good evening everyone and welcome to the council meeting January 21st 2020 Madam clerk V call please councilwoman albanes here councilman bar here councilman hunt here councilman masella here councilman Smith here councilman tol here council president oconor here stand Madam MK we're going to now rise for the Pledge of Allegiance and a moment of silence aliance to the flag the United States of America to the Republic for which it stands Nation indivisible andice for 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 local source and tap into Clark by posting such annual meeting scheduled on the bolon board and Town Hall reserved for such announcements and the proper filing of said notice formal action may be taken at this meeting thank you I would like a motion to suspend the regular order of business so I'll second okay so we got Bill Smith and councilwoman Angel albanes all in favor I any opposed no at this point I'd like to call the mayor forward for the volunteer of the Year Award presented by uh director Ralph Bernardo Ralph please come up with well good evening ladies and gentlemen Welcome to our January council meeting and uh welcome you all here in Chambers tonight you know I've been mayor here for 20 years now and something is fishy tonight I don't know what it is now really Ralph is here to present this award but I don't know who it is and I don't know why so Something Fishy is going on here I'm going on the record all right now you know we have our great Recreation director my dear friend Ralph Bernardo and uh I guess we're gonna surprise us tonight with hope all right come on let's do it around you never know it's weird yes okay so welcome every everyone this is our fifth year introducing the volunteer of the Year award uh so many residents offer their services and volunteer their time to help direct Department over the year uh we are so appreciative for all the parents youth uh that coach teams hold classes help set up for major events and general help whenever we reach out there's not much we can do to show how much we appreciate the help except to publicly recognize these individual volunteers mayor and Council have approved us to recognize and present volunteer of the Year award to public acknowledge and thank an individual for going above and beyond we have the Boog gash's last year's recipients in the uh audience but this year I'm happy and proud to present our fifth reip recipient of the Clark Recreation volunteer the Year Award presented to none other than Dominic [Applause] PR stand here stand here stand here affectionately known as fesus this lifelong resident this lifelong resident of Clark is a fixture at the rec department on any given day you can find Dom sitting resting in my office spewing words of wisdom including but not certainly not limited to let me tell you something more money than Carter has liver pills scrub that good night nurse and the ever popular don't look a gift horse in the mouth Dominic plays a role of assistant director with conviction and Authority directing anyone who will listen gives orders and opinions even when you don't really want them he spends half of his day seeking out a snack or two and is the first one to suggest going to the nearest food establishment aside from these daily tasks Dominic does do some physical work like moves tables and chairs takes out garbage picks up pretzels and other travel basketball chores delivers messages and miscellaneous items when asked but ultimately ends up at Pet's house Dominic has a keen sense of hearing and usually knows what's going on before it even happens and passes along this information as quickly as his body and lips will move lovingly Dom lives up to the phrase telephone Telegraph tadam or a slip of the lip will sink a ship the name of Panet is part of his daily routine as well as repeated phone calls from the love of his life Moren asking is my other half there anything that Dom does he does with uh is it does reluctantly but then with conviction on a personal level Dom is loved by most everyone he comes in contact with has a piece of his heart for the razzas who are so kind and generous to him he's a strong Republican proud of uh being part of the alj alumni the love for his town community and S friendly and direct to most people he comes in contact with an honest dedicated friend who's the first person to help out by sitting and directing it is a great pleasure to present Dom with a volunteer of the Year award thank you you want you want to say a few words go ahead it's yours first of all this is a surprise to me um I never thought I was going to get this but but um no no words can explain what this guy's done for over 20 years of being a mayor of Clark and I'd like to thank my brother and my nephew for coming and surprising me with this coming to see this see me getting an award the B gashes and my uh head coach uh Eddie kurick and all everybody else coming I appreciate you coming to support me it's it's when I care about claw is nothing short of what I've done for everybody when I've done so this is kind of surprise to me but uh I just want to say to S thank you and and my my adopted dad well and the rers for putting up with me for and of course your cousin and my and my cousin Peta cousin Peta but uh and my you know my brother you know living with him you know doing a lot of things for me you know um my brother's the life he probably wants to Wing my neck a couple of times but uh we all do I know but um I just like to say thank you to everybody and um let's get on with the [Applause] meeting stay [Applause] yeah come on up everybody get in a picture come on everybody get a picture come on up crow in so what why not this is Clark we do what we want come on up you guys kneel down the front the basketball guys brother here good all good yeah bring Frankie in there and his nephew kneel down [Music] boys are we all right fire you're not allowed you can't get up here take a couple of wide angles we got panoramic is it really make this out we're all on TV all right stay here all right place it down guys quickly so we can move on give me two minutes thank you like this yeah deserve thank you proud of you there's something in there for you I know all right folks just let me finish up uh many of you know this but Dominic and I know each other from first grade I got a little eye issue going so please excuse me since first grade and uh my brother and his brother best friends and uh I'm very happy for you you deserve this he's a great guy he's um part of the Clark fabric each and every day and um Clark is always about us who lives here who works here who plays here we take care of each other and uh my man deserves it okay congratulations one other thing on the record Edie put this on the record please if you now start doing less because you got this award I'll pull this right off your wall in your house so you better make sure you come to work Tom more all right buddy well Dominic congratulations so before we uh resume the regular order of business we're going to take about a 3 four minute recet just so those who'd like to leave the me meeting can leave the meeting and uh enjoy Dominic outside thanks for coming guys thank you Ralph goes the all right can I please get a motion to resume the regular order of business I'll second that pres um or Brian tol and Steve hunt yes all in favor I I so now we're going to move to Communications would you mind close the door we're going to move from to Communications from the mayor and reports of the township officers Mr Mayor the floor is yours thank you Mr President members of council uh ladies and gentlemen it was a nice nice night tonight so far to see Dominic get a nice award he's a good guy and well-meaning uh volunteered uh Clark travel basketball volunteers at uh girl softball over the years and at our rec center and uh loves all the children it's nice to see one of our get something nice tonight so I thank Ralph uh I didn't want to St in front of Ralph but without Dominic he would be yesterday's news Dominic calls that place together for Ralph okay don't tell him I told you that let him watch it at home on the rerun but anyhow a quick report we had a little snow event on uh Saturday and our DPW was out day before briman our streets all the major roadways and cut throughs and out on Saturday they had a couple of trucks out salty and thank God our local area got away with it um with very little snow and very little ice it got warm the other thing is we're concluding our Christmas tree pickup and uh we're just doing our chores at the DPW uh that we do in the winter months when there isn't snow on the ground and hopefully we'll keep the snow away for a while our wreck department as you'll hear from bill is running well everything is going good so far in a short year uh short New Year 20 what 21 days in um I just like to put something out there to our residents you know over these last 21 years we talk about putting your branches out when you're supposed to adhering to the leave cleanup the bulky cleanup and you know Council has laws and we put a lot of time into this but more importantly we're not trying to be a nuisance we're trying to keep everybody safe you know versus having piles of branches out all year I don't know if anybody looked at Google news this weekend um our neighboring community and I talk about finding people and that I don't want to do that and I don't want to be heavy-handed because you're the people who elect us we're the people that respect you and care about you but we got to follow rules and I said to you over the 20 years you know if you do this in other towns you'll be fined so hence there's a guy that's building a house in Westfield on Boulevard and he cuts down 11 shade trees and got find $60,000 by the municipality he settled at 20 some th000 folks this year let's follow our rules let's put the branches out we're supposed to a book went out in the mail just recently with all the activities at a town in we spend money on that your hard earned tax dollars everything is on our website if you're not sure call us up but everything you need to know is out there so please folks follow the rules if we get some snow clear your fire hydrants around your house to help the fire department all those things to keep us moving safe the main thing is we don't want to be annoying but we just want you and us to be safe out there and follow the rules and you can have a lot of good services that we provide other than that that's it thank you have a good good evening thank you Mr Mayor we're now going to move to report of the Town committees uh tocil committees councilwoman albanes thank you Mr President um this is my report regarding the library I have some information to report to you that I received from the director of the library Megan kosk and um it's a new program they put in place about a month ago it's family Thursdays it's done twice a month they had one last last Thursday was a family stem night and this is with families in mind who who work and uh give them an opportunity to come out with their family and be together on Thursday June 30th at 6:30 they're going to have a family board game night you can bring your board games to the library play with others and meet with friends or you can use their games or just meet new people so come on out to that program uh the kids winter reading challenge is going on that's for preschool through grade five for every hour of reading that's um registered they get enrolled to win a um a prize so there's automatic drawings for that um we have a graphic novel book club on Thursday January 23rd at 4:30 p.m. and each month they're reading a graphic novel uh which has pictures and stories in it and this month's book is mighty Jack by Ben hatkey if you have an iPad and you need some help in in um learning some of the basics uh there'll be a class on January 24th at 2 p.m. they'll talk about different ways to install apps um using the Apple Store accessing the internet etc etc managing your phones music and more and finally um I have two two other points one if you are homebound temporarily or permanently can't get out of the house and come down to the library you can call or go on the website and select items from the library and it'll be dropped off at your home and picked up so please take advantage of that program there's a lot of um if you're having trouble with your eyes there's audio books there's magazines lots of different materials that can be borrowed from the library um and lastly want to mention that the friends of the library are having their annual mini go golf outing it's an indoor golf outing and that will be held on Saturday February 1st from 11: to 3: the last tea off time is at 2 p.m. so this is a fundraiser it's $5 a golfer but it's a great time uh generally the um students from the high school put together some of the golf holes and you would be amazed at how challenging and interesting um the holes are that they put together hope to see you there thank you thank you councilwoman albanes councilman alar thank you Mr President the Clark police dispatcher at the Clark Volunteer Fire Department respond to 43 calls last month and a few things I want to say which I have said in past meetings but sometimes it's not followed is number one when you have to call and you need the fire department don't call the fire department number call the police and they will dispatch the fire department and one of the big things that we have a problem many times is what I've said before unattended cooking and uh it's it's we've had you know calls where there's just smoke and there calls out where the actually behind the uh the stove actually caught fire so please be careful with unattended cooking and then you ruin you ruin the meals anyway and one other thing is many times when I've went on the fire calls some people where it was basically minor they thought they had gas they thought there was some smoke and oh I didn't realize it I'm sorry don't ever hesitate to call that's what the fire department is there for and they will respond and don't ever feel sorry anytime you're not sure call them and that concludes my report thank you thank you m councilman bar councilman Steve hun thank you Mr President the I have a report for the clerk Police Department for December in December we saw of 2019 we saw a total of 2,21 and 10 calls for services of which 129 were ambulance requests five were fire department requests 19 were motor vehicle and residential lockouts 98 were alarm calls 91 were motor vehicle accidents five were for vandalism and 1,842 were miscellaneous calls there were a total of 30 adult arrests including but not limited to one Fugi fugitive from Justice one for weapons one for aggravated assault one Criminal Trespass one harassment three for simple assault nine for theft five for drug abuse one for hindering apprehension one for DUI and six warrants there were a total of seven juvenile arrests including but not limited to three offenses against the family and that concludes my report thank you councilman hunt councilman Frank Monella yes thank you council president um as the mayor said uh Christmas tree pickup will continue for another week uh all trees must be out by January 26th so please put your trees out if you have them by then leaf pickup is over spring cleanup starts mid-march weather permitting please do not put anything in the roadways until then please remove all the Nets um from the roadways so our equipment does not damage them and we can clean the streets adequately snow season is upon us please park your cars in the driveway in your driveway or your neighbor's driveway you have to ask permission of course uh to help us clear the uh roadways adequately in case there is a snow event electric drop off is Saturday January 25th um from 9:00 am to 1 pm we are only allowed to accept certain Electronics items and fluorescent light bulbs the accessible items are TVs computers monitors laptops tablets e-readers printers personal copy machines and fax machine nothing else will be accepted and that's from the county um bulky pickup household items C carpet couches Chairs furniture and such items no electric no electronics mattresses or box springs or construction materials to uh toilets or metal appliance pickup washers dryers refrigerators grills no propane tanks please only metal these picks up pickups will start in March weather pring please do not put your items out until the weekend of your assigned pickup um all of this as the mayor had mentioned is outlined in our report uh the mayor's report to the people please review that has a lot of good information in there um and keep it handy for you and please help us keep the town clean by adhering to these uh suggestions thank you very much take care thank you councilman masella councilman Bill Smith thank you council president OK Conor uh just a quick report this evening the annual ice skating event was held this past Saturday at Warren anko ice skating rink in Rosel it was attended by hundreds of Clark residences I'm sorry Clark residents and Ralph rented the uh ice skating ring for two hours uh for Clark only residents and it was another fun-filled evening so kudos to Ralph and the recreation department for another excellent event for our residence of Clark and that's all I have this evening thank you councilman Smith Brian tol thank you um Mr President um before the tonight's meeting I went made a call to Mark Hayden who's our environmental chairman the president of the uh environmental commission and uh I hadn't spoken to Mark since before the holidays I usually leave people alone during the holiday season and Mark informed me that he hadn't had a meeting and he wasn't going to have a meeting this week because his of his father and I said what's wrong with your father his father was former council president Bernie Hayden former second W councilman from 1975 to 1982 then was a councilman at large from 1989 to 1992 and he was the only guy person in the history of Clark to be four years as council president but Mark was telling me that his father had a stroke after the holidays or before the holidays and he's in Roy hospital I just wanted to publicly say to big guy Hayden I used to call him big guy he was an inspiration to me when I was starting politics many years ago that Mr Hayden big guy Hayden is in Roy Hospital in Rehabilitation and he'll be there for some time so again I just want to let the community know that Mr Bernie Hayden former uh councilman of Clark longtime supporter helped create the girls softball league and many other great activities in this Township in the 1970s 1980s has been stricken and he's slowly getting better but he had some issues but Mark as just want to let me know and I want to let you as a community know what's going on uh basically another report I'll have it for the next meeting and that's all I've Got Tonight Pat thank you very much thank you councilman tol and for myself from the finance committee Mr L and his team continue to keep the town financially solvent and meeting all of our needs and from the emergency Squad the squad was dispatched 110 times in uh in the month of December they're out of shoot time uh is slightly over two minutes um the response time from dispatch to Ron scene is just over 7 minutes and the year-to DAT dispatch calls was 1,847 um of the 110 calls 90 calls were Clark the others were mutual Aid the activities the emergency Squad is involved in was um troop 310 Toys for Tots the 2019 holiday fund drive has been mailed please support your their efforts and our new our and are hosting the monthly continuing education classes for members and for local EMTs and of course they continue to support our community with um they were there for the township tree lighting they have monthly blood drives and they have standby for um Johnson's home football games and before we move on to the meeting I just would like to say um the Emer Squad was kind enough to invite me to the installation dinner where they U put the new officers into place for 2020 so I would like to at this time as I do every year read the new officers for 2020 now the emergency squad has an Administration and an operations so for the administration the president is Ron weski vice president Charlie posk Treasurer David newbie corresponding secretary Susan elachi recording secretary Charlie posk truste lorine PD Lorie Sheldon and George oer from the operation side the captain is Gino fenza assistant Captain Charlie posik first lieutenant Mike chabak second Lieutenant Ros leski first sergeant Carl stammer second sergeant Michael Eastman and third Sergeant Victoria Pascal again congratulations to the new officers for 2020 and once again thank you to the volunteers not only the emergency Squad but to all the volunteers throughout Town whether it's the fire department coaches Etc it's a a theme we like to have in our town a lot of people give back as the mayor had said earlier today so at this point I'd just like to remind everybody that the reports given this evening will be available in the clerk's office and on the township website at www.car.com with that we're going to move to ordinances appropriation and claims okay thank you the first ordinance is ordinance 20-01 an ordinance entitled an ordinance to fix minimum and maximum salaries I'd like to open this up to the public anybody wish to come forward regarding this please step forward um can I get a motion to close still moved can I get a second thank you all in favor any opposed with that I'd like to uh ask for a motion to adopt this ordinance I'll move that can I get a second second thank you any discussion Madam Clark roll call please councilwoman albanes yes councilman bar yes councilman hun yes councilman masella yes councilman Smith yes councilman tol yes council president oconor yes ordinance adopted next is ordinance 20-02 and ordinance to fix the salaries of the white collar employees for the period 2020 through 2023 again I'd like to invite anybody up who' like to uh have questions or talk about this ordinance seeing no one come forward I'd like a motion to close moved can I get a second second all in favor I any opposed can I get a motion to adopt yes I'll move it thank you second I'll second that thank president yes sir members of council uh this is the ratification of the white col contract for four years um effective January 1 2020 20 uh 2 and a qu% for 3 years and 2.5% in 2023 thank you thank you any further discussion Madam clerk can I get a roll call councilwoman alanes yes councilman bar yes councilman hunt yes councilman masella yes councilman Smith yes councilman toll yes council president o Conor yes ordinance adopted next is 20-3 an ordinance entitled an ordinance to fix the salaries of police Personnel for the years 2020 through 2023 again I'd like to open up this up to the public anyone like to come forward please do so seeing no one come forward I'd like a motion to close so moved thank you second I'll second that thank you all in favor I I any post can I please get a motion to adopt the ordinance I'll move that thank you second I'll second it thank you any discussions once again council president this is a ratification of the Police contract for four years January 20 to 2020 to January December 31st 2023 thank you anything else anybody can I get a roll call please councilwoman albanes yes councilman bar yes councilman hunt yes councilman masella yes councilman Smith yes councilman tol yes council president o Conor yes ordinance adopted next is ordinance 20-4 and ordinance to exceed the municipal budget appropriation limits and to establish a cap Bank I'd like to open this up to the public seeing no one come forward can I get a motion to close oh second thank you all in favor I any opposed can I get a motion to adopt so moved and I'd like to second that any discussions this was logistically put here we've never had to use it but it's a uh for back if we have an emergency thank you any other discussions roll call please councilwoman alanes yes councilman bar yes councilman hund yes councilman masella yes councilman Smith yes councilman tol yes council president o Conor yes ordinance adopted next is ordinance 20-5 an ordinance to amend and supplement various sections of chapter 333 of the code of the township of Clark entitled Towing I'd like to open this up to the public seeing no one come forward I'd like the motion to close so moved I'll second that thank you all in favor I any opposed can I get a motion to adopt this ordinance I'll move it thank you second second thank you any discussions Madam clerk B call please councilwoman albanes yes councilman bar yes councilman hund yes councilman masella yes councilman Smith yes councilman tol yes council president o Conor yes ordinance adopted okay next is 20-06 an ordinance to supplement chapter 347 entitled vehicles and traffic of the code of the township of Clark I'd like to open this up to the public seeing no one forward can I get a motion to close so moved thank you second that thank you all in favor I any opposed can I please get a motion to adopt I'll adopt that thank you second I'll second that thank you any discussions council president this is a u an amendment to our street opening to uh try to make Valley Road face safer by putting some no parking areas and some line linage to slow down traffic going down the curve thank you anything else anybody you notice a new thing nowadays it's the white lines coming out from the curbs because I guess the engineers finally figured out no one reads the signs that say slow down or the speed L it so they're trying something different you know people want signs and we like to do that for you but no one reads them so now we're trying something different we hope that pay attention thank you anything further can I get a roll call please councilwoman albanes yes councilman bar yes councilman hund yes councilman masella yes councilman Smith yes councilman tol yes council president o Conor yes ordinance [Music] adopted ordinance 20-7 and ordinance to amend chapter 3 section 3-29 of the code of the township of Clark entitled Department of police I'd like to open this up to the public seeing no one come forward can I get a motion to close I'll move it thank you second second thank you councilwoman all in favor any opposed can I please get a motion to do I'll move that thank you can I a second thank you any discussions this is a uh once again this is an ordinance to um satisfy the state they indicated that our School course and guards do not have the qualifications to be traffic control offices and direct traffic so we've uh created a traffic control offic situation and we will train those certain Personnel to direct traffic thank you it's a safety feature any other comments roll call please councilwoman albanes yes councilman B yes coun councilman hun yes councilman masella yes councilman Smith yes councilman tol yes council president oconor yes ordinance adopted ordinance 20-8 and ordinance to amend various sections of chapter 302 of the code of the township of Clark I'd like to open this up to the public seeing no one come forward can I get a motion to close so moveed thank you can I get a second second thank you all in favor I any opposed can I get a motion to adopt moved thank you second second thank you any discussion council president members of council this is an update of our recycling ordinance uh the one new feature in it is the uh recycling cans that we've given out the first time if they have to be replaced they belong to the community they belong to the uh property and your second one will cost you $60 $ to replace that's it basically when we went into this program everyone got a free can and as the sign set at the door one per customer so if it gets broken you abuse it you run into it the next one's on you thank you any other comments roll call please councilwoman alanes yes councilman bar yes councilman hun yes councilman masella yes councilman Smith yes councilman tol yes council president o Conor yes ordinance adopted ordinance 20-9 an ordinance to amend the code of the township of Clark chapter three thereof entitled administration of government to add article 10 entitled swim pool utility I'd like to open this up to the public seeing no one come forward can I get a motion to close so moved thank you second thank you councilman bar all in favor I I any opposed can I get a motion to adopt so move and a second second thank you any discussions council president members of council uh obviously everyone knows that U Clark built their swim pool utility in 6 1965 66 67 um for some reason it dropped out of our ordinances when we were recodified and we uh decided to maybe get it back in to make it a valid utility any other discussions thank you can I please get a roll call councilwoman albanes yes councilman B yes councilman hunt yes councilman masella yes councilman Smith yes councilman tol yes council president oconor yes ordinance adopted thank you we're now going to move to the payment of claims where I've reviewed the bills for the month totaling $222,100 46 sense thank you so now we're going to move to Citizens hearing on the agenda this is where I'm going to open up to anybody like to come forward to speak about anything that's on the agenda would anybody like to come forward to speak on agenda items only seeing no one come forward I'd like a motion to close so moved can I get a second I'll second it thank you all in favor I any opposed we'll now move to the consent agenda resolutions Madam clerk thank you number 10 is authorizing the tax collector to make the proper adjustments for 100% property tax exemption of block 175 lot 16 in accordance with a directive of the US Department of Veterans Affairs 11 is authorizing the tax collector to refund over payment of 2019 taxes in the amount of $1,520 26 12 is authorizing the Chief Financial Officer to refund overp payment of 2019 sewer fees in the amount of $140 and 13 is authorizing the tax collector to accept and process electronic tax payments and S Utility payments through utilization of automatic Clearing House credits I'll move that Mr President thank you can I get a second second thank you roll call please councilwoman alanes yes councilman bar yes councilman hunt yes councilman masella yes councilman Smith yes councilman tol yes council president oconor yes do we have any new business on the calendar there's no new business okay so now we're going to move to public comments this is where anybody can come up and talk about anything they'd like to talk about the Restriction is they only have 10 minutes to do it and they have to give their name and address to the clerk prior to discussing what they would like to discuss with us would anybody like to come forward and speak please come up sir okay good evening president Mr Mayor Mr laa Mrs mgle um Don Smith 187 Gibson Boulevard Department 8 uh couple of things just want to follow up from I was with you guys over the summer um couple of traffic related things and this was kind of a little lower on my list but I almost actually got into an accident earlier this evening so we'll put this at the top of the list the timing of the traffic light at the shop r uh whatever you want to call it drive shoppr drive and Ron road is completely off in my opinion something's got to be well compared to the when when you come through uh when you're on R and going through Central that light will go green and then the one the shop right will stay red okay so now the traffic backs up all the way through to Ron Road okay and the shop right light is is like green for I don't know 15 20 seconds and then it goes back to red again again and it keeps backing up all the traffic and then I know you guys have the the signs there you know don't block the box but inevitably you find somebody who actually does it just ties it all up and you got all that traffic trying to make the left back on a rout and to get out to the parkway I don't know if there's a way to talk to the county about me timing that light out a little bit better so when one is green the other one is green lets the traffic flow a little better so uh before before Mr Le has a comments we've we've all experienced it yes yeah and I know Mr laser that the uh that timer will be repaired it's been off it been being done by hand and it just jumps out every once in a while but uh we're watching it we're going to have to replay the entire light we're trying to get shot right to do it since they're they're the culprits okay so and they're in they're in for an expansion so uh try to keep it away from the taxpayers it's a expensive prop sounds good to me as long as we don't have to pay for it somebody else can pay for it but L of times when um people come in for from of the board so we can hit them for an offsite Improvement and that would be one a traffic lights what about 200,000 about $200,000 so we're trying but yes we yeah good because like I said I almost got I almost got hit just like two hours ago um on my way over um couple other things when you come off the parkway okay North or South uh both ways okay so when you come off the parkway 135 um I know there's a sign that says welcome to Clark it's over by mother seatan but to me it seems like it's it's way off to the side you know I mean I would have to imagine that the vast amount of volume coming into Clark is probably either coming off the parkway there at 135 I don't know to me it seems like there should be a you know science say welcome to Clark on that side it goes through what was the circle or over a little bit further on the other side there's actually nothing coming off the uh southbound side right next to the shop right I I mean I I don't know it just seems like you come in and you're not I mean we obviously know where we are but I look at that for you I just want to remind you that the authority of that is the state and Parkway turnike the turnike authority to be honest with you uh don yeah okay Don um right now my ba doesn't even know this yet because I got to break spending things to them easily I always had though but no we we've gotten so desperate with even the line painting on the Parkway Circle that um they're sending people out there that really do not know what they're doing so my traffic Sergeant asked me permission to get an estimate from our line stripers and to see how much it's going to be and maybe I can get to County to either foot the whole bill or something because there's like it took us three years to get it striped last time literally three years and our Sergeant is diligent he's really on it but uh we've had all kinds of issues up there so we're taking what you're saying with uh concern and and understanding but we're also letting you know we have a little bit of an issue up there sure sure okay like I can't understand why there's not a guard rail around the uh Basin there well that was my next Target I'll tell you what they told us we don't have enough accidents yet see the state you have to understand we live in New Jersey you know that so this is we don't always make sense here they want to see accident Data before they fix something not saying hey we the local officials years ago on Lincoln buard there was a lot of speeding so the cheapest and easiest thing we could do would be to flip the stop signes liel Harding a couple of the other streets up there have stop signes Lincoln's going this way they're stopping here we said let's put two here down the block two more car stop car stop the state refused to they said there isn't enough accident data so I I flipped and I said you want people to get hurt how about trying to prevent an accident so that's what we deal with unfortunately right but continue yeah and as you mentioned that ret retention Basin that was my next issue um honestly it just looks awful I mean you come off the parkway you know and and you know there's garbage there's plastic bottles people throw the stuff out the window I mean I'm sure I'm probably not saying anything every knows and I mean that's the turn bike Authority they should be cleaning that up or like you said either put some sort of fence or something where you can't really see it uh you know I know that supposed to have water in it I mean it only has very low level of water obviously if it goes up we're in big trouble if it gets over it but um even the water that's in it you know during the summer it gets stagnant y I mean if if they put like an Air Raider in there turned it into like a fountain I mean people come down to the the um great where the water runs into about two or three feet off the ground yeah and I've had friends of mine mention this to me and I've seen it and I guess they did it because they don't want it to overclo or whatever but you're right you're 100% right we called immediately matter of fact um when Mr L and I went to the parkway that time to get that Circle put in we saw the water retention basement and we immediately called them they said no we shot off a letter through attorney's office by saying hey we told you there's somebody gets killed down there don't be sending them to us you know the lawsuit to us so we're on record with the state Turnpike Authority for doing that many many years ago but this is an uphill battle I agree with you your concerns are valid yeah and we will continue to try to do what we can for you and also speak with traffic again I so I live on Gibson Boulevard and trying to make the left out there on a Ron is I mean you take your life in your own hands I mean there sometimes I I'll purposely come around all the way around just because of the time of the day and you don't want to you know get T-boned or sideswiped trying to get on to r road I mean so many people try to make the left out of there at certain times of the day obviously it's Ren roads the county roads you have to go to them to try to get some kind of a light and I don't know if it would even time out you know with the the one at Ron Central we could be in the same situation where with the shoppr light I don't know but I'm not quite sure if there's something that could be asked of the county for that to look at that intersection just a traffic study or something we just had a meeting with the county Target and shoppr course Target and shoppr want to light there but that's a uh big undertaking because it's too close to Central Avenue in Ron yeah um they'd have to reconfigure all the driveways they'd have to widen Central Avenue bu shop right coming off the parkway so it's uh it's not a small project it's not an easy thing yeah that's kind of what I thought um getting and also speaking of Gibson Boulevard so when you come off Ron where the old State can L was when they built the medical building when they attached the sore line to Gibson they dug up part of the street it's been that way for years and it's almost like a little pothole like they never came back and actually smooth it out you know I don't think it should be on the towns the towns you know P you know should pick up the tab should be where exactly is this from this R again was this the water right nears right yeah yeah right everyone when they're driving towards there go around turn your microphone yeah right so it's right in front of wellgo yeah right right across that might have been a water break there we'll check into that yeah I I don't know if it was that sunk diip yeah or if it was when they built the building they connected the line and they had to get into the Gibson Boulevard maybe I don't know but it's been that way for years I mean at least three four years since that building went up I'll check that out um yeah some check that up um also the overhead sign going across Central Avenue goes from the shop right to the Target I don't know who owns that or whatever but it's like rusting out it's like I don't know if they can just paint it or some type again I guess my whole thing is that you know we get so many people coming off the Parkway and they came in the Clark it's just a great town and they see the garbage in the ret retention base and they see the sign that's like all falling apart you know there's no sign that says claric at all you know I don't know just a couple things that I pick up on my way home from the station and I don't you know um thank you for your concern on that sure um the last thing is since I live in Lexington Village um I've been there 10 years now well actually going on 11 so the issue with residents smoking in their Apartments now I know this is a you know opening up a whole big box of things whatever about the law and as far as smoking indoors and when you can smoke inside when you can't um so my resident in the building I don't want to say up down because they may be watching and I don't want to out them or whatever about smoking but every now and then you know indivisual smokes and the smoke comes up towards my apartment and trying to rectify that gets a little difficult you know I have fans in the window whatever so I know there's probably not much that I I can do as far as my place is concerned but we have all these new uh buildings that are going up throughout the town you know the the one across from M's Diner the places across from the holiday in now I don't know if there's a way that Clark could either pass an ordinance or something at certain amount of uh units in in a residence where um you know it would ban smoking you know honestly I would think if if you offered an apartment complex that had no smoking I guarantee the line would be out the door for people trying to get into it I mean honestly it's 2020 I mean this is 196 you know I'm going to be honest with you and I'm not speaking for the council they pass laws I sign them you know there comes a time when local government intrudes into people's lives and now we're going from don't smoke here don't smoke there now you can't do it in your home either but something to think about okay and you're a gentleman and well presented so you deserve that um the thing is though those apartments were built a long long time ago I hope the quality of what we're going to put up now is a little bit better than that that smoke isn't going to come through somebody's ceiling into your floor I really you know yeah I mean we would hope that would be the case I mean I know like you say next to you you have firewalls and things of that nature but you know it's something I do want to I will talk to construction about for the new buildings to see what our sub code feels is you know that's a good idea really is I mean if you're not smoking you don't want to smell my smoke downstairs if I'm smoking sure I get it yeah but something to look into and again yeah I understand it's a you know it's a it's a larger issue and whatnot I understand your your uh Point as far as you know the government saying hey you can't smoke here you can't drink the soda or whatever whatever the case is we've always tried to keep government small in you know sure sure um but iessa yeah I guess I I guess my point is kind of like well you know I can't smoke I mean I can't smoke at the station where I work or I can't smoke in an office and you know the you can't smoke in a restaurant that's right um you know and those places are places that you know either I rent you know I'm I rent it like I don't own it you know for me if if if I actually owned it and it's a condo maybe and I actually paying a mortgage and I've got a you know vested interest in it whatever then maybe you can't say anything but I I guess I'm taking from the point of view that from renting an apartment what's the difference with them spending eight hours at home or six hours at home in certain cases and you're at 12 hours of work and you can't smoke at work but you can still smoke at home you know it's it's that fine line of what determ is are a inhabitants or residents I guess is what it comes down to as far as that's concerned but just just something to think about you know um you know maybe being the First Community in the state to do something I don't know but instead of you know being a leader and instead of a follower maybe and something like this you also got to again check in laws with our legal department to make sure you know how much restriction you can do on private property and things of that nature but you know what your comments are well taken you're a gentleman and thank you I appreciate it yeah chief sure just Sir Chief oh sure police chief you mentioned the rocking signs coming off the Parkway I'm going to assume the reason why they're not there and there's only one over there on mother SE right on mother because that's all state property so the town can't we can't erect a sign on the state property everything that's encompassing the CLE you're getting off brand Avenue you're getting off on the Brand Avenue that's why it walks very small you're not going to get a even once you get into cuz that that whole curve line there is stay property until you actually get onto Grand Avenue you don't have much of a sidewalk there where you were we can erect a bigger sign saying our Township so the only real place that you could do that is on the mother seat side where you do have some Township property there getting off on the Central Avenue same thing there it's a very small curve line and then you get into the uh where fr the shop right is there is space there that that's my assumption why there isn't obviously on the retention side can't we can't do anything on the retention Bas and called The turnike Authority one time cuz a group called me up and said what if we went down there and cleaned it and I asked him and they said absolutely not if someone gets hurt there it's on you so you really can't go there and as far as Gibson Boulevard making the left turn out of there um I don't know if a light would be feasible there but if you're going left could I suggest if you live in that neighborhood go out to Westfield Avenue and then come up Westfield Avenue if you're going out towards left one the control light or you can make a right control lights right yeah I mean sometimes I do that depending on the time of of the day or whatever but you know I mean um just depends on what's going on that that side of the traffic so okay thank you very much for your time apprciate coming out thank you anybody else like to come forward good evening I'm dilia Collins 72 Georgia Street Clark uh Happy New Year to everyone I just wanted to make a reminder to pet owners in town that Associated eain mobile unit will be in Clark tomorrow on the 22nd for wellness which includes microchipping vaccinations and they're right at the uh Crescent in front of the Town Hall from 9 to 3:30 and then on Friday the 204th they're having their surgeries for uh spay neuter and that also but that has to be um appointments have to be made and the number for that is 973 8247 80 extension 118 and you can call I reuse remiss this month I'm putting it out there early and I'll try to put it out there tonight that they're here this week thank you thank you de would anybody else like to come forward seeing no one else come forward I'd like a motion to close this portion so move I'll second that thank you all in favor I any opposed all right we're now going to move to the mayor counsel and professional comments Mr Mayor thank you Mr President uh I'd like to thank everyone for the comments this evening uh Mr Smith Don will look into we can do and definitely some uh conversations for sure and I appreciate your time thank you for coming out um I really don't have much more than that folks just if we do get snow uh please be alerted um or tap into Clark the real newspaper in Clark not the fake News Real News I give her a plug every month because I love her she's Liz you got to love her right she writes good stories but anyway um and our nickelle and our website and our our Facebook pages some streets we will clear if we get a lot of snow predicted some of the smaller tighter streets so please look out for that kind of stuff hopefully we'll be at the next meeting without any snow that'll be great we'll keep it up in the ski lodges thank you have a good night thank you Mr Mayor councilwoman alanes I really don't have much to add but as the me mayor mentioned if you're not signed up for nixel you can go online and do that either through the county or write to their website and um get alerts from the PD or other alerts of what's happening in town um as far as your comments about uh the signs in town I believe that most of the towns that have them and and ours as well they're what's called a concession so various vendors will put up a sign and as the as the uh Chief said usually it's on private property where they've agreed to work with us I don't know if something can be done at Shop Right um that's a possibility it is it is nice to be welcomed into the town or you know we have them down near the pool as well so when people come in from Edison coun I know the Unico wants to put up some uh welcome the Clark signs Bill are you in on that maybe we can look in some of those areas MH that would be good and uh the other thing is maybe you can talk to the landlord about creating a smokefree apartment complex maybe one of the complexes is um like you said I think that would be very attractive to a lot of people like in hotels where rooms are rented that are smoke free so nice idea thank you thank you councilman bar thank you Mr President just quickly I'd like to congratulate to the volunteer of the year and for the people who know me I've been here a long time and I believe you all know that I speak from the heart and the reason Clark is doing so well and a very popular town is because the mayor and counsel truly care about our residents thank you thank you councilman hunt thank you Mr President I'd also like to congratulate Dominic on the award he received today it's well worth it if you've been around Dom um he's a very entertaining individual um and he does do a wonderful job with all the sports that he likes and then he volunteers at those so that's all I have for you Mr President C masella yes just uh a couple of brief comments uh uh ladies and Gentlemen please be careful uh working around your house and walking it's cold outside and you don't want to you know succumb to the cold weather or slip uh snow will be coming uh be careful walking around and as always if you see something or hear something no matter where you are in Clark don't hesitate to call our Police Department if something doesn't seem quite right to you right they'll respond quickly and they will ensure your safety and until next month be well stay safe and have a good night thank you councilman Smith thank you council president o Conor uh just a quick uh thank you to Dom PR again for all his Vol volunteers heing uh at the rec center and for all the various youth leagues in town uh he does do a lot of hard work most of the time we do get a few laughs out of it uh but he does uh enjoy what he does so thanks again Dom that's all I have this evening thank you councilman tol thank you Mr President I'm going to just piggy back on the signage and the history of the signage in the township of Clark signage of course go back years but the last time we had signs or even touch signs in this Township was 34 years ago in 1986 under mayor George Gus Sarah who went out and got the Chamber of Commerce to sponsor the various signs as you enter into the township of Clark on the Four Points Lake Avenue Central Avenue you were also along reron road the rton road connection on Cranford and the question was private property was actually the major factor in it but they were sponsored by Chamber of Commerce they came out and they said okay you put a sign here we still have two remaining signs from that error 34 years old when you come over Central Avenue over the bridge the pixon bridge there's one on the right it's in very poor condition because it's been sitting out there for all these years they never really updated or maintain as the word there's one over on Lake Avenue they're still there that's the ones back to then and they've replaced signs that were put up in the 1960s from mayor Cas mck's Time Each mayor did a little fiddling other one didn't want to touch it because it was his project whatever it might be those haven't been touched in 34 years Dom that's your history of your signage can it be done again absolutely but the the administrations didn't want to go and tax the residents on more initial what we call privil or not so important stuff they want to take care of roads and potholes so the sponsorships and stuff came from the Chamber of Commerce you which we have in town and they could be probably I know they a lot of people hit them and bend their arms for money for good Charities but their names of the companies went on the bottom so again long time it's just history repeating itself it's been 34 years and yes it's a good idea let me just finish up my comments Brian let me just hit signs buddy you're right we did when I was on Council in the 90s replace some too yep um the problem is though just you know just for Citizens you know this you deal with it you know nowadays like you ask someone to donate a sign it's not like even5 or $600 for those nice signs they're literally you know several thousand dollar and you know believe it or not a lot of the companies just don't want to reach for that kind of money you know um between the recreation and the mayor's golf outing and other things we have you always see donations going up and down each year you know people you can depend on then don't and then do and so you know it's the cost of everything is really rising and like you say you have other needs you want to fill the hole for and that's what we're trying to do but thank you sorry for the interruption no no no you're fine M absolutely correct and that's why and then with this Ultra 20% Century Media everything's on the iPhones everything's on the technology so a standing sign yes please your GPS will tell you where you are except if you guys heard today way was sending people to the brigata in Atlantic City through some swamp land and they were getting stuck out on these dirt roads and everything so they had a call ways and tell them you know number one I don't know if you don't know how to get to Atlantic City it's the parkway to the exit I mean where you coming from timbuk to I mean really even if you're coming from Delaware or New York or Pennsylvania you got to know it's the Garden State Parkway to get to Atlantic City but WS was sending people down this uh this dirt road and they were getting stuck so they had to call Wes and tell them to update their site but I just had to throw that in I got it I was totally entertained by that today I got to be tell tell you really that you don't know how to get to Atlantic City from the Garden State Parkway I mean where' they drive from Canada I'd like to take a survey sounds good Mr Mayor I'm just going to finish up if you don't mind Mr President because I know you want to get out well I got wilon the chief coming home from Atlantic City one time did you guys win at least did you win that's another issue but okay we were still in New Jersey though thank God on paved roads they give them credit did they B the roads Mr Mayor yeah that was that okay I'm just going to finish up my commentary and again Don you actually bring up that's how it's done in this town you bring up an idea throw it at I said to you come up and say whatever you want because that's what this is about making a better town and ideas like that are a great way to get them started and get the conversation going then we go how we get sponsorship and then go out and find out who owns the land where we can put them for those we've lost in the last month Ruth Schiller Mrs Schiller was a long long time resident in Clark she lived for over 60 years in the township and if you knew her face you're like I know that lady Barbara gal Mrs gal was a very prominent resident back I'm going 30 40 years ago with St Agnes Church she just passed away Edith pearlmutter Edith Pearl mut if you know Walter Johnson's funeral home that's the Pearl mutter's mom so again Steven pear he lost his mom and again our condolences to the PE mutters if you know our Township the Walter Johnson's Funeral Home quickie gourney these are people who have a business in the township and I'm always mentioning people who are going and visiting there but again uh Steven lost his mom Edith and our condolences to the PE meter family and to Stephen great great guy Barbara Fiera Barbara Fiera if you lived on massen Hill Road Mario was the husband he died a couple years ago but Mrs Fier was just a sweetheart and one of those special people who lived in the township moved away I couldn't afford living in town anymore she moved away and she just passed away and her daughter I was friends with through the espositos and all that again people to people uh Charlotte sheerin Andrew and Fred Frederick's mom just passed away our condolences to them sheeper Farm mass and Hood Road Long Time family of the township of Clark and Andrew and Freddy We condolences to you and your your famili we're so sorry Sher Hudak daughter of Liz Beth Hudak former fourth word council woman of Township of Clark Sher was a young lady and she died too soon and too suddenly our condolences to her brother and to Richard Megs Mr Megs Richard Megs Richie they called him I always remember him from him and Lenny Roth used to ride their bicycles along West Avenue they were special uh ed kids they were part of Johnson Regional High School if you were in Johnson the 70s you knew Richie and you also knew Lenny great guys who have left us too soon that's all I've got to say again if you need anything if you know where a good pothole is or you got a reported pothole please let us know we'll then let Public Works know I got a lady screaming at me the other day about there's a pothole on my street so we relay it through channels do it by process and get it in writing and get it to the clerk and to the public works department that's all I've got Mr President thank you very much thank you very much and uh for me for the second word uh Mr Mayor and Mr laa you uh we saw the construction start on the corner of Westfield Avenue at r Road you could see they put up the two stairwells they also have the basement put in place do we have a ETA on when we think that may be done no and I'm going to tell you Pat what I think is they got everything in place they got some beautiful weather yep and right now the last couple of days it was too cold to pour cement so I'm sure as soon as the weather lightens up they're going to be out there because they were out there going full guns the other day I don't have an ETA but weather permitting I'm sure it's going to go quickly should by okay by spring or fall thank you very much uh yeah probably by the great thank you and um in my final comments every once in a while you meet somebody who is a little bit polarizing so I met this woman she let me know that she watches every meeting she's uh let's just I'm not going to give her age away on on air however I do want to say hello to Milly Russo who uh tolds me she watches every meeting so Willie hello I hope you're doing well and I hope you're feeling better um Mr President can I ask you are you taking that that because she's watching you or us it's us she watches me trying to figure it out uh Mr lazy you have any final comments Chief counselor no comment and final comments of course Ed thank you all right so with that I'd like to motion to adjourn the meeting so move can I get a second second all in favor I any post good night everyone have a good have a good month and we'll see you next month thanks bye for