[Music] [Music] [Music] download the free Stingray music mobile app dumpster Drive oh stop that's terrible pop go ahead good evening and welcome to the December 4th 2023 public council meeting can I have roll call please Council misseri here councilwoman Mig here councilman Z AL here Deputy Mayor scavage here mayor Peterson here please rise for the flag seat to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liy and justice for all adequate notice of this meeting was duly provided to the Verona C Grove times and the Star Ledger by email and published in an annual schedule of meetings December 22nd 2022 filed with the Township Clerk and posted on the public bulon board in the municipal building Lobby in accordance with the open public meetings act um good evening everyone um item number two is to consider approval of minutes of regular public meeting from November 6 2023 do I have a motion so Mo thank you second thank you roll call please Council misseri yes Council woman Miga yes councilman zali yes Deputy Mayor scavage yes mayor Peterson yes item three we have a public hearing a to consider adoption of pending ordinance number 23- 920 an ordinance setting the 2024 maximum allowable rent increase pursuant to chapter 208 of the code of the township of Cedar Grove um the meeting is now open to anyone um on this item and this item alone seeing none I will close that do I have a motion so move mayor may move go ahead Joe I'll do the next one I move for the adoption of pending ordinance [Music] 23920 uh to be published in the Verona City Grove times as passed ordinance to take effect as prescribed by law thank you do I have a second second thank you roll call please councilman misseri yes Council Miga yes councilman Z AL yes Deputy Mayor scavage yes mayor Peterson yes Item B is to consider adoption of pending ordinance number 23- 921 an ordinance of the township of Cedar Grove County of Essex state of New Jersey adding chapter 2110 to the code of the township concerning privately owned salt storage Mr zelli yes mayor thank you uh before public comment as I said last meeting the purpose of this ordinance is to prevent uh stor salt and other solid de icing materials from being exposed to and Le reaching into our stormm water uh the ordinance establishes requirements for the storage assault and other dicing materials on privately owned properties uh in an effort to protect the environment and there's penalties provided for in the event that there's a failure to comply with the regulations in the ordinance and uh the other regulations prolongated by the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection thank you very much for that explanation the meeting is now open on this item and this item only anyone wishing a comment seeing none I will close that and I will ask for a motion please mayor I move for the adoption of pending ordinance 23- 921 to be published in the Verona cedar times as a passed ordinance to take effect as prescribed by law thank you do I have a second second thank you roll call please Council misseri yes Council Miga yes Council Miss Ali yes Deputy Mayor scavage yes mayor Peterson yes item C is to consider adoption of pending ordinance number 23- 922 and ordinance amending chapter 228 of the code of the Township of Cedar Grove regarding storm water management Mr zelli thank you mayor this as I mentioned last meeting again uh this ordinance uh amends previously adopted ordinance 06646 entitled storm water control the njd recommended updates and modifications to that ordinance all of which are codified in this ordinance as reflected in chapter 228 of the code this ordinance seeks to affect flood control groundwater recharge and pollutant reduction through the use of storm water management measures in including green infrastructure best management practices and non-structural storm waterer management strategies thank you very much for that explanation the meeting is now open on this item and this item alone no one wishing to comment okay um may I have a motion please I move the adoption of pending ordinance 23- 922 to be published in the Verona City Bo of times as a passed ordinance to take effect as prescribed by law thank you very much do I have a second second thank you roll call please Council misseri yes councilwoman M yes councilman zali yes Deputy Mayor scavage yes mayor Peterson yes item D is to consider adoption of pending ordinance number 23- 923 an ordinance amending chapter 230 Article 5 of the code of the township of Cedar Grove regarding the right of way construction and or maintenance Mr zelli thank you mayor as I mentioned last meeting this ordinance establishes conditions to uh repave roads uh after the road has been opened for construction or utility access it clearly sets forth the moratorium for roads within 5 years how it has to go curb to curb and it also cleans up language for um utility polls that they must be removed in a certain amount of time after they've been replaced right perfect okay thank you for that explanation and the meeting is now open on this item anyone wishing to speak seeing none I will close that portion of the meeting and can I have a motion please I move for the adoption of pending Capital ordinance 22- 923 to be published in the Verona city of times as a passed ordinance to effect as prescribed by law thank you do I have a second second thank you uh roll call please Council misseri yes Council Miga yes Council Aly yes Deputy Mayor scavage yes mayor Peterson yes item four the meeting is open to residents of the township wishing to be heard on any item on the agenda seeing none we will move on to item five reports of Township officials a we will start with Mr Z Kelly good evening good evening mayor briefly I just want to remind the public that the tree lighting has been moved to this Wednesday December 6th at 6 pm at community park it rained last Friday I think it was a good call uh pushing it till Wednesday uh also as the council advised a few months back we do have luminary kits uh that will be available in town hall today uh where we're giving a maximum of seven bags per resident we set the date for December 23rd at 5:00 p.m. for those participating we ask to put the bags at your curb and light them this has been something the council's done for a number of years now and it's nice to continue the uh tradition want to update the council uh there was a lot of server work done downstairs with the finance department as the council's aware this was part of our Capital Improvement Bond uh for approximately $30,000 to upgrade the server downstairs for finance uh which would allow for us to switch our budget software and our utility software uh that's nearing completion to the point where we can start to interface with the the new software which with the new meters will allow a nicer interface for the residents to pay their bills online see their consumption in livetime once Neptune is installed and the new meters are installed I believe we're opening that bid tomorrow right yes and with the bid for the new meters will be uh open tomorrow here as well Wednesday Wednesday Wednesday um so that's that's some positive information for the township we did bond for that and it's nice to see that that project is getting done I just have two matters for executive session one for personnel and one for potential litigation okay thank you Mr zelli uh good evening Miss Ford good evening mayor members of council no report this evening no report good evening Miss Abby good evening mayor um board council members no report this evening no report okay thank you um I will start with councilman zazali uh good evening mayor um I just wanted to say that uh when I was pulling up tonight to the town hall that just the the light in front of the the building look very nice and the new Landscaping is nice um so I appreciate that and uh I look forward to the uh tree lighting on Wednesday yes me as well councilman misseri no formal report I did want to acknowledge uh last month Unico had their turkey drive and they I think they fed over 400 families so uh so they you know that's all from the work the volunteers and C Grove and the donation and you know I just want to acknowledge them um for doing such a great job and and keeping the holiday spirit and keeping that tradition also I'm really excited about Wednesday too bet it was on Friday would been a little bit more convenient for everybody but it it's going wet yes would have been a little wet but we're excited about it we're excited uh to see Mr zakeli take over this uh big uh event that we do for our residents so looking forward to see uh where Santa is uh how Santa is going to get there no pressure thank you but thank you we welcome everybody we hope to see you there on Wednesday thank you thank you councilwoman good evening mayor good evening everybody here at home I just have one one thing um I want to thank the cedar Ro Historical Society who had House tours for the Essex County Historical Holiday House Tour the house looked great they did a great job the volunteers were awesome and they had over 200 people go through the house this weekend in those two short time and one was a rainy day Sunday was rainy and also a big thank you to the Cedar Grove High School choir for the carolling that they did yesterday it was a job it was really nice it was really nice and I hope to see everybody once then good yep thank you very much Deputy Mayor hi good evening um no report tonight no report okay um I don't have a report just wishing everybody happy holiday season stay safe have fun and enjoy um and we'll see everybody hopefully Wednesday really looking forward to that and uh Santa definitely didn't want to come in the rain so I think it was a yeah I'm sure he he likes snow not rain so I think we made the right call okay moving on item number six consent agenda which I will take together a through F A is to consider resolution concerning 2024 official holidays B is to consider resolution designating official newspapers of the township for 2024 seiz to consider resolution concerning reappointment of the Public public agency compliance officer item D is to consider resolution concerning approval of raffle application St Catherine of s HSA e is to consider resolution concerning renewal of amusement business license and F is to consider appointment of Representatives to New Jersey intergovernmental Insurance Fund do I have a motion so moved second thank you roll call please Council misseri yes Council Miga yes cman zali yes Deputy Mayor scavage yes mayor Peterson yes item seven new business a is to consider resolution concerning 2024 council meeting schedule do I have a motion motion to approve thank you I'll second thank you roll call please Council misseri yes Council woman migga yes councilman zazali yes Deputy Mayor scavage yes May Peterson yes Item B is to consider resolution concerning appointment reappointment of Township officials starting with the township attorney the municipal prosecutor the public defender the court administrator and the deputy Court Administrator mayor for the public edification would you like me to go through who uh these are please thank you uh for our Township attorney I've had the pleasure of working with nyma for uh during my time on the council and as manager uh we we have a great working relationship uh and it's very nice to to recommend she uh be reappointed as the township attorney um for municipal prosecutor Robert candido Mr candido has served number of years as the municipal prosecutor public defender Peter Russo Court Administrator Teresa plat and Deputy Court Administrator Courtney demerest thank you very much for that information um do I have a motion may I make a motion to approve second thank you roll call please excuse me mayor would you like to do these all as one can I whatever you like I can't do C3 J together no you can oh yeah yes please together no problem Council misseri yes councilwoman MGA yes councilman zali yes Deputy Mayor scabby yes mayor Peterson yes item C is to consider resolution concerning reappointment of auditor mayor this is uh recommended to be to Andrew kachinsky of nisaia as the council's aware Andrew is vitally important during the last year uh with the finance department with our audit helping us do our massive Bond refinancing that we successfully completed in July y thank you very much do I have a motion so Mo thank you second thank you roll call please Council misseri yes councilwoman migga yes Council zazali yes Deputy Mayor scavage yes mayor Peterson yes item D is to consider resolution concerning reappointment of bond Council mayor this this is recommended to go to John drewitz of the first Gibbons PC as I said about Andrew John has been instrumental with uh our bond work that we we did over the summertime I had a call with him today and and I'm happy to recommend this reappointment as well right thank you very much um do I have a motion make a motion to approve thank you second thank you roll call please Council misseri yes councilwoman MGA yes councilman zazali yes Deputy Mayor scavage yes mayor Peterson yes item e is to consider resolution concerning reappointment of tax appeal attorney attorney mayor this is again our in-house Council nyma Nai is going to be recommended for this nyma had a lot of successful uh tax work for us this year as the council is aware and just like I said before it's a pleasure working with her in this capacity as well so I'm happy to recommend this reappointments I I agree with that fully thank you um do I have a motion so move second thank you roll call please Council misseri yes councila yes councilman zali yes deputy mayor yes mayor Peterson yes item f is to consider resolution concerning reappointment of Class 2 member of the planning board mayor this recommendation is for Richard Hamilton our tax assessor has been on the planning board for 23 years uh councilman Z has served with him on the planning board I've served with him on the planning board he is a uh wealth of knowledge to the township he's a great asset for us great thank you so much um do I have a motion so moved second thank you um roll call please Council misseri yes Council woman Mig yes counc yes Deputy Mayor scavage yes mayor Peterson yes item G is to consider a resolution concerning cancellation of small balances on tax water and sore utility mayor if I may this this resolution uh is provided for by State Statute where it allows the municipality to cancel small balances on utility and tax payments and the reason for this is because when we do the annual financial statement at the end of the year it's a lot easier to clean up the books uh without the small balances um and the state allows you to cancel anything there's not many of them uh but as you're aware we're trying to close the book set so we can get to the new software and have a nice pleasure presentation for 2024 and this is just one step that the Auditors recommend we take okay perfect thank you um do I have a motion so moved thanks second thank you roll call please Council misseri yes Council Miga yes Council m al yes Deputy Mayor scavage yes mayor Peterson yes item H is to consider resolution solution concerning 2024 Fire Department volunteer stiens yes mayor this is the council so fortunate to have a a fantastic volunteer fire department uh this is the dispersement for the clothing allowance mileage reimbursement and other miscellaneous uh reasons for reimbursement okay perfect thank you do I have a motion so second thank you um roll call please Council misseri yes Council Miga yes Council Miss zali yes Deputy Mayor scavage yes mayor Peterson yes item I is to consider resolution concerning appointment of Representatives to community develop block grant committee so mayor through you this uh committee it's going to have our town engineer Alexander handle and our new CFO Rebecca rough serve on the committee uh Community Development block grant is a committee um it's a program that supports Community Development activities to build stronger and more resilient communities uh it supports many different various types of Community Development activities activities identified through an ongoing process that include but are not limited to infrastructure economy develop Economic Development projects public facility installation uh Community Center Rehabilitation housing Rehabilitation public services and the clearance and acquisition of abanded properties there's a lot of criteria uh that different areas need to meet to receive this funding um we actually are part of a Consortium with a lot of West tic towns because it's easier for us to group our U you know qualifications together but we have previously purchased part of a senior citizen bus uh through this this gra right okay perfect thank you for that explanation uh do I have a motion so moveed thank you second thank you roll call please Council misseri yes Council Miga yes councilman zazali yes Deputy Mayor scavage yes mayor Peterson yes item J is to consider resolution concerning refund of sore over payment do I have a motion so moved thank you second thank you roll call please Council misseri yes Council woman M yes councilman zali yes Deputy May scavage yes mayor Peterson yes item eight approval of bills be resolved by the township of Cedar Grove County of New Jersey that the summary of bills having been duly audited and found to be correct are hereby ordered paid in the aggregated amount of 3,756 19642 thank you very much do I have a motion so move second thank you roll call please Council maseri yes Council woman Miga yes counc zali yes Deputy Mayor scavage yes mayor Peterson yes item nine contracts and agreements a to consider resolution concerning Award of contract for Professional Services 2024 coal Legal Services mayor thank you through you this is recommended to be awarded to Michael jinc of the firm cucho Leon Deone Doyle and Sachs to provide affordable housing legal Council as the council's aware it's expect that the next round of obligations come forth in 2025 uh but I do want to reiterate that this Council has worked very hard to purchase a lot of space and take it out of circulation to reduce that obligation uh I do work closely with Michael uh various times throughout the year and uh I I'm happy to recommend his reappointment to this this position yes I agree it's very important um do I have a motion so move second thank you roll call please okay counc misseri yes Council woman Miga yes Council zazali yes Deputy Mayor scavage yes mayor Peterson yes Item B to consider resolution concerning Award of contract for Professional Services 2024 arborist thank you mayor through you the recommendation is to award this to John Linson certified arbest in the state of New Jersey of shade tree Development LLC to perform Services of Township arbest perfect thank you very much also very important um can I have a motion please so move mayor thank you second thank you roll call please Council misseri yes Council Amiga yes Council zali yes Deputy Mayor scavage yes mayor Peterson yes item 10 the meeting is now open to residents of the township wishing to be oh I didn't do see I'm sorry I checked it getting ahead of myself to consider resolution concerning Award of contract for Professional Services 2024 affordable housing administrative agent thank you mayor this this is recommend to be awarded to community grants planning and housing cgph uh they administer the affordable housing list for Cedar Grove uh and a lot of other statutorily defined requirements uh with the administration of affordable housing this uh we went out to RFP on this this year because when the contract came back for Renewal it was about five times higher than it was last year yeah and you know we said no way we went out to um RFP and the number came in about one and a half times higher than it was later um so it was it was a good move on the council's part to go out uh to solicit that service and again this uh this is a resource available to the resident seeking to you know inquire about the lists of affordable housing they're very you know pretty readily accessible and in tune with the statutory requirements right thank you um do I have a motion so move second thank you roll call please councilman maseri yes Council Miga yes councilman zazali yes Deputy Mayor scavage yes mayor Peterson yes okay now I'm at the right place item 10 the meeting is now open to residents of the township wishing to be heard on any item on or off the agenda concerning Township business good evening Kate Hartwick Essex County liaison um I only have one announcement tonight that's that our holiday lights program at turtleback zoo um is beginning uh it's every night uh of programming on this Friday December 8th it runs to the end of the month it's free um and it runs from 5:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. we are accepting donations of non- perishable food used coats and new unwrapped toys um they are donated to local groups and constituents um in need so um we welcome all Cedar Grove residents to come visit the zoo during this time great I think I plan on going thank you so much it's beautiful I was there pict Saturday night it was ped yeah I would love to go it was beautiful we waited an hour to get into the lot and get that's how was so busy it was great all little kids I didn't have any it was great yeah I want I definitely want to go you should go anyone else wishing to be heard Mr Young Steve Young 18 young Avenue I just want to again thank the council and the manager everybody's foresight for the community garden I think it was a great success all everybody cleaned up and I'm looking forward to next year and I want to thank again our volunteers from the society Gary gray Amy Campfield ryban and Joe Carter for all the work they did and the seed Grove board education and the Cedar Grove High School counselors for the uh Progressive program I'm hoping I want to do it again this year I personally enjoyed working with the students and then my other question is uh anybody know the status of the North End Firehouse uh was construction supposed to start in early September mayor if you'd like uh yeah there there was a um I'm just going to be careful with my words here um the the project involves a lot of technical specifications that we're uh being abundantly cautious with Council right if I'm um I think that's I think that's the right and um it's it's it's our anticipation that the project will will start relatively shortly but the um the contractor the township and and other utilities involved are exercising abundance of caution and and really doing our due diligence before we demolish this building that's over a 100 years old and and potentially affect the infrastructure around it yeah as a civil engineer I'm not licensed but that Jersey City Waterworks main under there is to me as an engineer is a concern all right I have no further comment there yeah that's fine thank Steve thank you for all the work that you did at the farm and everything it was absolutely wonderful it it was a whole culmination of everybody the town engineer I mean not the town the town residents were great Y and it's great to see everybody coming together and help each other which is what they did yep it was it was great thank you Steve anyone else wishing to be heard okay we are going to go into executive session so whereas Section 8 of the public of the open public meetings act permits the exclusion of the public from a meeting of the mayor and councel in certain circumstances and whereas the mayor and Council of the township of Cedar Grove are of the opinion that such circumstances exist now therefore be it resolved by the mayor and the Council of the township of Cedar Grove County of Essex state of New Jersey that one the public shall be excluded from discussion of any action on the executive session of the meeting of the mayor and Council of December 4th 2023 the general nature of the subject matters to be discussed are personnel and potential litigation three it is anticipated at this time the above stated subject matter will be made public as soon thereafter as it is deemed in the public interest to do so for this resolution shall take effect immediately so we are adjourned thank you all for coming happy holidays nice to see everybody mayor you need a motion oh I'm sorry do I have motion thank you thank you roll call please Council misseri yes Council M yes Council Z yes Deputy Mayor scavage yes mayor Peterson yes [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music]