check check check one two check one two mayor we have a quorum you're free to call the meeting to order ladies and gentlemen ladies and gentlemen can I please have your attention we're about to begin the meeting so please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance Mr clerk we have a quorum and call this meeting to order at 8:09 p.m. please call the role councilman Schwarz here councilwoman beler here councilwoman Goldberg here Council organ 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 filing a copy in the township clerk's office and posting on the municipal building bulletin board and the mayor hereby directs this statement be included in the minutes thank you Mr clerk good evening and welcome everyone to tonight's council meeting Township Administration present at tonight's meeting are Dean kazinski our Township manager Doug ruson our Township Clerk Scott salmon our Township attorney Kristen denor our Deputy Township Clerk and Ron Goodman our volunteer cablecaster for The public's information we're 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 council meeting is on July 16th and it begins at 6:30 p.m. with a public portion of the meeting starting at 8:00 p.m. we have a juneth flag raising tomorrow at noon at vot Park and we hope to see you all there also if you'd like to march in the upcoming July 4th parade please contact our clerk at clerk tnj.gov if you want to sign your organization up for the March Council met in closed session to discuss the following earlier this evening the township manager position our cell tower a queenanne road vacant lot the Sagamore Park diversion our library renovation a storm water ordinance a potential sale of Township property a New Jersey Department of Transportation public hearing Personnel matters vacant and abandoned properties legal issues and opinions regarding items on the Open Session agenda litigation updates and Oprah our next order of business is presentations and Mr manager I think we have an update about our library renovation is that correct sir yeah thank you mayor we have Chan on here from the library and just uh just to let everybody know again we're going to proceed with the renovations I believe they'll take place come on up J don't be shy uh sometime in in September uh but it's very important I wanted the public to know what the plan is for the library uh there was a little change as to where we're going to go during the period of renovation so I felt it was important to come here today to uh explain a little bit about the project and uh where the resources are going to go chenet so during the renovation uh which is planned to start early September if everything goes planned there are two bidding has to go out um which will probably get approved by the council one in July and Construction in August if everything goes through as we planned it will be starting early September Library will shut down and the um Library will be operating from the New Milford Public Library uh buckles uh will be informed about our relocation during the renovation and all the Teck related materials will be redirected to the Newport library um patrons will have a convenience of selecting a preferred pickup location when reserving items and they can return borrowed materials to any buckles libraries they don't have to come to New for Library they can go to any libraries wherever they want to um having one designated temporary location is essential to stream streamline buckles operation so we can notify them they know where we are and then they can have proper delivery and communication with us the hours of operation will probably mirror most of the New Milford libraries um but they agreed to extend uh their service hours so currently Monday Tuesday Wednesday they open 10: to 7 they'll they will open with our staff 10 to 8 Thursdays the hours will be 10 to 6 Fridays will be 12 to 6 Saturdays will be 10 to 2 Sunday they're currently closed but they're going to be open 1 to 5 for our patrons staff allocation will be mostly at the Newport library our two full-time staff members in the circulation department and two children's Librarians will be working there with other part-time staff members in the patron Services Department all other sta members will be assigned to other neighboring libraries which includes Richville Park little area cluster Bergenfield Anglewood and Richwood um the lower level conference room will be used by our back office St members for uh taking care of the bills uh doing scheduling other stuff and then um the directory and the administrative assistant will be operating from the second floor of the township building uh one part-time custodian will be working at the township building to help the cleaning and that person will be also working on Sunday today at the Newport library our we are trying to continue our core Services most of our children's programs will be continued at the num for Library they agree to open registration of children's programs over at the num for library for both communities so it will be offered for New Milford and t regist uh patrons um adult programs will be offered two times two Friday programs will offer at the council chamber um twice a month other programs will be virtual um also the team programs will be also virtual uh we are currently working with the new mil for library to um agree on the hold harmless agreement which the new for Library board asked us to do it thank you Shan does anyone on Council have any questions for yes Miss Goldberg all right um are we going to be able to get any um I don't know if Friends of the library can do this but um kind of uh delivery kind of things for our seniors that might not be able to drive so uh we reached out to AG friendly tck about the right services and Bergen County offers the right connect program which is for a uh patrons age 60 and over and they can uh request this service uh from one location to another location in Bergen County Miss organ um so Chen has been working really really hard on this project she has chosen the finishes for the library she's got a great eye and a great um sense of style and everybody will be very happy when they see the final product it will be inconvenient for a few months but it will be well worth it and um I know that Chen has been working really really hard to make sure that the inconvenience to the residents of town will be minimal um but there will still be people who will pull up to the library in September when we start construction and not know about it so please tell your neighbors that the library will be closing and anybody in TN with a library card can go to any library in Bergen County that's part of the buckles system thank you Miss Oregon anyone else on Council Miss pure yeah I just want to say thank you for your efforts and and putting together um you know I know construction is never easy um but I'm sure that um you know our residents will understand and another nice thing is that um New Milford is uh its libraries everything's like on one level which I think is very easy to maneuver so thank you for all your efforts thank you Miss fure anyone else on Council yeah Deputy Mayor Catz no I also want to thank you in advance for your hard work I'll tell you that uh council member Oregon's been giving me some therapy because I'm very nervous about the transition I know that the end product is going to be fantastic I'm just trying to make sure that the middle portion during the constru construction it's like we had Construction in my house and my wife yelled to me every day but now she's got a beautiful kitchen so she's happy she forgot that part um I just want to make sure that you know during that construction portion we could try to come up with as many convenient opportunities or options for the residents in addition to in the Milford maybe there's some type of local drop off for books or something where we can bring it to New Milford someone wanted to return it I don't know I leave it in your hand but I thank you very much for all your hard work thank you Mr cats anybody else Deputy Mayor G um want to Echo the sentiments of my colleagues we are so grateful for all of your hard work and getting us to this point um my only recommendation um is that maybe we commun overc communicate this to Residents I know some folks though thought that we were going to be going to Leonia I know we're now going to New Milford and so to the extent that we can send out some several updates um Lea's with um key leaders the schools super the board of AD Etc just make sure that residents are aware of this change thank you Deputy Mayor G anyone else on Council no Chan thank you so so very much your team pleas um we are hosting information session for the public this Sunday at 2m at the library which will be live streamed we are planning to have a page on the library website about the updates on the construction thank you so much J we appreciate you thank you and let's see next up we have some exciting news Mr Clerk and it concerns our new Township manager Jacqueline hashmat who we would like to introduce you to jacine can you please come up Jacqueline we're very excited to have you if you can just please tell us a little bit about yourself and anything else that you might want to say okay I did write a little something first and foremost um I would like to thank mayor and councel um for this opportunity and um for the township manager Dean kazin for um all of his guidance and um also to welcome um the Tina Community here and also our County Executive Jim Tesco um I want to extend my heartfelt appreciation um for my upcoming role here as Township manager this is a huge opportunity for me and I think I'm going to bring some great things to the community here um I also would like to mention that this moment is bittersweet because an exceptional manager Dean kazinsky is going to be leaving us after four decades um in my opinion he is a Class Act he's somebody um with the ability to lead with Integrity wisdom and compassion his four DED his four Decades of dedicated service have set a high standard of commitment to Excellence and something that I deeply admire I know that these are footsteps that are going to be very difficult to follow but I'm going to do my best um um to bring my skill set my professionalism and my genuine hard work to this role I am also going to build upon the strong Foundation that he has laid here in EK I look forward to working with all of you and I thank you for the opportunity um I will always miss Hack and Sack but I'm ready for my new role here in the township of Teek and I thank you all again for welcoming me so nicely I actually wanted to say when I came in everyone was really really welcoming so that was really nice so thank you all again and most of all happy retirement to Dean um I wish you health health and happiness for your future thanks everyone thank you Miss hashman anyone on Council have anything they want to say before we move on to the next order of business sgan of course welcome we you know it is Bittersweet for us of course but we are very excited to be working with you and we look forward to the town um residents getting to know you like we do and um what is your favorite sugar-free candy flavor oh okay thank you thank you Miss Oregan anybody else Miss Belcher yeah I just want to say um welcome Jackie look forward to working with you and um just um experiencing late nights so like we have been in many of our Council meetings but you know just know that we're here for you and any way we can help in terms of transitioning um we're certainly here for you Miss G also just want to say thank you for that thoughtful message that was so sweet what a great way to introduce yourself to the town we're so excited to be working with you I think you're going to do great things here so thank you and welcome anybody else Mr cats yeah I don't know if you're gonna be getting sworn in in a couple weeks I don't want to steal my own speech but uh I do want to uh welcome you congratulate you uh you come with an exceptional reputation uh what do in hackin sack uh we have an unbelievable town here just over the water um and uh I think that uh you're never going to be able to fill Dean shoes as you and I spoke about you have uh the captain of Dean's fan club sitting in the front row over there she actually's outside with a table with t-shirts and buttons about Dean but I will I do believe that you're going to bring your own style and your own personal touch that's going to benefit all the residents and the employees of this town so we're looking forward to your success thank you Mr Cat anyone else Miss goldbert yeah I just wanted to say welcome and and I'm very excited and as all my colleagues have said and the whole town welcomes you and I'm very excited thank you Mr SCH I mean my only hope is that you're still smiling at by the second day Jacqueline Welcome to our tinic family we're very excited to have you and we'll help you any way we can so thank you so much our next order of business is work session items and first up is miscellaneous does anyone on Council have anything under miscellaneous I'm sorry you're going to say something Mr Court I do have something miscellaneous for Council and the public I alerted Council we are at the uh liquor license renewal time and uh we were waiting on one license holder to get their paperwork in for this evening and I'm just hoping I could get a first and a second to walk that resolution onto the agenda I have the language in front of me let me read it before we get a first it will be resolution number 215-224 for wine and more liquor license renewal 2024 2025 be resolved by Township Council Township in that the following preliminary retail distribution license be renewed for 2024 2025 at $2,500 on the usual terms and conditions receipt of all administrative paperwork license number 026 z-44 d010 d010 so moved second thank you all in favor no comment yeah just one comment I just wanted to thank the clerk I I've gotten phone calls from Merchants that you when when the extra distance is an understatement to make sure they get him in because if they don't get him in in time they're shut down and you know it's unnecessary but you I appreciate it they appreciate it so I wanted to relay that so thank you thank you Mr schz and thank you Mr clerk anyone else have anything under miscellaneous no Doug do we have to vote or all right thank you sir does anyone have anything under old business moving right along does anyone have anything on their new business does anyone have anything on the communications does anyone on Council have any committee reports by Council eaon anybody no no council listed items so next up Mr manager Dean kazinski final report is manager no thank you man just a couple things to report and uh I don't know when you want me to do this but I do have uh something I'd like to say publicly and you'll probably have to someone will have to make a the meeting so I don't know when you want to do that well we we were thinking you'd do your manager's report and then say what you want to say and then we're going to invite some of our dignitaries up to speak and say some stuff about you but we can we can see how it flows uh let me do my managers report to to update everyone on some projects some announcements and then then maybe um get to our dignitaries here they're not having to to stay U too long that works for us thank you Mr manager so let me just go over the announcements first and uh Bergen County's going to be holding there Fourth of July uh star spangle spectacular in noek park in Richville Park this is going to take place on July 4th it'll start at 4:30 pm and that will conclude with fireworks later in the evening going to be a wonderful event I believe Reggie Pitman from tenek is performing there as well so looking forward to that uh the department of transportations office of community relations uh had reached out to me uh in reference to a public hearing this is for a diverent application involving work on Route four by the Palisade Avenue over pass uh so the purpose of the public hearing is really to inform the public about the proposed Divergence and disposals on Green Acres and cumbered property along rour so we set up a tenative date and with do and that's going to be July 30th at uh 6: pm and the meeting will be held it's open to the public uh in the road to Center room mp1 so it's an important meeting it'll give you a great idea of what do is do doing they have to use some of the greenacre property along the green belt on the north and south side of rout four and again they're going to be making that into a three lane uh highway from just um uh just east of the Garrison Avenue Bridge to all the way to KCK high school so it's something they had spoken about for a long time but they're getting around to doing it and we had to have uh this public this public meeting again on July 30th at 6 PM um I know in the township uh recycling calendar I put in there for the mass notification testing date um was going to be a week from this Friday however we're changing it uh to Wednesday June 26 and for those that know about the mass notification system we have 11 siren Towers in town and a public address system so we will be doing our annual testing and I'll do a robo call uh uh couple days prior to that to remind everyone again it's going to take place on Wednesday June 26th at 10: a.m. in the morning so don't be alarmed if you hear the sirens and that'll be followed by a canned uh message as well uh we're going to hold a memorial ceremony for Dr Ken Hoffman and that's going to be at the entrance to the Sports plex and that's going to take place this Friday at 7M uh we have his memorial plaque there and uh former mayor Jim Dy will be the MC of this so at 7:00 this Friday at the front entrance of the Sports plex the VY Park Pool and splash pad has now open seven days a week uh our fourth of July parade begins at 9:30 along queenanne Road and that's going to be followed by our 34th annual community celebration at bti Park we also have the juneth flag raising at the Sports plex that takes place tomorrow at 12: pm and some of the project updates uh so everyone knows the town sent our affordable housing trust fund report uh to commissioner Suarez uh this satisfies our fourth round obligation to the DCA detailing all non-residential development fees collected and expanded since the Inception of the municipal authorization to collect and retain nonresidential development fees I want to I see is in the audience here Isa work very hard on this so want to thank our CFO for doing great work as always uh replacement of the V Park tennis court lights thank you Rea uh going to begin in August that project just moving forward the new V Park prefab bathroom is scheduled for delivery in August all that foundation work is completed utility work is in the in process uh the new shade at the um Splash Pad was installed that's on the south side and a new shelter is going to be delivered in August as well so or is going to be a busy month for us at vot Park our storm water infrastructure mapping is on the agenda this evening um and getting to Bell Avenue drainage uh one of the things we have to do with that Pro project with the detention tank is come up with land to satisfy Green Acres so we came up with a piece of parcel we needed 043 acres and we're going to be using an area by 314 Home Street that's going to be the designated property that allows us to move forward with this um minor diversion application so we can move forward with the detention tank uh update on heric Park we had to reject a couple bids for the basketball and baseball field upgrades as they came too high uh this evening we're going to be awarding uh the bids for the bathroom facility the Sprite Park and herro park and the playground and that's on the agenda this evening so herro park is moving forward but we will read advertise for renovations to the basketball and baseball fields uh plans are in place for The Pedestrian overpass uh that connects Palace Avenue to Windor Road I know our attorney is working on some legal issues with CSX and he should be able to update us at the next council meeting uh the 202 23 roadway resurfacing project is going to commence immediately after 4th of July we're looking to resurface 16 streets and we're also doing four streets right now that's neldon hurman schoon marker in orgon court uh and that is a cdbg project and the milling and Paving will begin this week weather permitting orgon court tennis courts uh the engineer has designed a proposal and that's also on the agenda this evening and I've been working I don't know if Cheryl's here I've been working with Cheryl Hall and fdu to schedule the training so that's moving forward and thanks to Cheryl's efforts uh We've designated July 7th and July 8th as the official training dat so we're goingon to have a good group of people attending that and I think it's really going to benefit the the township uh just a couple grants that recently came in the township was recently awarded 72,000 from the local Recreation the Improvement Grant that's to purchase and install the new exercise equipment in Brooks Park and we were notified by commissioner laret um that the town uh was approved for the $750,000 Green Acres uh matching grant for sagore Park approval so that that is it mayor thank you Mr manager and Doug G to turn it over to you I'm asking for a point of privilege mayor absolutely as many of you might know by now I'm Doug ruson I'm your Township Clerk one of my primary duties in the town here with council with our manager is letting you all know what we are discussing letting you all know what's on the agenda what's on the docket and I want everyone to know that what we just heard was the last Township manager report from Mr Dean kazinsky I'm asking for just a breath because we spend a lot of time here together sorry we spend a lot of time here together and things move very very fast and uh sometimes we really don't have the time to stop and appreciate the good things that are in front of us none of us have the luxury of choosing the amount of time that we are given but all of us do have the responsibility of deciding what we do with that time that is given to us it's been 129 years of the township of tenac formally Incorporated 44 years of that has been with Dean that's more than a quarter of the Township's history if my mental math is is correct Isa which usually is [Music] not it's not just the amount of time that's been put in Mr manager but the quality of work ethic provided for that amount of time effortless organic just a couple adjectives although it was some of tx's History some of you may or may not know it was all of my history here in the township with Dean the last six years I've been spending more time here with Dean with councel with all of you in Chambers than I do with my family and friends for Better or For Worse don't tell my parents that and in that time while I am one of the more younger folks here at the organization I have been able to watch our manager the leader of this organization grow and refine that method of Excellence that our new manager was referencing he has perfected the art of managing the craziness you all hear me talk way too much I had to bring a couple friends from the Past who might be able to articulate a little better than I let's hear from mayor Muhammad who me it in First Council mayor it's a pleasure to be here commissioner zor I was going to say the other word Senator Johnson my good friend Jim tadesco who I've not seen in a long time I'm glad to see that you came out here on this historical occasion and the man who I passed off the the gavel to Jim D Ley thank you all for coming tonight um you know it's a I wasn't going to be one of those guys who was going to come back to council every once I left it's been four years and this is the first time I'm back um and it's for you Dean and um uh I'm really glad to be here to say thank you um what comes to mind is a story that I didn't tell to a lot of people and I don't think we've ever discussed it is when I first got elected in 2008 um I was wearing jeans a hat you know I didn't look like a council member and I came to council uh and I was delivering uh an Edible Arrangements to the to the secretarial staff so I park in the council spot now Dean being the police officer that is looks at me like you can't park there I'm like oh this guy doesn't now I'm younger I just got elected I'm like very chesty at this point I'm like yes I can and he was like well if you park there I'm going to give you a ticket I'm like no you're not and you should have seen his face his face was like and I was just like hi how you doing nice to meet you councilman the dean and just got elected and he just kind of smiled and he was just like look to the side like he always does and I tell that story and I was reminded of that story because I could have gone a different way right it could have been very different if it was a different police officer a different person I know who I was at that time so it's interesting what it reminded me what made him a great police officer which was what made him a great HR manager uh and a great Township manager but then I realized that those qualities was all uh it was all made was what made him a great human being and no time was that ever tested when myself Jim Tesco County Executive Jim Tesco and Dean kazinsky were sitting in the office upstairs at the beginning of covid with the world coming to an end and we were the Avengers right it was us there was nobody giving us any direction there was nobody telling us what to do we're like whatat do you want to do like all right let's just put together a state of emergency we went through the process and everything else but Dean really uh for that year put this town on his back took care of all of us because I don't know one person whoever signed up or took an oath of office who would ever sign up and say get a call from our CEO in a hospital and say hey can you help me to get more body bags and I remember vividly how tough those first three months were and I remember vividly how the rest of the year was and you just did a tremendous job there and in your 44 years you know I'm very happy for you I'm very sad for our town and um from my family uh and we have about 60 still living in town I would love to say thank you for all you did good luck to you I know it's not goodbye now we'll finally have time to play that round of golf good luck to you Dean mayor Dr Jim Dunley good evening mayor good evening Council good evening residents um I think as Muhammad said we we could be here till the we hours of the morning telling you stories about Dean and and the decisions that he's been making has been made uh what he's done for this town but I thought I'd take a little different fact um what I want to talk about is the person who's good Council and unswerving Devotion to this town that we both love was a tremendous asset to me as a council member and as mayor now I could be here for several hours highlighting what went into so many decisions that Dean made that will'll be spoken about positively for years to come and certainly his handling of the pandemic as we just mentioned and during my term as mayor the setting up of our vaccine Center will always stand out for me but as I said it would take too long a list to list all those accomplishments so I want to just focus on the man himself now many of you might know this but I'm an Irish Catholic kid who grew up in the Bronx and Yonkers while while an Irish Catholic though we we lived in primarily Jewish neighborhoods and my mom was very much taken by yish Expressions so I remember as a child one of the ones she used the most is the word mench for those who do not know the meaning and I have a feeling most of us here do but um it's a definition its definition is a person of Integrity morality dignity with a sense of what's right right and responsible EK Dean is the living definition of a mench now that does not mean he doesn't understand politics believe me but he never shied away from proposing what he felt was right for the people of EK and to fight for them every time he was always thinking ahead and trying to anticipate budgetary and other issues in order to put the Township in the best possible position where the council listened or listens to him at times is another story but his focus on the town and its residents always came first Dean completes a family Legacy not of his four but of over eight Decades of service to EK from the kazin family his father Rich who had had pleasure pleasure of meeting but under bad circumstances uh was a police officer and his mom Phyllis was a school teacher then Dean followed his dad on the four into town Administration boy did they ever do a good job raising this kid I thank you and your family Dean for the years of dedicated service that they have given to EK so Dean as you move on to the next chapter of your life which I am sure will be one that is less stressful I will leave you with this friend Dr Ken Hoffman were here to be able to share his thoughts I know he would Express his sadness to see you go but would also be happy for you as you would be able to be less stressed and be able to spend more time with family and be down at the home you love in Delaware more often I agree with Ken who said to me shortly before he passed away Dean's live leaving is our loss but it is his game Teck is a better place for having had you served the community in the many roles for many years we will miss your commitment and dedication your hometown but remember whenever you're back in town be sure to call me stop by to the house and we'll have a Tot so we can catch up God bless I'm going to go down the line here Mr Tesco thank you Mr Mayor councel residents of tenek um and Bergen County because that's who I'm here to represent along with myself personally um I've sat in the chair of the mayor I've sat in the chair of the council members I know what it takes to run a community while the elected officials come and go the administrator or the manager is the glue that holds things together the manager the administrator is the person that makes sure that the garbage is picked up that the snow is plowed that the police force has the bullets for the gun and all the other things that are necessary to make a community a wonderful Community like here in Tina for 44 years Dean has given his life to all of you to make sure that this town was safe that this town had the equipment that it needed that this town had a voice and as you heard tonight he read about grants money that he worked on with others here to bring back to your community so that this community could be a better place as the former mayor said Dean and I and mayor sat in a room all by ourselves trying to contemplate what the future would be for this town and this County as we entered into a dark day and a dark time but I will tell you that this man never ever once looked at the negative always wanted to make sure that the residents were put first in the 44 years that he's been here in ten I doubt a day went by that he didn't do that I'm honored to be able to stand here and represent a million people in Bergen County to thank Dean because the success of tck is the is the success of Bergen County as the other 70 or 69 towns so when a town does well the county does well and I'm here to thank Dean personally for helping make that happen you are a wonderful individual a true gentleman I think the word mench was perfect but it's my honor to be able to call you a friend it's my honor to be able to say thank you for the things that you have done for this town so well and for so long and for that I have a proclamation that I would like to present to you Mr Mayor if that's okay in honor of the work that you've done on behalf of the million people here in Bergen County so if you'd come down I'd like to present to Steve 2018 fa at thir Miss commissioner Tracy Zord thank you Doug thank you mayor councel uh it is a it's a big night and Dean all I can say is thank you you really were this Steady Hand during a very unsteady time not just in the last several years with covid but throughout the entire course of your service and and as the county executive highlighted you know not every aspect of what a city takes care of is glamorous and whether those those details that you covered were small or big you guided and you shaped this community every step of the way encouraging really good decision making data driven decision making the things that we all want to see as far as how we continue to encourage a community to grow um I have a theater kid so I always think of song lyrics in times like this and I keep thinking of wicked of like this community because it knew you it has definitely been changed for good and I on the behalf of the entire Board of Commissioners I want to say thank you wish you so much success and joy in your retirement um but under score the tremendous Legacy that you have left and and Jacqueline while you have enormous shoes to feel we'll we'll be here to encourage you and be partners with you as we continue to move tenek forward but but but Dean we are so grateful for your service and on behalf of the Board of Commissioners in honor and recognition of your retirement we also have a a Mr Senator Gordon Johnson a full house good evening everyone good good evening Township of tinac mayor council elected officials and those appointed uh thank you for your service particularly but for Dean uh I come from the New Jersey state senate with a joint resolution from the Senate and assembly from the 37th District which is where we are right now so uh Sharma haer and Ellen Park and I have this resolution recognizing you for what you've done for the people of the township of tinet and I find it interesting that you are a first responder initially like the county executive was a first responder actually I think he probably still is he's still working it and uh I I was a police officer too in a neighboring Town Englewood so First Responders are dedicated to the community but also make great leaders such as you have so and because of your leadership and abilities and dedication to this community this Township is a better place for all of us unlike the county executive said uh that the town does well the county does well and if the county does well the state does well so on behalf of the state legislature I'll present you with this resolution uh joint resolution and recognizing that you are an old policeman like me yeah we had a stage coach that went through town a long time ago and that's right that's a week ago yes so oh the photo up here we go has more money to and of course we're touching all our bases we have Congressman Josh goth heimer's office here this evening please introduce yourself this is not Josh actually I am Cole tuy I am the congressman's deputy District director and I actually got the honor to work with din know for the past year and the congressman wasn't able to make it here tonight body asked me to stand in his dead to present this flag to you in honor of your dedication service that was flown over the United States capital and your and at this point we're going to bring it back home to ten and call up the Teck Road business Community Alliance who also had something for our manager Miss Joyce giddens with the nicest sneakers in the building good evening Council in Township of tinck um as I stand before you today as the current president of the trbc I get here on my own I'm here because the founder right there in red she saw a need in on t- Neck Road and she filled it and when she had to step down another wonderful woman stepped up to the plate Joyce giddens and she filled the Gap and carried the Baton but they didn't do it alone we did it all together these are all volunteers and supporters of tbca which stands for tck Road business Community Alliance whoever comes after me will also need to have a heart for our community one can only hope that we try to come close to what you have exemplified for 44 years so Mr manager kazinski we members and volunteers of the tenek road business Community Alliance would like to extend our heartfelt gratitude for your unwavering dedication and support your commitment has been instrumental to helping us achieve our goals and further our mission within the community although much work still is to come your active involvement made a significant impact to our initiatives we deeply appreciate the time effort and resources you have invested to supporting trbc it is through the dedication of individuals like you that we can continue to Foster growth unity and prosperity within our community we look forward to continuing our collaboration and achieving great greater success together with the council and the new manager so without further Ado thank you yeah everybody thank you thank you so much thank you so muchers here where's my [Music] HB yes I will yes this is going to be a tribute to Mayor Dean kazinski may we just promoted it sorry okay uh these are some of the attributes for May Dean kazinski I mean uh Township manager excuse me Having the courage of your conviction is one of them being consistent is another uh attribute and you honorable trustworthy and a man of inte that's oh another definitive word would be constancy is the quality of being faithful and dependable you stand for justice and righteousness you're about teamwork and that's very necessary for dealing with a Multicultural Society such as which we live in she she uh my gracious wife has allowed me to say a few words to okay excuse me but you're blocking my oh I'm sorry I'm sorry it's okay and uh okay and also you're a man of your word a man of God yes I hope it be there P Road business Community Alliance or trbc a truly values having worked with you outgoing Deputy manager Tom Mo and your former assistant Helen zi remember followed by Lis deas and your cordal office staff Township Clerk Doug Bon his his office workers John McCullum out preparing the cake and refreshments and Christen theia did say right yeah you said that right okay Township engineer C galani Township CFO Isa Abasi and purchasing agent Simona Cassian seru is that c what together through together through collaboration of the township Council and Township manager I'm sorry planner Rich it price where have retired collectively we brought into fruition T Neck Road streetcape the Gateway this Isom this accomplishment is an example of When government community and Merchants work together to achieve a unified goal Dean Dean you were the key in contributing H sorry in continuing the vision of your predecessor manager William BR Bron had begun thank you for your excellent servant leadership amen Dean although it is a Bittersweet times we pray for the blessings of Peace Health and rest upon your for you doing your retirement enjoy your new beginning amen we we love to do yes love you I just want to make it funny that um we welcome your new uh uh successor Celine hm but you can never fill Dean's shoes because he doesn't wear such high heels and she she's a lot prettier than Dean oh okay love you so much I haven't been here in a long time it's good I came for you Dean you know that okay okay okay CH can't thank you before we get to council I'd like to invite any of our religious leaders up I believe I see Rabbi fredman here if you'd like to come say a couple words sir few months ago I had um great privilege to spend uh some time with Dean 's um older sister Debbie um Dean's father was as we know in the hospital and thank God he's doing so much better and Debbie was telling me a little bit about her brother Debbie's nine years older than Dean and she mentioned that when Dean was about 5 years old when Debbie was 14 and of course old enough to babysit she would often get her brother tugging at her arm asking her to take him down right here to where we are right now to the municipal area so he could watch where his father and so many of the other public servants in law enforcement in this town did the sacred work of protecting the people of Tink when Debbie told me that Dean I realized that you know God put you here for this God put you here to take care of this town that you've loved since you were a little boy to follow in your Father's Footsteps I'm just coming right now you see this from generation to generation and I know I told you about this my son's playing District ball for Te right now over at EK Southern at that great field that you set up for him and all the other kids in this Township we all have a purpose here uh Dean and yours is and has been to take such wonderful care of everybody in EK you were that 5-year-old boy holding your sister's hand coming down to this place who would grow up to be the man who would watch over this community Co through very difficult times nobody did it better and nobody did it with more dignity and so on behalf of myself my family the Jewish center of EK the entire Jewish Community but really all of ek's residents it's our privilege to be able to say thank you Dean and may God continue to bless you and and your entire family on the journey ahead thank you very much thank you Rabbi last but not least Council Mr Schwarz a few words sir te mayor councel I've met my name is Iman Muhammad da I am a chaplain as well as used to be the eam over at Bergen Regional Medical Center and a New York City chaplain for many years and the last time I think we sat down and met together was that function about friends te neck what's that again be friendly and we shared some ideas and talk and I figured that you have the right Spice in you you have the right mentality yes it's good to be friends and for a person like myself I've been here living here in tck for 52 years and I've seen continue off and on we made on the Fly we talked briefly in passing but I am really Overjoyed that we had at least a chance to speak and talk about friendship and that's what we really need here in this town friendship even though we may not know each other's names or we not be agreeing with each other in ideological or religious or whatever but we at least we appreciate each other for being a human being and putting forth our best to be able to welcome each other and to be friends and to be able to be con to be more Humane and put a smile on other people's face and heart thank you thank you for being a good friend Mr Schwarz I have nothing to say no I'm just kidding um um I I was actually going to make a quick little speech about um Dean being yes person which I'll go on in one quick second but I really didn't want to thank any of you guys for bringing back some of the darkest days that we had in tck I block it all out I I remember the press conferences I think some of you guys got sick at that press conference being a little little too close to each other I remember that I never want to remember that again um it's something that um Dean really in Dean in the county and holding hospital really put together some amazing amazing um vaccination center it's something that as person living in EK we all thought we took for granted but everyone else in the county had to come into tenek to uh to use and I hope to those were some of the darkest days we had that we had on Council um some of those longest days when the vaccination Center opened and I hope it's never brought up again um to that note I I just wanted to explain Dean in three letters yees the yes person anything you asked and I hope our new manager take this from Dean the answer was yes it's I'll get it done and then we'll figure out how it's probably one of the least glamorous jobs that that exists fixing the roads Paving the roads if if someone complained about a road that wasn't paved he would say I'm not sure if it's on the list let me check and let me see if we can do if there's money left over it was always about trying to get to yes and that is something that's made the lives of 41,000 people in Teck different every day and probably 99% of them have no idea how that happened but they did and it was seen behind the scenes always thinking about how and and to say it's 24 hours almost 24 hours a day U not sure when you slept but hopefully you can now sleep so with that I I I I wish you a life that doesn't require you doing anything till noon thank you very much thank you Mr Schwarz Miss Belcher Dean when I think of of you I think of uh fairness I think of logic I think of reason and I think of Faith um I I know that um whenever when when we first got started and came into the an office uh one of the things that you did I I thought was very very important and that was you took us around you took me individually I think each one of us around to meet the heads of departments and and and it was just so heartwarming in terms of being able to one-on-one as a man manager really kind of interact with us individually um from the very first budget meeting um I walked out of there and the first thing I did was sign up for budgets uh for elected officials because I couldn't believe you knew so much about budgeting and and so forth but not only are you like a a such a professional but what I learned from the time that I've been here is that you you care deeply for people um from the little things like um you know when I needed a a sidewalk contractor I called you and you're like I'm sending a a list of contractors that people in town use or when my tree fell down at my office you you called me right a i me when I called you right away you told me exactly you know what to do and who you tree contractor so you are not only are you a a Conant professional but you are a servant leader and it really resonates um in all the things that you do and how you interact with with the residents and how you interact with with um us as a council and I I I deeply deeply thank you for the time that you have given 44 years is a is a long time um and I feel as if you deserve the best retirement the best time off the best time to enjoy your family and friends and I wish you the very best thank you Miss beler Miss Oregon so I I don't ever write my speeches I I did tonight because I was determined not to cry but I cried when I wrote my speech so um you know it's a crapshoot we'll see um Dean my first manager and my friend there are so many things we can talk about when we describe what you've done for tck the biggest by far in my opinion and you may disagree is covid and um I came in after all of you guys did what you did the was already available um from your first press conference with mayor Hamid dudin you felt the weight of the township on your shoulders you felt the responsibility of the health and safety of every resident you understood the importance of every individual's needs you were calm while the world panicked you felt for Every Blessed soul that was lost you entered into a partnership with Holy Name that was like no other and you turned the road to Center into the most well-run immunization Center in New Jersey you made sure this is why I don't write speeches you made sure te neck residents and neighbors had the opportunity to be immunized first you stood for hours each day you didn't eat you lost weight and when Tom came on board he did the same and we all gravitated to the road ofender to be with you to be with our neighbors and to feel their love you made sure businesses stayed open provid permits and ways to stay in business you allowed outdoor dining outdoor C ceremonies and events to the extent of your ability you kept the town running that was as big as it gets and the little things are no less important one Friday afternoon I called you Tom and I are delivering food at the home Homewood Suites Englewood residents were displaced by flooding so you and Tom got a lug drack and you got food and you went door Todo in Homewood Suites feeding the people from Englewood who were dis Wast and we there cuz that's what you and Tom did yeah um one day an elderly neighbor reached out because there was a branch on their lawn not not knowing that you would just go out there by yourself and move the branch and you not knowing that they would send us a letter thanking you for moving the branch you just went out and you moved the branch one day you called Eric and you asked him to deliver a walker to a neighbor because he was older and he needed a walker downstairs and a walker upstairs because he didn't want to move one to the other but you wanted it left outside so that he wouldn't know that somebody brought it there or that you had arranged it for him but that elves had brought the Walker for him so that he could be taken care of in a way that brought him respect the relationships you developed with your department heads and the entire Workforce um was always based on respect and a feeling of camaraderie on the second floor of the municipal building is something that everybody should have in their place of work the way your voice on the phone um for robo calls uh brings 42,000 residents a sense of calm no matter what's happening to them is um is something that um has always brought us peace the one time I think we we missed that uh we missed the boat was the Army Navy game two two years ago when we didn't tell people that jets would be flying over MetLife Stadium and my friend Cheryl was hiding under her bed yeah so we missed the boat on that one um you're kind and fair and respectful to everyone you'd always rather say yes than no no favor is ever too big or too too small your heart is so big you have been a wonderful friend to Eric Ally Jamie and myself you are a Class Act you're humble you're never one to chase the spotlight you're always doing good behind the scenes ten neck and each of us is so much better off for knowing you I hope your legacy to us is that each of us here tries to emulate your traits in some way and I have presents for you too though they're not plaques you have your own stash of sugar-free licorice candies because you won't be here to pound them with me during long meetings and I have the Dual release melatonin for you so that you can sleep and then stay asleep although I have a feeling after July 1st you will not have a problem sleeping anymore I spoke about this I get about three or four hours of sleep nightly so we spoke about mulatona so thank you very much I hope you soon um my wishes for you during your retirement are a little bit of sleep uh long days at the beach with your toes in the sand black and salmon Caesar salads and lots of seafood very dirty martinis with blue cheese stuffed olives and a lot of time spent with good friends and family thank you Miss Oregon Miss Goldberg thank you so Dean I know you can always count on the odd call for me to ask the Obscure question in preparation for a meeting so while you're expecting a Hot Topic I throw the curveball and say no I want to talk to you about snow plows no matter what you always answer um so Jackie heads up all the Obscure questions usually will come for me but there's always an obscure reason um de I love watching your interaction with our employees and the council and the residents there's not a single ten resident that has not been impacted by you you're compassionate and caring and your dedication to Teek is always shined you've served through some of our most challenging moments um as others have mentioned and you've always done so with a real Tina C you've always been available and prioritized everyone and that's really made sure that tck is well-run I don't think you had on your bingo card at your last meeting would be the third public hearing for chickens so I'm really counting on Mr Leon to give Dean a great final public hearing tonight um it's been an in incredible pleasure and honor to serve tenek with you the last 18 months um and for the last eight months you've been there for so many of us but I want to personally thank you for going above and beyond for myself from Jason and from Michael and professionally for myself and the whole Council and the whole town good luck Dean we will miss you and thank you for all of your service thank you Miss Goldberg Deputy Mayor Catz you know there's not many people that I can call at 5:30 in the morning on the way to the gym um and Dean's already on his way to 7-Eleven for his cup of coffee fortunately for Dean there not many times that I make it to the gym at 5:30 in the morning I've I've known Dean kazinski for over 30 years I consider him a true friend when he was a police officer he was very well resp respected by his colleagues he was dedicated to the residence of EK sincere honorable and passionate in the position de has brought the same qualities to the EK manager position his 257 commitment to EK his No Nonsense personality and it get it done attitude has benefited every resident and employee of EK and their quality of life we are fortunate to Dean's 40 years of service to EK you will be missed Thank you very very much thank you Deputy Mayor cats Deputy Mayor G thank you so I've only had the pleasure of working uh with Dean for the last 18 months and I can say that I absolutely can Echo the sentiments of my colleagues you have been just so unbelievably fair in the way that you approach everything that happens in town um those tough situations um you are responsive to all of us no what time as as Deputy Mayor Kat said you are responsible to every one of us whether we are council members residents students um I think about I think back to the time when you worked with the students from yab um to work on getting those aeds I mean you just really got things done in a way that I I just am so grateful um I guess the only thing that I'm really sad about is that I only got 18 months well Ellie got 30 years and I just wish we had so much more time um so you are also I can't think of anyone who's more deserving of retirement you worked so hard so so hard I can't think of a time where I reached out to you and you didn't respond um whether it was by text or email or so many different channels I just am so grateful um and really just want to say thank you for all that you've done for tinck as you can see all these folks here really really appreciate you and I couldn't just I couldn't say thank you enough thank you Deputy Mayor it is an honor to be here with all of you tonight as we celebrate the remarkable career and well-deserved retirement of our beloved Township manager Dean kazinski this moment is both a celebration and a tribute to a man who has dedicated an incredible 40 plus years of his life to the service of our hometown and to our residents because Dean kazin's Journey with the township is nothing short of extraordinary beginning his career as a police officer Dean served with distinction and unwavering commitment to the safety and well-being of our hometown and our residents and over the years he rose through the ranks embodying the values of Integrity dedication and Community spirit that help Define our Township to this very day for the past six years Dean has served as our Township manager guiding us with a steady hand and a Clear Vision and we're going to miss him his leadership has been instrumental in navigating the challenges and opportunities that have come our way and Dean's deep understanding of our community combined with his strategic thinking and his tireless work ethic has left an incredible mark on Tina as a police officer Dean protected our streets and upheld the law with courage and with compassion his service in law enforcement was marked by numerous accolades in the respect of his colleagues and the community as a whole and Dean transition to Township manager allowed him to leverage his extensive experience in deep rooted connection to tinic in new and impactful ways that help us all especially our residents and under Dean's stewardship as manager we have seen significant progress and development in Te his commitment to transparency fiscal responsibility and Community engagement has set a high standard for public service and his ability to build consensus and Foster collaboration has been key to Achi achieving so many of our shared goals over the years Dean's Legacy is not only measured by the initiatives he championed or the challenges he overcame but also by the countless lives he touched along the way and he touched so many his dedication to public service has been a source of inspiration to us all and his impact will be felt for generations to come and teenag so tonight as we celebrate Dean's retirement we are also celebrating the countless contributions he has made to our hometown Dean my friend my man your leadership your wisdom and your unwavering commitment to EK has made a deep and Lasting difference to all of us we are profoundly grateful for your service and the example you have set for us all and as you embark on this new chapter in your life we wish you Joy we wish you well-deserved rest and relaxation and we wish you the Fulfillment of all your personal dreams and while you may be retiring from your official duties you will always be a cherished member of the tenek family we thank you wholeheartedly for your exceptional service and dedication because you have truly made EK a better place to live work raise a family and retire we're going to miss you we love you we appreciate you and thank you so so very much for everything that you have done for tinck over the years um we have one more special presentation from Karen from Council I was so sleuthy I found the place that you get the watches for everybody else and I went in and I said you know Dean who comes in and gets the watches for everybody else and he has such great tastes well we need to find a special watch for Dean and how for to it is that your watch stopped working at 6:30 yeah just just a no in all serious just a quick story I have my M watch on and close session for starts at 6:30 my watch stopped working at 6:31 this evening so wait in inside it says so you don't have to open the whole thing up though I would love to know if you like it uh it says for 30 years of service to Tina for for 40 years of service all of our love Tina thank you so much very much appreciated and again this is probably one of the most difficult times of me right now to spend my last meeting here but you know I have prepared something and um I I just don't want to leave anybody out so just bear with me and uh hopefully we'll get through this in about 15 or 20 minutes but it's important time Mr M take your time the floor is yours take your time sir it's very important to me that you know a little bit about my family about the people I work with and how important it is in in my life so I may have to stop here and there so um let you know let me start out by saying this is Township manager Dean kazin with my last important message so you know first and foremost I like to you know thank my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ for always giving me you know the strength and courage no matter the challenge to make the right decisions for this incredible Community as I bid farewell to you I'm humbled and honored to have served this great Township for the last four decades I never ever took for granted my responsibilities as a Municipal Employee and the trust the residents of pek and our Council bestowed upon me from baby steps in the beginning the giant leaps through the pandemic my fortitude and service to this community came truly from the sweat of my brow uh with such a diverse community in Teek with all different values and beliefs my intent was always to build Bridges and not walls as difficult and emotional as this is for me this evening it's important that I acknowledge the wonderful help encouragement and support that I have received throughout my four decade career from many special people including my family our local clergy the te Township Council and Workforce my close friends and of course you the ten Community second I can't say enough about my parents Richard and Phyllis Who provided not only me but my sister Debbie and brother incredible Foundation of Love support and encouragement my dad is a Korean War veteran and purple heart recipient he returned from overseas at the age of 18 after paining a gunot wound while serving in the Army he also worked for the township the police officer for 25 years before retiring from the uh the force in 1981 he moved on to a very successful career in the banking business and um wound up to be vice president of uh then United Jersey Bank uh my parents always called panneck home initially living in several different apartments to save up enough money to purchase a home they lived on Westgate Road on Cedar Lane before buying their first home on Ward Plaza from Ward Plaza they bought a house on Lucy Avenue the home I grew up in uh mom and dad taught us the importance of being kind and respectful to everyone not only through words but by our actions as well those life lessons have resonated with me throughout my life and I've strived very hard to make them proud and be that person that loves and respects everyone no matter the difference of opinion our family welcomed everyone into our home and we felt diversity was the Township's best asset my parents are incredibly unselfish people who always put their children first making many sacrifices along the way I look back now and I really do realize the incredible importance and meaningful value it was really the little thing to spend dinner together as a family every evening at our impressionable young ages and this was an opportunity for our family to bond and discuss today's events and share stories despite their busy work schedules mom worked her full-time job during the day and she was very successful and Dad worked the night shift at the police department no one was immune from saying a few words at the dinner table and helping out the various chers along the way everybody in my family contribut my father was always preaching to this day he still does at almost 91 years of age including this past Father's Day at the house all the advice given to me throughout my lifetime was from his heart and filled with knowledge from life experience you know the more I age it's clear to me how much my parents sacrificed for their children they always provided words of positive encouragement endless motivation and the resource for all of us to succeed and do well i' be Miss if I didn't mention all the sporting events they attended my mother sorry Sandy was my biggest fan at all the hours the days the nights the hockey games in the middle of the night again they sacrificed so much and worked many extra hours while I was growing up to pay for all my sporting events uh and there were many of them uh I played football baseball and ice hockey and even back then that was that was nice mom was always very active in the TX Southern Little League um program she help many positions and had organization from the time I started playing baseball uh to say they're an inspiration to me is an understatement that I always tell people if I can be the half half the person they are my life I know I'd never be where I am today had it not been for their constant love support and unending faith my parents gave me the greatest Gift Anyone could give another person they believe I could go on and on about their personal and professional accomplishments but I I do want to go home at a reasonable hour this evening um there's nothing more important to me than my children the greatest Legacy one can pass on to one's children is not money or other material things but rather a legacy of character and Faith to my daughter Dena my son Jake I can't thank you enough for your love and support during my career with the township I know it wasn't easy for both of you and they are both watching via Zoom during my tenure on the police department there were many missed events Late Night Calls a lot of crankiness coming from me but no matter the circumstances both of them were always there for me they supported me they loved me and we always managed to get through any challenge fatherhood has been one of the most humbling experiences of my life no matter what the circumstances my children know and I will always be there to support them unconditionally my message to Dena and Jake is to believe in yourself you are braver than you think more talented than you know and capable of more than you can imagine I'm so proud to be your father uh getting on to me a little bit about me while I was in high school I started my early career in tenk in the recreation department working as a Summer Park counselor it was an incredible opportunity at that time to engage Our Youth and interact with the community in a positive way and I looked at it as a way of getting paid just to to have fun so I had a great time working during the summer after college I was sworn in as a police officer in early 1984 by then Township manager Warner Schmidt uh right in his very same room I consider this a tremendous honor privilege and opportunity to serve the residence of pek in a place I called home I was following the footsteps of my father and couldn't be happier and after retiring 26 years uh 26 and a half year later at the rank of Captain um I did not think I'd continue to work in tenek one of the highlights of my career in law enforcement was being chosen to attend the FBI National Academy in quanico Virginia an experience I'll certainly never forget as my fellow cop colleagues would say we've seen it done it and heard it all there own no surprises and police work and and make no mistake mistake I'm telling everyone here police work does take its toll both mentally and physically when you do that job for 25 plus years after my retirement from law enforcement an opportunity eventually presented itself to as teenx first human resource director I can't thank my former colleague and good friend William brownon for the this opportunity uh we worked incredibly well together instituting many new policies creating opportunities developing trusting relationships with our Workforce and setting goals that would build success in the organization I found it so important and this is this resonates with me as I'm sitting here today to um to listen to our Workforce when I was the HR Director uh we kept an open door policy because when you take the time to listen to someone it shows you value the person people start to heal the moment they feel heard and listening doesn't cost a dime after six years as a human resource director I was appointed as a Township's Deputy manager while serving under Mr browon uh it was an incredible experience and I'm grateful for that opportunity and it certainly prepared me for my next role two years later in 2018 I was appointed to the position of Township manager succeeding Mr browon and I will admit to everyone I I was very nervous for many reasons and I made it my goal to continue building upon the momentum of organizational success I have very big F shoes to fill but knowing we had such an incredible devoted Workforce supportive councel that put any concerns to rest for me being manager is a labor of love having been born and raised in this community I can think of No Greater honor than to serve as TX 8 Township manager succeeding successful managers such as Paul bulker from 1930 to 1950 James Wells from 1950 to 1959 Warner schmith from 1959 to 1988 Jack ha from 1988 to 1991 Gary Sage from 1991 to 2001 Helen fall from 2001 to 2009 and William brownon from 2009 to 2018 so you know the job is of Township manager is a very personal one in that the responsibilities are not abstract or theoretical but rather direct specific and intimate that include the responsibility for your Public Safety at home at work and on the streets for your neighborhood parks to be safe beautiful and active role to play and enjoy for your garbage trash and leaves to be neatly And Timely collected your neighborhood's peaceful and tidy for improved infrastructure and better roadways and an economy that's bustling to benefit your livelihood a Township growing in fiscal strength and fairness and the inspiration of Arts accessible to all lovely and positive Civic spaces your reason optimism for your future and to serve you in times of Crisis and much more in attending to those and other responsibilities I have had the opportunity to hear from you your letters emails text messages phone calls at Council meetings meetings in my office neighborhood association meetings social events Civic organization meetings walking on the street coming out of a store and throughout the many other Township Gatherings each and every day in this process the most wonderful thing happened to me through those many ways of communicating I got to know you feel and appreciate your goodness and to get to understand your heart's wishes and that has been a Priceless treasure has inspired me to work harder to do more and do it better and to never give up so in the totality of my work and never became remote was never a statistic but was always personal to happiness and well-being of each and every one of you every citizen in our Township through all of our encounters and Communications they also got to know your hearts that is what you would find most fulfilling what would enrich your lives and the lives of your children what would make you happy and proud of your town through the help and support of council and our Workforce us we undertook to turn those aspirations into reality whether we're seeking to make our tach more and just welcoming making our TP safer and more livable restoring our business districts creating responsible development improving infrastructure renovating our Parks maintaining Labor Management Harmony and hosting other popular events including Teck day it was truly a collaborative effort these achievements we all accomplished together as a community team we're kept me going pushing having resolv not to give up through the throughout the years but is that I have gotten to know your hearts and I knew that if the goal was achieved the project or initiative completed your hearts would be fulfilled and it would make you happy and proud to be a resident of tenek it was important to me to be guided by the standard of Excellence we have the responsibility to seek excellence in everything we do medium is beneath the goodness and quality of the residents of tenek we must look well into the future and ask ourselves if what we're considering will be deemed in excellent in 25 50 or even 100 years from now it is easy to to willingly accept mediocrity it's hard to demand Excellence but that is what the great Township and his residents deserve we have a duty to leave our town not only as beautiful but more beautiful than we found it this was a job I signed up for get paid to do and expect every manager after me to not only achieve those goals but to exceed them many people have asked me what is what's my best memory while working for the township although I have and I truly have many and could probably write write book uh getting through as several people pointed out tonight getting through the co crisis really stands out for me our partnership with the county of Bergen with fing Name Medical Center especially with Michael Maron enabled us to open a point open up a point of distribution for the covid-19 vaccine and this pod uh distributed the most vaccinations of any pod in the state of New Jersey you know we spent countless of hours at the Pod while working with the dedicated Health Care Professionals from Hing a medical center and I'll never forget the Expressions on people's faces the happiness the joy and relief they felt while waiting online for their shot I truly believe the township saved many lives again there was no Playbook uh going back to the day we met with Jim and and mayor jadine there was no playbook for Co but through the cooperation of council our community and our Workforce we were the leaders in the state and the example municipality to keep people healthy safe and alive I equate the position of manager to being the quarterback on a football team I recognize we have many talented professionals working for tenek and that's truly the first step to being a successful leader sometimes as your manager I have to call the best play to win sometimes carrying the ball to gain some extra yards or to score the points but most of the time recognizing the importance of passing the ball to someone else to score the touchdown is invaluable if your team achieves success the manag as a leader will be successful and together win many championships I think the proof is in putting that we've assembled a great team here in tenek which I think can be called a dynasty I worked for five different Municipal managers uh during my tenure here in tenac watching and learning from some of the best I never felt it necessary to micromanage my staff and I have the utmost faith and confidence in my department heads to make responsible day-to-day decisions to think outside the box and not be afraid of change and gosh they really do that so well my position allows me to speak to so many Municipal managers in our area and throughout the state and rest assured EK has a great reputation and is known as a successful organization everyone should be proud of that again this cannot be accomplished without having a great team in place we've achieved and have an incredible level of Labor Management and Harmony in the township I brag about that to many people all the time we have no grievances we have no arbitrations and no unnecessary uh time spent on workplace issues we come a long way from being a very litigious Workforce and I'm happy to say we've had no employment litigation in over 14 years and it's really an incredible accomplishment for such a large municipality with the work for us of 350 I'm happy to report that all of our collective bargaining Agreements are settled for until the end of 2030 and the other four until the end of 2026 and the settling of these contracts is a result of trust between between management and our labor unions with most contracts being settled with a handshake and without the need for labor Council good for the taxpayers not so good for the labor attorney um another example of incredible work performed by our Workforce is our continued positive audit reports uh believe we've been audit free for the last four plus years again this is a true Testament to the talent of our department heads to manage in accordance with State rules regulations and guidelines I'm so blessed and appreciative and grateful to have worked with so many wonderful people throughout my career I know I'll forget a few names but it's important for me to acknowledge them as they all contributed to my success and these names are not in any particular order uh William brownon who prepared me for this position was a true friend mayor Muhammad Hamad for his wisdom and insight and for taking a chance on me in 2018 uh mayor James dely for his stable leadership support caling reason and his true friendship mayor Jackie Kates are making EK a priority through her leadership on Council and age friendly EK Jackie was also directly responsible for creating the Director of Human Resources position my good friend mayor Paul asro my Confidant I've known Paul since the early 80s and had dinner with him the other night and just an incredible person uh the late mayor lazette Parker for a vision to make ten EK a better place to live Deputy Mayor Henry pu for the many late night talks and advice and Dr pu will woke me up many of times 10 11 12:00 at the night just just to talk uh Deputy Mayor Deborah V for our venting sessions at bisher's councilwoman Jon Romney rice for her friendship and support for me as manager uh councilman Keith Kaplan for his help on many Municipal projects councilman yid Stern for his community leadership Judge James Young jeppi Randazzo and Erica jungblut who always demonstrate respect and fairness to everyone in our courtroom their sensitivity has allowed them to maintain respect of our community and our Police Department to my clergy friends Rabbi Daniel fredman father Joe Deo and Reverend Daniel may you both provided me and my family with the spiritual support and guidance to get through many difficult times to our past and present legal team uh Stan turrets incredible person Bill rup Brian chronic John chanian Reggie Jenkins Mike a Scott salmon and Tom hanran thank you for always making tenek the priority and making sound legal decisions that protect our residents Council and Workforce to all my friends on the advisory boards and commissions too many to name but you know who you are keep up the great work you do a tremendous service for the township to our Union heads at the PBA the S SOA fnba foa asme DPW and the library thank you for trusting me and working collaboratively to create and maintain a healthy work environment to the current Council your support and trust in me as your manager means the world you allowed me to do my job without interference and disruption while giving me the necessary resources to accomplish many goals you were Fair kind and an incredible group of professionals who worked so hard to make Teck a better place to live to Karen morinelli you guys are my forever ride or die friends you never wavered you always had my back and I'm so appreciative of the loyalty and dedication shown to me and my family words cannot express my gratitude please know from the bottom of my heart I will never forget that to Tom row my Deputy manager you were the best employment decision I made as manager words cannot express my gratitude for your hard work commitment and dedication to the township of EK you did such great memorable work during the pandemic which all of us will never forget you're an incredible colleague friend husband and father I'll see you at the beach and Tom just retired last Last Friday heading down to South Carolina there's also a few other special people I need to acknowledge who are the glue to this organization and I consider them not only my colleagues but trusted friends uh we grew as an organization we agreed to disagree on some decisions we laughed Together We Cried together but through it all we managed to do what's right for the te for teic and get the work done they do incredible work and I'm so proud to have them on my team uh police chief Andrew mcgar our CFO weisa Basi who who's here tonight our Deputy CFO asisa adamon senior payroll cler Carolina Estes superintendent of recreation Glenn crcket Fire Chief Joe burto DPW director Travon Romeo superintendent of DPW Mike ciki and DPW supervisor Justin pelli construction official Mark pikino Health officer Courtney stin Court Administrator Craig fan Library director chenet hun tax assessor James Ty tax collector Natalie uto our engineer faren aralan Delani our purchasing agent Simone cassine seru our Mas coordinator Andrew fiser Deputy clerk Tristen Doria John mcallum and the person with red bull running through his veins are clerk Doug ruson and I have a very special relationship with Doug uh being a Ringwood guy and me being a Ringwood guy too so I brought Doug on six years ago and he's done terrific work here in town I've met many friends in the Tina Community during my term as manager it it would take all night really to recognize each and every name but I have to mention a few of course my good friend County Executive Jim tadesco County Commissioner Tracy zor has always been incredibly supportive of Teek uh state Senator Gordon Johnson um Senator Loretta Weinberg uh Sandy silverberg Jane Irwin Micky shalan I see Mickey sitting in the audience tonight Colonel John mcgilchrist sergeant major Roosevelt Sills our poet larette Scott Pleasants of course Bob and Joyce giddens Cheryl Hall Yan Meyer Judge Kevin Kelly Congressman Josh gottheimer Michael Maron Larry Bower Ray turkin David sanzari our County prosecutor Mark muella Jack tun Robert Wilson Steve libery Robert hunt Anthony D'Angelo from the Board of Ed Greg St George Obby Berlin RC Obi Berliner here tonight and all of my friends at the Tina Gro community business Alliance the Tina League of Women voters the environmental commission the pprb the c l Management Group the Patriotic observance Advisory Board The Advisory board on community relations the T Chamber of Commerce and my good friends at the te Garden Club uh there were several people that kept n Only me but my staff on our toes uh we were challenged many of times uh but always Rose to the occasion here in EK and some of those people I see Howard Rose here tonight uh Dr Chuck powers and and Alan S there's two other people deserving a spec special recognition and one is Ron Goodman seated to my left uh Rob is uh Ron is our volunteer cable Caster he's also Lieutenant of our auxiliary police force and also works full-time in our Township in our Mis department and Ron puts in countless of hours and two volunteer position I don't know how he does it I'm just so pleased and happy he's part of the organization and the second person is my dear friend Dr Ken Hoffman who suddenly passed away on April 9th Ken did the remarkable work of the township and was a considerate generous and caring person to many and his legacy in with tenic has been memorialized at the Sports plex as I mentioned earlier we're going to have a little uh eulogy for him this coming Friday and I promise I'm almost done but in closing for me I never regret anything that has happened in my life why because it cannot be changed undone or forgotten I always looked at it as a lesson learned and to move on and next week for the last time I will repeat a practice I've been doing for many years at the end of the day I'll turn off the lights in my office and I'll walk down the Terracotta steps in the municipal building the same place I started my full-time career in 1984 but even though my time serving you as manager will be over the memories will never leave me they will nourish me every day of my life I ask you to embrace this managerial change and welcome it as an opportunity for further Improvement and positive Community growth change is going to allow this organization to build on our continued success the Jacqueline my successor you were chosen to be tx's 9th Municipal manager for a reason I believe in you and Council believes in you there's absolutely no doubt in my mind that you will bring a high standard of professionalism accountability and responsible management to our Workforce to our governing body and to the Flying residents of EG as they go from 100 miles per hour every day for the past four decades to the 25 M perh speed limit of retirement it it's it's really my solemn wish and I continue to pray that our actions as a community be guided by love peace unity and respect thank you for the Memories tinck I'm not saying goodbye because be goodbye means going away and going away means forgetting my memories will last forever as I will always call Teck my home thank you e thank you from the bottom of my heart I wish everyone much happiness good health and godp speed thank you Mr clerk Mr clerk I make a motion to take a recess so we can have some cake with Dean second all those in favor please say I guys have it good good all right that's about to Uncle spe e e my light yes e it's only me know it's always good to see you girl all good which one that's one oh yeah I we couldn't hear anything Echo whatever oh my and okay for e e e e e good what happened no problem e e e e e e e e e e check check check check check folks in Chambers folks and Chambers we are about to resume business please quiet on the set thank you Mr clerk 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 rec with pleasure mayor we have a few ordinances for second reading this evening ordinance number 10 d224 amending section 36-14 of division 2 of Article 2 of chapter 36 tell traffic of the Township Code respecting parking on a portion of Cranford place we have ordinance number 11-202 adopting rules and regulations related to chicken hens we have ordinance number 12- 2024 adopting rules and regulations related to retail electronic smoking or vaping establishments last but not least Council we have ordinance number 13124 authorizing the sale of an easement over certain property a portion of block 4703 Lot 4 as shown on the tax map of the township owned by the township not required for public purposes pursuant to njsa 48 col 12-3 together with an assignment of Rights contained within the cell tower leases on the subject property thank you Mr clerk the public hearing on these four ordinances and these four ordinances only are now open any member of the public wishing to be heard on any of these four ordinances will be called on and will state their full names for the record comments and questions will be limited to three 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 on your camera when speaking first up we have Charlotte castano hello my name is Charlotte I am a student at woodier El Elementary I am here tonight to talk about the chickens and why they should be allowed in Teck one they eat lots of bugs rather pests in our neighborhoods such as stink bugs Lantern flies cicada bugs and beetles and also ticks two chickens are sweet fluffy pets that are great around kids they are not noisy which is a myth three for the last and best reason is we will have eggs that are truly fresh and local thank you for your attention and please vote Yes for chickens thank you someone on Zoom Doug bringing in Je Riley bringing in Jen Riley Jen you're free to unmute thank you sorry about that hi um yes commenting on the um backyard chickens ordinance um on the one hand I think it's great for people to come into closer contact with chickens and learn that they're intelligent and sensitive creatures like your dogs or cats rather than just food with legs and this may encourage us to think harder on the terrible suffering chickens experience on factory farms and in slaughter houses and root to our plates um but my friend's sister lives in Englewood and had backyard chickens as pets and unfortunately raccoons got into their Coupe and ate the birds which was terribly traumatic for my nephews and attracting raccoons and rodents into our yards is only one potential unintended consequence of backyard birds according to USDA animal and Planet health inspection service there have been 20 uh 32 detections of highly pathogenic avien influenza in backyard flocks since February of 24 and from February 8th article in boston.com a flock of birds contracted Aven flu and died suddenly without exhibiting any symptoms in Essex County according with state to state officials with this in mind the agency advises poultry owners both backyard and Commercial to take extra measures to prevent uh domestic poultry and from having contact with wild birds as well as their feathers and droppings the Aven flu has been circulating among the wild bird population especially in Wild Water fou the department noted so tck has widely has wisely banned the sale of dogs and cats encouraging our residents to adopt from shelters rather than feeding an industry that puts um that results in animals dying in shelters but unfortunately this ordinance art with this art ordinance Our Town may go back to being part of the problem rather than the solution according to the Human Society of the United States within City Limits roosters are generally not permitted as their crowing can disturb neighbors and this creates the ethical conundrum because when chickens are purchased as young chicks it's not possible to accurately determine their sex so chicks purchased through the mail order or local Supply Farm Outlets can be sold in groups and separated by sex but since gender determination is in in exact as the birds grow families often find that they're more they may have one or more male birds when they're expecting they only have females so many of the young roosters are being relinquished to and sanctuaries and organizations are already overburdened with unwanted animals and worse these roosters May simply be abandoned or killed and according to the statement of 10 farmed animal sanctuaries most chickens purchased or bought are bought from hatcheries or feed stores which Feed Store chicks originate from hatcheries and hatcheries ship day old birds through the Postal Service without any legal oversight young chicks are deprived of food and water for up to 72 hours and exposed to extreme temperatures as Dr Jean Cipher a veterinarian specializing in avien medicine States a day old chick can no more withstand three days in a dark crowded box than any other newborn and other e experts in Aven medicine um agree so anyway I'd urge the council at a minimum to the backyard bird ordinance should require the adoption of adult birds from shelters or sanctuaries rather than the purchase of chicks and I would urge the council to consider other animal welfare measures um you can visit tiny url. tex. do Tex Birds sorry tiny.com for more information thank you ma'am your time is up and before we move on to the next speaker ma'am with the sign your sign is actually blocking the camera would you be willing to just move to another seat so the camera is not blocked thank you um we did that side uh Mr Leon good evening um I feel really fortuitous that this happened to be the same night as Dean's last night which is why I made party hats I have one for each of you if you'd like Dean especially you um this has been a long time coming and I I hope that you guys actually all intend to vote Yes um if you do thank you so much I think that um you know it's it's telling that the people who speak against this haven't read it and I've written it five times now so I know exactly what's in there uh and we have the most robust regulatory system of any municipality that's done this in Burgen County and I can say that because I read every single one of them um there's no reason to to to keep people from doing something that is clean and healthful and and and wholesome and and Earnest in this town in their own properties and the privacy of their backyards to give their families an opportunity to learn to give their families an opportunity to grow to give their an opportunity to eat the kind of food that we all would want our kids to eat so um with with four years of doing this I just urge you once again please vote Yes and uh I'll give these to Doug to pass out Mr Leon Doug someone on Zoom we have Ben s bring in Ben s please state your name for the record you have three minutes hi my name is Ben SC and um can you hear me okay yes sir okay I'd like to share an article from the animal legal defense fund Urban farming is old news at this point but the mainstream media has been erupting with reports of the number of chickens recently flooding into animal shelters from rooftops in Brooklyn to backyards in Portland blocks of chickens are occupying a unique cultural space somewhere in between pets and sustenance providers for City humans but what's a new chicken owner to do when the adorable chirping balls of fluff grow beyond their egg laying years or even surprise grow into a rooster the rise in shelter chickens can be attributed to the higher level of care and long-term commitment many firsttime owners aren't prepared for the biggest misconception is that raising the chickens yourself is a positive alternative to factory farming but that isn't the whole story baby chicks are shipped from their origin hatcheries by mail be it directly to their new owner or a local Farming Supply Store the shipping process can limit their ability to breathe and expose them to extreme temperatures it's common to expect one or two chicks to arrive dead after their Journey Through The Postal Service and it's not uncommon to destroy entire orders and it is virtually impossible to distinguish male from female chicks meaning new offers often unwittingly raise a rooster most municipalities have ordinances that disallow roosters entirely meaning they must be given up or destroyed the same goes for City permitted hens that have moved past their egg laying years considering that a healthy and happy hen can live at least a decade the commit M to caring for them doesn't end when their egg production does raising chickens is not as bucolic as the trend suggests and isn't a hobby to be entered into casually chickens are sensitive high maintenance animals not just egg laying machines and their adoption should be entered into thoughtfully thank you thank you sir Sandy Sandy silverberg I'm doing this uh I'm half afraid because sitting behind me uh is somebody with dozens of eggs and I'm afraid I'm going to be um the recipient of an egg uh not where I want it I I'd like to speak against the ordinance I laid this out a long time ago uh so it's in the record uh what I've had to say before and I I hope that you are going to vote against it I think EK is in a mood right now to not quite know what it wants to be does it want to be a city does it want to be a Township or does it want to be a farm I don't know but if some of the backyards all joking aside are not very large so that if there are chickens let's let's ass assume three of out of the four have chickens it's um very un unpleasant for people it brings Vermin it there's no denying it so I hope that you're planning to vote against the chicken ordinance if you want my other my full position you'll look at in the record and see it thank you thank you Sandy someone on Zoom Doug Betina hemple bringing in Betina hemple so or please state your name for the record uh my name is tibo Gilbert I am batina hemp's son and I am speaking for the chicken ordinance chickens can be as great as pets as dogs and cats you just have to get them at a very young age and the best way to get chickens is to go get them at a farm you you don't have to get them shipped by mail because of the multiple reasons stated before me um so chickens aren't just there for laying eggs they can be there as pets for emotional support or just for children that want a good pet to have and yes pets do lay eggs as a surplus which is great so you have multiple fresh eggs every morning so um there are a lot of reasons that chickens are great and um a few things that people have been saying is that chickens carry multiple diseases but dogs can carry almost really close to as many pests as chickens so um for things like pests attracted to chickens that should not be one of the reasons stated by people against chickens uh that is it thank you very much someone on this side about the four ordinances no Andrea hi yes um I'm Andrea Schuman and I brought everybody a little present a little token thank you um so I am in support of backyard chickens I have a little bit of an egg habit um I did not have to ask for any of these cartons and I donated like 60 more of those like I don't know not that long ago I go through a lot of eggs I wish I could like barter with neighbors and like they can give me their eggs and I can bring them like my canas that I bulbed from seed you know like I Grew From seed you know I want I want this community to have you know I we put up with a lot of little lot of noise chickens are quiet I hear lots of noise all the time um from blowers and mowers and the street being clean thank you Dean um and also you know the the garbage trucks coming by every day because we don't have our own tnet garbage but that's okay I listen to it um and I and I get along with my neighbors and I think that chickens would get along just fine too um so I hope everyone does vote Yes for chickens this group deserves it um the the families deserve it the kids deserve it um I think a lot of the worries are just fears um you know animals are a commitment there's no doubt about that I have two dogs um actually two guinea pigs right now too so I'm not going to be taking on any chickens myself yet but um I definitely support it um for all of my t um residents um friends family thank you all um for listening to this long long um speech about chickens bye bye thank you Miss Doug someone on Zoom Roberto Quan free to un mute you have three minutes my friend thank you can you can you hear me yes all right well thank you I am so sorry that uh I couldn't attend in person uh tonight I as stated before I am Roberto Quan and I am a uh pretty much a lifelong Teck resident and I just wanted to join in here tonight in uh hoping that the uh Council uh votes in ordinance number 10 and that's the uh parking restriction on uh Cranford place I'm here on behalf of all the affected residents on Cranford and I just uh last time that uh during the last meeting I um I stated why this was so important it uh it does improve the uh Public Safety uh for the residents on Cranford what I was unable to do last time is to thank the council for uh its consideration of this ordinance and uh while I realize that uh the council has many larger issues to deal with this is a type of small mundane issue that really does improve the quality of life of the residents and that's what you're there to do and I just wanted to thank you not only on my behalf but on behalf of the residents on Cranford place and I especially wanted to thank the mayor uh for really spearheading this uh really listening uh to the issue um this is really Grassroots stuff and that's really what you're there to do so I just wanted to thank each and every one of you uh for um taking this into such serious consideration uh and with that I will yield the rest of my time thank you so much thank you sir anyone in Chambers Mr uh I want to start off by saying I I uh probably wouldn't want chickens um but I don't think that we should make our take put your votes based on whether or not you want one or want chickens my brother had chickens um there was no you know no mess no sounds you know it was it's a very easy pet to have and also uh does bring eggs the benefit of having eggs and uh eggs that you know what the sources eggs and you buying the store it's always kind of a question mark what you're getting you know there's it's a long long story with that but I want to just encourage you folks to not vote based on whether or not you want chickens but based on whether or not you want to stop other people from having it having chickens um you know there there's a lot of good reasons to do that and I want to encourage you to go ahead and vote Yes on that thank you sir come on Zoom Doug Ben Sandler bringing in Ben Sandler hi Ben Sandler teg resident um thank you for bringing up this ordinance for vote um wanted to thank Jesse Le and also for pushing this for so long it actually is uh the reason I first came to a council meeting it's something that's brought people together um across different different sub communities in Tac which is certainly something we um you know we could use more of now so I um I I would encourage you to vote for it something that will bring us uh together um as neighbors and bring us closer to the Earth um people have brought up some concerns you know there's uh there's always things to be concerned about um terms of noise I you know my backyard neighbors have five Big L loud dogs I already live in a in a zoo it's uh you know it's just part of being um part of a community um and um don't don't let all these uh concerns get in the way of people wanting to explore this um way of connecting again to each other and to Nature so please don't be chicken vote for the ordinance thank you thank you sir uh Mr kaum Kei Kaplan EK resident just wanted to mention a brief history of the chickens in EK starting in 1930 mayor uh our first uh Town manager comes in he had big shoes to fill in uh those days 16,000 people live in town by 1936 in April 6th the minutes show that uh the people came and asked for a uh ordinance Banning chickens and in a rule only our attorney could appreciate they wanted to band them in class A we only had three classes of zoning back then a were the residences but they couldn't figure out how to ban them in class A if they were going to be allowed in class B how are they unhealthy in class A but they're allowed in class B people keep arguing about it they keep going back and forth the poultry was therefore banned in the entire town that was in uh the late 30s um it was uh not a unanimous vote so Mr Leon's got that working for him since the 30s there have been several attempts to undo the ban uh the first significant one was April 20th 1943 it did not work the lower TX civic association in case you think that random named groups are a new phenomenon over here uh tried to get the council to repeal or resend any ordinances that had to do with the keeping of chickens motion was made but didn't quite make it in more recent uh day uh January 9th 2014 Adam gussen being Deputy Mayor on this day has tried to bring the chickens back to Teck which not only failed but resulted in one of the funniest videos ever posted for uh political fun the chickens in tck have an absolutely crazy history when Paul vuler I spoke to his son uh shortly before his son passed away and he said that when his dad was retiring after 20 years as manager here he said one of the first memories he had was dealing with I mean Tina because we've always been like this and there was a guy who brought a chicken into this room and he kept the chicken under his coat and anytime the manager tried to talk he would squeeze the chicken and Chaos erupted literally here in this room Dean th this place has always had a certain flavor chicken is yeah I wish you the best of luck there is absolutely no way half the people won't hate you for this decision and uh there are some cute ones that'll appreciate it thank you sir Doug someone on Zoom I have Michael katsky hey good evening everyone I'm here tonight to talk about chickens um first off I also want to address the council you should approve this ordinance as presented um I have watched for two years now it feels like that we've been talking about chickens over and over again I think that this particular ordinance addresses all the needs to regulate chickens I mean not only properly but it goes above and beyond it regulates 3 feet per square foot per chicken it talks about that we need to have 25 square feet 25 feet from a structure for any chicken cpop and I just want to talk about this you know I I've kind of shied away from this chicken issue for a while but years ago I was working for the New York City Department of Transportation and I work worked on a study the southeast Queens Transportation study and one of the places I went to go visit was Meir it's the little neighborhood south of Howard Beach kind of tucked away in the rockaways and I was like this is this is New York City and there were hundreds of chicken just walking around front L front yards in the street just hanging out and I had a question why why is this illegal here uh you know tinac has like this really bizar rule about we ban chickens but it seems to work everywhere else why is the work everywhere else but not here it seems that maybe this is an us problem to all the other folks who spoke before me to talk about all the different issues about you know Aven viruses and different things and different nuisances and so on why does everyone else figure it out besides us everyone else figures it out besides us you know we can do this our health officer they're comp you know they have a set of rules they know what they're doing don't question them you know if this is a this isn't a unique special condition that's you know unique to Heek if they can regulate chickens on balconies in Manhattan they can regulate them in backyards and teac I implore you all on the council to vote Yes tonight thank youy Mr Yuck oh resident so uh I've always um often ended my my talks here at the council meeting saying let them have chickens um and again I'll tell you please let them have chickens there's nothing wrong with chickens my uncle had chickens in the backyard in Philadelphia where it was illegal but he had them anyway they didn't bother anybody he never got cited nobody complained I used to visit him all the time I never I never really saw the chickens I just once or twice maybe and uh he enjoyed having them I don't think I'll have them although I wish we had had they were allowed when when my kids were growing up I think I would have had them um I think I have a little bit of that kind of farmer in me so um I'm just here to tell you to please support the ordinance and let's get that over with and move on thank you thank you Mr Yuck someone on Zoom Doug I have Carrie please hi Carrie three minutes hi what three minutes okay thank you so I think um like backyard chickens sound really lovely um but like I have a friend who has just because someone else spoke about having a friend with some chickens um I also have a friend with chickens he lives like in the middle of Pennsylvania surrounded by woods and it works for him um it works for him because he is just kind of alone out there I mean his neighbor is maybe like half a mile away from him um yeah it it works for him and like his environment and I'm thinking about Teck and you know someone's bringing up like rats and rodents um but I think I'm more focused on like the chicken poop and how I'm not imagining like little kids playing with it but just how it may get into our water system and how in the past when we've had um flooding in Teck when we've had flooding through people's houses if people became homeless from that um I can't imagine what the damage is going to be like if there is toxic runoff within our water systems um um so that's just something to consider before moving forward with like any kind of decision making that's it thank you that and it's kind of like chickens are noisy um people don't even clean up after their dogs and cats uh so I can't imagine how people with limited experience with being on a farm being surrounded by farm animals uh would be able to handle chickens thank you thank you ma'am Miss hi I'm Michelle stii and I just um I was just here because I was helping support my mother but and I'm not used to uh coming out to these meetings but I just happen to come in and see some friends here with some signs legalizing backyard chickens and I agree with them uh we love eggs and my I have a big family and it is getting very expensive to support but um what I want to say is that we've had every animal in our house growing up we've had dogs cats uh Birds Nots we had every animal but my kids haven't had any animals and they were I don't know why this is oh I'm sorry I'm not used to this okay so um growing up we my children haven't had any animals but I think it's a great experience for children I mean we have them in classrooms you we have uh baby chicks you know in kindergarten um whatever but if we can have any other animal growing up why can't we have chickens and even though I probably won't uh raise any chickens in my bag backyard I I say like the other guy let them have chickens what's what's the problem what is the hold up and we have there's all kinds of things out there so to be scared about whatever this flu or that flu they come and go let them have chickens thank you thank you Miss Doug someone on Zoom Mr vaty and and Miss if you just not block the camera please okay can you hear me okay yes sir okay uh if I could if I had I would write a chicken history of Teck T neck was a farm town tck had Farms t had cows t- neck had chickens and uh I'm not afraid of chickens but if you don't pass this silly little chicken law it'll sound like Teck is afraid of chickens you don't want to be known as that there's 600 towns in tck you'll sweep the newspapers tck endorses chickens and and there sense in this let me explain I hope they mentioned kids I think young kids would love to have chickens we're in the land of AI and zoom and all the other things that out where where kids can be like in a container that's not true okay okay and and we're going to deny the kids the experience we can have a dog we can have a cat but a three pound chicken uhuh and too many people have said to me you settle me in a decent size area and you have it furthermore I lived on eggs for a week when in this town we had a blizzard I had no electric power for eight days because I was in Virginia friend of mine gave me a week's worth of chicken eggs and I had gas and every day I ate my eggs so in terms of survivability in terms ter of environment in terms of educating our children and showing that we have some courage let's go with the chickens thank you thank you Mr basy Mr Rubenstein Alan Rubenstein tck resident there appears to be a slight drafting mistake in the chicken ordinance that should be fixed prior to voting to approve it 25 foot mandated setback in section 6.5 C3 E1 applies to the doors and windows of any dwelling or occupied structure that would include the applicant's own property the language States all coups and runs shall not be situated less than 25 ft from any dwelling or occupied structure there's no exception in that provision from the applicant's own house on a practical level make it extremely difficult for anyone to comply with the requirements in the ordinance unless you have a really large rear yard please note that section C 6.5 c9f contains an exception for the owner's dwelling for the mandated 25 foot setback and section and that's and section 3E contains an exception for the owner's dwelling on sketches submitted to the township nonetheless there is no way of knowing which section or requirement controls whether the applicant's own house is exempt or included in the 25t setback I would respectfully request that the council fix the ordinance before voting on it fixing is rather easy as it require adding five words in subsection I you can just call it a scrier error the real benefit however of the chicken ordinance is that it resolves the age-old question what comes first the chicken or in the case of te- neck the Adu what does it have to do with the Adu chickens provide the foolproof method to anyone who doesn't want an Adu of budding their property all you need to do is install a coupe pay a $25 annual fee and your neighbor can never build an Adu within 25 ft of your C poop or your property line if your sketch shows that your chickens will be on your property by getting a chicken permit you will have created a pre-existing conforming condition for an approved accessory structure that will preclude an Adu with it with its windows and doors within 25 ft of that approved coupe the best part is you don't even have to get the chickens all of this can be fixed it's just a simple drafting error that should be fixed prior to adoption and it should be adopted thank you thank you sir anyone else in Chambers want to talk about these four ordinances no Doug did you say this someone on Zoom okay check check check check check check check check check check he T please state your name for the record and unmute hi can you hear me yes loud and clear please state your name for the record hi I'm [Music] TI I'm here uh speaking in favor of the chickens um I don't see why the town still hasn't allowed for us to have chickens we have well people have owned chickens for so long that many of the precautions that people are discussing have been uh remediated as far as like the smell of the chicken uh poop uh they have systems called the deep litter system where you have no smell for up to a year I'm a Avid Gardener I've been gardening for five years now um after that is done it's composted and goes right back into the soil it's just one of the next levels of um you know sustaining your family on good organic uh Foods as far as you know chickens in the mail I completely understand that but we live right close to a thriving Farm Town Pennsylvania uh you could go over there and get the chickens there's also places close by here in New Jersey that you could go and get the chickens um anything that comes up I feel like we're all adults we could uh totally do that remediation ourselves I have a compost system where because I was using it on the ground it attracted rodents I took that compost system up I reworked the uh composting system or framework and I now have it off ground in a barrel and that took care of the issue I don't see why um because we're you know speaking of unknowns we can't give it a try and if something comes up figure it out uh so hopefully we can do that with the chickens and move forward with uh passing this ordinance thank you thank you Miss no one else on Zoom right Doug anyone else in Chambers want to talk about these ordinances seeing No Hands sorry one sec Robin Hood on Zoom yeah please state your name for the record if that's not your name yeah it's not my name his name is Ray Robbins so thank you for the time um so I've been around animals for a long time I've grown up on a farm I've been around chickens I know them very well I was one of the directors at the world's um at a World's uh highest accredited Farm Sanctuary from the global Federation of animal sanctuaries one of the things that we keep talking about or I keep hearing is like our right to own other animals um and we should be able to do this bear in mind so many people think it's a great idea to own a dog or a cat and we Slaughter four and a half million of those every year one of the things that we get inundated with in every animal sanctuary Which is far too few is the request to take in chickens because they become too noisy they they're extremely uh smelly they produce a tremendous amount of manure um the amount of disease that uh is available to to us as humans through them is is increasing all the time I mean the reality is the mortality rate of of uh of of bird flu is roughly about 50% % when Co was 6% so these are things that we really have to be mindful about it's extremely unhealthy people are more than welcome to eat it but you get just as much protein in 23 almonds and instead of feeding our chicken grain why don't we just eat the grain ourselves it's it's ridiculous because what we're doing also is we're teaching children that animals it's okay to stuff an animal in a tiny cage for its entire life a tiny cage in water uh of course raccoons every kind of cat and everything else that's around that's coming after them attacking them Hawks everything like that um they're stuck in the cage and they're scared to death um but as I mentioned earlier we get absolutely inundated you can call any animal sanctuary in the in in anywhere anywhere but especially around the area a couple uh hours uh uh circumference from uh the city and you'll find every single one of us complaining extensively about how many people think it's a great idea to own chickens and then when the novelty wears off they get the short end of the stick also by the way the the the uh gentle lady who just shared before about you can go buy your chickens in Pennsylvania and wherever the reality is that they only sell females very few males all the other males they are immediately mated and ground up and and put into the bone meal that every you want in the feathers that they like to use for fertilizer this is as a result of using eggs it's absolutely unnecessary it's absolutely unhealthy it's the highest form of cholesterol we can get everything else that we need out of foods that don't require chickens and it's extremely intrusive and again we're teaching and allowing kids and normalizing um animal abuse we would never stuff any one of our animals into a cage the size that we do the chickens and I appreciate your time and I hope that we vote against this thank you sir thank you anyone else in Chambers Zoom Benny Riner please unmute Benny Riner check Mr Mayor do we want to extend the meeting for 30 minutes yeah thank you um you making a motion motion to extend the meeting all in favor please say I let's have it you're up Benny uh thanks for uh giving me the time um my name is Benny Riner um I've been a Teck resident for about 13 years and I they go for it um chickens all the way um I've been with uh Mr Leon on this for a very long time and uh I feel like it's just time to run with it and let people have their backyard chickens and hey if you don't like chickens that that's cool like you don't have to have chickens um I think this is a very smart and sensible um ordinance and we should pass it um one one thing is just just don't let Philly chickens in Philly chickens would destroy destroy our town but uh other than that all good go chickens let's do it thank you sir anyone else Doug I have Michael Rocklin hi everybody can you guys hear me I'm gonna assume yes can't hear anything you Mike sorry you're all good um I just wanted to call into tonight um to talk about two ordinances number one is uh the situation on the street Cranford by the high school I want to thank the council for taking the needs of the residents there uh seriously as it comes to both the quality of life the car traffic um and how it's going to affect uh pedestrians walking on that street that's one of the you know underratedly busiest streets in t uh being right there um near the high school so thank you for taking that seriously and I want to connect that to something somebody brought up about you know are we a Township are we looking to be Farmland are we looking to be a city and I think that that kind of analysis of our situation here in town um reflects a lack of imagination about what our town could be um if we take the right steps to pull from the best of all the different ways we live whether it's the vibe we get uh in our houses in our communities that are so strong and so diverse whether it's the great Parts about living in a city amenities walkability um density and its potential positive impacts both on the economy and the um environment and then the good parts about living in a place where we are connected to Nature where we are connected to not just the land not just our food sources but really all of the world of the universe seeing the whole lifespan of where our food comes from chickens eggs which came first you know we can uh philosophize about that for hours and hours and I'm sure that my four-year-old uh is going to be very excited to play with some chickens so I urge you to pass um the ordinance uh regarding chickens and keep your minds open uh to make t the unique and special and best place it can be thank you thank you sir anyone else all right this public hearing is closed does anyone on Council want to say anything Miss beler I see you pushing the button no oh no no all right my bad my bad would you like to floor okay please feel free yeah so I'm going to just kind of start by just saying that um I I I really feel like um if there was um if I knew that it only took some cute kids to come in and to speak on an ordinance and it would really kind of move the hearts and minds and I think that we could probably do a lot more business because we have adorable kids in our community that being said uh regarding the chicken ordinance it probably will pass but I just want to go on record as to say I my f my grandfather uh owned a 450 Acre Farm in Abbyville Alabama and every year several times my parents would take us there and there were hundreds of chickens um so much so that um I kind of grew up knowing their you know how they smell and how they live and so on and so forth I just have an issue with um knowing that we're dealing with 5,000 uh square foot Lots um maybe 10,000 sare foot Lots housing chickens and yes they are adorable but they are they attract rodents um Wildlife boxes raccoons I believe a poer called in about an incident in Anglewood where raccoons came and consumed the the chickens so all I would say is this that um I cannot see our town in The Branding that we're looking to to put forth chickens as being a part of it for me so I'm probably going to vote no for it but I just want you to know why okay um I feel that it's important that we address a lot of other issues that we have in our Township that we can use the same amount of energy and efforts that can really help to solve for for those problems thank you thank you Miss belshire anyone else on Council want to say anything yes Miss Oregon Scott did you have an answer about the um question to the language I now I have too many mics okay um it's really question about whe the what the what the council wants to do if the council wants to restrict it to 25 fet within the owner's property or not um I understand Mr 's you know perspective on you know whether it's confusing or not I don't you know personally think it's confusing but uh it's I think it's really just a choice of what the council wants to do so the language to you're okay with the language it means that the owner of the house who owns the chickens can have the coupe up against their home it's 25 ft from the neighbors well currently the way the way it's set out it's that it's the 25 foot minimum from uh the owner's property as well so that should not be if if it's up to the council if the if the council wants to exclude that we can add the add the five words or so that and you agree it's to scribner's error uh if that's yes if that if that was the intent of the council then yes okay and can we pull Council and see if everyone's okay with that sure so so then this change would uh clarify the uh the language that it would the um the if we change the language to to what was suggested then you would not be you would be able to put one a chicken cooper run uh within the 25 ft of your of your own property keep the language as is would require that you maintain the 25 foot barrier from the owner's own property does that make more sense or from from their own so the neighbors are would be unaffected by this change yeah if we change it there's currently in the language it requires 25 ft from the property owners their own their own house if we change this that 20 25 foot uh uh requirement would be gone and they would be able to put it essentially up up against their house if they if they so want yes I would think that it's probably in the neighbors's best interest to allow us to to be closer to the person who has the chicken's own house so I think we should change it to bring it closer letting further from the neighbors okay we would just need a motion to amend uh amend this so that was a motion I'll second it Chang I got it yes indeed so that was a first from Deputy Mayor Kats and a second from mayor Pagan on that Amendment Upon a adoption councilman Schwarz councilwoman beler this is just on the amendment not the actual vote for that it's a yes and we have councilwoman Goldberg yes councilwoman Oregon yes Deputy Mayor Katz yes Deputy Mayor G yes mayor Pagan yes it is indeed amended does anyone else have anything you want to say yes orgon and then on on the ordinance I don't know if someone wants to make a motion to approve but uh for discussion I'll I'll make the motion on the ordinance and then um if there's a second just on discussion about all four ordinances yeah sure okay so on on the um chickens I I spoke to the health officer and there have been five complaints in Anglewood in total a few of them were for people that were housing roosters which would be illegal and a couple of them were for chickens that were running around unsupervised which would be illegal in according to this ordinance also otherwise there were no other complaints about chickens um and that's in the the municipality closest to us all right we have a first and a second to approve all four ordinances Mr cour you can pull yeah you can pull if you want to pull something yeah this is uh so now what we're doing Council just uh because we had some dialogue here just for everyone's understanding in the public we are now considering all ordinances for adoption we just handled a an amendment on ordinance number 11 and we had a first from councilwoman Oregon and a second from councilman Schwarz on the adoption of all these ordinances councilman Schwarz yes and all Council one beler yes ma'am we have councilwoman beler I mean sorry councilwoman Goldberg sorry yes to all councilwoman Oregon yes to all de May Catz yes to all w G yes all may Pon yes to all four all right 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 full names for the record comments shall be limited to three 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 on when speaking thank you someone on this side Mr Goen alliv Goen I don't know if this is working um the tenet Council passed a resolution on October 17th and we know there has been so much division among T neck residents while the focus on Town issues is so important development parks and play grounds so many other things the passage of the ordinance of the resolution on October 17th tore Our Town apart more than since October 7th more than 37,000 people in Gaza have been killed at least 177,000 of them children many thousands of people are still buried under the rubble many are facing starvation there are still hostages or political prisoners however we want to call them people all over the world are calling for a ceasefire I believe it's time for the tck Town Council to pass a resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza thank you thank you Mr govern someone bu not hear someone on Zoom I have Chuck Powers queued up good evening Council um first place I want to say that it is absolutely amazing that in 2024 in this resolutely diverse Township we could be having to say goodbye to a manager who probably has the allegiance and support of almost all residents in this town it's really quite impressive I'm we just hope we're anxious about it we certainly hope that our new that our new manager will be as concerned about the entire set of views and the majority of the views that emerge as we try to figure out the really tough issues certainly including development in this town I want to ask a question though about two resolutions first is the one to appoint Jacqueline hashmat routinely every time we we actually give anybody even a consultancy a uh we give them a Employment contract and yet in this resolution we're not doing that we stayed a few Provisions that will involve be involved in that appointment and then we say that all necessary Township officials are hereby authorized to implement this resolution and execute any documents necessary in connection there with I certainly hope it is the intention of this Township to make available whatever Employment contract this Township has with our manager and I believe that should have been provided as it almost always is in respect of any other major appointment in the in the agenda for tonight secondly I want to go to resolution 179 where in fact the township for some strange reason and we need to have an explanation before you folks vote on this is actually going to approve $40,000 for invoices most of which were received very recently in May as a matter of fact for charges that are not done within the last month by one of the law firms here in Akin saac Who provided us a a planning board attorney but in fact what we're going to do is give that that firm $40,000 on the basis of invoices that go back all the way to 2018 we need an explanation we are certainly not in a situ situation in this town right now since we don't you know we can't get anywhere near a budget to go ahead and start making additional um um payments to people without major explanation I've been all through those resolutions it I I'm in voices it does it's not there folks thank you Dr Powers thank you sir someone on this side Carol hi my name is Daryl green tck resident and I just wanted to say I'm hope the town proceeds with caution as it relates to adus our town we know we need revenue and on one side we say we don't want these massive buildings because of traffic however if we have 8us and let's say we have 3% or 2% in the town of 40,000 you talking about potentially more than a th000 households and I'm assuming each household that has an Adu and someone is moving in is going to have another vehicle we were up in arms with Alfred Avenue that massive complex that had 200 and some OD units if that U is approved you're talking about potentially a thousand or more costs just on a small fraction and then we have to look at the expense to the home homeowner for having an Adu and I'm very concerned with what would happen in my area the Northeast because I feel that that area could be a target for investors to turn that area into an Investor's dream which you can maximize the revenue because of all the space so let's proceed with caution with that I know we need Revenue but I don't think the adus are there yet let's look at the other municipalities Montclair let's study it let's see where this goes and let's not be in a rush to make a mistake thank you thank you Mr Green Doug someone on Zoom Jen Montag hi can you hear me ma'am hello can you hear me yes hi yes hi Jennifer Montag 20-year resident of EK good evening council members man manager kazinski new manager hashmat Doug how's it going I've been living on the corner of Grayson Place and Prince Street for the past 11 years the intersection of Grayson and Prince is a dangerous one and I have witnessed the aftermath of too many accidents in those 11 years including two in just the last couple of weeks there have been many many many more near misses there's a stop sign on Prince but not on Grayson and cars tend to hurdle down the hill at alarming speeds I'm fearful every time I pull out of my driveway there are several school and Camp buses that stop at this corner and I worry that those buses or the children on them will be hurt many teens cross this intersection on their way to and from the high school I worry for them too I have made previous requests for a four-way stop sign at this corner hoping that would slow down traffic make it easier to pull on to Grayson from Prince after stopping and avoid more accidents but that's been denied it's been brought to my attention that perhaps I'm asking for the wrong thing instead of a four-way stop I'm requesting a study be done to determine the best option for making this corner safe because right now it's not safe uh so thank you in advance for your consideration and um please vote Yes on the chicken ordinance thank you Miss sorry David Montag that was my wife also a 20-year resident of Tink and I also live at the corner of Grayson and Prince and like her I'm here to ask for a study I think that a four-way stop sign is probably feasible because there is a stop sign on Grayson one block up on Red Road but cars come flying down Grayson towards tck Road it's very difficult to see when you're pulling out of prints and just in the last two weeks there have been two accidents that I know of while I'm sitting in my house doing work you hear the bang you go outside and all of our neighbors come out and say what a shame we need a fourway stop so please take a look at that welcome that could be your first order of business and thank you Dean thank you sir Doug some on J Karan G good evening everybody how was every can you hear me loud and clear all right Kanan GT resident um I just wanted to take a moment to thank the council members that attended the juneth committee silent walk this past Saturday uh in attendance we had mayor Pagan uh Deputy Mayor G councilman Belin Oregon as well as councilman Schwarz so thank you also a special thanks to our town clerk Doug as well as the town manager Dean kazinski for all of your assistance coordinating as you always do every year um so on behalf of the Jun teth Committee of Tek I'd also like to remind and invite everyone to the juneteth flag raising tomorrow it will be at the V Park Sports plex at noon um finally and and certainly not least I just want to take a second to thank Dean for all his years of service and hard work um for the benefit of our Township I know our our new manager certainly has some big shoes to fill and I'm sure she'll be great but uh I I was happy to hear that Dean was willing to stay on as a consultant through the end of the year to assist with the transition sorry for the background it's a little chaotic over here Deputy Mayor G is at the council meeting so I'm I'm flying solo uh but uh I think it was a prudent decision by Council to uh keep Dean on through the end of the year um so basically Dean enjoy your retirement man uh hopefully you can transition from managing the township to managing more important things like your golf swing and and and whatever else you deem important in your retirement so uh best of luck to you uh by the way I also agree that we need to address the situation uh at Grayson and Prince um I've witnessed you know countless accidents at that corner over the years so it's something we need to look at uh also fully supports the chicken ordinance um so vote for that and with that I will say good night and as always please don't keep my wife out too late thank you thank you Mr G someone on this side miss Lea Grant hi my name is Leila Tink resident to my black brothers and sisters here in EK who like myself are descendants of islay Africans I pose this question what does it mean to celebrate juneth in a town that openly supports the racist fascist state of Israel what does it mean to celebrate juneth in a state in which our people face insurmountable systemic racism New Jersey has one of the nation's highest racial wealth disparities between white and black households in New Jersey we're five times more likely to be victims of police brutality we're 12 times more likely to be incarcerated compared to white folks who commit the same exact crime the ratio of black to white children locked up in New Jersey is 29 to1 last council meeting we heard so many of our neighbors emphasize how harmful the department development on Alfred AV is to their quality of life only for this Council to dismiss it as a project that has already been approved by their predecessors isn't this Teek business though aren't these the type of things that certain te council members and residents insist we focus on instead of international Affairs I mentioned all this to point out that what is happening in occupied Palestine and what has happened in and what is happening here are not unrel unrelated I have listened for years as black residents bring up legitim concerns only to be dismissed by this town's leadership as a resident of this town I have many local issues I would love to bring to this Council but if I cannot address something as basic as condemning genocide without being harassed and threatened then what good is it bringing up other issues Colonial constructs often praise and romanticize Liberation movements and figures we are all witnessing a moment in history in which decades from now those who support fascism will claim to have been opposed to it all along slavery was once legal as was segregation the Black Codes were written into law Freedom Fighters like Nelson Mandela were considered terrorists the Black Panther Party was considered a terrorist organization by our government Dr Martin Luther King was shot in the head and yet now they are celebrated as examples of American progress I suggest folks do some basic Research into Palestine look into where the Zionist occupation derives their racism and genocide title ideals from on this eve of juneth I teach my children that our Liberation is directly tied to the liberation of the Palestinian people because the system that enslaved our ancestors inspires the very entity that Slaughters and tortures Palestinians in their land today juneth should be more than an empty symbolic gesture to Pander to the black community it should be about restitution and reparations to our people happy juneth and free Palestine someone on Zoom Doug I got Michael have Micha on Zoom Mike give us a minute Mike you're free to one mute three minutes uh looks like my video is not working so sorry about that um I get up here um tonight on Zoom like I do at most Council meetings to talk to you about Street safety um and I'm glad to see and hear other residents bringing up the same kinds of issues uh that if we take them seriously we can really address at um at Grayson and Prince what we have is a situation that we all know is unsafe um one of the council members on social media possibly even two of the council members have been aware of this for many years um at that specific intersection and we have the option as a town to dedicate real resources not just to do a study and then put that study in our back pocket but to do a study um and proactively find what the right Solutions are for these intersections for these roads where we know that there are problems now that's not going to be an easy undertaking um but it is in undertaking that we really can do whether that means that we increase our dat ating at intersections whether that means that we paint stripes like we did on Sussex and Garrison to narrow the road um whether that means installing mini roundabouts stop for pedestrian signs or if it is the right thing to do install a four-way stop um we should be pursuing all of these challenges now just this week um I noticed that the ten police department had decided to enforce one of our traffic laws and uh they had big signs up on Cedar Lane and on Ten Road about this traffic law that they were going to be enforcing with rigor with a $250 sign and just today I saw 25 people um breaking this law now it might surprise you to hear that the law is that you may not ride bicycles on the sidewalk and that the majority of the people breaking this law were children uh or teenagers now the reason teenagers and children are riding their bikes on the side sidewalk is because our streets are not safe for them to ride in there is no bicycle infrastructure um for them to ride in and so they end up on the sidewalks unfortunately we have a blanket rule uh in our code which states that bicycles may not be ridden on the sidewalk I urge Council uh to investigate how we can improve our bicycle infrastructure and pedestrian infrastructure in the long term but also fix the ordinance so that a teenager doesn't get slapped uh with a $250 fine and uh at the very at least a you know a Stern warning from the police where that's not necessary now the other thing I wanted to call attention to was my friends over at Bergen County complete streets um who worked with us to send a letter to the uh County urging them to improve our County Roads including Cedar Lan and uh tck Road thank you Mr Rockland all right have a great day good night everybody and before we move on to the next speaker Mr clerk I make a motion to extend the meeting until midnight all those in favor please say I the eyes have it Dean nip I am Dean residing at 708 Pander walk I live directly across the street from five-star Senior Residence at 655 Pander walk the building was built in 1988 by classic residents by Hyatt it was permitted to be built in a residential Zone by a variance approved by the Tet Board of adjustment um yes but and P as because pomander walk is zoned as residential the building was considered tx's first highrise at five stories high the conditions and requirements that allowed for the construction of this building are detailed in a document called the developers agreement and are detailed in the board of adjustment resolution at that time within the agreement were accommodations to the objections of the neighbors including me I participated in input to that agreement all of whom were against the intrusion of a five-story high-rise building on idilic Rural old Commander walk so why am I here tonight because the public public needs to know that a terrible environmental catastrophe happened on pomander walk on April 23rd our forest the pomander walk forest located on land owned by festar but protected by the developers agreement had almost every tree cut down and the entire Forest understory of native shrubs cut down and shredded to hard wood chips I am distraught devastated and deeply saddened that the forest was destroyed and that the developers agreement between the township of tenek and five-star residents has been violated by five-star senior residents yeah so I am here to provide the township attorney with these legal documents that are enforcable and requ EST that the tck township attorney will pursue remediation and restoration for the commander walk forest with the remaining three minutes time that I have I will quote directly from the developers agreement preservation of existing trees the developer shall Safeguard and preserve all trees on the site except as such trees may be filled with the approval of the township shade tree supervisor uh transfer of the agreement and compliance the Covenant shall be enforcable the developer or its successors are assigns and that would be five star agrees to pay the township or the approving Authority thank you de cost in bringing any legal AC I'm sorry but your time is up including reasonable Council fees I'm going to provide this next yeah please share it with us yes Chris Brown Chris Brown please unmute can you all hear me yes sir loud and clear all right all right that's great thank you um thank you mayor and uh congratulations Dean on your retirement well deserved um since we're giving flowers to Dean tonight just also want to point out that the CT was installed with the on Beverly Road a few years ago after flooding um after Ida and after a major um downpour um um back in 2022 um Dean put Dean that was Dean's initiative and um our street Bell Avenue has um significant drain has a significant drainage problem that has probably saved us um you know multiple flooding events the uh the the Culvert that's on Beverly Road that being said the Culver's a short-term solution the long-term solution is detention tanks in Sagamore Park um Miss hashmat welcome um best of luck getting started and as Town manager um that's you know hopefully that's uh a project that um you you're going to be well familiar with in next in the coming weeks um we uh really need to make progress on that uh on that infrastructure project putting the detention tanks in Sagamore um I'm not sure where that is well I I I have an idea of where it is right now in the pipeline but in terms of getting going out to bid I don't think I don't know I don't believe that the town is close to going out to bid which is disappointing um the climate is changing summers are getting hotter we're about to be in a heat dome for the next few days ocean temperatures are getting are increasing um and hurricanes are going to are becoming more powerful right so um we are at higher risk for flooding and as the as the years and the Summers continue and every summer where the C where the detention tank is not placed in Sagamore um residents on Bell Avenue are at further risk for losing tens of thousands of dollars uh because of a drainage problem which is a Township issue so just wanted to um bring that to everyone's put that back in back back in the conversation so with that said Dean enjoy enjoy your retirement you deserve it m hashmat welcome and all the best of luck thank you all thank you Mr Brown ma'am again if you could just try not to block the camera uh Amanda Carney blocking I'm sorry go ahead three minutes I'm Amanda and I want to Echo the recognition of juneth in this meeting as the meaningful holiday it is for black communities in UK and I especially want to recognize this holiday for those who will not get the day off that they owed may you be compensated for the with the reparations from this country that you are long overdue I find it very laughable or at least I would if it wasn't diabolical that on the day before juneth we spent so much of this meeting congratulating and celebrating law enforcement it exemplifies the fraud of EK the facade of diversity when really the town celebrates the tools of Oppression and death to Corral the racialized working class in their place back in the 2020 uprisings EK joined in with their own protest demanding space for hurt and rage that still courses through this town you may be saying to yourself that's not the event that I went to and if that's not the if that's the case that's because you went to the police Coral parade not the proest that wasn't afraid to recognize the police as the aggressive they are this protest stopping in front of the precincts for a short amount of time was met by snipers on the roof by EK PD mind you this was while members of the panel family were talking about the murder of Philip panel by a UK officer in 1990 four years ago UK PD met black residents and youth with snipers I don't say this expecting some recognition or shame for that history because I recognize that this continues today but I want to put this on the official record so fast forward to May of 2021 tpd then turned their weapons and shields towards Pro Palestine protesters expecting to be Unleashed on the families that have attended that protest when shik Zar was under attack by tin IDF Personnel do you see who the tenk police is to marginalized residents of tenek who are repeatedly beaten and attacked I'm speaking to my te residents now the ones who know the brunt and of of the the violent force of the state we don't have to accept this and we can build a future that we want to live in now with the communities that we currently have and the communities that we will make fre Palestine someone on Zoom Doug I have councilwoman Jon Romney rice yes good evening thank you Doug and I just want to add my congratulations to Dean um I also want to just say happy juneth um while tinck is not a perfect place it is made more perfect by people who are rolled up their sleeves and have gone to work and I've have been very pleased to be able to say that I have stood shoulder-to-shoulder with many people in this Township and Dean is one of them who has certainly gone above and beyond and rolled up his sleeve and because he is Teck born and Brad he knows what it's like to live amongst folks who live in a diverse Community who have has tried and lived the walked the walk and lived the Creed of trying to treat people with humanity and dignity and for that Dean I will forever be grateful uh I think it takes a special person um and a special people to live in a community that desire to treat every person with respect um it's going to be very challenging I'm sure for a new manager but for those of us who truly desire for equity diversity and inclusion it can be achieved for those who want to remain in glass houses and not throw stones well therefore you know they will remain in those glass houses and the harmony that we desire may not be achieved but for those of us who are willing to roll up our sleeves hopefully we will continue to be able to do so with people like Dean kazinski and people who want to live in a world that prepares Global Citizens because that what that is what the world is like uh people who don't necessarily look like you or think like you or believe like you but Global Citizens who are prepared to make this world a better place and I'm happy to say that we had such a person here that served our community faithfully and every day amongst many odds but you wouldn't know it because he did it each day with a smile so thank you so much Dean um this evening is dedicated to you and uh whatever happens with the chickens will happen but um who knows what will come first the chicken or the egg and in any event have a great night all thank you Miss ronley rice Miss Angel hi good evening can you hear me okay right good hi good evening my name is Maxine angel I'm a t neck resident proudly representing District 3 as a member of the e e e e e e e Teck High School class of 76 and Thomas Jefferson Class of 73 I have to say it is true that we have been truly divided in our community and I remember distinctly back in 1972 when my family first moved here the issue was Vietnam War and by the time I graduated TCH High School back in class of 76 the issue was they're partied in South Africa but we haven't learned the lessons that yet I remember when I visited Jerusalem under the urging of my shake and scholar shap and Bass from Mecca University he told me to go see for myself what time it is so I went yes it's a parttime very few people like to admit it racism yes went to the West Bank yes the intelligence Community said no I I cannot go to Gaza visit Gaza this is the time of two year 2000 in inata second inata no but I'd like to raise this other point so maybe perhaps the mayor and the community members that's sitting if I would to say to my African-American brothers and sisters that they should kill somebody because they are Klux clan members and they're resting in the hospital over there at Holy Name Hospital do they have a right no that' be outrageous they have a right to blow up Holy Name Hospital because they think CL clan members are hiding somewhere in the basement the Holy Name hospital is that correct no they have a right to blow up New York City Atlanta Birmingham many of these cities because they feel that CL Club clan members are hiding in these cities no it's outrageous it's insult it's a war crime I'm a criminal if I was to make that kind of preach to a civilized world and yet this is accepted by my unfortunate ignorant Hebrew neighbors Justice is a true evidence of faith and it's time that we as Muslims and Jews and Christians have to sit down together whether we're imams preachers or rabbis and talk about solution thank you sir your time is up issues someone on this side rabbi fredman good evening it's always wonderful to be together with our neighbors I want to give a very special welcome back to Deputy Mayor Catz God willing continue to be strong and well uh of course a very special welcome to Jacklin we wish you of course uh only uh the very best it was such a pleasure uh thank you Yousef for introducing me uh to a very new neighbor of our of ours in EK I don't know if Muhammad is still here but Muhammad has only been here for a week and we hope that you'll find EK to be the wonderful place uh that I have found it to be uh for my family uh we celebrated a wonderful um occasion in the Jewish center of Tink at our 91st annual dinner which was just on Sunday we had a new Torah scroll dedication and of course inside this the Torah scroll which is the holiest object in our faith it says that all human beings are created in the very image of God and so I join in all of those celebrating uh juneth tomorrow of course the abolition of slavery uh in this country is a great victory for all people created in the Divine image slavery is a crime not only against man but against the Divine image against God um himself and so we all join in the celebration of human dignity I hope we'll all take to heart Dean's wish and his very moving farewell remarks that we treat each other with love and kindness and respect in this Township no matter what differences we may hold I saw the tears in the eyes of Maxine's daughters who came to the synagogue immediately after the incident and it wasn't the only incident over the holiday of bias we're better than that as a Township we can't be treating each other that way or speaking to each other with such hatred and vitreal every one of us has been created uh in the image of God every one of us is deserving of decency and respect and so respectfully Imam I have to tell you that yes we have our arms outstretched but the path towards decency and the path towards civility is not by making inflammatory comments and calling people ignorant with whom that you have disagreements we can and must do better than that anti-Semitism is not acceptable any form of hatred and bias is not acceptable EK is a wonderful place because of people like Dean and what has Dean stood for for over 40 years other than decency humanity and respect ECT I hope and pray Dean that this town will always be worthy of your legacy thank you thank you R someone on this side Mr seagull yes Mr seagull thanks and good evening my name is Rich seagull um I seem to be running for congress um the reason I'm running is uh the tinck high school students who uh held a walk a walk out for Palestine and um I thought that was really heroic of uh 15 16 17-year-old kids to have the initiative to exercise their first amendment rights and they were met by accusations of anti-Semitism by one of our council members and also by our congressmen so um I decided that um uh we need politicians who actually believe in the First Amendment who actually believe in freedom of speech so I seem to have become one um oh and Mr Mayor uh history is not going to treat you kindly for your trip to Israel while Israel is conducting a genocide I don't know if people noticed but um the last time I was at one of these meetings I was called a liar uh by two people by a rabbi and by a member of this Council and previous to that um I was a victim of a of a liel in a video uh produced by another member of This Town Council and um I've also had numerous incidents at my home um I had a rabbi shouting obscenities at my house I had a aisle of left in the middle of my lawn I mean I've had anyway a friend of mine Peter Cohen who is also an anti-zionist Jew and a good friend of mine had this to say and I think I'm gonna quote it because I think he says it better than me with all this talk about a rise in anti-Semitism and Hate against Jews the only hate I experience as a Jew is from zionists truly I've never seen such abusiveness the hate speech abuse and persecution by Zionist Jews against other Jews is a social phenomenon that should be recognized studied and included in discussions of hate speech and that's my experience um and that's why I didn't come to the last meeting because I was accused of having been part of a plot when I said that um I went to the bathroom and then I noticed that the two women were being arrested I actually did need to go to the bathroom that's why I left the room H thanks a lot you said Zoom was back up right Doug someone on Zoom please I have Nadira Nadira if you could hear me you're free to me you should hear me by now he yes I can hear you dear you have three minutes thank you for your patience okay and you can see me as well good thank you so much good evening council members my name is nadra last fall you all adopted a resolution that expressed solidarity with the foreign state of Israel which is a recognized criminal apartheid regime as Amnesty International investigation and Report revealed I understand that the adoption of that resolution by the city Council was followed by the resolution on peace and unity after community members held demonstrations in response to the blatant lack of consideration for the Decades of Palestinian plot oppression murders rapes theft Satler colonization that ramped up over the past 76 years all of which have been in blatant violation of international law that being said it shouldn't have taken a demonstration to expose the discriminatory and inconsiderate nature of that initial resolution just as it shouldn't take a Contin is push for council members to initiate an investigation of establishments within the community like the congregation KRA for hosting real estate events that are both in violation of national and international law as Rich seagull has previously pointed out and I will reiterate such events are in violation of the Civil Rights Act of 1965 and the Fair Housing Act of 1968 since they exclude other ethnicities and demographics and they are in violation of international law since all settlements in the occupied territories of Palestines are illegal and three other locations where the real estate but plots of lands were being sold are located within the West Bank which is where my part of my family is from so I urge you all to do what's right investigate and Implement regulations that strongly discourage and prohibit this sorts of illegal events from taking place and last but not least I am aware of the mayor's recent visit to the apara Colonial settler state that is currently engaging The Continuous Mass ethnic cleansing and genocide of Palestinians in Gaza and even the West bank with the increase of illegal settler violence over the past few months not counting the 76 years of grave crimes committed against Palestinians so I encourag the mayor to spend some time in those occupied areas to get a clear picture of life for Palestinians under occupation and the dire crimes committed against them on a daily basis before October there were over four 200 Palestinians had already been murdered in the West Bank with over 500 of them being murdered since then and that's actually since last October over a large portion of which do includes children in Gaza according to the accurate reports of euromed Human Rights monitor over 41,000 innocent civilians have been killed and almost 26 thousands of which are women and children these are innocent family members loved ones and neighbors who have long lived in an open air concentration camp and deserve to live with their rights and dignities intact to pursue their hopes and dreams like everyone else in this world so I caution your continuous bias at best and at worst complicit and bl blatant dis regarding or supporting acts and behaviors that are not only recognized as International war crimes and human rights violations but also violations of federal law and above all I urge you all to have the meral courage to do and acknowledge what is right for our Collective Humanity Heidi fukes ten resident for 52 years tonight we honor and celebrate two individuals whose dedication and service have profoundly enriched our community mayor Pagan and our esteemed Township man manager Dean not I'm going to even try to pronounce your last Nick firstly I would like to extend my heartfelt gratitude to the mayor recently you embarked on a significant mayor's mission on an international stage this mission was not merely a journey it was a bridge building Endeavor that underscores our commitment to fostering Global relations and understanding your recent visit highlights the values of diplomacy cultural exchange a mutual respect that Teck holds dear participation in this Mission has shown that EK is not just a tan on the map but a Vibrant Community ready to engage with the world we are deeply grateful for your dedication and vision your trip embodies the spirit of connection and progress that we strive to achieve thank you for being an ambassador of TX values and for working tirelessly to bring the world a bit closer to our doorstep now I turn my attention to a pillar of our community someone whose service has been at bedrock of stability and progress in EK our Township manager Dean tonight we honor you for an incredible 40 plus years of dedicated service for four decades you have been the Steady Hand guiding our Township through both calm and turbulent times and of course covid your commitment to public service has been unwavering and your leadership has been marked by wisdom integrity and unyielding commitment to the well-being the residents and countless outbound calls with tck updates you are truly the voice of EK your tenure has seen Tink grow and flourish in countless ways from the development of infrastructure to the enhancement of Public Services your cont contributions Have Been instrumental in shaping the tenf we know and love today your ability to manage the complexities of local government with Grace and efficiency has earned you the respect and admiration of colleagues and community members alike beyond your professional accomplishments your personal dedication to our Township reflected in the countless hours of work and countless acts of kindness has left an indelible mark on all of us your legacy is one of service compassion and a deep love for our community as we celebrate the 40 plus years of service we also celebrate the countless lives you have touched and the enduring impact you have made thank you to Dean for your par unparalleled commitment to tenek you have set a standard of Excellence and public service that will inspire future Generations your contributions have not only shaped our present but have also laid a strong foundation for TX future thank you thank you Miss fukes Doug I make a motion to extend the meeting to 12:30 um Mr we have about $10 million of Bill it's about 30 liquor licenses so if we we've heard from quite a bit of our people so I'd like to make a motion that we extend what I'd like to oh I'd like to make your motion that we no I hear you I hear you but I made a motion first to just extend the meeting if that's okay um at 12:30 and then we'll take up your motion all those in favor of extending the meeting till 12:30 guys have I'm sorry Mr Schwarz please go ahead you were saying I'd like to make the motion that be closed good well in 10 minutes second councilman Schwarz councilwoman belard no you say there about five people on Zoom right now on Zoom yeah okay I vote um no because we want to hear saying to extend we have listen sessions on Jewish holidays let's not talk about listening to you know what this is our job call the R I was with Council Bel Council one Goldberg yes coun Oregon yes thatby mayor Catz no thatb mayor G no mayor Pagan yes good and Welfare ends in 12 minutes someone on this side Mr Rose thank you and good evening Howard Rose tenek resident I speak from a perspective that's pretty informed pretty knowledgeable having bought a house here 45 5 years ago having a store on Cedar Lane now for a quarter of a century being very involved for many years as a volunteer to the community elected official on the school board nine years appointed to the planning board 16 years as well as several other organizations that I've worked with within EK I try and keep on some things a very simple perspective I look upon the council as a group of people people who say what tck should be through its actions through its ordinances but I look upon the manager as a person who gets it done in this case Dean well done thank you different topic there was an article in this week's suburbanite uh not an article I'm sorry a letter from Henry puit and he's indicating that he'd like to see a person appointed to make sure that the town looks good visually in terms of people's property in terms of their housing in terms of their businesses we've had council members say wait a second let's let's not do that it's a terrible thing to do uh we' have neighbors talking about other neighbors we'd have uh people who are being harassed well actually that's not not a correct statement in one respect helping people get their property better reminding them of what the needs are of what things should be done in order to maintain their property securing help for them to get it done these are all good things why would that be harassment the only people being harassed are the neighbors nearby who have to look next to live next to a a yard of weeds a house that's starting to fall apart that's the real harassment why would anyone be against the town being maintained there's certain levels and ways of doing it that are reasonable reminders issue a summons Next Step impose a penalty it can take be taken by steps but it's all with the main goal of securing a better situation in the neighborhoods on the individual's property no reason not to do it there's no reason to think of it as a negative thing why would it be negative I'd like an explanation specifically from the council member who thinks it's harassment when it only helps to get things better thank you Mr Rose someone on Zoom Doug I have Sarah your freedom and mute hi good evening Sarah Kanan and T resident I'm here tonight to speak because Ian inspired me if you recall seven-year-old Ian who spoke at the town meeting regarding chickens um I've never yet spoken at a town meeting but if Ian can speak I can speak to um Ian is a well-mannered child he's always the one to say please and thank you and he's a happy go-lucky grateful child let's pass the chicken ordinance to give chickens to the Ians of tenek my neighbor too wants chickens when it's knowns they always plow my front sidewalk while I certainly don't want chickens in my backyard he has always been a good neighbor and as admirer of Ian's good character and in good faith to my neighbor I'm here to request for you to pass ordinance and chickens it will mean so much to many families here in Tina I'm also here to speak about the intersection of Grayson and Prince it is a dangerous intersection understatement in the past month there was two accidents there that require required 911 or Tac one that occurred three weeks ago and another again four days ago there are many many more closed calls where I hear screeching breaks this intersection is right near tink high school Lacy School heal high school and another daycare it's also an emergency route and a corner that has multiple school bus stops about a month ago my kindergartener was nearly hit by a car that was speeding up Grayson my heart stopped when I saw the driver Screech his brakes nearly like hitting him um I've been told that there was a study done here years ago at this corner I questioned did they do this study during the summer when it was quiet did they do the study when kids were coming out from the high school on their lunch break I'm here to request a good intersection design that will address the problem the problem is one they're speeding up and down this Grayson Hill two there's frequent accidents and many many more close calls three this is a bus stop it is emergency route it's near four schools four there's cars edging out of prints because they cannot see their vision is obstructed five there is no visibly Main P painted crossworks which are not only good for pedestrians but also help drivers know where to stop please have a look at this corner and thank you so much for all your time for staying up late to hear me out um and for all that you do good night someone on this side sir my name is Lee Miller D resident May Pagan I'm curious if during your recent trip to Jerusalem you had the opportunity to visit rala Nablus haara or even East Jerusalem or indeed anywhere else in the occupied Palestinian territories where you would have seen with your own eyes the abysmal apartheid state that is Israel where you would have seen the endless checkpoints daily harassment and humiliation of the Palestinian people that has been thoroughly documented since the beginning of the occupation by countless historians humans rights groups and international institutions that you would undertake such a clearly selfish and onid of Journey to that apartheid state in the midst of an ongoing and thoroughly documented genocide indeed show shows your true colors at first I thought to call This Town Council a failure however the word failure implies that one has attempted to do something about the open display of racism islamophobia and physical harm that has been directed at people who are speaking out against the genocide and ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people many have tried to appeal to the conscience of This Town Council with the names and stories of Palestinian Martyrs many of whom are women and children but it seems one cannot appeal to a conscience which is non-existent instead I would call the actions or perhaps inaction of This Town Council a betrayal you have betrayed people who believe in human rights people who are against colonization and people who stand against oppression no matter who is doing the oppressing additionally in the last few months the amount of lip service I have seen in these meetings in particular to the black community while simultaneously harassing and endangering members of that same Community leaves one in awe of the insin inity the insincerity to quote as many have done here people like Martin Luther King James Baldwin and others to quote people who stood against exploitation people who stood against apartheid and with ahistorical gymnastics trying to use their quotes as a trojan horse to justify the continued oppression of the Palestinian people I will finish by reminding everyone in this room that lip service and Declarations of friendship are not standin for solidarity solidarity is understanding the the historical context of the Palestinians of African-Americans of Iraqis of yemenis of anyone anywhere that is on the receiving end of an American Rifle it is my hope that as a result of the global solidarity with the people of Gaza and the inevitable dissolution of the Israeli apartheid state that all of us can throw away the backward Notions of ethnostates racial segregation and exploitation finally it is my hope that people like you mayor Pagan who up these doomed sand castles are ultimately washed away into irrelevance thank you and free Palestine someone on Zoom D bringing in Jasmine please say your name for the record hello can you hear me loud and clear hi my name is Jasmine Ray I'm a lifelong T resident I know it's late so I'm going to keep it short and sweet I only have a few questions for the council at large and then I'll be on my way so first as many have already interrogated I just want to know how the council at large feels knowing that they claim to be so proud of Tek for being the first integrated Township and yet our mayor is going to an apartheid state for a co-op trip do we think that aligns with the values you claim to have or is that hypocritical two as it is the eve of juneth I wonder if this Township is going to actually apply any kind of empathy training quote unquote that has been talked about for months now in terms of the representation they want to have moving forward is there going to be any true reparations for the the violent misar we see every week at these meetings how are you going to make it up to your own fellow members such as Deputy Mayor G and councilwoman Belcher for the blatant racism they constantly are facing at these meetings along with your constituents and lastly when are you going to do the basic Duty in calling out the ridiculous nature of this town the hypocrisy in this town you want to have people like Josh gimer at a meeting after vilifying the children of this Township and giving license to further abuse and death threats to students students that just graduated and students are going to continue to go about their time in t neck feeling like there is a constant threat on their shoulder what are you going to do to make amends for that that's all and free palestin we have one more person Amit and then good first clst oh Mr Berliner I was saying amate sorry and this will be our last speaker Allan please please no outbursts AMT the floor is yours hi uh am Raman tck resident so uh good night to the council uh I'd just like to ask a couple questions about the uh the budget and other miscellaneous items so when is the budget expect to be passed do we have a heart date that we're working towards or are we late and are there any repercussions to being late now with regards to the uh the sale of a cell tower do we kind of have an idea of what the expected income or revenue from that sale would be is that a land lease or a full sale when we're speaking about that Tower and is there any more information that you can share about that sale and do we have a rough idea on the percentage towards the points of a a municipal tax that will be reduced by the offset of the sale of that cell tower also just a more general question do we have an idea when the master plan is expected to be P I still don't know if we have like a hard date that we're working towards and were there renders for the library or public input I just kind of wanted to see what the plan and layout would be I see that we're working or I heard the date for September for construction it seemed kind of soon I still don't know what that library is going to look like so thank you thank you ammer Ware is closed Mr Schwarz would you like to start us off sir sure I'll jump right in and try to make it as quick as possible as it relates to the budget the um the ansers remain the same for the last a month or so um in tonight's if uh in tonight's packet we'll have some resolutions to uh approve the next set of bids for the cell phone tower after the tower is um bid on with that wien bid we could take that money and work on finishing up the budget I believe the budget set for introduction in mid July uh we're completely on schedule as it relates to that I can't answer as it relates to the master plan I'm not on that board um as or nor the library um two other comments um as it relates to Grayson and Prince and I spent some time uh the police uh did not agree with it forway stop sign several years ago um I I spent some time out at the intersection and um I sent this over to the police and the manager asking that there's a large tree at the Northwest intersection that when combined with cars parking on that Northwest side of gree and makes the sight line limited that combined with a clear speed issue as cars head down the hill create that danger which is basically forcing cars to apparently just crash into each other um we do need to either work on uh I don't want to cut down the tree that's just my personal opinion but I think that we need to do a small section of the north side of Grayson west of Prince for approximately 50 feet to make sure no car no cars park there so the people traveling westbound on pce and Southbound on Prince can see those on coming cars so I sent that to the manager last week in addition to bigger stop signs or maybe even the flashing ones that we removed from our friends on Palmer um Avenue um lastly and I'm going to address this to both my council members that had that attended a listening session and some of the people in the room that initiated a listening session both the Orthodox Jewish people and our Muslims have a lot of holidays I get that we have a ton of holidays there is a 21 stre week stretch of days where there are only three nights during the week that the Orthodox Jewish residents cannot come out that's 140 days there's a stretch three of them they cannot come out and you chose a listening session because I thought we're all here to listen to everyone to do that listening session I think we can do better than that thank you beler he thank you um I want to just address a few um folks that spoke first first of all um juneth is tomorrow and there are many events that are around town it's a great opportunity to um to really attend to to really see why it's important to recognize not so much celebrate but recognize juneth it's not a celebration um when we think about Harry Tubman went back into the South 13 times to liberate to free people and that's why uh juneth is something that we really should um encourage our young people to study and understand couple quick things um in terms of the code enforcement um officer uh Mr Rose I just want to say that it is important it's something that is uh perhaps you can get your your question answered uh I just want to mention that on today on the cdc's website and uh I know you know the chicken ordinance has passed but a CDC said that the bird flu is widespread in wild birds worldwide and is causing outbreaks in po Tre and US dairy cows with one recent human case in a US Dairy worker so whatever we do we have to manage whatever ordinances we pass we have to manage and that's what code enforcement does it simply helps us to manage what we are passing laws for so perhaps we can certainly um keep an eye on that because we certainly want our residents to be safe in in in light of um uh raising chickens in the backyards um um a couple other things I just want to mention I attended last week the um New Jersey Planning and Development conference it was very insightful the the number one topic of discussion was adus um accessory dwelling units was the number one topic because there are so many townships within our uh state that are looking at adus to help with affordability and affordable housing intergen generational living so um I would just say for those people that would like more information certainly reach out to me I have a ton of information I'd love to share um I want to mention also the master plan is in the review state the planning board has it and they are reviewing it and and actually um adding comons so stay tuned for that um in terms of uh more additional information thank you Chris Brown regarding the detention um tanks um I certainly think that that status looking at um where we are uh in in terms of that should be uh forthcoming uh as Dean has mentioned in his comments um I just want to say Dean it's it's here again lastly it's been a pleasure you know working with you um regarding listening sessions we myself and Deputy Mayor G were invited guests we were asked by our block associations the various I believe there are five block associations throughout our our town if there are more I would welcome any other Block Association or any other entity to invite us we'd love to to share and we we simply have been invited and we went we did not look at the calendar we didn't say did you you know is is are these dates good or bad or indifferent we were not the organizers we were the invited guests okay just want to make that very very clear but certainly if any uh entity within our Township would love to have a listening session with myself and Deputy Mayor G certainly reach out to us thank you just uh two points am the library is having um at two o'clock on Sunday uh to meet the architect and to see the plans so worth going to if you're free um and they should be on the website as well and to Mr Rose you listed summonses and fines as not being negative but they are negative someone's going to come to your house and give you a summons and then they're going to come to your house and give you a fine um and it's going to be their job to do that without listening to you and without hearing what the issue that you have is it's going to be their job to give you a summons for not mowing your lawn or not shoveling your snow or whatever the issue is it will be their job to do that that is a negative um and that will be uh in my opinion a used as a tool it's going to be weaponizing that person when a neighbor is not happy with what is going on in their neighborhood and that is the reason that I am against the code enforcement officer we have a building department we have a health department if things are not as they should be anybody is welcome to make a complaint with them and they have resources we have a social worker in town they have resources within those departments to help people if their homes are falling into disrepair or they have issues within their homes and their families that's not the purpose in my opinion of a code enforcement officer and that's the reason I don't support it not because I don't want us to have nice neighborhoods and not because I don't want our neighbors to have nice properties next door to them I don't think it will be used in the right way and that's that that's the reason I understand why people want it I just don't think it's the solution B thank you Mr Mayor so I want to congratulate Jesse Leon and the keep keep chickens Teck group for their incredibly hard work in getting backyard chickens well it would have been amazing to see Jesse at Teck Road hop bagels and his chicken costume collecting signatures for a chicken referendum which is I heard what was going to be next I'm really glad it wasn't needed and finally passed uh deian I think she left but I did see her email about um the trees and I sent that to our attorney so I'm unsure if the trees are in violation of the recent tree ordinance or um it should be referred to the planning board to address uh so I'm going to defer to Scott to answer that Dean thank you again so much for everything and uh regarding the traffic study this uh I I know council member Schwarz addressed this too but I'm gonna pose the question I guess to the rest of the council also and see what they think so we've been hearing a lot about traffic concerns lately um and so I just wanted to get their thoughts and we can add this to the next agenda to discuss in full but perhaps we need a pedestrian traffic study um safety task force or subcommittee or a B to leave subcommittee which is myself councilman Oregon and Deputy Mayor Catz to include traffic safety and concerns um to work on some of these issues as a whole um and then come back to the full Council to see because we're we're hearing a lot and going corner by corner is not necess neily the most efficient maybe addressing it systematically might be better that's it thank you m Goldberg Deputy Mayor Gan um I'm going to try to address the comments that were not already addressed um Paula I just want to know I hear you um in terms of calling for another resolution I personally have learned my lesson I don't believe we should pass any more resolutions having to do with International Affairs I think we all have our own individual opinions and we're you know they are valid but I just don't think believe they belong here so unfortunately I would not support any more International um resolutions um the safety um I deeply concerned about the numerous intersections that residents have flagged to the township I think we need a more systematic way of addressing this um you know agree with what councilwoman uh Goldberg said about coming up with a new way to look at it I live very close to Grayson ince and so and my son is uh on a bus that gets picked up uh very close to that corner so I am equally concerned about um that intersection um I wanted to someone asked about the empathy training so uh shout out to chery hall for getting that scheduled it is taking place on July 7th and July 8th so it is in fact happening um Maxine angel I wanted to address your comments um first I'm so sorry that your children experienced anti-semitic harassment no child or person should ever have to experience that um my heart goes out to you and your family um and today your comments really resonated with me because my family has also recently experienced harassment my son was called the n-word by a classmate in his school and had to see him every day for the rest of the year um and more recently my husband and I were subject to the most hateful and vile attack online by a town resident that we also have to see very frequently um in these settings and I think no person should ever have to experience that but I'm hopeful because the response to that horrible attack was almost unanimous by people of every Creed religious background in town and so I never felt more supported or more sure that most of us share the same values if we can just continue to try to find Common Ground second I want to address um the listening session you along with council member Schwarz um mentioned that it was hosted on a Jewish holiday like councilwoman beler mentioned this was not a Township sponsored event we did not choose the dates the person who let it actually happens to be Jewish and chose the date so maybe you know we should have double checked but we assumed the date was solid um this was a scheduling oversight on the part of leadership and it was not intentional if our goal as a community is truly to end the divisive divisiveness then I implore residents and my Council colleagues to assume best intent or if you don't want to assume best intent and you're not sure lead with curiosity ask questions rather than accuse people of dubious intent the the mere Act of coming to this Podium or sitting on this dayis and accusing certain council members of purposeful Mal inent only contributes to the the divisiveness that you accuse of us accuse us of so I echo my Council memb comments that please invite me to your synagogues to your neighborhood listening session wherever you'd like I'd be happy to attend if there was no Mal intent we weren't trying to purposely leave anyone out and I resent any accusations of of such going forward um I will wrap up there thank you our retiring man cons manager is there anything you would like to say uh just quick uh cell phone Power uh bids will be in by July 9th uh we will introduce the budget by the 16th we have until July 19th to introduce the budget so we're not in any violation and at the August meeting we will um adopt the budget so we'll do the introduction on July 16th and we'll adopt the budget on the 19th Grayson and Prince they already have emails at DPW just to look at the tree trimming at that intersection larger signs the police will look at that and I have engineering looking at redesigning the intersection for traffic harming purposes and larger stop signes thank you Mr manager Mr clerk I make a motion to extend the meeting until 12:45 p.m. all those in favor please say I the eyes have it Mr salmon thank you Mr Mayor I I want to address two things that were raised uh at the beginning of food and Welfare by Mr Powers two good questions that I think talking uh first Mr power's asked about M hashm employment agreement does have an employment agreement intended to include it in agenda packet which is why resolution 174 2024 expressly States it's actually inclosing the agreement I forgot to attach it to the email when I sent it to Doug to uh the the email that included resolution Doug um P an accident uh I didn't realize that included until meeting Council vure asked me about it um at that point it was too late for us to conert it in the agenda packet uh but dou spoken with Doug he's going to be inserting it into the minutes of the meeting it'll also be available to anyone that want no request it will be publicly available to who ask uh second Mr P asked about resolution 179 2024 Which authorized payment of $440,000 to the law firm that previously represented planning board the law firm is called Dario Albert Mets Canda Canon and Ortiz several months ago the township received more than $90,000 in invoices from that from that firm dating as far back in 2019 uh because those invoices were so late some of them dealt with planning board applications that have long since been closed they were duplicate dup get invoiced with in there there were lots of you know other problems with them at least with some some of them the township was uncomfortable paying the invoice full as as bu um however there was still a significant amount of work that was done by the law firm and we apparently did not have a contract with them that required them to submit their invoices within a specific uh set amount of time since there is a six-year statute for uh issues like this to avoid litigation uh uh with with the law firm over payment of the invoices blessing the Town Council my office negotiated a with the law firm question and we were able to obtain a settlement with them of less than half they were seeking the $40,000 that's going to save the township somewhere in the neighborhood of $50,000 plus all the attorneys fees that we have spent had we decid not to pay them and they Su um we want to make sure this obviously doesn't happen again uh like receiving invoices for things that happened up five years ago um so I've been discussing with with Dean with Issa some policies that we can put in place to ensure that it doesn't happen again that we're not being sent in so so late uh we're talking about uh instituting bilding guidelines for law firms other vendors well as more specific more specific requirements contracts forward I hope that answers Sam just since uh it was our error and Dr Paris did ask instead of having him do an oer can we just send him the agreement we can do that yeah can we posted online is that it's it doesn't part of the minutes anyone can request it we can send pow to thank you all our next order of business is the consent agenda and all matters listed on the consent agenda are considered to be routine in nature by Council and 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 content agenda and will be considered separately Mr clerk can you please read the amount of the bill list into the record yes sir mayor we have our last consent agenda with Township manager Dean kazin this evening we have four sets of minute resolutions 174 all the way up to 2115 2024 including that last minute liquor licens Edition council do not forget and the bill list in the amount of 10,8 21,32 and four M Mr Mayor I want to pull uh 180 2024 on the bills list okay anybody else if no one is going to pull anything else I make a motion approve the consent agenda uh moved second Schwarz excluding the bills list and resolution councilwoman Goldberg you said 180 correct yeah and the bills list uh we had a first from the mayor second from councilman Schwarz councilman Schwarz yes Council woman beler yes councilwoman Goldberg yes to all but an extension on 179 councilwoman Oregon no on 179 yes on the rest Deputy Mayor cat um abstain from the bill list yes on we're not voting on the bill L right now sorry sir great um I also abstained from all the liquor license renewals and uh do you have an address for 206 2024 it only lists the block number block and lot um I'm sorry which resolution number is that M 206 2024 you don't have to do in the middle of the vote just I guess I'll stain on that one but if you can get me the address on that I will get you the address on that apologies or yes yes to but please mark the exension on the liquor license uh r and 206 and G yes and mayor Pagan yes consent agenda is passed Miss Goldberg the floor is yours okay so first on the bills list um I was looking at the bills list and the in at the invoices for Professional Services and again the wiener F wiener firm is billing us for Board of Ed cost um this is the second time it's happened so I want to request that we suspend the payments to weiner firm pending a thorough internal investigation of his invoices to ensure that all of the charges for the town are for the township of tck and then Scott going forward can you review and physically sign off on the bills to make sure that every entry is actually ours to make sure that we're spending our money so we're he said yes I want to we shouldn't Scott to review all of the wiener firm bills that are on the bills list so I don't know if we need to pull them off the bills list that but there's board ofed entries on there weren't weren't we going to do that after the last time they build us for Bard ofed I think he reviewed them but I don't and now I think I want I want a physical signature going forward like I think I know I don't want to say Tom is reviewing them I know so I don't know who reviewed them this time am I to understand that we're ask asking an attorney to audit another attorney is is that what we're doing or why wouldn't we ask our CFO to do that why we have because this the attorney is going to know the litigation stuff the CFO is not going to my understanding is that Issa did review the bills but he doesn't know the litigation entries that are on there to know that this is not the township so the attorney would have to review it no I mean historically in the past the township attorney acted as like the head of the legal department you know overseeing all the legal work that goes into the town as well as the the courts so it's not it's not a farfetched requests I would think that uh especially since it seems to be a second error I'll I'll second that no I just say I'm okay with it at all like two mistakes is is is it's now just getting ridiculous so I agree not on the bills list so we can do the Bills list and then I'll go to 180 so I'll make the motion to approve the bill schols wait Scott can you just have a serious conversation with them thank you that was a first from councilwoman Goldberg and a second from mayor gon councilman Schwarz yes on the bills list with the exception of 24- 0256 for $360 for three Jewish link or um advertisements Mr cler just want to clarify are we did we pull are we pulling the wiener firms Bild off of that we pulled them all that was the motion oh pulled them all that was not the motion um I I took a motion that we were asking the attorney to uh review but if we want to pull those bills exactly um sorry Mark Schwarz we're gonna just take a step back councilwoman Goldberg uh just to reiterate all of Weiner's law all of the law firms bills on this bill list we want pulled and not paid on this bills list correct okay and that that was council's understanding everyone could just give me a nod okay sorry I'm I I have a question okay until what happened we're pulling these until our attorney speaks to him until he confirms that there he's got to review that they're all the townships bills because there's Board of V entries on there um so I think this is one of the unintended consequences of having a a lawyer that worked with both the Board of Ed and the township because there it's probably an error in administratively where someone seeing T neck and just assuming it's one or the other sorry something funny I agree so I was just saying I think it makes sense to you know in terms of reassessing um no response to that okay never mind yeah I'll just say I'm I will have this done within the next two days so it will be more than enough time for the council review at the next uh the next council meeting thank you Scott yeah maybe a slightly different bir and you're gonna yeah down some ens short abstaining from 24- 0256 that's the number of the bill you abstain from that correct and everything else on the bills list was good with you yes sir councilwoman beler this is just the bills list yes to councilwoman Goldberg I'm gonna stay on the bills councilwoman Oregon yes deut M cats exstension on the building Deputy Mayor Jean yes bills list passed councilwoman Goldberg you wanted to talk about 180 uh it's 12:36 can we extend the meeting to one motion to extend the meeting to one I don't think we'll need a vote till one oh all I heard yes um so a few months ago we had an invoice on a resolution to ratify a payment to CSX for $1800 um and then asking the CFO what the invoice was for we ended up tracing it to a contract that the railroads entered with the Township in 1925 so for my understanding and Scott correct me if I'm wrong the contract addresses the safety pedestrian infrastructure agreement between the railroad and the township so thank you Dean Doug and Scott for literally going to basement to find this contract but it turns out um within the contract the township is required to pay for power lines and drainage and lighting which is what that $1,800 is for and that's been an annual payment that we've been paying for a 100 years but the contract also requires CSX to pay for maintenance for certain infrastructure so I wanted to know Scott is there anything in that contract that would be applicable to CSX in terms of resolution 180224 or um The Pedestrian overpass connecting vot to Benjamin Franklin that was a blessing and maybe save our taxpayers millions of dollars so these are two different things um resolution 180 2024 relates to an agreement for the jurisdiction and maintenance on Route four between the township and the Department of Transportation um that's separate from the contract that you're referring to which is between the township and CSX uh which is you said it's an old it's a very old contract takes back in 1925 um that contract places the bir on CSX to um maintain The Pedestrian overpass um and certain stairways connected connected to it that ad jooin rout grout four um so i' I've reviewed that contract uh there was also a settlement agreement back in 2005 between the township and um and CSX related to the agreement and it seems to me that the that the contract extends it looks like the contract extends to the work of the township is about to be doing on the on the overpass um which you know if I'm correct would mean that that CSX is responsible for paying for that and not not the township um I'm planning on discussing the is that issue with the CSX in the near future um and based on my conversations with them if it if it does look look like it is being um it should be included with under the um under the contract then at that point I would recommend to the council that we um uh notify Act of Our intention to recoup that money from them and if necessary file a law soon thing thank you I if anyone else anything before I'm gonna move 180 sorry I couldn't hear you I'm gonna move 180 councilman SCH councilwoman Bel yes councilman Goldberg councilman Oregon yes Deputy Mayor cats yes that be mayor G yes mayor Pagan we are not adjourned yet no we have a few ordinances to introduce yeah ladies and gentlemen our next order of business introduction of ordinances Mr clerk can you please read the title of the ordinances into the record I'll do so extremely slow kid Council the last ordinances we're introducing with Dean kazin ordinance number 14224 amending section 36- 111.2 of chapter 36 the township code for Township teac adding restricted on street parking space for the handicap at 1494 Champlain Square we have ordinance number 15- 2024 establishing salary ranges and classification of positions for Municipal Employees in the township of TAC last but not least we have ordinance number 16-22 amending the township code to revise parking laws on a court Mr C yeah on 15224 what is this referencing because I I pulled the ordinance and I don't see it says that there's a schedule attached but I don't see any schedule attached what is this for this this adjusts the manager salary oh sounds good yeah L just changes one one line from 20 20, 225,000 I'm good thank you and one change on 16 2024 and the attorney was made aware of it it talks about making the parking L air Court eastbound to lure we're just modifying that with the intent was air Court eastbound 185 ft to the turnaround as a release of those um Municipal related spots that are on the business district not all down the report so that was a uh adjustment that that was the intent that was was presented the council originally from A's Court to it's bound 185 ft to the turnaround not all the way to lure Port which is about quar mile say 185 thank you Mr anyone else if not oh wait one quick thing um Scott last meeting I I asked this also when we have the handicap resol uh ordinance the handicap parking ordinances are we putting a sunset clause in there so if like somebody moves or they don't need it anymore otherwise we have to amend the whole code in this in this particular ordinance there's not a sunshine Clause but I am aware that the police department does check on these places periodically um as we do but we could uh likely insert something we would the council be okay amending the a great idea so we could put that we could put that on upon intro ad okay and does it make sense then I know there's a bunch of these in the code right now does it make sense I guess Scott to review over the next month and see if we need to adjust any of them okay thanks anybody else in that case I move to approve both ordinances second three ordinances councilman Schwarz councilman beler yes to all Council Goldberg yes Morgan yes yes Deputy Mayor G yes mayor Pagan yes introduced with those minimal changes and we will see them next meeting and move there may be a sunset in the code there may be a sunset in the code hey Ellie hold on a second before um I make a motion to adjourn is there a second second all those in favor please say I thank you everyone for joining us tonight Dean we love you gonna miss you thank you for coming out everyone get home safe all e you're still here I didn't real [Music] Thursday twice bar thank you Miss Ang e e enjoy the cake e