##VIDEO ID:KhPmODj4ybw## IED to flag of the United States of America and to the stand indice in accordance with chapter 231 of the open public meetings act adequate and proper notice of this meeting has been given to the public by publishing a notice in the Glen Ridge paper Glen Ridge voice monair times and the Star Ledger and posting said notice on the bulletin board in the municipal building the agenda and public handouts for this meeting can be viewed online at www Glen nj.org a public comment period will be held as listed on the agenda please state your name for the record and note that comments will be limited to three minutes per person Madam clerk please call the rooll yes Madam May coun Le here Hughes here Moody here law here Meer tomorrow here mayor mans is present Madam mayor you have a quum thanks so much um we are going to move over the approval of minutes and catch up with that at the next meeting Madame clerk uh any written Communications that okay thanks um I do not have any comments for the mayor except uh I do want to note we are going to move right into the Glen Ridge Police Department accreditation presentation we have a guest here it shouldn't take that long so I appreciate that and then we'll move into the comments of the public so um Chief I will turn it over to you evening mayor and councel i' like to begin by offering a warm welcome to Harry Delgado he is the accreditation program director for the New Jersey Association of chiefs of police we are grateful for his invaluable guidance and support throughout this process and for being here tonight to present our official creditation certificate when I became Chief in 2021 one of my first objectives was to successfully complete the requirements to receive our initial accreditation which we did and became accredited in October of that year since then our department has re has worked diligently to not only uphold the required standards but also consistently improve our training and policies to adapt to the evolving needs of society accreditation is a significant professional milestone for our department it demonstrates that the glenbridge police department has met the high standards established by the New Jersey State Association of chiefs of police an organization who has been designated as an independent credentialing body recognized by the US Department of Justice to attain accreditation we overh our policies and procedures to ensure they reflect best practices and the highest Professional Standards in law enforcement once employed we were required to show proofs of compliance in the form of approximately 12 standards after a comprehensive review by a team of assessors and hearing before the accreditation commission the commission unanimously approved our department as an accredited law enforcement agency mayor council I apologize beforehand for giving you my back the citizens that think so proudly serve uh Chief was too kind I came here to recognize him and the police department but certainly will appreciate it um just the cont so what I'm about to share with you is said from all the law enforcement agencies in the state New Jersey that would be eligible to apply for accreditation about half of those have been able to make it once because the process is so rigorous now that's about 54% to be exact those that make it actually twice meaning have another cycle of reaccreditation that drops to 32% so that's the elite group that this Police Department belongs to so they should be proud because that is a remarkable accomplishment if you indulging for a couple of minutes I'd like to share with you the public the significance of the achievement so the Glen Rich police department has once again made a commitment to adhering to best practices at the state and National level in a highly regarded Statewide law enforcement accreditation program this evening they're recognized for achieving re accreditation this program ad minister to New Jersey State Association of chiefs of police and the New Jersey Law Enforcement accreditation commission has held to transparently demonstrate the professionalism transparency and preparedness of state's law enforcement agencies in the state's public safety system so in this uniquely challenging times and the threat to health and safety encouraging law enforcement agencies to follow standardized practices and policies is potentially life- saving and cost effective investment of time and resources accreditation gives an agency a prepar us plan and verification of Excellence accreditation status represents a significant professional achievement now I should say that the Glen Rich Police Department received this prestigious reedited status demonstrating Chiefs Queen's firm commitment to remain on track with State and National standards and the continued expectations for quality professional and ethical uh policy she made reference to 112 standards which is what New Jersey will become accredited but he didn't say that for to meet uh to adhere to those 112 standards you need over 450 proofs of compli so it's very regor process so creation is a process Foundation lies in the adoption of Standards containing a clear statement professional uh objective it is a progressive of time excuse me it is a Progressive and Time proven way of help law enforcement agencies calculate andove their World performance it is a certification by independent reion Authority that the accredited agency was carefully measured against an established state of stage in National standards it's the best practices that have actually been tested against national standards and in the case of the Glen reach Police Department in many instances exceeded access to practices in the field of law enforcement so accuration provides objective evidence of an agency's commitment to Excellence in leadership resource management and Service delivery C manifestors can be more confident in the agency's ability toer efficiently and me Community needs and officers and accredited agencies can take pride that they have been objectively measured against the Prof for professional in adherance to the highest standard and going quickly over this I just simply want to paraphrase some of what was said in the report uh and might conclude with that under the leadership with Chief Quin high level of competence leadership and professionalism is evident within the agency the Clen Rich Police Department strive to provide the best possible Services attainable amongst the priorities maintaining New Jersey State Association Chiefs Poli status proceed with adhering to the tenants of outline in able and C IAT seeking out grant opportunities Finance innovated Poli these strategies managing increased technology demands including inh hand software and network security and continuing Community outage programs quite remarkable that they're so bested in the community that they serve so it is the opinion of the assessment team that the Glen Rich Police Department is a highly professional in communed agency which which exemplifies all of the tenants of law enforcement accreditation at the state and National level so my pleasure and privilege here tonight on behalf of the New Jersey State Association Chiefs of police and the New Jersey Law Enforcement acction commission to congratulate Chief Sean Quinn gradation manager Lieutenant Dean nardis the members of the Glenridge Police Department the mayor council and those citizens that they so priv uh uh excuse me that they so privately serve for achieving reaccreditation joining a very exclusive group of law enforcement agencies in th New Jersey that I made this commitment to Excellency and policing so to all indeed congratulations I'm good well Dean is the accreditation I was I was invited up thank you do you so I just also wanted to uh express my heartfelt thanks to Mayor debie mans the members of the B Council um administrator Mike Kelly the police commissioner Hughes um for their waving throughout this challenging but rewarding process we couldn't have done it without your help and support special Thanks goes to the goes out to the dedicated members of the BL Police Department um particularly our accredidation manager Lieutenant Ellis who has been living this life um while we are proud of this accomplishment we understand that is just the beginning accreditation is an ongoing process and we will continue to strive for excellence we have embraced a culture of accountability and remain steast in our commitment to providing the highest level of service to our community thank you all for your support than thank you again Chief will be joining us for the rest of the meeting um okay so we'll open it up for comments of the public please try to um limit your comments to three minutes thank you um and please come up state your name and address for the record I'm pona gupa residing at 375 Forest Avenue good evening everyone thank you for this opportunity to speak first and foremost I would like to respectfully thank mayor mans all council members Mike zelli and Eric delene for your continued patience and engagement on this matter specifically the tree removal at GC GRCC and Varian request we have confidence that you will ultimately protect and preserve the residents best interest that is also we as residents and your constituents are banking on since hearing about the tree permit approval on Friday all of us have been quite distressed for one the trees could be cut any day so every sound of a truck or a power tool raises our anxiety and secondly that the club was granted this permit by the town which initially felt a bit of a shocking and initially felt a bit shocking and a bit of a betrayal which is why we were have been trying so hard to influence this outcome through many different approaches but we have since understood that obtaining the tree permit is a fairly mechanical process one in which if the application is filled correctly it is deemed approved and the town could not have influenced this outcome of the permit solely based on the established law however we do want to a few things 24 of the trees that are marked for removal are by the club arborists assessment healthy and five of them are between 140 to 200 years old that's far greater than any human's lifespan it's even greater than our Bird's age which was established in 1895 all trees but even more so old trees Hold Us in awe and wonder at their Majestic Beauty and lifegiving Force whether the current law allows it or not each of us the residents the the town elected rep representatives and even the club hold a moral obligation to do everything in our individual and Collective power to protect these trees especially when there appear to be multiple other options to accommodate new construction footprint without harming them simply saying that we cannot do anything just because the application is within the current rules is not enough surely there can be an effective dialogue between the council members and Club such that majority of the trees be spared while considering their new expansion or Improvement plan if the town convenes such a dialogue we will be happy to participate in constructive good faith thank you for your attention thank you so much for your comments um I'm taking a note about the convening and we'll keep you posted if that's an option thank you you have any other comments yeah my name is raka baric and I reside at 372 Forest Avenue I would like to begin by expressing my gratitude for your patience as we familiarize ourselves with the laws and processes associated with the recently enacted sh shade tree ordinance uh specifically related to the uh tree removal and the Glen Rich Country Club reest we greatly appreciate the thoughtful responses and Clarity that you've provided to us thus far we now fully understand that the tree permit represents a procedural requirement to be followed rather than a mandate to be enforced at this stage our sincere request is for the Glenridge Country Club to refrain from removing the trees until the revised plans have been submitted and approved by the board this consideration is critical as the revised plans may ultimately render the removal of the trees unnecessary many of the4 beautiful decades old trees still serve as an essential of privacy and noise buffer for our home which is located adjacent to the country club for this reason they remain personally significant to my household thank you again for allowing me the opportunity to speak today thank you for your comment thank you the members of the public we are going to do a the the leaf below ordinance we will have an open comment period on that ordinance um but you are welcome to speak now too yeah hey I'm Eric mof I live at 386 Forest Avenue um and I wanted to talk about two topics now and then one later apparently um so the first topic was a topic that came up at the last Town council meeting that was the first I'd heard of it which was was about some stop on consideration at the corner of Sunset Forest Avenue um and I don't live there I walk by there with my second grader kindergartner and one and a halfy old multiple times per year and I counted it'll be a total of eight years that I'll be going through that intersection and um that's a lot of safety that we can provide with the stop sign and some speed bumps maybe if they don't blink um to make the happier I think that's totally cool um and I guarantee that adds a lot more safety than a few speeding tickets personally uh actually that's not a guarantee um and then finally I just wanted to extend my thoughts on the Glen Ridge uh Country Club tree uh decimation um it sounds like and I don't know all of what's going on but it sounds like they're already in violation is they're 75t uh to from the nearest and they're supposed to be 100 according to um ordinance I feel like the country club should have to follow the rules just like the rest of us um they're already kind of scaring dogs every year on July 4th but the advantage is we get to watch some free fireworks right so it kind of kind of balances out um but we miss out on that opportunity as neighbors I live I think seven or nine houses away from the country club and uh I'm not a member but I I get to hear a lot of what's going on with and things like that and I can only imagine what them coming 75 or 80 feet closer to my home and my neighbor's homes uh would affect that so uh thank you chat soon all right thanks any other members of the public for the open public comment period hi Phil Johnson 55 chest in place you've been here before you knew what to do with the mic for the record um a the question with regards to ordinance 1811 which was approved recently established in chapter 1229 about the removal of trees on private property yeah as I understand it um trees that are removed in Glen Ridge need to be replaced by trees in Glen Ridge or can trees be planted in other municipalities um which is what I understand the country club is proposing to do is remove trees in Glen Ridge and replace them in blenfield yeah that just uh was Flagg for us and our expectation is those trees will be planted in Glen thank you anyone else okay well you can well we'll have another open public comment M at the end as well um all right with that let just get us back on track here oh uh CD G hearing so this is some um finances that coming is coming in so actually it's the first time I a to do this suspend the regular order yes Mike I'm looking at you y so this is the uh first of two public hearings for the Community Development block grant applications Community Development block rants are federal funds that are used uh to make infrastructure improvements in low moderate income neighborhoods as per centus track Glen Ridge does not have a uh we are just one big census track we do not uh income qualify for any projects to be funded infrastructure F uh projects to be funded using the this money however it is also used to eliminate barriers for those with uh disabilities in the past we have used it for example on uh infrastructure projects whenever we touch a road the aprons the the corner uh Ada ramps have to be replaced to the most current specific ations um we've been using the funds for that as of this point this is our first of two public hearings for this we have no applications to present that this time uh the burrow usually receives about $40,000 um towards these these projects and uh we'll be back at the U next council meeting de December 9th yeah December 9th uh to to make the buroughs presentation okay that concludes our our hearing at this point there all right thanks all right with that um councilor lewitz finance and administration committee thank you Madame mayor this evening I have a resolution and three ordinances so I begin with resolution 14424 um this is where we uh pay our bills um which include pass through to the board of education and Essex County as well as smaller ordinary operating expenses which are listed in the resolution so Madam mayor I I move resolution 144 d24 you've heard the motion by council leitz do I have a second second the motion by Council leitz seconded by councelor Hughes any discussion on this resolution seeing none Madam clerk please call the ball yes Madam mayor counc I huse I Moody I law I Maro I five eyes no names the motion carries thank you and next Madame mayor I have ordinance 1815 um an ordinance entitled um Bond ordinance providing for water main replacement around Carteret Street in and by the burrow of Glenn Ridge in the county of Essex New Jersey appropriating $2.2 million therefore and authorizing the issuance of $2.2 million bonds or notes of the buau to finance part of the cost thereof this is to State for the record that this ordinance has been published and posted in according with the statute so it's the final reading of the ordinance I Clare this meeting open for discussion of this ordinance and this ordinance only this being the time in place for our public hearing if you have comments on ordinance 15 please come up seeing no comments um I declare this public hearing closed Madam mayor I move that this ordinance be adopted may have a second I'll second you've heard the motion by councelor leit seconded by um councelor law Madam clerk please call the RO yes Madam mayor councelor leitz i Hughes I Moody I law I tomorrow I five eyes no names this ordinance is adopted thank you and next Madame mayor I 17 uh an ordinance to establish a new chapter in the code of the burrow of Glen Ridge chapter 9.9 entitled restricted areas in buildings where Municipal operations are conducted limited to authorized employees only to protect and saard are public records containing personally identifiable information um yeah M may I move the Ordinance do I hear a second I'll second thank you your councelor Moody is there any discussion amongst the members of the Council on this ordinance so it's uh an ordinance essentially to address the issue of how far can the public go in in and Reporting uh what happens in uh burrow properties uh what and and and where so establishing some boundaries within the rights afforded by the First Amendment so ex about yeah perfect seeing no further comments forthcoming uh Madam clerk please call the role yes Madam mayor councelor leit I Hugh I Moody I law I Maro I no names this ordinance is passed on first reading I refer refer ordinance 1817 to the municipal clerk for the purpose of statutory publication and posting yes ma'am thank you and lastly Madame mayor I have ordinance 1818 uh entitled um an ordinance establishing titles for non-union and other employees of the buau of Glen Ridge and fixing the 2025 maximum annual salaries and compensations for those titles and this is for first reading may I hear a second on this I'll give you a second thank you councel Hughes is there any discussion amongst the members of the council seeing no comments Madam clerk please call the RO yes Madam mayor councelor leovit hi Hughes hi Moody I law I Maro I five eyes no names pass on first reading I refer ordinance 18 18 to the municipal clerk for the purpose of statutory publication and posting yes Madam mayor thank you so much and Madam mayor that's all for all right councelor Hughes uh mayor I have a I have a um resolution and an ordinance tonight but I'd also like to just thank again and congratulate the chief on the job thank on the recognition by the state's chief of police organization really I think that was your number one thing to do when you first came on as Chief and so congratulations U and mayor I have uh first a resolution for a game of chance be it resolved that accordance with the statute the mayor and Council approv the raffle license application for an on premise merchandise raffle submitted by the Glenridge PBA to be held on December 15th at 226 Ridgewood Avenue uh mayor the res for the motion by councel Hughes do I have a second I'll second for the motion by councel Hughes seconded by councelor lewitz Madam CL please call the rooll yes Madam mayor councilor Le i h i Moody I law I marrow I five eyes no the motion carries and mayor next I have an ordinance that will set the rate and authorize uh the outside employment of Glen Ridge Poli Department officers for you know construction light projects and other roadway type projects uh within the buau uh so I have ordinance number 1819 an ordinance entitled uh establishing policies for outside employment of the Bureau of Glen Ridge Police while off duty uh mayor I move the resolution may I have a second I'll second is there any discussion amongst the members of the Council on this ordinance seeing none Madam clerk please call the RO yes Madam mayor counselor Le hi Hughes I Moody I law I marrow I five eyes no names ordinance is passed on first reading I refer ordinance 1819 to the municipal clerk for the purpose of statutory publication and posting yes' anything else councelor H so I am thank you councelor moody Community Affairs and public Rel ation uh in the community fairs and public fairs uh public relations report first I just want to highlight two upcoming community events uh this Thursday a proud tradition the Ashen felter 8K will be running through town make sure that you get your cranberry sauce before all the roads shut down because you will not be cutting across uh and then uh on Sunday December 18th we are officially holiday season and the annual bur holiday will take place did I what did I say come don't be a grinch take away our holidays too much sorry about that uh now on to more serious matters Madame mayor I do have an ordinance uh I have ordinance number 1816 LEF lower ordinance uh for final reading this is to State for the record that this ordinance has been published in in accordance with the statutes I declare this meeting open for discussion of this ordinance and this ordinance only this being the time and place for public hearing please come to the mic state your name and address if you'd like to speak on this ordinance good tight ordinance is nothing to uh Phil Johnson just grateful for the council's work on this and the environmental advisory committee it's been a long road and appreciate your deliberate consideration and and debate on this on this topic um it's a great first step that the council is proposing to take tonight and encourage its adoption thank you thank you any other comments microphone is much higher this time thanks to Mr uh my name is AR mof I live at 386 Sports Avenue still um I'm excited for the second reading and I've spoken a lot about it so you know my my thoughts um I'm also excited to hear how the changes will be communicated to the buau um and how violations will be received um and also if it passes uh I'll buy the first round of beers if it's jlon I'm not joking I don't think we could accept those but yeah we appreciate the thought um any further comments um kind of yeah like the question about communication to the buau oh um and um how uh how communication back to based on restriction or based on yeah there is a a compliance component in the ordinance itself um I don't know councelor Moody um you kind of shephered this through did you want to speak to anything oh I'll just say that we were really careful about that it will run through the Glen Rich Police Department for enforcement um um and you know someone is in violation they do have the opportunity to just pay the fine they don't actually have to appear in unless they're appealing um and in terms of communication to the buau that is something that we're just beginning to discuss we know that there's going to need to be a lot of and we also know how hard that is in an environment where there's not a lot of real local journalism anymore so we're going to work on how we can get that message out both by social media coordinating with the environmental advisory commission um and whether or not I don't wish to speak for The Bu but it has been discussed whether we send a postcard or something just to ensure that everybody in the buo is aware of it we do we don't want to pass something and have people not aware I think it'll have to be a multi multi right that's what we're discussing Isel I don't know Corner sign because the violations do go to the resident as well as to the operator so I'm sure we'll make sure there's a l communication and the ordinance is effective January 1 2025 so I just want to note that so we knew we need to had some ramp up time for that okay any other um comments feel like I should go on record uh of course uh Amanda mccave 205 Balman Street and as the chair of the environmental committee I would like to offer our um uh you know effort we'll be happy to help with the effort with communication make sure this goes as smoothly as possible um and uh yeah I think the the burrow it'll you know it'll it'll take um some it'll it'll it'll be a transition but I think um ultimately it'll be a positive uh benefit to everybody yeah thank you for all your personal time on this Amanda you and I want to just add a note that um having this go through the non-emergency line of the police department is in keeping with what some other towns do and in particular that is how Morris Town ordinance so we have been looking at other models and trying to rightsize this for our own administrative structures hly Murphy 20 Hillcrest Road um just want to be here in support of this I've spoken on it before I w't anything any other comments I will recognize Megan I'll take a point of reference to thank you for all the work on this too um and I'm glad to see you here tonight okay um oh my gosh where were we okay you're up oh so with no further com that you m i deare public en closed yes Madam mayor I moved that this ordinance be adopted may have second may I second you may you've heard the motion of councelor Moody seconded by councelor Marrow Madam clerk please call the RO and include me yes Madam thank you councelor leovit I Hughes I Moody I law I Mar I mad May m mayor six eyes no NS this ordinance is adopted councelor Moody anything else no other business for me Madam mayor thank you councilor Law Public Works and utility committee yes I I just like to uh congratulate the chief of his team on the accomplishment of the accreditation job well done and uh also wanted to thank in advance our public works department as well as all the other burer employees that are going to be involved in the Ashen felter it's a commitment of time during a holiday and um we should all recognize the time that they put forth you know it just have C of a away from their family so um thank you to all involved that's it councelor uh Meer is not here tonight councelor marrow planning and Redevelopment or development committee I have nothing formal but again I would just like to thank members of the environmental advisory committee um and that includes both of you and your former roles in that committee this has been going on for quite some time uh and I really appreciate your dedication and Prof with which you kept everyone informed so Kudos and much appreciation here and again thanks to Chief thanks to Lieutenant nard delis I know in addition to your regular jobs you had an awful lot of um documentation and followup and so it was really an inordinate amount of time that went into the re renovation so congratulations and Happy Thanksgiving good luck to the runners rain or shine good luck to you Mike luck to you R shine and Public Work exactly all right uh Mike do you have any comments so just a few mayor I'd like to again congratulate the chief on everybody anybody that's gone through this process or familiar with it every time you think you're almost there you bump into something else and you know either it's physical improvements or security or process that we just it's just a continually moving puzzle I I really commend the police for just sticking with it and uh problem solving throughout this this entire process and really congratulations on not not an easy feam uh again our a is on um on Thanksgiving morning and just many of you live in town know about that just want to be aware of that the gas lamp players will be in front on December 8th for our uh holiday uh lighting and uh May 8th at 4:30 um and then uh December 20th this started during covid is the uh Santa parade uh if you remember we drive drive around town that became a an immediate uh fan favorite and um as a Municipal Employee we like for everybody to see us as uh folks that are part of the community with our families you'll see our Police Department with their their kids in their vehicles throwing candy out the window or uh the first year our CFO had his uh son in the vehicle and he was so excited he threw candy across his father's face against the en closed window and it all bounc back so us as participants as bro employees love it and we love to see the the crowd response to that so we'll we'll be out there on uh the the map and and those we we posted as as those come and and finally just for members of the public this is the nicest town I've ever worked with um between last meeting and this meeting where uh coming forward with your request and working with me personally um it's a lot of information and it uh but everybody is just you're so kind and uh I know you're upset you don't care for what's going on but really the the the the way you work with us and communicate with us I cannot tell you how much Tower myself all of us appreciate the the the level of decorum everybody holds it really as frustrating as hard as this job can be at times um it's not dealing with our residents it's a lot of other things we deal with that is uh becoming quite frustrating so I just want to thank everybody the way you interface and communicate with us really is um uh tremendous and I just want to thank everybody thank you mayor thank you joh uh mayor I have no report okay madam cler may have no report you want to another bouquet I'll get yeah I have no report I was going to talk about the Ashen filter but it's over done so who's running in the ash fter you're running so the only other thing is you'll see a new Santa lay out there we have resident elves constructing a new one as we speak the other one was destroyed by a storm so there's a new addition I guess hopefully it will be done it will be done those outs are working overtime nobody worry about that um we have no new or unfinished business correct Madam clerk correct thank you um and this is a uh the last public uh comment period any further comments from the public yes mad mayor I'm sorry I neglected to mention one thing oh yeah which was just to to mention in public that is renewing our AAA rating which we just got a year ago so it's no flash in the pan that's right thank you David okay seeing none um councelor me isn't here so councelor moody do you have a motion for us yes I'd like to make a motion to adjourn great that's it