[Laughter] okay oh seven o'clock yes one two three four five I make six excellent I know Bill's not coming so right I call the meeting to order at 7 pm Anna would you please read the open public meetings act I could notice that this meeting has been provided by forming a copy to The Courier News Star Ledger and posting on the township website at least 48 hours prior to the meeting all in accordance with the open public meeting Act meetings act this meeting will not substantially go past 10:30 roll call Madam clerk Mr Kudo in attendance Mr donelly you know what I'm sorry hold on uh Dan Antonelli is not on okay well we'll take roll call and then we'll stop and then okay um Mr Foster here Mrs illis Mr machado's out Mrs POG here I'm here Margaret you might be muted I'm not sure why don't you speak again yeah you're something's going on with your a can you guys hear her no okay no something's G on with your audio you may have to give us sign language yeah video kill the Radio Star just saying oh okay who sang that song bugles the bugles God it was the it was the first video ever on MTV yep yes it was I don't remember that hey 60y old I used to watch MTV all the time though I watched it from the beginning you missed if you that was to you would have remember that one I don't remember that one I remember the song I loved it why are you dark John where are you oh because they they turn I'm GL they turn the lights off at the high school he's had a concert I'm a I'm a c's concert but can they hear you can they hear listen this is why we're doing Zoom because the kids stuff was ridiculous well they they they they can't hear you but um I can so yeah well yeah I'm talking softly now if you can still hear me or not but yeah you're rolling my ear so did we have a marked up agenda with the initials that's hilarious yes I said out okay I didn't say literally just got home I have it all right you guys are good with it as long as you guys have it that's more important yeah I sent it like I think like 4:15 or something okay I was definitely in Cranford on a softball yeah yeah if not you guys could just wing it but yeah you want me to call try to call analii he's coming on he said yes so if you hear some music mus in the background you know what it is you're worse you're worse than me John musical interlude you guys want me to play Abby's videos of her hits you know just I see that George sent them all no we'd rather you sing the bugle song I you do not want me to sing I'm gonna sing at the library on Thursday whether people want to or not but I'm like I cannot sing whatsoever Tor Swift thing oh yes I'm going I got I got a shirt and everything nice yeah me and the eight-year-olds it'll be fun every time I start singing I I only do requests and normally they're sing a mile away but uh can you sing for real no okay that's why I mean they as me to sing a mile away she amazes me because she made her tour like available to everybody on streaming Channel because I can't afford to pay for her concerts so I watched it and I enjoyed it she's amazingly talented she's amazing woman yeah are you gonna go dressed in a sparkly dress on Thursday I have a lavender Haze t-shirt that's one of my favorites from the new album cool Susan to your point I heard this great you know was looking at Instagram like her and um you know Kelsey her and Travis like you know doing their date thing and uh there was this great interview with Kobe Bryant and it was kind of like tongue and cheek the interviewer says you know I fully expect you to have like Taylor Swift going on in your car and he goes I actually do and he goes into this whole thing about what a brilliant businesswoman she is what a great artist she is and before she was ever known to anybody he she treated his two children with such respect and took the time that he said you know it's just sad that he passed but he would forever do you know be in her corner and it was like a really great interview and I had no idea yeah she sold a catalog and they sold her catalog from under her she went got it back yep the way got to give her credit got to give her credit and that's the name of the radio station on XM this this uh this month is Taylor's version all right I see that Mr anelli has now joined um yeah I'll take care Mr Dean is joining us too apparently I guess he's home he dropped me off and like came in hot I like rolled on the car and hot yeah came in very hot in the driveway I was like I hope he breaks I don't know anyway um will you all rise for the flag salute I pledge allegiance the flag the United States of America and to the Republic which it stands one nation indivisible justice for all all right so we obviously don't have a conference session this evening moving into the regular agenda okay I make a motion to approve the uh the minutes of the meetings of December 19th January 2nd and January 18th and February 6 second any discussion roll call please Mr Kudo yes Mrs analy yes Mr Foster yes Mrs Ellis thumbs up okay thumbs up I can hear her I think I think I heard her and Mrs po I'm sorry um wait I can't vote on the December meeting because I wasn't on Council then okay so yes for the other all right and yes from me thank you okay moving on to the hearing on the agenda items only can I make a motion to open that and then I'll read the instructions I move to open the hearing on agenda items on second any discussion roll call Mr Kudo yes Mr Donal y Mr Foster yes Mrs illis yes Mrs Pogue yes okay comments are welcom during the public comment period during this meeting or on on any agenda item however if an ordinance is listed for its own public hearing on the agenda please hold your comments for that particular public hearing to make your comment and the speaker must come forward to the microphone or zoom and state his or her name and address for the record each speaker is limited to 3 minutes the mayor council president will keep time and with that I open the uh hearing on the agenda items only oh I think I missed a sentence but that's okay any takers nope nope NOP no elza I can't see anything so seeing no one unmuting oh sorry no everybody okay I'll move to close the hearing on agenda items only second any discussion roll call Mr buo yes Mrs Donnelly yep Mr Foster yes Mrs illis yes Mrs po yes okay with that new business I move resolution number one approving Bill list dated April 16 2024 in the amount of 98,2 18985 second any discussion roll call Mr Kudo yes Mr Donnelly yes Mr Foster yes this yes this is poe yes okay number two that's Margaret oh I'm sorry I'm sing here that's okay want me to cover for you I'll be happy to um yes please okay I'm gonna resolution that's fine I'm gonna move resolution to consenting to the appointment of Liza Viana as acting Chief Financial Officer second I'll second it any discussion I'll discuss um you know this comes with advice and consent of council but I was never advised nor consented so I think maybe we should table this unfortunately we need to have a acting CFO it spoke to the Department of Community Affairs particularly as it relates to the introduction and the adoption of the budget uh hoping that it is a very temporary situation as we are looking for a shared we've also we published it but we're also looking for a shared service we think that a shared service would be Optimum um but at this point we just we don't have any updates so so why wasn't I advised or consented about this I believe Anna wrote an email and and you know told you what was going on I never received an email for that I requested a special meeting about this and I was refused and you made a ruling of lack of necessity so um you know I think the CFOs a pretty critical function so have we been interviewing people or do we have resumés or not yet all right so I'm gonna pop in for I'm gonna pop in for a second because you know so Paul you could have called a meeting you didn't need the mayor's I did I actually wrote to you and John to call a meeting and I never you could but you here's the thing so Paul I'm just gonna you could have called the meeting the rules are that you could call the meeting and you chose not to call the meeting no I I asked the mayor to call the meeting and does need to call necessity so I asked the president and the vice president to do so and nobody responded back so I I don't know all the rules so either way I was still not advised or consented of this so why don't we table this and discuss it because I don't understand why wouldn't I be advising consent of this but it's on the agenda like so you should have read the agenda it's on the agenda there's advice and consent when you put something on the agenda and I was not advised or consented so I'm just going to clarify that yes you can and I believe the code was sent to you by the council president any member of the council can call a special meeting as long as there are four members it's very clearly written in the code you asked me I gave my response so feel free to do that you know at any point that you want to you can get three other members of the council together and you can have a special meeting um are there any other comments until we do that why don't we table it until we do that yeah I I personally as the mayor I'm not in favor of um tbling the resolution Mr antelli yeah mayor well first of all point of order here to the extent that a motion to table an ordinance would take precedent over any other vote um Mr donnaly would need a second I've not heard a second to his request not once but twice to table the resolution so uh to the extent that Mr Donley wants to table the resolution without a second and a vote it dies okay so there's a motion on the table to there's a motion on the table to table the resolution is there no there is not it has to be seconded I see thank you thank you for the clarification would anybody like to second that motion John anybody yeah nice job guys good job okay so roll I'm sorry Margaret did you want to make a comment as well oh I just wanted to say that um I understand that this is fast but I also understand that the the immediate need for the township to have a CFO um I'm hoping that this is a very short as you know Angie said it would be a very short period of time where Li is acting in this role it's certainly not optimal for our Township administrator to also be acting CFO um but we have a critical need right now and therefore I support us going forward okay thank you comments okay any other comments on the resolution all right roll call Madam Clark Mr Kudo yes Mr Donnelly nope Mr Foster yes Mrs illis yes Mrs POG yes okay moving on to resolution number three I move resolution three awarding a Professional Services contract to deblock environmental services for licensed Wastewater collection system operator services in an amount not to exceed $30,000 second any discussion thank you for the email today lier yesterday on that um roll call Mr Kudo yes Mr an yes Mr Foster yes Mrs zis yes this is POG yes thank you okay I'm gonna move up am I ready yeah Manny your question was uh answered on number four yeah make sure I just saw quickly an exchange and I wasn't sure no I saw it was answered it was it was amended on the resolution form so the wording was was uh updated okay perfect which is my worry was your question right all right John go ahead all right I want to move forth resolution number four authorizing application of the 2024 New Jersey historic preservation trust Grant with a matching Fund in the amount of $384,000 second any discussion yeah just just so everyone knows who's ever looking at the original original trust Grant there was some wording changes and you can probably get it from Anna on the wording changes there were in the last they were in the third to last whereas where they were moved within the required time frame but uh my question was answered when I had some things so so I just want to say it's fabulous that we're moving forward on the latel Lord house um it's I I am so um happy every time I drive by and I see trucks at the property um so thanks to the historic preservation committee um and grants for doing the work for moving this forward any other comments I just want to say when I first attempted to like look at this project and it was so big and we chunked it out to pieces and Margaret you were one of those first meetings we we have to chunk it out and now that it's chunked out and we're moving forward is really really exciting and because we can use other grants that we've gotten as our match that just shows how important the Grant I think the grants committee is so thank you um Susan and John are there pictures of the of the process that the house is going through I have and if not can we start taking them I have some of them online under the LEL Lord project y so Community Berkeley Heights history and then theel Lord has its own page I posted some progress photos yeah thank you Liza cool I'll go get more yep no problem I just have a quick comment I know we're all on our own committees but I'm sorry but I got the best one out there with the historic preservation people because they those people Rock okay and Susan thank you very much for helping lies out with that Grant I really appreciate it and uh it's going to be great okay thank you all right great comments uh roll call please Mr Kudo yes Mrs annaly yes Mr Foster yes Mrs illis yes Mrs POG yes okay Council Township Council reports uh man can I interject for one second yes joh mayor with your permission uh I'm going to drop off I don't have a council report and I appreciate that because um I'm GNA go finish the concert if that's okay all right good luck to Kyle good luck thank you very much have a good night everybody all right thanks John okay uh Manny back to you real short report um I missed the DBC report uh last meeting we are having another meeting this month we welcome our brand new member who just came on board two new members and um we are going to have restaurant month in September and uh let's see let's see let's see the primary agenda item is the planning for restaurant month and we're also doing the cleaning and planning of Township right aways in the park the welcome to Berkeley height signs getting those cleaned up and new flowers planted so DBC is working very hard to keep our town looking pretty that's it all right very good Paul Manny who Manny who are the new members um I it's it's uh the one from I can't remember I didn't bring the write the names down uh and I should know too because I sign the executive order I can't either it's been a little it's been a while right I think it's conal the the ne the owner of Nims came on board he has some really good ideas yes and I forgot the other name and she'll kill me later and it's okay uh so if you don't see me at the next meeting you'll know why two two good really good additions that's what I yeah okay thanks Manny Paul nothing to report this week okay Margaret nothing to report okay um Bill's not here Susan so mayor did you want to talk about mayor's Wellness or did you want me to well I was just GNA and Manny can chime in here too I think we should just mention some of the events that are going on because we have the meeting on the 30th but the next day we'll be the start of mental health awareness so right go ahead and go for it yes we had a great meeting this uh committee is so engaged and excited about all the different events like there's so many ideas that we're saying like we have to kind of like think about what we're going to do this year and then you know think about the future as well but we have world taichi day on April 28th we have the next mayor's walk on May 7th is it May 7th or May 9th it's a council meeting night what so a Tuesday so six o'clock in front of the at the flag pole um the other things that are going on with mayor's Wellness is we're going to do a on the 30th we're going to have someone from fact come and talk about mental um health awareness and she's doing a conference session on the 30th so I hope to see a lot of people at the meeting for that activity so the mayor's Wellness is again very exciting for me as well as it is for the mayor um the other thing on grants you know Li and I worked very hard to get this grant done on time it's due tomorrow tomorrow or Thursday Thursday I think do in Tren on Thursday and it's on Thursday right so we worked off hours together so it's always a pleasure to work with Liza on grants so I appreciate all her help um you know I'm more of the narrative person and she's more of the you know numbers and that kind of person and I you know fingers crossed fingers crossed so and I think um I think that's it for me yeah that's it for me thank you and I just piggy back on um and and Manny can piggy back on this as well but um we're doing paint the town green for mental health awareness it's something similar to what in Providence does so if you see green ribbons tied around trees green lighting in the downtown um we're going to use the green Spotlight on Town Hall um the Rotary Club is purchasing uh green clings ribbon clings for the business um windows so Manny's been really really involved in that so if you start to see those things um throughout the month it's uh you know just take a moment and think about you know somebody who may be in that situation and how you can help out we're going to have some videos and some other things it's going to be I think really special and I'm really proud of it and I also just want to give a shout out to Manny for going to choose um new jersey with me to talk about noia it's an organization that helps to attract businesses to New Jersey and to Manny and Margaret for uh taking a field trip with me to go to Bell Works um so hopefully some of the others can go to Bell works as well um the de the the owner and developer I should say does have an interest in noia but you know we're we're going to do everything we can from our side to push that forward because it's a really great project um so it' be nice to have something like that in Berkeley Heights so as for me that's that's all for my report too I know that we've changed the dates a couple of times and people have to get going where they're going so I don't want to belabor anything um so just a motion to accept the council reports wait wait one quick second as corneil Sharma um from Nims is one of the new members and Dana cample yeah oh that's that's said and and just another thing that makes me think of Jean but just want to thank Jean Kingsley for the additional help um and support on the budget too um the last couple of weeks as well I think she on so I want to just say thank you to her as well can I mention one thing Angie yeah I was going to go to you next I didn't have oh sorry go ahead go ahead no no no go ahead administrator's report um uh you know I don't want to blab all the things that are that are going on um but you know me being named temporary CFO believe me are acting CFO is not ideal in my world either um this is about the third time we've had to to do this because CFOs are really hard to come down by especially when um there's not a lot of time to find one um uh just to let everybody know though with the transition in CFOs and firms uh heading our finance department the past three years it's basically been me pushing the big projects forward on the finance side so I'm pretty well equipped to do this for the couple weeks it should take before we get us uh someone in here and also I sent Council a very detailed email on April 11th uh entitled CFO and budget update that gave everybody an update on the CFO search and the budget thank you all right so can I have a motion to accept the township Council reports so moved second any discussion roll call Mr Kudo who yes Mr donelly yes Mrs illis yes Mrs po yes okay then we just have to open the citizens hearing Again Margaret you want me to do that for you make a motion to open the citizens hearing second any discussion roll call Mr Kudo yes Mrs Helly yes Mrs ilis yes this is po yes okay well the citizens hearing is now open with the same rules and effect that I read earlier in the meeting um okay um Steve Carell Steve go I just saw Steve yeah I wasn't sure so just took him off video I'll take you off video now okay go ahead there we go um I was late getting on so I I would have done what I guess I'll do now um I was going to do during the agenda hearing thing because it was related to that um regarding resolution two I my condolences to our administrator um thank you he reflected what I've heard or say many times before so I'm good to hear what you said um and regarding resolution four for the historic preservation trust I just had some um a comment and some questions um I assume it passed and in the it makes sense um the latel was misspelled in the first whereas and it was correct in the last where as I would have passed that one on to you um does the matching portion that will go to part of this deal with this grant that does that include um and I think it does the uh the public donations that are being solicited um to date so we are not using that money we're trying to limit this I don't want to deplete the trust of that money I'd like to leave some money in there um which is all of the donations for money in case we need it including seed money for other I call it seed money but we'll still need Township matches for other grants and it so I didn't want to touch any of that money so the way now what's being donated is is staying in it's not going to be used to match yes it is yes as of this time it's not being used to plann to match I want just in case there's a contingency massive change order we need or something that comes up unexpected as well I wanted that reserves there so this is only money we've already committed to spend on the project thus far that we and I saw the I saw the lines about committed and and and such um as an aside is are the uh are are donations um to the trust or to the what was what went through April 10th and I assume actually you don't have to stop giving at this point right oh no no no please please don't in fact for this specific Grant they will accept um anything we collect up to September of this year we could if we wanted put toward our match yes the question regarding our public donations are those um is the entity organization that ultimately it's is is going to uh uh are they uh El eligible for a you know tax deductible donation yes yes because it's a trust so the donation is tax is tax deductible great and I guess and in my last uh question which related to the um uh the the resolution I mean this is a new new money um to be allocated and and also to be signed off by the CFO is have we uh allocated you know funds for this and in the new budget and if so where for the grant yes for no we are not using no new funds only using money we already spent or money we committed to spend in previously authorized resolutions and contracts with the vendors to date so so Steve if we got the I think this might be your question so if we got the grant we would have to amend the budget once it's adopted to include the chapter 159 so it's called right to add the grants into the budget because we can't anticipate that Revenue because we have don't technically have that Revenue so I think that's maybe what you're thinking is we make those adjustments throughout the year when we do get grants okay and and but in the way it sounds like we already had we already have money committed it's just a matter if it's not put in a budget to spend well it was probably allocated like last year right so this money is not in the budget that Council votes on this is all in the trust it is not taxpayer money so it's never in an operating budget or a capital budget is that what you're well I asked the general question not knowing the answer so no so it's not included it's it's it's not taxpayer funded right now right but we have we have the money it just has to be put in the budget in order to spend it against a matching Grant when that time comes when we get if we get the grant the grant would have to be be amended the budget would have to be amended for the grand portion but we've already got the money is sitting in the trust yes got it I my questions are answer okay well the spelling I want to the spelling question always comes up and the state misspells it sometimes we we don't really know if it's two L's or one L so it's all we kind of like just Float by that well what's interesting it's it's like it's like U it's it's spelled both ways in in the resolution and it's spelled both ways like in a lot of different so don't worry about it it's all good there's one let tell Lord I will I will uh let as a hopefully adjourn thank you thank you Steve any other takers I just have my screen open to the video so I don't I can't see no all right somebody want to sew it up so seeing no one I move to close the citizens hearing second I second any discussion roll call Mr Kudo yes Mrs Helly yes Mr fer I mean Mrs illis yes Mrs po yes and as we do not have an executive session this evening can I have a motion to adjourn motion to adjourn all in favor all right everybody go back to your family activities thank you so much night everybody on tonight good night good night