evening I call to order this regular meeting the township Council for Monday the 20th of May 2024 Madam clerk could you please read the open public meeting without compliance statement notice requirements of the open public meetings act have been satisfied with respect to this meeting of the township Council the meeting time and date were included in the public meeting notice along with the public internet link and telephone calling information said notice and the meeting agenda was posted in the municipal building and sent to the official newspapers of the township of R City Ro times and the start Ledger 48 Hours proceeding the start time of this meeting the agenda and handouts for this meeting can be vied online at Veron nj.org counil meetings the public comment period will be held in the order listed on the meeting agenda and instructions on how to com will be provided at the appropriate time thank you mad CL would you please call the all Council Holland here Council mcra here Deputy Mayor maoy here mayor C also C manager J Aro C attorney Bri please stand for pledge aledge algi to United States of America all items on my report for this evening uh the first is of course relevant to the some of our um attendings here I had the the honor of attending the latest Eagle Scout ceremony for troop two Boy Scouts um and we have today with us Chris Caldera and fesco and we'll be giving proclamations later allowing to address the council at that time uh was a great ceremony and uh as I remarked during the ceremony you couldn't pick to night serve people uh who earn this honor and I think we should all the world would be a much better place if we were all um I also have the opportunity to accept the invitation to the Tre Marketplace uh which is a entrepreneurship event run by our lady the lake Roman Catholic School uh I was joined by West Orange M mayor Susan mcartney and we got to participate in the ribbon cutting of that um it's a really it's a neat project and uh we had a lot of kids from different communities participating I went home with a lot of different homemade dog treats um all of which received the seal of approval from radar and uh I thank them and congratulate everybody for doing some really amazing work uh I had the opportunity to attend with Deputy Mayor maoy the uh Unico Sunday gravy dinner uh which is always a wonderful event and I thank Uno for their extraordinary work uh in providing funding to so many worthy Clauses in town uh they're really one of our shining organizations and finally I invite everybody to join us on Monday week from today for our Memorial Day parade and observance here at Town Hall uh it is always a a very touching ceremony and and uh I look forward to honoring those who died for our country and also recognizing retired chief of police and manager D Huber as our uh Grand Marshall uh in just in the past couple days uh the community has really responded very positively to Mr Huber's appointment to that role and uh which is such a test SP to his character but he didn't recognize him that way and now we'll bring up Mr bolre evening your computer right hopefully everyone's doing going into the summer season and we have an abundance of things on the agenda uh starting with Thursday May 23rd at Grover Cleveland Park it is our fishing derby and it registrations from 5: to 6 the Derby it's from 6:00 to 7 and awards are from 7:15 to 7:30 um then on Wednesday May 29th at thona Park do you all know where that is so uh same schedule but I will leave this bulletin with uh the clerk this way she can post it on your uh the next one is Thursday May 30th at 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Essex County College gym 177 West Market Street is the Essex County Job Fair again I will leave it with there are a lot of various companies there looking for employees so uh somebody locally is looking for the other thing is we have on June 1st between 8:30 am and 12: noon is the at the Essex County Public Works building 99 West Bradford we have our shredding uh annual for homeowners get rid of your taxes Etc and other papers you have the r the other thing is um we're going to the summer season and we also have our summer concert series and um we have on Friday and I'll mention this later on at other meetings and I'll bring some handouts also Friday June 28th at Branchburg have New Jersey Symphony Orchestra and fireworks uh men of Soul Tuesday July 2nd at week wig Park and the great day of the year Wednesday July 3r at Brook Park the yes that is my that is why it's a great day day of the year that being said uh any comments or questions thank you I think there's a great concert that you're sponsoring in gona park but I don't remember the date so we'll talk about it upcoming meeting so I think in all there's concerts throughout all of the park yes there is that's why our uh I'll have handouts uh normally by this time we would my office would have gotten them but as I come to the next meeting I will have all that I just wanted to say I was able to attend the women's health fair that was in the new uh cherry blossom Welcome Center um in branchbrook park which The Welcome Center is incredible totally gorgeous and so well done and the women's healthare was such a great event so many uh great tabling from a variety of organizations and I had my blood pressure taken and they were doing mammographies and I understand they're going to offer it again in um on the weekend at some point in the future and that was great and I also attended the bust uh dedication I saw you out of the corner of my eye for um our former go uh lieutenant governor Sheila Oliver and that was such a wonderful impactful event and I just thank the county executive and everyone at the county for really honoring her Legacy of uh women leadership and what she did for not just the state but also Essex County so please pass along my thank on the regarding the help there will be one for men also you know uh and County website and health department and the parks department there's a lot of things going on uh throughout the county and especially in the summertime from almost Memorial day until the end of the year and the towards the end of the year because there's going to be you know stuff at the zoo over the summer Halloween Etc so any other questions or comments there one comment I thank you for having the art show and again this year I have the opportunity to go my excitement was they had a cheese manger there so radar and I left with some of that um but it was such a nice day that it was a really nice Bo to our down distances so I hope that that'll I it pleas app thank you thank you Mr um next we'd like to recognize our SC first we'll have Caldera Chris has already come and talked about his project to the council but if you want to give us a you know a brief synopsis of it again and then maybe what you have done since we last saw you and then you you have super long dissertation on it good evening any everyone on my first i' like to thank uh mayor tamboro for coming to uh me and Lucas Eagle Scout court of honor um I appreciate it and it means a lot uh my project I constructed the two picnic tables um behind the Verona community garden around a year ago now um and they are used by the classes at hbw as well as the people in the garden to um like classes can come out there and it supports like an area for them to learn and be able to sit without having stand the whole time um yeah since then I completed more merit badges and uh passed my Eagle Board review in February and then had my court of honor this last May um yeah so once again I appreciate you for coming yeah right well you can stand there while we play some nice things you can face the audience at our Proclamation for Christopher Anthony Caldera Reed the vision of the Boy Scouts of America is prepare young men in America become responsible participating citizens and leaders who are Guided by the Scout Law whereas Chris Caldera has held the positions of senior patrol leader assistant senior patrol leader and Scribe whereas Chris is a member of the a the ARA through which he has achieved the level of Brotherhood and whereas as a senior at high school Chris is a varsity member of the cross country team participating in the 5K and a varsity member of the Spring Track Team where he runs the 16001 mile and 32002 mile r where Chris is also a member of the National Honor Society and volunteers on the brona rescue squad as an emergency medical technician on the Wednesday evening through is obtained his second degree black belt in tawon do and whereas the Boy Scouts America encourag Eagle Scout candidates to complete worthy projects to improve their neighborhoods their community and the region whereas Chris selected his Eagle Scout project the community garden Prov Community with an area for outdoor school instruction as well as a place for residents to sit in visiting the community garden and whereas um Chris design fundra and L A group of scast direct two Cedar picnic tables with umbrellas for Thea community garden now therefore be a proclaimed that I Dr Christopher dor mayor of at Verona congratulate Christopher Anthony Caldera for achieving the rank of Eagle Scout and wish him all the best in his future endeavors the witness whereof I to set my hand and cause the Great Seal the town T brona and County of Essex state of New Jersey to be fixed on this th day of May in the year 2024 congratulations you going to come up coun we're going to take a picture this F on you get to hold on you got have your son come up you share a little bit about your project which is a great one in my opinion sure of course please sir um i' just like to say thank you all for having me um thank you to Mr timbero for coming to our uhor mental health has always me I've watched a lot of close friends a lot of close families problems as of myself so my Eagle Scout project I partnered with the Mental Health Association of Morris and Essex County to build some benches new planters for their new office reipon and I built them as a space that can be a zero judgment zone for people to talk about their issues to get advice from familiar friends and to seek help when they feel like they can't great project right turn around whereas the vision The Voice gods of America prepare young men in America to become responsible participating citizens and leaders who are Guided by the Scout and law whereas Luca has held the positions of assistant senior patrol leader patrol leader Leb master and troop guide and whereas as a senior at Verona High School luk has participated in the VHS music program for four years and learned the leadership position of saxophone section leader and participates in the concert band crushed Ensemble and chamber WIS Ensemble whereas luuka also started bhs's first Esports team is acting secretary for the engineering club and recently inducted in the English Honor Society whereas the bo Scouts of America encourage Eagle Scout candidates to complete worthy projects to improve their neighborhoods their community and the region whereas inspired by the mental health struggles he saw during the pandemic Luka wanted to construct something that would give individuals a non-judgmental place talk with others about sensitive issues in a safe and tranquil environment whereas Lucas Eagles Scout project consists of building listening benches that rep place at the Mental Health Association of essics and Morris counties new offices in Paran New Jersey now therefore be a Proclaim that I Dr Christopher tamboro mayor of the township Verona congratulate Luca Joseph Tesco for achieving the rank of Eagle Scout and wish him all the best in his future endeavors witness whereof I par who set my hand and caus the Great Seal of the township Verona and the county of Essex state of Jersey to be fixed on this 20th day of May in the year 2020 congratulations [Music] it's also should be noted that Luka is an intern for R he's familiar with this place we'll be downstairs last but certainly not least on our proclamations this evening is our recognition of the MS week um this is a this is a special one certainly for me um because it's an opportunity where I get to recognize people with whom I've worked past years um as a member of the Veron Rescue Squad and uh and several other folks around other agencies around the state before then um and not only I feel like that uh commercial Baro game back in day but I haven't just been a member of the slot I've also been a patient um I didn't want to be uh but I have been and I can say that on those occasions um I was provided the best care and people ask me did you get any special treatment because you're a member it's absolutely not uh because I know that the same care that would be provided to me was going to be provided to everybody that we work with so um this organization is as we've heard assist Chief president in tempesta and chief Jung here on multiple occasions uh explain the health of the brona rescue squad as an all volunteer organization that is serving 247 without recompense um and covering our calls and providing mutually into other towns and expanding into other areas of EMS across the state we are so fortunate to have this group here and uh I what I think pleases me the most is as a one of the I can't believe say members um it's great to see the the Young Generation come in and uh and take on the passion that uh people over the years sacrificed and provided for so I am uh going to read this acation we'll invite everybody in slot reads whereas Emergency Medical Services is a vital public service and whereas the members n and medical service teams are ready to provide life-saving care for those in need 24 hours a day 7 days a week and whereas access to Quality Emergency Care dramatically improves survival and recovery rate those who experience sudden illness or injury oras Emergency Medical Service to build a gap by providing important out of hospital care including preventative medicine followup care and access to Tele medicine whereas the Emergency Medical Services System consists of First Responders mer medical technicians paramedics mergen medical dispatchers firefighters police officers educ s administrators preh Hospital nurses emergency nurses emergency physicians training members of the public and other AD Hospital providers whereas the members of Mer Medical Services teams with their career or volunteer engage in thousands of hours specialized training and continuing education to enhance their life saving skills res is appropriate to recognize the value of the accomplishments of medical service providers especially arm BR Rescue Squad by designating brona Emergency Medical Services week now therefore be proclaimed that I Dr Christopher Toro mayor of town fona proclaimed the week of May 19 through 25th 2024 as Emergency Medical Services week in witness where of I here on to set my hand and cause the Great Seal of Township Corona in the county of as Stadium New Jersey to be fixed on this 20th day of May in the year 2024 let's bring up our SLO back a little bit somebody's got over here M want me to go this no mean all right we good amen thank you for coming two three thank you so much than thanks everyone standing and sitting person the meting at this point I'll turn over the meeing for C manager um I'll be handling both agendas tonight my um you did receive the outline of the report from the community's meeting to the presidential Area emergency services complex um we have received two proposals for fundraising companies they're being reviewed now and we should have recom for your next meeting and be able to put that together um sponsorship policy we're going to draft with the company when the company selected since they have a lot of experience in of that aspect of and naming polici for those elements of the building uh I'm going to skip over number five which is the midye election or presentation to the council um cdbg applications are in um and pending and we'll be applying for new ones uh for the 2025 projects that we moving forward I uh will have item number 10 in uh close session uh along with the item number 11 on my agenda which would be the senior Transportation program I'll be discussing those contracts in the course section um I will be scheduling reading it came at our last meeting that I was here before my vacation on pickle ball and Pall College I'll be scheduling a meeting there to get a sense of what the the request is or or suggestions are uh not to overlook anything then you'll see there was a meeting of pickle bow in the organization Kevin saw his report uh with the engineer for the designing of the pickle bow for your existing facility so I'll skip that in Kevin's report so um I oh happy to tell you I believe you've read that already that your uh new entrance sign to the pool has been sponsored by leak Side Deli they're paying for that and the work should start shortly there'll be public information out to the community about the welcome sign at the triangle that's going to be completely rehabed the color will be changed to your town color and that has been sponsored by DCH Acura uh the full cost of that we have that sign the Chamber of Commerce we met with the Chamber of Commerce they have the uh the list of parking lot signs for sponsorship and um we'll have another meeting with the chamber and see how that is moving along before I reach out to other businesses that may not be members of the chamber but the chamber was the first leader um other than Clos sessions that's one of the highlights of the items on my report um moving on to the deputy manager report U the second quarter billing has been mailed out uh for the new rates on the water sewer uh the PO study is moving along with New Gen there not too much progress but that'll be presented to the council when it's concluded then I believe is the spring the meeting's being sent for the new zoning fees are be placed into effect the July one um the Lin drive and fair viiew is on schedule moving according to schedule and and doing very well on that project parking meter rates uh will become effective on May first what did come Effect one by uh and I did mention we had the uh the pickle Court already the road projects are in full here in full motion uh hicups including the meetings with the shade tree commission that has full input into the trees they can't have any reconstruction meetings unless Shay tree as the chair Vice chair there and I think that would be the highlights and everything from the prior months report which was May 3rd and May 15 is is progressing nicely thank Mr any questions we move on point all right thank you lot of slides but not a lot of talking up results um I wanted to discuss with you based on your um questioning about the payments and of our 2023 municipal election so I have done an analysis with some explanation of the expenses that we incurred and we're going to um so first of all I want to go over the responsibilities of the municipal clerk when there is a municipal election in May nonpartisan municipal election um the municipality is responsible for all costs involved in that election um and the municipal clerk is statutory mandated to perform all the duties required to conduct an impartial and fair election those which Duties are typically done by the county clerk clerk the Board of Elections and the superintendent of Elections for both the June primary November general elections that occur each year change slightly so what that entails is creating a sorry on as well have do again great um what the responsibilities entail before during and after the election um or creating the candidate packet advertising the election uh Distributing those candidate packets um notifying the county and state of the offices to be filled um verifying all the signatures on the petition which are percentage of the number of registered voters in your municipality conduct a b drawing to see the placement on the election ballot um publish um various Publications for vote by mail the notice of election the notice of polling locations um the names of the candidate as are appear on the ballot we proof freed the ballots um and arrange for the mailing of the sample ballots which are not mandatory in a municipal election but are expected from the voter so I chose to do that um we have to hold late don't have to but I choose to hold late night voter registration on the last day of registration so that people can have that last opportunity to be able to register to vote in that made election um we assist with the polling placing a poll workers not the adults that's the um job of the county but with the students um which is a another feat in itself but M knows that um when the Challenger list is filed we have to provide the credentials and um then of course there's election day and then about 12 to 16 days after the election we verif certify the election results with the county after all the mail and ballots and provisionals have been counted so the total expenses for this election were 7 $75,100 uh so what does that cover that covers I have a percentage of the breakdown with the two largest amounts being the printing of the ballots and the um paying of the pole workers there's also percentages breakdown on your handout um so we go one more to a pie chart that I did that's a little better to understand you can see that the two largest the brown and the blue are the coworker charges and the ballot printing um we are required to print 40% more than the number of registered voters in the municipality because of the event of spoiled ballots or anything else we're also required um because we have an polling locations more than 900 registered voters going to those locations that we are mandated by um chapter 19 to have six board workers um one must be a judge one must be an inspector or in charge of that process and have to be from parties four of those pow workers need to be for from uh each political party and you could have the remaining two could be the unaffiliated voters about checks and balances so going forward how can we um decrease expenses going forward with non Paran elections in May oops sorry I got to go back okay the first off is chart that I've done that goes to TI 25% but it's the breakdown of the pie but I wanted you to see that everything in an orange bar is a fixed cost um it'll basically only go up there you know the ballots the programming of the machines and the and the polling books um the the staff at the county level um we have to pay for food to feed them um we have the Publications that are mandated by law um the sheriff's officers and the office supplies that I would purchase for what I'm responsible to provide at the elections um would be the only two variable costs that would change depending on need everything else is basically a fixed cost where um there is statutory um involvement in numbers and Staffing and um for all three of the county offices I ask you yes on PO workers so we are operating the minimum number of workers that we can operate on or we operating extra well it depends I no we have about four or five at a location when I look sometimes you get and more times than not you get to know the PE that people that don't show up there are poll workers that are placed so a poll worker list might have seven people listed but it's because past practice has been people may not show up and then what happens throughout the day is we're low staff because of the two Nosh shows we have the ability to move pole workers from one location to another and this PO worker number than with the high school students this is our session yes because the high school workers are trained just like the normal pole workers and they're considered a pole worker District board worker in the state they're meeting our stat they're not extra they're not extra they're meeting our statutory requirements they've been trained just as as much as the um other pole workers and they get paid the same and they have same responsibilities and same accountability what is the sheriff's department well if we have an incident we need to call the sheriff's department um the sheriff's department is receives there's chain of custody on uh election night where we have I um provide the ballots fielded and the provisional ballots that are locked in um locked crates to the police department and the police department then has them in custody and they go directly to Nork where the sheriff's officer then takes custody of them those are the Essex County Sheriff's officers um interesting $ that they're also on call down in Nork but that varies um I'll get to that um right now okay so there's other cross driving factors um our Municipal elections on odd years coincide with South Orange and Cedar Grove so all three of us are the only um three municipalities in Essex County Holding elections in May on odd years so most most of the expenses are tried to be split three ways by the county officials however they keep pretty good track of who for instance calls for an officer um and a sheriff's officer that comes up so those different those um might change between the three municipalities so there were a little bit all within 5,000 of each other but there were some really minor differences in some of the charges but 75 77 79,000 were the charges which is kind of in my opion um commment or you know related to the amount of Voters in the municipality um so with that being considered with these cross- driving factors um and being that Cedar Grove and South Orange hold their M uh elections on the same day if they were to move to November it's unclear how much of our costs would increase um a lot of those fixed costs that I showed you on the previous page would probably stay maybe be a little bit more increased um because it would be a final number that we would be responsible for um the other other considerations that I just want to mention is um Municipal elections Elevate the pressure point of the Board of Education um there's chapter 19 col 8-3 that mandates that elections be held in school houses and even though they have an agreement with the schools they don't have to the county can just hold an election if they want which you know is happening with our special election so this would eliminate at least one election during the school year um and now with the police that are not allowed to even be within 100 feet of a polling location um there is especially with the schools um there are some security concerns and rightfully so but um you know I try my best to try to mitigate those um but that is one of the most biggest complaints that I've hear as we approach each election Council mcgr have a question um yes so um you're detailing you know the costs of staying with may but if we were to move to November going back to your previous slide what costs remain and then what goes to zero so what we would pay for would be if I if we needed to um call up any Sheriff's officers from work on today to um kind of lower a temperament or whatever at a polling location if there's some kind of um need for them um and whatever supplies I there are things that I'm mandated by state law to provide at a American flag at every location um and other things the pens and stuff just to make the the um the election run smoothly I like to provide the I voted stickers because you I mean but it's a very minimal amount I think I spent about $300 on office supplies in our May election so going back to your bar graph the two things in pink are the only costs we would have in November so everything else is included is paid by what the state of New Jersey by the county in November it's depending on the ballot but it's you would say the county um they would do all the Publications the only thing that I would have a responsibility doing is accepting the um the candidate packets and preparing those and verifying those um so it's just time if you want to look at it you know so less than $3,000 in theory yes yes versus the 75,000 yes okay thank you for that clarification okay so let's just I wanted to in your you know deliberation consideration of this I wanted to explain what entails the changing of a date of your election which is permitted for nonpartisan elections in new J in um the uniform partisan elections law so governing body can change their date by ordinance and choose to hold a regular municipal election on the day of the next the general election which was the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November um and to do so you have to pass an ordinance the other op other option would be to have a non-binding referendum on the ballot um all municipalities in New Jersey have the right to the non-binding referendum just to engage the sentiment of the voters it's not um binding the governing body to act upon it um and just so we understand the if we were to consider moving I wanted to give you some timelines on um a non-binding referendum so you had more information at your hands so um if we wanted to do non-binding we would adopt an ordinance I believe we could do a resolution too we've done that for a question but I could check with the county clerk but let's just say an ordinance for now because it would be the most time and we would request the county clerk to place the question on the ballot um so let's look ahead for our November 5th 2024 election um we would I would have to certify to the county no later than anyone 81 days prior to the November 5th election which would be Friday August 16th 2024 so what I figured in was our 20-day estole period that we have under our former government every has SEC cure for 20 days report goes into effect for the voters to act um so that a stoppable period go moves back to July 27 we haven't set our at the next meeting I'll be providing you with the proposed meeting dates going forward but we don't have our set July and August meeting dates after July 1 but um you know obviously we'd have to probably if that would be the thing we introduced July 1 we do have that scheduled meeting in July our 1 meeting so if the municipal election is changed I wanted you to understand what that entails once the decision is made um it is not permitted to change the day of the election back to the second Tuesday in May until at least 10 years have passed since the adoption of the ordinance changing the date of the municipal election to November and that governing body would need to adopt a new ordinance providing that the reg regular Municipal elections occur in the second Tuesday in May where they do now um that would need to be adopted by the governing body o and I do have that here sorry so 10 years after the date of the adoption of the ordinance not the date of the election so what would that mean for those up in election by for election in 2025 so the term of any person in office on the date of the adoption of such an ordinance shall be extended until the beginning of the term of the per person elected to that office on the day of the general election in November that makes sense the three would have another couple months in office till November the winner the people in that win that election obviously would take uh their seats in the reorganization meeting in January and one of the things I wanted you to also know is where you would appear where the township would appear at a ballot as a nonpartisan community on a November general election um oops so all because we're nonpartisan and because the November election has the lines for Democratic Republican and a presidential um or even a state election they will have other parties listed as well Bron would be at the end a nonpartisan Community would be at the end of that ballot which could be on the other side but it would be a way so that you could list them properly like a nonpartisan and not confuse them with a other type of um party um Board of Education you know in November Board of Education would come after the municipality then questions if they ever were to appear on a ballot would be after that so depending on the election year and so given that I just wanted to provide a little bar graph of voter turnout um in years 2017 and 2021 the turnout was a little bit higher in the November elections it was a Governor's election year um and in 19 and 23 those were you know the state office elections um so just to see at a glance return out on that day um oops we're do this way so that's all and if you have any questions I'm happy to hear anybody any questions just thank you uh Jen just the county prints all the ballots correct no I'm sorry should have explain that more we have we have to hire a okay um and they print all the ballots the emergency ballots the provisional ballots by mail ballot every town does that on our on a nonpartisan level yes uh if they're holding their M action and you said in we like we do ours in odd years are there any other nonpartisan in even years yeah in Essex County yeah there are we just had um we just had Monclair Nutley bille orange so so would that a lower costs if we did it in the even years rather I mean I know there's still a cost but just a question they do because you said our cost broken up you know oh if we didn't even Grove in South Orange would probably go up it would it would in the the food category maybe some staff maybe the police uh Sheriff's officers so minimal minimal from you know my and would that be the same if we because we're we're I'm at Landing district 10 uh yes there's only one there now because we move one of the poing to CL right if we combined into let's say community center we have multiple rooms up there say on a Tuesday and just combine say six districts you all go to the community center talk about redistricting or just for that election no you can keep the districts but the district go to community center and instead plus we're taking them out of schools right and I so you're saying we'd have to redistrict first and then do that but you can't go further than 100 feet outside of your voting district to vote um so we'd have to kind of keep that in mind um it was very difficult I've done some of the project to see um we would to utilize churches um again and that would be a special request of the governor um they it's been done to get them out but I mean a lot of people have asked about why can't we just have a super polling location at the community center everybody votes there that's that's kind of what I was thinking because especially now with mail in ballots it's taken a lot of people out of going to places so that's even November and we do November still combine what I'm gauging that I mean with I used to have an answer but now I think with early voting at the community center it's a pretty good idea of what that would look like um so the highest turnout we've ever had in Verona since in the last 20 years is 74% in the 2016 election there was 78% turnout in 2020 but that was an all vote by mail during covid so we kind of don't even count that um 74% of people one day voting I I just I don't see how the community center can accommodate that I mean a couple differ like well we would have to redistrict and and then see but then you'd have to take into account the most important um aspect of the election law in the state is voter convenience the convenience of the voter is Paramount um and we would have to have you know all accessible um and ample parking Etc not saying can't be done but it's just a formula um in a way because a lot of things to consider okay thank you have a question um you mentioned the minimum Staffing is that per polling location or per District it's per District not per polling location so it's in your District if you have more than 900 voters it's mandatory you have six um pole workers and it's full Deb six full workers for district though so where you have a polling location where you have two or three districts voting at one polling location if you have two districts you have to have six people there you have to have 12 if you have two districts you have 12 people you should have 12 people it says by law you have 12 people what happened in our municipal election is people didn't show up so we had to actually had the county send pole workers up to work um they also had offered two to sit here and wait but um we didn't we can't have them going over you you can't have the pole workers working both districts um it's an accountability issue especially now you know with the the way they vote but um I know that some point people have considered or asked about a half day working poll's half days and you need the accountability at the beginning and the end of the day especially with the print out of ballots they all sign um attesting certain things and so it's just the way the law is written I could tell you the statute so we have 18 at the high school we have 12 at Landing six six at Landing six at Landing six at clarage yeah we have we have three at we have 18 at the high school right and that's that's where I think more the driving question is about the districts is you know why can't why do we need 11 separate districts or why can't this aspect of be fixed it doesn't make with vote by mail being so prevalent does it make sense to have 18 people at by by Statute it does I statute not by not reality but a lot of the elected law is it really is this something where we could ask for a waiver of some sort make a point just our our inperson polling numbers on these on the Municipal elections must be pretty yeah but on Election Day I know you it appears that they're not doing a lot but then you know at 8 8:30 in the morning or you know 12:30 lunch pickup for kind or you know 5:00 they start to get busier and all those um pole workers are utilized and are working we have usually especially now with the pole books we could have two poll books at in one machine machines are mandated by the number of um we don't need to have any two two machines at any polling location for one District but we can have two polling books to keep keep it moving um and and if they do you need to have two pole workers working there um it's all about checks and balances you really don't want to get anybody saying that you know one political party is overtaking the um election process so we would have one from each party sitting at a signin table for the um P whole board why do we have 11 districts and I me the number for I think it's six because that would that when it was first done that way was done to keep it where you would have only one machine per District so once you have more than um it's 1500 or 1,800 um people in a polling location in one District then you need to add a second machine um second machine is more pole workers so the idea then was to keep it below so we have 12,000 over just over 12,000 registered voters if we redist District I think they would try to at least do the same 10 or 11 just to keep the machines you know minimal they cost a lot thank you um one thing you didn't talk about that is a difference with this may election is now we have early voting for the June primary and the November general election the way the statute is written my understanding is it's so cost prohibitive we would have to bear all the costs of early voting so we can't even offer early voting this is just to do voting on one day my point is so my point is for the voting experience for the resident we are now the May staying with May election is now a different voter experience voters are being kind of trained or educated to now have the ability to early vote on the June and November elections we're early voting and starting on Wednesday uh May the 29th for the primary which is on June 4th but now for May we're going to have a totally we're there's going to be a bifurcation we're not going to be able to talk about early voting the voters won't understand that some people may not apply for a vote by mail ballot thinking they can early vote right they may be in averly disenfranchised because of the way the state structured it by passing all the costs on to the municipality would you agree with that when you use this in franchise it's difficult to argue um knowing that the county and the state even the courts were always conceed to the voters um convenience the convenience of the voter is if when if you look at the election law it's repeated over and over yeah it's just going to be very hard to to stay with May and keep the voter education piece that now there's a difference in how voting is conducted on that election because the early voting now is a big difference so I just wanted to raise it okay U then when you're talking about the machines of course you said we we only have we have 11 districts because having a machine is more expensive but wouldn't having a second machine actually be less expensive entirely additional polling place because you need to have six minimum of six staff members right or five staff members to run another District but how many but you only need probably it's not for charging for us it's the county to pay for but we still my point is we still need the machine right so let's say we combine districts one I'm not saying of course we're doing this whatever we combine districts one and two right now we're paying for two machines because we have to have one per district and we're paying for 10 I'm sorry 12 calling St right if we combine them and Sid two machines wouldn't need 12 poling stand anymore we need what eight I understand what you're saying um that would be the County Board of Elections does the redistricting um I mean if we stated our desires to we have you can only redistrict because of the sensus in years ending with a four five six 7 um we already lost this year and they're not going to continue thinking about it because of these special elections that we have coming all the way through the end of the year um I've explain that to them there are some conversations that I've been looking forward to having with them and explaining certain um points that I think they might need to consider maybe that would be one of them I would certainly give them as much information and as much input as I could and so I mean yes I could do that but at the same time they would need to purchase the machines and I know that right now they're low staffed on I mean they're low on machines because the governor says you have to have certain machines for training and now we have all these um you have to quarantine the machines after an election for 30 days before before it's certified and but it's definit I understand I understand okay yeah so then you just have like buying more machines you would have 3,000 people a voting district right yeah I would totally bring that to them that would certainly be I do have a list of of um points that I would like to bring to them so I would definitely add that on there because that's a decent Point yeah I think I think before developing an opinion topic to explore all of that information as far as because that could potentially save County money as well for all these other elections that they're running as far as poing staff and stuff like that difficult time calling poing staff it might be sense toate no I don't want to throw anything out there I'm not sure about so MGR question um well more of a comment I thought there was an upper you know end of a limit on the size of the election districts because I know in North Caldwell they had so many people voting in one District that the county did redistrict them and split them for this upcoming election so I understand the sentiment of like can't we consolidate some of the 11 so we could be at nine or 10 won't that lower cost but I think there are rules on the other side that these districts can't be that big I I don't know of any statute that talks about the limit not to say that one doesn't exist because they're all um you would have to take into consideration again convenience of the voter parking so if you do have 2 200 registered voters the county is not going to say well you average 40% turnout so we're only going to count 40% of the voters um they try they work with the maximum um it could have been something like that but again I can reach out to the Board of Elections specifically on that issue and get an answer before the end of the week and I could talk to the I wish Kevin was here because he would know the answer to North Coldwell but I can reach out to the um CL yeah it based on some sort of limit on how many people actually voted in past elections and once it reaches over threshold the the election District needed to be split that was my understanding well I know that District right to redistrict though um it's if there's a large disparity in your with among your districts then it calls for redistricting and that is something that I would like to point out to the board of election so thank that that would be a question I would like to have answered because I'm looking at like West Orange like how many districts are in West Orange if they limit how many people can be in a district amount of people or not just like we have we have very little districts they're 25 35 you know um Livingston is a lot too I don't know the exact numbers but I know that when I talk to them I can't imagine getting election night but it's different I don't disagree if it's easier for it's it's not even for me it's convenience and voter turnout if moving into November we get a higher turnout then you know maybe I'd be before it but looking at I'm looking at General and Municipal here in 23 it they're pretty close it's only 2% difference uh so like that's that's what i' look at when when it comes to this we our options after we you know answer some of yeah we have state voting a lot of people aren't even aware that there's an election a lot of people don't realize we have an election every November no matter what you know I don't know there's a primary yeah okay so excuse me point of order um are we gonna have a discussion now because we were we were just questioning I can we have discussion at this time think I woulded a for this once we have all the answers questions sense before up on that we'll schu I can have answers for the next Mee so to clarify J we don't need to have a ref right if we want to there are two options that you have to make sure but the refer is not okay all right um next up counc second thank you Mr Mayor uh he left but congratulations to Christopher and luuka job well done very impressive resume coming out just coming out of high school so very nice to have them here uh I did have or we did have a historic preservation meeting unofficial because they didn't have a quarum uh I'm G to put it out I'm G to ask the the public information officer this week uh to put something out we need a volunteers for historic preservation among other uh groups and organizations in town so if you have an interest in historic preservation uh we could really use I think we're two members someone just uh stepped aside and they're actually thinking I will bring this up with the rest of council and May and manager of asking to if they do fill those positions quickly to maybe expand the mission because they would like to uh maybe get another two members on it uh and then the only other thing I have is uh mentioned by the mayor already I'd like to thank Uno for their uh Sunday dinner yesterday uh not only do they obviously do a lot of good for this town and donate a lot of money to organizations uh it's really good Cooks it was all homemade so it was an enjoyable as it always is I got to everyone an enjoyable Sunday after that's all I have thank you Council Rob I will wait my time to see thank you Council mcass thank you you um I just want to start off uh with a brief remembrance of a lifelong Verona resident who passed away um after a short um illness uh her name was Christina Ford and um she was um a mom and an advocate an advocate for equality and I just wanted to highlight her service here in Verona um she um and her wife were the first uh gay couple to be married in Verona she really thought um to make sure that um her family uh was um um was able to be fully included in all of Verona life and uh she served as an example to all of us on um how to really kind of push forward in a way that was very uh inclusive and kind um but um made sure that she made this town a pleas um she was um she spoke up on the school level multiple times to make sure that uh the language un forms didn't say Mom and Dad but it said parent um she pushed for our first um pride flag raising she was on our our diversity and equity and inclusion subcommittee um and she always was here at the council speaking up on issues relating to equality and fairness um and I just want to thank her uh for her Legacy she her passing is uh very much going to be uh missed amongst a large community of parents and friends in Verona um and we will uh Mark her passing at our Annual Pride event uh which we're so excited for uh which will be on Saturday June the 8th at 11:00 a.m we're going to have our flag raising um our there'll be ice cream there'll be uh music uh the high school jazz choir is coming and craft so I hope the community can join us uh in a joyful celebration of equality here in Verona um I had several meetings since our last um the neighborhood traffic and Safety Committee meet met excuse me um they are developing a complete streets policy they hope to get to the council this fall um they do need members uh to join the committee so if you're thinking of um volunteer Serv here in Verona that's a great place to start uh the shade tree committee is also in need of alternate members um so if you're passionate about trees uh that's a great committee they discussed their uh windshield survey and the upcoming um some of the challenges that we have with treat trimming which will be resolved tonight on our agenda um and that um they're very focused on their safety analysis so that's what they're uh working on now and uh the Multicultural includ inclusion and accessibility advisory committee will be meeting on Wednesday at 7 p.m on Zoom uh where they will be discussing their upcoming uh Pride celebrate celebration that they're planning and some work for disability uh pride month which is in July and that's my report thank you thank you Council thank you um I also want to thank um councilwoman theth for her remarks about Christina for I I do just want to Mark her passing and acknowledge she was a very powerful force in the community well loved by many um and it is a tremendous loss not only to our community but to her family um that she is gone to soon so um my heart goes out to her family and friends and I just you know I just want them to know that you know I'm thinking of them in addition I want to acknowledge that um the recreation advisory comme has a meeting tomorrow night um and that meeting is a very large agenda we will be joined by our CFO to talk at length about Recreation finances so if anybody's interested in the community pool or um any of the other Recreation spending there's going to be a detailed discussion of that um in addition I want to acknowledge that it is the end of the school year and there are tremendous amount of school events and now with the weather being beautiful kids are out so I just want to acknowledge her crossing guards and what an amazing job they are doing because there are kids everywhere um and especially in my neighborhood where there is um a lot of road work being done um I just really want to thank the crossing guards for all of their hard work um and finally I just want to acknowledge the Girl Scouts part of New Jersey had me um at their see her be her career fair um where I was joined by their CEO Natasha hemings and others to discuss career opportunities for young women um and it was a tremendous afternoon in um at Stevens Institute where there was definitely um a number of presentations in the stem field and others and I was there to talk about my own personal experiences with a lot of very eager girls who I think are a tremendous asset to the state of New Jersey and our larger community so I just can't wait to see these girls grow up so um thank you and that concludes my remarks thank you I just have one additional item the mayor's report I'll not be in person at next meeting I will be call again on Zoom which has been pred by attorney Deputy Mayor maoy will be residing I will be participating in the meeting I will be doing professional development for work uh we'll be missing several events in the first weekend uh in June uh including the pride festival and several things in the park because I not anywhere near this side of the country um but I thank deputy mayor for steing me on all those events um all right that concludes our Council reports the public comment on any item anybody would like to talk about V Clark would you please read the public participation St anyone wish to address any item please raise your hand if you're attending via Zoom you may do so by pressing the raise hand button on your monitor press n you're attending in person you may please raise your hand in to approach the Lector when you're recognized and advised if you're on uned state your name and Township for the record you have four minutes to address the council your comments and questions shall be sorry will be addressed um at the end of the public period if you do provide your address please note that these meetings are reposted on the YouTube chat Township's YouTube channel and the addresses will not be redacted for any purpose all right like to come up you just come on up you don't need raise your hand say your name and your council president please good evening council members my neighbors my name is Anna fusaro and I live on Woodland Avenue I live across the street from where this building is going to be built I attended a meeting last week about this building I have many concerns about the location of the building the size of the building the look of the building Etc I would like to speak to these concerns at a separate dedicated meeting where more Town's people can know about the meeting and can attend the meeting hopefully having been notified by mail about the meeting I'd like the council members in attendance at that meeting as well thank you for your time thank you anybody else good we on in New Jersey uh I also attended the meeting last week on the new uh Public Services billing and some of the concerns I have are about the notifications and how they were handled walking the dog in the neighborhood just as conversational standpoint a lot of neighbors were not aware of the meeting I think it's important that everyone not only be made aware and given the opportunity to attend the meeting but also to understand the importance of this project and in the meeting when I asked the voting time frame on this development I was told June and a five-week notification on a bonding project of this magnitude which is probably the largest bonding project to come before this town since a water treatment plant needs more than five weeks and everyone in the should have an opportunity to understand the importance of it and the impact of it so my request to the council as my neighbors is for a separate public meeting poer public notification for everyone to understand the product project and have an opportunity to else close public comment mrco would you like to jump in on how people were notified of the Mee yes um on this meeting a g system was used on all the residential in in the quadrant which was in your report was sent out but this was meeting number three of the community in our Outreach process uh the first meeting was with the large population of the clarage which included all of the residents at the clarish uh then there was a meeting with the junior Women's Club and the Women's Club then there was a meeting with the Lions Club membership and anyone they wanted to bring and then the neighborhood which was across the street I think what was Miss interpreted was I said the next meeting would be in June we haven't selected the date for for a townwide meeting this was all part of the process of public information as the council is aware this has been going on since 2022 uh it started with Police Headquarters which was the first charge in searching land with the uh Committee of police fire rescue and then uh there was no available land that s owned which I explained at the meeting and I had authorization to go purchase land uh there were a number of options which didn't fit in the property on pumpt that came up was two pieces of property adjacent to each other which then accommodated the potential to accommodate all three services which the council is aware that you have you you're struggling with building three facilities and the economy of scale and building one building uh would needless to say save the taxpayer and yes it is a large project uh the residents uh uh asked of different locations I'm open to I indicated I'm open to any suggestion uh on other properties uh that they think are suitable uh we could look at those too but there the the Committees that were put together your police fire rescue that know the town better than I do and know their response times know their emergency call times um pton seemed to fit everyone's Fe they came up for sale um um I haven't had any other suggestions except there was a suggestion from that meeting uh to build it on ever field I tried to explain that ever field is dedicated to the community as a park and one resident uh indicated that there was nobody from the family around I looked into that that's not correct there is a nurse to that property and if you built anything but a park it would be reverted it was also a suggestion of The Manor West Orange which would be too far away uh I literally would look at any suggestion it was a suggestion uh to buy uh deos in facility since the fire department was there that's one of your larger taxpayers and I don't think you could buy that for the million dollars we spent on the other property um but the meeting that was stated in that's going to be held in June is the townwide meeting uh we haven't picked a date because we have coordinate with the uh Community Center and yes the public information officer would be doing an aggressive uh notifications to the public we have man the the newsletter that's online we have the gis system targeting we have whatever else we can employ to let the public know that this is happening but that would be the next meeting for public information and the public information venu so we don't run into I didn't know trying our best to get to everyone in the community by having more meetings with segments of the commun thank CH iard I'm sorry public comment is over for now there'll be another public comment period at the at the end of the meeting um I I hear the resident's concerns I and and understand I haven't the opportunity to watch the video from uh last week but um I it was a it was pretty lengthy understand um and that there was a lot of back and forth a lot of discussion uh frankly probably more that can that can happen at a public council meeting um when I would encourage residents I know the we got a summary of the administration noted as major concerns so they have provided that to us um what I would encourage all residents to do is send us your concerns as well there's a form online that sends it to everybody you can get them the writing um and you can speak at the council meetings for for four minutes and share some of those concerns well and follow up uh I encourage everybody to do that we we want that for this council's very responsive to public comment um and you know there were some items that were recounted to me from the other meeting that I think are reasonable suggestions give for an example I don't like the outside design of that building either and I was never going to approve it right so he know it's not going to get by V just I but the exterior of a building is something that we can change that and that's the least of our right the building has to be designed to meet the needs of of the services and of U but I do encourage we did have uh lengthy presentations on the building in previous Council meetings um and we had couple comments during those meetings as well um the problem with having the council as entirety at a meeting is it has to be advertised as well as meeting there are certain rules and restrictions apply in reality I we do get the video to watch we are processing everybody's concerns I recommend if you have specific ones to reach out to us the difficulty is we want you to be able to have more of a back and forth with the administration with the arch and that's not really something that we can do in this venue because we have established by laws and procedures so for the townwide meeting I encourage everybody to show up we didn't show up we did not show up at that meeting because we didn't want to we show at the meeting so you can we didn't show up so you could have it in fact we weren't even invited because it creates a problem if we're all there because we're policy makers decision makers in the room so that back and forth you're able to have with Mr MHO and uh Mr tarco um and to get some input from the the chief officers that were there the meeting was probably very productive in getting a lot of those concerns out um I can it'll Echo what mrco said about this being s was worked for us for a little over two years was one of the first things that he was set up to do there were also other investigations of buildings of property um in the in Prior years um that didn't that didn't come to fruition in fact the township tried to buy a piece of property you know it was going true um but at the same point we want to hear the concerns um and encourage you to keep showing those meetings but you have specific things that you think might get missed if we watch the video please send it to us in writing we are um demanding as a council um especially of our of our Administration and they do answer the questions if we can uh we can Zone in on on those things but uh I appreciate you coming to the meeting because it's important um and I would hold that add to um the general broadcast notifications that perhaps we could send ma letters or have the DPW deliver or we have we have summer ppw helps right now that's getting paid hourly have them come in and just the deler door to door um at least in the neighborhood surrounding Cambridge neighborhoods and Vincent and Woodland and Lyndon and Franklin and um I mean I can name every street but you get the idea in that radius I think especially on that side um and also know that people in other neighborhoods have concerns that your neighborhood will be much safer than theirs um as far as because of the location of the building right um so there are other people has concerns about the building being too far from them and we are hearing those and that is becoming part of EXs anybody else have anything Jack uh so the ask from uh Mrs fazzaro and Mr Good was for another meeting townwide uh and we're saying we're doing this in June if we can in the next couple days lock that day in because we just said earlier how busy June is everybody can set their schedule so we give them an ample amount of time time to set their schedule uh I just want to touch on we talked about how the reason why we can't be there I know that came up uh during the meeting I did watch uh the meeting uh as far as ever field goes that came up and if someone was pretty adamant about putting it there it cannot go there because everfield has been deep restricted and as Mr Dio said there are some of the ancestors that still live in Verona uh and they do there's others that live in in North Carolina California and they do come in and and visit us uh so that's that's the reason why we can't can't go there it's been tried in the past uh and I believe that's it I know there was one other point but I will get back to gotone thank you um I just want to Echo what the mayor said I am very interested in hearing resident input and there is a convenient form um on the website where it says contact the entire Council and it goes to all five of us um we did have only one substantial conversation in public about the design as a council and it was our first time seeing it so we have not even had a chance to comment yet on its design and so we are still very early in this process we're getting a lot of feedback and I do encourage your Frank feedback back to us and your concerns and to spread the word I am disappointed that there wasn't a flying of everyone in 200 fet um I think um that was maybe a small misstep but we do have the larger public meeting and I Echo all of my we would really love to be at these meetings and we're kind of forbidden to be so um but it allows for that more direct dialogue but there are you know this is a very big project this is transformative I think you mentioned something about the sewer treatment plant this is really big and um we really do need resident input so if you can spread that word we we really need people to tell us what they're thinking and feeling and we have not yet shared the cost and so when that is public then we have to have another round of very robust conversations so please reach out to us I I really encourage you know the direct dialogue and we'll go from there so and there is more public comment tonight so if you wait to the end you can yeah shortly shortly yeah I hope so but um we can um have more conversation I'll ask Mr maybe if you can comment on are we not supposed to attend these meetings are we you know are we precluded from participating is this something we could do as a notice public meeting what are our options for better engagement sure so as the manager indicated you do have a townwide meeting coming up that you'll all um participate right that'll be a public meeting meeting so that'll be a noticed public meeting um but these smaller meetings are more to get the word out and preparation for the large meeting and as the council knows and has been said um by by your FAL Council people no you cannot attend the you know three or more of you can't attend because that's considered a council meeting which means you can't you know three of you can't meet you know at a restaurant and talk business because that's considered a council meeting um so it's best to stay away and then when you show up it's very difficult to separate yourself from your position so then there's you know it's best to be left to the manager to get the word out and then you have you will have meetings the public is free to come anytime they want and doing public participation they also have the communication as been described the written communication and then there'll be uh plenty of opportunity during not only that public meeting but the other public meetings um if you guys approve to go forward there'll be a readings of bond ordinances there'll be resolutions all types of decisions whether it be based upon how the building looks the outside the inside um there's plenty of time to uh to review I offer also uh just some commentary on on the building appearance this was an interesting topic that came up um during the design of the Verona Flats the uh going up near the community center the original design that came in for those was a very modern design it's all you know boxes and squares and so on and it was pretty resoundingly rejected by the planning board um under the opinion that uh very striking modern architecture tends not to match the community and I'm wondering if this is uh something that we are running into these are these are concept what you saw were concept drawings originally they're not actual construction plans at this point there are FL plans on each side but it's not set in stone what thead looks like and if it's the same sort of opinion one of the problems we keep running into I saw in planning work for my entire term up there is that Verona does not have a clearly identifiable architectural style um I always use like MLA is an example as tutor style architecture marclair State University is all Spanish Revival we've never ever been able to really design to Define what the look of Aroma is because it's sotic and so when Architects design buildings in this town they have a very hard time sort of honing in on what should it look like and I tend to agree I mean the one thing that tends to fail a lot tends not to hold up tends to be very modern architecture so I'm not happy with the facade of the building as I've seen it and you know fortunately it's not at a final stage and I would encourage a lot of participation regardless of what the overall footprint shape you know about the facility is the look of it is certainly something that needs a lot of community input so I would encourage you to be specific about that and would just like to say hello to all my neighbors that it's very nice to see you here Mr Jer could you clarify the Jun date is that are you intending that to be a special council meeting no it was a community meeting at another stage in the public information that's what I thought had said something and I apologize thanks for clearing that up I did make eye contact thought I read that's the biggest meeting we had all little pocket ones and just so the public knows the reason I have staff taking notes and I have it filmed and so the council is getting exactly what the public says not not me inter because I'm too busy trying to answer questions so staff is is taking notes and the council did get uh the video as well as the notes from the uh public information office uh on the point of information to the public and was was reported to and I think it's important for the public to know that the Rave system was used for uh 125 mile radius of the project of approximately 114 residents opted into the Rave system so I also encourage everyone that's not when you come up on the town website you get that alert uh to register in so we send all kinds of notices to the to the community but we're trying every Avenue we can think of to get information to the public about meetings about projects road work whatever it is and the council is uh fully aware everything it's not interpreted by me they they have to see the meetings that we're filming U we're trying to get as much information out to you for the next meeting we can drop yeah every suggestion I'm big on it whatever suggestion it is and we'll try it you know outside of everything we've been doing we'll just add the flyer system to so I would just recommend that we also double check the tax records because we can get the 200 foot list that way too so we can compare that to the alert Verona list um going forward so when he's referencing the Rave system he's referencing the alert Verona system so if you've ever gotten the email or the text message that's what he's referencing so I do encourage anybody who's not getting those to get done because it is very helpful um occasionally when there are road closures or other emergencies that do have in ch um separately I do just want to Echo what several of my colleagues have stated it is tremendously important for you to be engaged in this public process and you are still very very early so you are not late to this decisions have not been made as you can speak with my colleagues um so what I do encourage you to do is to document it email attend meetings and be present um the townwide meeting thank you for clarifying that because that was very confusing to me because I didn't have a special meeting on my calendar me and so the townwide meeting will be where you can have a very Frank and candid conversation with our Administration and they are the ones that run the day-to-day operations of the town and we are like your board of directors right so um you're going to get the most Earnest feedback from our officials that are are running this project and I really do encourage your Frank and candid engagement with them in that process and we do have an opportunity to review that and we are very engaged um and I do endeavor to respond to every single email that comes in inbox from residents we're not necessarily always going to agree on everything like that but I will give you the respect of responding to you um as much as possible and if you don't get the response from me personally if you sent it to the entire Council you'll get a response from the administration or others so you should always be heard and I just really want to encourage that engagement in this process so thank you so much for being here tonight and I look forward to hearing more from you as this process goes fine thank you thank you coun okay uh we are moving on to hearing adoption the next item on the agenda is ordinance May 24-19 which please this ordinance provided for the Improvement of the water sewer utility system in by the C and the county 6 New Jersey reading $260,000 therefore for authorizing the issuance of 247,000 not to the finance cost thereof CL I have a motion so move thank you we have a motion by counc Roman second counc McGrath now it's time for public hearing ordinance number 2 19 the same public comment stat appli over public comment is limited to this being none close the public hearing any Council discussion ccil woman Holland yes Council McGrath yes councilman rman yes Deputy Mayor makoy yes mayor Toro yes mayor or is 20249 passes 5 to Z and it will be duy published according next on the agenda is 20 24-20 would you please this ordinance record find ordinance providing for the Improvement of the big pool for the pool utility in by the town Verona in the county of Essex New Jersey appropriating $350,000 therefore authorizing the issuance of $333,000 bond for notes of Township Finance for the cost thereof sobody move this or I'm going to give this one to councilman Holland second second be by uh now it's time the public hearing on ordinance number 2020 2024 D20 same public comment statement applies this see no public comments I will close the public hearing and as far as Council discussion the chair recognizes counc MC thank you um I'm really excited that we are finally appropriating money to Reign the big pool uh we do get comments in our survey every year um about the roughness of the bottom and um you know it it it's uh it's certainly a problem um and the fact that we're passing this now so that we can plan it out and do this project in the fall is just really smart um and so I think this is a obviously necessary maintenance um to keep our pool asset uh appropriate and running and I'm really excited thank you thank you I I Echo those statements um I know many a child that's nearly lost to toe um at the bottom of the B pool so I do think it's an important thing to do I also just want to acknowledge that you know doing these ongoing maintenance projects and having a larger Asset Management plan for the pool utility is a really important aspect of what I understand the administration is undertaking and I know that the recreation committee is very engaged in this discussion so I think you know this is very for good forward progress so thank you so much thank you Council CL Council Holland yes counc MRA yes C Roman yes Deputy Mayor makoy yes mayor Toro yes mayor Orin 20242 passes 5 Z will be published thank clerk the next item on the agenda is ordinance number 2024 D21 on second reading would you please read the title of this ordinance ordinance provided Improvement of the water and SE utility system and by the cas Verona and the county of S6 New Jersey appropriating 8, 46,000 there authorizing the issuance of 8, 46,000 bonds or notes should be financed part of the cost thereof thank you madam clerk I will move this ordinance is there a second second second is by the deputy mayor now it's time for the public on ordinance number 2024 21 dep St on I will close public comment for Council discussion I Do U Want to add a couple comments in here for the public education uh a an $8.4 million expenditure um the cost of this project will in our rate study so rate study uh that we and the rates that we passed a few months ago um to account for cost on the debt uh for these bonds uh we are solving some pretty significant long time problems uh the first being a fire pump station which is one of counil woman's favorite things in in mity uh the second is the other screens and improv Ben of disinfection systems we have to do this in order to run our utility and finally solving the slide issue to cl's drive uh which is a significant health and safety issue that it's finally being addressed um so I thank the administration for getting this all on and Forward Thinking uh starting to forward think on moving forward through the uh uh R study and um the mayor got that backwards my favorite party is the uh The Item B the micro scen um so this project again just you know to give some history on it because it is such a large project uh the micr screens and the UV disinfection system at the uh plant are severely deteriorated to to the point where they are physically falling apart and uh the parts for them are not available they've been having to fabricate pieces for this um the wastewater treatment plant team has done a very amazing job in keeping this system up and running for as long as they have but it is long past its useful life and in order to comply with our permit we do uh much need to replace it so I'm very glad to see us moving forward with this as well as the clance drive pump which will solve a long running water pressure issue in community so glad to see that as well my one concern is I brought this up last time around uh was on our construction estimating for the clarifier station obviously there's a supplemental allocation here to the original uh Bond allocation the deputy Township manager did send me detail on the uh on the total cost of the project so I appreciate it and I recognize this is the actual cost in doing this but we made sort of an estimating miss here of you know basically 100% we were we budgeted half of what this actually was um and it's kind of hard to manage your capital budget when you know these projects come in so you know so far over from Fairly large projects so I do track these things every now and then we do we do miss like this um and I would just like to encourage us as we develop these larger projects and now as we have more engineering experience uh on board in the township that accurate estimating or trying to go out and get uh better costing information is is very valuable and helpful to us as we try and manage this you know all of our very large Capital commitments just Just for future planning I'm happy to support it but I do kind of flag that be little we kind of someone thank you um I would agree with councilman Roman but I just want to recognize that our administrator Mr dearo inherited this project from previous administration and Engineers he has brought in really great experts that are actually getting us to the point where we do accurately estimate projects this is such an old project this predated our manager and our current Engineers this is our other engineer where frankly we have had a lot of things that had to be worked out that were started under previous administrations I just want to note that and also I just want to really thank councilwoman Holland it's because of her leadership that we took projects that and this whole sewer and water utility was really kind of stuck and underinvested in and it was her advocacy to get us as a council back on track her insistence that we follow the law and do an asset management plan that we do a rate study that that's tied to a whole strategic analysis so I do really want to thank you councilwoman Holland this does it is a lot of money very painful to raise water rates I just got my water bill like everyone else but we are getting these necessary uh safety Water and Sewer safety issues finally um we have the money that we're setting aside to pay for them to do critical infrastructure projects um and I am I'm I'm I we're really getting to the point where we need to be and then we can start being proactive looking forward so thank you so much those are my questions Al one thank you I just want to thank the administration for um moving forward with these projects for bringing in New Gen strategies to do such a detailed um rate study based on the asset management plan and to actually be bringing us into compliance and making the necessary Investments um in our community right because our public infrastructure is our largest investment um and and it's important to maintain it we wouldn't you know you don't buy a new car and then never change S whale and so it's really important for us to be continuing to invest and maintain our facilities for our residents um so I just want to thank you um and that concludes my remarks thank you mam Clark you're up counc M yes Council McGrath yes Council ran yes May m Boy Yes mayor yes may ordinance 2024 d22 sorry- 21 um passes 5 before according to law be published according to law thank Madam clerk the next the agenda is ordinance 20 4-22 second reading which please read the title of this ordinance B ordinance providing for various cap improvements s by the township of R in the county of Essex New Jersey appropriating $3,110 th000 therefore including a $75,000 local Recreation Grant expected to be received fising the issuance of 2, 978,000 CL is there a motion so Move Motion is made by councilman gra the second is by Council Roman I will now is time for the public hearing on ordinance number 2024 d22 same comment applies iose for comments I will make a couple just general comments just for the public ucation uh this is an Omnibus plan that last spending coords that uh addresses our uh our Capital planning that we dat throughout the bud process where came in uh put they needs we got pretty extensive wish lists from department heads we did not we were not able to give department heads everything they they wanted we been asking for priorities and I am uh thrilled that we've been able to now plan this in a strategic manner um and I am hoping as I said before but is to limit the number of anys that we have in the future because we plan it this way so this includes financing for uh property revaluation which we being required to do uh by the county the construction of a salt Bome for Public Works now we do not have one design work for the Reconstruction Glendon Avenue position of a great deal of police equipment including Vehicles fix Li and play readers radio system grades computer work stations um digitization of Records which is something that I think every member of this Council has been pushing for for years as far as to have more access to public Dev those renders and CH us the clar management um uh update fire hose which is pass as useful life and extrication tools the first phase extrication tools sh tree improvements and planting work um improvements to municipal buildings including uh planning for the public safety complex Hall uh planting for the communications Tower which is currently falling off the side of a hill and we really don't want that uh major repair Franklin Street Bridge that's one that connects between the two neighborhoods uh Improvement of pickle ball Courts for which we have $75,000 Grand to offset that cost and the acquisition of computers I will reiterate the one comment I made in the last meeting that I think we need to start getting computers off of our capital and if that that needs to be budget LED um and however we face it in whether it's laptops or you start phasing it in because it's hard when we keep buying Capital um but we shouldn't have to borrow money for compers and uh as we start to do that we identify needs we need to start figuring out any other thank you uh I just want to reiterate and thank the shry commission for all of their advocacy um the the capital that we have in for shry is really to do necessary and critical pruning um work to ex to improve the safety and extend the life some of our largest shade trees in our um Township um Shade Tree Management is very costly and expensive and this is the first step at investing um in that um and I'm very excited U to see the work the Strategic work that the shade Tre commission is uh doing under the leadership of its chair um Miss Carol Thomas um and so this is definitely a step in the right direction I'm really thrilled um that we are able to um address some longstanding infrastructure needs um including repairing the bridge repairing town hall because water is seeping in and C causing mold um while I don't love every necessarily everything in here most of it is very uh critical and necessary and I'm proud to support it thank you thank you Mr Mayor uh Echo some of your comments but this is a result of our budget process and our budget meetings and appropriate our CFO is here tonight uh bringing all of our department heads forward and really looking for their want list and you pick through and you get the most important uh needs for those departments and this is the result of that so I'd like to thank all the department heads for helping us out uh to specify what the needs of the town are so no further Council comment full all counc yes counc yes Roman yes mayor M yes may Tor yes may22 passes 5 to CLK the next item on the agenda is orance number 20 24-23 on second reading mam please read the title this ordinance Capital ordinance by appropriating $10,000 from the PO Capital Improvement fund for the pool furniture in now it's time for the hearing on ordinance 20223 the same public Mo oh sorry Step Ahead we're doing seven of these somebody like to move this some thank you Council thank you we got councilman Roman on the second all right now is the time for public hearing on ordinance number 2024 d23 I'm trying get motion you me to it that's petrang good to see you how you doing I'm Paul petrangeli rning New Jersey obviously I haven't been here in a while uh Sports and everything so I'm just wondering what the Improvement fund for the furniture really is because to me $10,000 spend on furniture what I'm reading I'm not really sure but uh when the pool is just totally in debt and everything in landscaping is being paid for by the DPW why are we paying $10,000 for furniture that's all I want know is like seats and tables and stuff like that or is it like actual I mean I don't even know Furniture to me sounds like like how Miss Holland said before about oil for your car seems like are we putting leather seats in our car or that's all thanks Mr Mr I'm sorry any other public comment all right public comment is closed yeah it's the existing furniture at the pool that the residents so the residents that are members of the pool use some of them are worn out some of them are dangerous and you need to replace them just like you to replace anything else wearing out we could really don't want any jacked edges the pool yeah nor do we want them on the bottom of the pool got um I I would also just note that the $10,000 is being appropriated or it's it's coming from the cap Improvement fund for the is it not or is it it's coming from the pool utilities Improvement okay so this is not coming from the general Township budget it is coming from the utility so again this isn't the municipality subsidizing utility I will also note just that there are a number of broken umbrellas and others so it is a large reinvestment in the furniture at the pool for those that that buy memberships to the pool and so it is being funded by those memberships thank you will yes MC yes CC Roman yes Deputy Boy Yes mayor T yes mayor 24-23 passes 5ish thank you m cler the next item on the agenda is number 2024 24 on second reading which pleas be the title of this ordinance and capital ordinance by appropriating 235 ,000 from the general Capital Improvement fund for various Capital Improvements in the T Verona CICS New Jersey thank you m cler move the ordinance so move made by the deputy mayor the second is made by Council mcra now it's time for public hearing on ordinance number 2024 d24 public comment app so close public comment I just uh want to remark I it's generally like when we use the capital Improvement fund because we're not paying Debt Service on these items borrowing money for these things so this is including our catch basins repairing updated catch basins some sidewalk repairs uh largely from uh tree uh incursion and other items um tensibility improvements on a community center uh software for the municipal Clark's office protective equipment uh personal protective equipment for for the fire prevention fire Marshall's office um the design for the V Community Center roof that is in significant need of replacement as well as the roof of the DPW garage um this does include some EV charging stations that are also income generating um and kiosks which are also income generating we'll be taking the par meter heads from certain high capacity areas like Municipal L one and two moving on because our parking heads are many are broken so be repurposing those and using the more userfriendly DSS that more easily accept credit cards and so on certainly easier for enforcement as well Madam follow please councilman Holland yes Council McGrath yes Council Roman yes would Mayo yes May yes ordance 2024 5 will thank you mad clerk the next item on the agenda is ordinance number 2024-25 on second meeting clerk you please may the of this ordinance B providing a supplemental appropriation of $355,000 rep to the construction of Hilltop Park by C the county V New Jersey authorizing issuance of $355,000 bonds of do Township to part of the cost thank you madam CL so like to move this ordinance so moved thank you Council one like to Second this I'll second thank you Council Roman now is the time for the public hearing on ordinance number to be 24-25 he not Out close public hearing um he Park is what most refer to as Liberty and freedom Fields um this was an additional Park area that was developed uh with developer M thing F years ago uh there was a lawsuit um this is a PL Tech um and this is an appropriation in order to sell that lawsuit um and thus it's being added to that Bond it's not supp anybody on this Council wants to do uh but it is in the opinion of our attorneys a um a necessary item and that this amount that on which we're settling is certainly less than our potential liability follow this and attorney fees optim that's why nobody wanted to make the motion see Madam th would you please call S yes coun yes Council ran yes may Toro yes ordinance 202 25 passes 5 publish all right next up is our consent agenda on our consent agenda this evening we have one set of minutes which is the May 6 meeting and that's resolutions supporing including our budg Amendment um s agreement with 360 which is the property Avenue accepting a quicket or ticket Grant and then allocating those as well as our nail settlement Grant Waring contracts with tree trimming authorizing contract with Baker and Taylor and the low sub certification 2023 which is the uh tax shelter retirement around of does anybody need any ordinance from solution agenda like to move agenda is made by the deputy mayor to move the cons agenda I will second that motion now it's time for public comment on send agenda items only same public comments St none I'll post public comment and for Council comment great thank you um I just I have a comment and a question so the comment is for our town manager so on the tree trimming contract this is a new uh vendor that we will be using um they will be handling I'm assuming both our emergencies and our ongoing work for our shade tree um for our shade trees I just want to confirm that um as they are they probably have private business as well that the administration is working to ensure that should we have a emergency that they have some sort of um expectation on how quickly they're going to get to us can you just confirm that please cor and we we will be having a meeting since it's a new vendor not they've been selected and and the resolution is passed we'll be have a meeting with them including on sheet tree Representatives the chair Vice chair U relative to the process and procedures for Verona okay good because we just want to make sure that when we have safety issues that we get that prompt response that we were used to with the previous Center um my other comment is on the Spectrum 360 um project so I'm looking at both our town attorney and our town manager can we have a update on where we are with that project and I know it was approved by the planning board um so what are we doing tonight how's that fit into bigger picture don't have an update as far as the the latest and greatest yeah um it was most in the agreement is mostly procedural there was an existing agreement I'm sorry I was my voice later there was an existing agreement that had a former attorney on it that's no no longer retained by the council U previous admin manager was also listed those adjustments were made uh I've also included the signing not only by myself but the township manager but now also executing by the deputy Township man coverage period none of the terms and conditions have been changed from that agreement it's effectively the same agreement um even the firms involved are uh changed to a degree are they looking to move forward so part of the agreement was that when they got to a certain stage too they were going to give us a very significant payment for affordable hous trest fund yes when is that I I don't know yet we're working on that see if I was been in contact with them my office has been in contact since I we process and clean up with paperwork as soon as that happens the council will be the first to know okay yes in case we get resident questions because it's been fairly quiet so that was actually one of my questions was uh is this finalizing our payment uh but you've answered that my only uh comment here would be since you're uh going to work the settlement agreement with Spectrum 36 360 maybe you should uh contact our planning board attorney since he was there during the whole thing and have him deal with you uh right's could he's obviously very familiar yes we'll also get you an update as far as exactly where they are in the process even then nothing's changed thank one item on case six which is resolution um the 2023 resolution is still there so to be updated tomorrow thank you mayoun counc yes Council yes yes may yes may yes may resolutions K1 through K10 will be numbered 88 through an including 97 thank you we have no licensees prise this evening or do we have any agenda is there any newness hearing none this time will open for public comment on any item public comment stat did me say your name in New Jersey um I haven't watched the video I encourage you to take the time I think it was great that you highlighted some of the things that the neighbors a rais at the meeting I think that there were other things were brought up that we didn't talk about here and we don't want to get into that here so you had some discussions you talked about um notifying the neighbors and forther spreading the word um you being our board of directors I think it's your responsibility to spread the word not mine I talk to my neighbors I'd like to help help to figure out how do when you send your notification out to the residents of the Town how do you detail the process and steps moving forward because there was a lot of confusion at the meeting not everyone is aware of the steps of the council and how the bonding process works and when the meetings are so how do we get that into the mailing that's delivered to the residents so they understand the steps when the meetings are and how this is how this how this is approved because it really wasn't done very well this time I've been in town a very long time and I've gotten plenty of mailers in my mailbox on what's going on in town and and in the community and this one done through whatever the system I have I have three neighbors that have been there less than six months we have to do a better job with this how can we do that we can't answer you until the public comment is over but we will respond to you okay thank you PA Trang Martin Road we um just one thing on to touch base on what he was saying uh 250t radius or whatever is 200 foot radius um in my development experience that's usually used for like pile driving piles things like that uh certain smaller projects usually go to like 500 to 750 foot radius so just expanding that 200 foot radius let's remember 200 feet is only about 68 steps so let's try to expand that radius because I am right down the street and I didn't even know I have no idea I'm a little bit outside 250 C say your name sure I would like all Verona residents to get a mailing about the next meeting I think it's critical for everyone in town to know about this project thank you thank you comment not CL comment this time um Mr jco I I do feel the residents comments on the mailers and things that I'm wondering maybe if you could send those to us so we can provide some feedback as the representatives to the administration uh before they get sent out so we might be able to BU some feedback also note on there that residents are unto any council meeting and share the comments as well on that venue I don't want residents to feel like they are limited to the uh this meeting um and as I I'll restate my request with having some of our summer help hand deliver um can always put people to work uh the one concern I have with a townwide mailer is that it costs about $5,000 to do uh just for the postage um we don't unfortunately have the Congressional franking privilege uh plus the plus all of that generally what we've done in the past is when we've had to send out a mailer we've combined kind of major things like uh notifications and that we had to put out so I don't we can put something in there when we have the next like water notification or something like that um but potentially combine that so you can look at that as well I do want resid to be notified but um to an extent there's also a uh no as residen to use some of the established communication tools that we have like social media and the newsletter um and the r system and so on that we do populate frequent materials but um but I do see that I think cly as we as the project progresses we should be able to find a happy medium between those two things that's s was money in the budget to send a mail to everybody it's not some budget for um I would certainly support that if you if you saw the need for that right you combine it they might save us a little money on that side um but if you can get out to us you put you have some things that Administration misses because you're focused on one thing so I would appreciate that which you just for the record the administrators the managers do as a part of our system of government but he's doing this because he understands how it is our job is not to R everything that comes office but I think in this circumstance we have residents that uh might a comment on this that we should Step Up on I'm just thank you thank you any other responses okayy um we previously made a um we resolution to go into executive session we'll be taking any official action dur no Sor okay else no no okay um be taking no official action we willed after the executive session our next meeting is on Monday June 3rd we be look forward to see you [Music] there take care thank you for your comments thank you