Mr clerk we have a quorum and call this meeting to order at 8:09 PM please call the RO councilman Schwarz Council beler here councilwoman Goldberg here councilwoman Oregon here Deputy Mayor cats 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 22024 fing a copy of the township Clerk's Office of posting on the municipal buildin bulletin board and the mayor hereby directs that this statement be included in the minute thank you Mr clerk good evening and welcome everyone to tonight's council meeting Township Administration president at tonight's meeting are Dean kazinski our Township manager Doug ruson our Township Clerk Scott salmon our Township attorney and Ron Goodman our volunteer cable C for The public's information we are currently holding a hybrid format meeting we have people in person and on Zoom if our Wi-Fi at the municipal building has an issue where Zoom meeting drops we will aim to retrieve the connection and continue the meeting the next televised regular council meeting is on May 21st and begins at 5:00 p.m. with the public portion of that meeting beginning at 8:00 p.m. the clerk's office will be open late on Tuesday May 14th until 9:00 p.m. to accommodate last minute voter registration applications to be submitted to Bergen County in order to be eligible to participate in the 24 primary election on June 4th Council met in closed session earlier this evening to discuss the following a DPW update cell towers contracts an ada8 complaint the township manager search 1425 tck Road electronic smoking and cannaboid products parking restrictions legal issues and opinions regarding items on the Open Session agenda litigation updates and Oprah our first order of business tonight is presentations and first up is a certificate of appreciation for national Communications week recognizing our Teck Public Safety dispatchers Mr kazinski the floor is yours sir so every um every third week in April uh we recognize our Public Safety telecommunicators uh they are an integral part of the police department and play uh such an important role and what we did is we wanted to recognize we have nine Public Safety telecommunicators uh I think adaah here tonight uh ranging from experience of 37 years that's d uh seated up front uh to one year so we have a great group of um psts we call them uh I put something together that I just like to read to to the public and then we'll call the uh Public Safety telecommunicators up we have certificates of appreciation to recognize uh to recognize them for their service and and just so that everyone is aware about I guess it was about year and a half ago two years ago we decided that we wanted to bring back the 911 uh Public Safety answering point to ten about seven I guess about seven eight years ago we transitioned from tenek to the county of Bergen and um we found that it worked out okay but certainly not the way that I liked it I I don't think uh there's anyone better than our psts that know the township uh well uh that know uh Teck the streets the roads uh better than than we do so we made a conscious decision to try to bring back the 911 control center so we were able to do that we opened that up in uh January of 2023 we used uh about5 $600,000 from our asset forfeiture fund it came at no expense God bless you came at no expense to to the taxpayers I really think it's working out well so when you call 911 you're getting one of our psts who know the town well and you're getting a response immediately uh I'll let the deputy chief say something in in a few minutes but I just wanted to read this to the public just to give you an idea idea of what the psts do and and the importance to our organization so 911 emergency services have been a Lifeline fam milons of Americans in times of need when we dial the three-digit number we expect to be connected to a professional who can send us help as quickly as possible however behind the scenes a team of unsung heroes assigned to the te Police Department work tirelessly to ensure that the right resources are dispatched to the right location at the right time these are the public safety telecommunicators and we celebrate them during National Public Safety telecommunications week as I mentioned um that took place the the third week in April National Public Safety telecommunicators Week is an annual event uh again in April and the goal of this event is to raise awareness about the essential role of Public Safety telecommunicators and to honor their contributions to the emergency services Community Public Safety telecommunicators more prly called communication Specialists are the First Responders to an emergency call they're the ones that are responsible for gathering information dispatching the appropriate resources and providing critical information the First Responders on the scene these professionals serve as a crucial link between those in need and Emergency Services providers who can actually help them the United States has approximately I think there's 6,000 emergency 911 call centers and again they're also known as Public Safety answering points and these communication Specialists who staff these centers must be able to work under extreme pressure have excellent communication skills and possess a thorough knowledge of the multiple systems that are required to use on a daily basis uh this is why we celebrate the work these talented professionals uh do during a national public safety telecommunicator week and the community can help support the celebration as well as a citizen there are people I'm always asked how do we how do we express oure appreciation for the 911 dispatchers there's several ways to do that and one is just to Simply say uh thank you for this service send them a thank you note I know that goes a long way and and another important way is to become educated on proper emergency call protocol such as providing clear and concise information staying calm and following the dispatch's instructions in the event you have to dial 911 additionally citizens can help reduce the number of nonemergency calls to 911 by learning the appropriate phone numbers that call for non-emergencies um such as to our Police Department's non-emergency number and tenek the non-emergency number is 837 2600 2011 837 2600 uh National Public Safety telecommunic Week is an important opportunity to recognize the vital role that Public Safety telecommunicators play in emergency services these professionals are the lifeline for millions of Americans in times of need and they deserve our recognition and appreciation uh the teac council and the manager uh we'd like to express our heartfelt appreciation and gratitude to our Public Safety telecommunicators here tonight for their unwavering dedication and communic and commitment to our residents your vital role in emergency services cannot be overstated and your work saves lives every single day during National Public Safety telecommunicators week and throughout the year we stand with you and a knowledge the sacrifices you make to keep us safe thank you for being a Lifeline of emergency services and for your tireless service to the township of EK to that I say thank you Council says thank you and I'd like to give you a nice round of applause thank you Mr manager good evening everyone uh I'm honored to be here here on behalf of Chief Andre mcer to help shine a well-deserved Spotlight on some of the unsung heroes of our department our Public Safety telecommunicators these dedicated individuals are the calm voices on the other end of the line during moments of chaos and crisis their role is often overlooked but their impact is immeasurable I can still recall when I was a new officer and occasionally assigned to work the Dispatch Center it was an eye-opening experience for me and honestly I found it quite challenging therefore I've always had a great respect for the work that our dispatchers do the level of skill and composure required for the job is truly remarkable it's not just about answering phones and relaying information it's about remaining cool Under Pressure making split-second decisions and juggling multiple tasks simultaneously in fact it's even more than that dispatchers must possess a varying set of skills including decision-making communication compassion multitasking teamwork emotional control technological skills organization directional skills and adaptability additionally our dispatchers must operate complex systems and programs while possessing the knowledge to navigate a multitude of policies rules and regulations much like our officers dispatchers come to work each day not knowing what the day will bring yet they are always they are always a Lifeline for our officers and for the public alike Prov in critical support around the clock please join me today and every day in acknowledging and thanking our remarkable Public Safety telecommunicators both for what they do for our department and for our community at large and lastly I'd be remiss if I also didn't take a minute to thank the manager and also the council for providing our department with the resources to hire five new Dispatchers in just the last year filling vacancies in this vital component of our department structure thank you for your support leadership and investment Public Safety and thank you again to our Public Safety telecommunicators for all you do thank you so uh so when we when we opened up the 911 Communication Center uh last year we we put together a nice plaque that's mounted right outside the uh the office area there the control center and and it just it reads it says dedicated to our Public Safety telecommunicators who are the Unseen Heroes of Public Safety and the calm voice in the dark uh to the world you may only be a voice but to the caller you are a hero and that was dedicated by Council in late 2022 so I'd like to just call up the dispatchers that are here and I will recognize them dorotha Castello D Castello she's our she's our supervisory um Public Safety telecommunicator and watches over and trains everyone next we have Daniel casac come on up Dan and Samantha hopefully I'm pronouncing your last name correct mores yes all right I should know these names I hired everyone Lillian Thomas Lillian hey Adel FES uh Shannon Pini Sarah bazini Sarah here okay Sarah's not here uh Alyssa Armstrong and last but not Le siia Burell come on up so uh we have U we have certificates of recognition for everyone from Council and it reads the township would like to express our heartfelt appreciation and gratitude to our Public Safety telecommunicators for their unwavering dedication and commitment to serving our residents your vital role in emergency services cannot be overstated and your work saves lives every single day during National Public Safety telecommunicators week and throughout the year we stand with you and acknowledge the sacrifices you make to keep us safe thank you for being the lifeline of emergency services and for your tiess service to the township of Tink again congratulations and thank you for everything that you do mayor Mr Schwarz um yes uh I'm just going to start with one trivia question I think only one person is gonna get that uh badge me look at it badge number 204 and 294 who are they right here check um yes uh we love our dispatchers I I I I mean if you ever want to join the ambulance crew you'll see why it's great they're all part of it it's just phenomenal and um so I I believe are we are we hiring more dispatchers are we always looking for good people I believe okay so tomorrow um keep it in mind it's it's a great way to get involved um to work with some great people it's a great it's great Energy Great environment and um you guys are great thank you very much and I look forward to bothering you on the radio very soon thank you Mr Schwarz Miss organ um so first I want to say this was my favorite Pledge of Allegiance ever and you two casmer young gentlemen can come back and join us anytime thank you um to D first almost four decades here wow um I'm I I don't even know what to say you have been in my home you've all been in my home a lot um on the radio there's always one on in my house between my husband and my daughter so we listen to you all day long um Dean was my training officer um at TC also when I first joined and I was very very young and very new um and her calm and compassion and um the way that she makes everything fall into place and seem like it's effortless um we're so lucky to have you and to have you training and and bringing other people under your wing I know that as a civilian I have called um the police many times and your blood pressure goes up and your heart stop starts beating and your calm voice is really really do make a difference to us so thank you for all that you do Miss Goldberg yeah so I want to say thank you to all of you and your family so I was married to a 911 dispatcher in New York City um so I know the stress and the logistics of the in the moment phone call and you know who are you calling and as the manager said having to keep people calm so I understand and I appreciate very much the the work that you guys do it's important and I know not always appreciate but I want you know that I appreciate in this town and Council appreciates it so thank you to you and your families Miss belshire can you hear us yes I can and I just want to chime in and also say thank you thank you for your efforts and your energy um your passion for what you do because you truly have to love what you do to do what you do so thank you and we're we're blessed to have you uh in our Township Miss Jon um I'm also going to follow my colleagues lead and say thank you for all of you do for for the township I think oftentimes you are superheroes that no one gets to see and so today we get a shine a shine a light on you and say thank you and I'm I'm so grateful that you're here today and seven years ago we my family benefited from your services my son had a feed while seizure and um you know just having been through that and worked with a very calm person on the either line I know that what you do every day is so important so thank you so y'all help keep us safe yall help save lives and you're always the first voice that people hear during an emergency when they're scared and so just want to say thank you and on behalf of the 42,000 residents who call teic home thank you so so very much for everything you do because you guys are heroes you really are because you help people in their greatest times of need so congratulations and thank you so so very much we appreci appreciate you all thank you so very much okay our next and thank you Mr manager for that thank you Deputy Chief and thank you once again to all our dispatchers our next order of business is work session items and first up is miscellaneous does anyone on Council have anything under May yes yes Miss goldbert yep so the uh personnel subcommittee and the full Council met um with the following candidates last meeting and unanimously agreed to um make the following Advisory Board nominations so I would like to make the motion to nominate Michael Rocklin for pprb Advisory Board Christina Pammy for the pprb liais on to the field Advisory Board and Andrew gel talk as the TBO representative to the field Advisory Board Andrew galck I'll second that Mr Clerk TBO representative to Fields Advisory Board and I seconded that Mr Clark thank you Ron for and you said a resolution next meeting councilwoman I apologize yes and that was H first from councilwoman Goldberg a second from mayy Pagan councilman Schwarz councilman beler I think she's nodding her head up and down yes yes I said yes uhuh councilwoman Goldberg yes Council Oregon yes Deputy Mayor cat sorry Deputy Mayor G yes mayor Pagan yes sir we'll see your resolution next meeting does anyone have anything else under miscellaneous okay I I'd like to make a uh I don't know if I want to do it here or do it um a little bit later in terms of the change of language for um the resolution or should I wait wait until later May that would be under Council listed because of the changes that were submitted this morning sure no problem I can wait thank so nobody has anything else under miscellaneous so next up is old business does anyone have anything under old business no moving on does anyone have any new business yeah Mr Mayor um so the public May or not be aware that the state legislator and Governor signed into a new affordable housing bill with drastic changes um now we have a lot to know and it's a complic liated piece of legislation that is important dates of information so I would like to propose and and see if we could do this a joint open special Workshop meeting between the count the full Council the planning board and the public um with a presenter on this topic for June and July so the presenter can explain to all of us the planning board and the public at the same time what's in the new bill how it affects us we can ask the questions the planning board can ask the questions the public can ask the questions um I think with the master plan and the works this is that the timing is important um so I wanted to see if we can do a workshop meeting in June and July specifically on this topic can I say something along those lines as um chair of affordable housing we're in we have that in the works right now um councilwoman Goldberg we are working um diligently when it comes to the actual dates and the assigned the assigned um tasks um from rep resentatives within the township we uh in our last meeting we actually uh went through each and every date and we uh we did that so I'd be happy to to um bring you up the date on that uh I think that uh as soon as we are able to to get um ascertain from our affordable housing Zar and from um our um Financial uh entities um I'd like to do a presentation my intent is to do a presentation to the entire Council uh before we go uh forward with a forum so that's the intent and the the subcommittee is aware of that uh Miss G um don't we have an affordable housing subcommittee yes we do and that's that's what I was just saying that so could we maybe have them review the suggestion and come back with the timeline that's fine I'm just saying that because we're having the master plan review right now so we want to make sure it's in there and there's a lot of complicated things so I think a joint the planning board is working on the master plan now um and I there's a lot of nuances to this Leonia just did this um April 15th um so I just think a joint Workshop meeting so it's a presentation doesn't change anything the subcomm it's just a workshop meeting with a presenter to explain to us the planning board and the public all at once what's coming because there's some significant changes and really quick turnaround time and the workshop meeting if I could just chime in really quick I support both ideas because I go to a monthly mayor's breakfast and this is is riling up leaders in every municipality and a lot of leaders are worried that they're just going to have to build build build or build higher so as long as we address it inform the public and do our due diligence I'm I'm I'm down with both Miss G yeah just clarifying I I support the idea I was just saying so we're not duplicating efforts if we have a subcommittee who's working on this and has has other things that might be duplicating efforts it just makes sense strategically that they work together is all I was saying so can we have the subcommittee come back the 21st under old business because like I said the with the planning we're doing this with the master plan I want to do this soon that's my concern so we have already established that uh councilman Goldberg that we are uh our first line of communication of course would be to the council so the subcommittee is working on that and uh we'll probably have a report uh within the next um meeting okay I just think it's important for the public to be able to ask the presenter questions too 100% we we will work on a forum where we can um certainly address that that's already on our our list of things to do so whenever you have any questions feel free to reach out to any one of us on the subcommittee regarding affordable housing thank you so we're not going to do a workshop meeting I just think we should my opinion I got I'm still my opinion is we should do a workshop meeting but it's okay and and we're not ruling that out uh we're we're just going to go through this the affordable house subcommittee who's working on um specifically the the dates and the timeline so as soon as the uh we come back to the council we will talk about a uh a public a public hearing sounds good all right thank you Miss pelure thank you Miss Goldberg does anyone have anything else under new business moving along does anyone have anything under Communications moving along committee reports by Council liaison and first up is the 2023 annual report for the environmental commission I think you are the liaison cor so I'm the liaison but the vice chair is here I'm going to do the the annual report to the council Hy welcome Hildy Dylan thank you for presenting the report good evening council members um so it is uh I'm going to respectfully and with great pleasure um submit the 2023 annual report for the environmental commission and um give you Topline uh 2024 goals for the commission so last spring in May the environmental commission participated in the Bergen County Earth Fest in overp peek Park uh we included a recycling game so that the public could guess which Plastics are not recyclable and compost bin demonstration uh we also had several people volunteer sign up to sign up to volunteer with the EC many of whom have participated in our cleanups and a few that are now actually sitting on the environmental commission which is awesome um in November and December uh we reviewed of 2023 we reviewed the first draft of the updated T-Neck environmental resource inventory we reviewed a um a later draft based on our comments in uh 2024 and that is now completed and in the hands of the planning board for their review and our chair ysf gillers will be uh presenting that to the planning board uh tomorrow night uh if in the fall through December we worked with the uh Fairley Dickinson University students uh to a group of students that were studying um how to apply analytics to impact change um in um improving uh townships or municipalities and uh they developed a garbage Recycling and composting public survey for tenek Township residents we collaborated uh with their graduate students within their calendar which was a little bit tight uh so we promoted the survey through the township web s it uh nixel email Communications from the township uh social media uh and through tet Community organizations and our preliminary results were presented to this Council by The fdu Graduate students in November of last year and based on the survey findings uh we will continue to work with the tck township manager and the council to explore alternative options costeffective for residents and the township to reduce the adver environmental impact of our current system uh students analyze the results independently from the environmental commission and a summary and detailed report was submitted uh to you as well along with this report Beyond pesticides presented uh to the environmental Commission on SE in September of last year and to the township Council in very early January 2024 about Municipal organic Land Management um and Pest Management um and info about their other collaborations with municipalities across the state um and in New York City to implement organic public land demonstration projects the EC continues to work with the DPW uh to consider this um and to perhaps budget uh a small amount towards this in 2024 and then to seek funding outside funding to support that project beginning in the fall um beginning in November we work with the DPW and drafted a policy documenting an integrated approach to public green grounds and maintenance that includes efficient landscape design minimization of water consumption utilization of recycled materials and compost eliminating the use of synthetic and chemical fertilizer fertilizers for TX turf management program and that was adopted by the council in February of 2024 uh the environmental commission unanimously voted to request the Town Council to pass two resolutions that were issued by the Association of New Jersey environmental commissions and both were officially adopted by the tenet Council in mid December they were uh to support the continuation of corporate business tax to fund critical open space Farmland historic preservation and hazardous site cleanup funding and also uh to oppos the expansion of the New Jersey Turnpike as far as I know both of these are still uh pending legislation but our uh signage of these resolutions are in their hands and after months of delay due to a stretch of rainy and really crummy weather um in December the the environmental commission and the tneck DPW invited residents to a town cleanup and uh despite that terrible weather we had over 40 people show up um and which was really fabulous but adults and many children um from every neighborhood within EK we picked up a lot of trash um and that uh stimulated a lot of encouragement we had a lot of people show up on April 14th of this year as well more than 40 um and did another really good Cleanup in nice weather um and our goals for next year we will complete the environmental resource resource inventory based on any comments that we get from the planning board tomorrow night and then that will be presented to council and we will organize an Implement to well we've done one one more Cleanup in October um and we are in the process we have several volunteers on the EC that are working on updating our web page in sync with the new website that the township will be launching hopefully soon and we will we plan to provide public education on topics such as Recycling and Lawn management and seek funding for pocket park initiatives in collaboration with some of the other in aligned advisory groups um advisory boards in town any questions thank you Miss Dylan for your report does anyone on Council any questions from Miss Dylan no I just want to say thank you to the environmental commission you guys are doing a really great job and and I look forward to the rest of the year with you guys okay thank you thank you so much Miss Dylan does anyone else on Council have any committee reports yeah pprb um so pprb met on May 1st and they're working on a date for the parks tour um Sunshine Gardens currently has 11 registrations for next year which is open for any interested residents cam Sensational before and after care is closed K through one is closed and there's still space for um grades two to three Sports and arts before and after care is closed but registrations are still open for the specialty classes um the annual playground inspections were done and they're working on the fixes in the playground um there was also a substantial discussion about the number of children who are coming to our programs expressing the need for for food um and food insecurity and it's pretty concerning um so I'm asking Dean can you have the social worker reach out to Lisa to connect them with those families so that we can get them the help that's pretty priority sure thank you that first thing tomorrow morning thank you um they also passed resolutions I believe they're going to be presenting one themselves during good and Welfare so I will leave that one alone for now but the second was a request by motion that we also have our DPW and um maybe the new Fields board um reach out and work with the sports leagues who are using the field to provide training so that they can help with the maintenance of those fields so is it possible that we can have the DPW reach out and get something scheduled this month or next month if possible yes I already actually spoke to Mike sui who's in the audience or superintendent of DPW Mike making those arrangements to have that meeting thank you that's it thank you Miss gold Mr Schwarz yes okay um two things uh C Lane Management Group that meetings tomorrow 6:30 pm it's open to the public if anybody like to come secondly um on a sub zoning uh committee aspect and I did not realize my good friend Margaret Baker was here tonight but I'm happy she is um at the last public meeting there was a comment made by our planner that this was going to be the last Public Presentation and in speaking with the subzone committee and others there's two things that we want to do to modify that and listening to what Miss Baker has been saying over the years how there's can always be more meetings the sub zoning committee would like uh to form a not form but to have a council Workshop so the council can go through the plans move the plans forward but also continue to get more public input and then the council as a whole could make their recommendations that we can then turn back over to the planner turn it back over to our or with our Redevelopment attorney and with the developer himself so the council can own the project listen to everyone and make collaberative comments together and work of course within the court mandated um restrictions that we have but not do it in a silo of just a sub zoning committee and with no more public meetings so um I if that's um agreeable to everyone and I imagine it is um we can work on putting some scheduling together along those lines thank you Mr Schwarz Miss G did you want to say something I think you said you had a question yeah I just wanted to add to council member Goldberg's um pprb report um if you are interested in Camp Sensational even though they are closed now they are taking names for a wait list so um do I do encourage folks if you do or if you're still interested to sign up for the wait list and then I had one other report sorry so on behalf of the Advisory board on community relations I just wanted to announce again that they are accepting nominations for the Matthew Feldman community relations award for either a youth individual or a group um if you know someone who would be a good fit for that award I encourage you to send an email or a nomination to Cheryl Hall her email address is c h l c Hall at Tek nj.gov thank you Mr Mayor I just want to Circle back to council member schwarz's request so I think we should do the workshop meeting I think that's a great idea so do we need to how do we do that I don't know if we need vote on it do we need to do the Council schedule what do we need to do we'll look at our Council schedule especially as you know the council schedule gets lighter over the next few months so we'll have that time and I know meetings are precious and time is precious but at the same time um this is obviously a large piece of property a large project and uh an important project as well thank you all does anyone else have any yeah I would just like to chime in for a quick minute in terms of uh the I I'm glad to hear the zoning uh subcommittee is really kind uh working toward um you know having opening that up transparently to to more input from the community because I think that's vitally important um I think that um also in terms of the affordable housing um subcommittee we have uh met we continue to meet regarding uh dates and putting uh timelines in terms of the dates the expectations of of those dates I will have a report as a result of having uh uh upcoming meetings with um um Frank Piaza and Associates to really get an idea as to um some of the answer questions that we have uh asked um from our last meeting and also working with the attorney as well as working with our planner so um that is to come in a comprehensive report in the in the the next meeting the last meeting of the of the uh of this month and lastly I just like to say this uh we're going to uh hear a little bit shortly from stigma free Advisory Board they did have a very good um County program which we'll hear some exciting things about um and um I believe um the chair is is uh with us tonight so I'm going to have him um describe how that that program went thank you thank you miss beler our next order of business is Council listed items and first up is a certificate of recognition for Tamba Hal and we are so excited to be recognizing one of tx's favorite sons who was an incredible student athlete who went on to achieve so much at Pennsylvania State University and with the Kansas City Chiefs in the National Football League who just inducted him into the Kansas City Chiefs Hall of Fame and councilwoman Goldberg you went to Tina high school with him correct um so it brings me real joy to recognize former Tina Tina resident tinac high school graduate class of 2002 tahal I have the privilege not only to recognize TBA as a member of this council with mayor Pagan but also as a member of tinac high school graduating class of 2002 myself I'm not sure if Toma is on Zoom right now um he mentioned he was going to try but it's a 4H hour difference he's in Liberia but I'm very happy to have his father Mr Mr hly here in addition to his family Tamba always had immense respect for tinac high school football coach coach heck and while he's in Italy at the moment he asked me to read this statement I would like to thank the teac township Council for recognizing TBA for his outst in achievements both on and off the field over the years I've coach coached and mentored many student athletes and TBA has achieved great success in his life and it's made me very proud TBA is Relentless in all of his Endeavors and has been rewarded with his dedication with his prestigious honor being bestowed on him by the Kansas City Chiefs kochek literally taught TBA how to play football and he stood by him and he knew the expectation that education was first but football was a bonus and by the time we graduated TBA had 68 scholarships but he chose pen tonight we're recognizing Toma for his incredible achievement for his induction into the Kansas City Chiefs Hall of Fame as the 53rd inductee Toma played for the Chiefs as linebacker and defensive end his entire 12-year career and Toma was a first-round draft pick for the Chiefs in 2006 quickly became one of the greatest defensive players in the Chiefs history Toma story is not just on the field but it's a story of coming to the United States and also is very inspirational in Tina he was born in Liberia and his father was here working bringing trying to bring him and his siblings to the United States and he escaped the Civil War in Liberia at the age of 10 um I remember hearing throughout the halls in tinac high school how important it was for him to bring his mother here T never forgot where he came from and he donated $50,000 to the construction of a 70 bed Ebola treatment in West Africa and TBA made sure to give back right here in Teek he donated shoes to the entire tinac High School football program in the past um when the program was at risk for being cut um TBA financed the TAC High School freshman football team with a $155,000 gift and $40,000 to complete field uh facility upgrades and built the Teek High School athletic Hall of Fame tomba's remarkable Journey has molded him into a man of integrity resilience and determination and we join him in the celebration of his induction into the chief's Hall of Fame as his Tink family and we are all cheering on him TBA has exemplified the beauty and True Heart of what tinac is and it's a true honor to recognize him tonight congratulations TBA and Mr Hali and sa and the whole family say something good evening uh my name is uh Henry Hal um the date is January 5th 1978 when I came to tck I did go back I came to do my graduate work at fad dickon University in chemistry and I returned to Liberia and then I returned for good in 1985 so I have lived longer in tinck this is the only town I know in America than any other town um as was read Tama came with his um siblings and three of them were of age to go to school his sister was in the second grade tber in the fifth grade and s in the sixth I had sigh in the sixth grade for two years because he didn't do well so the two of them graduated in 2002 uh of course I never regreted and um the rest is history I want to thank the council for recognizing him I'm sorry he's not here today he's in Liberia but I hope he will I will present uh this to him and um I brought the last of my children madus he is in the eth grade he will be the ninth grade and the first my stepson Warner Lewis thank you very much does anyone on Council want to say anything anyone Deputy Mayor G sure thank you so much for being here to represent T but we could not be more proud um that he is out in the world representing Tek and showing what greatness can come from tck um thank you for choosing tck um we're so proud of him and so grateful for your family thank you yeah I also just want to time it um here is I I didn't go to Chik High School I didn't play football Tor Academy where I did go to school doesn't have a football team so we always wanted a football team but I would be do good anyway so you know congratulations you did a great job raising your children all your children and thank you for making tinck your only home um anyone else on Council yes yeah I just want to chime in if I could uh I I just want to say I coming from a a football high school and football college uh I know how uh people are very very passionate about um uh I just want to say congratulations to your family to your son uh thank you for all that he's he's done to represent our Township and uh we wish him all the best as he um pursues uh his uh his career and thank you for sharing your story with us um thank you for sharing with us the story of giving back to the community um and I I think we can see where where your son learned that so um we're very grateful that we were able to hear we call this the good stuff and thank you right let's see next order of business second Council listed item proposed resolution Mental Health Awareness Month stigma free community councilwoman beler the floor is yours ma'am thank you thank you very much um we have with us um the chair of um uh stigma free advisory uh board if uh Jose if you could come up Jose is inen in uh is uh the chair of The Advisory Board and we're happy to have him here tonight uh I just want to say that ma uh May I'll start by saying that may is um is mental health month and uh we certainly want to acknowledge that because there are many many many opportunities and resources within our uh community that Jose is going to share a little bit about Mr Xenon the floor is yours chair good evening thank you mayor thank you council members and Township manager for your service my name as uh the councilwoman stated my name is Jose Zenon I am a 15-year resident and I'm the chairperson of Township council's stigma free Advisory Board I'm here with another member shy member Nancy she's also a member of the stigma free Advisory Board I want to extend my gratitude to our board liaison Denise beler for presenting the tneck uh Mental Health Awareness Month resolution during this month Mental Health Awareness Month t-x Stig stigma-free efforts constitute a tongue wide program aimed at reducing the stigma associated with mental illness our goal is to raise awareness of M mental illness and create a supportive Community where residents feel comfortable of seeking treatment without fear of stigma mental illness encompasses a range of disorders affecting mood thought Behavior from Des depression anxiety substant use disorder and bipolar disorder it can affect anyone regardless of age race religion and income throughout the month of May we wear green symbolizing the mental health awareness month advocating for support resources and reduced stigma this month provides an opportunity to educate the public promote mental well Wellness and encourage prioritizing mental health in these challenges time this effort is critical our Township provides various resources through the Department of Health and Human Services social service department as well as the county and state division of mental health and addiction services including Bergen County division of mental health and Addiction Services Bergen County division and family guidance Jewish Family and Children Services of Northern New Jersey and the National Alliance of mental illness these are just a few local County and state resources available more information will be posted on the tck website throughout the month and hard copies I think dou BR B more uh hard copy are listed on the website and available here in the council chamber in closing I i' like to share one profound quote mental illness is nothing to be ashamed of but stigma and bias shame us all so let us remember that our Township of tck is proud to be stigma free thank you and I yield back my time remain thank you Mr [Music] Zenon Miss beler thank you thank you um Mr Zenon thank you so much I I think it's so vitally important that we do Post those resources on our Township website so residents are aware of all the the phenomenal uh opportunities that might be that are out in the community for both um on the uh Township level as well as the county level so here again thank you so much for coming out and telling us about those resources thank you Miss Belcher the next Council listed item is a councilwoman Belcher I apologize did did you have a resolution that you wanted to add to the consent agenda for that item the mental health awareness month right for mental health awareness month it is in in the package I'm just going to to uh reference the first and the lastma uh stance of it it's basically where's the Teek stigma free Advisory Board the town of the township of ten uh Council and the township manager along with the uh Township department of health services and tenek office of Social Services supports the designation of of stigma-free zones in every municipality and teac being one is proudly stigma-free whereas establishing stigma-free zones will raise awareness of resources and encourage teac residents to engage in care as soon as the need is identified so recovery can begin hope is inspired and traged tragedies are avoided and now therefore be it resolved that the township of tenac recognizes and declares the month of May mental aware aess health month and we are stigma free thank you thank you Miss P do you need a motion to move that to the consent agenda I'll move it I'll second that councilman Schwarz councilwoman beler yes councilwoman Goldberg yes councilwoman Oregon yes Deputy Mayor G yes mayor Pagan yes added to the consent agenda as resolution number 136-20 24 thank you Mr clerk the next Council list item is uh proposed resolution amend resolution I put this on because I would actually like to make a motion to nominate councilwoman Oregon to serve as the fields Advisory Board liaison second um Mr Mayor yes Miss belter for the benefit of of the public can you just explain uh the field Advisory Board and um you know what it does you know and so therefore those people would understand sure sure real quick um we have a lot of fields multiple Fields throughout the township some are better taken care of than others just because there's so much work to do and so we established a field Advisory Board where we have people from every different league as well as the Board of Education and the tpw to basically tell us what's going on with our Fields so that when something's wrong whether it's flooding whether it's needing new Turf whether it's needing fresh whatever it might need our Fields Advisory Board and our leaone will keep us aess of that and then our goal is to fix that whatever it might be so that our kids can play on their fields all right so Mr clerk we have a first and a second sorry councilman Schwarz councilman beler yes Council Goldberg yes councilman Oregan yes Debbie mayor G yes mayor Pagan yes added as resolution 137 thank you Mr clerk next Council listed next mayor p on please can you what does that sound can you please turn it off whatever that sound is please turn it off we have business to conduct for the township um the next Council listed item is proposed language change Arab Heritage Month councilwoman beler the floor is the floor is yours ma'am yes thank you thank you Mr Mayor so um Mr Mayor from the last meeting we had um put forth a a resolution that was sent to us from the community for Arab American heritage month and um I since then have received a number of different resolutions I guess because the the uh the actual month is April and so uh a number of different residents had reached out and sent me different resolutions that kind of really just underscores the the e accomplishments and and uh the nature of what Arab Americans within our res within our community have uh contributions that they've made um and I inadvertently put up last Thursday the uh the one with with the not the quite the right wording um so what I'm I'm making a a motion right now to um change the wording to the original one that we saw on April 16th um and it is um the proposed resolution for uh to end uh anti-arab ha and recognize arab-american heritage month uh I'd like to make uh to move that this be um uh inserted as the uh the resolution and recognition of of Arab American history month for the month of April second any discussion yeah I I think sorry no no it just this wasn't the resolution that was that we originally got when did the the resolution that was in the consent agenda that we agreed to yeah this was originally received by us on April 16th it was sent out to all council members on April 16th so I didn't I didn't see this one I was at work until until the meeting today yeah this this one for the other one yeah this one actually was proposed to us and sent to the entire Council on April 16th and as and if you remember last month we said we would take it up again in the next meeting meaning this meeting so I had put forth one that was uh a little bit less in in length not as comprehensive this one is uh was put forth by a number of Arab American residents um to to represent um their lived experience you know it's more comprehensive in terms of the contributions that they've made to our community and so forth so my motion is simply to use this in honor of our American Heritage um I so I haven't read this one yet so I I would have to abstain Mr can we read that and go over when under agendas later because the one we got was excellent first of all I think we really need to note the calendar um it's an important heritage month and it should really be addressed in March and April for next year and Mr clerk I I know we discussed it last time this was uh this was actually submitted on April April 16th if you look at your email for April 16th this sent to the all you like to amend the motion then so we added not replacing the resolution but adding it as an additional resolution I think the motion was the resolution I'm fine I'm fine with that I'm fine with that we can add it as an additional at a time M yeah I'm perfectly fine with having two resolutions for Arab American history uh month I I'm 100% fine with that so I would I will alter my my motion to ask that we cons uh we pass both of these resolutions in recognition of Arab American uh uh Heritage MTH both of them do I have a second Mr clerk Mr attorney are you guys following along I'll be very ask I'm getting a little I made the motion was to go on the consent agenda so it's I said to add there's one on the consent agenda so I modifi the motion to add this one as a separate resolution to the consent agenda Miss G um if we're I don't think we need to I think the more detailed one is sufficient to cover the one and the smaller one and my concern is that we do to that we're not all going to support both which will I think send a horrible message to the community so I would prefer if we just do the one the more detailed one rather than two yeah I think we already have a first and a second Mr schz first and a second I have a resolution we got days ago it looks great let's just be clear before we actually have a vote I was going to vote and I will be supporting the Arab her month resolution that I saw in the agenda that I've been looking at for the past four or five days but um okay there's a a first and a second to add this one to the consent agenda no first I made a motion to add this to the consent agenda in addition to the one that's on the consent agenda again so that's my motion you guys understand the mo the motion the motion is to amend the current one that's on the on the as a council listed item that's the motion currently on the floor Mr M Mr attorney what about the very first one are we going to just ignore that first one the first motion with a first and a second so so well so this is a motion to amend that so that takes PR that you then vote you vote on the motion to amend first and then you vote on the main the main motion depending on the results of the uh the motion to amend so because this was put on as a council L item as a language change uh it this was to replace the one that's currently on the agenda it sounds like the motion to amend it is to change it from a language change to just a proposed resolution which should be placed on the consent agenda thank you for explaining that Mr clerk you got that does that make sense yes yeah okay so yeah so the the the amendment would then put two uh two different things on the consent agenda that's just what is a first and a second so we have to call the role yeah good and so who is that first please remind me was that councilwoman Goldberg for this amendment and then who was the second there was no second on that one councilman Schwarz councilman beler yes Council Goldberg yeah Council Oregan yes thatbut be mayor G yes mayor Pagan yes all right so this Council listed item is being added to the consent agenda as resolution number 138 138 right right yes 130 138 d224 apologies 138 thank you Mr clerk our next order of business is the township manager's report Mr kazinski the floor is yours sir sure thank you mayor have a couple things to cover here right I'm going to cover some announcements first I put some flyers on the on the table um the first one is in English Spanish and Korean that contains information about the Bergen County Home Improvement program uh this is a great program it's interest free non-monthly payment loan uh and it's really for Home Improvement and payment is only due when a house is sold or title is changed so please take copy uh if you're interested in that program uh we had disaster shelter training take place on April 25th we had about 20 Teck residents participate and these volunteers are going to help the township when the Rota Center uh needs to be set up as a transitional shelter in the event of a catastrophic event in town There's also flyers on the table for it's called strollers and sneakers I brought this up before it's an event sponsored by the township and Holy Name Medical Center in honor of maternal health month there are three event dates one is May 10th the other is the 17th and also the 24th another announcement on Tuesday May 14th we're going to be doing at 10: a.m. a vehicle dedication and blessing that's going to take place at Brett Park we're going to have clergy on hand to bless our new vehicles and equipment for a DPW and police department it's open to the public uh Brett Park is next to 1600 River Road so we're going to have 15 vehicles that we will dedicate and bless and also two large pieces of of equipment so feel free to come out and join us on that special day uh reminder the Township's Memorial Day ceremony takes place on Monday May 27th at 11:00 a.m. and then that's followed by the annual CED Lane Memorial Street Fair which starts at noon uh the township uh once again earned recognition as the 2023 Tree City USA for making uh the planting of trees a priority in town uh also o atantic Coast fibers is now open at the public recalls this facility was the plant that we sent our recycling material to it burned down I believe it was about three years ago and the town should see a significant price reduction and Fuel and tipping costs uh for um for now going to Atlanta Coast fiber which reopen uh we're finalizing the rosi and we shared our final comments with d so that's moving along nicely um just so the public knows PS is going to be conducting electric reliability improvements and this is taking place at the substation uh near the roota center uh equipment is going to be upgraded from now through 2026 can you please turn it on we're trying to conduct a meeting please turn that off sorry about that Mr manager okay Mr Mayor are signs allowed yeah can you please turn that off please turn that off sorry about that Mr manager please continue that work's going to impact the the area for the next two years to the substation is going to be some temporary fencing that's going to be installed that's going to prevent access to that sidewalk in front of the substation uh we had there was a fire there I guess about a year and a half ago so these are necessary repairs and it's going to be redundant work and make sure that if there is a power failure uh everyone um everyone uh retains a power uh the hackin saac river Greenway Doug I don't know if you have that give the slide available um so work on the Anderson Street Cedar Lane bridge is going to commence probably within the next year and we've been working uh with the county with hackin sack the state on this project very closely but I just wanted the public to be aware when this project does start the cedal lane entrance to the greenway will be closed so you will not be able to access that Greenway where you see that arrow pointing that's the entrance off the Cedar Lane right before the C Lane Anderson Street Bridge so that will be closed once that work begins but everyone will be able to get access at the southern end of panda walk thanks Doug uh also there's a large civil service job fair taking place at Ramapo College on Tuesday June 18th from 10: to 2 there's going to be 24 vendors uh the state's going to be represented uh several counties Department of Corrections uh police department so uh the flyer is on the table there I would suggest anyone looking for some sort of civil service employment to make an attempt to make that job fair on June 18th from 10 to 2 some project updates I'm happy to report that North Jersey landare is doing an excellent job maintaining our B fields this season they're going to continue uh maintenance until November the TX Southern Little League project it remains on track and that should be completed around the first to second week of June uh we're working with I'm working actually with Mr Surman Beacon who's here tonight he's working with biking Pest Control to combat the lantern fly problem that we have in town the town received I believe it was a $20,000 Grant so we're putting something together to help out with that cause DPW is preparing the pool and a splash pad for opening the splash pad opens the weekend of May 25th uh the splash pad and pool opens seven days a week and that's going to start on June 15th all the parkks spring is open on June 24th all of that material is in our te times recycling uh calendar we're going to be replacing all the lights at the VY Park tennis courts the project is going to be awarded this evening uh the VY Park North restroom is ordered we're waiting delivery for that and that's a prefab structure uh work on the new V Park shade and Shelter by the spash pad starts this week that will take a few weeks to get done uh Milling Paving and drain AG work on Pik lane from tenu road to glwood Avenue it's going to take place late summer we received a $550,000 Department of Transportation Grant uh our engineering department is preparing our storm water infrastructure map and that's using a $95,000 de Grant heric Park Renovations that's going to take place in three phases Mr Mayor the spash pad and the preat bathroom are going to be advertised this Friday and we're going to advertise soon for the new playground as well as the new B courts and baseball field in herro park as you're aware we received the 750,000 gr from Green Acres we have some money from the um townhouse project I think it was 120,000 Plus in capital we set aside a certain amount of money to cover that uh big Park project the 2023 roadway resurfacing project is currently out the bid we'll accept them until May 14 and we will award that to a Contractor on May 21st uh we're awaiting dot Department of Transportation plan approvals for Palisade Avenue improvements that's going to be Mill and paid from West angood Avenue to West TR Avenue we also receive the $250,000 grant for that as well uh tonight we're awarding a contract at DLS uh this evening for cdbg Grant work and that's going to cover neldon Road scon mocker argon and hurman Roads and those roads will be milled and paved this year we were also awarded another cdbg Grant in 39,000 that's going to be for the milling and Paving of Maple Avenue uh engineering is in the process of Designing that project uh also this evening we're awarding the Beverly Road East parking lot project the ajm uh I anticipate work to be completed by the end of May uh this will allow the farmers market to move from the Western end of Beverly to the Eastern end and we're going to do a lot of repairs um filling in potholes cracks and put a skim coat of asphalt on there as well it should look a nice when it's done the Andreas Park pickle project is out the bid and those bids are due on the 16th and we can award this project on the 21st and that's going to provide for four new pickle ball Courts at Andreas Park uh we have a seasonal assign to CED Lane to to keep cedal Lane clean neat uh DPW also added some signs they started power washing the sidewalks completed some electrical repairs and conducted some other minor work uh along the lane uh some grant information since January the tax has been awarded 1.67 six million in Grants I think we've been very successful and aggressive with with those uh we submitted our fiscal year 2025 Community Project funding Grant in the amount of $5 million the congressman God heimer's office to offset the cost of our new BPW building and we received notification the sagore park project was recommended for a $750,000 Green Acres Park development program Grant is well so we're doing very well with the grants with the projects and business is uh continuing and at at a quick Pace here in town and that concludes my report thank you Mr manager I still can't believe we only have you for two more meetings after this one before you retire yes gonna miss you man um Mr attorney I have nothing Mr Mayer all right in that case we're going to move on to the next order of business which is formal meeting items and first up is a public hearing on resolution 12720 24 submission of a 2024 Bergen County open space trust fund application for the Phelps Parks exercise station improvements again this is just a public hearing on this one item and this one item alone the Phelps Park exercise station improvements does anyone want to talk about these improvements in Phelps Park seeing No Hands the public hearing is closed Mr Clerk and I'm going to move on to the next item of business two hands oh sorry about that sorry it's okay again for these hands on Zoom I'm just going to lower the hands real quick and you AF free to raise your hands again I want to be very specific that this public hearing is just specifically on resolution number 127 d224 -224 a Grant application we are working on for a park that is the only thing we are hearing for this public hearing general public hearings are coming shortly thereafter so one more time the mayor will ask if we have any hands for this public hearing of this Grant application yeah does anyone want to talk about the Phelps Park exercise station improvements no hands all right public hearing is closed we're moving on to our next order of business sorry we've already were you talk were you gonna talk about Phelps Park I wanted to know if I had to do anything before I was given the opportunity to speak no no no uh during good and Welfare people can talk about anything they want talk about yes yes sorry we're going to have another public hearing and then we're going to move on to good and Welfare where anyone can talk about anything that they want and they get three minutes per person so our next order of business is a public hearing and Adoption of ordinances Mr clerk can you please read the title of the ordinances into the record yes absolutely sir we have ordinance number 62024 which is accepting the dedication of a portion of the property located at block 30003 Lots 2 and three on the official tax mmore commonly known as Chad road for the purposes of developing and maintaining a public right of way C toac we have ordinance number 8224 adopting rules and regulations related to tree removal I believe Mr Mayor we wanted our attorney than Mr clerk Mr attorney you wanted to say something before we opened up this public hearing okay so I just want to give a quick uh overview of this ordinance uh before we get started with the public hearing I I've received a number of uh questions about this ordinance from the can we please have silence in the audience Please Mr attorney FL is yours he's talking about Trey sir please don't interrupt him he's G he's trying to break something down for us and he just said it's the two ordinances please let him talk so I'm talking about the the tree removal ordinance uh I was 82024 yeah yeah um I received a lot of questions about it both from uh the Council as well as members of the public uh so the township along with essentially every other municipality uh in New Jersey is required uh by state law to adopt Mr Mayor can you please stop that I've asked you three times you keep dis you keep interrupting the meeting I'm G to ask you to leave can you please leave because this is the third time you've done this on purpose second will take a recess yeah make a motion take a recess for five minutes all right there's a roll call Mr clerk Mr clerk we have a first in a second for a recess councilman Schwarz councilwoman beler no what is happening councilwoman beler there was a motion from councilman Schwarz and a second from councilwoman Goldberg to take a five minute the discussion on this though because I don't think that should be cut shutting our meeting down I think instead after three warnings she should be removed I agree do we have a policy stop interrupting stop interrupting Please Mr attorney do we have a policy Mr manager do we have a policy y I'm asking you to please leave because you keep interrupting our meeting yes it's not your decision sorry all right Mark all right Mark let's take a vote on the recess our clerk is advising us to take a recess councilman Schwarz for your motion on the table councilman Schwarz for your motion on the table councilman Belcher for five minute recess and I will call you and be in touch with you okay five minutes yes councilwoman Goldberg no councilwoman organ absolutely not Deputy Mayor G wait you made the motion he's calling he's calling the V so I've never heard anyone make a motion then say no but uh yes gone no because I would like her to leave because she keeps interrupting our meeting and we're trying to get business done for the township yes it is you keep interrupting the meetings and you're interrupting right now while we're trying to conduct business with Township you keep playing something you keep playing Sirens so can you please leave can you please leave so that our meeting will no longer be interrupted so that we can conduct the Township's business we have a lot of work to do thank you very much stop interrupting Please Mr attorney stop interrupting please we're trying to hear our attorney so that we can according to our attorney Mr attorney can you just let people know that the presiding officer has the right to ask someone to be the presiding officer has the right to ask someone stop interrupting stop interrupting sir we're trying to conduct a meeting for the township we still have a lot of work to do we have to get to good and Welfare and if people want to talk during good and Welfare they can but we cannot condone people interrupting the meeting or each other it's as simple as that and I'd like to ask you stop interrupting as well please or else I'm going to have to ask you to leave as well and I don't want to have to do that like you to leave can you please get out that gentleman right there who's also interrupting the meeting can you please remove those two folks from the meeting so that we can conduct our Township business you and Miss Graham in the back for the sirens you you because you keep interrupting how dare you how dare you he's an elder he's an elderly man Mr Schwarz make a motion for emergency recess a second for the recess we're going to while these two people are escorted out of the building only way repr I would like you to leave you don't have to get arrested I would like you to leave because you keep interrupting the meeting you have to leave you've been told to leave [Music] on that was M Mr Mayor Mr Mayor you want to have an Ur before we continue with the reset or up up to you it may be helpful because te's not here either all right so little judgment recess I would suggest five minute recess all right five minute recess Mark Karen Hillary five minute recess Mr May we'll come back at 9:35 everyone a chance to get back in here anyone have a good J [Laughter] we can't have chickens and I should have said that's I'm at I wanten chicken our next is let let me say something let me say something I'm hearing from a lot of people what a get a five minute recess we'll be back at about 9:35 e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e check one two check one two all right apologies about that members of the public neighbors of tag we took a quick recess and we are now back um I believe mayor we left off at ordin thank you Mr Clerk and I'm sorry about that everyone Mr attorney before we open up the second public hearing you were talking to us about one of the two ordinances the tree ordinance can you please continue that conversation before we open up the second public hearing yep uh I'm sure what everyone wants to hear after that is to hear from the lawyer but I'll do my best here so uh yes I received a lot of questions about the tree ordinance uh from members of the council as well as members of the public um and so I want to talk a little about that and give some some context here so T neck along with essentially every other municipality in New Jersey is required by the state by state law to adopt a tree removal and replacement ordinance technically we were supposed to have it adopted by May 1 a a little bit of a loose deadline though as long as you know we're making efforts to to do that that we're we're on say on safe ground here uh now but um we were given a sample ordinance by the state as to what it should look like and that's what we used as our starting point uh we made a number of changes to it uh both in uh in in conjunction with with DPW had a say in it we also reviewed it with the shry Advisory Board uh had a number of recommendations to it and what the main goal or purpose of this ordinance is uh is to create create this uniform tree removal replacement process that applies to everyone in the township equally but that means that we cannot exempt uh any group or Target in any way and let's say increase requirements or create any requirements any one group in particular over another so for example we cannot exempt residential homeowners and allow this to only apply to let's say commercial property owners it has to apply to everyone this uh ordinance is not intend Ed to require every person every property owner in the township to come to the township every single time uh they need to remove a tree on their on their property there is an exemption built into it that allows you to remove up to four trees over a rolling three-year period without having to get Township approval the state originally recommended a fiveyear uh period we change it to three that way gives a little more flexibility to Residents don't necessar have to track over such a long period of Time how many trees have been removed what this ordinance is really meant to do though is for uh create some additional restrictions on property owners who essentially want to just knock down a whole bunch of trees in their in their in their yard where you see this a lot is where someone is doing a tear down of their house and the the contractors often want to remove all the trees around the house uh because it it just makes their job a lot easier um it is both in the state's interest and town the Township's interest to require that they're going to remove all all those trees they have to replace them uh and there are a number of different you know uh uh restrictions and rules on that in the um uh in the OR and spout depending on the size of the tree whether or not we're able to find you're able to replace it on your property the alternatives for you know other places where trees can be planted that way we're not essentially uh cutting te- neck Drive of the trees that really make it so beautiful um so that if anyone any members of the council have any questions uh if anything comes up during the during the public comment here I'm happy thank you Mr attorney Mr Schwarz can we just introduce everyone to the real MJS over there and describe any words from Mr shikan do you have anything you would like to add the real editor of this sorry if we can just introduce sorry I me to put you on the spot good evening everybody thank you councilman uh Michael S bacon superintendent of Public Works um so I I believe what the attorney was saying is the point of this resolution is from the the D and it's to help manage storm water so as as we know T you know will gather a lot of water and tree roots will assist in pulling that unfortunately yes if we got like high level it's not to pull right out however um I believe that is the D's main goal for here and so the public works are going to adhere to this too as well um you know if we we cut down you know a tree whether it be it's in the town right away or in a park or going to plant one and again there are going to be times where us just like residents uh if the tree does not fit in the location you know we will move it to another location and then the same would be asked for residents right so if the structure that's being built is too large or it's moved over and the only area is Rocky ground um there are areas in this plause that would accommodate that thank you m no problem thank you Mr shmer Beacon does anyone else on Council have any questions or comments before we open it up to the public once again this is a public hearing on just these two ordinances the tree ordinance and Chadwick Road Mr s Alan son tck resident uh speaking on behalf of The Lorax and of the trees uh regarding ordinance a2024 which mandates rules regulations uh and fees the tree removal uh my next door neighbor put in a new patio on their property uh and was required to put in two massive and Incredibly extensive water detention pits despite the fact that this is on their property they had to put in these pits to deal with water runoff and impact their neighbors and running off into the street every part of these limits on imperviable loot coverage is built into our zoning ordinance and enforced by our land use board and the building department ordinance a is not just the whim of tree huggers this ordinance implements a state mandate as you heard related to stor water to runoff that helps the township and every one of its residents every time it rains especially after a heavy storm there is flooding and a huge spike in the amount of water getting into sanitary sewers uh this water makes its way to Little Ferry and has to be processed as Waste Water by the bcua at taxpayer expense trees prevent runoff by providing a leaf canopy that catches the rain slows its descent to Earth and allows it to evaporate while the roots loosen the soil and allow water to get into the ground and vacuumed up by the tree itself as the planning board representative Mr Mayor uh you and I have worked extensively regarding the new Master Plan issues about storm water runoff ecological resilience and impacts of changing climate are mandated parts of this new master plan while this ordinance is not part of our zoning code it plays a vital role in ensuring that the township is able to handle storm water a runoff for years to come this ordinance was reviewed as by the DPW the environmental commission sh Tre Advisory Board and will help Ensure that we can keep as much of our tree canopy as possible providing oxygen to tree lovers and haters alike keeping our Township cooler and maintaining our Beauty as we heard from the manager as a tree City where trees are taken down they will either be replaced on site or can be used to replace purchase replacement trees traditionally in the Jewish month of Nissan which is ending tonight we recite a blessing on trees in which we thank God for a world bestowed with wonderful creations and good trees created for the benefit of mankind whatever deity deity you pray or do not pray to whether you see trees as a gift of the almighty or of Mother Nature whether the written words you deem Most Holy were handed down by God or written by the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection listen to The Lorax save the trees vote Yes on ordinance 82024 thank you for thank you anyone else in Chambers want to talk about one of these two ordinances Mr Rose thank you Howard Rose EK resident uh just a couple of statements regarding the Paul bunan ordinance uh from what I've heard sounds good I'm wondering though if we can get a little bit of detail regarding for example I have a uh had two oak trees that are about 80 feet tall in front of my property one of them was killed by a gas leak of psng and there's no replacement there's no replacement for it because we couldn't put a 19t or an 8ft Tree symmetrically on the property next to an 80 foot tree that still exists so I'm wondering what this law has in terms of mandates for large tree replacement if it's an 80 foot oak tree you're not replacing it I hope with three pine trees you're replacing it with multiple trees because it's replacing something that was really substantial just that's my question thank you Mr Rose anyone else in Chambers Dr Powers Dr pow tenek I was going to ask as actually within this three minutes to get the summary perhaps it should have been a little more extensive because this is an incredibly complex ordinance that is being passed to understand both why it had uh been brought forward who had brought it forward and it is very clear that we are now going to be in compliance with state law we are Tree City we're also the place where for 10 years Mrs Brower came before this Council trying to figure out how she could possibly have a tree taken down that was sending its roots into into her basement this is incredibly complex stuff and in the first place I think when you introduced it Council you should have had this this presentation so that the public could know as they were reading it what was actually going on with it and secondarily I think it would have been a good idea to have promised the community that since this is going to impact a very large number of our residents that there is some communication device developed to somehow summarize it and get out to the public so they know and are not suddenly found not in compliance with something as complex as this thank you very much thank you Dr Powers anyone else in Chambers want to talk Mr Kaplan Keith Kaplan tck resident I agree with everything the attorney said I agree with everything Mr son said and I'm with The Lorax the problem with this ordinance has nothing to do specifically with the ordinance it has to do with t neck and government and just the way we function having spent close to two decades here and uh handling four years worth of issues from residents I can tell you some of my experiences the code said no signs above the second floor planning board said that includes the second floor they just did the code said you did not need a survey in order to replace a walkway the building department said said how do we know it was there originally we need to make sure that there's a permit even when this Council creates ordinances that tells our employees what to do the way things are done governs how this town operates more than the actual code so I agree with the lawyer about what it says I agree with everyone that it's decent what it needs is a little just a tad bit of extra language that said it already has an exemption that says if you want to take down uh what was it four trees in three years you're allowed that's fine what happens when the building department goes you need to prove you didn't take down more than four trees in three years what happens who needs to prove it where is that burden going to sit put that burden in the ordinance fine by me the rest of it's fine the way this town operates and the way it handles these things makes an ordinance like this especially problematic for its residents unless you're going to have someone that is fulltime monitoring the building department to ensure that this ordinance operates the way that the New Jersey D wants it to because if it came from on high that's one thing the D is not going to care how this is interpreted here in tck this is going to be a disaster for a lot of residents and we need some sort of language in this ordinance that protects those residents so that the actual intent of the uh statute that the D passed and which we are required to do is followed I would suggest very short uh recess introduce it uh for the next uh meeting get a couple extra words in there to protect residents and be done thank you Mr Kaplan anyone else in chambers before we go to zoom sing No Hands in Chambers douge Zoom I am bringing in Deborah blir can you hear us miss playberg need to unmute miss you need to unmute Miss blir sorry can hear you yeah now we can hear you're getting a lot of feedback Deborah you should know technology hates me is that better can you turn that up a little WR hi good evening can you hear me yes ma' and clear okay I just want to talk about this ordinance and the trees and hope that something will be dealt with when it comes to the town because this is putting a lot of obligations on the residents but as we know the town is not always um compliant with maintaining their trees and I think language should be put in there in order to ensure that this whole a branch needs to be two foot above the house when it's hanging right over a house is unacceptable so and the cutting down of trees and when you replace them uh when they fall down when you have trees that are going in town trees that are going into roots of people's residences and it costs us a lot of money and they lift the sidewalks so I love this tree idea great wonderful Huggers whatever but I think we need to focus also on how the town deals with the town trees because they are a menace to many homeowners especially when it comes to plumbing and sewage so I just wanted to add that in I figured it went with the tree ordinance so I hope that's appropriate and um I just appreciate how with dignity or handled everything previously so uh sorry that happened and good evening thank you Miss bber Doug I think we have a couple more on Zoom you said bringing in Ellie cats yeah ell cats we'll see it could which Ellie cats is it hi hello is there a y there hello Mr Cat you have three minutes Mr Cat Sor s is quiet in chamers three minutes sir apologies good evening council members my name is Ellie not ycats I'm a t resident uh I would like to comment on the proposed tree ordinance before you uh while I have been and still am a proponent of Nature and Environmental Protection I am however against unlawful overreach into private property this ordinance also imposes potential restrictions and delays to new construction projects and development caused by permitting and application process delays and the potential tremendous Financial burdens from Perman applications themselves as well as replanting fees I implore this Council to review the impacts of this ordinance with an open Workshop or a study for how it will financially impact residents before voting this evening traffic requests are met with traffic studies why wasn't this ordinance where a resident resident of EK could be met with hundreds or even thousands of dollars of fines fees or fines not be afforded the same opportunity of care while I was going to make a suggestion to amend the ordinance for commercial and business entities versus residential for Township attorney comments um I'd still like to however suggest changing the ordinance to remove or reduce the fees or maybe reduce replanting requirements that were not in the sample D ordinance originally these changes would still follow D guidelines protect the environment and be less of a burden and impact residents in addition I think the township should review how the application process pap and overall burden by this ordin or of this ordinance will impact the township and residents before voting I ask this Council to stay the C current ordinance as written and explore how to better serve the population of tenek by rewriting the ordinance with less burdensome protections thank you for your time and good evening thank you Mr Catz someone else on Zoom Doug Sean hershorn you have three minutes please unmute whenever you are ready thanks thanks for calling on me I just wanted to comment on the tree ordinance as well I'd like to state that I'm in support of having a beautiful Greenery in tenek however I am concerned that the ordinances impose restrictions and penalties and there was not enough I feel like communication conversation with residents allowing us to share our feedback and therefore I'm requesting that this ordinance be sheld and have a public hearing sort of another open mic night as these Tuesday night Council meetings have turned into to allow us to discuss how better to serve the T residents on having a green tck thank you thank you sir anybody else do I have re McAn you are free to unmute you have three minutes whenever you are ready thank you Doug uh good evening Council I'm calling to say that we need more time residents need more time to digest this ordinance uh given that this Council has proven that they care more about the trees in our town than children being killed it is important that residents have a right to know what is being hidden thank you Mr salon for for your explanation and clarification but we still do not understand what the nuances are to this ordinance and therefore my recommendation council is that you table this ordinance for now and as rightly mentioned by uh the person who spoke before me Mr Sean make sure that public has full transparency into what is being passed and what are the implications of this for every resident in tenac we owe it to our future Generations that we don't make lops ided halfhazard decisions and um therefore take the time to actually make some thoughtful decisions around this thanks Doug anybody else Doug I have Michael Katy Michael Katy you are free to unmute whenever you are ready sir all right uh thank you uh can you hear me now GL and clear okay I'd like to speak about the trees ordinance um I had a chance to review the trees ordinance and I think that it's a h fantastic goal I think that there's definitely a need I've seen streets where people move into homes where there's mature trees they go ahead first thing they do is they cut down eight trees that have been providing uh incredibly fantastic shade for the homeowners their neighbors people on the sidewalk walking past for decades they they'll go they clearcut the entire property and all of a sudden you'll see something looks like a uh like a realtor special or it says oh look how clean the front of the house is now the house is just it's all grass it's beautiful it's just just sparkling clean and they've basically ripped out the character from the neighborhood I think there's a need to preserve trees to make sure that when people go and they cut them down that there's a way of getting them replaced I think what makes teenx special what makes it different than just like a you know a ticky tacky cookie cutter suburb that's just like somewhere in Nevada from a picture is is the trees when you go past a Treeline Street like say you go down Grayson um you know coming down from queenan road going towards te Road hop Eagles you see those Majestic trees covering the street and yes trees have problems too we know this but they're beautiful it was makes Teck Teck it'd be like saying that you know let's just change every Tutor House to a just like a you know one of those uh stuckle materials made out of fake foam they just look tacky and they don't look good so there's definitely a need and I think this tree is is a valuable thing what what what I'm curious about is that why put this in the hands of the zoning official they already have a lot of up on their plate doesn't really make sense to me that it should be in the zoning official's hands I feel like it's creating a process that's going to create a lot of headache for the homeowners I think that maybe you should stay in the position of the licensed tree professional I think that's the the superintendent of DPW is someone who's getting that certification maybe has it already or maybe it can be somebody who's just simply a State Certified uh tree professional or arborist so that way you can call a tree uh service company and they can make that determination with from their professional rather than just leaning on the expertise of somebody who really just spends their day going to ICC building and fire inspection training classes who really doesn't know anything about the ins and outs of you know arborists and trees so I think that doesn't make sense and I also think that $500 is too low of a fee in Li of planting a new tree um I you know I took the liberty of doing some investigating of my own on this and a new tree costs like around $500 to ,000 for like a three to five inch sapling that's installed with a two-year warranty and then the truck and the staff to install it's like another thousand it's nowhere nearly enough so those are my two cents I hope this is successful thanks have a great night thank you Mr kky anyone else on Zoom dog T Boomer please state your name for the record T Boomer please state your name for the record this is a public hearing on just the ordinances T Boomer your hand is raised T Boomer put their hand down there all right anybody else on Zoomer Chambers no so the public hearing is closed on these two ordinances does anyone on Council have anything they want to say Miss Oregon Scott is there anything that we've heard from the public tonight that we allowed to change in the ordinance that require the state requires us to implement well um I mean some things I suppose we could change for example the the I think Mr classy was asking about the zoning officer and why zoning officer is responsible for doing this I suppose we could change something like that I don't I'm not sure who else would be more appropriate to to handle it that was one of the things that we discussed when we were drafting this uh was like that the zoning officer is really the most the best person that's equipped to actually go out and do these types of inspections they can be advis given advice and guidance by uh by DPW but they didn't really have someone that could go out and do it so I'm not something like that we could change I'm just not sure who would be a better more appropriate person to to replace him with um I guess I'm not sure about the some of the I think most most of the questions I heard were about I guess one and more time more of an understanding about this stuff so obviously there's nothing to do with that um I would say I didn't hear anything that something that we couldn't do we could increase the the the fee the the $500 fee that Mr clasy also mentioned um I think that the $500 fee uh if you can't if there are no other alternatives to planting where that came from was that DBW has previously paid $500 per tree for about a two and a half Cal inch caliper tree I think that's what that number that to be to be plan to do that's that's where that number came from so we that's something we could increase but that number right now it's based on I think dpw's past experiences um I didn't hear anything specific that we couldn't do um but like most of the most of the questions I think were about just general knowledge about what's going on okay I don't I I don't see anybody in the town other than the zoning official that could handle this um I don't have any issues with the ordinance if we're required to pass it I also don't have a problem tabling it if people want more time either works for me anyone else I don't have a problem with the ordinance I just wanted to say that I agree with um Dr pow if we can put something in the the front so people understand the ordinances like get introduction I think would be helpful and I would just like to add that the shat Tre Advisory board and the environmental commission help edit this so anybody else because I'm okay with passing it now what does the rest of the council think I'm okay with passing it now I think we do need to communicate to people what the impact will be and like the exception R I think it needs to be so can I actually address some of the question at Le couple questions that I that I heard so the first one I agree uh with Council Goldberg I agree with Dr Powers I think doing more of these summaries when we're first introducing them I think that's a great idea something I will try to do going forward generally speaking uh second is to Mr Rose about he was asking about what happens when someone removes removes a massive tree um and how that gets handled under this ordinance the answer really depends on the size of the tree uh so for example if the tree has a 26 inch uh or greater of the dbh the really the WD the width of the tree I think it's four and a half in the ground um the what the ordinance would do is it requires that uh because you obviously can't just find and replace a 26 inch tree uh you have to a plant with three trees with a minimum threee caliber of one and a half inches um for for each tree that for each tree of that size that's being removed um so the idea is that depending on the size of the tree changes how many trees you have to plant in response so if it's a massive tree you going have to plant more trees in response smaller one you may only have to do one do one response um and then the Alternatives again depending on the size of it and the location you may have the option of planting elsewhere aside from your property or paying uh paying the $500 uh fee that that was disguised and the third thing I want to mention is to what Mr Kaplan had raised um he was asking about who the who the burden is on uh for to essentially prove whether or not these trees have been uh removed or not uh if the township wants to site someone for a violation of this like say for example the township believes that someone removed just making up a number a dozen trees and uh and wants the sment for violation even though those were not previously fored or anything it's the Township's legal burden to show that that person has violated the the ordinance that's a that is something that they would have to go before ultimately go before the municipal Court um and the township has a specific legal burden uh of of proof to show that that person has violated the ordinance so we can't we can't try and flip it around and put the burden on the homeowner to essentially prove a negative we have to affirmatively prove that you violated the ordinance and um and didn't either didn't afford or whatever situation um and so I think that's that's all the the points I want to address thank you Mr SE Mr Schwarz did you want to say anything or that case I make a motion to approve both ordinances I I did want to say something Mr Mayor oh sorry Denise please goad yeah I don't think I don't think you called upon me um I just wanted to ask the attorney um how does this um compare with other towns of similar um type meaning T towns that have you know trees like mature trees as te neck um are is it in uh pretty much um in line with with uh T other towns such as like like ours like um you know be it um Monclair or you know other other towns that are similar in terms of having mature trees so I would say I've because this is now a state mandate we're seeing pretty much every town uh in New Jersey adopting I'll say versions variants of of this uh this ordinance there's some some towns that already had some sort of uh Tree ordance in place and they're just amending what they currently have to comply with this but for the most part most towns don't have something like this and are now doing going to adopting them I've seen the only I'll say notable differences I've seen in different towns is really what their specific requirements are for like you know how many trees do you have to if you're if you're replacing a tree of let's say 15 inches how many trees do you have to replace it with is it two or is it three I've seen uh places that have impos different sort of uh sorts of fees on there some are more and some are less than what what te has there's kind of a huge range uh of of what of like the the fees and the um the uh the tree replacement criteria that are in place but everywhere that I'm seeing is is adopting uh uh ordinances like this or almost identical to this um again with relatively minor changes but they're there're some of them have even stricter requirements of what the homeowners have to show if they want to get out of doing this um some of them require the the you know property owner ERS to have all sorts of experts and arborists and whatever come out and and make certain showings we don't really have a lot of those requirements in in our in our version of this um so I'll say it's a big range but it's a big range over a small number of parts of this orance they're pretty much the same throughout the state as I'm seeing them thank you Mr shamon thank you m Belcher I make a motion to approve both ordinances second councilman Schwarz councilman beler yes councilman Goldberg yes councilman Oregon yes Deputy Mayor G yes mayor Pagan yes sir Mr clerk adopted our next order of business is good and Welfare any member of the public wishing to be heard at this time will be asked to come forward and state their names for the record comments will be limited to three minutes per person if you are on Zoom please list your first name and your last name so our clerk can call on you we also ask that you turn your camera on when speaking there is a young child in attendance at our meeting tonight so I'm going to call on him first because it is a school night after all Ian Leon and Ian I am so sorry it is so late but we're so happy that you're here with us tonight Ian hello my name is Ian I'm 7 years old and I lived my whole life in tck I am here tonight to ask you to allow backyard chickens in my school we helped we helped raise chickens for a local Farm having the chicks was a lot of fun and it taught us about the life cycle of chickens chickens are also good pets they are soft and their feathers are pretty they also give us eggs so we don't have to buy eggs at the store my family and I I would love to have chickens in our backyard but you won't allow us to please change the lot so that we can thank you and have a good night thank you so much Ian thank you so so very much Ian Doug someone on Zoom I'm bringing in Joe Spiegel bringing in Joe Spiegel you have three minutes whenever you are ready hey good evening everyone uh Joe Spiegel here class of ten high school 2004 I just want to give a shout out to TBA and his family uh really awesome to see him getting recognized and you know and also his induction into the Chiefs Hall of Fame he was good friends with my sister back in high school and I was also on the same basketball team as him when when I was a scrawny sophomore and he was a senior and I think back to that time and you know even though I spent most of the Year scared of him in the locker room I can see how he helped make our team more disciplined tougher and made us work harder and he really prepared a lot of a lot of us young guys to go on and win a state championship after that so uh so yeah just wanted to say I'm super happy for him everything he's accomplished and wish him nothing but the best and also shout out to his father Mr Henry Holly who also tutored me in high school and helped me pass 11th grade chemistry so thank you have a good night thank you Mr SP I see that we have some clergy in the audience do any of our clergy members want to speak rabbi fredman um good evening everybody Daniel fredman um lifelong Teck resident Rabbi the Jury Center of Tink uh and uh vice president for Community engagement for the rical council Bergen County and particularly grateful to Joe uh for his uh Zoom remark so I did not have to follow Ian that would have been impossible um I want to uh first of all welcome back he's not in the room right now which is probably better so I don't embarrass him I wanted to Welcome Back Our Town man Town manager to the deis it's been a very long and challenging uh 3 weeks for the kiny family but we're so gratified Dean that your father detective Sergeant rich kazin is headed in the right direction um I wanted to speak on behalf of not only my entire synagogue Community but all the residents of this town in Wishing your dad a complete and speedy recovery as we like to say Rua his service to this town and the police department over so many decades preceded by his heroic service in Korea where here in the Purple Heart taking a bullet Fighting For Freedom across the world as a testament to his character but I think his greatest contribution to this town will'll all agree was the young man that he raised um the Apple really didn't far fall from the tree and as I said to your father and mother a number of times over these last few weeks Dean we look forward to celebrating with both of them in good health Dean day this summer God willing I also wanted to include a note of gratitude uh tonight um I think she's behind me to Cheryl Hall uh three weeks ago I was she is a a great lady of Tek there's no question I was um a little taken aback we had um what I thought was a very reasonable and respectful request from a sitting member of council that an important meeting of leadership EK not take place on Passover so that those who observe Passover who can't uh ride or drive really attend this meeting uh would be able to participate um I was a little surprised by what transpired next and I felt it was a missed opportunity for tinac to demonstrate the understanding and mutual respect which is so critical to the harmonious functioning of our Township doing everything possible to ensure that no one Jewish Christian or Muslim or of any faith tradition has to choose between their faith commitments and their civic engagement all the more so missed opportunity for leadership EK which is dedicated to training the next gener generation of leaders in our Township it would have been such a great moment a lesson in empathy and mutual understanding I felt then as I do now that Tina could do better and I'm so grateful to Cheryl Hall for all of her work drawing attention to this issue and putting together a community calendar to be reviewed by competent members of each Faith tradition to ensure that we don't impose upon people any need to choose between their faith commitments and their civic engagement engagement so let's continue working together neighbors sticking up for Neighbors ensuring that TX days are best ahead of it thank thank you Rabbi are there any other members of clergy that want to speak D someone on Zoom Sheran e whenever you are ready you are free to on mute and you have three minutes Sher andne whenever you are ready you are free to unmute your three minutes can you all hear me loud and clear Miss alrighty um I am shaken by what I saw on Zoom um and I'm not sure how everybody's going through this meeting um first I just want to say I I um I speak I am in support of the resolution for Arab American Heritage Month although again I'm shaken as you can hear I want to acknowledge that the Institute represents local Arab communities with that said I would like to also acknowledge Mental Health Awareness Month the past seven months of torture of the Palestinian people have endured is endless and the trauma is endless um and what they have to deal with again is immeasurable I know that fellow residents of EK may find that our consistent talk of this genocide is tiresome and I want to assure you that we are tired too the 600,000 Palestinians Sheltering in Rafa are tired too um I'm just going to read a quote from Rachel Corey an American who was killed in 2003 this has to stop and I think it is a good idea for all of us to drop everything and devote Our Lives to making this stop I don't think it's an extremist thing to do anymore I still really want want to dance around to Pat benitar and have boyfriends and make comics for my co-workers but I also want this to stop disbelief in horror is what I feel disappointment I am disappointed that this is the base of reality of our world and that we in fact participate in it end quote the fact that she wrote she said this in 2003 and it is still happening and is still accurate to this time is appalling and that what transpired in in the chambers transpired without a word of it is appalling thank you so much thank you ma'am someone on this side you said youf Latin president didn't think I was going to Clos soon uh this is a sign my anyone got to see it when uh my sister was holding up earlier what we witnessed today was disgusting I'm going to read an amendment I want you all to guess which amendment it is Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof or abridging sorry the freedom of speech or of the press or the right of the people to peacefully assemble and to petition the government for a redress of grievances I know you can answered for now but for those of you on the council who didn't know that was the First Amendment of the United States Constitution Free Speech makes our Representatives accountable to We the People as we saw in tonight's meeting the person admit ends when the mayor said so we all have rights in EK until you denounce a genocide may I suggest that we all get together to rewrite the First Amendment we will establish clear terms on which uscitizens are protected we will make it illegal to use the word palestin and genocide in the same sentence we will make it illegal for high school students to have a voice abolish any gathering for Humanity in the confines of this Township most importantly we will Outlaw car rys and public roadways I drive down the streets every day I don't want any Palestinians using my roads maybe we could give them the own roads just from them for themselves away from us it works so well in other countries let's set up checkpoints so that we can stop residents from Patterson from visiting our beautiful town as a matter of fact we should stop any Outsider from driving through te neck maybe we should build wall around this town we can work on redefining words to give them different meanings in order to criminalize language I am willing to help be a part of a committee to help rewrite the First Amendment we will call it the first amendment Teck Edition I could get a few people together if anyone on this Council would like to help maybe we could bring in a congressman to help draft this up if anyone on the council knows a congressman personally please reach out to them preferably let's find a congressman who's anti-free speech and doesn't mind bullying teenagers together we can make teen like a great place to live for everyone not including Palestinians they are not welcome here certain board members on the board of education are actively trying to suppress the voices of our youth by trying to pass policies that subdue anyone speaking out against a genocide the policy will get our children in trouble if they acknowledge that 40,000 people being murdered within 7 months is alarming calling a genocide for what it is will have consequences in this Township but making up lies against Arabs and Muslims will earn your a seat on his Council make it make sense before we get stripped of our basic freedoms in this Township let me say that I am very proud of our ten high school students and the Palestine club for standing up against the intimidation tactics used by elected officials we stand with you I will end with a phrase that I'm sure will soon arbitrarily be labeled as hate speech the more you try to silence us the louder we will be thank you Yousef Doug someone on Zoom Lana please state your name for the record uh can you hear me loud and clear perfect okay my name is Lana Hanks um I just want to say like everyone I don't like to be interrupted when I'm speaking but what I find particularly amusing and disturbing is that you are more bothered and disturbed by being interrupted when you are speaking than by the fact that a child has been killed let that sink in where is your Humanity where is your conscience as we speak right now Israel is invading Raa and killing people civilians that were deemed in a safe Zone before where is your conscience how is this okay and yet this town still chooses to turn a blind eye not only that but you continue to entice hate and violence against Palestinians especially minors I could list all the churches the mosques the schools and the hospitals that have been destroyed by Israel but that would take all night and I don't have time for that yet you refus to call this a genocide I could list out the names of the over 40,000 people that have been killed in Palestine in seven months but that would also take all night and all day tomorrow yet you refuse to call a genocide why aren't you calling this for what it is and the fact that Palestine and genocide cannot be used in the same sentence how are you okay with limiting our speech why is Israel such a red line that the fact that we just want to uh condemn the murder of all these people it is automatically wrong it is automatically anti-Semitism how many times do we have we have to explain ourselves that when we um call out Zionist when we call out Israel we are not being anti-semitic if you are not understanding this by now you will never ever understand it and limiting our chance and our freedom of speech and our car rallies and our clubs is not going to help this situation we need a right to express ourselves because this country was built on those rights so when we say from The River To The Sea I know I know very scary we mean from the river to the Sea we mean we want freedom for everyone in Palestine okay you can't limit us from saying that when we when we say that there is a genocide going on in Palestine right now that should alarm you that there's a genocide it shouldn't alarm you that we're using the word where is your conscience where is your Humanity how dare you limit the freedom of high school students that are trying to start a club when there has been an Israel Club on campus four years that's not up to you to aside thank you thank you Miss Mr perz good evening uh Council and mayor thank you for letting me speak I'm here to talk on uh Tamba Ali A former teammate and also a teammate of my brother um we you know kind of met uh TBA when I was in seventh grade when my brother started playing basketball in freshman year you we used to have the township trampoline so everyone used to come over from all ages and when he showed up I was like whoa big dude very imposing um and when I finally got to play on te the Teck basketball team I we quickly found out why he was such a superstar later in his life um and as an unfortunate Denver Bronco fan we had to face him to you two times a year so he wreaked havoc on the multitude of quarterbacks that we've had um but I I vividly remember uh in the high school my junior year TBA came back from Penn State and we did a Big Brother program and it was a it was some of the individuals that went out and became professionals and Tom came back and kind of talked to the Juniors and seniors on how to be a professional how to be a scholar how to work hard um and how to really give back to the community when you get out there and um it kind of resonated with me as an athlete and a professional um and I'm I'm hope that um some of his um continuous social impact is kind of get going through multiple of folks that are here and um also um through sa and Kumba us um they were both amazing athletes as well um and I was fortunate enough to be a student of Mr Ali in chemistry class and really taught us you know everything we need know about chemistry I'm in Wall Street now but uh it's still resonated a lot of the lessons he he taught us but um it was just really great to see and thank you to my abcr members that are here for to show support um I think it's important for t to get to getting back to being T um you know um we really support um folks like TBA coming in and his father you know um really have an impact on the town um and I hope uh we can focus more on peace love unity and I hope the abcr members can help me bring Teek back to where what we used to be um I love this town and I love you all and thank you for the great work thanks for giving me some time jsh someone on Zoom Doug Aunt Rodney Aunt Rodney please unmute and state your name for the record whenever you're ready and we're having trouble hearing you over here in Deb hi good evening it's me again um I just wanted to actually discuss some actual Town stuff I know controversial um the lantern flies um I know there was some discussion we need to make sure that the bridge on CED Delane the trees there last year were literally crawling with Lantern flies so it might be an area you want to focus on um just I know um and then also want to thank the fact that you are doing a Fields um forum and whatever thingy because it actually symbolize a nice uh coordination between the Board of Education and the council because there does have to be accountability in certain areas and I do would like people to remember that the board of education is upping their um tax doah at 2% and um they are also getting rid of 29 uh student facing teachers they've sent rice papers to so I really think you might want to start taking a little bit of attention of what's actually going on on the ground there um and then I'd like to talk about our T-Neck colonizer um there is um as we know the sacred uh African-American burial ground on Pand walk which the town kindly bought the house demolished it and allowed the area to become public lands and a beautiful Memorial and area and as we know right by it is the uh sacred native um American burial Mount and there is a house on it and I do believe that the town should actually look to purchasing the house and bringing the entire area to the beauty and nature it should be and restoring it uh because we do have basically a colonizer living right on top of the house the person bought the house knowing where it was and uh may or may not be on the board of education so it kind of the hypocrisy that goes on is insane so I'm just saying I think the town should start to consider the fact I appreciate the fence they built beautiful but um yeah when we're talking about colonizers we have our own inex so maybe we should start focusing on those areas before we start going outside um I would comment on the other stuff but it's beyond Ridiculousness so let's carry on and the lantern FES can we deal with them please thank you and have a good evening everybody and Dean much um sympathy bar shma to your uh father sorry it's late and I am extremely tired and thank you good evening thank you Miss BL sh all thank you oh I need to see the clock okay thank you to my esteemed uh the wonderful Council and um to everyone here tonight a special shout out to the abcr team we all came out to um celebrate the Timba haly uh wonderful story it is quintessential Tina it really is everything that we're all about right now um that story is it's not lost on me that he's still trying to get his mother into this country um from Liberia that's not lost on me and maybe that's something that citizens can write letters about to try and help too um but it really is just such a wonderful story um I I'm asking maybe the council uh councilwoman Goldberg I think you're um presentation that you read maybe that could be posted somewhere on the township website so that we can share it um you know throughout the community because it's inspiring it makes people feel good tonight I also saw a seven-year-old talk about uh chickens that made me feel good um I Heard the alarm a earlier um with the sign and I got nervous and the person that I was sitting next to you know tried to explain it to me and I said do you do you honestly think that I have not stayed up nights crying about this situation about all the heartache that different people have in this Township about the fact that people are dying I am a daughter of a veteran um a career Marine both of Vietnam and Korea to purple hearts um war is so bad and to pray and maybe as a society we need to think about it all we need to a global Society but regardless of that when I said this to my neighbor sitting next to me we both welled up and cried te- neck Roots Run Deep we will be United again I have that faith I also would like to ask I hear a lot of pain but I also hear something that maybe um I need to Double Down On which is the calendar a lot of things have been missed on all sides of religion so I that needs to be a number one priority I think of abcr working on a calendar right now that's the number one issue because I think that people um you know have been uh left out um and then suddenly nobody said anything so Now's the Time maybe we can get that together thank you so much everyone thank you someone on [Music] Zoom Aunt Rodney we're trying again a Rodney whenever you are ready Aunt Rodney you are free to un mute all right Auntie keeps dropping off I apologize freed to pee you are being summoned in you are free to un mute three minutes whenever you are ready yes hi um free the people so it's been basically eight months and as you can tell from what today in the chambers people are frustrated they unable to get through to you council members through words so people are having to use an alarm in the hope to actually wake you up and yet you still don't realize a genocide is taking place right now every 10 minute another child dies in huzza so um you know they're not dying of natural causes it's not on accident you know they are being murdered by the iof by Israel this is an ethnic cleansing happening right now and I know a lot of people are saying has nothing to do with t neck but ten did get involved by passing that resolution in October giving Israel the full support which in turn gives it the full support to the genocide that they're committing right now um every person on planet Earth should be concerned right now so should the council members of tinck um I love it how um Deborah just earlier spoke about hypocrisy about a colonizer living in uh teake yeah she herself is a colonizer because she always always claimed Israel yet that is not her native land she is a colonizer too so do us all a favor Deborah and get off Palestinian land because the hypocrisy is really disgusting and to be frankly honest it's actually quite yeah please don't attack other residents that are speaking ma'am I'm not attacking one minute left she she actually said the same thing about the other person that she was naming and you did not cut her off or mention anything to her so it's quite ironic and and it's very hypocritical out of you all to be calling me out when you didn't call her out so you can see how like this is exactly what we're talking about there's always preference to the white people in town versus the others anybody that supports Palestine even though I'm clearly British by the way um we're being attacked just because we support Palestine and that is clearly unfair and that goes between your resolutions the way you unleash the police department the way everything that you do clearly is spoken out so anyway I've got 20 seconds left so what I'm going to say is just free Palestine free Palestine free Palestine from The River To The Sea and I really mean it free Palestine from The River To The Sea and free Palestine some more I don't care I got five seconds left free pal free Palestine free Palestine make I your hand up thank good evening um I'm going to speak about something completely different um uh my sure it says it's a demotivator so it's against motivating people and it says cluelessness there are no stupid questions but there are a lot of inquisitive idiots so for any errors that I make blame it on the shirt um so I want to talk about the devel velopment projects on uh near Cedar Lane and American Legion Drive um the first thing I want to mention is that big meeting that was at the Roa Center I was sick so I was on zoom and as much as I screamed at my screen I could not get through we kept hearing move closer to the microphone so those on Zoom can hear you yet nobody said let let's hear from somebody on Zoom the entire time nobody wanted to listen anyway so we heard but we were not heard so from what I understand the person who deemed the locations as a NR as um was not an independent and disinterested party regarding the process going for forward if that is the case then the process should have been stopped when that became clear and not proceed at all yet new designs are being presented despite strong residents opposition and money continues to flow to a project design that was tainted by not being done in good faith from the beginning and I believe that it needs to be stopped and independently evaluated otherwise we keep throwing good money after bad and I just think it needs to be from the beginning rethought because that's what I think thank you very much thank you Debbie good night and if there's another one of these meetings please hear from the people on Zoom thank you Deb thank you hi shuk I stand before you today to to voice my full support for the proposed resolution aimed at ending anti-arab hate and recognizing April as Arab American heritage month I want to extend my deepest gratitude to the Arab American Institute for their unwavering support of Tink particularly as they understand the struggles and challenges faced by the Arab community and Mis patory and harassment additionally I commend Miss Belcher for her dedication and introducing this resolution Arab Americans are not only integral members of our state country and Township but also pillars of our society however they have unjust misconceptions that have undermined their s that have undermined their sense of belonging and safety it is imperative that we as a community acknowledge and address these issues the Arab American community in tinx stands firm in their commitment to fostering a peaceful and diverse Society this resolution serves to condemn all forms of anti-arab hate sentiment affirm affirm our Township's dedication to ensuring their security recognize the vital role the Arab Community plays and acknowledge the urgent need to end violence in examining past resolutions passed by this Council I noted the Precision and necessity of the language used which effectively made the intended Community feel seen and heard tonight I implore our council members to extend the same level of consideration and respect to the Arab Community my two kids are eagerly anticipating their graduation ceremony they've expressed interest in wearing a pen are draping a flag represented representing Palestine during the event they take pride in their identity and enjoy expressing it openly however as a parent I am fearful for their safety this resolution must not only be approved but also carry significant weight and protection what we saw tonight is a result of our Council memb hearing but not listening hearing but not listening when someone needs to sit in the back of the room with the sign which I didn't know this was going to happen tonight by the way and a buzzer going off 10 every 10 minutes it's because you are hearing but not listening and I heard some people in Chambers saying oh but this isn't the way then share with us what is the way because it's been months I've attended every single meeting since October I voice concerns over resolutions that have been passed I always try to speak with the outmost respect I'm open to meeting new people understanding different perspectives I just want to know what is the way then what is the way this is for Lea tonight thank you thank you miss someone on Zoom Doug I got Jesse Leon good evening thank you so much um Jesse Leon resident I think that it's clear why I have been so doggedly trying to get chickens legalized and there's really nothing more that I can say about that that Ian didn't say perfectly this evening um so I will approach weightier issues tonight um you know that I am against resolutions of any kind that don't have to do with the town directly but because I don't think you're going to listen to me I'm going to lean in two frivolous resolutions um among the other many deserving uh resolutions that for for for months that are celebrated in May there is one that this town has ignored and that is uh that is zombie awareness month um this is something that I think is very important so I've taken the opportunity to write a draft resolution Doug I'll be emailing it to you I meant to hand out hard copies but I had to to put my son to bed so very quickly whereas the United States faces the ever-looming threat of a future zombie apocalypse and whereas the township of Tink reflects the greater American community and whereas the township of Tink recognizes the need to prepare for and prevent the possibility the possibility of a future zombie apocalypse and whereas the township of Tink recognizes that zombies reflect society's fears of terrorism biological or viral infection and societal collapse and whereas Tink understands that preparing for a zombie apocalypse can help people prepare for any type of real world disaster and whereas the zombie research Society has declared the month of May zombie awareness month and whereas May is an ideal month to raise awareness of the possibility of a future zombie apocalypse the number of notable zombie films are set in May including George Romo's classic film Night of the Living Dead and whereas May a spring month represents renewal and optimism that offers a hopeful contrast to dark of a zombie apocalypse and whereas the township of TX supports Community efforts to increase knowledge about disaster preperation social cohesion and most important the possible impending Zombie Apocalypse Now therefore be it resolved by the township Council of the township of T Burton County New Jersey that the township of EK recognizes the month of May a zombie awareness month will strive to be an example of preparedness and a beacon of safety in the midst of a potential Undead swarm and will ask its state representatives to be active in fortifying our defense our State against the risk of zombie apocalypse and be it further resolve that a copy of this resolution is to be shared with our State Legislative Representatives County leaders and the surrounding municipalities in an effort to raise awareness of the importance of the fact that we all need to steal ourselves against the undead horde I hope that you will pass this resolution at the next meeting um and recognize that a zombie apocalypse is a real problem that we face or could face or may just be you know an easy thing for us to use as a as an Avenue to deal with problems that we really do face um I I emailed it I emailed this to Doug already I'll be emailing it to any of you who would like it thank you very much good night on Miss Baker Margaret Baker Teck resident and I do have a sign I think it speaks for itself and I want you the members of the council to be sure and see it this is what I have in my yard and my neighbor's yards about the building that was put up across the street from our houses it's massive seven stories across the front of my house I have over a 100 windows so can you imagine what that's going to be when people move in and lights are on the traffic is out of this world and Dean I I appreciate what you've done as far as the stop sign that's a waste they have two stop signs up and they don't stop they just don't stop I know it's new but it doesn't work I asked for double lines and speed strips to slow the traffic down now it's being stopped and just where in the front of our houses the whole block that's T neck it goes into Inglewood it doesn't help it may made it worse and my concern really I've been coming up here nearly 20 years asking for this speed strips yellow lines and get nothing and then you're going to put up the building with 400 more cars at that intersection it's not going to work it's not working and whoever I think it was you councilman Oregon and Sandy I don't know how she got in it she lives on Warren parway thank you Miss Baker and she wanted a stop time she got but the ones that are on is up can't get it thank let's not have a double standard Baker thank you ma'am we appreciate your comment okay because you're really getting into trouble with the devil standard thank you Miss Baker and it's not right thank you Miss Baker M regen thank you Mrs Baker thank you Paula Roven I urge you to vote Yes to memorialize the former resolution to oppose all forms of hatred and bigotry here in tck I urge people who are running for Town Council to pledge to support resolutions and efforts that are sensitive to all members of the diversity Community not just one group this is about democracy and Justice number two people in tenek have spoken out over and over we do not want areas in need of Redevelopment you just heard Mrs Baker this is an undemocratic way of doing development it undermines the master plans a anrs enable the town to skirt around the P principles of development long agreed upon AI inrs undermine the will of the people we want responsible development by the way all of the nine a inrs including the DPW Yard were declared by a majority of the former Town Council and some who are still on this Council and none of these areas impede the morals of our neighborhoods number three anr talks about impeding the morals of our neighborhoods three people spoke out in great numbers at your public forums about the Stop and Shop anr we spoke out but it is clear some of you didn't hear us there is no public support for the stop shop ainr the proposed construction of three large apartment buildings and a parking garage on our Municipal parking lots number four Municipal Lots near Stop and Shop anr were cleaned up as soon as I spoke at the council meeting and showed you pictures of the construction debris the portapotty and dead trees was the DPW deliberately kept filthy so it lives up to his designation of an ainr I'm not referring to the toxins I'm not blaming the DPW workers if we wanted to be safe for the DPW workers and the public it must be cleaned up immediately the current the DPW does currently doesn't have enough employees to pick up the garden debris on time hire more DPW workers now number five we don't want Pilots P payments in Le of uh taxes they are gifts to Developers none of the money from taxes paid through Pilots goes to the Board of Education that means with increased School population from the new buildings residents will be paying we will be paying more taxes finally number six it is never too soon to call for peace and a ceasefire in Gaza people told us on October 17th at our demonstration it was too soon it is never too soon I want to commend the high school students from T High who walked out back in November calling for a Seas fire there are 35,000 people dead there are 17,000 babies dead thank you Paula we must have a ceased fire humanitarian Aid and we must follow the lead of the high school students who hosted a minutes are up the lady in the Isle SE Heidi fukes longtime tck resident since 1972 while I acknowledge the importance of freedom of speech when used to bully harass and intimidate it is no longer a freedom rather it is a crime after I spoke at the last council meeting in good and well welfare about the harassment and bullying I experienced by a local resident and her Instagram account not just once but now two times not one council member expressed their outrage about the manipulated good and Welfare videos not one Council memb share their disgust at the use of good and Welfare to bully those who come before you not one council member commented about the use of good and Welfare materials to intimidate Township residents with the purpose to discourage exercising their free speech by coming before the council and sharing Community concerns I understand and support the right to free speech the guarantees of the First Amendment and the value of robust debate but freedoms are not Without Limits and much of what is going on in this town and in these meetings is not free speech menacing conduct and hate speech are inciting and do not warrant protection residents and protesters are entitled to their opinions even if they are undemocratic bigoted sadistic and warmongering ideas they are not entitled to harass and Menace you have shown great restraints when dealing with deorum over the past few months and I implore you to not allow what happened tonight to occur again it is time for the council to speak with a single voice the greatest threat to this Township is MBL likee ignorance and cowardly indifferent leaders thank you thank you miss the gentleman in the peach Polo oh yeah actually Mr clerk I make a motion to extend the meeting until midnight NOP second all those in favor please say I I please sir thank you thank you very much David mki T resident mental health is very close to my family uh councilman beler I see you on the zoom um thank you for um taking steps and working with Team to help increase awareness about around both this as well as creating a sigree environment for Teek um it would be great to see um educational events and other types of events around that not just resources um listed on the town calendar if they exist already would love to see them posted for those who are not on list serves to be able to participate um I've attended many throughout uh New Jersey and they've been really helpful and eye opening to help um people in need and also to be able to help support people who are going through tough things so I really appreciate that effort and would love to see us coming together as a community to help educate ourselves more around those events um additionally um I know that you are also um the head of the affordable housing committee um I did send you an email um regarding specifically about adus within ten I'm happy to follow up with uh after this meeting just bring at top of the inbox if you could help advise on some questions that I have there that would be very appreciated um additionally I also want to make mention of the um Arab heritage month since we are talking about it um I think it's great there are a lot of beautiful cultures across the diverse Arab communities I you know it's sad I don't think many people would be able to recognize a traditional Lebanese Garb from that of a traditional Moroccan Garb they're beautiful they're colorful they're ornate um and I think being able to sit down um and have people talk and I think it's extremely important to be able to share and learn people's cultures and histories because that's how we grow together as a community as mentioned before by many other people have spoken um additionally um Dean I know there um was a some sort of track device put up on Club Road that we had been talking about um I sent you a note earli this morning to find out if there is any feedback since I do know that that um device had been taken down recently to know um if there are going to be any next steps around um traffic on Club Road for that um last uh second to last um I know that um there was a request for on the corner of Alfred and Webster uh to look into a curved mirror um that NJ doot kind of owns that bridge and said that they would not put a curved mirror or something to help there um obviously there is a complex traffic issue in that area not just as we will know impending from the coming Apartments um but also when everyone's trying to make a left from Alfred to uh Webster there is a police monitoring device that is there so um i' would like to know um what we can do or if we can look into ways in which we can help ease specifically anyone making a left from Alfred to Webster um but in general um in that cross that would be most appreciated um and lastly I'm happy to see um a stronger police presence enforcing the rules of the road as well as maintaining order and Decor within our streets um I do think there is more that Queen done so we can uh continue to encourage um our officers for doing a great job um and keeping our streets safe so thank you all thank you David sir okay ready um good evening my name is Alan and I am a resident of ten although originally from Brooklyn New York uh thank you mayor council members and town manager I come to speak tonight to address uh the climate here in tinac around the world these past months I want to recommend an amazing book I currently reading uncomfortable conversations with the Jew by Manuel atro and NOA tishby I'd like to share two quotes by Emanuel atro from the book quote above all my objective for this process to understand I won't necessarily agree with everything that Noah has to say and we won't come to a uniform point of view but that's not the point that's not how real conversation Works anyway I want to learn more to see things differently and I want the aperture of my mind to be open to a New Perspective may we find time and space to have conversations with our neighbors to learn from each other and seek understanding and let's keep in mind and I quote Emanuel AO again pressure bursts pipes but also makes diamonds thank you Mr Rose thank you Howard Rose EK resident after October 7th this Council passed a resolution related to the incident soon after that they passed another in uh ordinance related to the incident tonight ordinance regarding Palestine and then it's brought up to have a second ordinance regarding the same it situation reminds me of a statement by Ross perau when he ran for president measure twice cut once maybe you have to give a lot more thought to things before they come up for a vote whether they're appropriate or not is also debatable a lot of people feel that it was completely inappropriate for Township to get involved in international politics other people think it's pertinent because they have specific relations whether it's relatives friends acquaintances whatever still debatable I don't have an answer to this situation no one has an answer to this situation certainly terrorists should be gone gotten rid of it's Grievous it's hard to think of 1200 people murdered by terrorists it's horrible it's terrible horrendous thinking of 30 yard thousand people dead someone came into my store and started talking about this situation I use the term genocide and that person started commenting how it's not technically genocide when you have to get into a technical situation about whether it is or it isn't when X amounts of people are killed I think there's a concern there I I I don't know where to go on this topic it seems like it's never ending it may never end I don't know but in terms of a Township we have to get back more to town business I I don't know what you're achieving at this point in time regarding it what's your impact you know I was sitting in a back and out of a person not only yelling out and using a siren type device next to my hearing aid inappropriate you know if you have an opinion you should certainly be able to voice it but appropriately a sign in the back that doesn't take away the view of the situation from people sitting in front of you is appropriate a sign up front blocking people's view is not appropriate yelling interrupting being divisive uh incendiary during a meeting is not appropriate there's a lot of public venues to take your attitude to regardless of which side and opinion you have regarding the situation what's your objective as a council with all this discussion where are you going with it what's the impact I'm a resident and like many residents I wish you would tell me what you're doing and why thank you Mr seagull good evening my name is Rich seagull I left the meeting for a for a minute a little while ago to use the bathroom and I witnessed um two young women being arrested and uh I think that's terribly terribly sad um I have the sign that one of them was carrying before I'm not going to interrupt the meeting but I think that the statistic is accurate I think that Israel is murdering Palestinian children at the rate of one every 10 minutes and I think maybe every meeting on the planet should be interrupted until this Insanity stops I want to talk about about um what I think was a missed opportunity in this town um we had a big demonstration on March 10th at ker Tor synagogue against an Israeli real estate event and at that time there was another Israeli real estate event planned for the end of the month um the police chaplain organized a meeting between um a leader of the Jewish community and a leader of the Muslim Community and the three of them got together and um the uh gentleman from he's a director of a local mosque asked the Jewish representative who is a rabbi from a local synagogue he asked him to please postpone the Israeli real estate event that was planned he didn't ask to cancel it he just said you know I'm not I'm not quoting I'm just giving the general idea that he shared with me that he said that emotions are running so high it's just the wrong time to do it would you please postpone it and the rabbis response was no that selling this real estate or promoting it is a religious obligation now I'm Jewish and I know it's not a religious obligation and if you believe that violating international law by selling um West Bank settlement real estate is a religious obligation that's a problem and if you're wondering why there's a lot of really bad sentiment about the Zionist activity in this town it just needs to back off a little bit Israeli Independence Day is coming up it would be really helpful if there are no public displays celebrating it let's just chill for a while please tck thank you very much byby ellia shrier Tac resident of three years Rabbi of congregation B shurin I really was not planning on speaking tonight um I declined the opportunity at the beginning when members of clergy are offered an opportunity to speak I just felt a need to respond and clarify some of the things that were just said I was not the community Rabbi at the meeting that was just described but the event was supposed to take place in my synagogue and it was postponed it actually never ended up taking place the reason why we did that was an attempt to bring about some measure of Harmony and unity in this town that was the gesture that was forwarded what we were what the response was was the following night when we heard from a humanitarian organization in my synagogue there was nonetheless a protest outside it with all of the same vile rhetoric that we heard on March 10th don't let anyone anyone point a finger at this community's rabbis in an assertion that we are the source of disunity in this town and don't let anyone suggest that the source of unity will be Jews self-censoring themselves and not celebrating their personal identity and their pride in who they are we are trying we will continue to try with any partners that are available but for those who are intent and doggedly determined to blame the Jews for all the problems in this town let me say clearly you are not a partner in moving this town forward thank you thank you rabby anyone else in Chambers want to speak Dr Powers po question um I'm going to do something a little different although I want to um reiterate what you heard from Mrs Baker those two those two new stop signs are absolutely not working I think that your your Deputy man manager knows that um we've gone through another three hours I haven't heard a single word about the municipal budget the municipal budget if it had been introduced tonight would have been a three minute three meetings late your only choice unless you schedule a special meeting is are going to be that before we lose our manager this town will not have an approved budget there's reference to the fact that the the closed session did in fact discuss self self phone towers I assume that's somehow related to it the public needs to know why three minutes three minute meetings late we know nothing except the kazinski gazin budget that you folks want to cut from what I thought was a pretty decent effort to get this town uh adequately serviced you also mention that there is a $5 million Grant being sought for a DPW building and we we have a capital budget if you everever do do introduce the budget which provides for $6 million over the next six years for the 1500 River Road that is one of the a inrs that you folks your predecessors put in play in 2019 no movement forward on the public has heard nothing about the DPW facility except the fact it was going to be moved when in the October 22 meeting of this Council the public needs to know what you folks are thinking about a prop a property which risks the lives of residents and DPW workers every time they go into it also I suppose we're now going to have some sort of additional meeting about a Redevelopment plan that so far as I know this Council has never authorized is it in fact the case that someone has authorized the plannner to produce a Redevelopment plan for the um for the uh um American Legion and Beverly ainr is it in fact being developed not legally because it takes the action of the full Council to in fact authorize the development or Redevelopment plan you folks have said would not be moving forward in any way until the than master plan was passed thank you all those questions thank you very much I hope you answer and Doug I think I see Sandy silverberg on [Music] Zoom bringing in Sandy hello everybody can you hear me Doug loud and clear okay good good evening Council uh Mr manager it's good to see you in the re Mr clerk get back off those crutches you know I came to the meeting tonight uh but then I found myself turning into a pumpkin so I went home uh I was going to invite everybody the entire tenet Community to our upcoming Friends of the library book sale which will take place into not this weekend we're collecting this weekend but the next weekend and it's a lovely event because there are are books about everything under the sun about every subject you could think of for adults children everybody in between zero and 100 so I I heard a lot of good stuff tonight the meeting started out with joy and so many positive things happening and I think to myself that's what we've got to remember that this is about this council meeting I don't have any prepared statement other than to say I believe the town right now is Heering it's a balancing act if people can't speak their mind well then everybody accuses everybody of curtailing free speech if all the business is interrupted all the time then nothing can get done and everybody's blamed again you know the people have to take a little responsibility now I believe we have to decide to make it better I believe in that I believe in the same things that Cheryl is promoting they don't all take place within a religious setting some of it is cultural some of it is ethnic but I think also that there is so much pain now that people can't hear other people because of their own pain is throbbing so hard in their ears so let's take all of this and bring it to each other in other ways let's gather let the council reserve space and time and room for all of us to Air and to try to learn to listen because I do think that we want to I believe that we want to I have to believe that I've been in this town for too long I've seen too much go on so thank you for listening I hope we can all try to work together let's thank you Sandy thank you Mr Kaplan Kei Kaplan tck resident you can come to the mic and read the first amendment but when you permit and applaud violations of Law and let's be very clear when you interrupt a meeting when you hold up signs and Sirens when you violate the basic tenets of decency in Civic life you are violating the law you don't lose your protection from the First Amendment for that but you are an absolute hypocrite when you try to quote it the person who interrupted this meeting was arrested for having a weapon in a municipal building and she was arrested for trespass that's not law- abiding Jews around this world are facing Terror right now in Greece a Lynch Mob today went looking for the Jew they weren't interested in whether you were a Zionist or not at Colombia just over the river commencement is taking place by the armed escort of police that are being compared to the KKK in Michigan they interrupted commencement in order to scream at people that spent four years just trying to get a degree in front of their family and here in tenek we have someone that says if we could turn the ringer off please ma'am okay thank you sorry about in tenek we have someone that says don't celebrate a holiday that merely says you have a right to self-determination for the 25th anniversary of the founding of the state of Israel they had a March through tinac it went to V Park they had dignitaries from the UN our congressmen a huge celebration a pinoke was planted that still survives here in our yard that same yard where that pinoke that oversaw the celebration and by the way there was another resolution for the 50th ceremony as well that same yard has a dedication to The Unfinished Life of someone that was murdered and slaughtered in the anapat tonight directly across from that Memorial someone that calls for inata violated the laws and sanctity and decorum of this chamber and was put into a squad car right in front of the memorial of someone who was murdered in the inata don't say you're for law don't say you're for order don't quote the First Amendment as if you give a crap the lady in the Hat I think you I saw your hand go up I I really did not intend to speak tonight but when I hear a woman say I'm sorry Mindy Stein 44 years residence of tinck I was not going to speak tonight but when I hear a woman say that she was sitting at the Town Council meetings since October and that no one is listening and hearing I also have attended most of these bi-weekly Town meetings and I can say the same to you every time I speak I say the same thing that I am sorry for the Palestinian plight but I have never heard anyone accusing Israel of genocide say they are horrified by hamas's Massacre of 1,200 to 1,400 people including beheading babies and putting them in ovens don't interrupt m Mr seagull please no one interrupted you no one interrupted you so please don't interrupt her tying up families and burning them alive and raping men and women and then parading their nude bodies to the cheers of the gazen people and also taking 250 hostages including don't interrupt Mr seagull stop interrupting no one interrupted you sorry about that Miss please continue sorry first of all they took their own pictures and films so to tell us this isn't true Richard seagull you are wrong they took the pictures we have them okay but that wasn't in my speech and also taking 250 hostages including Americans and also Kamas saying that they will do October 7th over and over again I will repeat so listen carefully that I wish there could be a ceasefire and stop the killing on both sides I don't want anybody to die and our again that there could be a ceas fire if Kamas surrendered and released all the hostages and I agree since I have some time what's going on the college campuses that Jews are not allowed to go to class that they're blocking them that they're saying Hitler would love you this is not for the Palestinians this is plain old Jew hatred and incitement and there's so much more that they're doing on the campuses and for these Jews not to have their commencement not to have graduation when they weren't even in schools because of covid because of what Pro Palestinian people are doing you've never heard a Jew say when there was genocide here created against our people by Kamas that we should kill the Palestinians that they should go back to Gaza wherever we've never said we're peaceful I have to worry that my grandchildren working with a skull cap could be violently hurt by Pro Palestinian uh protesters nobody has to worry about a Jew doing that we keep the law and we don't hurt anyone we do listen and I wish you would listen to me and I wish somebody would say they're sorry instead of telling us this is a lie when it's recorded this is like Holocaust denial and last week two weeks ago to hear the priest say that the Hol cost's Memorial is divisive the only thing divisive is his comment to say that you don't care about our people being murdered that's it thank you Miss thank you anyone else in Chambers Mr Mr Berliner I was going to make a motion that we go on with the town business at 11:30 zo people Dean you have two meetings left any uh second uh thoughts he likes that one um good evening AI Berliner tin resident speaking as a member of the playground Parks and Recreation Advisory board pprb on behalf of the dedicated members of the pprb and co-chairs Allison Davies and Christina Pammy we thank the Council and Township leadership for passing resolution 994-2022 which awarded a contract for lawn care services for maintenance of baseball fields in tenek this was an area of need and focus raised by residents and the township responded we thank the Township's leadership for continuing to invest significant time and money to ensure that our fields and parks and the teams and organizations that use them are playing on safe quality services that we can be proud of the agreement ensures that 10 baseball fields across seven Parks utilized by the board of education EK High School TBO EK Southern and other activities by residents and visitors are properly and professionally maintained this includes proper clay mixtures requiring an organic fertilizer program defining the infield cutting grass and grooming it benefits all levels of play t-ball little league softball baseball high school and even adult beer leagues to my fellow residents if you your family or friends use Aman Park Brooks Park Hawthorne Park Phelps Park Sagamore park trune park or even vot Park you already benefit from this program if you don't please do but you also benefit now that the township employees and Equipment can refocus on other critical areas of need so thank you as a personal matter and member of the south of Windham commuter Alliance I would like to talk about trains not CSX but New Jersey Transit rail bus and Light Rail Service as someone whose current commute includes driving to and parking and hackin Sack then taking the train to Hoboken on the way to lower Manhattan I like many are preparing for the coming tax opaly while not unique to tenac New Jersey residents especially those in Northern suburbs of New York City will be particularly hard hit with the Board of Education increase expected to be at or close to the 2% cap the recently approved Bergen County tax increase of 2.27% and the municipal tax levy expected to increase by perhaps as much as 6% we are going to be hit hard but there's more for those of us who call New Jersey home but have to commute into New York the MTA and New Jersey trans that are teaming up and making matters even worse with a congestion pricing scheme that will disproportionately impact drivers coming from the west side of the Hudson River and New Jersey Transit imposing a 15% Fair hike across the board njt has the added hzb modifying its ticket expiration policy which will now cause all tickets purchased before the 1st of July to expire at the end of the month on the 31st when purchased these tickets had no expiration and no fund is being offered for those who purchased in bulk prior to the formal announcement I urge you in your official capacities to please reach out to our state and Transit leadership in Trenton and urge them to reconsider these Fair increases that predominantly impact those who are at least able to absorb the shock hardworking lower and middle class families we should be improving Transit accessibility not putting up socioeconomic barriers to progress thank you thank you Mr Berliner Mr s Alan S te resident proud Zionist looking forward to celebrating Israel Independence Day next week what we've got here is a failure to communicate one of my favorite lines from the 1967 film Cool Hand Luke uh looks like Dean is seen it with Paul Newman uh I think come ahead you here in Tek we have to engage each other before the council meeting on October 17th I reached out to a number of fellow residents and said we need to talk I have met met with many of these people and while we have not resolved a single issue on International scale we have gained a measure of understanding and appreciation of our individual perspectives I'm happy to meet anyone any time for a cup of coffee I spend most of my day drinking coffee so I might as well talk uh and I have reached out to many of these people I have no opportunity to reach out to people calling in on Zoom I have no idea who they are or where they're from I cannot engage with people driving past in their cars nor just shouting epithets across the street from a synagogue constitute conversation I have tried to take the time to meet engage and get to know as many people as I can waiting online and here inside the chambers over the past few months I'm not sure what people saw on Zoom I was here in these Chambers every single person has a right to exercise their first amendment rights which guarantees that Congress shall make for regress of grievances but what happened here was not Peaceable it's out right disruption designed to prevent discussion we need to bring back peace love and chickens to TN but we're not going to do it by shouting at each other by disrupting Council meetings we are demonstrating that we have a real problem as other people have as Rabbi fredman has I want to thank Cheryl Hall I want to thank her for being at the Forefront of efforts at the helm of The Advisory board on community relations and her role in Interfaith efforts our efforts at such events as speed friending are a model for our community of something that could be done for us to get to know each other it truly disappoints me that there were people who worked to boycott this and other such events where residents were given an opportunity to Simply get to know a little bit about each other I hope that we can build on this model I hope that going forward we as a Township as a Township Council and as individual residents can find ways to talk not shout at each other I hope that we can use the resources we have to facilitate these efforts to genuinely listen to each other hear each other and respect our differences what we've got here in t neck is a failure to communicate and this has to end once and for all all of you on this Council have an opportunity to help facilitate that and make that happen I hope that we can see all of you doing that and making those efforts to facilitate that communication thank you thank you Mr s Mr Schwarz were you making a motion or so I'd like to make a motion that we close good welfare and move on with the township business second is being made please you can talk I like we have Mr Mr Mayor did did we take wait wait Miss Bel I'm sorry Mr Schwarz has the floor just give me a second we have Town business we have resolutions and I'm walking out the door at midnight we we're we're not solving world peace I have about three items to discuss the rest of it was looking for World Peace which is not part of our purview please don't interrupt him Paula you've interrupted every single time every single time you probably should not be allowed in this room you don't listen you don't stop when you're told not to Mr please sir so I call a motion move on 11:30 with the town I think Miss beler wanted to say something before we vote yeah I I I mean like I'm on zoom and I see that there are like four people that have had their hands raised for a long time I think we owe them an obligation to at least have them be heard I believe that we owe them that so I think that you know we've heard from everybody I believe in the chambers why don't we just listen hear from these four people that have had their hands raised anybody else want to comment M yeah because it's four people on Zoom one one person in Chambers is 15 minutes you take six Council people they speak for three minutes and now we're past midnight and we haven't looked at a resolution yet so usually we try to cut off at 11:00 because of the drama we cut off and because of the presentations we cut off at 11: 30 so I'm in favor of moving on anyone else or can we vote on this all right roll call Mr court that was a uh first from councilman Schwarz and a second from councilwoman Oregon to close good and Welfare councilman shorts councilwoman beler no because there are five people waiting to speak councilwoman Goldberg yes councilwoman or Oran yes uh Deputy Mayor G no mayor Pagan yes because we have work to do Mr Schwarz would you like to start us off sir yes thank you very much um just an update two updates on stuff I did not talk about prior um as it relates to several people had asked it text me about what's the update on on our our good and Wealthy area as it relates to the council policies we've been discussing we had spoken with our legal council and I spoke with um started working on a draft and we'll continue to have those conversations till we have the most thought out um either ordinance or resolution as it relates to good and Welfare going forward um as it relates to chickens I think we should all start thinking about what we want to do if we like to reintroduce or have chickens reintroduce and vote on it because I'm very close to to working on that uh to agree with that um and lastly um regards to the budget I believe we discussed at the last meeting perhaps Dr poers may not have been here we're waiting for some cell phone tower work to get done and the hopes that that can drastically reduce our potential increase to the budget uh I believe tonight Mr manager is that correct tonight we have one cell phone tower resolution if we ever get to it and um that'll relate to a consultant that will lead to proposals and then we will hopefully be able to reduce the budget and their vote on it as a reminder to whoever was around in 2014 the last time I believe it's was 2014 we had a revaluation that Council budget went into maybe June and if this even later and if this one has to go later to see save our residents millions of dollars we will do so so that was the update there may not be an update the next budget at the next council meeting until we get through these pieces but tonight we will be hiring a cell phone tower consultant as we work to sell the cell phone tower to take that Revenue to offset our increase in statutory expenses thank you thank you Mr Schwarz Miss Belcher okay uh yeah I just wanted just a couple things uh I I feel that we really need to revisit the code enforcement officer especially if we're considering things like um trees and returning to chickens and even adus um adus yes yes I know a few people have reached out to me um the ordinance is going to happen uh because adus is an intrical uh solution to affordable housing shortages in Teck um I will continue to work diligently with the planning board to ensure that adus the adus ordinance um does make make it way its way to um the light of day uh Mrs Baker I thank you for for coming out and expressing your your thoughts and and your your pain points and they are all of our pain points I feel very very specifically as I always have about a inrs uh and about pilots and I think we we uh we owe it to our residents to ensure that we're doing the right thing on uh regarding Stop and Shop uh I think Dr Powers I thank you also for reminding the council that a development plan must be authorized by the full Council and not by a subcommittee I I I want to thank Jose for coming out and sharing about resources this being May uh May being mental health awareness month we must be reminded especially especially during these uh trying times the importance of mental health and me mental Wellness I want to thank Sandy for your encouraging and inclusive of words and regarding the Arab American Heritage resolution none of the seven of us are Arab and uh therefore I believe we can't speak for their experience as an African-American Christian woman I I don't pretend to speak for Tex Arabs uh Community but I do want them to be heard it is important for us to resist any attempts to write a resolution about another culture's experience the intent of this resolution is to celebrate our our community in ways that appreciates their contribution this is not about International politics this is a resolution that is intended to bring our community together so I believe that on April 16th we all receive received this resolution to end anti-arab hate and to recognize Arab American heritage month we all received the same resolution 21 days ago I would simply ask my colleagues tonight to do the right thing and to vote in favor of the Arab American Heritage uh to in anti-hate Arab hate and to recognize the Arab American Heritage Month lastly because faith and belief in our Arab American uh residents begins simply by us respecting their existence and appreciating their Heritage by allowing them to Define for themselves who they celebrate and how they celebrate their life experience thank you thank you Miss beler Miss bgan so when I started Gathering my thoughts about tonight um and earlier in the meeting I don't usually write a speech I I speak about um my feelings throughout the course of the meeting um I was so happy with the positive way that the meeting started the telecommunicators um almost all women which was wonderful and a wonderful Pledge of Allegiance and Jesse's son Ian sitting here so ni nicely for so many hours with his big blue eyes um and and of course Mr Holly and all that he's given back to the town um this is uh we have two great resolutions on uh our agenda tonight we have the reject hate resolution which everyone is in favor of we also have milin a resolution for that uh this week is nurses week this week is teachers week next week is Mother's Day so it was such a nice positive night and a way to to really celebrate um of course zombie awareness and uh May 12th is chicken dance National chicken dance day um but just to celebrate the people that help us the people that take care of us when we're at our worst uh the people who teach us the people that we send our children to to be taught and of course our mothers and um we were going in such a good direction and this I I have to tell you I I am on the Patriotic observance Advisory Board and I am so grateful for all of our veterans for everything that they have done and and the veterans that live in tenek um and the fact that they're still active I hope everybody will join us on Memorial Day um at 11:00 on the green so we can celebrate those that we've lost um but watching what went on here tonight and watching it um discussed as anti-free speech anti-ir amendment rights is so heartbreaking and so upsetting um this was a staged event um nobody went to the bathroom there was a meeting um of people who went outside and then the screaming started there was a gentleman that was waved in that was disruptive um I am so sorry for Miss fuches for uh the harassment that she's gotten on social media I have no doubt that when we walk out of here everything that was done tonight will be on social media this was a stunt it was done for that reason it was done to disrupt we are here we sit here till 11: 11:30 to listen to people the only thing this did was take time away from people who wanted to speak tonight and who wanted to be heard um all four First Amendment rights but there's a time and a place to speak here and we follow Law and Order and there is a mayor who's in charge of the meeting and um he it is his job to control order and so starting to speak longer than your three minutes is not helpful and making noise in the middle of a meeting is not helpful and putting our police officers in danger is not helpful and it is not okay and that is not how you bring a town together so as I say at every meeting thank you to our police officers for keeping us safe thank you for everybody who came on tonight out tonight and um I have texted the manage the uh attorney and asked him if he would um possibly put um the chicken ordinance back on the um yes the um agenda for the next meeting I feel I feel like we all need a little bit of chickens in our lives we need a little bit of things that are only going on in our backyards and so um Ian won my heart um as I'm happy to meet with Jesse to to craft it but he has to bring Ian with him thank you thank you Miss Oregon Miss Goldberg wow um all right so congratulations again to Tomba and his family on his incredible achievement it's really special to hear and see people sharing on such a special moment that's what T's about tonight on the consent agenda we have a resolution on CSX and I i' would like to thank and acknowledge Mr art basy for that there is significant work for this Council to be doing and there's nothing that will stop me from getting the work done for the residents of tenek Art and I have spent countless hours talking about CSX and there's work to do but this is the first step Mrs Baker thank you for coming tonight what happened to you I wish I could have been more H uh more helpful and I'm happy when I hear members of this Council learning from the past and trying things differently Dean can we look into the traffic measures requested by Mrs Baker please Arab Americans are an ethnicity representing individuals with roots in 22 countries located in the Middle East and North Africa pex's arab-american population represents individuals of all Races and religions in this town including Christian Muslim and Jewish arab-americans have a beautiful diverse culture that are un united by language history and culture and Heritage is a celebration I've spoken to residents of this town from morocc Syria Iraq Algeria and we should celebrate their Heritage there are two res uh resolutions for Arab American heritage month on the consent agenda one was placed on the consent agenda a consent agenda on Thursday well I don't think it's celebratory the way heritage month should be celebrated I support that resolution and I fully support and will vote in favor of the resolution that was submitted on Thursday I want to say thank you to Congressman Josh gimer for his bipartisan resolution passed 377 to 44:1 declaring from the river to Sea Palestine will be free as outright anti-semitic and should be strongly condemned the slogan from the charter of a terrorist organization the United States Congress has said is an anti-semitic slogan that perpetu perpetuates hatred against the state of Israel and the Jewish people the United States Congress says that anyone who calls for the eradication of Israel and Jewish people are anti-semitic and must be condemned words have meanings they are not folk songs they don't mean different things to different people words matter so anyone who spoke those words tonight just like I condemn all other hate I condemn those words anti-Semitism has no place in this town this Council chamber or any other meetings what you saw here tonight is happening in City Council meetings all across the country the protests in the streets the violence anti-Semitism taking place that is so bad that Jewish students are unable to be kept safe on college campuses all of this is taking place all over the country Columbia University did not pass a resolution condemning Kamas Boda did not pass a resolution condemning Hamas Rucker university did not pass a resolution condemning Hamas there is anti-Semitism in this town not because of Any resolution passed by this Council unanimously there is anti-Semitism in this town because because Jew hate is real Jew hate is here and Jew hate is all over this country and world I agree with Dr Powers Josh Perez Howard Rose this Council has worked to do and I have been working and will continue to be working but I will not be silent in the face of the worst anti-Semitism since the Nazis I call on the president of the United States to demand homas release all of the hostages you miss Goldberg Miss G so today we witnessed A disruption to our council meeting in the form of a l loud alarm going off every 10 minutes we witnessed our mayor the presiding officer of this meeting repeatedly asked the resident to turn off the alarm after the third disruption mayor Pagan was forced to ask the resident to leave council chambers while I recognize that the mayor absolutely reacted in the appropriate manner to this act of Civil Disobedience it would be remiss of us not to acknowledge why this happened Miss aadal said it best we as a council have not been listening there are certain community members who still do not feel heard by this Council even if unintentional that is that way that they are receiving this Council so much so that they are resorting to acts of Civil Disobedience while as a deputy mayor I must condemn disruption to our official proceedings as an individual always seeking to understand the perspectives of others I absolutely understand understand why this happened we have to make sure that our residents feel heard in an equitable way to quote marget Margaret Baker we cannot have double standards we need to step out of our comfort zones and deeply attempt to understand how others may be feeling if we truly want to achieve healing in this town so how can we do this tonight Denise has introduced a Arab American Heritage Month resolution it was actually the first one that was ever shared with this Council on April 16th she accidentally sent the wrong resolution on Thursday that this Council I believe is going to support instead of the more detailed resolution in the past we have given Credence to the communities that are most touched by the resolutions that we are proposing tonight I ask my colleagues that we do the same thing please support the more detailed Arab American resolution if you want to show your count your residents that you care about them and you truly value them in a way that is Equitable please support that resolution what's another way that we can show our residents that we value them um I heard someone say today that we shouldn't be celebrating uh Israel Independence that's ridiculous of course people should celebrate Israel Independence if they have a connection to that community so as a council we should say that out loud um I Heard my fellow Council colleague talk about there's anti-Semitism in the town there is there's anti-Semitism there's anti- um Muslim activity in this town There's anti-blackness in this town I I wasn't going to talk about it in this forum but just a few weeks ago my son was called the n-word in school by another kid in his classroom there's all sorts of racism going on in this town it's not just anti-Semitism and we as a council have to address all of it not just one and when we address just one we start to make make people feel like we don't care about all residents in this town and that's what people are trying to say next I want to just say that I was de deeply disappointed in our closing um of good and Welfare with only five people left to speak why couldn't we spare 15 minutes for these people 15 minutes if we want to have shorter good and welfares we have to step up as leaders and again create the conditions that people don't want to come come to these meetings anymore until then I think we should continue to let everyone who comes have a moment to speak finally I just want to uh address um a comment I heard that people um were asked to boycott events for community building that is false um no one in this Council has ever asked to boycott any events I've never heard of anyone asking to boycott any events so I would ask that people to stop perpetuating misinformation that just further divides this town thank you thank you Miss G first and foremost I want to thank all of our residents for coming out tonight and participating secondly I'd like to apologize for the episode earlier this evening but as the presiding officer of these meetings I cannot let anyone repeatedly interrupt our meetings as we try to conduct Township business I warned both individuals several times to please stop interrupting the meeting but they kept refusing to stop interrupting our meeting so I had to ask them to leave so that this council could conduct its business for the township and to find out that one of them had a weapon on them is actually very disturbing but we actually still have a lot more work to do tonight so I'm going to stop there Mr manager is there anything you would like to add or say sure just a couple things quickly uh Club Road Mr Mercy I don't have that data yet from the police department I should have it very soon when I do get it I will share it with you uh the mirror on Webster by Alfred uh that intersection controlled by do uh the mirror is not a not an approved device so We cannot put anything there do will not put anything there um the Alfred Avenue stop sign I know we've tried for a long time to get the three-way stop and finally got do who controls that intersection as well uh to finally do it which they did recently in March I sent an email to the uh police chief tonight uh to have enforcement done at at that intersection make sure there's complies with the three-way stop with regards to DPW or special projects engineer is finishing up the field work the survey that should be done tomorrow uh this includes the mapping of the environmental constraints at Public Works and the underground utilities and they should have that field work um converted to a working plan in about about two weeks they said then we'll starting the conceptual plan and design I will meet with the special projects engineer with our DPW staff in about three weeks and just keep in mind that talk about renovation DPW new building has going out before four decades so um you know this this Council has been very supportive of that project and we are you know very close to getting this done I hope the timeline is that we break ground uh in 2025 so we're we're on the right track thank you Mr manager 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 will be enacted by one motion there will be no separate discussion of these items if any discussion is desired by Council that particular item will be removed from the content agenda and will be considered separately Mr clerk can you please read the amount of the billis into the record yes mayor we have our consent agenda this evening which does two sets of minutes resolutions 124 to please remember 138 your uh agenda packets go up to 135 but we had 136 mental health uh 137 which was was which was the council liaison designation and 138 which was our Arab Heritage Month um and the bill list in the amount of 14, 42,1 194 and 12 cents Mr Mayor I would like to pull resolution 128 2024 please what numbers are that I'm sorry 128 2024 um Mr Mayor yes sir I actually want to pull all them but not instead of pulling all them I just like to quickly read through what we go voting on tonight if I may I just think it's really important that everyone realizes why we want why I've asked to stop talking about world pieace to talk about the reaffirmation of hate within the township appointing a chair to our Municipal open space um trust um an application for improvements at the the exercise station in Phelps Park agree agreement with Bergen County on snow plowing neldon and Schumaker Road Road improvements that we're awarding a contract we're awarding a contract of vot Park tennis court lights we are working on we're reducing a performance bond as we finish up the huba um the huba Park Lane Tow houses we are working on a asking our elected officials to help with dangerous conditions from the freight lines at the art basy project we are awarding a Beverly Road parking that the manager discussed a parking lot we're working on tck Fire Department Station 4 to redo that and the design the month is May's military appreciation month if anyone in that 30 seconds doesn't realize how important all that is to the township of tinck that is really the business of EK and that's what I'm try to focus on and not rush through with a quick quick vote of council so with that I'd like to make a motion that whatever wasn't pulled that we approve as well as the bill list in the in the amount that the clerk gave I think uh Deputy Mayor G has a question I'm sorry um thank you councilman schz I agree that all that is really important but our residents have agency right they raise their hands and they get to decide what they want to talk about they have access to this if this is what they want to talk about they can raise their hand and talk about it it's not for us to decide what part of council we want residents to spend more time on like 15 minutes let residents be heard I think that's valuable was that a motion yeah there's a motion on the second anyone else the r No Hands Mr clerk uh yeah I do have a question what what are we pulling what are we pulling councilwoman Goldberg correct me if I'm wrong yes 128 I think that was the only thing that was pulled that's snow plowing with county of Bergen okay that's the only thing okay you can I believe I believe we had the first motion from councilman Schwarz second was councilman Oregon councilman Schwarz yes and um recu on I believe 2418 29 on the bill list might be the Jewish link or might be a typo but I'm not sure so I'm going to pull I'm not going to vote on 24 01829 for $699 for the cedan Sid advertising and everything else was cool very much so sir cool thank you councilman Schwarz Council one Belch yes councilwoman Goldberg yes on all with an Obion on 138 2024 councilwoman Oregon yes to all debb may G yes to all I think you did you get to me S never mind yes thank you for double checking though mayor Pagan yes all right everything approved and we have 128 resolution 128 it's all good I'm so I'm sorry Council Goldberg did you extend to midnight oh we need to do that yeah can we I make a motion to extend the meeting to 12:15 second no all in favor please say I hi Miss goldbert um okay so I have a quick question for the manager on the snowplow resolution so the contract um has us uh getting paid $115 an hour for the county plowing from the county um this resolution was the same exact amount as last time so do we know how much we're paying for snow plowing either when we're using outside contractors or um internally with overtime Cost Plus the equipment like is this close um is this what's your you know in uh Insight on this one the the 115 an hour is on on the light side uh when it comes to DPW staff they're generally on overtime time and a half and you combine that with fuel cost maintenance you know you're probably exceeding the 115 and keep in mind that when we hire outside contractors uh we haven't had to do that two years because now have sufficient staff equipment to do our roads and the snow hasn't been too bad we pay the outside contractors 250 an hour the county for any snowfall any snow event gives us 80 tons of of salt we have to pick that up from the county W and that's to Salt the county road such as CED Lane River Road Avenue and Teck road so we are reimbursed and then any roads do plow County Roads we do plow we keep in track of all the hours and we that bill to the county but just the one asking my question is on the light side hour sorry so what do you recommend that we do if anything on this is there anything that we can do to the county like ask them for anything or I I I think if Council directs me I can forward a letter to County Executive telling to reexamine look at how um I would like to ask Dean to do that if there's support yeah same good um to vote we can vote for I mean yeah I mean dean should we vote on it now or should we yeah vote on it now and then do the letter yeah this is a two-year contract okay yeah I'll make the motion councilman Schwarz councilwoman beler yes councilwoman goldbert yes councilwoman Oregon yes Deputy Mayor G yes may Pagan yes adopt thank you Mr clerk our next order of business is our introduction of ordinances Mr clerk can you please read the title of the ordinance into the record yes sir last but not least this evening we see for the first time ordinance number -224 amending section 36- 111.2 of chapter 36 the township code for Township Pac adding restricted on street parking space for handicap parking at 46 warer place I make a motion to approve second councilman Schwarz councilwoman beler yes councilman Goldberg yes councilman Oregon yes Debbie mayor G yes mayor Pagan yes introduced we will see it I make a motion to adjourn second all those in favor please say I I I guys have it thank you everyone for joining us tonight please get home safely sleep well