feel free to utilize these locations to cool off from the extreme temperatures TX junior soccer league has extended their early bird registration until August 15th nixel messaging and social media postings are available for your reference the Township's Emergency Operations plan has been approved by both New Jersey state and Bergen County Office of Emergency Management this plan is effective until July 2026 and a new format will be pending uh for our next renewal process poen medical center is hosting a blood drive on August 13th from 100m to 7 p.m. at the roota center you'll also see nixel messaging reminding you um there is a reminder that there will be a Green Acres public hearing for the root four Palisade AV project that will take place on July 30th at 6 pm at the Rota Center residents are invited to attend the proposed Parkland diversions and disposals will involve minor easements on seven properties along Route four to accommodate improvements to the roadway Bridge replacement subsurface uh drainage basin and the acceleration and de acceleration Lanes near written comments will also be accepted by August 15th um and you can call our office if you have any questions um around August 6 Chadwick Road will be experiencing a traffic pattern change there will be no outlet from Grange Road and Cedar Lane this road currently has a signboard in place to prepare residents and motorists of the change a permanent culdesac will be in place in the near future the Tek police department will be hosting National Night out on August 6th at vot Park from 5: to 8:00 p.m. please join us for entertainment food fun and information um the votee park pool is open daily Monday to Friday 11:00 a.m. to 8:00 pm. weekends 10:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. through Labor Day our splash splash pads are now open 7 days a week from 10:00 a.m. to 8:00 pm as well uh Summer band concerts will begin each Wednesday starting July 31st at 8:00 pm at the V Park Bandshell and our movies in the park is also returning at vote Park Bandshell scheduled for August 13th August 20th and August 27th starting at 7:45 p.m. um as the mayor mentioned um our next council meeting is moved to August 22nd so please update your calendars um the estimated third quarter tax bills were mailed on July 3rd save the date um tck day is now scheduled for the weekend of September 7th and 8th uh Saturday evening there will be a movie um Sunday September 8th will be a day of events in V Park um and also fireworks at sundown more details will be to come um at the next meeting um the upcoming upcoming planning board meetings have been moved to the Rota center for the remainder of the year in room mp1 I'm now I'm going to move on to some project updates for everyone our library renovation project continues to move forward with preparation for closure on September 3rd as suggest Ed we will be placing a trial drop off location in the municipal building here uh for the convenience of our residents it will be a trial um we're going to monitor it and make sure we can manage it and I will report back if we have to make any changes the drop off location will be available from Monday to Friday 9:00 am. to 5:00 P p.m um B Park tennis court lights have been ordered and they we are awaiting delivery uh we expect to start construction in August the vote Park restroom building is scheduled for August delivery as well uh bellab drainage project we are currently awaiting Green Acres to respond to the compensation proposal peric Park we rebid the baseball and basketball portion of the bid uh since the original bids came in at over $963,000 um our lowest bid now came in at 77 77726 443 so we um will be awarding the bid uh with a resolution on tonight's meeting and a pre-con meeting will be scheduled within four to six weeks to move forward with that um the um heric Park restur spre Park meeting uh took place today um so we're moving forward with that and our children's playground precon meeting is scheduled for tomorrow um our storm order mapping update uh contractor is in place and the engineers are currently reporting to the township sites it will take us about six to eight months uh to gather this information and review everything and we will um and I will provide an update uh the cxx CSX crosswalk Scott salmon will um give us an update on that we have had preliminary discussions with CSF uh Road resurfacing uh we begin on July 8th concrete work is um the first steps um that we've started on a few streets um with curb repair and driveway apron repair um we'll be Paving a total of 16 streets so I will continue to update us as we make progress uh cdbg Road improvements uh we've completed four streets so far argon tennis courts um Bergen County open space Grant is for $100,000 the design is currently underway and I will give an update at the next meeting the Phelps Park spash pad is also in the design phase um sagamar Park improvements um is a matching Grant uh for $750,000 and we are awaiting um Green Acres procedural letter um so we can um start our drainage improvements our website is still under review I'm hoping to have a more concrete update at the next meeting hopefully we will be launching that our website uh before September um empathy training was cancelled and um we are going to have um an open discussion about um next steps with that mayor if we can uh discuss that um some updates um some residents brought to our attention last meeting I just wanted to give a few updates uh four-way staff was requested at Grace I did receive a report from the police department I haven't had a full chance to review it so I will review it this week and I'll get back to everyone on that fourway stop um Ada ramps at queenanne road is currently under review by our engineer they're going to inspect and see if we need to make some repairs there um and also the signs by Mildred and Johnson I believe there were some street signs that needed to be um be fixed R DPW went out and took care of those um Grant updates for tonight um the Le Grant assistance program an extension is granted till December 31st um our health department is aware and we'll be using those funding it's around $22,000 we're going to try to utilize those funds for inspections um our Le inspections um now I would like to give you a short overview of our 2024 Municipal budget revisions um if Doug could um put the slides up up for me um I I just wanted to give you a progress update tonight we're looking to intro our budget um our cell phone tower bids were opened on July 9th we received um 3.55 million for a 60-year easement we are planning to utilize $2 million of the sale of the cell tower in 2024 and anticipate other additional revenues to reduce increase to 4.99 on on tax rate 4.99% uh the consultant will receive 2.875% of sale per contract which is about $102,000 and uh $2,651 point4 five million will be available for use in 2025 or future Municipal budgets our budget budget maintains all Township services at this time our hiring frees will remain remain in place unless we are back backfilling a vacant position due to a resignation or retirement at this time 2024 Municipal tax on average home Val valued at $628,000 2025 budget remains a challenge for us as a Township um we are currently looking at a double digigit increase despite our 1.44 7 million in cell tower funds that we are putting into this year's budget so um we are trying to we are making the most responsible decision um to use these funds in this year the $2 million and the additionals for next year's budget um for 2025 that is all I have for tonight mayor thank you Miss hashmat attorney's report Mr salmon um I want to talk about bide ofits help the township apply the portal housing obligation so developers building building in town it has I make totally making up numbers here let's say it has 108 new units they may be required to set aside 15% of those units be dedicated to affordable housing that example map correctly that would mean that they need to build 16.2 affordable housing unit obviously you can't build 02 of a unit causing a lot of other problems there has been some discussion between the township and some of the developers the Developers in town how the township could be compensated for that point2 uh there that point2 of unit fractional unit because it's something that we are still entit uh so what we did was we looked at what other municipalities do uh in situations like this we found that they assign a value to a single affordable housing unit then you just multiply the fractional units by whatever the value of a single a single unit so and that that money then gets paid to the township compensate us for two of a unit at sample that they would otherwise require buil um the value that we found in terms of appropriate $180,000 per unit example the developer would pay the township $336,000 18,000 time two and that money gets paid towards pretty straightforward ordinance it is from tell fairly commonalities uh and make make sure that full value of what we under that's one of the one of the ordinances that uh Second is ordinance second I want to mention is ordinance 19 2022 this is an amendment to our storm water Control Ordinance uh this is an ordinance that we are required under state law to have conforms to the model ordinance that dra created by the Department of Environmental Protection essentially what the storm water Control Ordinance does sets forward a number of requirements any major development in the township to minimize pollution caused by storm water runoff that happens whenever you build a water structure with a lot of inferious surf surfaces there's just a lot of water water R off that can happen from it this is these are meant to regulate that and provide certain requirement developer that happen it is not something that a random residential homeowner has a single family house not something you guys are have ever have to deal with it really only affects certain commercial developments as well as parts of large residential developments have to involve creating at least quarter of an acre worth of the okay it's not something that a regular homeowner deal for large B the the Amendments that are in this ordinance are things that were again required by state law the short version of what they do they change formulas that are used to determine what kind of storm water protections that developers need to have Place uh the DP looked at the increasing number of one in a once in a century type storms that we've been having because of the they've been increased frequency say increased protection that had put in place by these it's obviously especially important here in t given our um I reviewed these changes with our here as well and aside from helping Township comply with state required to do and requirement in it will help reduce effect have on the township as if there Mr I have a quick question it just occurred to me on that one do this ordinance with the payment um for the partial units how does that allocate under the new affordable housing law as far as the points you know for our accounts I know that there's different point systems under the you can come back to us I just wasn't sure if you knew so it it's I would say it doesn't really affect uh it doesn't affect the number that not new unit equivalent of um it's just for the because because it's really only for those C units something really only the only thing it does give thank you I have a question so the adding of that money to our affordable housing trust fund um Can is it's money that is specifically earmarked for that so it it cannot be used for anything other than the affordable housing trust fund that's exactly right so it's not you know it's not money that we Bud for example but it is money that we anyone else than you Mr salmon our next order of business is our public hearing and Adoption of ordinances Mr clerk can you please read the titles of the ordinances into the record for the second time this evening mayor first up we have ordinance 14 2024 amending section 36- 111.2 of chapter 36 the township code for Township KAC adding restricted on street parking spaces for a handicap at 1494 Champlain Square we have ordinance number 15-24 establishing salary ranges and classification of positions for Municipal Employees in the township we also have ordinance number 16 d224 amending the township code to revise parking laws on a court and that's all May thank you Mr clerk public hearing on these ordinances and these three ordinance es alone are now open any member of the public wishing to be heard on any of these three ordinances will be called on and will state their names for the record if you are on Zoom please list your first name and your last name if you want to be called on and when called on please turn your camera on comments or questions shall be limited to three minutes per person and again just a friendly reminder this public hearing is on these three ordinances only does anyone in the audience want to talk about one of these three ordinances Mr Berliner a Berliner T resident real quickly uh for the 2hour Ed parking by A's Court without a code enforcement officer our police officer is now going to have to go and hand out parking tickets I understand the desire to open up parking for all of the uh businesses that are in that area of town but are we going to enforce it with who and if we're not going to enforce it then why are we add then why are we adding this on to the uh book of current uh ordinances thank you anyone on Zoom Doug anyone else in the audience want to talk about one of these three ordinances seeing No Hands the public hearing is closed oh wait sorry sorry go ahead sir no no that will be good in welfare which comes up soon and then you can talk about anything you want during Gooding welfare so the Mr Schwarz yes sir um just to answer the question this was a discussed the primary in aers um this was the first 175 fet or so of Park work on both sides it's not all the way back it it allows um several more spots for people to go into our Stores um just because we do or do not enforce something doesn't mean we don't have the L on the books otherwise we would just never have any speeding so uh we hope that people will buy bit and if we choose to enforce it and which of course we always try to um we will um will do so uh ironically I've been getting a lot of complaints from residents about uh enforcement people parking I got a complaint this week that got a tiet in handicap cap spot and I actually thought it was a joke um so whatever the police have been doing lately thank them very much because people are starting to get that message that uh we need to follow the rules thank you Mr Schwarz anyone else and the folks with the signs I just ask if you could please not block the camera so people at home can see what's going on so if you can please just don't block the camera um in that case I make a motion to approve the three ordinances have some short Council councilman Bel yes excuse me councilman Goldberg yes Council uh de Catz yes de May G yes may Pagan yes adopted thank you Mr clerk our next order of business is good and Welfare any member of the public wishing to be heard at this time will be called on and will state their names for the record comments shall be limited to 3 minutes per person if you are on Zoom please list your first name and your last name if you want to be called on and please turn your camera ceras on when speaking thank you anyone in person want to speak the gentleman in the back row hi Matthew Matt here I wanted to talk about um parking on wall Raven and how it is illegal to park in certain spots and blocking driveways um fortunately I got a ticket yesterday because there was a car blocking my driveway and um the police officer told me to call the T Police Department to have somebody sent out but I did that also uh I didn't do that unfortunately at that time but I've done it before in the past and I do have um video evidence that it takes one to two hours for a police officer to respond I was parked there for 20 minutes um loading my car up so I wanted to address that situation and then also um a second part of on and Road between State streets yes sure and did you say your name for the record sir if you could give us your name yeah Matthew Garner check Matthew Garner resident on wall Raven um so I was look yesterday I was loading up my car there was a I was trying to park in my paid parking spot but there unfortunately there was a car blocking the spot and a police officer drove by and gave me a ticket um while I had my hazards on loading up my car waiting for just trying to get my kid in the car who's 10 days old um 10 days yes so I here right now to try and talk to you guys and let's get something done because unfortunately people continuous sleep Park illegally um yesterday a good friend of mine was also parked there trying to get her son in into her apartment who was also one of witness I talked to said there was a car while a lady in her was walking with her stroller crossing the street um there are those signs that say stop for pedestrians the lady um in the car barreled right through the sign um slamming it down on the ground and then kept driving off not not with any View for the public safety so I think we need to I know the signs that have flashing are very expensive I think an officer told me it's like 10 to 15,000 but I think we need to do something especially with the schools there and during the during the year there are hundreds of students that go out for lunch and cars are I know the speed limits 25 but cars are for sure going 40 miles an hour down the road so I think we need to do something about this and do it fast and get more police officers out on the road to ticket people for for flying past people when they're walking thank you thank you Doug someone on Zoom I have Adam wisman please unmute please let me to say your name for the record have three minutes Adam Weissman people like me are supposed to come up here tonight and denounce mayor Pagan's ridiculous letter in response to last week's protest that was the point after all how else can we can anyone interpret Pagan's absurd claim that he didn't see genocide on his guided tour within the 67 borders akin to someone denying the Holocaust because they didn't see gas chamers in G crematoria in the city when they visited Berlin Pagan's letter only makes sense when you consider that he had a problem has a problem to solve what happens when you need to get back on a candidate slate with a guy after stabbing him in the back as Mark Mendy Schwarz wrote I cannot imagine the type of person that would promise support knowing you are inviting your family or friends in your community near and far only to plan to embarrass you and cut an underhanded side deal in order to quote live my dreams since I'm 10 years old to be mayor to turn on those that invested their time energy and efforts in your success for no reason without and without any comment to do so while offering assurances of support who would do such a thing you're next mayor of tenek one cannot serve two masters I serve the people of this community Mike Pagan has shown that he prioritizes service to those that will personally help him Advance above all end quote how can how can Mendy accept Petty Pagan back onto his slate after rightly identifying him as a Shameless opportunist rather than a genuine public servant it would call into question Mark's dedication to tenek well a guy who prioritize a service to those that will personally help him Advance needs to know how to work the angles for Michael Pagan the last8 months haven't been time of horror and tragedy they've been an opportunity he calculated if he threw in hard with TX Israel supporters Schwartz his base and showed open contempt and provoked angry responses from TX Arab Muslim Arabs Muslims and other opponents of genocide he'd be such a beloved figure the token Latino Zionist new jerseys answered to Richie Torres that many would just have to let him back on the Slate as the enemy of their enemy thus at a time when National figures are urging us to take down the temperature on political debate Pagan seeks to inflame tensions and deep in conflicting T to his own Advantage if he actually cared about EK and not just himself he would have followed the example of the tenek high school students who sought to build Bridges rather than burn them Pagan knew his Israel trick would would provoke outrage in one segment of the community and Delight among Schwarz slate voters whose Joy would be compounded in seeing the other segment of the community outrage leading them to view Pagan as an ally rather than a backstabbing traitor unfortunately for Mike no one took the bait of protesting his chip trip so he jumped at the chance to issue his absurd letter once there finally was a protest TI to naps last week hoping for an angry response none of us should be taken in by this manipulative self-interested huster he doesn't care about Palestine or Israel or tenek our town deserves so much better let's get rid of this creep this November thank you Miss silverberg good evening ladies and gentlemen my concerns are a little bit more uh focused on tck first of all I want to congratulate Miss hashmat and welcome you and I I hope that you will have a a good good experience here in chac good know we we need that uh I wanted to also bring to your attention that the famous stop sign that's at the cater that was installed he are not used to stopping there so it's not doing the trick I wondered if there was some other thing we could do put a second stop sign right there or something on the pavement that would call to their attention I can't tell you how many times I've come around that corner and have near missed i' I've been there with Karen she knows what I'm talking about it's in the neighborhood uh you know you know where it is uh Deputy Mayor C and I just also want to say that the and I believe this falls under under the town manager the DPW around here which is usually criticized up the Wazoo is instead sometimes due for some praise the uh removal of the garden debris there was an enormous amount of garden debris it was um heavy it was tied poorly they did a fantastic job and I tried to call today because I came back and I couldn't believe how wonderful it was uh but I wasn't able to locate where it should be so if you would pass the information along I'd be very grateful I would like to just assure the community that because our Library is having to close for a period of time that would make it hazardous for patrons to be in the building it means that there are still going to be Library services at all the other buckles libr liar is about four or five of which are within two miles from here so it's not going to be it's not going to be our library but there will be Library Services I would advise everybody however that if your library card needs revision if you need to update it or upgrade it or get one for the first time that you do it now because after uh August 27th approximately you'll have to go over to new mil to do all any kind of Library business so I wanted to just mention that and I gee I have a really good idea what you can do with the extra $1.4 million because there's a lot of work that still has to be done there like toilets thank you everybody Welcome Doug someone on Zoom I have Chuck Powers queued up you have three minutes three minutes Chuck powers um like most people in this town I have some views about the international issues I'm going to focus on Township governance issues in my next few minutes I want to thank the new manager not only for her good summary of the of the budget as is being introduced tonight I thought it was an excellent job but also the fact that uh she knows how to speak into a into a microphone and be heard by all which is apparently not what our attorney is going to I'll come back to that in a minute I want to note the fact that we are still looking at a 4.99 increase in the budget and asked the question about the relationship of the estimated of of the tax bills that all of us received within the last 10 days and the introduced budget is that based on the introduced budget and the $2 million use of the of the $3.55 million cell phone tower that's a a question that I would like to have either the manager or the CFO uh explain to us I was very disappointed in the fact that the two issues which I'm very glad the attorney explained at some depth tonight uh were he was prepared to talk about the only problem is he didn't put the microphone anywhere near his mouth and every time he got asked the question by a member of the council he looked away we have no idea it's very this look at this storm water thing that that ordinance when it's going to be passed on the 20 2nd of of August we need to understand much more concretely and fully what it is it's and we needed to hear every word the attorney said I heard maybe three or two sentence three words out of every sentence I have no idea what it was that he said and we also need to his picture of whether or not what we're getting when people who are developers decide they don't want to put an affordable housing unit but they want to contribute to the affordable housing unit uh trust fund what it is that makes us think that that calculation of of that amount of money that is being used instead of providing additional affordable housing what actually is happening with that we need a very good explanation from our attorney of those two of those two ordinances and we got something but I didn't hear a thing about it tonight thank you very much thank you Dr Powers sir in the third row we can hear you can hear what was your name for the record I like [Music] sign know Doug someone on Zoom Sheran please unmute three minutes okay uh good evening uh everyone my name is harryan Eid lifelong te neck resident um I just want to explain to some of our fellow residents and our council members that you all keep saying we want to focus on te neck issues and I appreciate that and I respect that I do however a good deal of us in this town identify with folks who are being genocided right now and we can't move on we cannot have business as usual because this is continuing to happen without any acknowledgement without any slow down and it is continuing to be celebrated on social media by some folks who are elected officials in this town and that's unfair um I just I'm going to take a very short period of time I'm not going to take my whole three minutes but I need us all to realize that we us that are bringing up this genocide meeting after meeting we do care about tenek and that's why we keep talking about this because if it was if it was anything happening to anybody else in this community we would be talking about it with as much with as much Vigor and as much you know strength but we are being silenced we are not being heard we're not being listened to and we want for everybody to acknowledge the fact that this is happening to people that that worship like us speak the same native language as us and if it wasn't happening to those that we identify with we would still be speaking up for them because Injustice is Injustice is Injustice thank you someone on this side Mr seagull good evening uh my name is Rich seagull is this mic okay all please don't block the camera sir it's okay me block the camera um I feel like this mic is distorted is it no we can hear you we can hear you if you don't touch it it won't it's disted check once you CH check one two check one two one one two it's not testing one two all right don't worry about the volume as long as it's not feeding back okay my name is Rich seagull I'm a tneck resident I'm Jewish I'm an anti-zionist Jew the IH r definition of anti-semitism that's being pushed by one of our our council members makes it as though I don't exist as an anti-zionist Jew We Exist I'm sad heartbroken disgusted right now I've been shown uh a social media post where there was a beheaded Palestinian boy one of the more than 177,000 children murdered by Israel but this one was beheaded and a member of Our Town Council wrote in a comment I don't even know what to say wait time out time out time out sir that sign one side of that sign no the other side of the sign please don't show that you're you're saying something about one of the council members it's disrespectful and it's rude so please don't show that it looks like you're trying to show it on the camera so please don't do that I'm sorry for interrupting Mr seagull that's okay so I got an email actually from the same council member because you know I sent too many emails to the Town Council I'm sorry about that I don't know what to do about my frustrations and my passions but uh so this council member writes me back he says you know you should come to Israel again you'd like it better there's more black and brown people there and there's Arab members of the kesse said wow wow so I'm going to talk about that for a minute let's talk about black people in Israel so in the 1970s there was a decision that Zionism was racism so Israel decided to rescue Ethiopian Jews black Jews from Ethiopia and so there was then a population of Ethiopian Jews and then a group of Nigerian Jews wanted to come and Israel said no we have enough black people so the Nigerian Jews were denied that the Ethiopian Jews were already there but they decided Well we have enough black people we don't want them to reproduce so the black Ethiopian Jewish women um have been involuntary in involuntarily sterilized that means they go to have a baby and they come home and they find out they can't have another one or they go to a Gynecology appointment and they find out they're sterile this is what Israel has been intentionally doing to their black citizens so don't tell me I'm going to like Israel better because there's black and brown people I don't have enough time to talk about the Arab members of the knesset maybe I do I've met with three of them can you imagine what it's like for them to try to to represent their Arab constituents in a Jewish supremacist State they told me personally it's hell okay so this is not something to brag about where Israel is concerned I'm out of time thank you someone on Zoom Doug Alisa Leon hi uh how I hope everyone's doing well um I wanted uh sorry my camera is not on this is Alisa Leon um I live in Tac on Warner place um I am calling uh because I wanted to welcome the new town manager and I wanted to bring something up that was on the old 10 manager's list of things to do that never got tackled so I kind of want to just bring it up as a old news and now new news um we're iner place the street in Teck the top of it has not been paved in many many many years um it's just a bunch of rocks a little rocks um and every single year the Rocks uh fall down the hill of the street marking up the street causing potholes um destroying our cars our sidewalk um the place where the street and the sidewalk meet um it is uh I'm know I'm not sure why it is like this um but every year um they bring more rocks and new rocks and uh Dean was looking into getting it paved up there because it's just regular street I'm not sure why it's never been paved um and he said he was going to do it when he was here about 6 months ago um it was the winter it never happened and I kind of just want to put it back on your radar wner place needs to be paved on the top of the street uh thanks so much and I hope you all have a great night thank you Miss ma'am in the second row you have three minutes ma'am yes good evening my name is yudit Robinson and I live in tenek with my husband and children last Tuesday I faced the dilemma I had promised my eight-year-old daughter that I would take her out for ice cream but I learned that an anti-jewish rally had been scheduled at 6:30 p.m. and I was scared due to the rhetoric of the Instagram ad flood Teck for Palestine the flood references the 7th terror attack which Famas called the alaka flood the rhetoric was so strong in the ad which included a square word as well as a modern blood Bible about the nature of an event that had been scheduled with Tina for that evening I was scared verbal violence and threats carry the risk of becoming violent action that I need to stay home and lock the doors so that I could ensure my daughter's safety I am so grateful for mayor Pagan's Fearless leadership he courageously wrote the misin disseminated by the protesters who repeatedly visit our town is dangerous and puts us As Americans and our Jewish residents at risk I turn to the Muslims in the room and once again extend my hand in greeting marabon hello we need to unite and find Common Ground we are raising children and tenenet when we all gathered this past Thursday July 11th at 711 to celebrate slurpie day it was a sign that we can raise our plastic cffs together and celebrate summer mayor Pagan wrote dur that during his recent trip to Israel what I saw were Jews Muslims Christians Drews and bedwin living side by side we here in EK need to get back to a place of living side by side with mutual respect none of us control what happens overseas but we all have the ability to influence what happens on the municipal green I also want to reach out to everyone else and Tina who are neither Jewish nor Muslim you are an important part in the community conversation how can we work together to make tck our mutual home a great place in which to raise a family outside pay over for the disturbances they cause interrupt leave the risk of in increased tax bills to us let us not have this be the legacy of the anti-jewish actions of the past few months let us unite and be the light I am appealing to the Town Council to help create more opportunities for tinic residents to be able to gather connect and find Common Ground there may already be some opportunities such as the recent July 4th parade with this in mind I want to thank Cheryl Hall for her deep work with both interfe connections and abcr she builds Bridges with everyone in our community and is a tireless Peacemaker with the many residents of this town what other opportunities can we create to promote Unity I hope that together we can find Salam peace shukran thank you someone on Zoom you should should just take the mic with you it's a cabling thing don't worry about it we're all good I have Jonah please and state your name for the record hi this is uh Jonah Sims um nonresident um and I wasn't planning on speaking tonight but I'm honestly quite fearful for the way I've seen the past couple of Council meetings be run um people being told to take down signs because they're disrespectful I'm sorry that you feel disrespected but at the end of the day we have a First Amendment right and that First Amendment right supersedes anyone's feelings anyone feeling disrespected anyone on This Town Council people coming up to Town Council meetings getting arrested getting thrown out for speaking out of turn for expressing their first amendment rights I find it very scary and again I was not planning on speaking tonight but I do find it very scary that people are being told hey these signs they don't I don't agree with this sign it makes me feel uncomfortable so you have to put it away that's disgusting when you took this oath to take office when you took this oath to take office you are meant to uphold the Constitution you are not doing that tonight and that is scary that is the beginning of fascism and that is scary let everyone hold up their signs because that is what we have that is our protection under our first amendment rights we are allowed to do that we are allowed to hold up signs no matter if we agree with them no matter if we disagree with them no matter if they're rude no matter if they hurt your feelings we have that First Amendment right and when we start infringing on people's First Amendment rights that is scary and that is disgusting thank you someone on this side Lea Graham hi my name is Lila Graham T resident I struggled a lot to prepare a statement today there is a councilman on this B whose nasty comment mocking the murder of a baby threw me off it's one thing to address my town and bring awareness to the atrocities taking place in Palestine as we speak at the hands of the fascist Zionist entity and it's another thing entirely to have to face someone who finds joy in the beheading of a literal child Ahmed Nar he was 18 months old he was displaced from his home and his parents and siblings last month the terrorist Zionist regime ordered an air strike on a tent city in rafah killing hundreds of Palestinians Ahmed his mother and his sister were a few of many of the martyrs his father frantic to find his children and wife in the wake of the fire that was consuming the tents after the air strike found the decapitated body of his toddler boy in total shock he lifted the Torso of his baby boy Ahmed was still wearing a diaper I don't have much else to share in this past week alone the terrorist fascist occupational entity had has slaughtered hundreds of Palestinians and injured thousands more I have no hope of swaying any of you I bear witness to the madness that is this town's complicity in this Mass extermination this councilman that I speak of you are a disgrace to humanity every single Muslim child please don't interrupt every single Muslim child in this town is in danger because of the likes of you look at my son look at my son he is a black brown boy he is just as enraged as I am at the mass murder of his brothers and sisters in Palestine and as a mother nothing matters to me more than the protection of my children but I bear witness God is my witness that I do not believe that my children's safety and well-being is more valuable than the children in Palestine I grief for every single soul nearly 200,000 of of them since October you were an embarrassment to H this town may you get everything you deserve fre Palestine Doug someone on Zoom please I have Michael Rockin Michael Rockin three minutes my friend Michael Rockin three minutes sir thanks dou um hi everybody uh sorry I couldn't be there in person uh tonight like I usually like to be um I want to say that I'm very much looking forward to this C so uh seemingly very much leaning in and taking seriously pedestrian safety concerns um here in town I know that you guys uh have heard me talk about this on and on and on for the past year um and having a dedicated subcommittee uh for this I think is a really great first step I also look forward to seeing how our new manager can bring some of the best practices um that Hackensack has done um as they've developed over the past decade um I actually haven't uh met the manager yet but I did see um a few weeks ago uh maybe even a few months ago now hackin sack followed up on TX lead um for having a complete streets policy um that you know we really were the first on in 2024 to push for we've also heard through the Great Vine that the county is also looking into establishing their own um complete streets policy and you know for all you guys who have relationships with people in the county um I think it's really important that we make sure that we implement this correctly um there's a lot of dollars at stake there's a lot of potential excellent projects at stake um and you know we just got $1.5 million uh for the crossing over the or we're about to get I don't know how it works exactly for the crossing over the tracks um for pedestrian safety there are pots of money for projects like that that are available at every level of government um then we should be really leaning into those opportunities finding really great opportunities for connecting to other towns nearby um for connecting our various neighborhoods locally um to make sure that people can get around by ways other than cars people can get around on bikes uh people get around when they're walking I think there's really really excellent opportunities here one opportunity and one really close to home thing that's going on right now is four months after I submitted a comment I got a letter back from the engineer um at the Anderson Street Bridge about my comments uh for those who don't know for about a decade we've been working on getting that Anderson Street Bridge back up and running um the plan as of right now is to have no bike Lanes uh four LAN Lanes of traffic um and each of those lanes are going to be Highway size 12T Lanes with 8ot gutters uh on the side that is a recipe for lots and lots of car traffic and a recipe for more accidents like the one that happened on the corner of River Road and Cedar Lane today so I hope you guys can look into it and look forward to making progress on this important issue thank you thank you Mr Rocklin Mr Kaplan and again just a friendly reminder please don't block the camera thank you mayor Pana Council uh manager um wanted first to thank our new manager for taking this job it's not always the easiest uh of gigs especially when it comes to a town like tck the um comments that were made about uh theater I I wanted to mention because when I was on Council prior and since residents have a tendency to know what they want they have a tendency through no fault of their own not to have read the manual on uniform Transportation devices and there's a lot in there there's a lot in there about traffic control measures there's the green book that deals with all kinds of uh issues from site triangles and various issues that are uh published by the federal government and when you go and take the time to go through it and you adequately plan appropriate traffic control measures you tend not to hear from these people again we had issues where literally a car was on the lawn teetering on a rock on Garrison by Beverly they asked for a stop sign they asked for a bigger stop sign they asked for a stop sign with lights on it today they asked for a second stop sign indicator they will be back asking for a third because a stop sign's not going to fix the problem but what we did on Garrison was we put lines on the road just lines a parking Lane because the same reason you've never crashed into a toll booth but you slow down when you approach them is that when you see something coming that narrows you naturally slow down the lines on Garrison cause people to slow down and to what I know for years this person had been calling the town complaining about people landing on her lawn getting into accidents has there been a call since there are ways to approach these problems but the you have to know where to look because residents ask for a certain thing they ask for Speed bumps they ask for stop signs the traffic Bureau will go with stop signs initially they'll say no but eventually they'll do it but what you have to do is get them to move to something a little harder because it's going to take a bit of research it's going to take a bit of engineering but what you're going to do is solve the problem on the first go just like complete streets it's not an instant win but it's much better in the long run and my hope is that if we can get somebody in the ranks that's just tked with ensuring that those kinds of decisions happen you wind up with much better Solutions and uh those kinds of things tend to happen with New Beginnings so I am happy that we have uh you know I'm sad to see the old one go but I am happy that we have a new manager that can uh you know tell the police traffic Bureau exactly thank you Mr Kaplan Doug someone on Zoom Cheryl Hall three minutes Cheryl are you there are you guys there or did you move along no hey Cheryl we can hear you loud and clear you got three minutes okay wonderful thank you sometimes you have to bring me on as a panelist a little early because it takes time to negotiate with the township thank you everyone uh Cheryl Hall uh 50 plus year resident lifelong resident here of TAC uh thank you to everyone that is there tonight to all of our wonderful esteemed uh Council people and um uh today is a very special day to me as a Catholic because it's also Our Lady of M Carell day and it signifies a special anniversary for for me as a third order in Lake carlite um and with that I go into put on my hat um as an Advisory Board of community relations member I just wanted to let everyone know we had a very productive meeting last night um and we have come up with a first draft which will be sent to council members shortly of suggested um holy days of awareness so that you can take those into consideration as you uh Mark your upcoming calendar um and we love feedback on that as well I'd also like to take this moment and with extreme pleasure to announce our 2024 winners of the Matthew Feldman award which is our former Town manager Dean krinski and the two wonderful ladies for the Youth um award who did a closer lens uh Lauria and rowa and hopefully those Awards will be distributed in September they were accepted as of June 28th at 1237 PM so I know many of us are looking forward um to celebrating so many wonderful people in our Township not just um the winners and I also so wanted to thank all Advisory board members you know we're volunteers and we give a lot of our time and service and um I'd like to personally thank everyone for all the time that they've invested and working and talking with me and giving feedback um I'd also like to put on my interface uh hat a little bit and um now we are 20 Comm strong and uh growing and I'm going to use the fword in the last 15 seconds forgiveness at some point in time we as te residents need to come together if you want to do that ask anyone for my contact information join me and let's come together in t thank you Cheryl someone on this side Mr Addison good evening Council welcome counc manager Ray Addison I'm up here again and I will be continue to come up to express a request for a compliance officer I'm not asking for one compliance office anymore I'm asking for two because it seems as though that the town still needs enforcement it's not a harassment officer the town needs a compliance officer to make sure that people are compliant with the Cod why put up a stop sign if the officer is not going to write a ticket if someone runs the stop sign in certain areas in town there are there are there's garbage on the street that's not picked up by the local garbage people there are grills there are constructions it's on the sidewalk it's hampering pedestrian travel it looks disgusting there are commercial vehicles parked on the street after 9:00 at night which is in violation of the code no one is picking up on is that is that because it's ins certain areas in town what happens if I move that into one of your areas in town I'm sure that it will be Tak care of immediately compliance officer doesn't mean that you have to penalize individuals it means that you will let them know maybe that they're they're not in compliance and if a person knows that they need to be in compliance it will motivate them to do the right thing what's so difficult sometime I think maybe we don't want to compliance officer because maybe we have property that's not a compliant we need to stop bickering we need to put Teck back on the map tinck is a wonderful place but when you ride down tck Road and you see grass overgrown you see garbage on the street you see things that are not in compliant in that section of town but it's okay in another section of town is not what you are supposed to be about you represent the township of tin not just one section but the entire section you were elected to be a governor for all of TAC not just one section of ten or two section T thank you thank you Mr Addison Mr vaty thank you mayor you surprise me uh I do have a lot to say a lot of different subjects I want to congratulate t toown for having a new manager M hashmat and uh it's a good start from a good base Dean Consin um CSX discussions I'm I'm saying it now you can't once I say it it's out CSX is playing with us like we are a toy puppy and it's not right they have have I am told officially they have 40 trains a day not running by this Temple no this uh Town Hall but by running past Tac and a middle school and some Churches and my synagogue okay and nothing's going to happen like that bridge in Baltimore no ship is going to come by and knock over a bridge well trains happen accidents happen I really hope it doesn't happen here but we are not prepared we have to get CSX to work on prevention okay and I'll move on from that mentioned to Mr Catz 15 years ago you were using a lot of recyclable no unrecycled water to drink your water and you're still doing it it's inefficient it's not environmental you're in front of thousands of people enough already you should know you know better come on okay next I agree with Mr Ray Addison we need an officer because the people of tck I got 120 the people it isn't just the traffic it isn't the um what is it called mutd the people of tck just don't get it they don't understand how much danger they create when they run down our streets when they do that without proper headlights because a lot of them don't and without proper training you want the rate of accidents to go down which I recall used to be 2,000 a year you can check that with the tpd you can also check with the tpd on the called an item called a pinmap the things you're asking for earlier this evening are all available already where every accident takes place when what time of day what conditions it's on the pin map now I don't know back when I was shown that there were actual pins but uh now I think it's all electronic and don't reinvent the wheel s the offic is for pinmap they'll see where it is they'll see where the aers are and we could start from there we don't do a survey we don't have to get a satellite let's get real let's fix the problem and let's improve driving with drivers Mr VY thank you Mr vaty Mr Howard Rose good evening Howard Rose tck Township resident I'm horrified by national well International politics and I'm depressed by national politics but I'm in fact focused on tck when I'm in this Council chamber in front of this Council you have to be focused on T that's what you're here for and that's what we should all be here for congratulations on your appointment you're going to have a lot of formidable tasks problems to resolve and I think as you do that resolve them you'll get great satisfaction out of what you're doing so it's a lot to look forward to on a lighter note chickens my wife and I were talking about chickens today it seems that several years went by where this Council said no to chickens and then finally this year they said yes to chickens I'm I'm I have mixed feelings on it people want chickens they can have chickens what I am concerned about is my wife saw today and this is why the topic comes up here as well as today my wife today saw chickens running around a front yard in our neighborhood now my assumption's always been that what's the big Brew ha are about chickens what are you going to get 100 people who get applications 75 of them will actually hand the applications in 50 of them will start having chickens and in two years you'll be left with about 25 families that have chickens it's not that big a deal but I am concerned when you have chickens roaming around a front yard because they're likely to run into the street and when you have cars going 25 miles an hour all of a sudden they run into the street you can have a potential accident uh people shouldn't be chicken to drive thank you thank you Mr Rose Mr Phil yuck good evening B president um so this week uh what was it last week it was last week um several members of the northwest of Cedar Lane uh neighborhood association uh uh leaders ship group went to the Cedar Lane management group meeting that Mr Schwarz mentioned earlier and it was very interesting uh for us to uh learn about what's uh what that group does how that works and what effect that has on our Main Street uh just want to mention that uh we will probably go again and again because we are interested in improving Cedar Lane and our town so uh I just wanted to mention that I wanted to welcome Miss hashmat um Miss hashmat I've written to you several times already over the past week or so about some issues in town and I appreciate the fact that I got very quick responses from you I hope that continues I like to to communicate I know I have all kinds of degrees but I like to communicate on a first name basis I hope that's okay with you in the future um uh and finally this is not probably not a popular opinion that I want to express personally not representing any oh I also want to say um on behalf of the residents uh uh in the Bell Avenue area that I don't know how much you know about the history here but we've had flooding I've lived in town for 45 years we've had flooding for 45 years um I've tried to get that the town to fix that over and over and uh and it it's finally in process uh it's been three years since our major flood where we lost our basements on our cars and um I'm hoping it's not going to be another 3 years before this actually gets fixed uh the unpopular opinion I want to express I think some people might agree with me is that I think it is time for the hybrid format of this meeting to end that hybrid format started as a result of the pandemic the pandemic is over I've sat here you you all know that I stay till the very end of every meeting I've sat here I come to every meting meeting I don't do it over if I can't attend I don't attend um I don't do it over zoom and I think a lot of people say well I can do it over Zoom I can stay home just like you so many people do uh in terms of their jobs these days but if people want to come out and and speak to the council face the council speak to the council come to the meeting if you can't make it for one reason or another uh you can send a representative to speak on your behalf but this needs to end because sometimes you're here on until 1 2:00 in the morning and it's it's it's it's ridiculous so I just wanted to let you know that I am in favor of that and I hope that happens thank you thank you Mr Yuck Amit uh am Raman tck resident uh hello to the council uh hello to the new manager um so let's talk about fences specifically privacy fences on corner on the corner of a property line not bound by the intersection of two roads I know I haven't bugged the council over the past few months but I just wanted to bring it back up to see if we can get some traction I know I've gotten some understanding with the council and it is a logical update to make to the Township Code 3329 now that we have a new manager maybe this is something I'd like for her and her office to address is it possible to get a new zoning officer appointed to look at this matter and general Township business in general General it seems like a priority to have a zoning officer appointed because maybe some items get shelved until somebody's in a position to make decisions and as a selfish request maybe it would be somebody who's open to doing updates to Township codes I know some people like things to stay the same but things do need to get updated um and I figur if we can do a chicken ordinance we can do a slight update to privacy fences on Corner Lots in fact why don't we use this uh this update to protect those chickens right a closed off fence is better than a 50% open fence so that's all I had to say thank you thank you am the gentleman in the front row my name is Barry shark I drive the shuttle for um TX senior housing and I was wondering if there's anything in the pipeline to like pave a quarter or a third of the road because I think it's like 5050 it's nasty it's just nasty from the bridge by the river and thank you for doing uh Cedar Lane East but is there any is there anything coming MoneyWise or workwise on it we we comment at the end of good and Welfare I'm sorry we the council comments after everyone speaks right so you have two and a half more minutes if you want to bring up anything else it's just real nasty because I'm up and down at you know for my job I do my job part time and it would help the mom and pop shops it would help the mom and pop shops to you know have not have to worry about putting a an exhaust system underne their car but it it's really nasty so thank you for letting thank you sir Rabbi fredman what was your name sir I'm sorry thank you Barry thank you Barry evening um it's always wonderful uh to be together with friends and neighbors um it's a privilege to be able to welcome uh our new town manager Jackie hashmat to her first council meeting and to use the my time to wish her success and blessing uh in all of her important work on behalf of TX residents Jackie your reputation and work ethic from your service in hackin sack precedes you we welcome you with Open Hearts and Open Arms uh here at Tek uh we know it can't be easy to come in at ATT 10 time unfortunately you've already witnessed a fair amount and we've certainly heard quite a bit tonight as well but I feel very strongly and want you to know that this doesn't represent EK the vast majority of ek's residents of every Faith religion race and Creed want the same things live here in safety to have a great education for their kids to live harmoniously with all of our neighbors without hate or fear we appreciate our differences but we understand that our common Humanity links us us far more profoundly than that which makes us distinctive I wanted to welcome you Jackie by sharing a story about one Teck resident that I think represents the finest of what this town is about his name is coach Carl he's my son's baseball coach TX Southern are the eight and under District Champs they play in the sectionals tomorrow night go tenek you'll go and look at their team you'll see every Faith color and race you'll see boys who love the game and play for each other and you'll know that that's really what this town is all about for what it's worth coach Carl happen to be a professor of African-American history he's a great teacher of the game of baseball and an even better role model for our boys last week up at Lucy field the visitors douget as it sometimes is was flooded uh there's a drainage problem there if somebody could look into it that'd be great we know it's not the biggest issue facing tck we get it the home Dugout as usual was just fine coach Carl gathered the boys before the game in the first base home duck out and said we're going to the visitors Dugout on the third base side because you don't give your guests from a different town a flooded dugout that's not how we're going to represent EK and the boys seven and 8 years old all understood took their bats and their bags they moved across the field coach Carl was showing our children what it means to represent tinet it means being courteous and virtuous it means acting with respect it means having Grace Jackie coach Carol coach Carl represents this town not those who are here to spread insult or hate or disinformation against any members of the community this town is a great place to be as the vast vast majority of TX residents are committed to this simple idea that hate really has no home here may all of your work Jackie God willing be blessed with success for many years to come and May at the end of every day you have the quiet but very real satisfaction that belongs to Those who commit their lives to Public Service welcome thank you sir right here in a second row uh my name name is alanan I'm a resident of tenek I come up here to say Welcome to our new town manager jacqulyn looking forward to uh seeing you at the meetings and around town happy birthday to La cman La y Catz uh I also want to acknowledge mayor Pan's letter from last week thank you for sharing of your visit to Israel um I also was wondering what is happening with the walking bridge by B Park it's been out of service for some time and uh just curious if there's anything happening with that thank you very much thank you sir sir mayor council members I welcome you my name is Iman Muhammad daud I am also a New York City chaplain M chap New York City as I stated um before I am a tck New York tck resident of about 52 years gred tin high school and yes we need uh more Humanities and social graces and I have to say truthfully that because of the events not just happening in teen but also overseas has affected this town and community and then as a longtime resident here I can say quite frankly that we need to do more when it comes to humanity and social graces we don't really need to get this kind of distance amongst each other whether we're Muslims Christians or Jews or even those who have no denomination at all but at it's yet at the same time we're not really focusing on issues before I had stated many young months ago that we say no to Holocaust Memorial War we say that for a reason and that reason has now flourish to let me show for the record that we now have almost more than a 100 people teen presidents who say no to the Holocaust Memorial War why well I stated before many people didn't really like that because if may feel offended well the truth hurts if I as I stated before last month have said to the African-American Community because there are CL clux clan members and schools we should bomb that that's School hospitals CL clux clan members should be bombed to hospitals such hypocrisy what kind of a person Am I who a criminal if I was to say that well maybe there's some clu clux clan members in in hackin sack Englewood New York City Alabama Atlanta Georgia should we bombed these places no it's outrageous totally outrageous we need to do more in our humanities and not just think of just ourselves but how we affect other people that is important now what's really important what's offensive to many people is that the government is reaching into our pockets to pay for these bombs no more no more your time is up sir thank you very much Mr Berliner Obby Berliner resident I'm just curious in the previous analogy who is being compared to the Klux Clan there in we obviously did go through and uh clean that problem up uh AI BR speaking on behalf of the east Southeast neighbors of spirit Bridge Association so there's six neighborhood associations in uh in Township M hashmat thank you so much your representation proed you as is hours uh for better for worse depending on the day for those that may not be aware yesterday today uh Congressman God Heimer presented uh an award to over 20 residents within New Jersey's fifth congressional district honoring the Hometown Heroes uh four of our residents were honored there I know that Miss Goldberg was there former mayor dun leevy as well uh just to mention their quick names actually my phone is in the back uh Dr Ken Hoffman Sergeant Moreno and Dr alino if I'm not mistaken uh for the work that they've done uh throughout the township and again that really is a great honor for our town I think we had more on our EAS uh than any than any of our uh neighboring townships I want to thank Miss Belcher for uh pushing uh on the planning board to not only have the master plan pushed forward but also to make sure that the rosy was finally moved I know that there was a decision made to have a second public hearing and I urge all of my fellow residents and neighbors to come out and speak give your feedback with regards to the master plan part of the discussion as well was to understand that it's been out there for over a year uh we know there have been many meetings um but people have changed plant have changed come give the feedback to make sure that it can all uh be included New Jersey Transit for those that have been following we know that uh earlier this week there was an announcement that Coach USA which was filing bankruptcy was going to be uh was going to be stopping uh uh over 20 bus lines at Bergen County many of them actually impacting uh tenek I'm not a Catholic but I urge Cheryl Hall please uh pray to the patron saint of New Jersey Transit otherwise known as St Judas thadius the patron saint of LA causes unfortunately there's really not much that we can do right for those of us that commute whether it's the bus the Train the running joke right now is the chance the percentage chance of having an issue in your morning commute is the high temperature for the day today it hit a 100 today there was 100% of trains being canceled and people's commutes uh being disrupted what do we do to solve this as a Township is it finally time to get a shuttle to make sure that hey if buses don't show up if trains aren't running folks can at least move to the train station uh between our major Aries here move up and down Cedar Lane or tenek Road and finally with regards to the CSX pedestrian bridge uh we were actually awarded on 78 as well by the New Jersey Transportation Planning Authority A1 and a. half million doll Grant to hit make that happen and help us with those costs so again there are a lot of things going on and I urge our residents to please follow the news and speak up thank you thank you AI Doug someone on Zoom yes I have Margaret Baker Miss Margaret Baker please okay can you hear me Doug loud and clear three minutes okay I'm calling as usual about the traffic out here on the cater the town or the state came out and put crosswalk lines from one side of De catar to the other side the problem is on one side you have the sign a blanking crosswalk sign on the sign the side near my house you have a stop sign the line for the stop sign and the crosswalk are adjacent first of all when you put the stop sign there I told you they do not stop now you put the crosswalk sign so you've added another problem the crosswalk sign and the stop sign are adjacent you can't have them both and people do not stop for the stop sign I really wish the town would come back out here remove the stop sign and put the blanking crosswalk sign that was there before you have created another problem out here why is it such a problem to put a yellow double line and speed strips it's a racetrack out here there was an accident the other day and God must have been looking down on Margaret Baker if it wouldn't have been a PS and G pole on the corner of Alfred that car would have been in my house speeding off of Route four something has to be done out here and what has been done so far is not working working it wouldn't be too much if you would listen to someone who lives it every day it's getting worse and as far as seeing a police officer out here to check the traffic it doesn't happen maybe you could get some money to add to your budget if if you got out here and gave people tickets for not stopping the stop signs are no use whatsoever thank you Miss Baker thank you Miss Baker sir hi everybody my name is Bo Forte I am the uh I'm from West Milford New Jersey I am currently the Green Party candidate for New Jersey fifth congressional district running against Mary Joe and Josh gimer I am here because I attended the protest last week um at the request of some of the people here some of the good people here and after I was there and what I witnessed I did have some exchanges with uh Miss Goldberg that I do want to reiterate here in public um you know it was very disappointing to come here and see Miss Goldberg standing behind how many police was I mean 50 police I can't believe that your residents are happy to spend that much overtime for a bunch of kids just exercising their first amendment rights um but for her to provoke by standing behind the police line in film I went up to her not knowing that I was going to be followed just to try to engage in a dialogue try to say listen We're All in This Together I understand that you're opposed to what they're protesting but without a dialogue we're never going to get any um and I and I I agree with most of what they did her response to me was accusations you know telling me that the whole event was was anti-semitic I mean how many Jewish people need to be at the protest on our side before it's not anti-semitic anymore please don't interrupt him um it's just very disheartening that listen I know passions can run wild I know in an issue like this on both sides there's a lot of passion um but for for a citizen to act that way is one thing for someone who is elected by the community to provoke a response put her police In Harm's Way that's so unacceptable for an elected official and and I do want to just make sure that that's well understood by Miss Goldberg and by the rest of the council I'm sorry that's actually a good point if you can address me and the council instead of I will do that sorry um and then you know in typical juvenile fashion she she ended her letter to me by telling me how much she's looking forward to voting for Mr gimer come November and I just want to make sure since I have 50 seconds to let her know that I'm a Green Party candidate of all the green party people that I've met I'd say over 90% of them are disgruntled Democrats who left the party um the Israel Palestine conflict conflict is a big reason for that but also you know Josh gimer is hostile to Universal Health Care he gets over 99% of his campaign donations from wealthy packs outside the district um you know if that's the kind of support Democrat trats want to go to now then I did not make a mistake leaving that party and with that I thank you for allowing me this time seeing no further hands good and Welfare is closed oh as soon as I say that someone raises their hand hello um uh you have three minutes sir oh all right um hi um my name is ran Jin I'm a resident of uh Rivervale New Jersey so just um to the north of here uh and um I am the uh youth coordinator for the yeah uh I'm the youth coordinator for the New Jersey Democratic socialists of America and I just uh wanted to come here to speak on the recent statement put out by mayor ban denying allegations of genocide and apartheid in Israel Palestine um as of the 19th of June 2024 the Gaza Ministry of Health has released an official count of 37,39 gin dead over half of which the UN estimates to be women in children however this is only an account of bodies that were identified it doesn't count people buried under the rubble people too mutilated for their families to recognize or the many that have indirectly died from the IDE F's destruction of healthcare and civilian infrastructure in Gaza taking this into account the Lan a peer reviewed medical journal finds that the probable death toll Rises to over 186,000 Palestinians the vast majority of which are civilians that's a horrifying Prospect if anything is to be learned from the dehumanization of Palestinians by farri Israeli ministers like Benjamin Netanyahu the subsequent ethnic cleansing and settler colonization of Palestine is genocide for mayor Pagan to decare that based on his own anecdotal evidence against all the other scientific literature that there is no genocide there is no apartheid even considering that the Zionist ethnostate was birthed through the expulsion of 750,000 Palestinians from their ancestral homes is wrong and deserves to be condemned sir I must ask where is your Humanity lastly I just wanted to talk briefly about um the point of people living together in peace I just want to say um for centuries Jews and Arabs were able to live in peace in the in the uh Middle East up until the point that the British colonized the region and decided to create a Jewish ethnos state in 1948 that the level of conflict we see today broke out this is an inevitable consequence of the apartheid colonialism and genocide that is Zionism something that you here are exacerbating with the sale of colonized Westbank land here in Tina people deserve to live in peace together and with equal rights and Liberties free from ethnic cleansing thank you and I yield the rest of my time seeing no further hands good and Welfare is closed Mr Schwarz would you like Mr seagull please stop Mr Schwarz the floor is yours sir um yes just a few comments I'll try to keep it as close to possible uh as it relates to tck first of all um if the Socialists come out and say that you're doing something wrong you know you're doing something right um ironically the average mean household income in Rivervale New Jersey is $182,000 so socialism is alive and well um Mr Mayor Mr Mayor um Adam Weissman who's please don't interrupt nobody interrupted you um Mr Mayor Adam wman spoke and referenced my Jewish name and I just want to sure make it clear I have actually have no idea who he is never met him thankfully never spoke with him even more thankfully um but I wanted to apologize for the comments he made directly towards you and we thank you for your support in your letter stop interrupting nobody interrupted you when you were talking stop interrupting Mr Rich Mr seagull stop interrupting nobody interrupted you when you were speaking Mr seagull yes so and I like my time back um so I I appreciate everything you said I'm sorry about this insults that were lobbied against you I also appreciate um all the hard work you did on our town since you took over since you became mayor thank you very much um as it relates uh to the compliance officer uh what Mr Addison uh had mentioned he made a very good a lot of good points before we go off hiring people which we've had some conversations about if there's any specific areas of concern you know I see a concern I go my walks or jogs or hopefully jogs all day long and I report them constantly so please if there's specific issues and you reference some really bad situations as it relates to blocking pedestrians and grills and cars and trucks please please report us so we can at least use the tools we currently have the employees we currently have before we go spending additional money and hopefully that could amount to something we've taken quite a bit of um quite a bit of steps with our abandoned homes and we can maybe we could continue to do so and hopefully we see a change so please report it uh the decator stop sign uh the decater stop sign was put out there are two warning signs that pre uh precede it I don't know if we put rumble strips or not before that but perhaps if we can do the rumble strips as well that'd be great I know there's a cost associated with that but we do have the stop sign and the Waring sign so hopefully rumble strips will work um thank you Mr attorney for the affordable housing ordinance definition I know there some mentioned that there was a uh not somebody didn't follow it I'm sure if they can email you you'll explain it but I um I I look forward to that so we can build our affordable housing fund just one comment on the affordable housing fund that is actually what we used to fund the creation of the affordable housing senior home that's going up at 1425 tinck Road um and I believe that is all I have I thank you very much stop interrupting stop interrupting okay uh I just want to uh thank my neighbors for coming out and for all your comments um I just uh want to point out a couple quick ones that um I I do feel it's important that the attorney report um did capture the information about the affordable housing trust fund and that we have this ordinance that can help to fund you know the the um uh percentages that are not the whole percentages and that can we can that can translate into dollars that we can actually put into the coffers uh I just want to mention also that there is um uh Mr Mr H Haskin Michael and his wife I believe they may have left already but um he's mentioned as an 8-year uh resident of town um what are some of the senior programs and we have such a a a myriad of of senior programs uh and and uh I would certainly want to reach out to him and his wife and let him know about it make sure that we you know he's aware of all the wonderful senior programs that we have at the at the r Center um also I would ask our clerk to make sure that as we're we're putting together our new website that we really kind of look at ways in which uh our senior services are really showcased uh there and also another important uh resource I believe that's a great resource in our town for our seniors is the high school Forum the high school forum is a great opportunity especially during the the uh winter months when um there's you know the our sidewalks are snow covered um The Forum has been very instrumental in and um engaging our students uh for things like snow shoveling or mowing the lawn or different things like that so that may be something that the has Haskins might be also interested in hearing about uh Mr Berliner I just want to thank you um for your comments I think the planning board is doing a stellar job and trying to to um take care of the um the Rossy um also the we do encourage people to come out on the 18th to hear um about um the uh open space Recreation plan because it's very vitally important to us actually capturing more monies that will support our Township uh I also want to mention that I am in support of a trolley I think that a trolley uh could be a great way in which we can connect uh our Township in terms of people moving around that would enable people to keep their cars in their driveway and maybe just do a little bit more uh trolley riding Miss Baker I did see that stop sign and I do agree with you that something needs to be looked at I would ask our town manager to uh maybe take a look at that maybe it's the rumble strip or but I think it's vitally important that we do address um address it because it just seems like there's something that's missing missing there and um so that's really all I have I just want to lastly say that I am totally in favor of sensitivity training I think it's certainly something that we can certainly benefit from I would encourage our Deputy Mayor to continue as long as as well as the community relations Advisory Board don't give up don't give up because we cannot give up on our desire for peace and unity within our Township thank you Miss pure Miss Goldberg thank you Mr Mayor um first I want to thank Rabbi fredman for coming out tonight and I apologize as a leader of this town for the disrespect that you were shown in these Chambers elcan the pedestrian bridge is something that I've been working on as my colleagues know U Mr vaty has been speaking about the CSX trains for a long time and it's a very real issue uh the pedestrian bridge been an issue for quite some time and there was a res a resolution a few meetings ago to repair the bridge on an emergency basis however in an agenda packet a few months ago I found a charge for $1,800 and even though I drive our CFO a little nut sometimes sometimes it leads to something so that $1800 question led us to a 100-year-old contract that our attorney is evaluating to see if CSX is responsible which would end up being a $5 million savings to our residents so as Mr salmon said he will be updating us as we evaluate that and there's a lot of pck work being done um Michael and Patricia congratulations on your retirement we have an amazing senior center with programming during the day at the roota center if you go to our website and Senior Center um the staff and volunteers will happily welcome you uh Mr Rockin and Mr Kaplan tenuk is committed to pedestrian safety and as I mentioned earlier the environmental commission will be looking at it as well as the council we are a very pedestrian focused town and safety is of param Paramount of importance uh congrat ulations to the winners of the 2024 Matthew Feldman award uh thank you to the community for your nominations and to The Advisory Board of community relations for their deliberations and hard work I can't think of a more deserving individual than Dean kazinski and I um think Deputy Mayor Kats would agree with me that Maddie would agree uh thank you yahud for uh speaking about our wonderful abcr chair I couldn't agree more there is no one in this town more committed to Unity and bringing tck together than Cheryl Hall she is one of the kindest and most genuine souls and we as a council and a Township are blessed to have such an amazing chair for The Advisory Board of community relations I'm proud to serve with council member Schwarz for all of teenek and I think our biggest surprise to both of us is just how well we work together we don't agree on everything but we work well together for all of EK and that's the most important part of this job and let me just conclude by saying thank you to Mayor Pagan for your leadership and condemning anti-Semitism I wish condemning hate wasn't something that should be considered Brave I urge all leaders to be brave and condemn hate when they see it normalizing hate should never be acceptable thank you thank you Miss Goldberg Deputy Mayor G um so it was difficult to hear a lot of the comments in Chambers but I'll try to address a couple that I did he um first um I am in h favor of um looking into a code enforcement officer I know Mr Addison has brought this up for years um I do think it's something that we should look into I don't think the onus should be on um residents to report things to report codes that are being violated I really think especially as we introduce new ordinances like the chicken ordinance this is going to be an issue and and the the load is too much for um the existing officers to cover right now so I I certainly think it's something we should investigate going forward um second um wanted to address the comments by Mr Yu um about eliminating Zoom um I really feel the one of the great things that came out of go covid was democratizing access to this platform there are those who cannot have who don't have transportation who may not be able to come out in person um to be able to stand in front of council and share uh what they would like to share during good and Welfare and so I think we really have to be thoughtful about taking away some something that has really benefited so many residents who may not be able to participate otherwise so I'm a fan of Zoom I think we should keep it um the the more we address the needs of our residents um the less they will come out and and need to speak and that should help shorten the meetings but eliminating Zoom I don't think is the way to go um so I'll stop there thank you thank you Deputy Mayor G first and foremost thank you to all of our residents for coming out tonight and participating Mr Gardner thank you for letting us know about the parking issue on wall Raven and the issue on queenan road we will ask our manager to please look into that Miss silverberg thank you for poting out the stop sign issue we will get on that as soon as possible and thank you for saying that about our DPW because they really are a great bunch of guys who care about T and take care of us Mr Haskin we have some great programs for older adults at the rotor Center and we can put you in touch with the director over there it is also listed on our website if that is helpful but you can also just go to the rotor Center and and go into the front office and they'll help you out Miss Leon thank you for pointing out that Public Safety concern on Warner place we will ask our new manager to please look into how we can get that paved for y'all and we have a lot of work to do tonight so I'm going to stop there miss hashmat is there anything you would like to add or say um I was just going to defer to Issa um to comment on the question about the budget um he was just gonna so good evening can you hear me to uh I believe is Dr pow's question about the estimated tax bill nobody really asked me this but I'm happy to answer it um your taxes are buil bu quarterly you get the bill uh for February 1st May 1st August 1st and November 1st unfortunately because of that cycle we operate on a calendar year budget January to December and then you have the school board which operates on a state fiscal uh calendar from July 1st to June 30th so unfortunately to make sure everyone stays in that pattern and as we have done now in several years we have the ability to estimate the tax rate you are allowed to by law estimate a range between 95 to 105% of the tax rate so to answer Dr Powers yes we estimated 105% knowing we would be hopefully within that 4.99 range there's a slight difference uh however I did have to estimate with the auditor and tax collector the couny rate uh I did go as maximum as possible if your estimated bill which thankfully people are now receiving comes in higher than your actual bill later uh hopefully in September maybe early October you will have a third quarter credit if it is um if the estimate is actually lower you will see that increase in the third and fourth quarter um so I hope that answers that question so yes so we've sent out the estimated bills taxes are still through August 1st with a 10-day grace period and then once the estimated Bill comes out you'll see the final amount for the third fourth first and second quarter oh uh one more thing I'm actually take this opportunity you have an ordinance tonight for introduction this is standard procedure but I also like to give this caveat the C Bank ordinance allows the township to increase 1% over the 2 and a half% Appropriations cap Bank meaning how much you can spend so that gives you a three and a half% cap over the prior year budget in spending it's utilized for up to two years budgets it's not money in the bank it's money on paper it's more like a home equity line of credit in case of glass break here borrow that money uh but if you don't use that bank within two years which hopefully we do and we do stop have cap Bank it is forfeited so I just wanted to remind everybody of that we're not raising taxes with a camp Bank this is just a precautionary measure because who knows health benefits are reply going up next year pension goes up insurance goes up everything goes up in life unfortunately thank you thank you Mr abosi we're good Mr clerk our next order of business is our introduction of ordinances can you please read the title of the ordinances into the record like our wonderful season CFO explained ordinance 17 being our Cola ordinance um we have ordinance number 17- 2024 year 2024 ordinance to exceed the municipal budget cost of living allowance and to establish a cap Bank we have ordinance number 18- 2024 amending section 34 of chapter 33 entitled general program purposes procedure definitions of the township code for the township a act by detailing the payment in lie option for partial or fractional affordable housing units we have ordinance number 19224 adopting amendments to the sto storm water Control Ordinance we have ordinance number 20224 an ordinance authorizing the conveyance of a Perpetual deed of easement for the in ation and maintenance of a water line on Real Property designated as Lot 2 in Block 2402 on the official tax map of the township of EK which is more commonly known as Harry Park those are all of our ordinances I move to approve all four ordinances check in that approval that was a first from mayor pan in a second from councilman Schwarz to introduce these ordinances we will see them again towards the end of of August councilman Schwarz Council and belard yes Council uh sorry de hacats yes oh no councilwoman Goldberg no I was right I'm sorry I am all over the place councilwoman belr said yes councilwoman Goldberg yes sorry about that Deputy Mayor Catz Deputy Mayor G yes mayor Pagan sir all introduced we'll see him in August thank you Mr clerk our next order of business is our introduction of the 2024 municipal budget 217-224 is there a read or you looking for an intro because I'll make the motion to introduce it as presented I'll second it sorry Mr Mayor what what you said that I would wait to speak on the budget to later or is this before we vot sorry go ahead thank you um so it was brought to my attention um that $25,000 was cut from The Forum we typically um provided coverage for the the um cost of a forum I believe about 50,000 a year um and so given that we were able to sell those cell tower and get that $3.5 million um return on that I'd like to suggest that we consider if not there finding $225,000 to reinstate fully reinstate The Forum funding again this is a program that supports the entire town not just Public School families the entire town they provide several Services whether it's job opportunities um I know they provided counselors for for camps like Camp Shalom they provide uh babysitting jobs for All Families they provide counseling services for All Families um so this is just a really wonderful program that we've always supported it was cut because we thought the budget was going to have to increase 7% now we're down to 4.99% and I'd like to recommend that we find the $25,000 to fully rein State The Forum funding thank you anyone else Bel yes I I would um also recommend uh that we find the 25,000 for this program because as I mentioned earlier um regarding Mr Mrs H Haskin that uh you know this is the Forum really does provide not only just opportunity for our students in terms of oftentimes their first job their first uh learning of how to interview uh be it um for a new job or even to work for some of our local business business but they also offer services to all residents when it comes to yard work and uh snow removal and so forth so I would uh seriously cons uh ask that we consider I ask my colleagues that we consider finding the $25,000 to support this very needed program within our town anyone else because there was a first and a second there was a first uh from councilman Schwarz and a second from mayor pan to introduce the 2024 budget as is councilman Schwarz sorry sorry I'm sorry to interrupt but can we can we make a motion to find the $225,000 before we vote on yeah why don't you make the motion that would have to be you if you want to make that motion because I was actually hoping to pass the budget and then look for some money after we passed the budget right but but I mean if you want to make a motion please by all means make a motion if we see four noding heads that will agree to find the dollars then happy to move forward I'm sorry I couldn't hear you mayor I'm sorry what you are there four nodding heads to F no I I think Mr Mayor our manager should work with the board of VI this is for students it's a very important program I'm sure to work with our Board of Ed and see where we can do to come up with that money it's this budget you know we're just under 5% and this is very important a lot of students involved it's it's great and we can work with the Board of Ed and see where we can get that money because I think we should hope try to do that with the bo the Board of Ed already provides the majority of funding for this program we've always supported it with $50,000 and we cut that in half they've already they've already they already support the program and I'm saying can we fully reinstate the support that we've always provided in the past just would like to make a note that the Board of Ed publicly said at their meeting that this cut has no impact on the Staffing or the services that they will be providing to this they said that publicly at the board of ed meeting um we have a responsibility to the township um and and this our taxpayer funds we're we're stewards for this fund um and we've been doing this for decades and we have a very tough tax year ahead of us this year next year and we have to be responsible stewards and the Board of Ed very publicly said that this this didn't have any impact they said it at I think it was two meetings ago that is I spoke to my fellow colleagues On The Board of Ed and it was a serious issue that there was a cut is what I was told also if I can point out in terms of parliamentary procedure a roll coell is actually already started yeah but you told me to wait hold off on bringing this up because you would allow me to discuss it later you spoke about it you didn't make a motion you recommended okay fine then I will make the motion inter since we have a motion on the floor I think at this point we would need a motion to amend to whe to the council had word it but whether you want to find find the money somewhere else or however you want to do it but we need a motion to amend yes like make a motion to amend uh the uh on the floor resolution to include the $25,000 for the Forum second all right roll call there was a first from Council one beler and a second from Deputy Mayor G to introduce the 2024 Municipal budget with the 25k to the form correct councilwoman Bel so we have councilman Schwarz negative no we have councilwoman beler yes councilwoman Goldberg no Deputy Mayor Catz no Deputy Mayor G yes may Pagan no that a motion to amend fail but there's still another motion correct or does the motion have to be made again because there was a motion before that and a second I believe that motion stands so we had a motion to introduce the budget from councilman Schwarz with a second yes may Pagan councilman Schwarz I'm asking for your vote sorry yes on the my vote Council Bel thank you sir councilman beler yes Council councilwoman Goldberg yes debie may cats yes on introduction Dey May G I think she's Frozen or she's not blinking I can't hear you did you just call me yes yeah Dey yeah yeah we could hear you got a little yes got we could hear you got a little bit of a Wii W Wi-Fi lag I just want to confirm you said yes I did say yes thank you mayor Pagan yes budget introduced thank you Mr clerk our next order of business is the introduction of the 2024 Cedar Lane special Improvement District budget make a motion to in the budget this is for Cedar Lane special improvement district first from councilman Schwarz second from councilwoman beler councilman Schwarz yes councilman beler councilman Goldberg yes Deputy Mayor Catz debie mayor G yes mayor pan yes introduced thank you Mr clerk our next order of business is the consent agenda and all matters listed on the content agenda are considered to be routine in nature by Council will be enacted by one motion there will be no separate discussion of these items if any discussion is desired by Council that particular item will be removed from the consent agenda and will be considered separately Mr clerk can you please read the amount of the bill listen to correct sir mayor we have just as a reminder because our consent agenda is a little differently formatted this meeting we got two sets of minutes on here we have resolutions 219 to remember 23622 that was the resolution walked in from Miss councilwoman Goldberg added to our consent agenda this evening with the bill list in the amount of 9,756 $ 51 and 31 Mr Mayor I would like to pull the bills list anything just miss um on 22924 I don't see the list of the various lot block and lots is is it in the packet or uh we had Deputy Mayor cats just want to clarify for everybody Deputy Mayor cats was asking for a clarifying comment on resolution 229 d224 which is authorizing our tax collector to remove interest and penalties on various blocks and lots we have it there uh Deputy Mayor cats I will read them to you and to the public right now it's block 2917 lot 26 block 3801 Lot 4 just two of them block 3816 lot four and if you need it again I could share it to you no no I'm goingon to abstain from that because I didn't look up those I was trying to find it earlier I'm sorry anyone else in that case I moveed to approve the consent agenda second Schwarz remember the bill list has been pulled so we're going to come back to that that is pulled from the consent agenda our bill list and we had a motion from mayor Pagan and a second from councilman Schwarz councilman Schwarz yes Council Goldberg yes Deputy Mayor cats yes with an exstension on 227 and 2024 and 229 2024 sorry 227 and 229 yes thank you sir debuty mayor G yes sorry it's all good it's all good I got it I am it's not my first rodeo with technolog deficiencies May yes all right consent agenda adopted we just got the bills list yes Miss Goldberg the floor is yours um yeah so there's an invoice on there for ab Contracting for $26,995 62 that's for the um the first half of the splash pad so the it's currently hitting a 2021 Bond ordinance but it's not yet been funded so there's no impact to our balance sheet right now it's not funded there's no future impact um so this is literally the exact reason for most funds uh and given again we have a very tough budget year ahead of us for the next few years um so I want to make a motion that instead of that bill hitting that Bond ordinance that hasn't been funded okay can I finish the motion I think I think we know where you're going okay I wanted to hit I wanted to hit most and not the the bond orance so yes there we go that's my and I guess Deputy Mayor cat seconded so there we go so that invoice for the ab Contracting I'm making a motion that it hits most instead of the 2021 Bond ordinance which has not yet been funded so that we can um save future taxpayer Den correct yes that's my motion and Deputy Mayor C uh councilman Schwarz yes councilman beler yeah Council Goldberg yes stebie may Catz stebie May G yes gone Mr Mayor I'd like to make a motion to approve the B rest of the bills list second Council M gz yes with an exstension on 2402 2881 and 24357 a total of $450 for advertisements in the Jewish link announcing the meeting dates thank you sir councilwoman beler yeah Council Goldberg I'm gonna vote Yes on the ab Contracting and abstain on the rest of the bills list Deputy May cats abstention on the billis Deb mayor G yes mayor yes bills was adopted I'd like to make a motion to adjourn the meeting second all those in favor please say I I I thank you everyone for coming out tonight we hope you have a peaceful evening