this Township law or state law set the welcome to ring central conferencing please enter your access code followed by the P that means the town have nothing to say access code accepted and I have a lot to say other participants in this conference please announce yourself municipal clerk municipal clerk who's on the line please Murphy thank you Mr Madigan Mr Shanley I was going to I didn't Mr Madigan Mr Shanley can somebody message them I'll send Tim a text just send it in the I'll send it in in the group right okay you got it yeah Tim said Tim said he's dialing in Mr Shanley or Mr Madigan no no one Mr Shanley or Mr Madigan Tom's having issues getting any I gave him the number again he's calling it it sounds like someone came on but they're not identifying themselves all right let's hope Tom Madigan calling in second time thank you Mr Madigan I was on hold since 826 nobody ever came to pick up but okay we got it now and I just got a message from what's that I just got a message from Tim he's not making it he's tied up at work so be okay yeah you ready you can't hear you guys we didn't start yet mat what did you say for not making it Tim's not making it he will not be attending okay okay n you ready so we're good good all right get this i' like to call the special meeting to order Nancy roll call please Mr boa here Mr Lane here Mr Madigan here Mr Shanley and mayor melon here thank you can you please read the uh special meeting statement yes Mr Mayor this special meeting of the wof township committee is now in session in accordance with the open public meetings act notice of this meeting has been posted on the bulletin board in Memorial Town Hall a copy has been filed with the municipal clerk and posted on the municipal website and a copy has been email to the record The Ridgewood news and the north Jersey Harold News all newspapers having General circulation throughout the township OFA at least 48 hours prior to this meeting the agenda thereof was similarly posted filed and emailed to said newspapers thank you please stand for the fla suit I pledge Alan to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all thank you [Music] thank you Matt all right before we open to the public uh I just want to give a brief rundown why we're sitting here today uh first our budget was adopted on April 16th which included ordinance 2012 in it uh we were waiting for a check from psng uh for um for our road resurfacing so we could not adopt the bond ordinance we at our May 7th regular scheduled meeting we anticipated that check to come from pscg however we still not did receive that check CU they sent a regular mail from Texas um at that meeting it was agreed upon by all five Township committee members to hold a special meeting on May 10th where you could either attend in person or by phone so we so we were hoping to receive that check from psng uh so then we could go out for our road uh repaving uh and pass Bond ordinance 2012 however that check was not received we did receive to check this past Saturday in our regular mail um and at that May 10th meeting we did have this meeting scheduled so we did receive the check we would be able to vote on the B Bond ordinance and the sooner we vote on the bond ordinance the sooner we could get started on our Paving so that's just a quick brief rundown of why we're here at this meeting right now um now could I have a motion to open to the uh public comment period 10 minutes second thank you Mr Boer yes Mr Lane I Mr Madigan yes M and mayor melon yes with an affirmative vote the motion is approved okay please step forward to the microphone if you wish to make a oh I'm sorry you have a 10-minute public comment period two minutes per speaker for public comment on any governmental issue that a member of the public feels may be of concern to the residents of wof please step forward good morning morning good morning I just want to make sure Mr madakin can you hear me I can I I'm sorry I don't know who's speaking I don't know who's speaking sorry please my name is Bill Brock I live at 257 Godwin Avenue and I just want to make sure that you can hear me Tom is that correct Mr Madigan can you hear I can hear fine okay terrific thank you I am a lifelong resident of woff a business owner here in woff a 50-year member of the wof fire department and I would like to read a poem that was written by another 50y year member of the wof fire department who has recently passed away and I am doing doing this with the permission of his wife words words what do they mean a dynamic Force yet unseen it true that they blind the sight and make us forget wrong from right it is also true that they pierce the heart to bring people together or drive them apart words can be written written or they can be said that is they can be heard or they can be read once said they cannot be erased for they travel with a speed that can't be chased a written word can be changed again and again but the spoken word goes beyond the pen yet words are written at a certain cost for for in writing some of the feeling is lost of course writing can convey thought but sometimes more than that is sought like the feelings and and expressions that are on the mind but to this the written word is blind yet at times it is much better to write and be able to correct while the word is in sight but if also the emotion you must convey then is best to speak what you want to say but whenever you speak take a real slow pace and just remember you cannot erase I was not present at last Friday's meeting but was able to view it on YouTube Friday afternoon as anyone who may be interested can do I was disturbed by the way the township committee who were present at the aforesaid meeting treated and spoke to a woff senior citizen I was also appalled at the bullying and bashing that was spoken to a seated Township committeeman you may all have differences of opinion but to speak to someone in that manner who has who was not physically present was Despicable and premeditated I am embarrassed by your actions and you should likewise be embarrassed by your spoken words you represent our community when you sit on that deis and I am certain that any woff Resident that watches the YouTube video anytime in the future will agree with me there is no room for swearing or treating each other with anything but respect and dignity no matter what your personal feelings are each of you need to make a verbal apology to both of these men in a public meeting we voted for each of you to sit in those seats and we the public demand the respect the position warrants you acted unprofessional and if you were my employees you would no longer be employed words actions and gestures cannot be taken back as especially when they are live streamed thank you thank you for your comments my name is Beth SP roic and I have been living in Yore for approximately 27 years my husband grew up here loved his hometown and moved his family here he has gone to sikac Eisenhower and ripo and our two daughters have done the same my husband is On The Board of Health for approximately the last 10 years and has been on the ambulance for approximately 25 years my daughters as soon as they have turned of age they too became volunteers for the ambulance Corps to ride with their dad on Friday nights my eldest has since moved out of wof and my youngest still rides with her dad my family clearly has roots in this town I watch the township committee meetings online when I can I have seen the last meeting and I have to say it was very disturbing for a few reasons the first is how an elderly man who I do not know walked up to the mic and said that he could not hear only to be received by a yelling response from one of the committee members it was disrespectful and frankly appalling you can see on the video the mayor having to quiet down the Committee Member who yelled at the man because of his behavior was unacceptable then another member decided to take it upon himself to say how disappointed he was and another member of the committee in public this was clearly a response to an email that was sent regarding the campaign and was also very disturbing to me I realize that everyone is campaigning to keep their positions however the campaigning should not be taking place during meetings each and every one of you have been using words transparency and fairness so much so that these words have lost their meaning if you were all transparent you would outwardly say that you cannot work with each other other instead of lying and saying that you are you all have made it public knowledge you do not like each other with childish behavior such as photoshopping people out of pictures chastising each other in public this has been working both ways and unfortunately this committee is clearly divided this this is where I have a problem why can't you all sit in a room behind closed doors and find a way to work it out as adults do I would think none of you would have a family fight with your windows open and doors open for the whole neighborhood to hear you screaming at each other so this should be no different the way you behave during each election period is guaranteed for us residents to watch the mudslinging the bullying and harassing is out of control open your eyes and see what you're doing to the community you're having neighbors fighting with neighbors because of your mudsling is this what you really have in mind for the best of why cough the children of our town are watching clearly you should brush up on the Hib law that the schools are governed by because most of you would be suspended by school terms for harassment and bullying this is not the way an adult governing body of our town should be behaving in setting such examples for the children of this town let remind me let me remind you you are here to work together and do what's best for wov for the residents of wofs for the family of wov for the children who are our future if you feel that you cannot do this any longer do what is best for woff and walk away from your position instead of pounding your chest and trying to show that you are the most powerful ape in the jungle also I would like to remind you all that you are putting your meetings on the internet your behavior is posted on the web why am I bringing this up because you say you're doing the best for wof and I do not see how this is possible if any person is looking to move to our town and does a little research all they have to do is look on YouTube and watch the interaction between the committee and the town's people and if they were smart with the behavior being displayed they would run the other way I do not understand how you sit up there and say that you're doing the best for y call the mentality of how you are campaigning might have been acceptable 20 years ago but since then the me too movement the word the words politically correct and the hi laws all have changed how things are done you need to change with the times thank you for your comments I'm Jerry getting six 29 lains Road wof I'd like to say I I I go online and I tried to find this meeting today but I was lucky to find out there was it was happening but I didn't see it online because I'm not that expert on the computer therefore I think if you're going to have a special meeting Hereafter you should do a robo call to alert everyone in town that is going to be even though legally you put it in the theoretically paper Etc now I've done my homework because I always do my homework and I'll tell you something buying a sewer cleaning machine for $640,000 is the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard of gentlemen knowledgeable men to go spend that kind of money it's absolutely ridiculous you've been doing you getting along for some time quite well now the Northwest Bergen people they've been giving you a machine to use I spoke to them and they said there's plenty of time for the machine to be available it's never been refused that's what the man said on the phone to me so why would you go spend $640,000 for a machine chain you're going to use maybe 3 months you have to have a person trained to do it the $640,000 is going to cost 35,000 a year in interest think of that or 30,000 in interest so you could go hire an outside outfit to do it whether it's $4,000 a day or not long as you get a commitment from them now we're also buying six lifts why are you buying what's wrong with the lifts they got now they may not be battery operated but they exist you can't keep building up your debt and also they got the other thing what is it garbage truck come on a garbage truck we don't have garbage and you if you need one rent one don't this is ridiculous and my last thing is why is this a special meeting you could have done this next week with a regular time so in my opinion when you do a special meeting like this for a certain results you're playing games and you're not supposed to be up there playing games you're supposed to be up there Leading the People of the town knowledgeably and Hereafter when somebody asks you a question I'd really like to see that you are knowledgeable enough to answer the question thank you thank you Jer thank you jer jer I was going to give you four minutes you went short I said I was going to give you I said I was going to give you four minutes but you went short I know good morning Stanley Goodman 691 Birchwood Drive um like Mr gettings I also looked for the meeting I heard there was a meeting today I have the calendar right here on uh wofs website it's not up yeah I'm waiting for my growth spurt um so uh I Why Can't This be put on the calendar I heard there was a meeting today I searched the website I searched and searched and finally with um using the right term I finally found it I don't even know how I found it but I'd like to know why it can't be put up on the um calendar and the same with Friday's meeting well Nancy the meetings on the calendar are the annual scheduled meetings but on the homepage it told you right there on the right in the middle of the homepage special meeting today and this is how it's been customarily done for years I I've got to say I did look search and have not seen it and if so I'm up on the homepage I went to the website and uh it says Court 3 to 6:00 p.m Library Board of Trustees no you're on the calendar still so well I'm on the I'm on the homepage I'm on yoff nj.gov um I don't see anything that says that so uh you have to drop de so if you're looking you're looking at it from your phone there's a drop down right under the calendar that says news uh see calendar upcoming events news okay and in yellow so I got to go to okay well frankly it could be on on the on the on the web on the on the web on the computer it's right there I'm not sure why it doesn't automatically drop down well I'm so then I'm requesting I can't imagine that you couldn't put it on the calendar I understand Reg events but this is important enough I assume if you're coming here to hold a meeting or you could make this notice visible instead of something I have to play with to find on my phone at least I mean I think more often than not people use their phones um rather than their computers how often are people sitting at a desk all day these days anyway that's my input thank you thank you thank you for your comments and suggestion uh any other members the public just oh sorry if you see no one make a motion I'd like to make a motion to close the public session second Mr boa yes Mr Lane I Mr Madigan yes and mayor melon yes with an affirmative vote the motion is approved okay before we uh before we move on to ordinance 2012 this is a time for any comments from Township committee on only ordinance 20 12 I have a comment Mr Mayor go ahead Tom okay as you know I was part of the budget process and uh we've been waiting for this approval on getting the money in from pscg so we can save our taxpayers a lot of money and do this project I just feel it's unfortunate that uh Tim Shanley and his political team are misleading our residents there's been significant investment in our community's infrastructure including road resurfacing the acquisition of a new engine for Company 2 and a ladder truck on order for the white cof volunteer fire department which is expected to be delivered in 2026 this ordinance not only addresses the virgent need for Road resurfacing but also found several other critical projects we talked about the acquisition of su vacuum jedar truck to maintain our storm water sewer management system this will ensure better storm water management it also includes funds for replacing the leaking roof on Memorial town hall and as mentioned over the check our strategic partnership with psng is a prime example of effective shared services benefiting our white c community by reducing direct taxpayer burden Mr Shan voted for the budget I don't think people are fooled by his campaign team Antics that are purely political and totally disingenuous and I'm also disappointed he didn't speak at our last meeting he said he would speak at this meeting but you can't even bother to uh call in today for discussion and comments so I will be voting yes for this um and that's all I have to say right now thank you all right we're not just to make it clear we're not voting right now this is just comments before we go to uh ordinance uh 12 correct Rudy or Roger anyone's got any comments I I I kind of mine are kind of short I stated them on Friday um regarding the two pieces of equipment that add up to about a million dollars um I think it's the best way to go I know it's expensive um it's driven by our compliance with storm water management regulations which are which we have which hasn't been enforced actually I think Richard Nixon signed that stor fredal storm water management legislation into law and it's been unenforced for all these years and now suddenly it's being enforced through the states and on down to the mun municipalities so there's a lot to do a lot a lot falls on us and um this is part of it and uh we searched what is that two years ago when we were hit with the big Garbage Contract increase we've been looking for a compactor because we can save a lot of money um off the bid uh of the uh what we pay the garbage gor um by doing some of ourselves so I think it's money well spent and that's that was my comment Friday and that's my comment to yeah just to clarify the um comp the compact there is not necessarily to bring garbage in house it's bring it's other things they pick up bring vegetative waste Vass slipping and things like that it's multi-purpose vehicle Mr May would you summarize what you're going to vot on yeah yeah we're going to read the ordinance yeah when it comes to it we'll get to it Jer is it the fire engine involved in this not this is a this is a particular ordinance for 2012 and Nancy will'll read the ordinance which has the equipment and what we're passing in this particular Bond ordinance you have it yeah do you have comments yeah I do uh first of all i' like to thank everybody that's here we have about 10 times more people than we do excuse me me during a regular meeting so it's it's encouraging to see uh you know the concern I I really Bill I'd like to thank you for your comments uh the poem was appropriate uh Jerry I'd like to thank you for your comments as well okay uh you know in the poem you you mentioned something about being driven apart okay so we we were treated to a second piece of what I refer to it's a political piece from Tim regarding this particular ordinance so all all I want to do is talk specifically about facts okay there's $7.7 million in debt this town according to the state law can can Bond up to $178 million that's staggering but that's what the law permits the town to go to we're at 7.7 that is minuscule it's .5% and this is how towns operate particularly when they have to buy Capital items DPW equipment ladder trucks there were six ordinances that were passed by this Township committee six that total the $7.7 million that's represented in the debt we have okay Tim Chanley and I wish he was on the call but I'm sure him and his friends will play this Tim vot moved three of the ordinances including a $2.6 million ladder truck he moved the ordinance and it was approved unanimously uh uh one other ordinance he seconded and the two that he did not either move or second he voted for so the bottom line here folks from a purely Financial standpoint is that Tim voted for every piece of this debt that now 2 weeks before an election he decries I think it's a sad State of Affairs if that's the way we're going to function I I think that it's uh not appropriate uh as far as using a scare tactic to scare people that their taxes are going to go through the roof when that's not the case when you use Bond ordinances like this it's to spread out equipment like the lad truck so quite frankly uh if he says he's voting no for this quite frankly he's voting no for that lad truck and every fireman in this town should be aware of that six ordinances you can look them up voted unanimously those are the facts it's not emotional it's not political it's the facts that's what it is so uh that being said the only last comment uh you know in in this uh wonderful piece here it said something about uh uh the new guy or something like that I'm only here 5 months and that I had comments or whatever I guess the insinuation was because I'm only here 5 months uh I don't have the knowledge I have Decades of knowledge in Municipal budgets County budgets Bergen County Utilities Authority where we budgeted hundreds of millions of dollars and uh you know I'm well aware of it and I do my homework now Tim's been here for six years and he should be fully aware that he voted for all of this so basically to put it in Layman terms he voted for this he wants he wanted to spend the money but now he doesn't want to pay the bill because all this ordinance does is pay the bill and finance through bonding to take care of the equipment those are the facts plain and simple and that's all I have to say Mr Mayor okay thank you yep um I just have uh I just have one just a comment actually actually it's a request Matt can you please reach out to our auditor and see if you can invite him to our uh next regular scheduled meeting to give a uh you know brief uh brief presentation on our on our budget and his audit report sure the audit's just been completed we met with him last week so it has to be approved at the next meeting anyway so I'll ask him if he can come on Tuesday all right that'd be perfect thank you um I really don't have any other comments except I made some comments last meeting um just about the budget and some of the budget process but you know I just want to make this point out too is the township of wof pays any anywhere between 7 to $800,000 a year down towards the principal payment on their debt and this year it's closer to the $800,000 Mark right that yep and that's my only comment um Nancy can you please uh take us into the ordinance please yes this is the time and the place for further consideration of ordinance number 2012 as the public hearing was completed at the May 7th 2024 Township committee meeting on May 7th 2024 at the 8:00 pm business meeting the following ordinance was presented for second reading by title only and a copy of this ordinance has been posted on our Municipal website on the bulletin board in town hall where Public Notices are customarily posted and copies have been made available to members of the general public of the township who have requested the same ordinance number 2012 is a bond ordinance authorizing various improvements and Acquisitions including road resurfacing Town Hall roof replacement acquisition of a vehicle lift acquisition of a single axle Packer truck acquisition of a single a or jvac truck and acquisition of a records management system in by and for the township of wiof in the county of Bergen New Jersey appropriating $2,937 therefore and authorizing the issuance of 2,452 776 worth of bonds or notes of the township to finance part of the cost thereof be it resolved by the township Committee of the township of woff that ordinance number 2012 after public hearing and further consideration is hereby adopted and the municipal clerk is hereby authorized and directed to P to notice of final passage of said ordinance in the official newspaper for the township as provided by law motion um go ahead B you go ahead I'll go ahead you're you're a senior um I'll move ordinance uh 2012 on second reading by title only second Mr boa yes Mr Lane I Mr Madigan yes and mayor Melone yes with an affirmative vote the motion is approved thank you Nancy have a motion to May before we adjourn I'd like a point a personal privilege my name y um best Bros and I are good friends I know how much we really agree on but we're good friends so that makes us uh I I have to say um I have to comment on some of the words you said which I agree with very very much that um this is um unfortunately um an intermural squabble with members in my own party and I'm sorry to say that we're through uses of email lists and meetings such as this were dragging People Who provided their information and tune into a thing like this into the middle of it where they probably didn't want to be um so um I agreed I tried for two and a half months to try to get everyone in a room to straighten it out and unfortunately we had a meeting set on March 12th and late in the evening on March 11th one of the leaders on one site sent out an email and canceled the meeting so it never happened and now here we are so before we adjourn here I just we only have one more meeting left before Tuesday the 4th and I'm just going to ask that everyone on both sides refrain from comments at meetings like this because this is the government's business and refrain from using Town email distribution lists for political purposes and uh let's just handle it in the old fashioned way of running an election and uh and see what happens on uh on June 4th thank you mayor mayor one last thing just I want to thank you I want to thank the the committee for for voting today we will we've advertised uh for to release the bid for Road resurfacing for Friday uh we're going to open it up on the primary election day actually normally we wouldn't because Nancy is tied up but uh Diana and Fran and I will take care of it and we will hopefully award at our regular meeting on the 6 if we didn't adopt today we wouldn't be able to go out to bid on Friday perfect thank you Matt right sorry have a motion to adjourn before you adjourn if I may am I allowed to say something or not we ended public comment but we could talk after we only have public comment in the beginning I understand that I'm not allowed to stand up and say something unfortunately not not all moves to adjourn well why don't you why don't you let him second let him say what Mr Boonstra yes Mr Lane hi Mr Madigan yes and mayor melon yes being disrespectful to a resident of the town