good afternoon ladies and gentlemen happy New Year and welcome to our reorganization meeting uh the first meeting of the year January 1st 2024 our first order of business is a call to order of the 2023 Council um so would you like to call the order and arise for the Pledge of Allegiance I pledge aliance to the flag of the UN States of America and to the for it stands Nation God indivisible liberty and justice for all at this time we will have a reading of the sunshine statement and roll call um of our 2023 Council by our Deputy clerk Mrs Laurence stats this meeting of the denel andboro council is called pursuant to the provisions of the open public meetings law this meeting of January 1 1st 2024 was advertised in The Courier on January 5th 2023 and as a teleconference was noticed on the official dellan website on December 20th 2023 on the public Bolton board on North a on December 20th 2023 and again advertised in The Courier on December 24th 2023 mayor sento present Mrs Albertson here Dr D noted absent Mr paon here council president Rios here Mr Sigman here Mr vanderark here item number four on our agenda is the adjournment of our 2023 Council can I have a motion and a second move it second r roll call Mrs Albertson yes Mr Fon yes Mrs Rios yes Mr Sigman yes Mr vandemark yes item number five on our agenda is the oath of office for uh my office council member Hal vanderark and council member elect chrisa IIs Lance um we will be led by assemblywoman Michelle matutas heading the oath of office so I guess I'm up yes okay B up Y and you're already jul want to do this we go okay ready please repeat after me I Jason fento do Solly swear I Jason F salento do solemly swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States that I will support the Constitution of the United States and the constitution of New Jersey and the constitution of New Jersey that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same and to the government's established in the United States and in this state and to the government established in the United States and this state under the authority of the people under the authority of the people and that I will faithfully and that I will Faithfully impartially partially and justly and justly perform all duties perform all duties of the mayor of the mayor according to the best of my ability so help me God according to the best of my abilities so help me God [Applause] congratulations [Applause] now I get to sign my I'll take [Music] your you may have noticed the uh cab hat and um this is in honor of my papa who helped me get involved in politics so every time I've been sworn in since his death God Rest his soul I've sworn to the Bible on top of his cabat because it's my way of honoring him and thanking him for helping me get [Applause] involved next we will have the oath of office for council member croa Edis [Applause] Lance led by assembly woman Michelle that's [Music] fig yes am all right we ready short phrases yes I C Lance I Lance do solemnly swear do solemnly swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States and I will support the Constitution of the United States and the constitution of the state of New Jersey and the constitution of the state of New Jersey that I will bear true faith that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same an allegiance to the same and to the governments established and to the governments established in the United States and in this state in the United States and in this state under the authority of the people under the authority of the people and that I will faithfully and that I will faithfully and partially and partially and justly and justly perform all duties perform all duties of the office of council member according to the best of my ability of the office of council member according to the best of my abilities so help my God so help me [Applause] God sign a blue one not the blue one next we will have the oath of office for council member [Music] halar good nice okay ready okay hi Harold band I har do solemnly swear do solemnly swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States I support Constitution of the United States and the constitution of the state of New Jersey and the constitution of the state of New Jersey that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same and to the governments established in the United States the United States and in this state and in this state under the authority of the people the the authority of the people and that I will Faithfully that I will faithfully impartially impartially and justly and justly perform all the duties perform all the duties of the office of council member of the office of council member according to the best of my ability according to the best of my ability so help me God so help me God [Applause] [Music] I will so before we continue I just want to recognize some of the elected officials that are here with us this afternoon um from legislative district 21 we have Senator John bramnick assembly woman and Deputy minority leader Nancy Munos we have woman Michelle [Applause] matakas we have former uh mayor Robert J Cedar former council member for denel Jeremy louder and we have a guest from Summit councilwoman Lisa Allen scanning the the crowd that's all I see so um sorry if I missed you but thank you for being here today um and at this moment we will open the floor to uh Senator John bramnick Nancy woman uh Nancy woman assembly woman Nancy Munos and assembly woman Michelle matuda to say a few words if they so choose well first of all thank you Happy New Year to everyone we're really pleased that with the redistri that got included in district 21 I hope that we will represent you well in Trenton and demonstrate that we have always shown a balanced approach of our our legislative initiatives and our work and we really look forward to getting to know more of you all of you and working with you as we go forward so thank you all again Happy New Year to all you and best wishes for the mayor's wife with her ug special delivery [Applause] happy New Year and welcome to district 21 we are so excited than the three of us are very much looking forward to as Nancy said helping you contining to work hard for you um we made it our business to be visible here in dland that is not going to change we're going to remain here hardworking and uh want to help you in any which way that we can and we also to for those of you who don't know this team we're the fastest return call in government you call us we call you back quickly and try to help you because that's what is supposed to do sometimes it's not perect but I can't help but talk about an observation when the mayor took is it Papa's hat my popup yeah you know most people who run for office you know have that kind of warmth in their heart but sometimes you don't see it and social media sometimes is overdone and sometimes allow this people on social media get all the attention but in reality when you have a mayor and councel people whose heart is Inon let's try to help them nobody's perfect but I can guarantee you based on this mayor's heart you're going to you're going to give 100% so happy New Year and God bless thank you Senator and Assembly women item number six on our agenda is the oath of office for our municipal clerk Lauren stats and I will have the great honor to lead [Music] that here your left this I Lawrence stat I lawence stat do solemnly swear do solemnly swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States that I will support the Constitution of the United States and the constitution of the state of New Jersey and the constitution of of the state of New Jersey that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same and to the government's established in the United States and in this state and to the governments established in this state and the United States under the authority of the people so help me God under the authority of the people so help me [Applause] God you like okay okay today's a lot of standing sitting applauding uh and uh talking so uh you're going to be seeing us me up a few times okay now we've all been waiting for item number seven on our agenda is a call to order of the 20124 council uh by myself and our new municipal clerk and registar Lauren stats so can well we just have to do a call to order not a motion mayor sento president I guess I was having thoughts sorry Mrs Alberton here Mrs Lance here Mr paulon here Mrs Rios here Mr Sigman here and Mr vanderark here okay congratulations everyone looking forward to working with you item number eight is the appointment of our burough attorney William Robertson so this is a motion and a second can we have a motion and a second on this resolution Alberton second Sig can we have a roll call please Mrs Albertson yes Mrs Lance yes Mr paulon yes Mrs Rios yes Mr Sigman yes and Mr vanderark yes okay Mr Robertson is here and let's do our swearing in there's a pen to sign there's a pen want we can have that out do you want somebody to hold a Bible for [Applause] you okay I William Robertson I William Robertson do solemnly swear do solemnly swear that I'll support the Constitution of the United States I'll support the Constitution of the United States and the constitution of the state of New Jersey and the constitution of the state of New Jersey that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same and to the governments established in the United States and in this state and to the governments established in the United States and in this state under the the authority of the people so help me God under the authority of the people so help me God welcome to the [Applause] team joining me up on the DAT is Alex next or Council council president item number nine is the appointment of a council president do we have a nomination yes I'd like to nominate Jerry alberon any second second okay Teresa do you accept the nomination yes I do okay are there any other nominations to the floor without hearing any we'll take a roll call Mrs Albertson you can say yes y Mrs Lance Mr PA johon yes Mrs Rios yes Mr Sigman yes and Mr vanderark [Music] congratulations council president and now you get to be sworn in woman would the great honor or Senator okay Council there's not one there there's not a council president out there but we use the same Mo yeah okay he coming stand raise your right hand and repeat I state your name I Al do solemnly swear do solemnly swear that I will support the Constitution that I will support the Constitution of the United States of the United States and the Constitution and the constitution of the state of New Jersey of the state of New Jersey that I will bear true faith that I will bear true faith and allegiance to Saints and allegiance to Saints and to the governments established and to the governments established in the united states in the United States and in this state and in this state under the authority of the people under the authority of the people so help me go so help me go congratulations congratulations council president [Music] next on our agenda is item number 10 the appointment of Alexander Miller as our burough administrator can I have a motion in a second [Music] please Mrs Albertson yes Mrs Lance yes Mr Paul johon yes Mrs Rios yes Mr Sigman yes and Mr vanderark yes okay I'll have the great honor to administer the Yol I'll go slow I Alexander Miller I Alexander Miller do solemnly swear do solemnly swear that I affirm to support I somly swear that I support the Constitution of the United States that I support the Constitution of the United States and the constitution of the state of New Jersey the constitution of the state of New Jersey that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same I bear true faith and allegiance to the city and to the government established in the United States the government establish in the United States and in this state in this state under the authority of the people the authority of the people so help me God so help me God [Applause] congratulations sure let's make this official oh please sign you could just give me the rest of [Applause] those okay next on the agenda are the appointments of boards and commissions uh this requires no votes um we can pass those three up that way please and pass those three I apologize I did not put them in the packet beforehand okay so denan is successful because our volunteers this year alone I believe we had over 125 Volunteers in our rec programs and our commissions and Boards so at this moment in time I have the great honor to be able to swear in all the volunteers that are currently here and being appointed to a commission or committee or border Authority so if you're here can you please rise and I'll read your oath of office too afterwards you can uh join Lauren in the recreation office and sign your oath of office Okay so the first part is your name and then the committee in which you are going to be joining so I'll say I your name of and then committee and then we everything's the same so I member of the okay now we're all online do solemnly swear swear or affirm or affirm that I will will support the Constitution of the United States will support the constition of the United States and the constitution of the state of New Jersey and the constitution of the state of New Jersey that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same I will true Fai and and to the government established in the United States and to the government established in the United States and in this state and in this state under the authority of the people so help me God under the authority of the people so help me God congratulations and thank you for your okay thank you to everyone who Volunteers in our community those who are not able to be present you can join Mrs stats at the clerk's office and take your oath of office there and sign sign Your Allegiance okay next is our agenda resolutions uh Mrs stats if you can lead us through these please sure resolution number five is to appoint Lauren stats as public agency compliance officer a motion in a second it second Alon you have a roll call sure Mrs Albertson yes Mrs Lance yes Mr Pon yes Mrs Rios yes Mr Sigman yes Mr vanderark yes resolution number six is to approve the list of meeting dates for the burrow Council move it Sig Mrs Albertson yes Mrs Lance yes Mr paulon yes Mrs Rios yes Mr Sigman yes Mr vanderark yes resolution number seven is to approve the official list of newspapers for the burrow second Sig R Sig Mrs Albertson yes Mrs Lance yes Mr Paul Al John yes Mrs Rios yes Mr Sigman yes Mr vanderark yes resolution number eight is to appoint burrow depositories mve Sig R Mrs Albertson yes Mrs Lance yes mron yes Mrs Rios yes Mr Sigman yes and Mr vanderark yes resolution number nine is to approve the list of employee holidays movement Mrs Albertson yes Mrs Lance yes Mr Pon yes Mrs Rios yes Mr Sigman yes and Mr Vander yes resolution number 10 is to authoriz iiz the mayor municipal clerk burough administrator Chief Financial Officer to be eligible signatories for municipal financial documents Mrs Albertson yes Mrs Lance yes Mr paon yes Mrs Rios yes Mr Sigman yes Mr vandon yes resolution number 11 is to approve the rate of interest for non payment of taxes assessments or other Municipal charges move Sig second Mrs Albertson yes Mrs Lance yes Mr Pon yes Mrs Rios yes Mr Sigman yes Mr vanderark yes resolution number 12 to authorize the tax collector to cancel tax refunds and delinquency is below $10 second Mrs Albertson yes Mrs Lance yes Mr Pon yes Mrs Rios yes Mr Sigman yes and Mr vandermark yes resolution number 13 is to approve the temporary budget for calendar year 2024 the municipal budget move it second Z Mrs Albertson yes Mrs Lance yes Mr Pon yes Mrs Rios okay Mr Sigman yes and Mr vanderark [Applause] yes resolution number 14 is to approve the temporary budget for calendar year 2024 the sewer utility budget second Mrs Albertson Mrs Lance yes Mr paon yes Mrs Rios yes Mr Sigman yes and Mr vanderark yes resolution number 15 is to approve Towing contracts for 2024 mooving second Mrs Albertson yes Mrs Lance yes Mr Pon yes Mrs Rios yes Mr Sigman yes and Mr vanderark yes resolution 16 through 34 will be voted upon in one consent agenda motion and as there are all appointments for the municipal court and Professional Services so do we have a motion and a second second roll call please Mrs Albertson yes Mrs Lance yes Mr Pon yes Mrs Rios yes Mr Sigman yes and Mr vanderark yes okay 31 through 38 will be read individually correct correct okay resolution number 35 is the appointment of rjh solutions for matters related to Information Technology move it second alberon Mrs Albertson yes Mrs Lance yes Mr paon yes Mrs Rios yes Mr Sigman yes and Mr vandermark yes resolution number 36 is to appoint Kelly cupit as Dell's qualified purchasing agent move it Sig Mrs Albertson yes Mrs Lance yes Mr paulon yes Mrs Rios yes Mr Sigman yes and Mr vanderark yes resolution number 37 is to recognize the appointment of officially elected 2024 line officers and executive officers for the D fire department Mrs Albertson yes Mrs Lance yes Mr Pon yes Mrs Rios yes Mr Sigman yes and Mr vanderark yes's give a round of applause for our firefighters resolution number 38 is to appoint kathern H as dellan Municipal Court Judge alberon Mrs Albertson yes Mrs Lance yes Mr paulon yes Mrs Rios yes Mr Sigman yes and Mr vanderark yes resolution number 39 is the appointment of Alexander Miller as fund commissioner to to the central Jersey joint Insurance Fund Mrs Albertson Mrs Lance yes Mr paon yes Mrs Rios yes Mr Sigman yes and Mr vanderark yes resolution number 40 is to establish a petty cash fund move it Rio Mrs Albertson yes Mrs Lance yes Mr paon yes Mrs Rios yes Mr Sigman yes Mr vanderark yes resolution number 41 is authorizing the hiring of Delta strategies LLC for the provisions of Consulting Services move it Sig second Mrs Albertson yes Mrs Lance yes Mr Pon yes Mrs Rios yes Mr sigment yes and Mr vanderark yes resolution number 42 is to authorize an agreement with accusure LLC for Risk Management Consultant R second Mrs Albertson yes Mrs Lance yes Mr Pon yes Mrs Rios yes Mr Sigman yes and Mr vanderark yes okay okay at this moment in time time I get to uh provide the municipal address and uh it is shorter than last year so you're all good standing I see mayor Cedar going thank God okay so good afternoon ladies and gentlemen members of the denell and burrow Council and burrow staff and our distinguished guests I begin my fifth state of the burough address by wishing you and yours a happy and healthy New Year I am honored to be here today to begin my second term as the mayor of dellan we've accomplished a great deal together over the last four years and I look forward to the jobs ahead of us that we will accomplish we are privileged to serve this great burough with the amazing people who call it home and the business owners who invest in our community putting their trust in all of us up here today a fact we must always keep top of mind I look forward to working with the members of the burrow Council to accomplish even greater tasks ahead Teresa Albertson Joseph paulr Trina Rios and Daniel Cole Sigman as well as Harold vanderark and crool Idis Lance who I thank and congratulate today on their swearing in and thank you assemblywoman Michelle mudis for joining us today to swear myself and our council members in and senator brck for swearing in our council president I would also like to extend my thanks and well- wishes to Jessica Dunn for her years of service on the burough Council and look forward to working with her in her new volunteer position congratulations to Teresa Albertson for being appointed council president we know you will serve this community with devotion and sincerity additionally thank you to council member Trina Rios for your honorable two years of service as C council [Applause] president I would also like to take a moment to recognize Dr William M Robbins who recently retired from the burough after serving 22 years as municipal clerk and registar and eventually our burough administrator and that's already having served as the library director for 13 years prior so I believe that's if I'm doing my math right 33 years or so Al together bill has played an intrical part in moving dellan forward working tirelessly to ensure our local government provided the best Services possible for our constituents his calm demeanor will be missed at bur Hall but we know he's looking forward to endless rounds of golf in the months to come thank you Bill for your commitment to the burrow of denalan yes now as one chapter closes another opens so I'd like to congratulate Lauren stats for being appointed municipal clerk and registar and Alexander Miller for being appointed burough administrator today both are dedicated public servants who we all know will work hard to serve the residents and business owners of dellan in their new roles and finally One Last Farewell goes to John Brer Esquire who who served as prosecutor for dellan for four years and eventually as our burough attorney for 22 years John has recently been approved to become a superior court judge y congratul although we are losing a brilliant legal mind the state of New Jersey will be gaining a judge who is the epitome of honor and integrity and who will enforce the law fairly and justly thank you John for your guidance and friendship you will be missed and with that note I'd like to welcome our new burough attorney William Robertson Esquire to the deis and wish him well in his new role with us he's already been informed that we have a lot of work ahead of us there's no slow days here and is ask Alex and Lauren and is prepared to be busy welcome William [Applause] it is my honor to stand before you as your mayor this afternoon to inform you that the state of the burough of dellan is strong living and doing business in New Jersey Miracle Mile is a real blessing we fac unfathomable number of for ordained adversities over the past four years including a global pandemic hurricane Ida the rebuilding of our Firehouse and destructive flooding yet our community continued to show up to support one another with generosity strength and optimism for the future we can only be successful when everyone pitches in and in dellan we know they do as mayor I am encouraged and inspired every day by our Collective volunteerism and unwavering dedication to continue making denell a wonderful place to call home so to that end we accomplished a lot in 2023 including the continuation of historic improvements to our infrastructure acceptance of sizable Grant funds and the continued revitalization of our downtown first of note our commitment to providing cost effective ways to improve our roads has been paying off with nearly eight of 16 miles of Municipal owned roadways being newly paved since 2020 in 2023 alone this included the completion of nearly one mile of road pavement projects through the middle 6 County Mill and pave program enabling us to pave Columbia Street J do Drive Kennedy Court Oak Parkway which desperately needed it Pearl place and Penfield place as well as the ability to install new ADA Compliant crosswalks and replace severely damaged curves every road paved has received enhanced strip and signage to ensure traffic and pedestrian safety and enforce speed limits especially near our schools parks and downtown businesses this year in particular these enhancements can be seen on Prospect Avenue kudos to the residents who advocated for that they should be recognized we also collaborated with the school district to build a sidewalk from colasi Street near Center Street to favor school to assist pedestrian access in that area protecting the people living in and visiting our one square mile is the utmost importance I would also like to thank the mayor's traffic and pedestrian safety task force for the continued assistance and input on this matter [Applause] yes since being sworn in as mayor in 2020 the burough has been awarded a total of 4 million 435,000 grants from state and federal agencies for various Road Park Environmental and Transit Village projects that have already been or will be implemented over the next two years for thank you for 2023 this includes a 529,000 Transit vill Village grant for decorating lighting around Route 28 between Madison Avenue and the middle sex border and 496000 for Second Street improvements Phase 2 between Madison Avenue and North Washington Avenue from the New Jersey Department of Transportation Municipal aid funds we also received 436,000 Safe Streets for all Grant from the United States Department of Transportation to assess and plan for p pedestrian accessibility throughout the burough of dellan additionally dellan was awarded 170,000 from The Local transportation projects fund by the state of New Jersey to install rectangular rapid flashing Beacon lights at the intersections of South Washington Avenue and AR Street and New Market Road in Grove Street two locations that darly need that lastly we received a $39,600 grant from the US Department of interior in coordination with the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection and the lower Raritan Watership partnership for a trash trap installation in the Greenbrook to help capture debris and garbage from going Upstream of dellan we were honored to be the first in the state of New Jersey to benefit from this pilot program through these newly awarded grants we intend to improve the experience of both residents and visitors with re-envisioned Street Scapes improved roads and pedestrian accessibility and the protection of our local environment we will we will continue to make strides towards improvements in the burough of denel by applying for grant opportunities that will assist in offsetting the cost of these Capital Improvement projects the economic development and revitalization of downtown denell continues with its Renaissance and I say we're in a Renaissance of new Investments and small businesses over the last four years we've been able to close nearly 68 million in residential mixed use and facade Improvement investments in our downtown with several still to come along Route 28 in 2023 we welcome two new businesses including a coffee shop an event Hall several eies and a gifts and apparel shop the denell and downtown management organization continues to plan events and beautification projects for North Avenue throughout the year the nearly fully occupied dellan station project which we actually have some residents here today um was has welcomed hundreds of new residents to its town homes and apartments and its retail space now houses blue Foundry bank and Kastle Institute for rehabilitation and there are two locations still available if anybody wants to open a business these improvements will spur additional Investments and increase commercial values of Dell's downtown properties which is essential given that 89% of our tax base is reliant on residential property values the goal of revitalizing our downtown is first and foremost to help stabilize taxes for residential property owners so long as we continue to promote and adopt a Commerce friendly mentality that attracts and retains new businesses investors and Builders Dell's downtown will continue to thrive and increase Revenue that helps the burrow to offset the tax burden on residents in addition to our Redevelopment efforts we conducted and or adopted four planning initiatives to help guide the Burrow's decision-making over the next decade on matters related to development downtown Improvement districts and a Main Street program as well as working to build out a mun a municipal wide strategic communication plan Den's master plan the blueprint for Dell's future development and land use was amended and adopted this year after its reexamination focusing on downtown Redevelopment and Zoning flooding and storm water management sustainability and circulation and accessibility secondly the Burl denell was the first in the state of New Jersey to adopt a climate resiliency plan which mainly focuses the speech is just going to be longer you keep cling um now I lost my place um over yeah no you're not saying no which mainly focuses on ways to mitigate flooding and storm water runoff through promoting green initiatives and design standards and assessing where and how to develop in the in the areas prone to flooding we also work throughout the year with sustainable Jersey on a pilot program to help create an equity profile and Municipal communication strategic plan the fruit of this label will will be assessed and hopefully implemented this year finally we worked with a graduate study class led by Dr David liskin at the Ruckers blous tein School of planning and public policy on the benefits of a downtown improvement district and a Main Street program in denel these initiatives will help guide the buau in sound decision making as we continue to grow based upon the recommendations from the master plan reexamination and climate resiliency plan we continue to work with our Municipal planners DMR Architects to amend our Redevelopment plan these amendments include clarifying intended uses throughout the Redevelopment area permitting New Uses such as artist live work Studios larger commercial St uh stores and larger supermarkets entertainment venues instit institutional uses and Film Production Studios the creation of a 12 foot buffers between existing residential areas and new developments no longer allowing for buildings to go right up to the backyard on property lines yep it is good because they don't deserve uh the creation of Workforce housing and the promotion of green design standards all of these decisions were based on feedback from residents and business owners through various surveys and public events a prime example of engaged constituencies impacting policy the buau of dellan also adopted a number of quality of life ordinances designed to improve the Aesthetics and peacefulness of our neighborhoods while supporting Economic Development some highlights include a vacant and abandoned properties and storefronts ordinance to establish minimum standards of accountability on owners or other responsible parties of vacant and abandoned structures and storefronts to protect the health safety and general welfare of the residents of den Allan and amended dellan alcoholic beverages ordinance to allow for restaurants in dellan to operate their liquor licenses on Saturdays and Sundays to encourage earlier operations such as brunches in these establishments a new chapter 152 for the burough in titled film industry setting up a process that motion picture studios must follow in order to film in Den Allen kudos to council member Hal for helping me out on that and amended denell and noise ordinance making it more enforceable by the police and now now code enforcement by removing Antiquated language this ordinance was written with the assistance of Chief Daniel Smith legal councel council member Hal vanderark again thank you and the administration therefore and went through an extensive review by these responsible parties to enforce it the burrow negotiated Fair contracts with our labor unions representing our Department of Public Work employees and police officers in which we work towards mutual agreements and the increase of pet Dell's Union and non-union employees are now paid at rates similar to or surrounding and comparable municipalities this will help in attracting and retaining a Workforce in in return the buau was able to negotiate with labor unions as well as established policy for non-union burough employees that moving forward employees will have to assist in paying in into their health care upon retirement this is intended to help the buau be fiscally responsible to its tax taxpayers by having employees contribute to these benefits in retirement while also continuing to provide quality services to them and pay Fair wages to employees as part of our ongoing effort to promote transparency in government and enhance Communications with residents business owners and visitors the burough regularly posts timely updates and virtually broadcast Council meetings mayoral town halls and monthly messages from the mayor on our website as well as hosting monthly walks and talks with the mayor residents can also sign up for our enotify to receive alerts about important incidents such as emergencies and road closures additionally we updated our council chambers this year to include microphones and new camera system to better record and publicly view meetings in the chambers the new system is right up there today it is our responsibility as a governing body to make constituents acutely aware of the happenings within local government and we will continue to fulfill this Mission we also congratulate and thank the denell downtown management organization for continually improving its monthly e newsletter next stop dellan and the Dell's quarterly newspaper the dellan report which entered its 13th year publication notably dellan was the final 16th contender in the National 20123 strongest Town contest the contest sponsored by strong towns celebrates community ities facing and addressing challenges such as housing transportation and economic uncertainty with resilience I believe it to be a great honor for our square mile burrow to be in competition with other towns across our great nation of the United States of [Applause] America I would like to spend some time recognizing in detail the fantastic job our departments boards committees and commissions have been doing doing to enhance the lives of our residents this year the dellan Parks and Recreation Department had another successful and memorable year in 2023 hosting several events and serving nearly 814 youth participants in activities such as basketball tennis track soccer baseball softball flag football and summer camp 53 parent and guardian coaches volunteered their time to meet the 6% increase in participation in its third year the Hometown Heroes Banner program continues to grow downtown thank you to Alex Miller and Kelly Cedar for advocating for this program we are also excited to welcome Kelly to the Parks and Recreation Department this year as a fulltime Recreation program coordinator she will undoubtedly do a fantastic job and I for one look forward to hearing her ideas to enhance our Recreation programs welcome to the team we continue to honor longtime dellan tradition such as the Memorial Day parade and ceremony our Veterans Day ceremony the Christmas tree lighting and Santa around town we recognize and appreciate the hard work of Alex Miller and Julie gr as well as our Parks and Recreation staff the Recreation Commission and all the coaches and volunteers who helped support the department and its programs this year the denell police department had an active year with 175 arrests 3,500 summons issued 2400 motor vehicle stops and the hiring of two new officers Jeffrey Jones and Gary Smith detective John D'Angelo received a Meritus service award by the 200 Club of middlex County for his part in apprehending a convicted Megan Megan's lost sex offender the denell PBA 146 led by our good friend Joe Dudley back there the toy drive that I'm going to talk about a su LED another successful toy drive this year collecting multiple trailer loads of toys for those in need during the Christmas [Applause] season our burrow is safe because of our officers and we thank them for the risks they take each and every day to protect our community thank [Applause] you fire department continues to serve our burough with honor and bravery these men and women have shown nothing but grit patience and dedication to their jobs as the firehouse its engines and its equipment are restored or replaced due to the fire in 2021 we are all looking forward to when they can call when they can fully operate out of the soon to be George W hodulik Firehouse which we ant anticipate will happen later this year so it's going to happen [Applause] and just a notable mention for George hji our friend George is g to be what 98 this year yeah something like that God bless him he was born and raised here he drank the water from the Bon Brook I think we have the Fountain of Youth here apparently um we thank the denell and rescue squad for being there in times of great and urgent need for our residents and look forward to their new building at 6:35 boundbrook Road we happily announc that the dellan office of emergency management received an emergency management Grant this year in total of $10,000 under the leadership of OEM coordinator Homer Mosley Jr and Deputy OEM ins search coordinator William Carlson denell inserch team continues to remain active and has completed approximately 300 hours of training this year that's [Applause] great denell in public works under the leadership of Alex Mill Miller you might have to start having a drinking game every time I mention your name under the leadership of Alex Miller and Richard herker hired two full-time uh one sorry one full-time employee Gregory stalker to improve up to further improve upon the tremendous job they've been doing maintaining burrow properties catch basins and much more the denell downtown management organization hosted its annual harvest fest in Washington Memorial Park sponsored Dell and Restaurant Week in spring into Wellness hosted events such as shop small business Saturday decorated the downtown for the change of holiday seasons and hosted several grand openings for new businesses the dellan arts and culture commission hosted their annual Art summer camp presented summer C uh summer concerts and plays in the park decorated the storefronts for the holidays and will soon complete a public mural project that will be placed under the Madison Avenue train trestle both organizations really helped to brighten the spirit of our Miracle Mile this year the denell municipal Alliance also holds held several events informing our community of the alliance's mission to protect our youth from the effects of drug and alcohol abuse the denal diversity inclusion committee worked to celebrate Den's great diversity while the denell public library a cultural centerpiece of our community continued to provide Youth and adult programming technological needs and educational materials to nearly 12,000 visitors to the library in 2023 2024 marks the 50th anniversary of the Arnold Schwarz Memorial Library and we anticipate a great year full of celebrations the friends of the denan public library also coordinated their successful outdoor Market in Washington Memorial Park this year with funds from vendor fees benefiting the library the denan planning board held many important and successful meetings this year as it continues to be the municipal agency that oversees site plans for redevelopment projects and other zoning related matters thanks to the volunteers who make up the planning board and thank you to Chiron Roundtree and Lauren stats for administratively keeping everything moving forward we're almost there I promise there's a lot going on so we want to you know recognize that thought you said yeah the mayor's cannabis task force sought additional feedback from the community and conducted extensive research regarding the commercialization of cannabis and denell before ultimately deciding to recommend to the mayor and councel that we remain opted out at this time they will continue studying the outcome of multiple lawsuits that are occurring between municipalities and their applicants to further assist denel in making its final decision on the matter the denell parking authority saw a strong return of commuters to the train station parking lot and expect this trend to continue in 2024 to increase the ease and convenience of purchasing a daily parking pass the parking authority has begun offering the option of using a mobile app for payment this app M2 Park can be downloaded on your mobile phone and readily used for your convenience and our Municipal clerks handle dozen of pets licenses marriage licenses and much more while the Construction office issued approximately 1100 permits this year 350 certificate of occupancies and completed 1,800 inspections between all subcode officials yes that's a lot of weth that they just did Dell and also some of our also saw some of our local establishments employees volunteers and residents recognized State and Nationwide in our business Community Rome pizza was awarded one of the best New York style pizzas in the nation and number two in New Jersey Warrior martial arts was named one of the top five martial arts studios in Central Jersey Maggie Murray's PU Pub was recognized as the best Irish pub in middlex county and the dellan hotel in Ras skeller was named one of New Jersey's coziest restaurants by new jersey.com [Applause] toell and Resident Jake mosa hiked the Appalachian Trail in memory of his grandfather Jim mosca and helped to raise funds for the Alzheimer's research Alex Miller take a shot was awarded public servant of the Year from the middlex county regional Chamber of Commerce Recreation Commission chair Jim Brennan was given the notable honor of being a lifetime service Honore from the New Jersey state Governor's volunteerism Awards Kelly Cedar was awarded the coach of the year for the gold division high school boys tennis from the greater middle sex conference Harry Johnson was awarded coach of the year for the gold division High School girls soccer from the GMC and the late Laura ausy was honored in in memorial for the f s matthewson award from the njrpa this [Applause] is our Miracle Mile is filled with amazing people who achieve great things with the individuals noted above proving that even in small towns big things do happen through collaboration professionalism and volunteerism our employees in our community made great progress for the burrow in 2023 while remaining true to our small town values now I'd like to share with you just a few tasks on the agenda for denalan in 2024 and Beyond the construction of the denalan station project as well as other recent investments into the revitalization of our downtown has led to the increased interest in denell from Builders and business owners we anticipate the construction of several residential mixed use projects this year it is important to recognize the significance these projects will have in attracting new residents and businesses to dellan that will Foster an economic boom for our downtown our vision and duty is to make denan a better place to live work play and do business in this year we will make strides in assessing the benefits and implementation of a downtown improvement district this will assist in marketing attracting and retaining businesses in dellen and will provide for greater funding opportunities for beautification projects downtown to further revitalization in dellan mentioned to you you both uh we will continue to work with New Jersey's legislative district 21 Representatives Senator John bramnick assemblywoman Michelle matutas and Nancy Munos to ensure that New Jersey Transit does not forget about the dire need to modernize our train station and just a quick note on day one when I called our friends in ld21 they showed up and they have been fighting with us and for new train station ever since so thank you we will continue to explore ways to save money and streamline Municipal Services through Innovative shared service agreements with nearby municipalities and local agencies major infrastructure Improvement goals in 2024 will include working with New Jersey American water and PG on more utility improvements and Paving roads working with middlex County on the milling and Paving of more streets working with Piscataway Township on the milling and pavement of Center Street using the New Jersey Department of Transportation Municipal aid funds to improve Cline Place continuing to seek grant opport opportunities for beautification and infrastructure improvements advancing the South Avenue Culver rebuild under the New Jersey Transit tracks to alleviate flooding the fundings in place the permits in place and the easements in place so this is happening yes strongly encourage other internet and cable providers to build out infrastructure into and to help create competition in this I'll say this two are interested and we've had conversations so let's hope they raise the capital uh working on ordinances to regulate truck traffic throughout the B which we know is a big issue uh and developing a student ambassador's program with the high school so our youth can be involved in our committees commissions and volunteer programs to gain a better understanding of their local government as well as host a volunteer Picnic Day in denell to celebrate and honor our countless volunteers Kelly I be throwing that at you when you finally get on board okay we plan to look at ways to enhance Public Safety with the den Police Department through the organizational structure of the department and the assessment of the appropriate number of police Staffing with the hopes of adding a traffic control officer and community community engagement officer we also will continue implementing pedestrian and traffic safety measures such as enhanced striping traffic light signals and Rapid flashing Beacon lights at Key intersections in denan as well as a complete and green streets policy alongside our Safe Streets for all assessment additionally we will also be looking at the overall organizational chart and behaviors of the burough government to see where we can have efficiencies so that we can continue to enhance the services for our constituencies lastly this governing body will continue to work closely with department heads to develop a long-term capital Improvement plan that will strategically allow for downtown park and other Capital Improvements throughout the next several years we plan to work with our financial advisers and W Financial Group LLC to build out a revenue analysis from the Redevelopment projects and work on a Debt Service payment plan to help alleviate this burden on the taxpayer [Applause] yeah as we have so much to accomplish together moving forward we will continually be reviewing and updating ordinances too as needed I would like to end my address to you today by thanking the bureau's Administration staff and our various boards and commissions and committees though there are many I'd like to recognize by name here are a few individuals and they work very hard throughout the year so I'm going to give the time to recognize them by name William Robbins our former municipal clerk and burough administrator Alex Miller our superintendent of parks recreation and public works and now burough administrator Lauren stat our new municipal clerk and registar Deborah Weaver our human resources manager Julie grth all Recreation staff and the Recreation Commission Richard Herer and all of our department of public Works employees Chiron rry our administrative consultant John Brer our former burough attorney and now William Robertson our new bur attorney Scott olon our our Chief Financial Officer uh tax collector Don Hutchinson tax office clerk Gail Warner and tax assessor Don gutell judge kathern house Municipal Court Administrator Terry chrisop Foley and violations clerk Denise Donado George Dean and Kenneth B and dist and our code enforc ment Mike Rossy clarabel John Scott Travis and Michael in our Construction office police chief Daniel Smith Lieutenant uh Chris beers Administrative Assistant Debbie Richie and all of our police officers Chief Jonathan Scott of the denell and fire department and newly sworn in Chief uh William Scott and all of their membership Chief Jeff best of the denell and rescue squad and all their membership OEM coordinator Homer J Mosley Deputy OEM coordinator William Carlson and their entire search team and OEM staff thank you to all of our government services employees and volunteers agencies including parking authority planning board ddmo the mayor's traffic pedestrian safety task force the dni committee Dak I'm just going to abbreviate them the mar house committee Shay tree the library the Cannabis task force and denel Senior Club in 2023 we had 125 volunteers participate in Recreation programs and or burrow commissions committees and boards and I hope we continue to build on that number denel and success is truly measured by those who serve our community finally I would like to recognize and thank my family for their unwavering support I extend my love and gratitude to my wife Lindsay for whom without I would not be able to be here today my thanks and love to my mother and father sister and brother and their families which are right over here and a special thank you again to my popup from whom without I would not have begun my journey into local politics sorry I am humbled and proud to serve the community that helped raise me and my family with 2024 to to be an wow extra exciting year given that Lindsay and I are well welcoming our first form a baby girl [Applause] that hit harder than I expected as mayor of den I promise to work with all members of the council to ensure responsible and transparent government is delivered to our constituents with all residents feeling they are fairly represented and welcomed in our Miracle Mile may we continue to devote our minds and hearts to Public Service above all else so that denan continues to be a place where our neighbors friends and fam seek to create the greatness that uniquely defines our community thank you for your time today and I hope you have a happy healthy and blessed New [Applause] Year okay at this moment in time we'll open the floor for any public comment we just ask that you please state your name and address without hearing any we will close that portion of the meeting now we have some recognitions which I'm going to go down to the floor for first up we have the recognition for years of service for Jonathan rder [Applause] Squire straight John there we go Okay so joh been an integral part of dellan for not just 22 years as burough attorney but 27 years because there was an additional four years that you were a prosecutor correct corre so a long time here and we're we're sorely going to miss you um so acknowledgement of John brudder's years of service whereas the bur ofel would like to express special recognition to John brudder es former burough attorney for his distinguished 20 27 years at the Bur and whereas John first embarked on this path out of law school as associate attorney and then accepted a position shortly after to become an assistant prosecutor for middx County while at middlex County he prosecuted many trials and was a trial team leader as well as a section leader and whereas in 1996 he returned to Private Practice where he started his own firm and then began his career with the burough as a municipal prosecutor in January of 1997 which he served for 4 years and then was initially filling in as the bur attorney for his father-in-law William gatsy pronounce Gaz Gaz I apologize who was then the bur's longtime attorney and in 2001 was appointed by former mayor Robert J Cedar to be the official burough attorney in denell a position he served for 23 years and whereas John has devoted countless hours for the greater good of denel and its residents whether it be attending Council meetings answering questions and researching information on different issues going on in town or providing exceptional legal advice John has always had the bur's best interest at heart and whereas John has served in other municipalities throughout middlex County and Somerset County a bur Min attorney a municipal prosecutor he will be deeply missed in the burrow of denell now therefore be it resolved that I mayor Jason F salento on behalf of the burrow of denan wishes to express sincere appreciation to John Brer for his loyalty to denell over the last 27 years and wish him much happiness as he begins this exciting new chapter in his professional career at being appointed by the Governor New Jersey to become a superior court judge in Somerset County New Jersey [Applause] congratulations um I I didn't really prepare anything to say because I doing this but um I've had as I've sat out in the gallery today um from a different Vantage Point than I've had for the last 23 reorganization meetings here I have had a chance to reflect on what it's meant to be the municipal attorney for so since you've uh read out the number of years I've been here I can't I can't hide my age um I used to be young when I started here U but I will say that um for four years I was the municipal prosecutor and had people lining up through that door and that was the prosecutor's office back there and you came out and drrive cases here but um then in 2001 when my father-in-law William Daisy got it he had been a long time in and and mayor much like you he local boy grew up in town um and then he got involed involved in local politics here in dellan or local government I should say because he became the municipal court judge in his mid-20s here and served for years as Municipal Court Judge before becoming Municipal attorney um but he asked me to fill in for him while he was sick and then unfortunately passed away later that year um and then at the time then mayor Cedar came to me and said John we'd like you to stay on as our Municipal attorney and the realityy was uh I had tried tons of criminal trials I knew how to prosecute murder trials and all kinds of cases I knew how to handle civil cases personal injury whatnot but I didn't I was green when it came to Municipal law and I said that to Mayor sear but Bob you said to me John I have confidence in you I know you can do it and I've always been eternally grateful for that confidence that you you instilled in me and because of that I wanted to work hard for the bur of to do the best I could to reward that confidence and to show that it was well placed and for the council each year for supporting me because then as you know the municipal positions it's a year to year so thank you uh mayor Cedar and then mayor sento for continuing that confidence in me when you came on and I remember when you started as a councilman in your early to mid 20s 20 years old yeah yeah 20 years old uh it's it's never throughout the time I've been here and and what you see every 2 weeks got to sit up in that chair for the last 23 years that really reflects 1% of what the governing body does the 99% of what they do is behind the scenes and it's never escaped me throughout the time that I have been serving as a Minal attorney and working hard for that I get paid to do what I'm doing the people that really deserve the the appreciation and gratitude are everybody else the council members and the mayor who work so hard and they give the most important commodity they have which is their time and and it's not free time because they invest lots of time that they don't otherwise have and they do that a lot of times without thans they do that without compensation and they work hard for the bur of denal and while the council members don't always agree on every issue they all do have and share that same common goal which is to do what's best for the bur of den so a great thanks to the council for for all of those efforts the last thing I will say is that um as I mentioned my father-in-law held the position of Municipal attorney for many years then he passed that manle on to me um and then I I have held it for the last 23 years and now I'm passing it on to you Phill and I will say I feel very confident and grateful that it's being that someone else is taking over who is such an excellent attorney we we heard from from uh former Governor D Francesco who had recommended bill for the job and senator baitman who had also recommended bill for the job and I spoke to Senator bitman and I know mayor you spoke to uh the governor but then I saw on your resume when we were betting you I saw somebody whose reputation precedes him and whose opinion is very much respected and that's uh former Judge Tom Miller and pH you worked for Tom for many years so I so I reached out to judge Miller and he had nothing but great things to say about Bill he used the words loyal intelligent hardworking and when I heard that from Judge Miller who many consider to be one of the best judges in the entire State I knew that leaving I'm leaving this leaving this job in good hands please take care of my client my most important client and I know you will and congratulations thank you thank you mayor oh [Applause] okay next up we're going to recognize our dellan volunteer citizen of the year for 2023 and his honor is is bestowed upon Melissa Paul [Applause] John has been a great asset parts and Recreation Commission volunteer for various other organizations so this is a definite honor that be to start um Proclamation on awarding Melissa a Paul John Den's 2023 volunteer citizen of the Year whereas Melissa Paul John masteran is a lifelong resident of dellan attending whiter School John P Faber Elementary School and graduating from dellan high school and whereas Melissa has been married to burrow council member Joseph Paul John for 18 years together they have three daughters Giana who is 13 Brinley who is 11 and Kylie who is nine all who have participated in many community and recreation activities and whereas today Melissa has been a physical education and health teacher in BR Amoy for the past 23 years that's a great Fe thank you for your service there too whereas Melissa participated in several recreational activities throughout her childhood such as basketball cheerleading and softball and was a player on the middlex county college basketball team and whereas Melissa has gotten her drive to volunteer and be active in her community from her mother Barbara masteran always helped into Den know whether it be president of the PTO coaching softball teams member of the football fan club and helping to start the denel high school Project Graduation she led many fundraisers and was a great example of what it means to volunteer in a small community so Applause to you again and whereas Melissa has volunteered for community activities for many years before becoming an alternate member on the denel Recreation Commission in 2016 and then becoming an official member in 2017 in her role as a commissioner Melissa devoted her time to helping with Christmas tree lighting events Easter egg hunts baseball and softball opening day and Halloween praise and other burough events throughout for years in denel she has always been a supportive of local initiatives and businesses and has worked as the denel theater kisos and zos and whereas Melissa Paul John embodies all of the traits and characteristics to qualify her with the designation ofel volunteer citizen of the year now therefore I mayor Jason F salento along with bur Council extending congratulations to Melissa and awarding her the honor of being Dell's 2023 volunteer citizen of the year [Applause] [Music] family [Applause] thanks next is a presentation of Dell's Lifetime Achievement Award for 2023 this one's going to become a bit of a surprise because we know this is the only way we were going to get him in the room if it was a surprise he's a man of honor integrity and humility [Laughter] [Music] so so clearly as you can see our Lifetime Achievement Award is going to be bestowed upon Bill Euler [Applause] whole come Sor we recording [Music] big family okay our Proclamation on awarding William Mueller in ell's 2023 Lifetime Achievement Award recipient whereas williiam Muer is a longtime resident of dellan having moved here 37 years ago and whereas bill has married Betty been married to Betty for over 50 years who is a member of the auxiliary and together they have three children Bill Jeff and Tracy along with seven grandchildren all who are members of the American Legion and whereas bill has been a member of the den American Legion Post 119 for over 19 years and has served seven times as commander and is currently the legion adjunct and whereas he enjoys being the organizer for the legion's pnic car show volunteering his time for countless fundraising events and working with the scouts honoring all the veterans that have passed by putting hundreds of flags at their graves and whereas bill has been recognized by the state of New Jersey American Legion for increased membership and also by the dellan police department and fire department for his service to the dellan community and whereas he works in conjunction conjunction with the burough and BFW post 5479 on the annual Memorial Day parade and ceremony along with the Veterans Day service and whereas Bill embodies all of the characteristics and attributes to qualify him with the designation of Dell's Lifetime Achievement Award cment now therefore I mayor Jason F zento along with the burough councel extended congratulations to William and awarding him the honor of being Dell's 2023 Lifetime Achievement Award [Applause] recipient no [Music] land you [Applause] okay spech spe spe [Laughter] spech okay so uh before we adjourn the meeting um I would like everybody to know immediately after this those who are here as volunteers you can join Lauren in the recreation office to sign your oath of Allegiance if you can't today or those who are not here you can sign them another time um and also for everyone that is here we are going to be going to the art Annex directly after this uh food will be provided by the dellan hotel and so thank you Peggy for allowing us to use your establishment Peggy Lockwood's here and so we would like to welcome everybody to the art Annex immediately following the conclusion of the meeting so with without further Ado I guess you can say uh can I have a motion and a second to adjourn our first council meeting of the Year all in favor any Nays okay happy and healthy New Year [Applause] everyone [Applause] [Music] the oh