##VIDEO ID:JDM50dDX-eo## e good evening and welcome to tonight's council meeting uh today is Monday November 18th and we're here at 3:15 Westfield Avenue Clark New Jersey 07066 um it is now 7:30 p.m. Madame clerk would you call a roll call please councilman hund here councilman masella here councilman Manti here councilman oconor here councilman Smith here councilman tol here council president albanes is absent would you pleas uh please stand for the pledge of allegiance to the flag and a moment of silence FL flag United States of America to stand One Nation God andice this meeting is in compliance with the open public meetings act as adequate notice of this meeting has been provided by mailing the annual schedule of meetings to The Star Ledger Union County Hawk Union County local source and tap into Clark by posting such annual meeting schedule on the bulletin board in town hall reserved for such announcements the official website of the township and the proper filing of said notice formal action may be taken at this meeting thank you could I have a motion to suspend the regular order of business so so moved thank you councilman Smith and and Council tol and councilman tol all in favor I any opposed we'll now have the presentation of the achievement to the come girls field hockey team by the mayor thank you Mr President members of council ladies and gentlemen and honor here tonight congratulations on a great uh season the field hockey team goes undefeated this year 110 and one that is fabulous this uh fall 2024 field hockey season so a com field hockey go undefeated again 1101 the tie coming against next door neighbor Garwood um con field hockey scored its opponents 46-3 and started the season season with six straight shutouts before giving up a single goal to Westfield in a 4 to1 margin the season at C field hockey has taken has take on and defeated some very good competition as they played Montclair Kimberly Academy Kent Place Oak NOS Bernards Summit Township Westfield Cranford and Garwood and those are some fine teams believe me ladies I know because I followed field hockey when my daughter played for a while so uh Kent plays uh when you get to High School uh all those schools up in Summit are very very tough so at this time I'm going to ask the coaches to please come up and the coaches are on here I saw their names already let me just make sure I got it right coaches coaches where are you come on up two coaches we have saw it on here I'm sorry you're name Euros Euros is here and Chris welcome congratulations would you like to say a few words about your team sure please uh this year the girls put in a lot of a lot of hard work they had long 2hour practices every day unless we had a game so they were busy till 5:30 sometimes 6:00 so they put a lot of work in for seventh and eighth graders and it paid off on the field uh congratulations girls this is all on you all we did was provide you the safety under bus ride okay why don't you call out the Nam hand the name Olivia Aras Olivia come on up and stay up here girls Alexis cologne Ella gler marela is not here today Yasmin mamis Alexa Miller Ashley Miller Sophia nikolic Ella nin Colleen Sullivan Barbara wowski zui yovi so I just want to say those were the these girls are the eighth graders good luck next year at jfh I know you're going to do great tailin but fosi Julianne Johnson I I don't think she's here she's not here yeah Gretchen Kim Angelina mug Mugo Laya nupa Melody pelisser Alexa Nora zerella oh she's not here Chris Reese the assistant coach and myself thank you okay guess we'll just come in for a picture now come on if you we got a little more Le's get pictures e okay that's everyone okay thank you before we commence with our regular meeting and I turn it back over to the council president girls you had a great achievement should be very proud of your hard work and efforts and as you go on on to the high school you'll be seeing some of those teams again and you got to always remember to play hard work hard most importantly be a good teammate you know there's a great saying in athletics you play for the name on the front of the shirt not on the name on the back of the shirt meaning you play for your school your club team whoever you may be not for you as an individual when a teammate creates an error out there whatever sport it is no one feels worse than that person that's when you need to run over to that person and give them a little tap and say it's okay we all do it let's get back in the game and play teamwork is very important ladies in any sports you're in in organizations you're in no matter what it is it's people working together there's not one person that's going to ever be able to do anything themselves so enjoy your great season you'll be up at the high school next year it might get a little harder but you'll will prevail work study and have fun thank you all very much God bless you all and have a great evening for those of you that came for the ceremony or if you're more than welcome to stay but if you'd like to take five minutes and well for us to give you five minutes to exit and take more pictures outside feel free girls congratulations what a what a great job coaches congratulations and thank you for coming e I like a motion to resume the regular order of business so move thank you councilman tol and second I'll get to coun masella all in favor I I any opposed we'll now move to Communications from the mayor and reports of the township officer officers excuse me Mr Mayor thank you Mr President members of council ladies and gentlemen good evening tonight uh have a short report and uh first I'd like to start off with the uh November 5th election for myself and my running mates we thank the voters of Clark for returning this back to office we do appreciate the hectic time of election from the national level right on down to the local now everybody has some peace and quiet for a while uh the leaf cleanup has begun uh we started the first M the last Monday of October first week of November was Wards one and two second week three and four uh third week one and two fourth week three and four and it'll go on so on and so so forth Bri uh L I'm sorry leaves are falling quickly this year so so uh we're having bigger piles earlier than we expected but we've done it before not a big deal we'll continue to do it keep getting them out it has been very dry and windy so I know they are blowing around everywhere that happens too what can you do uh we're supposed to get some rain on Thursday so maybe that'll help our drought situation and everything else please adhere to the rules uh until the drought is lifted about outdoor fires and things of that nature it is on our website I like to also remind everyone there is no there's not any more branches branches are done for the year please folks you keep putting them out you got to stop I mean it's it's unfair we do this from mid no um March through the end of September and it becomes a real headache for the DPW do not hide the branches in your leave pile if we don't see them and pick them up and we ship them out to the recycling center where we bring them they find it on there they reload the truck and send it back and then we have to unload the truck take the branches out whether it's one or 100 and that costs the taxpayers money and a lot of time for the DPW so please adhere to those schedules breakfast with Santa is posted uh Sunday December 1st there's three seatings get in touch with my officer on Civic recck to make an appointment with that the tree lighting is November 30th and monora lighting great day for the community a lot going on please attend if for some reason you get shut out of the three seatings of breakfast for Santa no reason to fear Santa will be at the tree lighting in the gym taking pictures with everyone on that day the other thing I'd like to remind you with the holiday season upon us there's going to be a lot of home shopping a lot of deliveries from Amazon and God knows who else please keep your eye on your packages if you're at work and you have a nice neighbor that'll maybe put them somewhere for you or bring them to their house that might be nice we haven't had any problems so far but when there's good things happening the devious will always go out and try to wreck it so before something gets stolen off your front porch please make the necessary arrangements for that when you're shopping in stores watch where you leave your uh packages if you go from one store to another store they see them in the back seat there's a good chance no matter where you are someone might try to break into your car so use caution the holiday season's here let's enjoy it and not have any problems whatsoever our report for October Clark PD they have uh 149 motor vehicle stops they had 28 radar details and 10 traffic enforcements and that concludes my report for this evening thank you Mr President thank you Mr Mayor councilman mazarella yes thank you um this is my DPW report for this evening as mayor mentioned gr pickup for the season is complete Branch breakup for the season is complete please remove all your branches from the roadway uh put them on your lawn or hide them someplace but if they're out in the road they will not be picked up um there'll be no Branch pickup until spring uh clean up in March of 2025 bulking appliance pickup it's complete and we resume March uh 2025 weather permitting your electronics drop off the next one will be January 25th um 2025 make a note of that please and appointments are required before you any scheduled pickups that you may have um Leaf pick uh pickup and collection as the mayor mentioned started October 28th and it will extend through December 19th please leave about a 1T space from the curb to your leaves to allow for proper water run off uh this would allow the couch Bas to not build up with any Leaf debris um and again no branches please do not leave any branches left in a piles because if they are your leaves will not be picked up okay um and DPW W has been making available outside their gate 16in wood free wood free for the taking please do not make a mess no log splitters or chainsaws and as the Supply runs down DPW will replenish the um the logs for you to pick up uh and if there are any other questions on deliveries or or pickups or services please um email DPW rcl.com or DPW or uh www.com that's the extent of my report thank you thank you counsilman councilman Manti well thank you this is my uh fire department report for the month of October the Clark fire department responded to 61 calls totaling 455 for the year the calls included but are not limited to numerous soda and alarm calls two calls were for M Mutual aid from other towns six calls related to motor vehicle incidents five calls for mulch and brush fires and one call for a fire at the Kerry plant on Terminal Avenue um as always I would like to thank the member of the Clark fire department for their hard work and dedication and keeping our town safe this concludes my report thank you Council M councilman OK Conor thank you from the finance committee the township con continues to be able to meet its current obligations and from the Clark volunteer emergency Squad the recent Squad activities the squad provided medical coverage for Unico atan festival and uh they had coverage at the high school Friday Night Football games the call volume is as follows there were 134 calls in October with six Mutual Aid calls total hours responding to calls is approximately 838 man hours this does not include any hours the members are on duty when not on calls year- to-day call volume 1,246 calls with regard to membership anyone interested in becoming a member can email the squad at www.rccl.com and applications can be found at that site the squad is looking for associate members these are members that support the efforts of the squad with social media public relations recruitment efforts Etc but do not respond to calls if interested please reach out to the Squad via the website address our clark.com and of course course they continue to service Community they hosted two blood drives in October please check our lawn sign for upcoming blood drives the next one is Wednesday before Thanksgiving November 27th from 10:00 a.m. to 2 p.m. and the squad also participated in the townwide Trunk or Treat respectfully submitted by Lori Sheldon the trustee that concludes my report thank you thank you councilman OK Conor councilman Smith thank you council president hun uh the recreation report uh volunteers are needed for Friday no November 19th to decorate the municipal building uh begins around 9:00 a.m. if you are available please come out help Ralph and the other volunteers they decorate the hallways and outside the building the holiday festival is Saturday November 30th from 300 P p.m. to 6 p.m. there's plenty of entertainment from petting zoo there's entertainment there's musicians there's performances from the various School uh music departments and the alj band there's snacks pictures and as the mayor mentioned Santa will be there from 3:00 to 6:00 p.m. in the front gym to take pictures and the event uh concludes every year at 6 PM with the Christmas tree and manora Lighting on Sunday December 1st is the breakfast with Santa there are three seatings uh starting at 8:30 a.m. I believe um if you looking for information to register I believe they're all sold out but the information is on the hour clark.com website the annual house decorating contest starts December 1st so as you drive around town if you see houses that are decorated and you would like to nominate you can nominate that to Ralph berardo in the rec department and there will be winners and recognition the holiday coloring contest for the children in Clark the deadline for that is Monday November 25th I believe you have to turn in the uh color pictures to the recreation department a few other things recreation basketball starts in the next two weeks and registration for indoor soccer ends December first so if you're interested in any of those activities please stop by the rec department and see if you can be added to a team the senior holiday lunching will be held at Grand centurions on Thursday December 5th from 12:00 p.m. to 4 p.m. again please contact the rec department and Ralph Bernardo uh registration for winter classes uh and Recreation programs begins on December 1st all that information is noted on the website and looking forward to January there will be the annual family skate night on January 18th if you have any questions or need information again stop by the rec department or contact Ralph Bernardo or em Emily Lambert the phone number is 732 428 8400 and that's my report for this evening thank you thank you councilman Smith councilman tol thank you Mr President um I just want to take a moment to publicly say this on November the 5th 2024 an election was held in within the township of Clark and the people of Clark overwhelmingly supported and voted for S bonacorso to be our mayor for another term I want to publicly publicly congratulate s along with the three colleagues of councilman Jim manetti councilman Bill Smith and councilwoman Angel alanes Good Government will continue in Clark and I just want to publicly say to the three four of those congratulations and health will say other words about history on January 1st when you're sworn in but congratulations publicly and to the residents of Clark good job thank you thank you cman tol uh for my report I have the Clark Police Department report monthly report for uh October we saw a total of 241 calls for services including but not limited to 120 ambulance requests 61 alarm calls three arrival requests which is the mental health behavioral behavioral emergency calls one criminal mischief 19 fire department requests 16 fraud identity theft 10 motor vehicle and residential lockouts 103 vehicle accidents 26 shot uplifting and theft and 219 were 911 calls and 1,275 were miscellaneous calls there was a total of 18 adult arrests including but not limited to one for burglary one for possession of C of CDs 12 for shoplifting and four for warrants the youth Bureau Bureau handled a total of 14 cases including but not limited to one for theft one for SHO liting two for weapons one for harassment one for CDs five for offenses against the family and all 14 were all inhouse disposition that concludes my report um we can move on to ordinances Appropriations and claims um the introductions of the proposed ordinances please Madam clerk thank you Mr President the first ordinance is ordinance 24-15 and ordinance amending and reating chapter 195 land use and development of the code of the township of Clark do I have a motion please I'll move that thank you councilman Smith and I will second that uh motion any discussions at all yes Council um this has been in the works for over a year and a half now um we we updated we went through every single um section of 195 which is our zoning regul ations and made you know specific changes as it's been affecting residents over the years to you know make the process easier the whole idea was let's streamline it or let's clean it up add um terms and conditions uh we had two planners our old planner and our our current planner as part of the project we had the township attorney and the uh planning board attorney and our engineer were uh the group that uh put this together um so so what we have in front of you is a culmination of a lot of you know hours and hard work to get there and again the the real purpose was just to you know streamline the process keep people who don't need to go to the planning board and you know out from having to I mean the zoning board from having to go to the zoning board uh just high level some of the changes um that we made um so you know how how we're going to be issuing um um certificates um the certificates for non-conformity and you know the process around those um appeals and how the applicants need to appeal and and streamline that uh then we also have the flood plane waivers because it's becoming more and more of an issue with the new D requirements updated uh some of the fees uh we went through our storm order management and how to handle uh storm order management updated the requirements uh within those uh looked at our height variances uh from a safety perspective and and then the approval process and timelines right uh so th those were the the high level you know major requirements I'm sure everybody didn't get through all uh all 500 pages and but we do have what we will put putting in the paper is our ordinances which is about 50 pages of the summaries uh that was put together by our Township Council uh and I mean that's a good synopsis of really what's going on uh that's really all I have it's it's going to be posted to our uh website so if anybody wants to read it uh feel free and it'll be available for all thank you Jim I have a question for you um what what's the purpose of the development Review Committee which is also known in the document as the DRC yeah I mean it's really established so we it's me the planner the engineer the um traffic uh traffic engineer to sit down and go through the application review it ahead of time identify any potential issues and things that could be changed actually before they even submit to the zoning board so it it really is again one of those instances that we can streamline it we formalize the process around that this way you know we have a chair who would you know go through it and then have all of the required um departments oh also sorry police fire are also you know going to be part of that so you know we get through you know to see if there's any major issues and and help the people from you know getting to a point that they have to put this together put it to the board and then you know things get delayed thank you very much appreciate the thoroughness yes councilman just one quick comment yeah um this is a rather large document to digest uh we just received this um I do have some questions um I'll be reaching out to you Jim um so you could just give me a heads up on some of the concerns and questions I have but we have a month to review it and this will be coming on the agenda for next month's approval correct absolutely that would be the easiest I mean if you want to do Q&A it's probably not going to be that valuable because I'm I don't know every single change is in and out so you know you could email them to me and you know we could I could definitely get back to you on them that's a perfect process okay thank you you're welcome I have a quick question as well I can Council Smith on the I know the heights of buildings was always a concern when we were going through all the master planning so how does the new uh height variance rule affect uh the the property owners yeah this is one that we discussed a lot it's um 10 ft or 10% of the maximum permitted height um really the change that we're put in you know is going to provide flexibility for you know Unique Designs and functioning needs you know such as Safety Systems and equipment and things along those lines so it's not going to be a um a you know a Line in the Sand anymore right so there's going to be some flexibility again some people want to have fancier pitches and things along those lines and you know it doesn't really affect anything it's not like it's living space and if it's if it's deemed um appropriate we'll we'll make those changes so the there again we give more flexibility to the residents great thank you Mr President yes coun told so yeah I went through this last night read through it and I will continue reading through it for the next month it's just basically word wordage changes it's not major changes to it's just basically taking this word taking that word out and the meaning definition of what was in place I don't see anything you know you're not going to go to Five floors six floors 10 floors it's basically saying wordage change if you read it through and I'll read it through again because there's a lot going on in here yeah thank you that's all I got again like I like I started it really is to make the process easier that we no longer run into any issues with you know people wanting to do things and it's in a gray area we try to clear out as much of that gray area as possible possible and you know things that we consistently approve that don't make sense we've we've made those changes thank you very much can I have a roll call please councilman masella yes councilman menidi yes councilman OK Conor yes councilman Smith yes councilman tol yes vice president hund yes the public hearing on this ordinance is December 16th and I do have the full document in my office for anyone who would like to review it next ordinance is 24-16 an ordinance establishing an exemption from the fee for filing of annual registration of Certificate of Insurance for business and rental units and multif family homes with four or fewer units within the township of Clark pursuant to njsa 40a col 10 a-2 you have a motion for that yes I'll move it thank you councilman mazarella a second please I'll second that thank you councilman Smith any discussions Jim yeah this is something that came up a couple of times over the last well year and a half since we implemented this um ordinance and again this is a state ordinance it's not something that we're we're you know we want to do um you know we bought additional uh applications on go pilot so we could do this automated but it requires all of the um businesses to submit a Certificate of Insurance right and what we been hearing is from a lot of the nonprofits you know can we do something for them and you know as we discussed in our executive meeting and it's come up a couple of times you know we're trying to you know make it more affordable and you know we we don't want to you know continually add all these fees and here's another one of those instances it's a state requirement it's costing us money we have to recover our cover our expenses associated with it which we are but we are going to offer nonprofits to do it and U not have the fee thank you very much roll call please councilman masella yes councilman Manti yes councilman oconor yes councilman Smith yes councilman tol yes vice president hunt yes this ordinance will also have its public hearing on December 16th next ordinance is 24-17 an ordinance entitled an ordinance to fix minimum and maximum salaries of motion for that please move that please thank you councilman OK Conor a second please I'll second thank you Council Min any discussions Jim or this is just the standard housekeeping uh we finalized our all of our contracts we're just you know finalizing the wording to the dispatch's contract which I don't see any issues all key terms have been determined or agreed upon uh that'll be up in December so what we did was we calculated all the salaries based on the union contracts and you know where we had to make adjustments on here we made the adjustments thank you very much roll call please councilman masella yes councilman Manti yes councilman oconor yes councilman Smith yes councilman tol yes vice president hund yes public hearing on this ordinance is December 16 next ordinance is 24-18 and ordinance to supplement section 51 of chapter 347 entitled vehicles and traffic of the code of the township of Clark I'll move that please I'll second it yeah um this was a request from the citizens and councilman o' Conor uh the residents of old Ren Road have no parking in front of the resident but the Skyler Drive Cutler and garide all are permit only so they have no place to to park if they have additional cars that don't fit in their driveway so the request was made to have an exception for them to be able to park on Skyla Cutler or garide um and that's all this is thank you very much roll call please councilman masella yes Council Manti yes councilman oconor yes councilman Smith yes councilman tol yes vice president presid hund yes public hearing on this ordinance is December 16 now we'll move to payment of claims thank you I have reviewed the bills for the month toing $372,450 thank you councilman M Conor now we'll move to Citizens hearing on the agenda um each person addressing the council shall give their name and the town in which they reside to to the clerk all remarks shall be addressed to the council as a body and and shall not exceed 5 minutes in duration good evening John gavves uh 30 Parkway Drive uh I had a question about the resolution regarding the special counsil um the information that I saw on it um I just was able to see it on um briefly but it said that it was um up to $44,000 the contract could be but the thing that I was a little curious about was it said uh for police litigation and that seemed a little vague and I wasn't sure um if there was a little more information about that like what there's actually quite a bit of litigation going on with the police and I just want there's which specific thing they're litigating Council would you like to address that please sure um there was a lawsuit brought against the town years ago in one of the police officers that was at some point some criminal charges when there are criminal charges involved in a civil matter the ATT one of the attorneys can move to stay that matter that happened like four years ago I believe I'm not certain don't quote me on the on the exact time frame but it happened long ago so the matter had been stayed we even know about it because was basically limbo um that stay was recently lifted we are also defending a workers's compensation action by that police officer who was involved in that this this that the one that we're def that we were defending him in the town in but we haven't really been involved in it because it was stayed four years ago uh there is an active workers compensation action by that police officer against the town which puts us in a conflict of interest we cannot represent we cannot defend the town against an officer that we're also defending in a different piece of litigation so we needed to get some other attorney to substitute in for us so that we can continue defending the workers compensation and is this um officer Manata the uh no it is not officer manada I don't recall the gentleman's name but it is not officer okay so this isn't there was a lawsuit that was um uh initiated couple months ago um against Manata for I think the breach of the non-disclosure agreement this is not related to that I'm not aware of any action for a breach of a non-disclosure action there is a lawsuit by manat against the town and a lot of people that serve the town including my firm um that that that that action continues it's been pending for uh more than a year um yeah I know I was just like you know is this more of that or what what what is this has nothing to do with officer or Lieutenant manada okay um just curious now he's no longer curious about that um one other thing um I sort of wanted to bring up um I I believe that the agenda for this um meeting uh was released on like Friday afternoon like late in the afternoon um but shouldn't it be 48 Hours excluding weekends at all okay I was I was the author of the legislation under the prior ministration midnight uh uh legislation that we used to get something dumped on our desk five minutes before a council meeting and say read it you're voting on it tonight it's 48 hours prior to the meeting so that means Saturdays and Sundays included that's a that's a local ordinance that is our local ordinance and if we add something on in if we add something on sooner than 40 with less time than 48 hours let's say something came in today and we wanted to add it tonight it's a super majority of council has to accept to put it on the uh agenda that keeps political games because years ago Council was split four to three and whoever was in charge used to run rough shot over the people who weren't in charge and stick legislation down her throat so this was my way of making sure when legislation is put forward everyone can digest it and vote on it with a clear head and get back to the mayor or ba on a Monday if you get it on a Friday to ask questions you may have discovered over the weekend yeah but doesn't that give doesn't that local ordinance give less time for people to review it because with 48 Hours excluding weekends no you're saying exing weekends it's not excluding weekend open public records act meetings act that is our local ordinance I'll make it very simple and quick again 48 Hours include Saturdays and Sundays in our local ordinance okay so it it's not superseded by the state ordinance the ordinance it's been in effect since I was a councilman I believe I adopted that legislation in 98 or 99 and we all have been living by it ever since without a problem but it would give less time because the open public John I don't know which part of this you don't get I'm I'm getting a little confused if we give you something on a Friday that you have to vote on a Monday you get 48 Hours sat Friday well Friday night whatever Saturday Sunday Monday up until the time of the meeting if we give you something with less than that time for us to have it adopted by Council and needs five votes to make the agenda okay all I was saying was that the open public meetings act would give you from Thursday instead of Friday it's just something I was bringing up I thought it was an interesting thing 19 98 99 without an issue without a problem it's worked like a charm and by the way I was in the minority when I had got that adopted by four Democrats and three Republican so it was so good the Democrats agreed with me I'm all for transparency think everyone understands that about me at the very least uh thank you for your time those are the questions I had I we'll look into that to see if that there's an issue with the the honestly the reason I thought about at this time was that and I recognized it was just a proposed ordinance for the 200 pages I was like how could I review this in that amount of time it's so much so much stuff and then I was like wait whatever I I appreciate the answer I appreciate the time thank you very much thank you very much anyone else wishing to come forward hello Nancy tasus 43 Colonial Drive and just a three quick things I don't know if everyone on the council is aware about a meeting tomorrow morning at 9:00 a.m. with the New Jersey turnpik Nancy excuse me this is on agenda items the next the next session for regular thank you madam clook anyone else wishing to come forward seeing no one I'd like a motion to close this portion I'll moved thank you councilman tol a second I'll second I'll give it to council Manti all in favor I any opposed when you're when you're ready Madam clerk we'll move to resolutions first resolution is authorizing the transfer of funds within the 2024 Municipal budget do I have a motion for that I'll move that please thank you councilman M Conor to second I'll second it thank you councilman Smith any discussions on that Jim and just straight forward that we're move it to transfer transfers roll call please councilman masella yes councilman Manti yes councilman OK Conor yes councilman Smith yes councilman tol yes vice president hunt yes thank you next is seeking approval of the director of division of local government services for insertion of a special item of Revenue in the amount of $3,000 for The Greening Union County Grant do I have a motion I'll move that Mr President thank you Council Mall second I'll second it thank you councilman Smith Jim any discussion on no just uh you know every year it's the same thing we got $33,000 to replace trees throughout the community thank you sir roll call please councilman masella yes councilman Manti yes councilman OK Conor yes councilman Smith yes councilman tol yes vice president hunt yes number seven is seeking approval of the director of division of local government services for insertion of a special item of Revenue the amount of 12 ,000 for the kids Recreation trust fund Grant do I have a motion please yes I'll move it I'll second that Council M and thank thank you councilman Smith any discussions on that just this is the um Recreation this is the money that for the recreation grant that we submitted um probably in the spring just going back uh for just additional Recreation um equipment some pickle ball cour um Nets and things along those lines thank you a roll call please councilman masella yes councilman Manti yes councilman oconor yes councilman Smith yes councilman tol yes vice president hunt yes okay number eight is authorizing the execution and delivery of two shared services agreements with planfield Area Regional sewer sewage Authority First is for a qualified individual with a C4 license to operate its local sewage system and two is to undertake a 5year program to clean the Township's local sewer lines do I have a motion please yes I'll move this as well thank you councilman mozerella we have a second I'll second it thank you Council Manti discussions Jim yeah here's another example of us trying to take advantage of expertise uh and you know we we looked to originally rway Valley uh Sewer Authority to assist us in pipe cleaning mapping uh things along those lines uh that they don't have the resources for right now now um parsa does and you know so we're going to do a shared service agreement with them and in addition to that you know the C4 license is more of a formality it's just to have someone who's licensed on these vehicles and having it we also have someone um Scott mccave is a is our licensed person here um but we also need to have uh someone doing this so you know we're going to use primarily oper money but the good thing that we're going to be doing is cleaning out 20% of our sewer lines every year right um you know we don't have the manpower to do that we don't have the um the equipment to do that we have the the VOR but we use that on a an emergenc an emergent basis so when there's a clog or something an issue we go out with it and we're still going to be doing stuff like that however we're going to have the flexibility now that or flexibility we're going to have the maintenance ahead of time and you know be able to you know clean out 20% of our lines and and you know I I think this is a great opportunity to you know get rid of some of the headaches we've had in the past and just and just to state that all the scheduled maintenance that we have now will stay in place so the residents don't need to worry that this so the the the areas that we clean out all of the time you know because of backups and you know potential clogs we're doing that we're cleaning that out but again we're doing all of the line so we'll get down line from those areas you know more frequently and that'll you know obviously assist us greatly thank you very much and we like I said we're cameraing and we're also um mapping so we'll we'll know if there's any areas that we need to work on sounds great thank you Jim add something sure go ahead Council M yes the just um make note that the Rory Valley seage Authority which I am commissioner there are are is very happy that Clark is uh taking this initiative on we uh and Woodbridge are the only two communities out of 11 member communities that are take g a proac uh um a a pro Progressive stance and to trying to seek points of infiltration making sure that our lines are free of any points of groundwater going into the shoreline because every gallon that goes in there it's um it's paid by the rate payers which are taxpayers so we're taking a proactive stance on this and again the surage authority the Roy Valley surage Authority is very happy that we're leading that charge they're we're hoping that all other commun communities would follow through with that as well thank you councilman mael excuse me roll call please councilman masella yes councilman Manti yes councilman oconor yes yes councilman Smith yes councilman tol yes vice president hunt yes number nine is approving the execution and delivery of a certificate of completion to raron Road Holdings urban renewal LLC for 1074 Raritan Road I'd like to move that can I have a second please I'll second it now you Council any discussions Jim on that this is just um you know this is for for Cub spot and it all we're saying is that they've you know lived up to all of the requirements of the agreement no changes or anything associated with that uh the real purpose of this is so they can get that permanent financing because they need a certificate from us saying that they're done to get permanent financing thank you very much roll call please councilman masella yes Council Manti yes councilman OK Conor yes councilman Smith yes councilman tol yes vice president hunt yes okay number 10 is appointing Kevin Ingram and Jordan Becker as members of the Clark volunteer fire department I'll move that thank you Council Manti a second please I'll second that thank you Council mazarella I don't think we need any discussion on that roll call please councilman masella yes councilman Manti yes councilman oconor yes councilman Smith yes councilman tol yes vice president hund yes okay number 11 is authorizing the mayor and bu Andor business administrator to execute the 2025 risk management Consultants agreement as required by the New Jersey municipal self-insurers joint Insurance Fund with World Insurance Associates have a motion please I'll move that thank you councilman Smith do I a second I'll second thank you councilman masella any discussion on that Jim just standard same thing we do every year they assist us in all of our insurance claims as advisors looking at our properties you know when we have to do subreg you know they work with us to make sure that we get all money from you know whoever the initial person is so um same rate as it's been was last year so there's no increase thank you very much a roll call please councilman masella yes councilman Manti yes councilman oconor yes councilman Smith yes councilman tol yes vice president hund yes number 12 is Award of a non-fair and open contract for the appointment of special counsel authorizing the mayor to enter into a contract with K kogi simmit do I have a motion for that I'll move that thank you councilman OK Conor a second I'll second that thank you Council Manti I think we've already discussed that so no need to further discuss it roll call please councilman masella yes councilman Manti yes councilman oconor yes councilman Smith yes councilman tol yes vice president hunt yes 13 is approving the council meeting calendar for 2025 do I have a motion for that please thank you councilman tol a second I'll second that thank you councilman Smith again no I don't think we need any discussion on that do weim no it's just the um standard calendar but I do want to bring up because this comes up every single year um you know we celebrate juneth um for the as the same as EST state which is on the Friday um so it's not a mistake and um you know we're we're consistent with the state of New Jersey thank you roll call please councilman masella yes councilman Manti yes councilman oconor yes councilman Smith yes councilman tol yes vice president hunt yes number 14 is authorizing the 2025 employee holiday schedule I have a motion for that I'll move it thank you councilman masella a second I'll second I please thank you councilman OK Conor um the same respones before roll call please councilman masella yes councilman Manti yes councilman oconor yes councilman Smith yes councilman tol yes vice president hunt yes now we'll move to consent agenda resolutions when you're ready Madam clerk we have two resolutions on consent the first is appointing special Law Enforcement Officers effective January 1st 2025 and the second is authorizing the tax collector to refund over payment of sewer fees in the amount of $1,723 do I have a motion to adopt the consent agendas move that Mr President thank you councilman tol second I'll second that thank you councilman Smith roll call please councilman masella yes councilman Manti yes councilman oconor yes councilman Smith yes councilman tol yes vice president hunt yes and now we'll we'll move to the discussion discussion is for the calendar year 2024 best practices inventory prepared in certified by James ol chief administrative officer and Jennifer Kisa Chief Financial Officer the discussion is held for the governing body's acknowledgement in compliance with the guidelines set forth by the New Jersey Division of local government services in local Finance notice 202 24-13 dated September 18 2024 the discussion will be incorporated into the minutes of this meeting thank you Madame clerk do we have any new business on the calendar uh there's no new business okay now we'll move to public comments I'll open the meeting to the public each person addressing the council shall give their name and their town in which they reside to the clerk all remarks shall be addressed to the council as a body and shall not exceed 5 minutes in duration Nancy tasus 43 Colonial Drive I think I'm getting my meetings mixed up between this and the county meetings things go in different orders um so to tomorrow there is a meeting with the Turnpike Authority regarding going underneath the bridge so I just wanted to kind of bring that out in the air and the second regarding the June 5th election I worked not the June 5th November 5th election I worked at at the C school this is my fourth year and the turnout was phenomenal even though there was early voting and mail and voting so many people came on uh election day itself and uh so many firsttime voters young voters came and it was really phenomenal and I think we need to do a lot more encouragement of getting everybody to come out and vote I mean I don't know why it isn't 100% of toot turnout but it was really a nice turnout there were lines people didn't like them but I thought it was really tremendous and and the third is I people know I come to the meeting so they ask me questions about things can I ask because they don't want to come but on the turn the leftand turn from Walnut onto Valley Road when you're coming from Ron Road toward mother seat in there there is now a left-and turn lane and people are wondering is there going to be a left-and turn signal because apparently at times of the day it's very difficult for the people to make a leftand turned there with people coming down Broadway Across Valley Road onto Walnut so Jim I believe there there will be but we we're I it will be we're waiting on parts we're waiting the developers waiting on parts to have them put in if you've noticed when you driven by there are new polls that have been started to be put up so yes the answer to your question is yes there will be a leftand right there'll be a lot of happy people with that okay thank you thank you very much anyone else would like to come forward see no one else I'd like a motion to close please oh hold on I'm sorry I moved too quickly on that one I apologize um Claire Le Bruno Clark um and your address please 20 Post Road I was wondering if I know that the mayor wrote a letter to the njta and would like to ask if you had any response not at this time we're still waiting and then as a followup um is would there be a way for you to contact senator scori to ask for support on this that's already been done that has been uh um through the county and uh also with the senator he's fully aware of our dislike for the W Place parking lot great thank you thank you thank you very much good evening um jilia Colin 72 Georgia Street Clark um you're aware that the NJ ta meeting is tomorrow and I was wondering if anyone from the township would be going to attend this meeting since the township could be brought into litigation if there's an issue and this all pans out that they're permitted to vote and something happens under the bridge of the Garden State Parkway is anyone from the town going to appear at this meeting or listen to what people have to say yeah well that's not true because it's not our bridge and it's not our Reservoir so if someone gets injured there it is a county or a state issue um by us inserting ourselves into that discussion it doesn't make sense at this point right so we're we are advocates for the residents we are advocates for the Wendell police residents and that's what we're doing we're not going to insert ourselves and we're not going to accept any liability right so if they came back and they said okay the township should take liability we're not going to do that that doesn't make sense for us um because it doesn't make sense for the count and the county has much deeper Pockets than us right but as working in insurance for 37 years anyone can be sued anyone can be pulled in look what happened on the Westfield Avenue Bridge when someone fell and it was I don't know if that bridge is County or if it's part of Clark or if it's part of the parkway you being an insurance you should know the two different aspects of that if we take full if we take responsibility we're definitely on the hook there's other way that we could get ourselves off if it's not our property so if someone slips and falls in your neighbor's property they could actually sue you too right if they wanted to you know they could to anybody you want at any time but it's not your property and if it's not our property we would have a better defense so we're not going to take responsibility for it okay thank you very much anyone else like to come forward okay I'd like a motion to close this portion please I'll moved thank you councilman tol second I'll second that thank you councilman Smith all in favor any opposed now we'll move to Mayor counsel and professional comments Mr Mayor yes Mr President thank you very much um I'd like just to end tonight up by wishing everybody a very uh happy healthy Thanksgiving uh it's a time of year that you know to spend with family close friends loved ones and uh look into the people who are alone and maybe do not have a family to invite an extra person over to dinner it's a nice thing to do it's sad to hear that some people are left alone uh there are definitely um different food banks around any donation we can make would always be appreciated to help the underprivileged uh have a hot meal on Thanksgiving uh they're saying the weather's going to get a little colder we may have a little rain for the first time in over a month so uh just be careful if it rains on the wet leaves because the leaves are out in the street when they get wet they get slick and we haven't been used to that so far this fall and we'll see at the events over the holidays thank you God bless you and have a good evening thank you Mr Mayor councilman mazarella yes thank you um as the mayor had mentioned earlier uh the holidays are approaching and a lot of deliveries of packages uh are coming about um so please be vigilant um especially with your neighbors that may be working and you might be home uh if you see something that doesn't seem quite right with a delivery or someone you don't know is picking up a package don't hesitate to call police department they're going to come quickly to ensure your safety and your neighbor safety um so until next month um have a Happy Thanksgiving be will God bless and stay safe thank you good night thank you councilman mazarella councilman Manti yes thank you once again I want to congratulate the uh come field hockey team for a great job uh well done I would also like to offer my condolences to council president Angel albanes and her family uh for the loss of her husband Bob uh our prayers are with you and your family at this time um I want to congratulate Kevin and Jordan as new members of the CF Clark fire department it's great to have young people that really want to be a part and volunteer to uh protect our community and uh like everyone else I want to wish everyone a Happy uh Thanksgiving um that concludes my comments for tonight thank you councilman man councilman no Conor thank you very much first off I'd like to congratulate the mayor councilman maned councilwoman Alan and councilman Bill Smith on their re-election congratulations looking forward to another four years with you guys um again you know just taking a step back to think about what things are back at Thanksgiving about family and of course you know as Jimmy councilman manetti mentioned you know uh our thoughts are with Angel albines and her and her family with the death of her husband um you know it's a tough time of year right as as mayor mentioned some people are alone some people are aranged from their family so if you see someone a little bit down just say hello talk to them see how they're doing maybe they need a little uh a little boost for the day um you'll notice I'm growing a beard I don't know if you can see it on TV because it's all white like Santa Claus but I grew the beard for No Shave November or as they call it movember it's a month-long event that raises awareness for men's health issues and supports cancer research and treatment so um every little bit helps right just bringing awareness to men's health issues and what else I think that's it just want to say happy holidays everybody may suggest this may be suggestion for next November so you don't have to you know it's great they're just for men they have it for beers it matches the top you'll get it picked up on TV a little better okay no uh one last thing again um you know we have two more members joining the Clark volunteer fire department and you know over the past year I think they've had quite a few members um that's that's great you know the community is really starting to give back and Clark does allow people from out of town to join its fire department I know we do have some people from out of town who want to get the experience and we're happy to help them and our residents are lucky to have them so sen Clark volunteer um fire department their members thank you emergency Squad thank you and to all the volunteers within the town that give back um you know congratulations to girls um field hockey I think those coaches may be volunteers as well I'm not sure but I know you know we've coached baseball football soccer we all have them all so um that's my thoughts for tonight have a great weekend well actually have a good week I'll talk to you soon thanks thank you councilman Conor councilman Smith yes Thanksgiving is Thursday November 28th so have a Happy Thanksgiving to everyone uh what better way to work off some of the fu8 Friday morning November 29th 9:00 a.m. at the recreation center help Ralph Bernardo and our crew uh decorate the wreck building it usually takes two to four hours to complete uh all the decorations and then the following day Saturday November 13th is the holiday festival from 3:00 to 6:00 p.m. and the following day Sunday December first is the breakfast with Santos so there's a lot going on over the Thanksgiving weekend so please come out take advantage of everything the town has to offer uh that's all I have in my comments thank you thank you councilman Smith councilman toll thank you Mr President uh it's all been said except again I always considered this Council like a family we've been together for so long thanks to you the residents we work for you in my ter my opinion but I'm going to say this Angel has always been a team player and a part of working with us and coming up with creative ideas Works her back for the library puts a lot of effort into it and to Angel alanes to Taylor her son and James and to Robin and Kathleen also part of the Coburn family are condolences when we lose somebody's special Bob was a free spirit if you ever met him worked with him what a dedicated hardworking individual and he gave himself back to the township of Clark for 30 38 years and I have to say to Angel our thoughts and prayers are with you at this time it's not easy losing a loved one and you keep moving forward and again to our prayers to her and her family to the citizens of Clark I was out in front of the election poll on come school all day long from 5:30 in but what I got a chance is to re vitalize or reissues of the town and and talk to you again about what was going on in the town what's going on in your lives we don't come to your door every single day or every single year but we try to make keep in touch and that's what I was experiencing that November the 5th again I've got your issues I'll be going through the ba and the uh mayor to get them taken care of not a lot of horrible issues to the people on wend place that's a horrible issue and I hope the county wakes up and gets their mind straightened out that it's not a good idea to put that at the end of wend place just an excuse my terminology an asinine proposal so with that said I wish everyone in this community a healthy and happy Thanksgiving may you know nothing but peace and prosperity and we'll see you at the next uh December the end of the uh year already but again wishing you and your family health and happiness and be careful out there because the glare at night the Sun and all the kids there are kids out there just be careful thank you very much we're here to serve you that's where our job is thank you very thank you councilman tol Jim do you have any F uh final comments I just want to wish everybody a Happy Thanksgiving thank you madam clerk would you have any comments Happy Thanksgiving to all thank you Council any comments a wonderful Thanksgiving with your faes thank you sir uh for my final comments that basically been said by everyone else up up here on the Das but congratulations to the mayor and the other council members for their winning their elections um congratulations to the girls com team Cong the condolences especially to Angel and her family let her know that she'll be my my prayers and my family's prayers for her congratulations to the two gentlemen that joined the Clark volunteer fire department and uh please come out and enjoy the festivities at the end of the month for the holidays and that concludes my report not my report my comments excuse me and like to move for adjournment so moved second thank you councilman Smith and thank you councilman tol all in favor any opposed thank you very much everyone have a wonderful evening and H as I said a Happy Thanksgiving