good evening welcome to the city of anger Woods Workshop today's date is January 16th 2020 the time is the 79 7:39 will everybody please rise for the Pledge of Allegiance a pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with and Justice all will the city clerk please read the public open's meeting that statement this meeting is called pursuant to the provisions of the open public meetings law notice of this meeting was included in a notice sent to the record and advertis in said newspaper on January 12th 2024 posted on the bulletin board in the municipal building and has remained continuously posted as their required notices under the statute a copy of this notice is and has been available to the public is on file in the office of the municipal clerk proper notice having been given the municipal clerk is directed to include the statement in the minutes of this meeting will Siri C please do the roll call councilman Rosen here councilwoman wiski here councilman David present councilman Wilson present coun council president cob yeah also present is Mayor Michael Wilds city manager Robert S Hoffman sitting in for City attorney Bill Bailey is David laferty um and city engineer France FY next go a public comment on the resolutions for vote resolutions 20 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 and 30 public comment hi good evening horis rag 51 West Hamilton Avenue Anglewood New jic I have a couple questions relating to 025 d011 [Music] 1624 I read the two State Statute that that you guys stated there and I'm kind of curious are we did we hire these people and now passing the resolution or are we doing it there opposite because apparently it says who is already representing the city of Anglewood in the first paragraph So if they're working up us already what is this uh a glorified resolution that we passing after the fact is there a state statue ordinance resolution whatever that says we could do this afterwards I kind of like confused about this I think we should have some little more um transparency in this and when you hire uh any law firm M Mr CB can you tell me what the hourly rate is for the lawyer the hourly rate for the associate the rate for communication and anything anything else more details please I think we need to more information if you going to pass a resolution such as this you guys put a generic number 17,500 which we know is going to be exceeded but that sounds good on paper realistically what is going to cost us as we go along per hour par rates do you have that go ahead you like answer yes please um yeah Mr Rager the um the in the first the first Warehouse Clause uh it states that uh Edward J buac his firm is already representing the city um Helman ring uh Lind lindaman H hell ring lindman Goldstein is not already representing the city this is um they would be co-counsel if the if the governing body or if the city council adopts this resolution so we had a resolution previously for the boak everything else correct this is a secondary one that is added on well the the Mr Mr bac's firm was already hired by the city right and that's why in that first Warehouse Clause it's it's it references that his firm is already representing the city they were already hired okay but like every time you hire an attorney they give you a copy of this is what we're going to charge per hour after the fact what's what's there oh $400 an hour 250 an hour I mean there's something more information that needed here I just hired an attorney and I had $400 he gave me a whole um a list of whatever that they going to cost yeah that's that there's an there's an engagement letter dated uh December 18th um you know and one and their their hourly rate should I their hourly rate is $450 that's a lawyer fees I'm sorry is that for over an associate as well is that for an associate as well or just lawyer fields I mean you that's not normal well they're they're they're they hourly rate for all all of all of the attorneys is $450 an hour okay um could I get a copy of that document December that um what they you can opener it okay fine I'll do that tomorrow and compare it to everything else thank you than Amy bull Avenue I'm sorry I may have missed this may be repetitive um the resolution to uh 11624 25 number 25 to hire this attorney was tabled at the last meeting um to give councilwoman David a chance to be brought up to speed but there was a hearing on January 10th um it ended up getting adjourned but this Law Firm was present at that meeting and the council had not yet voted to hire them a special Council so I understand that often times we have to do things retroactively but the question was posed by the mayor um how would tabling the hiring of someone to do the master plan impact any deadlines yet this question was never brought up so I'm trying to understand how is it that this attorney was present at a at a court date on behalf of the city of Englewood when the council had not voted to approve hiring them and who pays that bill Mr Bailey just copied on the letter so he knew about it Mr baile Mr Bailey's not here we didn't know about that Mr hman you aware of that anybody representing us no I was a I thought that uh The Firm of Mr Bo FM was representing the city at that hearing that's my understanding yeah was that bruach FM yeah no it was this guy hold on I'll give you his name Bruce ederman who works for Hing Linderman Goldstein and seagull LLP these people on here full disclosure everybody knows I'm a PL of on the lawsuit but I'm talking to you today as a taxpayer how to one have the authority to do this without my council's approval we'll get back to you with an answer with that excuse me Mr Wilby yeah Rick Wilby in go New Jersey uh I got two things that I want to talk about the resolution authorizing Bergen County Law Enforcement of mutual Aid I would like to find out if any of these Mutual Aid departments and any of them have been trained in Israel alongside the IDF I emplore the Council to understand that the IDF is a brutal uh regime of people that impose their will on citizens and kill babies and kill old women and they're actually a terrorist organization so I'd want to know if any of these Mutual Aid departments that are coming in have trained with the idea or have been to Israel in the occupied section of Israel and if they train with IDF we should be very careful as to Bringing these people into Inglewood uh also I want to talk about this uh res resolution recognized in January as Muslim Heritage mod I just want to say from The River To The Sea Palestine will be free by any needs necessary I had the privilege of going down to Washington this weekend with a group from the Islamic Center of pay County for a march on Washington to go visit genocide Joe and uh being at his Muslim Heritage mon month I encourage people to do their research study the knock okay Palestine was not a land without people for people without land study the nakba there's some movies you should watch one of them is called tantura one of them is called born in dear yasim when you watch the story of dear yasim you see the ethnic cleans of the Palestinians and the murders and the genocide that was committed back in 1947 when the UN partitioned Palestine and gave it to the Zionist uh another thing being that we're on this Muslim herited Munch you also need to understand who are the real terrorists uh rod down with some very fine people sat next to a Iman and had a very good conversation with him it's very strange to me how people that push their propaganda on one side do not like to have conversation with people of a difference of opinion I think there was an organization that had that problem they were called the Nazis if they didn't like somebody they killed that person and the zionists are doing exactly what the Nazis did back then to the Palestinians a lot of them are Muslims but a lot of them also Christians as well there's been hospitals that have been bombed MOS that have been bombed numerous MOS that have been bomb not just in Palestine but in Lebanon in Yemen in Syria and all over the region so if you want to put a resolution here about Muslim Heritage Month a couple of months ago you stood with Israel you need to give the Muslims something and cease fire now and let them know that we acknowledge you as a people and we respect you for the peaceful people that you are thank you thank you anyone else have any comments regarding any of these items if not we're going to close the public session yes we're going to vote on each one of these byself right does anybody in the council want to pull or table any of these items yes what what I think the first one we're going to vote on each one of these items individually so 023 invis any comments resolution authorizing ber County Law Enforcement Mutual Aid yes yes um the resolution authorizing beron County Law Enforcement Mutual Aid um I'm not understanding how is this was it round table from the top bottom or the bottom up I would like to know was everyone involved at a round table like the um the ones who walk to be the the police officers the sheriff I mean not the sheriffs but the um sergeants lieutenants and everything where they at the table letting them know how Engle it is um so I don't know if I can vote on this because I would like to know were they involved with this Mutual Aid I don't have that Discovery so I'm going to ask so it's your question who was involved in this Mutual Aid agreement and how they came to the conclusion the conclusion yes okay cman stman uh thank you council president I I I can give you more a historical background some of this goes back to 2013 when um there was an agreement between the um the prosecutor's office the sheriff's department and others to have mutual a formalized mutual Aid agreement because there have been some incidents in um in some of the malls in paramis and then this the county was broken up into six regions to to assist and then um so each region uh if there's a if there's something kind of difficulty um local the the surrounding police departments are able to respond but there's uh there was a specific memorandum of understanding that was uh that was crafted there were several months of discussions U Back in 2012 and 2013 about that and it's been updated um each municipality then adopts a resolution um each each year and it's um you know it's it's based on the zon so there's there's six zones some of this information um is you know there's a of it it's in it's in the packet but um what it what it does is there's uh it it shows which which group would would respond based on based on the needs of um of what whatever the E you know whatever the incident was so um that's that's where it started and then I'm you know I'm I'm not sure you're you had a question about round taes whether all of our officers were involved and um you know the answer is not in the last couple years I I don't know you know I don't know who was involved but it was the the police Chiefs Association it was the command staff for the different departments and it was the prosecutor's office and the sheriff's department um do you know if I missed anything deputy chief okay can you just tell me specifically any these departments trained is that's Mr willby we we'll get to that um anybody else yes um good evening all thank you council president um in regards to the resolution authorizing Bergen County Law Enforcement Mutual [Music] Aid we the New Jersey sa 4A semic 14-18 um it it talks a little bit to particular things and uh it says civil unrest and Civil Disobedience such as riots strikes jails prison and it goes on to a uh conglomerate of different things but my concern is that we don't have anything here that I've read that covers mental illness and our preparedness for uh different Mutual Aid zones that come into Englewood how does that coincide with what we plan to have for a mutual Aid that responds to a mental illness situation and how do we also cover I understand that there's six zones and if a particular incident command makes a call for a uh Mutual Aid and someone in our zone is not available we jump zones um Bergenfield is not in our immediate zone for this particular situation but we will jump zones and so my concern is uh the crossover when we do jump zones even if we coordinate with the people in our Zone how do we have that understanding because I think that's imperative as we've seen in the recent history that uh people that without medication or without jobs or homelessness create some mental dis disabilities and so as our officers are approached with these situations and we call Mutual Aid I just want to make sure that the individuals that are coming into our town serving our our citizens aren't overprepared and nothing here speaks to that okay um well thank you for the qu for the questions the um the city the city is uh has entered is is a has a pilot program going on right now called arrive together so there's mental health professionals that are available 20 um 24 hours during the week and they um they are available to ride with the officers if it's safe or they or they follow up so we are we are one of the pilot programs in the state um so that we can the the state the mental health professionals and the police and the police professionals across the state um can see how they can better serve our our residents who do have these mental health issues or have other issues that the police departments um are who have been the first to respond um will have will have additional training now most of our officers have gone through additional training so that they can recognize some of the some of the Key signs and they've also uh the the police department has um had training of a couple hundred hours I believe um PRI prior to arrive together just so that we can uh you know we can we can make sure that we recognize uh some some assistance that's required by um by our residents and also to have um have the ability to call others that are uh that that can give give a better diagnosis can provide assistance and can help um look for a longer term Solutions so that's part of it one of the other questions that you had asked was um when you jump zones of you know to make sure that uh that um responders from other zones um are uh understand the situation so there's uh you know if there's an in if there's a situation in inkwood uh the the police Command Staff is responsible for that un unless there's unless there's an issue where the prosecutor's office comes in and and takes over but basically the uh the police department's in in charge and they they coordinate with whoever's coming in from a different Zone and they um they are they are responsible for that and I'll just I will defer to the deputy chief if I've if I've misstated any of the procedures from the police department um or I've made a a comment that or if I've made a statement that is not not correct be be before you start Deputy um and thank you for being available to answer such a sensitive question I think that is so important that we get some type of me moranda of understanding um because not only are you guys challenged with this but I don't want our our residents to be suffering because we may not approach a situation in mutual Aid appropriately and so as we go on we we talk about in this contract and in this memorandum of understanding in regards to span of control um and it doesn't speak to how span of control is done here and what I would would like to see for one is in the span of control that if in fact that these are separate units and we doing one and three in the span of control that ingood remain remains in control of the span of control no matter who comes into our city so therefore it doesn't get away from us if Bergenfield or Tina K hackin hat comes in we have one officer to their three officers in regards to span of control and so therefore our officers should be um more than likely trained on how we would like to move forward in these critical situations uh I agree I think that well that would be what we'd like to see um unfortunately with the amount of officers we have and dependent on the situation when we're asking for Mutual Aid it means that we need help um and whenever we can and I think every agency and every municipality wants the same thing it's your hometown you would want one of your officers on scene with other officers for a number of reasons for for us for the other officers for the citizens for everybody we work here every day so location resources where things are it's very important for one of our officers to be here when we had the uh large protest here we had officers from 14 other towns show up and what we did was we would pair that group of five or six officers from another town with one of our officers preferably a supervisor but if we didn't have a supervisor available we'd pair them with another officer now when it comes to this Mutual Aid agreement what this is really speaking to is uh Regional SWAT team rapid deployment force uh rdt and what this is doing this is an agreement between the Chiefs Association all the other towns saying that our officers can serve on these task forces and they can come in and they can work in other people's Towns now I'm on the command staff for the rdf we defer to that Town's Chief whenever we go there we are specially trained in dealing with crowd control and Field Force operations things like that we defer to the chief we don't make decisions as an rdf outside of what the local agency excuse me could you explain what that is for those that are listening to a which which part can I say something D yeah let's cut to the chase yes we got an example on jenese Avenue TL came in with the long guns I don't think that's that's accurate that's fact but I'll go through we got videos of that that's not tly well who was it then it's a Regio swatti okay so even so going back to that why are we coming in when somebody's having a mental episode and we got long guns standing on the porch on jese Avenue that that concerns the residents you know instead of helping people that pay your salary we want to know the best way to deescalate the situation now Mr Hoffman I'm going back Mr Hoffman talked about arrive to gather this program I believe we only have a certain amount of hours committed to that I've asked for three people fulltime to be added to the city staff to report to the health department that would be a part this to make sure that people having mental episodes are addressed properly and we are given the right guidance I I want people who are certified in this to to handle these things who are Professionals in this you know it's all good we can go get a certificate we could go get something else we need people this is what they do this is what they do so you know I I I think that we would be coming here Crossing has all night long playing this game so let's get to the facts I know what count councilman Wilson is talking about and he's that's the example we're talking about and to say that okay it wasn't ten fly whoever it was to have long guns in the city of Englewood for one individual is offensive it's off and that's my opinion it's it's offensive so you know we need to understand how this works but if you sit up there and try to defend what I'm saying that's that's not what we're looking for we're looking to understand how it works number one and number two everybody understand that it it's got to work for the residents of the city of Anglewood it's just got to work that way people don't have the confidence and when they see that going around you know and and deputy chief you can make those faces and all that kind of stuff these are just facts these are honestly these are facts and if you that that young man on jenese Avenue who had that episode those were can we agree though did they have um long guns at on it I'd love to explain the situation to no no I want to ask you the question did they have long guns there were officers with long guns on I'm asking you the question if you don't want to answer the question there were officers on seene with longa no no no what I'm saying to you did they have the long guns he just I just said there officers on scene with long guns three times okay yeah I'd love to explain a situation to you since we don't know which department they were from so we went to this we went to this location there's a gentleman in severe mental distress we had a number of officers that went in deescalate got him inside brought him into custody got him help in the process officers from other towns responded officers from a uh team showed up they did not come into the house while we were actively dealing with it they did not enter the scene while we were actively dealing with it after we got the person in custody safely and we're bringing him out they went in to see if anybody needed help that was it now if they have long guns on and they make the decision to sling them and go in and see if anybody needs help versus going back to the truck opening up the truck locking them up then going that's up to them nobody pointed a handgun at anybody no one pointed a long gun at anybody that's it I I really wish we could have had this conversation well before this because we would have loved to sit down and and speak with you about it but as far as what officers can and cannot do when they come out from out of town we can't dictate every single thing an officer from other town does now if they decide to deploy with a long gun slung we can talk to the the other Chief about it but at the end of the day they didn't actively enter the scene as we were dealing with that individual so that's that would wouldn't be so what you're saying is and I want to be clear what you just said was we can't tell them what to do is that what you're saying we them got we don't have the authority to do that we can't dictate the day toay operations of another agency no no no if they were if they were here in if they engood we can't dictate that we can ask them if a certain way but we can't dictate other police departments policies on a day-to-day basis we can ask them to leave we can ask them to do something differently but also depends on the case but they're coming into Englewood and we can't dictate to that that's what you're telling us I'm telling you we can't dictate the day-to-day policies of another agency no let's let's let's not play this game you just let's be clear because I ca ca because if not then we need to take action on a whole another level because you're saying that we can't dictate to them so they could come into Englewood and you're saying that just I want to be clear I want to understand this I'm sorry what's the question you're saying we can't dictate to them what's going we cannot dictate the policies of another agency when they come into our town we expect them to do what we ask but we cannot dictate all the policies of other agency or another team so when they come is it any agreement and mutual Aid when they come to Anglewood can we say this is what we expect I guess what do you what would you expect you would expect to take to take your lead from the officers from Anglewood that's what happens if I may if I may council president thank you um what what I what I believe part of the question is is you're you're saying that other other jurisdictions have policies and procedures for their own officers and that includes the equipment when they're when they're sent out they have to they have to carry certain types of equipment so okay that's the policies that you were you were speaking about when they arrive in Englewood the onsite Commander can can um assess the situation can can you know can tell them what's going on and so they they those officers have the do not have to bring all of that equipment onto the scene they could lock it up they could do something else if if need be absolutely but you're they also have to deploy with that equipment because we're using a mental health example right now but if there is an issue in a in a school as we've seen in other other parts of the country they need to be ready to respond and rescue so that's why when they come into the city they're they're not sure what they're what they're going to be facing until they get here correct so all right so so that's part of the reason why they bring why they're bringing all of their equipment and then once they're here then it's then it's up to our our officers or whoever the Command Staff is to say what the situation is and how it should be handled counil Wilson yes um I I brought this up because I thought it was important and I asked for it to be table because I also thought that was important as well it's very unfortunate that you and number one hadn't had an opportunity to know um my concerns in regards to this I would surely always invite a conversation offline and just so I'm clear I'm not here to attack you or the police department I want to make sure that we give you the best that we possibly can for you guys to succeed so this is not an attack on you or the department but in the same breath I cannot consciously sit here and have my constituents feel that they are being attacked by someone that doesn't even isn't even employed by our town coming in with long guns the the feeling for the residents here is very disheartening now if in fact that that was your responsibility and your guys and your departments yes I would attack you right now but that's not where we are so what I want to see happen here and I know how Mutual a works when we go to another town we got equipment to cut a roof off but if it's a stone fire we not bringing in the SCE so there have has to be some type of compromise where we're not feeling intimidated by long guns not even knowing if this individuals having a breakdown themselves that has the long guns we would pray that your guys are stable enough to handle that but I've got a real itchy feeling with other individuals coming into our town and we don't have the span of control and that's all we're talking about here the span of control and I think that's more than doable more than ask askable when someone comes in our town and there's got to be somebody greeting them at at at the board at the council out on the street the command center that says hey oh whoa whoa guys take it easy it's one guy he's on a roof with a broom put away the long guns M that's that's what I'm saying that's what I would like to see happen here and if in fact that we have to pull this again and talk about details on step by step so be it I cannot consciously sit here and allow someone else that's not even employed by our city to come in and dictate on how they're going to surveil our our citizens that's unacceptable and I will never allow that while I sit in the seat okay um I do I I do agree with councilman um Wilson because looking at the mutual Aid it has to be some accountability so if they're coming out with long guns the person in Englewood should be responsible if they pull out this long gun you can't say oh they're not from our town it should be so unaccountable for this so you can't say like they're just coming out and like oh you know they're not from my town and it just happened so I want someone to be accountable here to say you know what I did my job I did everything I have to do in order for them not to proceed in some type of of manner you understand mhm so it has be somebody has to be accountable for this and that's the only thing councilwoman Massi thank you I have a question um when is our when I just bear with me when does our current Mutual Aid um agreement expire um this doesn't I don't know of another occasion where a town is I know has tabled or said no I know that this this causes some some issues with other teams and agencies coming in here I I want to make a comment um a lot of constituents not just from my w from around the city saw that video two weeks ago where Council people David Cobb and Wilson tabled the mutual Aid agreement and they were extremely alarmed as was I and um the role of government is to protect the residents so I'm going to be clear here I am going to vote for this because that is a responsible thing to do well let me let me just say this until you experience something and you're in the other end of it we've had people who have done that we have had people who are concerned people up here are entitled to vote however they choose to vote we have a responsibility to make sure that we protect all the residents of the city of Anglewood we have a responsibility to understand how the city of Anglewood operates nobody should be subjected to any aggressive play or whatever the case may be and if and if they feel that way they need to speak up and then we'll deal with that as well in the appropriate manner whether somebody is alarmed we're alarmed that somebody will come in here with long guns we alarmed that you know a family has lost a kid and there's still no answers we're alarmed at that so what we're trying to do is we're trying to understand how this thing works and if we're not comfortable with the way it works until we get comfortable with it we have to ask questions we have a job to do just like everybody else has a job to do councilman Wilson expressed himself I've expressed myself councilwoman David has expressed herself so you know this is alarming we're not trying to take cow away from people but what we want to do is remind us that there's an expectation and if we don't understand how this works you know then we have to get to a place where we're comfortable how it works we saw what happened on genese Avenue it's no secret it's on the internet we want to know we want to make sure that if somebody comes in here the folks that were hired to work for the people of the city of Anglewood will be protected the right way councilwoman whether it's alarmed or not you you waited till this meeting to come back and say something to anybody if it was so alarming you should have reached out to all of us and said that uh council president yes may speak thanks this is um this is this is a good examination of you know of an issue that has several different variables but what what's clear what's clear from the council as well as from from the police is that um when there's a specific issue um the local Police Department is in charge and what um what has to happen is based on our our arrive together and some of the other training that's come and some of the post-mortems that's my term just from from this and different different incidents um that there um there is the ability to uh to issue an internal memorandum or a or a procedure that would you know that would basically say for mental health issues uh there are there's there's certain equipment that comes you know that that that's on scene uh that that can be used and then you know other other equipment is just um you know can can can be locked can be locked up but this is uh this is this is this is something that uh you know can be evaluated can be talked can be talked through and then the proper procedures can be updated and that's what I recommend Mr President if I I mean obviously this is a working a working moment um I I don't I don't think it's a hard stretch or a hard ask uh some of these things in here are Antiquated as we know and we rubber stamped them for far too long and so as we know that the homeless population and the mental population is increasing I think that it's only fair to us to you guys and our resonance that we have the proper verbiage in here and as I as I read it now the only thing I wanted to include was the mental aspect that Mutual Aid doesn't speak to and if we're talking about just one second I'm almost almost done for the night um if if we talking about uh what the city manager says uh what was that arrive together yes arrive together um I I I think that's important that's a change that's progress um I commend you guys for riding or having guys ride with you I know that can be uncomfortable at times because it feels like people are critiquing you the only part that I want to critique right now is that you guys are prepared so if you you guys are prepared our citizens can expect the best treatment possible and and and that's where and that's where I want this thing to end that our citizens think that our Police Department got their back I don't care who comes in here what they say that you guys supersede whoever comes in here right they got to come through you before they get to our residence that's all so I I think we have a little connection here because these are two different things when you talk about the mental health aspect we have a completely different sop on that and accredited departments which we're becoming we have a full policy and sop on dealing with emotionally disturb persons okay so that that's separate and apart the the agreement right now is just basically saying rdf rst rdt these task force can work together that is a very 30,000 ft uh policy just saying we can work together now as far as the emotionally dist P Disturbed person's policy it's at length and our Officers Training and just so you realize the Anglewood police department has sent over 60 officers to CIT training a full week training our arriv together program is the only one designed the way it is because we have over 60 officers trained in CIT in other departments you lose an officer for the whole day out of their shift they just they just you know stick to the hip of the screener our screener comes in and can work with numerous people every shift because they're all trained in this and we have a great relationship with the screener he's like family now we've all worked together we know we're going to learn from each other and we've had some really good outcomes just like the incident on genesy we had a great outcome we had a young man we were able to get help it's a really dangerous situation I'm sorry the Optics of officers from outside of town at long guns are really tarnishing this but the officers that were involved in that were recognized by like four or five different groups for awards because of their actions that day so the the mutual Aid agreement that is key for us to get help from outside Anglewood from these specially trained units is what we're talking about right here now if you'd want to sit down and talk about the EDP policy and what we what we do with that be more than happy to speak with with any of you at length about it but this agreement is critical because without it I don't know if we have another incident if we're going to be able to get some of these units in here I really don't because we've never had this before and this is a new question we're asking and if I'm another Chief from another town and I know the council has tabled this agreement I don't know if I want to send my officers there because the whole thing with mutual Aid is you need to be called and the call needs to be received and then you go people don't just come and Barnstorm in your town it's not happening you need to be asked to respond and right now by voting this down or tabling it we're saying we don't want you to respond it just puts us on a precarious position and and for those who are listening or those who or the message is being passed along to them it's not the fact that I personally councilman Kevin Wilson doesn't want Mutual Aid I understand Mutual Aid perfectly for over 30 years on the fire department I I get it when you need help you need help now life and death you need help now yeah I'm I'm not saying that I want you guys to have the help if needed but if we are looking at help that our residents feel uncomfortable with because we we still have a grieving family here that the outcome was just the opposite of the geny outcome so this is a huge huge issue and for those M municipalities that are listening this evening it's not that we don't want you to come into our town we want you to be respectful when you come into our town and not saying that all have done that but it's a huge concern and I'll try not to continue to repeat myself in regards to the long guns so it's not an issue of whether we not we want to bring you guys help if you need help I think it's imperative that you have help like yesterday but I would like to see that program that the 60 officers have went to I app those officers were taking Initiative for those particular um uh credits and and classes but I I I just want that emphasized when those individuals come into our town and and and I think that's doable I think if if if we walk away from this right now and say hey as the city manager spoke that we're not that far apart that we'll we'll work out something of some memorandum that when the guys come in that they check with the with the table that grenades aren't needed helmets aren't need you know I mean we we don't need Riot guns we don't need riot gear for mental health so I'm just saying that I think that's an easy ask I'm not saying vote down mutal Aid because you guys need help I'm saying tweak this thing so because no we're in here for the mutual Aid whether whether we're prepared for it or not whether 6 officers went to it or not and the mutual Aid it speaks nothing nothing to mental mental health responses and you guys may need that again and so I just want to make that sure that it's covered that's all Mr deputy chief um have there been any imposition of requirements or policy considerations by any of the mutual Aid communities in your experience other than this yeah in other words are there other cities municipalities townships or Villages where the city of Anglewood is deployed were there are protocols that angood has to respect in those neighboring communities so each each department respects its own protocols Sops rules and regulations right so department is bound by that so there's nothing to stop the good policies that everybody's concerned with by being broadcasted to the neighboring communities that may come into our good City to help us well right now everybody every law enforcement agency and law enforcement officer in the state falls under the same use of force policy which is no longer a guideline it's it's a policy it's very uh it's very detailed it's very stringent so every officer falls under the same thing no matter what town they come from give me a little bit of a better sense here a former Federal prosecutor I'm a former auxiliary police officer if a tour Commander or chief is in charge from the city of Englewood and we asked for Mutual a does that person have command and control yes okay then I would just you know caution the council that we are policy makers this is a quasi military organization the police who when they feel our residents are vulnerable need help then they fall into rank with other neighboring departments and that the effort here is to give them the resource they need to protect us and if you want to inculcate other policy considerations that this governing body perhaps set up a subcommittee or start a conversations with the leadership so that they can deploy those sensitivities I respect them I respect what the council is trying to achieve but it is I think poor Jud judgement not to put the mro into place and if we can get the police chief the deputy chief that's present to agree to meet with the governing body privately and appropriately um at a later time you can set up those other protocols but I've never sat and I'm the longest sitting mayor and official here where Mutual Aid has not summarily been accepted for the protection of the residents because things are getting very different out there and you know if you're saying you don't want people in with certain weapons and Machinery that's not our place it's our place to say we don't want people intimidated we want mental Effectiveness and all of that those are policy considerations the deployment of particular weapons and practices is really not the governing body's responsibility correct me if I'm wrong Mr Hofer no it's the it um it would be the it would be the on-site Commander you know responsibility based on what's what's needed if there's a mental health you know case then perhaps the long guns aren't needed but if there's if there's something at a school then they're going to be needed so if this governing body says we don't want long guns in certain spe specific uh circumstances or and they project that to our Command and our Command puts forth sop standard operating procedures and then they tell visiting officers that are there to help that's the itive roles that we play in this but to stop it I think is just not proper if if if I may mayor of course I've worked for the city for a long time and I personally have been involved and saying where the city manager has stopped the town coming into Englewood from Mutual Aid because of their horrendous right Behavior that's right so it's possible so I don't want to hear about what's not possible and for us to do in our own town to make our citizens feel safe that's that's the only reason we're here we we're not here for my individuality or anyone else's I'm here by the people so if I don't speak for them where where is their voice can we disconnect a department whether it's police or fire from being part of something if there is a practice that we see Mr hopin That's not healthy if if in fact that you disagree with my statement I'll give you the dates time City offl because we're not here for that and and I feel like guessing about the ability of the council and the city manager because it's been done but I don't think this is the proper form for that to after I stated that to ask him about the abilities to do that I think that's improper and I think we're getting a little bit too far away from the topic of mutual AIDS so I think it's important that you guys do get Mutual Aid and and that I want to make clear I'm not denying Mutual Aid I would like it tweet on how we come in especially for mental assistance that's where this is going and somehow we got derailed off to something else if I can presid excuse me I think the whole thing was nobody said we didn't want Mutual Aid councilman Wilson are you in agreement with that I am certainly nobody said that it's how it's executed that's the concern that's those are the facts it's how it's concerned how it's executed and what I said was I need to understand this we didn't say we didn't want Mutual Aid let's be clear we want Mutual Aid yes we want that so let let's let's go with it here but it's how it's executed to the residents of the city of Anglewood that's what we need to understand it's easy to come here and work and go home and leave the city of Anglewood but us who are elected here we live here as well well so to councilman Wilson's Point we've seen it different and we've seen it done so what we want to make sure is cuz we got too many examples of things that are happening and we want to make sure that when it happens that we have a positive outcome not a negative and it be der of our duty not to ask these questions I guess that I guess we're just we're just not going to rubber stamp anything but let's be clear we want Mutual Aid we understand the importance of it but we need to understand how it's going to be executed when it comes into the city of engood who's in charge who's responsible and we can ask those questions cuz we're entitled to do that cuz we represent the people that's what we wanted to know and his point was that he didn't have the mental health aspect in there we wanted to understand that and my understanding is the arrive program how many hours do we do that a week 16 no it's up to 24 now that's not enough it's not enough it's not enough we need full-time people I asked last year for three people to be put into the budget cuz it it's a problem and they should be professional people and they should be employees of the city of Anglewood we spend a lot of money on a whole lot of other things things nothing is more important than this this is important uh Count Council president it um if I may it it's it sounds like there's there's agreement everybody wants Mutual aid but the the sub um the subcontext of this is that there's there's a mental health issue that all of the all of the members of the governing body want to understand the procedures for so the police have a a a an sop or you know um for for mental mental health calls so that's been and that was updated in 2023 uh yeah it's updated a couple times yeah yes so what the what can happen is the um the current um the current mental mental health operating procedures can be forwarded to the governing body so that they will be able to have peace of mind about you know about the procedures that are now in place and then the the mutual Aid is for you know is uh can can also be adopted because um you know if if something else comes up as the deputy chief has described uh we need we would need the assistance but I I guess again we're not saying we don't want the assistance let's be clear yeah let's be clear we're not saying that we need to understand and we need to have these things in here and this is what happens at a workshop to to to to address the issues or concerns that we have councilman Rosen SWAT are the hours late I'll forgo my comments good any more questions thank you thank you answer we need a motion and a second for resolution 023 clear our city manager before we vote there's a contingency where um our department heads are willing to work or or to tweak our own Sops for incident commands that come into our town yes they they do that they yes because they also there's an after action review that they do and they do make tweaks yes and then the followup was the council will be taking a look at the updated um I will call it the mental health sop so that they can have peace of mind no pun intended but you know mental health really has peace of mind but I would like to see that yeah that be the case that's I'm okay you okay I'm okay we need a motion in a second I'll make a motion second roll call councilman Rosen swi yes councilwoman wiski yes councilwoman David yes councilman Wilson yes council president cb yes next resolution awarding professional planning Services contract to DMR Architects for the city of Anglewood master plan we need a motion and a second a question a motion and second and any questions make a motion that we accept second any questions was the second thank you any questions yes my question is that um is the master plan include the recreation center or is that a separate Master includ it the master plan can include a lot of different elements we're working with them oh yes you ready roll call councilman Rosen swag is it okay this is the roll call yes yes yes councilwoman wiski yes councilwoman David yes councilman Wilson yes council president cb yes next resolution 25 award Professional Service contract of Hillin Linderman Goldstein and seagull LLP as special co-counsel to represent the city of Englewood in matters of Englewood one Community versus Englewood need a motion and a second then if we have any questions I make a motion Miss David made it you want to second second second any questions I got a question yes Council if we go on the first page of heling Linderman and Goldstein if we go down to number one we're middle of number one it says 450 an hour and then if you continue on the end of it it says um also customary subject to possible increase on an annual basis do we know what that increase may or may not be if we already have 450 do we know what the increase might be cuz I didn't see it here uh the answer is the answer is no this uh this price is is good for calendar year 2024 so Mr Hoffman I guess this price will not increase during this calendar year that's what we're saying that is correct okay I'm good any other questions go call yes I have a question go ahead um thank you for me last question um speaking to the mic pleas former Council woman voted on this also public State on Facebook she doesn't know why we are fighting um a lawsuit while we're paying a spending taxpayer Val on a lawsuit um and I just looked at it like she voted for this but I don't know why she says that we're paying for something that if you don't you don't need to pay for something that you're already doing the right thing so my question is it's already the right thing you're doing why do you have a lawyer involved if it's the right thing we're doing and we didn't go to court yet I'm I'm confused so listen um we we're taking this action to protect the city to defend the city um councilwoman David and that's what we do here so I I would just whatever else that you got on Facebook leave it on Facebook and uh just focus right here on the facts and we'll be done I've been in court several times and I didn't get a lawyer until I was like taken a court I mean you know I don't know okay R call councilman Rosen swag yes councilwoman wiski yes councilwoman David no councilman Wilson yes council president C yes next resolution 026 resolution rejecting all bids for bid number 23r through 37 brush Leaf vegetative waste removal bid we need a motion and a second I motion I'm sorry what was this for the for the leav yeah number we have a motion on the floor second second good any questions I I got a question uh it's probably directed to the city manager um since we're rejecting this what are we do we have a range we're looking for as far as pricing yes okay okay I guess you can share offline yes and we're also going to wind up twe tweaking the U tweaking the the RFP before it goes out based on some of the questions that did come in from the vendors okay okay sorry councilman Rosen Swip yes councilman wiski yes councilwoman David yes councilman Wilson yes council president cob yes next resolution 027 s resolution rejecting all bids for bids number 23-38 tree trimming and removal bids have a motion in a second I make a motion a second second any questions Mr H maybe you want to explain what you're doing here uh thank you council president yes we're ask asking the council to reject these uh bids we want to revise the bid specifications the uh DPW and um has has taken a look at it they've they've um they would they would like to be able to add a couple of other items to the to the request for a proposal so that's what we're going to do and we also had a couple of questions from tree contractors so we want to be more specific in that good thank you thank you councilman Rosen yes councilwoman wiski yes councilwoman David yes councilman Wilson yes council president cup yes next resolution we got to vote the table table we got table that okay we we'll vote on it resolution 028 appointment of members of board of adjustment this this resolution has to be tabled to have to close and then we'll come back out and we'll vote on it so we need a motion to table motion to table is but we will vote on it when we come back out of Clos session we need a motion and a second to table we got a motion a second second I'll second it roll call councilman Rosen no councilwoman wiski yes councilwoman David yes councilman Wilson yes council president C yes next we have resolution 029 resolution recognized in January as MOS heritage month so moved I second any questions no no R call councilman Rosen white yes councilwoman rotski yes councilwoman David yes councilman Wilson yes council president yes next resolution 030 honoring Reverend Dr Lester W Taylor junion for his 30 years anniversary at Community Baptist Church we need a motion and a second I motion second questions roll call councilman Rosen yes councilman wiski yes yes councilwoman David yes councilman Wilson yes council president cob yes can we take a fem minute break yes yes 5 minute we're liveil Wilson motion to reconvene the meeting we need a motion to convene the meeting a motion I'll second it all in favor I all right meeting is reconvene next resolutions for discussion um the first six we will discuss then the other ones we have to go in close and then we'll come out and take action on those so the first one is the acceptance of completed projects Mr hman could you explain to us that uh sure this is to give the council a heads up that at at a future meeting there'll be a resolution which will list projects that were completed in TW calendar year 2023 um that the the engineer will will um deem that are completed and then um the council would be asked to pass a resolution the resolution is then sent to the Joint Insurance Fund to our GIF and then we have liability we have complete liability coverage on on all all of those projects so this is something that's usually done at the end of the year or the beginning of a of a new year so it's it's everything from completion of a playground um to to certain road projects and things of that nature so um that's just that's just a heads up for the council so that'll be something we can expect at our next council meeting well we're we're not we're not sure there's uh you know it's it'll be it'll be up to the engineer just um we do have projects that are completed and um so it'll be either at the next meeting or a meeting in February okay next shared service agreement with Bergen County for tree removal services Mr Hoffman I guess that's you yes uh thank you council president this is a this is something that um the county is requesting a five-year agreement it's um for the removal of trees on County Roads the county is responsible for uh for work on the roads but behind the curbed line there's a procedure um that uh that they um that they they're asking to be followed it's it's um it's been revised and um I don't know France have you had an opportunity to to take a take a look at this there's um you know just uh there's so there's work there's work in the there's work in in the power lines there's there's other things but um yeah this this this is this is essentially you know some requirements that the county is is asking us as part of you know helping us out doing certain projects Etc and they require the same o and they require the same thing for road projects as well whenever they do a million pave project whether it be Engle Street Grand Avenue we're responsible to do all the the curbing the handicap ramps Etc so that that's essentially part and partial of the same thing so is this a resolution that we will expect to be on for next meeting that's my understanding yes okay yeah thank you um thank you V Next is geese control contract mrman I guess that would be you yes yes uh thank you council president this is just the um we're doing research on different methods to prevent or limit geese from being in their parks and then cleaning up uh after after the after the geese so so um there are we're we're we're we're evaluating three different options and uh we will bring a recommendation to the council at one of our one of our near meetings um so that we can have this ready for the spring and um you know just help to make sure that a gase in the Parks is limited and that the uh the playing fields in the Parks um have less feal content than they had in 2022 and 2023 next Green Acres Jake law program grant for improvement at McKay Park yeah that's that's one of mine we're applying for a grant to replace the playground area in McKay Park along the Williams side yep by TI and tips by tips exactly um I don't know if any of you have been out there lately with that playground is is pretty pretty worn pretty torn broken in a lot of places so it needs to be repaired and it is heavily used in the when the weather permits especially when the ktip center is active um so we're we're replacing it by an all-inclusive playground I believe this is the only playground in Inglewood that's going to be deemed all-inclusive that means anybody regardless of your physical uh capability will be able to use this playground area um this grant uh should keep in mind this grant covers 75% of the cost of this playground um so it's it's you know it's a good opportunity for us to to uh better include everyone uh to just enjoy our parks and be part of the community how much is the playground the playground itself right now is about 720,000 um the grant will cover 5 change and the city would have to pay less than 200,000 yeah have a quick question um but and thank you for being so diligent on what you do um and I think that that playground is at the end of its life expectancy um but I just want to make sure does that include the benches as well because benches are very hazardous everything's going to get replaced that whole playground area is going to get removed benches everything's going to get removed you'll get new benches new tables and new playground area yeah that that's important because I think that's one of the shoes parked by our young youth with Vince and K tibs being right there so well over need thank you so what are our plans to get the how we going to make up the difference in terms of the 200,000 right because that's about 200 right yeah that that's something we'll we'll we'll have to include as part of the capital budget on the recreation can we get Millennium to help us with something to see if they can find someone for us well they're the ones that actually located this grant for us that'll cover you know 75% of the cost um the the only thing with this grant is we're we're kind of running into some tight deadlines I believe the submission is February 7th I believe it is yeah so we have to get all our public hearings notices all that out of the way um prior to so that this what do we need to do to help you to get this done um probably the next the next meeting yeah there's going to be there's a public hearing at the next meeting council president so it's it's been advertised by our Clerk and we've uh followed procedures also the um the play The Playground is on our website that's one of the requirements and and there there are there are benches in there it's it's on the engineering page and it's also under news and alerts that's correct so that uh people can can take a look at it it's Prett it's pretty extensive it's it's probably twice it's not three times as large as what's in there now well we have the space there we we have the space yeah that's correct so be good then we can fix the Curve out there too y you know all right thank you thank you for next we have accepting a donation from the SO trading for the epd uh thank you council president the um the the police department received a donation of I believe it was $3,000 and this is uh this is the procedure that's followed as to for the council you know for the governing body to um uh to recognize it to accept it and then it's um they there's there's a they're asking that it be used for um I guess for civic events for Community needs okay next recognized in February as Black History Month I think that self-explanatory who resolution on next oh the resolution will be on for the next meeting does with sign um the rest of these items we will if if you follow your agenda we will have to go into the close then we will come back out and then we will take action I items for discussion um we have one ad hoc committee for recreation master plan council president I believe that that should been the um strategic plan the ongoing strategic plan that Council had passed the res the resolution last year so the uh the the ad hoc committee is working with ruter University um for uh you know for the Strategic plan for Parks when is that going to be done probably in the first quarter of the year is that when it it should be done around April thank you okay more to come on that again next street sign Improvement project that's me that could be you now that's me that's what I asked to put on there there there there's a couple things that were working on I mean just there's there's when you say street sign is sort of generalized because there's a lot of street signs so we have to be careful as what we're talking about they're um I'm working with the police department to to change well first identify the most dangerous intersections in eng going whether it be stop intersections Etc and change all the stop signs of to more flashing that sort of things so they're more visible um the street sign and here is more predicated to the naming of the streets um and to make sure that we have something that's more based Anglewood based as opposed to what's out there now we've gone around and we sort of like uh evaluated all all our signs a lot of them were failing falling apart well Mr VY not to interrupt you but the idea was also that we would we would change all our signs and we would change them to maroon and white like all the other towns are going Centric to that and you're right many of the signs are falling apart they they have worn out their their time yes you know they've served their purpose in terms of in terms of making it the angle with call only the street signs the names themselves can be changed to angle obviously the other street signs of so but but we're working on that we've actually reached out to other municipalities that have gone through the process um getting quotes Etc and um and make this probably going to happen in a couple phases yep um but we're we're working on phase one now and uh I think it'll be exciting I think we need to you know put some you know it definitely uh you know definitely beautify let's beautify it'll definitely beautify the town I totally agree with you um also I have a question for you while I have you standing in front of me uh the sign that got ran over on Lafayette place we are we are working on replacing that as soon as possible U we actually have to believe it or not retrieve the sign from the DPW because there's a certain chip that's in there that specifically tags to the one that's across the street so we have to retreat that ship and build another sign around that yes C what that sign cost um we're we're working with the contractor now it's it's not going to be something outrageous it'll be something probably under $5,000 it's not going to be something crazy but we're we're getting some more specific prices but the manufacturer absolutely stated we we need to retreat that sign so they can so they can rebuild everything based on that chip Mr Hoffman any any news on that sign who ran that sign over from the cameras uh council president I'll check tomorrow I I did not follow up on that today okay thank uh next Englewood H oh sorry sry I um we're talking about the stop sign is that correct we are talking the one side on laf yellow sign y sign somebody ran ran the sign down knock and kept going is that the flashing yes yes yes and and and so they're kind of univers un right they're Universal in terms of the signs themselves but there are certain chips that are in the sign that sortly that that bounce off each other so no thank you for explaining that but I I get it and when you said $5,000 you got my attention I it'll be less than $5,000 you still got my attention um because it's a signed to me and there's things that I don't know but I I think I know a little bit about this that if in fact that these things are kind of disposable and can be ran over would it not behoove us to look at multiples so we get a better pricing well you know what I mean like spare signage like if we buy 10 don't we get some type of break CU they're going to go or these chips are going to go so why not you know the only my understanding is when they install them they sync them with one another um unless you buy couples um all the together um that that's the only thing cuz you can have multiple of them in the street and you don't want to push a button and have all of them start going on no no no I I I got to ask because we're in in clate weather and these things do happen yes um so all right we're working on it we're going to you know if if if it's if it becomes a nuisance with that sign particular we know of one sign it keeps getting knocked over we may look at Ballers or something that should that should protect that sign in that area that's an expensive check I sorry um on on on Jones Road um van norren we're waiting for a LED lighting light around the sign what happened to the sign um not sure what happened I know about the LED lighting cuz I'm talking to the police department about getting a stop sign that work has it been yet I believe it has yes okay so we're just waiting for it to come to come in so we can erect it okay thank you okay next the Englewood on 125th anniversary celebration Mr Offman I know you gave us something here but uh I think there's more to come there has to be some work done and we have to talk about this about adding some people to help us uh meet the subjective obviously um time is of the essence but I will get back to you with a laundry list sure by Friday thank you and just uh just if you could note that the the date was the date was changed because there was a conflict with the council meeting uh date so you're talking about the night market yes yes but I'm sure we should do a bunch of things to recognize 125 years that the city's been in existence so we got to get we got to get to work on that one sure yeah there's there was a projection there was an outline with the potential of four different option you know four four different things to do but whatever whatever the governing body wants to do is is fine yes Council last year I uh was on a chair of the committee and I wasn't aware of any meetings and so when this comes about it's concerning to me that I'm co-chairing with uh a a colleague that is no longer with us and we had no meeting that I was aware of and then we come up with this information so well well we'll Circle back with that we'll get that okay because I I have put together as as well with my constituents a whole host of people that want to contribute to the rich history of Our Fair City for 125 years and I don't want to limit any Community within our town to to share to share their knowledge anybody any council member who has people that they want to participate in this just please let us know and everybody will be able to afford it that opportunity to participate uh if they have ideas um so all I have to do is uh get them to myself and councilman Wilson was the co-chair so I'm going to respect that he's going to stay in that role um but anybody who wants to participate in some form or fashion and that means work um that we'll do but this this is going to happen fast so yes um please feel free to email us next the 2024 budget timeline Mr Hoffman uh thank you council president yes there's a there's a memo in the packet that just outlined the um of the the benchmarks for the 2024 budget process just with the state the state deadlines for the filing of the different forms on the revenue side and then we uh we do have a list of dates that um that will be circulated just to see if that meets the governing body's criteria so that we can have um budget meetings in February with with members of the governing body we're uh we're going through the right now with the department heads we're making our our second pass through the through the the budget tightening things up and we'll you know we want to be ready to uh to provide it to the to the governing body so the the the memo just outlines um the different timelines it also provides the uh the front of the local Public Finance notice that lists the Dead the deadlines that uh um the annual debt statement the annual financial statement has to be filed and um you know some of the some of the work that has to be done so that uh we can U provide the governing body with with a draft budget thank you next um School Board liaison um I I put that on there because I believe that there should be some dialogue between the school and the City of of Anglewood as Council so we should be working uh in concert with one another we do share their facilities and other things so it's important that we come up with the relationship where we establish a relationship and it's long overdue because we're trying to serve those people already so um I think this is something we should add to um our regular um liaison roles from the council's perspective and last teams for peace program 2024 peace poll Lisa you want to talk about that I can try please just trust you're trying to tell us you know well I know you're struggling talking tonight but I I think some of us need to to know the the the the whole conception of that and and what you what the sure the um can you hear me can you hear me yep okay the um teens for peace program is a rotary club of Anglewood program and um this program is now in its fourth year it's been a um EST well established program and a successful program and I believe everybody um I know Charles and Kevin and uh Ken you were at the last um some some of the events and I know that we had sent sent some um emails to the board of ed when we started so I know that you know about it too Angela um and what this program is it's um it brings together students from all five middle schools uh so that that um so we have five middle schools in Anglewood and the school select five students from each school who participates and it's facilitated by the Bergen Family Center and the students during Co they met via Zoom but last year and this year they're meeting in person and um they discuss things like peace and community and it Bridges it it um makes creates Bridges between different communities and it's been very very successful ESS ful uh it's an 8we program toward the end of the program they do a community service project together last year they packed food for um for families in need from the Bergen Family Center and what was really nice about that was that in they were able to include their classmates in that project um and then at the end the very last meeting we planted a a peace poll and what a peace poll is it says may peace Prevail in on Earth in eight different languages and it's interational symbol of peace and a lot of a lot of towns have it there are over 200,000 in the world Anglewood had none now we have three so so the reason uh the program is in the process of getting started now and the reason this came to the council is we is that the peaceful uh we need the peaceful gets planted we need we need for the council to give permission for where the Poli peaceful gets planted I know charlet give me one second um Charlotte then Shon is it really takes care of the peace pole part I know she had a conversation today with you there's already there's one in the um there's one in the first Ward there's one in the Third Ward one in the fourth ward so um so so I think I think the decision is just um in the second ward I think the the the one place is on Broad Avenue by G field not gity field itself I don't think be a good place but in the park next door to it and I think that would be a good place for it so if if the council is an agreement in that place and we can just put it on the agenda next week and then move forward that's okay yes councilwoman hi um I have one I have a couple questions um I see I know about super it was not done the right way in Englewood um so I think it should be some type of training with these students or some type of information what a peace poll is because I've I've driven down some peace polls and I'm looking at them like they're just a poll to me you understand Angela this is part of a program know so so the program is with the students so the students are part of the process they actually help pick the different languages that go on the peace poll the languages you say how many languages their eight languages are the peace pole the students are they get together eight week they get together every week they have dinner from 5:30 to 6:00 and then they have conversation and they have have topics and this is run this is the Rotary Club of Anglewood project and we have a facilitator that's they're paid to facilitate a program okay where where did they meet at at the Bergen Family Center so maybe maybe you should go visit I'm go visit I think I'll visit is that okay for her to go visit can I visit yeah but it's it's not this this jne at the end of February okay okay I'll visit Lisa thank you good thank you so there's one in the first Ward at the library uh we're talking about putting one in the second ward for this time there's one in the Third Ward at Veterans Park and there's one at McKay Park in the fourth board okay any other questions funded what's question funding it's a rotary club of Anglewood project so the Rotary Club of Anglewood takes care of the funding we do get a grant every year we've done it we've gotten a grant that's partially paid for for it as well next we will have a public session name address and question before we do that Mr Hoffman before we go on the public session will you want to answer the questions that we had if you want sure one second so what we want to do here before we go into public session is I've asked uh Mr Hoffman to read his responses to the questions from the last meeting no we going to get answers we got to get answers all right council president the uh um councilman Wilson has made a valid point he's just asked if we could introduce our our our guest attorney for the evening and that'll give me CH a chance to look for the uh he's sitting in for Bill b today good evening everyone David laferty Huntington Bailey uh partners with Mr biley I apologize I should have introduced him at the beginning of the meeting thank you better or worse one step at a time we getting them now we'll work on that Mr Hoffman can you lead or or you looking forward yeah I I just had it on the on the desk council president um here it is okay all right let's start thank you uh thank you council president at the January 2nd reorganization meeting um there had been uh six six members had from the public had come to the microphone to ask questions or to make statements so one of the questions that was asked was um had to do with uh about the recreation director who was put on paid administrative leave when a and and the the comment was that a police officer was not put on paid administrative leave after an incident that occurred in September of 2022 so the the answer is that the the city followed the same procedure for both the police officer and the recreation director uh the terminology is just different during the uh the initial investig ation both the police officer and the recreation director were placed on paid administrative leave upon the completion of the investigation of the September 2022 incident the police officers involved were sent for medical and psychological examinations and they were then um cleared to return to work so um we followed the same procedures uh we're just waiting we're just waiting for the completion of um of the uh you know of the report on what happened in in in December and um also what we're waiting for is the um one of the officers who's who's uh was put on paid administrative leave you know there's currently the criminal investigation that that occurred um where we just waiting for a presentation to the grand jury before um before any additional action can be contemplated because the the prosecutor's off or the Attorney General's office has all all of the information related to the their investigation so um that's what we're waiting for but the processes are the same and um you know both both are being treated in a fair and Equitable manner in accordance with the applicable law and the constitutional rights of the people that are involved or you know the staff that are involved and again this is a Personnel matter so it's um it's something that uh we we have guidelines that we have to follow and we're doing that a question was the a second question was asked it had to do with whether the city had received the deed for the tailor Bliss house that question was answered at the meeting and you know the answer the answer was that to date the city um the city does not have the deed um for for the building we're not we're not the owner it's technically still the uh the cashier synagogue um then there was a a resident had also commented on the recreation director being placed on administrative leave again and the the same answer applies as to as to the first question about it you know what was the procedures and we've just gone gone through that uh the resident then also asked a second question related to the master plan and this resident indicated that they were not in favor of a company from Westwood being appointed to complete the master plan and um the the company from Westwood did not submit a proposal for that tonight the council took action based on a consensus of the planning board and the council has adopted a resolution to hire DMR Associates to complete the master plan so they will be looking at 13 or 14 of the elements of the master plan and um I guess councilman Wilson that the planning board meets next week that that is correct thanks go ahead sorry and we we we sort out and and studied the the people that are presenting the proposals for the planning board and DMR um presented the the most diligent approach for us and I thought it was important that the new planning board organization have meeting not only with the council but with the public so this gives the public an opportunity to have input and we have some wiggle room if in fact that the public is not satisfied with the two meetings previously scheduled for you guys to understand what how we're moving forward we have wiggle room with DMR to at additional meetings okay thank you I also believe that we will have an introductory meeting with DMR absolutely for for the public to participate in that meeting so there there are a series of meetings that will come up we'll we'll do everything in our power to make sure that everybody's informed when these meetings will take place because we want participation at the highest level so you make sure we we want people to participate in this master plan so come with your ideas and what you want to look how you want Englewood to look 10 years from now so you know um it's important that we have these meetings but it's going to be very transparent and we what we want to do is have these meetings in every Ward as well but we will have meetings here as well from a council's perspective okay and I thank the council are taking action tonight so that um the plan the planning board can get moving on it next week um then there was a a a resident also asked question questions about Progressive disciplinary steps related to uh both the recreation department and the police department and it should be noted that um there are progressive disciplinary steps in the employee handbook that had been in effect from 2020 as well as the one that was adopted on December 19th of 2023 by the council and then um there's also Progressive disciplinary steps in um in the uh uh the uh basically in the uh procedures for the police department as well uh last but not least the resident asked a question about um when was the human resource director hired and the human resource director um was hired on February 1st of 2022 thank you council president thank you now we will have a public session please come to Mike name I'm sorry no it's 2023 2023 she was sorry 2023 name address I don't know if it is it on it's a red light it's not a green light there we go could you help him out oh there it is it's on now go ahead ignasio aosta uh Dwight place before anything else uh you guys haven't seen me before cuz I just moved to the city recently um but I have connections here I had my first client from second ward I've gone to church in the First Ward I I have family and friends who are in the Third Ward and now I'm a constituent of the first so my reason for coming out tonight is to talk about uh an ordinance you guys passed last month 2339 can you speak up a little Lou because the my reason for being here is to talk about an ordinance who passed last month 2339 the one about vacant and abandoned properties okay so first it's a good ordinance I know it was a state pass one two years ago and that's why you guys adopted it uh basically I wanted to talk about the fact that this is insufficient I think in my mind for Anglewood I know you guys probably already know it but I'll repeat it Anglewood is a very unique City that's why I moved here it has resources it's something that not a lot of people talk about but uh US Census says that we have 1.6 billion in retail sales here Healthcare cost Healthcare that we spend is about 1.1 billion no other County in ber no other community in Bergen is like that without being the county seat or having some outside connections that help them grow so Anglewood is really influential resilient that's why I'm here um but let me tell you what I see when I drive into the city when I come in through Forest stav I see rental properties that are occupied but their fenes are falling apart when I come down palisad have I see a residence that is well manicured but the shutters are falling off and it's owned by a corporate entity who went against the council and probably lost but they haven't sold that property when I come in through teni we already know that CSX and the railro tracks are pretty bad on Deon Street the point is that this is great but it's only for the most egregious fenders I think we need to remind ourselves that what we have here is a great city that is possible to have 100% occupancy in every facility every in every plot of land and we can do it I mean when you think think about palate Avenue there's storefronts that have been vacant since the mayor's first term and I know that cuz I first job here was as a tutor on palate Avenue so I've seen them uh you guys may talk about I'm a CPA but I know that there are companies who consult and really push for understanding the difference between physical occupancy and economic occupancy so the incentives for speculators in the community are separating from the incentives and the desires of the Council and the residents we need to make the cost of maintaining the status quo higher than the cost of fixing thingss mov forward okay you finish uh last thing I did want to say is that you know I mean there's uh you guys heard in the news that there's some malls that are bu thinking about building residential units nearby and they say it's to help Sur you know the malls that are dying but anyone who's been to those malls knows that they're not not dying the reason why they're building those residential units is because people like me want to live near a walkable downtown want to be near access to major highways want to be a place that we can see our friends and family have ample parking for anybody who wants to visit us so what are some of the things that angood has that's very evident and visible an extremely walkable downtown ample parking performance art center we have a lot of things out here that people want that when I talk to people who have move to other towns they kind of get jealous because they thought that what they were getting there is what I'm getting here so we have to do something to stop the predatory speculators and not just those because I don't want to venize everybody there's also people who have unexpected windfalls because they've moved out of the community a great aun passed away and they've inherited something that they have no interest in but they know the value of it okay so thank you thank you Mr cost I think the ordinance was 2329 yeah Rick will with New Jersey first and foremost I want to extend my deepest condolences to Michael WS on the passing of his father I also want to con you know extend my condolences to the family of Alvin trusty that used to come here religiously he passed away I think his services are sometimes this Thursday uh you know me and the mayor have had this conversation before and regardless of how we come here and we talk and we agree to disagree we live in a world where people have been estranged for their from their Humanity people no longer know how to treat people they don't even know how to agree to disagree with somebody without not being confrontational and this is the problem because people have a lack of respect not only for the message but for the messenger often time the message is offensive because you're talking to people that have lived lies and they don't want to accept the truth so with that said 102 102 days of bombing in Gaza and still going on some places in the West Bank they're bombing currently naster Hospital in conun uh schools have been bombs mosque have been bombed churches have been bombed there've been church members that have been killed in the church by sniper fire over 300 healthcare workers killed over 100 journalists killed the more journalists have been killed in any War since World War II 102 journalists just so you don't kill a journalist is a war crime these people are recording the Deeds of the armies and what's going on you know in this you know in this theater of war 102 days okay and we're still going on people are are getting killed more bombs tonnage have been dropped in Gaza than have been dropped in Nagasaki and H Hiroshima and in sometimes in some cases some of these journalists their entire families are being targeted not too long ago there was a journalist Shireen Abu Akay that was shot in the head by a sniper and she didn't even have the decency of having her funeral without you know the Israeli occupation forces coming there and disrespecting that uh 25,000 dead half of those are children I've seen images online with kids in incubators dead those kids are not a part of Hamas they're children you're a Doctor Ken Lisa's a doctor okay you understand the the the value of life every life has a value nobody has the right to say that there's no such thing as a Palestinian or these people don't exist they absolutely exist I was with about a half a million half a million of them in Washington over the weekend they absolutely exist okay over 60,000 wounded all right and now we have a confrontation with Yemen and the hotis that are attacking ships that are going into Israel and going into this occupation into this war and causing this problem thank you to South Africa for bringing rightful charges against Satan Yahoo and the regime for genocide this is absolutely genocide I should know my ancestors are still suffering a genocide at the hands of the police those that are sworn to protect all right World War III is on its way ladies and gentlemen okay we have Iran Iraq we have Russia we have the United States of America we have Great Britain we have all The Usual Suspects we have China all because there is people in that region that think that they have the god-given right to do whatever they want to do and Satan Yahoo has told the international criminal court that regardless of their decision they're going to continue to do what they're doing in Gaza till they kill everybody in that strip that is a crime how in the world can we as a civilized society let somebody continue to ethically cleanse and collectively punish people within good conscience you go to a court and you present your case and somebody gets up that the America the American government is supported with taxpayer dollar is to kill children he gets up and said regardless of the outcome we will not we will not comply and stop we need to understand that those are lives and those lives matter thank you thank you Rick Amy Amy Bullock Callen Avenue I have more questions about the Tay of bliss house I also asked did we have proof of insurance or COI from the synagogue since they are still the owners um I'm also curious to know if there is what's the plan on making that that building usable um is there a deadline that it needs to be done by um I understand the synagogue has some liability in in making it usable what's that liability is this going to sit into the infinite Abyss like Liberty school and just continue to decay K on city property a building we don't own um and then my next question is I want to understand more about what Sid is who's in Sid how are they chosen to be in Sid why does sid exist um what's the benefit of Sid do we fund Sid or is that funded through donations or grants um that's it thank you good good evening har Shar again 51 West Hamilton Avenue um I went through the last meeting that you guys had and reorganization meeting and a lot of things have been common they talking about flood mitigation transparency accountability I'm used to that what I am concerned about is our new Council um counc member um Mrs Davis and she used the term serious Eng and serious problems I wanted her to elaborate on what she were talking about uh versus what has been going on for their past and then she talked about on on a second portion of it Englewood it needs to be put on the right track so that means basically if it needs to be put on the right track we will go on the wrong track so I wanted um Mrs so we could start off this right and understand what her perspective is maybe she has something different that we look at or that we not looking out at so was concerned when she use those two terms Anglewood is not on the right track and um Inglewood problems serious problems so I would like her to address that please no it's not a back and forth you know that right correct I just want that's that's her comments if she wants to make share them with you offline or something like that but it's not a a discussion I really concerned about that because I think we've been going to these meetings for a while and we looked at the same items the same things and maybe she bring in a new something new that we I we haven't been seeing so I want to get get a little grip over that contact her she she can talk to you about about that thank you but I don't think any problems that we have are secrets and I don't think so either so I I that's that's her comment we're going to be as transparent as possible other than talking about things that we can't talk about here um what I will tell everybody is that as we go through the year especially with this master plan we will we will be as transparent as possible we we know we got issues with affordable housing flood mitigation Public Safety and the like but they will all be captured and they will all be conversations during the master plan and and you'll be able to participate just like everybody else will be there there's where the form would it back and forth will take place okay one of the other things is you we talked about trans transparency and accountability over and over and over and I don't want the continuation of some of the meetings that we had last year where the CH totally got out of out of way that it became a problem so want what do you mean by that what happen I mean like something meting got out of hand you nothing going to be out of hand right I will we need to behave like human beings yeah no no no we will and I think we have you know I've let people speak over the the three minutes that we have because I think that what they're saying is important but also I I think that we're not going to have people just attacking people either so that we don't need to do that there healthy dialogue where everybody gets what they need to get and they and and they understand it that's why I started with Mr Hoffman now answering the questions maybe he didn't answer all of them tonight but he will continue to do that or if somebody else has deemed that they have answer anybody up on this Das is can can answer back to that but but the goal is to allow people to get answers or to have that discussion about a question that they have asked because I think that if people come out and make their time to come out here that the least we can do is try to respond with it we may not have the answer but we can tell you that we don't have the answer but we can go try to get the answer and come back to that so um we hopefully that it will be a healthy dialogue like that for this year that's my hope moving forward that's my hope how you doing uh my name is Greg win resident here of Englewood dimer staff I want to thank you guys for the body of work that you guys are doing respectively and everything that you guys are trying to you know problem solve uh my story is the same um my story has been written since ' 08 in the ingood Jr uh program uh notice by the Bergen Record and some things on the state and and other you know levels um so I see that you had made some advancements uh in appointing to appoint uh Recreation advisory committee liaison um members as far as the discussion um I know that I have uh you know some areas that I can totally uh improve based off experience and the the new the younger families and you know people I've dealt with over the years I have Solutions I know that um I did speak with the the superintendent in a meeting that we had she had mentioned that she was looking to uh appoint a liaison of some sort because basically being overwhelmed uh not everything just totally verbally but we were in that type of discussion so um there have been moments that I've listened here in in the meetings and about nepotism and um city workers and um but nothing in depth with volunteers and the thing is is that my belief in dealing with uh these young kids and these young parents that come to engood to help the community Thrive um that I can help stay ize um these volunteers that is an extension to the city of Englewood so that um I can help with a code of conduct and ethic um to to bring you know the next generation of this community you know along um Mr Hoffman had made a statement that uh they're dealing with ruers sure I've attended I've been there done that with ru's certified coach you know uh back in the day uh with with with camps but in the community there has to be some other form of subgovernment if I may with volunteers because you just can't bring any and everybody along me as a businessman when I look at anything that I deal with um it there's always liability and when you leave that out of the scope of any structure that you have you are destined to do so I just been nothing but a walking exhibition everything that I said that I could do I've delivered I've won and we bought the championship home so in advance thanks for the value of your time that's going to end the uh public session uh we're going to go in a close session you have to read this into close session just let's have a motion and a second we going to close second all right all in favor okay okay we're good all right now and close session okay can be short or long so we are recording everyone let me pull up my agenda real quick so we just need a motion and a second to reconvene I make a motion that we reconvene out of second all in favor all in favor all right so we need now a motion and second for need a motion and second for the board of adjustment adjustment point I make 2 to accept the the board of adjustment I second um that one's going to need a roll call roll call I lost my agenda uh Council councilman Rosen swes not here councilwoman wiski yes councilwoman David yes councilman Wilson yes and council president cob yes okay so now we need a motion we need a motion to adjourn the meeting I make a motion that we adjourn this meeting all in favor I meeting is adjourned thank you everyone sorry for keeping you so late but we tend to want to have comp