everyone good yes good evening welcome to the December 5th 2023 regular meeting of the Emerson governing body this meeting is being videotaped and may be viewed on your local public access Channel either 36 or 77 the meetings are also available Live on YouTube for those of you present in case of a fire follow the fire exit signs above the doors and exit calmly Mr Hermanson would you please lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance pledge allegiance to the flag of the unit States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liy and justice for I would ask you to remain standing um for Mrs Mary Lynch who passed away on December 1st um Mrs Lynch is a friend and I'm friends with the family and uh has very deep roots in Emerson um and earlier uh last week Mrs an Ida Enis a former Library board trusty she was my um mayor's um appointee um a longtime resident dedicated volunteer and a beloved former teacher in the Emerson Public School System she was in the library um they both will be missed very much thank you this meeting is called pursuant to the provisions of the open public meetings law and adequately noticed pursuant to njsa 104-107 5th 2023 was sent to the record and Ridgewood news on January 3rd 2023 and notice to said newspapers posted on the bulletin board in the municipal building and has remained continuously posted as required under the statute Miss Ryan would you please call the Roll Call of the governing body sure mayor dalala presid council president simmerman here councilwoman arenia here councilman Gordon here councilwoman Maguire pres councilwoman Mo here and councilwoman rice is absent councilwoman rice is absent um I think we can do a collective congratulations Ashley thought everyone would be a little happier Ashley had um a healthy baby girl uh on Friday or Thursday Thursday on Thursday and we wish her and her family a huge congratulations and we can't wait to meet the baby um tonight I have a um Proclamation um for Ruth melu um her grandson Steven is here um Ruth is celebrating her 102nd birthday on it was November uh it was a couple days ago right November on November 29th and we remember that we tried to reach out but we couldn't get in touch with her we sent her a a birthday card but we do of um a proclamation that I'd like to read Stephen if you want to come join me up here so Ruth turned 100 shortly after Co so we were not able to celebrate her birthday and then last year she wasn't feeling well and then I guess um it was a little cold for her tonight so she sends her proxy say happy birthday to your grandmother happy birthday grandma so we'll read this um Proclamation Office of the mayor whereas Ruth M turned 102 years old on November 29th 2023 and where as the mayor of the B of Emerson is proud to recognize the achievements and longevity of Life of our citizens of our community and where as Ruth m a resident at Emerson for over 50 years was born in Brooklyn New York on November 29th 1921 her parents Hans and barley Hansen who immigrated from Norway to the US instilled in her strong patriotic love strong religious beliefs and an incredible work that the woman she became where as Ruth survived the struggles of the Great Depression and World War II and where as Ruth Mas demonstrated her love for her country as a civilian she sought employment at Camp Shanks in Orangeburg New York as she worked at the hospital in the registar office she excelled in her work by receiving exceptional evaluations and promotions whereas Ruth M throughout her dedication and hard work became in charge of both civilian and military person and worked there until the end of World War II as Camp shakes downsized into housing for returning soldiers and whereas Ruth mlock married Demco mlock a silver star recipient and wounded veteran on July 12th 1945 they moved from the Teck and Fort Lee area to the burrow of Emerson and whereas Ruth and Deco M became the owners of the PAC Valley bake shop on K kak Road Ruth managed the business and the bakery big success producing the best faked goods for over 20 years and whereas Ruth MAA continued with her charitable work by volunteering to church and school board activities which she immensely enjoyed and where as Ruth M blazed her Trail which demonstrated to other women that they can excel in whatever they wanted and to follow their dreams and whereas Ruth M has led her life in a manner that brings honor to the Bur of Emerson and the bur is fortunate and privil to celebrate her special day with her and to wish her a very happy birthday now therefore be it resolved by the mayor of the burough of Emerson on behalf of the governing body that we acknowledge and applaud the life of Ruth Masa a life that has been and is still one that is admired by all for her Outlook and joy for life be it further resolved that December 5th 2023 is here by proclaimed Ruth melu day in the bur of Emerson [Applause] you want to take a picture stepen it was so nice to meet you please extend some to your mother as well thank you have a nice holiday nice to meet you yes we have a lot of octogenarians in Emerson um we do longevity is good here is a um excused the next um item on the agenda is excused absence of governing body member councilwoman Moore for her absence from the regular meeting of November 21st 2023 may have a motion to excuse Kelly second all in favor I any opposed motion carries um appointments and resignations there are none this evening minutes for approval the burrow clerk has not received any requests to amend the regular or close session meeting minutes of November 21st 2023 may I have a motion to approve the regular and close session meeting minutes of November 21st 2023 move all in favor I I any opposed motion carries correspondence there is no correspondents this evening Financial business there is no Financial business which brings us to unfinished business uh Mr Hermanson um Bergen County Department of Health Services bloodborne pathogen program agreement 20242 so thank you we looked at uh into this for at the last meeting in regards to a dual contract the way we currently have it with uh with Bergen County uh and then after speaking to Frank cavelli and going over with some of the things that we're able to do we do not need to do the training with them so uh just I had passed the we have the contract John is looking at the sent it to him at the next meeting we'll basically we'll pass the contract where we will only uh we will not we just have the one service with the with with uh uh with the with Board of Health in at the county for blood pathogen but we will not have to do the training we're going to do our own training on our own and save us the money so that's where we're on the update so we'll just bring that to every everybody's attention okay good and the people that take the bloodborne pathogen are um the fire department the Ambulance Corp the police anybody that comes in contact with eer in emergency situations C and we are going to be recommending with the rec too the rec okay um the next item is new business phone service contract do you have an update for us Mr Hermanson so again on that on our we are now looking at a new phone into phone service uh we're not necessarily looking to we have a current Contra current contract right now with the company so we could stay with them we could not stay with them but we are uh we've had a couple of different uh proposals that we've received um I would like to go through there's a couple more now that we've had while we were down at the league there were two other companies that have asked to reach out and now a third has uh also so we're going to go through those uh and come back with a recommendation based off of uh where we are with numbers and thoughts of uh you know for the best price for for the for the governing B you know for for the residents here in Bergen County okay if you'd like to sit down with the technology committee I think that would be a good idea sure and go over all the four yeah proposals well right now we have are you I think we have three now and we're looking that technology I think so yes yeah well so maybe just you can out or Ashley can by phone if she wants to bring the baby too i' be f um uh the next item is discussion of 20 24 meeting dates um we don't need a huge discussion I just wanted to bring to everybody's attention unless you want to discuss it um Jane and I before she left sat down and did meeting dates so um every year because of the elections in November and June we push our meetings and it's usually like the 3D and fourth or the the thir I'm sorry the the second and the fourth so we put a lot of options on the calendar because I think it's easier to notice them all and then as the months come up um where there might be three meetings listed it doesn't mean that we're going to have three meetings but as as um the work is coming in and we know what we have to approve and the things that we have to address we can make the decision in the moment whether we're going to cancel the meetings or not um but we will still be having probably two meetings in most months except for in July and August and um if you in June the 11th the 18th and the 25th um if after the election there isn't so much going on we may just choose to have a meeting on the 18th um and skip the 11th and 25th or we may need to have a meeting on the 11th and 25th and then we may cancel the 18th so we just put these dates on here for greater flexibility um and also to save money because when we do have to change a meeting there is a cost associated with a special meeting um so that's why those are on the count calendar does anyone have any um comments on that or do you just uh we play by year sounds all right that brings us to introduction of ordinances Miss Ryan will announced by number and title the following ordinances upon approval these ordinances will be further considered at a public hearing to be held on December 19th 20123 at 7:30 p.m. or as soon thereafter as the matter can be addressed in the council chambers of the burrow Hall Municipal Place Emerson New Jersey and published in the record all ordinances are on the burrow website and on file in the office of the municipal clerk if you would like a hard copy please contact the burrow clerk before Miss Ryan reads the titles I just want to inform everyone that ordinance number 1679 d23 has to be reintroduced um because the record made a mistake and did not publish it um so in order for it to be properly noticed it has to have an introduction and an adoption and it needs to be posted in the newspaper and the record um failed to uh post it they missed the deadline so that's why we are reintroducing it would you please read the title of the ordinance sure this is ordinance 1679 d23 an ordinance to amend ranges for salaries wages compensation and other terms of employment of certain employees of the burrow of Emerson for the calendar year 2023 thank you may I have a motion to introduce ordinance number 1679 d23 on first reading so move second may I have a roll call please councilwoman Maguire yes councilman Gordon yes councilwoman Moore yes council president Timberman yes councilwoman arenia yes and councilwoman rice is absent passes 5 thank you um would you please read the uh title of the next or introduction of ordinance sure this is ordinance 16802 an ordinance of the burrow of Emerson adding a new chapter to the code book entitled business and insurance registration Rob do you want to just explain what that is so that anyone that owns a business in town that's watching will know on with the uh what what the ordinance that's what we're putting in right now so basically uh the state of New Jersey has authorized that we do this to Main maintain uh for rental properties and and and to go through it and it's a mandate basically it's very simple that we have so we have to maintain so if we had a a fire here uh a couple of years ago and one of the things that was a concern was of course that make sure you have the know who's in these buildings and that the proper tenants make sure they get out and so if a police the fire department or police department is acting on this that they can go in and make make sure that they're protected so some of the things they do not want is people who are not supposed to be in these residents that are not there uh that are now in case of that happens in a fire where they they don't know that that they're in the in the in the uh the building itself they don't want to Legal uh two families and three families and so forth and so on so uh it's actually for the protection for some of the PE for the people who are in there uh for us these are being mandated to make sure that that they're doing this the the right way and it's it's just like I said it's a mandate right now that we're going through it uh for for the process on these on some of the on the uh residential uh homes on the two families and three families mayor if I can um just add that the state of New Jersey is mandating that um all these rental um businesses and uh multifamily uh rentals um have to provide uh the burrow submit um to each uh town where the property is located the business uh Insurance general liability so evidence that there is coverage um there uh we to maintain the list and we have to maintain maintain the list correct so we know who's there there will be um no charge to businesses and the borrow will set up a simple um form um to to submit um with their uh certificates of insurance but they do have to submit they do have to if they don't if you have a if these F these resident these home these businesses don't they that could be an issue there could be an issue with them so they have to uh as I said the state is mandating that we do this and it is for protection for everyone yeah I remember we discussed this at a previous meeting yeah and it was first introduced by the state no I think that everyone explained it enough yeah okay okay anyone have any questions no okay um can I get a motion please to introduce that so moved second roll call please sure councilwoman Maguire yes councilman Gordon yes councilwoman Moore yes council president Timberman yes councilwoman arenia yes and councilwoman RS is absent passes 5 thank you um Miss Ryan I almost said Miss DJ um could be yeah all right the next item on the agenda is adoption there are no adoption of ordinances um which brings us to reports the Emerson Recreation Commission is holding its fourth annual deck the homes contest participation is open and free to all Emerson residents anyone interested should email Recreation Commission Emerson nj.org by this Friday December 8th the first place winner will receive a 2 $50 gift card second place will receive a $100 gift card and third place a $50 gift card there is more information on the website about this if you missed any of that this Saturday December 9th the idell Emerson Rotary Club will be holding a food drive from 9:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. at vul Leber Funeral Home in the uh parking lot there in idell um Personal Care items are also needed um as well as supplies for the Ukraine um those are needed as well the Amerson Police Department is holding its 35th annual PBA toy drive please drop off new unwrapped toys at the Emerson Police Department no later than December 17th the Emerson fire department is holding their annual Santa around town from Tuesday December 19th through to Thursday December 21st please visit our website or social media to see when Santa is expected in your neighborhood you can follow Santa's route in real time by visiting ww w. erson fire.org santa-tracker.com I'm assuming it's not on here so check the website this is that's great oh so it's just Santa Tracker there will also be a holiday market with special appearances by Santa and the Grinch on Saturday December 16th from 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. there will be light refreshments and cotton candy as well as a cup of cheer coffee carts sponsored by Emerson Starbucks festive caroling courtesy of the Bergen County players a winter story corner with our friends from the Emerson Library an ornament workshop with Emerson's environmental commission and a drawing of the annual 5050 raffle at 1 pm. uh everybody looks forward to seeing you there and if you have not bought your raffle ticket please F find a fireman and purchase your raffle ticket um last year I believe it was over $5,000 wasn't it or was a close it's a lot um it's $20 for one ticket to to be in it to win it um you may have noticed that the Emerson Police Department community policing unit is growing out their beards from November to the end of December to raise money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society any member of the public wishing to donate can drop off checks to the Emerson Police Department please make your check payable to the burrow of Emerson um during our recent uh shredding event the burrow shred 3,168 pounds of paper um on 114 not only are we recycling but the buau also gets credits on the D tonnage report that's due every April the burough held its annual Christmas tree lighting on Monday November 27th um at Burrow Hall to kick off the holiday season it was enjoyable it was seasonably chilly with yummy treats donated by shopright roles and there was a rousing visit from Santa uh the Philip Morgan foundation will be hosting a blood drive on December 30th from 9:00 am to 2 PM at the Emerson Senior Center um councilman Gordon has um alerted me to the fact that there are only a certain number of walk-ins and if you Dial 1800 Red Cross you may schedule an appointment so that you are able to donate blood correct more the better okay cradles to crayons has invited all Emerson seniors and Veterans to join them to enjoy a spectacular holiday concert on Tuesday December 19th at 10: a.m. at their Jefferson Avenue location please contact cradles to crayons for more information um I just want to share a couple of public service announcements with our residents uh for iPhone users the iio 17 update has a known security risk especially the seniors pay attention to this specifically a new feature called name drop it is automatically added after the update and this feature risks user privacy by automatically sharing contact information when iPhones are close together I encourage everyone who has an iPhone to learn more about this feature and how it can affect your privacy the Bergen County prosecutor's office has released information on this and how to disable the uh feature so if you you need more information you please contact the Bergen County prosecutor's office and also as the holidays are upon us it's also um I want to remind everyone to stay vigilant in their surroundings whether you're in person or online uh the Bergen County prosecutor's office has also put out safety tips on shopping online as well as how to keep yourself safe um if you're shopping alone during the holidays the next regular meeting of the Emerson governing body will take place on Tuesday December 19th at 7:30 pm in the burrow Hall council chambers and Hanukkah begins on Thursday December 7th um and ends on the evening of Friday December 15th to all of our residents who celebrate I want to wish you and your families a happy Hanukkah and a beautiful Festival of Lights and I want to give a shout out to Gary schwinder of congregation Benet Israel for lighting the candles on the Burrows Ora each night and he's been doing that for many years so thank you Gary um the next item on our agenda is Rob's report do you have anything for us this evening very minor just a couple things um we have our we're working with our cdbg uh we're hoping to have um by the end of this week the permission a letter from cdbg for about the elevator to put the elevator in the uh uh in our fire station so we've been working very hard to get that done uh we look forward to the letter so that we can move forward with that uh to get that done that project done uh also if you look at items 26-23 and the uh 27 27023 also on the consent agenda that is also a cdbg item for our randoff Pump Station in order to get the pump station done in a timely fashion in order to meet the uh uh the time schedule that we're supposed to have for for this uh this is a recommendation by our uh by our engineer uh to to go into this Co-op uh so we can work directly with them to get the products would get the pumps because the pumps are harder to get and it takes they're time consuming but these are these uh uh where we are with with these prog with these two uh resolutions we will be able to get the products that we need uh to get this done faster to move faster on with this to help us so that's also on the agenda and the last thing is that I have is our Road program finished yesterday uh very few minor issues and no complaints with the with the residents it was very good getting the people in and out and knowing when they when they were coming in to pave and went to Mill the last thing that we have to do now is just the painting of the striping uh which will also be done very shortly and that's it that's my report thank you does anyone have any questions for Rob the only thing I wanted to say with the um the cdbg for the elevator that's just going and getting the numbers as far as costs we haven't voted to approve that project yet no no you like I said you that's the idea once some money comes in we would we would have a grant um anyone else no the next item on the agenda is public comment members of the public are welcome to speak on any Topic in the interest of time speak speakers are limited to 3 minutes may I have a motion to open the meeting to General comments from the public so move second all in favor I I any opposed um seeing No Hands may I have a motion to close the meeting to the public so move second all in favor I any opposed motion carried the next order of business is resolutions on consent may I have a motion to approve consent agenda resolutions 267-238-3618 so moved second may I have a roll call please councilwoman Maguire yes councilman Gordon yes councilwoman Moore yes council president simmerman yes councilwoman arenia yes and Council woman R is absent pass 5 thank you um we are now going to go into closed executive session um members of the public May remain on YouTube until we return to open session at which time formal action may be taken may I have a motion to go into closed executive session to discuss matters exempt from the public pursuant to njsa 104-1 at SEC and adequately noticed by resolution number 273 d23 so move second roll call please councilwoman Maguire yes councilman Gordon yes councilwoman Mo yes council president Tim yes councilwoman agenda yes andoun AB passes thank you we are now enclosed um I I know but I think that we're live so let's just on a sec all we're gonna do is a we don't have any business no was about I I know but we're live um may have a motion to reconvene second any opposed with no further business to discuss may have a motion to adjourn at 9:51 p.m. so moved second second all in favor I any opposed we're adjourned thank you for coming now wait two seconds call did you