##VIDEO ID:QyCHiBAQRfI## would everybody take their seats we're going to get started I call the order tonight city council meeting of September 17 2024 at 7:40 p.m. will everybody rise for the Pledge of Allegiance I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for stands one nation under God indivisible with liy and justice for all right now we're going to have a moment of silence for US Marine private George Cole Browning um the city manager uh thank you Council president this moment of silence is in honor of an Inglewood resident who was killed in action on iima 79 years ago he was unidentified he was in a uh unmarked but numbered grave um through the organiz through an organization of veterans his DNA was identified and he was brought home in August and lay to rest here in Inglewood so I wanted to thank the uh the council president for allowing this moment of silence for uh someone who gave his all an Englewood resident and um his legacy lived on his uh nephew was able to go to college based on the savings that he had and his life insurance policy um so thank you council president let's have this moment now thank you next we'll have the statement read by the city clerk of the open public meetings act 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 the Star Ledger and advertised and said newspapers on January 17th 2024 posted on the bulletin board in the municipal building and has remained continuously posted as the required notices under the statute a copy of this notice is and has been available to the public in is on file in the office of the municipal clerk proper notice hav been given the municipal clerk is directed to include the statement in the minutes of this meeting will the city cler please Ru read the roll call councilman Rosen yes councilwoman wiski yes councilwoman David yes council president cob here uh running late and we'll be calling in later this evening is councilman Wilson also present is Mayor Michael Wilds city manager Robert S Hoffman I don't see Deputy city manager uh City attorney Bill Bailey uh and city engineer France FY next we will have the swearing and a probational firefighter Kio Thomas where's it up ladies and gentlemen good evening Michael Wilds mayor of Anglewood this is a really special day uh for the city uh and inwood's bravest khil began his community involvement during High School by joining the tck volunteer ambulance Court Tac and and then later the Anglewood volunteer ience Corp Evac he began to pursue a career in emergency services beginning as an EMT in awood hospital eventually his dedication led him to a career with the Maplewood fire department the T neck fire department then grabbed the gentleman and now the Anglewood fire department has this uh young man for our services he excelled and received the certificate of overall recruit from the mors County fire academy khil is committed to continuous learning and earned his fire inspector's license while working in Maplewood he was later as I said transferred from different departments and found his home here he is married his wife laurian and also in attendance are his parents Randolph and Joanne who will be holding uh the Bible the gentleman will be joining the fourth platoon um I can tell you how historic and important this fire department is and how dependent the res residents are and we wish you God speed safety and a return home every tour every night of your life I state your name KH Thomas do hereby swear do hereby swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States that I will support the Constitution of the United States and of the state of New Jersey and of the state of New Jersey and that I will bear true faith and that I would bear true faith and allegiance to the same and allegiance to the same and to the governments established and to the governments established in the United States and in this state in the United States and in this state under the authority of the people of the city of Englewood under the authority of the people of the city of Englewood further I do swear further I do swear that I will Faithfully that I will faithfully impartially impartially and justly perform and justly perform all the duties all the duties of the position of of the position of with probationary fire Inwood probationary firef according to the best of my ability according to the best of my ability so help me God help me God congratulations [Applause] we'll take a quick picture then we're going to hear from the chief okay softspoken chief sends his best and um would you like to say a few words I didn't really have a speech prepared but uh I'd like to thank everybody for for attending um first foremost thank you God for giving me this opportunity uh thank you to the friends and family who attended here today and those who weren't able to come wow uh and lastly but not least my wife who unfortunately wasn't able to make it today she's been my biggest supporter and feeling the love from here so thank you thank you just going to ask the governing body to join us for one photo also I'll sign it afterwards please join us Robert please join for f [Applause] y want to that ain't the whole depart problem that thank you okay problem next we'll have approval of meeting minutes resolution 27891 724 we're approving the minutes of the regular meeting of May 16 2023 September 19th 2023 and the workshop meeting of October 10th 2023 I need a motion in a second so move I'll say second it R roll call she got councilman Rosen I apologize which which date was it again I'm sorry would you say what dates what dates were the mean it's May 16th 2023 September 19th 2023 okay I and the third one the third one is October 10th 2023 oh I I can't vote on the octob October 10th when I was out that day you were actually no I was I was here that when I was out October 24th okay I was just out beginning yeah okay thank you councilwoman wasi yes Council wom and David I abstained because I was not here um part of the council then thank you thank you and council president cop yes next we have bills and claims resolution 27909 1724 in the amount of 1,365 53914 I need a motion and a second I'll make a motion second any questions roll call councilman Rosen yes councilwoman wiski yes councilwoman David yes council president cb yes next we have ordinance for second reading ordinance ordinance 249 an ordinance authorizing an entry into a lease between the city of Anglewood and Flat Rock book nature Association INC now we open up the public hearing yes so anybody in the public who has any questions and I see that uh we don't have the mic where it should be um if anyone has a question please come to step to the mic provide us with your name and address and you have three minutes on this particular item and maybe maybe Mr Bailey could you give some background on this just in case yeah what's before the governing body is an an ordinance authoriz authorizing a new 25e lease between the city and Flat Rock B Brook um it really kind of deres out of funding that may be available for Green Acres and things like that so the pries hadn't yet expired but we put a new one in place to satisfy certain requirements of Green Acres and it'll uh make Flat Rock eligible potentially for some funding and things like that to improve uh the park and the Nature Center so the biggest change is that it's you know it previously was a 25 year lease too so it's just another 25 just an extension of this essentially technically a new lease a new lease okay yes uh the Flat Rock Brook Rick Wilby yeah Rick wiby thank you Flat Rock Brook right hey what did the figure years as far as like how much is the lease how much like what kind of money is the city making any money off of this and and what are they getting from Green Acres because it seems to me like anytime there's some benefit with some money it goes to the top of the hill not to the bottom of the hill you know can you give us some figures I mean I've never been to Flat Rock I drive by it all the time but it's like someplace where I want to visit an ingu or what can you give us some figures the lease yeah I mean what's the details no you can answer um there's no money really exchanged to to I think the lease is for a dollar a year or something but it's valuable right we need money right so why would we give it away we're not giving it away so why are we leasing it for a dollar why we can't lease it for more money because it's for a public purpose okay it's open to the public uh it's been in existence for as long as I can but why can't we make money off of it like we do down here like we have the recreation department right if you want to lease it for a commercial purpose no no no no I'm saying like down here right we have like McKay Park which is Like A Flat Rock Brook down here but then you have programs in McKay park that kids have to pay for is there programs in Flat Rock that's free to people I'm not familiar with their programming or what classes they provide or things like that I could take a butterfly class or something Mr wiby I the director of Flat Rock is there but he can tell you what kind of programs you have you guys ain't got no money to you need some money you can't pay us like 15,000 a month or something yes yeah I just need to know he could come explain to him so we educate the public good evening so just for everybody who doesn't know is 15 AC second board um we serve about 75,000 individuals per year um we also run lots of programs Forwood Public School District students every year we get a grant from County which we see over a thousand students in public school district now half of them come to the Nature Center for field trips half that we go and see in the school district is the largest program that we have and all those programs are for free for all the students um but we don't charge any admission to the Nature Center we don't charge parking we don't charge admission we really want to be inclusive so everybody in Anglewood and the surrounding communities weend a really wellmaintained Nature Preserve right here 150 Aces so happy to talk more we have more specifics I think that's good thank you Steve sorry all I'm saying is that I understand what he's doing up at Flat Rock I hope he's not in danger of being developed like the over know as developing down here no but where is something like that down here for people like me to go to where is that like where is that where is that down here is it some place in the C Park where it's free we're getting all this grant money and everybody's getting all this free stuff where is that replicator down the third one where is it it's only up there why that's all I'm saying thank you since I don't see anybody else coming to the mic I'm going to close the public hearing on this I need a motion in a second so moved second roll call councilman Rosen yes councilwoman wasi yes councilwoman David yes council president C yes next we have no or no ordinances for first reading so we move on to public comment on agenda items 280 281 282 283 284 285 and 286 if you have any comments on resolutions on the consent agenda floor is open come to the mic you have three minutes your name and your address 29724 resolution awarding a requ disclosure to landscaping for landscaping repair at 445 white wood Road E I'm assuming that e City yep Mr Hoffman if he this uh award entails this is probably better answered by our um engineer but what this is is there was a collapsed covert that had to be restored and so this is part of the restoration process thank you I'm going to close the this part of the public meeting and we're going to vote I need a motion in a second motion second roll call councilman Rosen yes councilwoman wasi yes councilwoman David yes council president cb yes now we're going to have communications from the governing body and the city manager mayor W thank you I wanted to reiterate how important uh the funeral was and I had the privilege of attending and they kept it very tight as the family wanted to for this Fallen Marine about uh three weeks ago now he lived on Dwight place in Anglewood his mother passed away not knowing what had become of her son later they would regil that he was called to Yellow Park in the Battle of hirosima and then dispatched to get some radio equipment and was killed at that moment they never identified his body but true to form the go the army of the United States spent 79 years looking for him and he was brought back to Anglewood to see the reverence and the respect that he was given and being laid to rest by his mother's side is nothing less than magnificent a reminder of those that have fought for us that they should never be forgotten and a moment for us to remind our eles the responsibility we have to make this a more perfect union so that his loss was not for anything less than a hero's loss I also would like to Regale this past Friday the World War I Monument was lit in Persian Park General persing was honored years ago across the street from the White House for nine years a very talented internationally regaled sculptor Sabin Howard worked on this sculpture and five years of that was in Anglewood New Jersey on ven brunt street through a pandemic remember World War I was the era where there was a pandemic it was the first time the United States joined the International Community in Fort a war and took a station in the world the lessons learned the minorities depicted the PTSD that war showed then and we see now was depicted so exactingly our city manager took his family on a trip there this past weekend I would urge everybody to check our social media and to join my coffee with the mayor session on Fridays at 11:00 a.m. where I'll give more updates all I can say uh is this place is a very special City it has extraordinary history and it's incumbent on us elected officials and residents to make the city worthy of those that have lived shopped dined and died on its behalf thank you councilman Rosen swi hi thank you and a good evening everyone um at the last council meeting I kept my remarks uh very brief because it was already a late hour uh but uh as we hadn't met I'd like to uh congratulate the organizers of the Night Market I I know it seems a long time ago but we we had some canceled meetings uh but it's a wonderful event very well attended and I'd like to thank uh the committee I believe led by uh council president Cobb uh for for getting that done and again it very enjoyable um unfortunately I wasn't able to make it but I heard the honeybee event on Sunday uh by the environmental commission was an extremely successful event with over a 100 attendees so again congratulations on on that um and no B puns uh I've been forbidden from doing that um and to everyone I uh who celebrates I wish a happy and healthy New Year shanat TOA and I'll see you um at the next meeting thank you thank councilwoman wasas hi good evening it's nice to see everybody tonight um I was at the honeybee event on Sunday that was put on by the environmental commission at the library it was really a wonderful event um I had heard in the past they there just used to be 20 25 people there there were close to 100 people there on Sunday children adults learning how honey is comes about and getting an opportunity to taste honey everyone had a really good time I I brought my three-year-old granddaughter it was a lot of fun so that was nice um just in terms of some of the issues that we've been dealing with in the second ward and also really in the entire city um we we've been dealing with the with the issue of flooding uh August was a difficult month for the city and for the second ward we had we spoke about the flooding events and we're still people are still come people are still um coming out of that they're they're still uh trying to recover from from August the city is taking this very seriously this is in a priority for the city it's certainly it's certainly a priority for me um I went by this week and I saw the work that was being done behind that place in the New Jersey Transit um easement cousins was there cleaning out that area I know there's talk about uh Crystal Lake uh I um we've been talking about Flat Rock Brook that has to we have to go into Flat Rock Brook and start cleaning out that area as well and at I think was our last council meeting we we did hire we we passed I guess a resolution we passed uh hiring a an engineering company to to come and to do a to come and study and come up with a comprehensive solution for the problems at Broad Avenue in Dana place I know DPW has been going all over the city and cleaning out coverts and uh it's everybody's been working really hard so I I do want to give a shout out to our city manager and our Deputy city manager DPW and just everybody who um is working hard to address this issue so um so I would also like to wish everybody who's celebrating a happy New Year and I'll see everybody at the next meeting thank councilwoman David hi good evening everyone um I would like to um say thank you for Jack Silverman successful Third Ward uh he's from my award so I can say thank you to him I knew him for years but he did an excellent job with the honeybee it was awesome I attended it was like about a hundred people there um that's the largest amount of folks I've seen in quite some time um also I would like to thank the city manager and the deputy manager for also addressing the issues with the uh storm drainage in the Third Ward it takes time I mean we did um put some more drainage in the Third Ward but now we have an entire issue like they said the last time um I was flooded out too and I understand how it feels with the floods and everything my basement was flooded I had mold and everything so that's an ongoing issue with me living in a third one on Cambridge Avenue because of a pitch in my backyard but um also on a positive note as well um um I would like to say that we're having an event on the 29th at the high school Dwight Mara high school because I kept putting back the third W block party we're going to call it a fall festival and that's going to happen on the Green Acres of Dwight Maro High School on Sunday rain or shine we're going to have it so it's going to be a petting zoo it's going to be donkeys it's going to be food it's going to be a festival that's you know um bring our community together more than anything and I'm sorry we had to like um call it off so many times because the weather was really bad um and also we I chose the 29th because I know there's a holiday coming up in October um a new year coming up and um Jordan stroll who's also with the actus fund he's um he cannot be there because it's his holiday the entire month so I would like to say thank you for that and those that called me also um and said you know what thank you thank you and I'm like you know what thank you for for trusting me that's it good evening um and I'd like to thank everybody who came out to the meeting tonight and those who are listening um we angle with a struggling with a with flooding and I've gone around to every Ward uh and I'd really like to thank the folks that have worked very hard and that's our DPW and our city engineer on on the ground and they will tell you that I've been on the ground in every Ward pointing out the issues and concerns uh it's not that the city's not working hard they're working very hard to get this and to get some solutions and some relief and I know that people are very frustrated uh um and some even traumatized because they continue to be impacted by this water but I assure you that the effort is there um people are this is something that we're going to have to work with every day to get better and understanding because the rate of rain we can't control but we can put in things that help us mitigate so people don't get flooding and get damaged to their hom so we are working on that and um we did also see and I actually learned something about when we do road work from Mr Vol and them that these guys are supposed to uh reconstruct and correct me if I'm wrong reconstruct the catch basins in the street so when we're milling and Paving they're supposed to reconstruct those catch basins so that's the opportunity when we see those things that we're we're doing it and we have a lot of work a lot of road work going on in the town today so hopefully it'll be better than the next time will it be perfect not yet but we we're shooting for Perfection and and you know I appreciate the patience I hear when you're you're frustrated when you're frustrated that means you really care when you're expressing yourself and we understand that as well but we'll continue to work every day to give you the relief we can give you you know those guys are out there all the time and and truly they they are Troopers um if you understood what we were working with you would probably say wow how did they get all this work done with these amount of people that they have so uh I I thank those guys and I thank you for your patience but I understand your frustration as as well so that's important um one of the things I want to bring on I believe September the 29th councilwoman David I don't know if you knew this that uh First Presbyterian Church is having an opening since the fire that destroyed the uh uh sanctuary and the roof of that so and I believe that's at 3:00 so I just want to just want 11 to three so that's perfect okay 11 I just want to bring it to you so for those was happening for those of us who want to know that's a historical church and uh that's what they're having um so I just wanted to bring that to your attention um but again raise your hand if you got flooding point it out to us and we'll put it on that long list of things to do but the goal is to do it I I see you maam I see you raising your hand you'll be able to talk in a few minutes um so but I I appreciate it um you know your concerns and um not thinking that and I see the nap people contingent here uh M rigan you know ra riled up the state and had them come on in but again takes our partners as well to help us as well the county the state to help manage uh some of this stuff that they're responsible for as well but we'll do our part uh for the city of Anglewood so I thank you for that um Mr Hoffman thank you council president and good evening everyone I'm pleased to report that our DPW has made significant progress in its continuing efforts to protect the health welfare and safety of our residents after the two August storms it's clear that the Turnpike Authority did not maintain their easement the high naap place for decades and there's also a culvert back there the city had to call in cousins Tree Service to assist uh the DPW with the clearing of brush and dead trees that had been that um had to be cleared out so that we could locate catch basins where we had um we had heard that there there was there there had been catch basins so the catch basins were uncovered there were two flat catch basins that were found they were completely silted in and based on the combined efforts of the DPW and cousins tree service today our DPW sewer truck with and we had permission from some of some of the residents on that place was able to get into those two uh flat catch basins and they cleaned them out they had over six feet of um silt and muck in them and now they are clean and they go into a culvert that goes um down under under the easement so that that happened today and the city on several occasions since August 19th had attempted to contact the Turnpike Authority uh representatives of the Turnpike Authority did did come on site once but then there's uh they were they did not respond to calls and emails from the from the city from our Deputy city manager or from Congressman go heimer's office or from Senator Johnson's office that was until late this afternoon so there's been a breakthrough late this afternoon and um our Deputy city manager was able to speak with representatives of the Turnpike Authority and I'm just going to ask if he could give a 30 second synopsis because some of the things they said were um were um incredible but they were also very very valuable and they want to work with us so that's um they're they're willing to be be here they they're mobilizing and they want to do something within the next two weeks but John what what was it that their Engineers had said to to you today um that's just vitally vitally important I don't want to I want to make sure that everybody hears it good evening and thank you Council for the opportunity before I get started want to publicly thank for initiating contact with always strong syst she uh she got the all rolling we paid several U Outreach attempts uh explaining the situation providing information to Authority today did speak uh with their engineering department so the maintenance department that we met with uh you know it's a large bureaucracy so we went through a lot of channels uh to get information they've been searching for deeds and for titles and the land transfer had happened back in the early 1990s so there was a lot a lot of old documents to go through it um the engineering department confirmed that the Crystal Lake Dam and the culbert on the turnpike authorities right of way and that njta did is responsible the inspection and maintenance of those assets that they did inherit the roadways Bridges Dam fway the culbert 1500 ft of culber um and that that has been inspected by them every two years for the past 30 years uh they've also mobilized uh their inspection Consultants um and they've done they have already been out and done a reconnaissance inspection of the dam and the surrounding area uh they've also been in contact with njd Bure of Dam safety as that Dam um the Crystal Lake dam is the first and only Dam that is uh is part of the asset of the New Jersey turnpik Authority so we need some uh some help in in figuring out how to deal with that uh they are uh they are scheduling a formal inspection of the dam and the culber so that will be forthcoming we'll be able to report on that future meetings uh they are also are having the general Consulting engineer perform of hydrologic and a hydraulic analysis of the stream Corridor in the vicinity and that includes the flat Flat Rock Brook and uh other streams in the area so uh they are looking to work with us our engineer France VY uh and I met this afternoon um to to to obtain some topographic maps and other information that we'd like to share with the Turnpike Authority they're eager to partner with the city uh to find some resolve uh of this uh they also Consulting engineer conducted a storm assessment of the 86 uh storm and that was categorized as a 250e storm event which is quite a catastrophic event as we all realize and they are currently in the process of cleaning out storm lines on the Northbound side of Route 95 quter which all flow into the over Creek so uh we do look forward to the continue cooperation from the Turnpike Authority and the other jurisdictions that we'll be working with so you again thank you to the council for the commitment uh to get this done and you know we are indeed working very hard on it every single day so thanks FR again thank you very much thank thank you yeah thank you you know and and the key is the key takeaways here is they've categorized this as the August 6 storm is a 250-year storm but more importantly they have acknowledged that they own the dam that they are responsible for the Culvert the Culvert is the concrete um water water course that goes from from the dam um basically under undergr Avenue and out into the overp creek and they've also they also there's the Culvert so there's you have the you have um an easement and a covert so they've acknowledged that they own both so what's behind nap they've um where we've gone in and and we we cut down the trees and we cleaned out that those two catch basins they they as of today they acknowledge that that's their responsibility and more importantly they acknowledge that the dam and this and the the uh that valve is their responsibility so that was that was a big breakthrough and we're looking forward to working with them you know to making sure that this gets done and then they also acknowledge that the water from Flat Rock Brook and other tributaries goes into Crystal Lake and we've we're going to wind up having to approach the subject of about how do we clean out Crystal Lake to make sure that it it continues to flow so um but you know that's something that that happened you know after 3:30 today so so thank you for that we also met with the burrow of Leonia on site there and they're uh they want to help us uh clean clean out Crystal Lake they're going to be lending us some of their DPW staff to help do that and um so that's um that's good on on another note um the city received notification this afternoon that we've received a Community Development block grant for $1 49,7 the devil's in the details but France will be uh getting some of that information so we can figure out what what roads we can pave and what you know if we have to subsidize uh some some of that pavement with additional funds but that's that's something that's good as the mayor noted on Friday evening September 13th history was dedicated in Washington DC the official United States World War I Memorial was unveiled in persing park the monument was made here in Englewood and has 38 figures all of the figures that were the the models that were used for the 38 figures are all combat veterans um and it's a memorial to the 4.7 million Americans who served in what was then known as the Great War many of them came from Englewood and um as as had been said before for the sculpture um create created this this um historic Memorial right here in Inglewood and um you know go online take a look at it it's it is a beautiful piece of artwork and we can truly say that history is made in Englewood thank you very much council president thank you now we're going to go to the public session of this meeting the rules 3 minutes name address evening good my name is G and I have an issue I've been here a month ago one month ago and I spoke to Mr Hoffman about this Inglewood Avenue which has not been com been repaired yet now he promised me that the it engineer was going to come and do the work I don't say the work is bad the tar is not expanding it's streaking and there's a biger hole in the middle of that street to me that whole street needs to be pulled up and you need to use concrete so that you won't be wasting the money for the cities and everyone here because what you're using is cheap labor and cheap material this needs to be changed I don't care who is on the council or who's not on the council we need work people are voting for people they're thinking you're going to do these things and you're doing nothing you're saying oh we're going to do this we're going to do this and you still haven't done it and I'm a proof of it he told me over a month ago and I haven't been here for two two meetings and the work is still not done it's getting worse my my car as I drive in the middle the wheel goes down into the hole which now I'm beginning to think maybe we have a think hole I don't know but I'm wondering it needs to be checked out and whoever your inspector is needs to be changed or either he needs to be looked at and he needs to do a better job because the work is not being done also I want to say something on the expansion of the sidewalk from Palisades Avenue those little things that you got coming out in the middle of the street is making me almost have a w I'm thinking I have enough room to make a turn and I'm almost running up on the sidewalk and I'm not the only one you need to look at that whoever Drew those plans need to go and check them out before you give the public this type of work this is horrible and you expecting us to go along with it and you expecting us to vote you back in office I think you got a problem we have a problem this community is a community of love and we need to stick together instead of pulling against each other building all of these apartment houses we don't need another apartment house not one not one we got enough what three of them right down in W Avenue so we don't need anymore we need no more then you got one up there on I'm not sure if that's fre but it's on four they just finished it why are we building all these houses you're taking away people's land you're taking away their jobs you're taking away everything from them let's stop this nonsense you know God is in control and every last one of you every last one of you you're going to suffer because what you do to somebody else to you it might not come to all right Miss Jones thank you back thank you thank I'm not worried about my time I know okay goodbye I know thank you I know next you don't I am okay hi my name is Christina Kim I live in 22 Gentry Drive and Cross Creek condominiums on englwood um I bought my place uh condomin one bedroom uh 3 years ago and when I was getting my insurance home insurance they said it was not a flooding area but that same year I got the hurricane Ida and I got flooding and I was displaced for eight months and I had to fight the HOA so they could update the the pipes in front of my house because I'm the lowest point on Cross Creek condominium uh they promised that everything will be okay and L behold on August 6 I got flooding again and unlike accuse some people have basement but that's my house I don't have a basement and I have to sleep with the wet floor with the modes uh with the fan with the dehumidifier I have a very stressful job uh that work with people with mental health and uh marginalized and look down and when I come home it's my sanctuary and I am stressed and I cannot sleep I have PTSD and Trauma like you mentioned um president Council and uh I was wondering uh I saw the news that um Mayor Michael whites was in right in front of our house there was six feet of water uh Steve's home and I was wondering who is in charge of the opening the gates uh the flood gates uh because I heard that it was not open and if that was open the gate of flood whatever if that water could have a little bit better and not flooded and who is in charge who tells who makes the decision until the root of the problem it's fixed thank you hi good evening everyone my name is Ava rigan 64 in that place in Englewood um first and foremost I just want to say thank you to Mr Hoffman Mr cob France Voli Mr um burner Deputy city manager and to councilwoman Lisa wasoski just and to Mr Raymond Ry Romney Mr Romney um at the DPW I mean I applaud you guys for the work that you're doing it gives me a peace of mind that the next flood hopefully we won't be flooded again and I just to thank my neighbors for coming out do you see the power of community when we come together we're one community and I appreciate each and every one of you coming out to support this cause and also I just want to get an update on the master plan status so interestingly we had the meeting and we also had the CommunityWide meeting on um June 24th and we all went around and discussed things that were important to us Mr Hoffman you and I spoke about this about the noise and this goes above just normal traffic flowing up and down Grand Avenue this is now a quality of life that is affecting me when I go to bed I need to rest because I manage I have my own business here in Englewood and I'm also a lifelong Englewood resident and my quality of life is being infringed upon and not just mine alone I think my neighbors as well so I think we spoke about a noise ordinance machine that the health department has I would like to see that machine being placed on Grand Avenue and Brookside Avenue I need to see more police officers out in that Ward I know that's the industrial district but the city can generate some revenues by ticketing you can't drive in te- neck and speed you will be stopped people who are going in and out of Englewood even if it's the residence people need to understand and respect our community and I need to see something being done I don't need to see the police at 9:30 on my block with his lights on that's not how you catch criminals you have to disguise yourself and so last will the njta reimburse the city for the work that's being done behind that place as well as at Crystal Lake because that's a huge project and we shouldn't have to bear the brunt of that so thank you so much thank you good night everyone my name is dorine mangar I'm from sry Glen Brook Parkway now my problem I came already and I spoke about my problem is Howell Road Howell Road is a slope it's coming down on Glen Book Parkway have they has no absolutely no drainage whatsoever so our water come flush down on us and flooding flood us out all the time whatever little drainage holes they are in Glenbrook Parkway most of them almost all of them concentrated in front of Glenbrook Condominiums I walk there every single day one there one day one day and wondering what in Heavens am we going on aren't we paying taxes are the people on Glenbrook Condominiums alone paying taxes why are all the drainage holes in front of that condominium something wrong somewhere we are in a flood zone the last time we had master plan they give me to put blue dots where I have my problem my area was already blue so I didn't have to put no dots whatsoever because that broke run right on glenro Parkway whatever water is coming is coming from the road Mr C was there they built they put two drainage in front of M because that's the lowest part of Glen Parkway water was coming from this side come from side that's solving some problem I have three pump two on theg ground one on top one up top that work there I have my own generator when they City when the lights gone my generator started to pump my water out so I'm wondering when if it's in the master plan I wrote it on that thing one two three four five six papers that was was a master plan how Road need drainage we cannot afford of water coming down on us like a waterfall now I noticed that I walk around my I walk around the whole of Englewood actually I was up on the hill I noticed they are paving road on the hill there are they going to pave how Road and then dig it up again cuz drainage is going down there otherwise I'll be here every single day I notice they're Paving there I work right at the clock tower building I put up the that hole when it blow off on this side on this side that side is fixed I don't think the other side is fixed that U manhole or whatever you call that I'm not sure you built the city build that herin field oh boy that's A1 class one Howell Road is going to flood it out when it's flooding again where our tax doll is going to fix it they have perfect pitch a pitch four of them football is it football or I'm not sure baseball footb no it's baseball it's baseball are we going to flaw that out again and fix it back again anybody look at it the other day it's said a class one field it's going to be flooded all because all our water coming back down there so we need to fix Howell Road drainage and put more on Glenbrook Park we it's a flaw so thank you so very much thank you I'm back Sarah strowman 72 West Med so I have three things first the mosquito spring um I understand that we had mosquito mosquito problem which is a result of water and stagnant water um but we sprayed which indirectly affects bees and other Wildlife um so it was one of those things where it actually didn't help but I also wondered what the brainchild behind that was because all of this is connected to the flooding so I was on Palisade Avenue I was in a store that flooded um I took my shoes off and my feet got cut because of all the rocks that were coming down this the hill and I got home through the water and my car battery died so at least I got home right but I called everybody that I knew and Panic to make sure everybody was home that everybody was safe and in the spiritual world I'm going to get hippie dippy here rain and water is unem it's emotion that's not released so what I took away from all of the rain outside of the fact that I can't control that is that Anglewood has a ton of emotion that is not being expressed and usually that's a sign to work on things to heal communities there's a lot of talk here about communities and coming together as communities and the water makes us all equal right like we're all equal here everybody's impacted by the water everybody's impacted by the flooding and everybody needs to be thinking about their habits and patterns so I'm not here to yell at anybody here because I've actually realized that's not going to solve anything it's nobody on the council's fault you all are doing the absolute best that you can do but it requires the actual community so people who complain about water bottles on fields why are your kids drinking out of water bottles if the issue is that the water is dirty then we need to be advocating for clean water in Anglewood so that we're not using water bottles which are plastic which stop up drains don't get recycled can't be recycled there are choices that we can make as community members to help start to build up to an Eco Community we have an environmental commission I was part of it I'm so happy they did their be thing but they should really really really be at the table with all of you talking about new ways to tackle this we should have ways to store water we should allow residents to collect rainwater and use it for their lawns there are options we're just not looking at them so maybe that's an unpopular opinion but I just want you all to look outside of the box please and work with the people in the community that actually want to be not just Advocates but actually want to take responsibility for their actions as community members you can't just get up here and yell at you all thank you Leroy Campbell 287 tfly Road Anglewood um all of these subjects that has been discussed um they're all legit people have a right to express how they feel and I'm going to express how I feel tonight um and it has nothing to do with storm water or any of that it has to do with members of the counil I find it appalling when a council member can take a candidate bring a candidate into the fourth ward and parade them through the fourth ward but when there's issues in the fourth ward they they don't show up they don't show up to support the people that needs help don't come into the fourth ward looking for votes come into the fourth ward when these people in the fourth ward has issues and I get it I get it it there first W Council second W Council third W Council fourth W councel all right but you're on the council you represent the city of Anglewood you supposed to represent all the people not some of the people not First Ward second ward third W or fourth ward you should be willing to see what's going on in all the ward I sat here and I listened to councilman president Cobb stress that he went into all wards and that's what you're supposed to do you didn't do anything that you shouldn't do you did something that you're supposed to do and each and every one of you on the council should be able to do this you come into the fourth ward on the election time and then the people don't see you no more looking for votes it's disgusting it's totally disgusting right and I'm GNA I I hope the people of the fourth some of the people in the fourth ward are listening because we are going to I am going to orchestrate a meeting with the people of the fourth ward to let them know don't buy into this rhetoric because that's what it is rhetoric don't come into the fourth ward when you're just looking for votes come into the fourth ward like I said when these people have issues and they have issues right the fourth Ward's been hit harder than any Ward up until this maybe up until this last storm because of the the weather pattern shift and it sent things in a different direction but these people have been hit hit the hardest they've been suffering the hardest right and only one or two people from the council shows up to see how they're doing but when it's election time you want to parade your candidate through the fourth ward looking for votes that's not going to happen we are not going to allow that to happen thank you Council M Mr cob if I may uh Mr Wilson has joined the meeting via telephone thank you yeah Rick willby England New Jersey first I want to say you know Bob I text you about how rad and uh you know it's really rude that you can't respond to somebody's text when they text you I take my son to football practice and this lady approaches me she tells me things and I've heard her tell not just Bob Charles you know this too what she's dealing with this is something that could be fixed and it needs to be fixed the pathology of the corruption in Inglewood is very much so the fault of the politician it is not the people's responsibility we elected you to do a job you don't do that job of course it's your responsibility if somebody calls you you pick up the phone if somebody emails you you email them back you don't put people on the board of education that's going to siphon off all the money to bus in and other communities that don't want to integrate with people you don't build apartments that people can't afford you don't come into the fourth W and ignore our elders and our ancestors and our young and our old and think we're going to continue to vote for you we see where Donald Trump is still talking about the First Republic in the Free World Haiti that these Haitians are eating cats and dogs and don't get it twisted the racism in the Republican party is not specific to the Republican party it is specific also to the Democrat Party the Dix crats black people need to start learning how to be independent educated voters you don't do nothing for me don't come around it's that simple if you don't want to work for black people don't come around we're not invited to your houses of worships we don't go to your schools we don't support your Wars we don't support your vendettas all we want is what we have earned in this country country yes we should get reparations before we talk about anything else we as a people that built this country should get something from this country before anybody else gets it and over and over again whether it's a blackface and high place or whether it's a neander Thor sitting in the seat all you got is these empty promises with people coming to the black community and some of our so-called leaders leading us astray Malcolm used to talk about us being political trumps because anything they want they bring it up and brought it out the way and now they bring up you now they need black people to elect somebody to beat Donald Trump but at the end of the day what have the Democratic party done for black people that we owe them some things need to be destroyed so they could be rebuilt better that's what sometimes needs to be happened so it's very much so the politicians fault Democrat and Republican all these people that put other places first I heard the mayor administer an oath about what you're responsible for the laws in this country not just some foreign entity that's killing civilians this country right here that's where your Allegiance lies Pete Jansen 589 Rin Harris uh my wife and I Diane and I would like to thank everyone who's working on the flooding uh the flooding issue that we have here in Englewood uh she's sorry she cannot attend but she asked that I read this uh in her absence she attended a webinar on flooding it was on September 9th of this year it was co-hosted with the Watershed Institute the association of New Jersey environmental commissions the American loral society and pin lands preservation Alliance and the purpose of the webinar was entitled understanding New Jersey packed real P protecting against climate threats real resilient environments and Landscapes these are these are rules that are published in the New Jersey register and she posed the following question and it was posted uh she typed it in actually and the guy was going through the questions and said oh this is a good question our city of Anglewood has had four major floods since the flooding of Ida three years ago we had two major floods in August of 2024 also we have about 30,000 people living in 4.9 square miles we are concerned about adequate space for development let alone affordable housing how can we put pressure on our city and elected officials to take action especially without if we are unable to have a moratorium on building so the panel responded with a number of items on actions the city of Englewood can take now with respect to ordinances and Zoning to protect residents these were all the uh the responses the the moment there is a hint of proposed state rule changes developers get their plans into New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection DP now to be grandfathered so they can go in under the old rules there are a lot of things municipalities can do municipalities have stronger can have stronger storm management rules tomorrow if they wanted municipalities can have stronger stream Corridor ordinances tomorrow repair Paran buffers strips of land that border a body of water such as a river stream lake or Pond municipalities can revise Municipal zoning to better protect they can create a Redevelopment standard tomorrow municipalities do not have to wait for D does your existing Municipal zoning make sense note here tomorrow is hypothetical it's not literal have conversations with your environmental commission do you have a champion we can help you in inspire a champion even though it' be difficult to do in New Jersey talk to an attorney about a moratorium on development on development finally sounds like you have more of a political challenge than a technical one although Urban environments pose some challenges that are unique to them thank you thank you uh Steve Weinberg uh 558 Broad Avenue so uh we were uh we were just told that um that the transit authority felt that this was a 250-year flood uh that seems to make no sense against the fact that well I've been flooded three times in about 13 years so I just don't get that part of it all right we've been flooded we were flooded multiple times all right this is not a 250e flood that is just simply a convenient thing for them to say Amen right thank you all right so uh also I heard some good news here all right I saw some good things happening I was at the last meeting we talked about uh getting uh nap Street the area behind NAB Street repaired all right and and remediated and people got involved and it looks like it's happening I'm seeing trucks out there doing real work that's absolutely fantastic fastic all right uh you guys mentioned that uh that the uh Transit um I'm sorry the threeway Authority is going to take responsibility over some portion of Crystal Lake that will really help the area um on that side of Crystal Lake nap Street and Below uh my question basically is what are we going to do about the Upstream side where all the water is actually coming from all right I got flooded I'm on Broad Avenue right and what I saw that evening on on um August 6th was water actually coming over the burm in order for that to happen that's from the Cross Creek community and the and the Cross Creek Lake uh Cross Creek stream which goes into Crystal Lake that water was just streaming over a burm onto Broad Avenue and flooding everybody on that block and and downstream all right what we need to know is is yes you guys mentioned remediation when we still have a flood season is that going to happen before we get flooded again it cost a fortune to remediate my house who's paying for that I'm paying for that do I have to pay for that again I want to get this thing resolved somehow I want to know that I've got your support in remediation efforts that I'm going to take like boarding up my garage all right but also how quickly are we going to get to the point where this is not going to happen again or the likelihood of it diminishes dramatically because we're able to dig deeper widen the channel whatever it takes and go Upstream to um Flat Rock or wherever this stuff is coming from and remediate it at the source all right we've got to be looking Upstream all right because working all the way Downstream that's the end of the problem it's not the beginning of the problem we've got to work that as well uh that's it thank you thank you Mr C I'm gonna if um right right um if anybody else from the public wants to speak before I close the meeting the public session of the meeting now that I don't see anybody um I'm going to close the public portion of the meeting mayor WS thank you uh councilman president um just to address three quick topics I took notes uh first Miss Kim um I is Miss Kim still here all right for the record and if somebody who's a neighbor sees her please let her listen to this on YouTube um I was also under the mistaken notion that there were floodgates that were left open to save other communities and we were harmed uh by the lack of action to protect us it was a misnomer I spoke personally to the county executive um that's very different and we're talking about storm water um and it was not uh the case uh and I'm happy to reify that the noise uh Gizmo that she spoke about is available to the police department and the health department you can call 20568 2700 again 20156 82700 and they have the capability of coming on scene with the equipment and then finding somebody so that technology that ordinance thanks to the governing body uh is there for enforcement um miss rigan you had brought up the master plan wanted to know what the schedule was I spoke to Mr burn the lawyer for the planning board um very shortly the planning board is going to convene since it's deliberative it's a deliberative process there's questions as to whether or not it should be done publicly or privately but eventually they're going to make a recommendation to the governing body the governing body is going to um get it I I believe before November given them the full month of November the full month of December I think one hearing before the planning board has to be convened under ordinance or statute um we've already had multiple public hearings but there will be one before the planning board uh in accordance with the law but that is moving forward any comments any thoughts anything you'd like included once you see it please don't hesitate and uh Mr Weinberg um I confuse you with my law partner Steve Weinberg in my Law Firm um he um you speak truth to power about the waterways coming in from demores and Cresco and angu cliffs there was an enormous amount of water that angu Cliffs had and bestowed us all of this has to be uh studied particularly along the Flat Rock Corridor with Glouster and whether or not there's a m of action that we can take to keep it from getting to Cross Creek and and the compounding problems that we have with the culverts and the obstructions that CSX is refusing to remove or permit us uh access to and so forth so be assured I have confidence in city manager the scientists that are advising us the engineering skills in the groups as well um I've never been more impressed with the actions being taken at City Hall the thought that's going into this remember we had a lot of inim city managers along the way and we paid a price for that um and now uh hopefully we'll Nick this faster than before thank you this is not a regular public s but he just he had to make a com what you got what you got a comment who all my constituent in the Third Ward I heard you when you did ask about the drainage and I came when I was sworn in I came with my feet running and what we did was put two grates in front of your home I was later told that um there you was that you're self-inflicting each other and it was going to be fixed so you kept coming to me asking about drainage what I did was kept a record of it and emailed everyone involved because you was like I need more drainage more drainage more drainage so I did the right thing so so I understand that we did give you drainage but you're caring about the entire community and I we my heart and my sleave and I did help you with that um but now fonts did tell me they're self-inflicting so they need to come public right now and fix those that are self-inflicting their neighbors okay I know no no but just self-inflicting is involved I know self-inflicting is involved also that's what I was told but they're self-inflicting your backyards the backyards are self-inflicting also okay thank you y'all could y'all can y'all can talk offline okay um before we go we we're getting ready to go into the close session but I have to make one announcement here um mail and ballots will go out starting this weekend so if you vote by mail look for the mail in ballots and you can consider dropping him off in the Dropbox in front of City Hall so you can you can put that out there uh to all the folks that are doing that thank you for coming out we are Mr Bailey take us in the Clos session please uh be resolved by the governed by the city of eding with that me close session to discuss contract negotiations Personnel matters litigation matters within the attorney client privilege and be it further resolved the discussion conducted in closed session can be made public upon takeing final action thereon provide it does not constitute undo invasion of privacy or violate the attorney climent privileged and be further resolved that the governing body will return to open session at the conclusion of the closed session a motion second so moved oh yeah I I we're working yeah what get some yeah yeah