##VIDEO ID:hziKo783xDo## e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e the guy sitting in front Leo's guy he wants him to talk only one guy just say we have some we have some that's asked to speak of us because one so the meeting is open correct I can open move forward yeah so got a special request before we go into the work session all right uh somebody here wants to speak and has to leave so I'm going to allow that so if that person would please come to the front Pastor yeah hi um good evening it's really a pleasure and honor to be here and uh and come to the city in a time of social prosperity and social uh Mega buildings that going on and everything else and I really Rejoice to see how advanced we become and how Progressive this city look like and not only that but you don't see much of me and most of the people don't know me because the city now is peaceful and uh when it's peaceful I hide I don't have to be around I dedicate myself and working in Ukraine and Poland and all those countries where they have more trouble than I'm I'm I'm traveling to those countries but what called me and bring me here is that I was checking and uh in my telephone and I saw a situation that I had to address and I appreciate the opportunity that you g me to go early because I have church service and right now they are there um my name is Pastor rer moso um some people call me Dr Reverend Ray her Mo Pastor Ray the reason why I come here is because I like to testify in behalf of Mr Baga I might pronounce the name wrong is this shman there baglia I know Mr bagia for a long time time we worked together in the city for a long time and the city had a lot of people that the many other the people they just came in don't know they have worked hard intensively for the justice of this city and for the blessing of this city Mr Bag is one of them and I could name him some but a fear of missing out and not be able to uh to name at all i' rather not to but Mr Baga is being a very resourceful man of this city and I remember so many minority when I'm talking about minority I'm talking about all kinds of different people come to him to help before all this before uh The Honorable mayor uh uh John le brosi West mayor and all that no before this this is beautiful now now this is peaceful and is much better but I'm talking about the day that this city was really shaking I don't know if you guys remember when one of our kids got killed and everything all those situation I always saw this man fighting for peace for tranquility equality and everything that you can name that is a good nature this is the man I know now a lot of people will come from this to the City and they knew and they probably misunderstand a word or something and then the whole city go Al but I know him for a long time maybe 25 years and I seen him in situation and I see him defending the same people that they accusing him of bad mouthing of talking bad about it I know he's a man of character I know he's a man and he I have brought in a lot of different people for to be helped by him to connect them with the city and without regard race nationality sometime criminal record because many of you know that I worked 17 years at the Bergen County Jail as a Chaplain so I've been around the city I I I came to Bergen County in 1982 so I've been around the city and all I could say is that a lot of people people they just probably have an opinion but I just wanted to know that this is a good man of character that's why he represent the uh city council well that's why a lot of Latino vote for the city council because he represent our community great and not only our community but he represent the city what is hacken fact and uh I'm here to say it you know there was a time in the Bible that um people that Jesus J asked his disciple who do you say who's who the people say that I am and they told him one is the the the prophet and they'll name different people that will not but Jesus asking what do you what do you say that I am who you think who who do you say that I am and then Peter respond properly and said the Savior the Son of God why because he knew him the other people had a speculation about who Jesus was cuz they didn't know him him but Peter know who he was and that's exactly what I'm doing tonight I'm here to testify and say that this man is not a racist that this man love people did this man love what he does what he do helping people always helping and answering question about the great City that we have and I just wanted to know that he love the city he love what he does and I'm sure that he know that if he would to say something with bad mouth or something negative he knows that he Lov his job and that will not well taken so um sir can you you please can you please wrap up um unfortunately you have limited time no no I understand but all I wanted to say is that that the word Moreno in my Latino language is a is a word of encouragement it's a word of of sweing and my Latino my daughter call me negrito I am my daughter's his nego and when she call me hi nego so you know we can say a lot of different word a lot of different things but the thing is you got to find out to see if that person had that desire and his to belit anybody or to hurt anybody and I know him that I know I him and he's not like that I just want to say that God bless you all thank you I got to run I I was recognized by the by the by the uh attorney U by the council by different uh people in the community in the in the county the sheriff and all that they give me all this I never know what they stood for but I just want to know that I have it want to see it Thank You by so thank you we're going to move on with some quick business and then the public will have a chance to speak all right so go ahead uh first up I'm going to call up our uh CFO Mr James Mangan he's going to talk about uh the 2024 best practices and also the Cannabis tax funds and uh the tree planting for 2025 thank you V yeah here tonight to talk about the uh the 2024 best practices inventory uh let me just uh for anybody who's not familiar with uh what the best practices is this was enacted by the state legislature I think around 2010 where the state issues an inventory of what it considers to be best practices that it would like to see every municipality do send the inventorying out to everybody we score ourselves and depending on your score if you score too low you do get penalized with the loss of a portion of your state aid okay um in the 13 or 14 years we've been doing this hacken sa has never lost uh state aid we didn't lose state aid again uh this year um one of the requirements of the program is that the results need to be discussed with the governing body at a public meeting here we are okay so on this year's best practic is inventory okay we scored uh we have a score of 39 out of a possible 46 and a half roughly about 84% uh no loss of state aid at all okay um and what I wanted to do was just run through what our no responses were okay these were the these would be uh the areas where the state considers it to be a best practices a best practice and we're not following it okay um first oh okay sure thank okay the first one is um let me get there okay the first question um has to do with our hyb uh cyber security is multiactor authentication required for remote access to the municipalities network uh we don't have that in place just yet we also have very very very limited uh remote access to our Network okay uh the next one is does your municipality have a formal policy to purchase hybrid or alternate fuel vehicles uh we don't have such a policy uh next up asks whether our employment application um specifically asks whether the applicant is qu is currently disqualified from public employment um this is a new one and I quite frankly not something that I was aware of uh but our job application U doesn't have that okay moving on to the next one all right um has your municipality assessed and collected the $20 fee assessment for the Hazardous lead um inspection uh that we haven't done but currently we're in the process of doing that uh quite frankly I I should have answered that one as perspective Ive meaning we're not doing it today but we're in the process of doing it okay okay going on to the next one um the next two uh have to do with our health benefits and how we procure uh not so much our health benefits um but uh our broker for health benefits the first one asks if we follow What's called the e um um the E uh exemption extraordinary unspecifiable service um has your municipality followed followed the procedural requirements we didn't do this this was the fir this question was asked last year for the first time um and I explained last year right now we're in the process of currently reviewing everything having to do with our health benefits um so we weren't so much concerned with how we were getting our broker as we were with how are we getting our health benefits um the second one has to do with that again with our broker and um have we secured the services of our health benefits broker through competitive contract or public bidding we haven't done that either okay but again we're in the process of reviewing everything having to do with the health benefits themselves and we really weren't concentrating on on the broker aspect of it okay next question is okay um does your municipality's website have a calendar of uh meeting dates for the governing body uh we have lists of all the meeting dates we have minutes of all the meetings we we don't have a calendar um and I was at a seminar regarding I I looked everywhere Dev I don't see a calendar I've looked at it a million times Jim when I'm trying to figure out when the council meeting is so a does it list all the Mee it lists the me meetings but it's a calendar you know with the the the month the day the years and all that I was in a seminar and that's what they ask you look I mean right here council meeting schedule it's we have all of the information it's just not in a calendar okay it's kind of nitpicky isn't it yeah very much okay they the calendar right on the top we can we can fix that see calendar yeah that one's easy okay next question is um does your municipality post on its website site all of your labor agreements uh we don't do that what we do do is like every municipality in New Jersey we file our contracts with public relations uh the public employment relations commission perk we file our contracts with perk perk post them on their website we don't post them on our website personally I don't consider that to be a best practice but that's just my opinion okay okay moving on and the last one similarly is has your municipal filed the required perk summary form with all your current labor contracts um we don't now I explained this last year we have nine labor unions and each contract requires a financial analysis and during negotiations we do a lot of financial analysis but not the not the specific one that perk is looking for and I've explained to the city manager there is no benefit uh for us in doing that um and quite frankly I never saw it as a priority okay uh and I I might just add because none of my clients cu the form is ridiculous I've spoken to the guy who manages it at perk and told him the form is ridiculous and he's agreed with me because it's just nonsensical the way that they prepare it it's it's just uh bureaucracy at its worst yeah yeah I I've explained to the city manager I said with everything else that we've got going I'm perfectly content taking the no on that one one okay all right so that's that's our best practices it'll be posted on the city website we post all of the inventories on the city website that'll be up probably by the end of the week um anybody have any questions i' be happy my question to you is what do you of those that we did Miss what do you recommend that we change so that we don't miss them the the calendar is a simple one calendar is an easy you know um and quite frankly that's the only one okay we're already working on the Hazardous uh Le abatement program about the cyber security one that reach oh yeah that's true uh that one yeah we probably should do multiactor that's uh you know in in addition to a password uh they would send a text message or they would send an email something like another wall of Defense right right right and um the the health benefits ones uh yeah we'll address that when we address the entire health benefit issue and our employment application yeah we can make that that's a small fix it's just one question if it's an easy fix I say would do it and um and um and we can discuss a policy to purchase um hybrid vehicles okay any questions Council no good thank you J happy we're not losing any state aid Jim I'm sorry I said happy we're not losing any state aid that we were able to get the number is good enough so that we qualify for full Aid that's great calar has to be no on a City website that's all and then what they did this year was they wanted they wanted the minutes of this and the minutes of that okay so we answered yes to this yes to that they Al also this time they asked for the specific address so they could verify it um and that's why when there was no calendar you know the the seminar I was no it has to be a physical calendar okay anyway we can do that okay thank you thank Jim you want to go right here yeah okay uh yeah the next topic um has to do with our cannabis funds um now just uh just the backup for a second is one of the Hallmarks of this Administration has always been to try and hold the line on taxes as much as we can and the best way to do that is to come up with alternate Revenue sources non-t tax revenue we spent the last 10 years trying to find different ways of coming up with non-t tax revenue well our first cannabis U uh retail establishment opened um almost a year ago we're coming up on on their one-year anniversary okay and the mayor and Council had decided and asked me to look into um the possibility of diverting some of the funds that come in from the Cannabis tax uh for the planting of trees around the city okay um and unfortunately there is no statute that allows us to do that this year but there is a way that we can do it for next year so um so far this year U this year with the Cannabis tax we've taken in 183,000 for three quarters um even though they opened they're open for four quarters this year we're only going to take in revenue for three quarters in the first year because the taxes due 30 days after the quarter ends right so the fourth quarter won't come in until 2025 and they opened in December of last year so that's why we didn't have a fourth quarter for this year um but the plan is that in next year's budget uh we'll anticipate most of this Revenue into the budget is non-t tax revenue hold the line on taxes but a portion of it we're are going to dedicate to the planting of trees in and about the city and I think uh Kathy we talked about $50,000 we talked about the the I believe the first payment we received was 53,000 that's correct personally I would like to say let's take that first cannabis payment put it in trust for trees we all know you know the storms the change in weather and just the age of some of our trees that we've lost quite a few trees throughout our city over the last few years and I think setting up this trust fund enables we have we have a a shade tree committee that actively works on these types of things they can draw we can come up with plans you know where where we're going to go and what we're going to do and now we'll have some funds that we can actually put to good work and get some of these trees back where they belong and I think it's kind of cool to think you know we have you know we we kind of have have cannabis money when when you take what's basically a syntax that's right right and you're using it for something using it for something positive so I think you know as as the council we always you know we always look for ways to be able to take some funds in and to be able to accomplish things without hurting our taxpayers so I think you know when this came we all you know we talked about it amongst ourselves and I yeah I actually was the one that said why don't we just do this and it's it's something we could put to good use so we're very excited I think everybody's great right about about being able to do this and get have some funding there so that we can actually come up with a great plan and execute it you know you can come up with all the plans in the world but executing them sometimes is the hard part so I think uh this is great for us and that will be a part of the 2025 budget okay sounds good thank you Jim thanks J okay then all right um next up is discussion regarding the adopted drain program yes um you know this is a program that you'll be able to see online that allows for you to adopt a drain within the city where people will volunteer to be able to pick a drain near their home and and keep an eye on it and if there are leaves or other debris to clear it in between when the DPW is available to do so it's a a plan that has been uh used across the the state and the country and has proven very successful okay any questions no that information for people how they would sign up will be on the website right yes once this is done we will sign and adopt a drain uh agreement and then at that point we will have uh some public relations efforts because this will only work obviously if people are interested in adop a drain but as I said before um it's something that um has been done throughout the state throughout the country uh there are some very interesting tools if anyone's interested they can go to adoped drain. org and they can see exactly how the program is going to work and once you approve it today and it gets rolled out as they said uh this is going to be something where uh Public Communication is going to be essential explaining how it's going to work how it's you adopt to drain safely um the tools that you'll need to do there's a a very good internet website that allows you to record everything that you're done and it's sort of a community way to be able to help flooding because you know the issue is you know it's the fall right now leaves are everywhere and so DPW goes and does everything it can but you know you have a big Windstorm and it blocks a storm drain and you have a big rain you know you can get backups you can get flooding and so this encourages people to pick a storm drain near their home that they're going to keep an eye on and if it looks like it's being clogged with debris to safely remove the debris you know they're not going into the drain we're just talking about like using a rake or you know you putting some gloves on and and moving the de debris out of the way so that the water if it comes down obviously we haven't had rain in months but if we ever do get rain again and the water does go down into the storm drain area it doesn't get blocked up and backed up by leaves and cause flooding in the community so it's something you do on the margins it helps a little bit but it's proven very popular um as a way for the community to be involved in the concept of you know what can we do to help uh avoid flooding in the community which is something obviously is an issue in hackin sack and we'll roll out more information on that um once this has been approved and the program uh moves forward I believe Frank is involved in that um as well and it's a proactive approach in other words rather waiting for the flooding to happen and figure out how we clean it up proactively you know oh look having a bad weather report where's my drain it's right near my house let me go take a look and it's actually a way that you can estimate how much or what the quantity is that you've actually removed and enter it into the tool and that provides good information for the city as well so this way you know we may know that certain areas seem to have more issues than others and it enables us to direct our DPW and do more things proactively so I think it's it's kind of kind of cool that you can you know feel like you're a part of it and protecting your own home or the area around your home and it helps the city become Pro more proactive ahead of storms before we have some flooding yeah and I'll just add briefly I mean this this program was actually developed by a bunch of college students in Minnesota at a place called Hamline University and they rolled it out sort of as a as a as a Civic way to deal with uh with with flooding you know to assist in that area and since then it really has gone across the country as I said I I've looked in at least 50 municipalities in New Jersey do it and and cities and and and uh municipalities across the country as well well so they've really sort of hit on a way for there to be more Community involvement in this important area okay thank you uh next up uh I'll turn it over to deputy mayor krino for the Toro airport upt okay Frank you have that okay I I represent the city on the Teterboro Airport noisy batement committee and we meet quarterly so usually I try to give a quick debrief of what happened at the meeting so our quarterly meeting was on October 30th of this year okay Frank I this is what was very concerning to me and specifically why I want to bring some some of this forward to the public so you understand how frustrated I have become in being part of this committee if you look at the top all right we send a letter tanac that's the Taro airport noise abatement aircraft abatement committee we sent a letter to the FAA in June of 2023 okay and there the item that's in green is our item all right the others are coming from Runway one Runway six those are coming from the from the Rutherford side uh item in green there says you know what we asked is we have an alternate flight path that that has been developed by the um by the FAA in conjunction with what we recommended as a committee and that would avoid the um the many many many jets and the noise and the pollution from it from flying right over uh pretty much the residential part of our city right over our Hospital over Prospect and then you know coming across in in closing and over the uh the whole second ward over the Hiller school and coming down into Teterboro Airport um and it's just not getting used it's just really not getting used so uh doing some research with the airport we uh came and looked at volume numbers in cheetor on this particular Runway and it just seems that Saturdays and into Sunday morning there's really not a lot of utilization so it would be a good time to get Pilots used to this new approach into the airport so asked the FAA to have the air traffic controllers make this the preferred route during those time let's get people used to doing it I mean think about it you know if you're going to visit your mom and you know hey every time I'm going to go and drive to the next town to visit my mother you you have a way you go right I make it right here I make a left there that's the way you go so if I came to you and I said I don't want you to go that way anymore all right I want you to now make the left then the right then another left you may say h the heck with Kathy I'm I'm going to go the way I'm familiar and it's similar with the pilots they're used to coming in on a certain approach so if we could get them used to this new approach they may find not not only is it simpler because you're flying over Route 17 so you know you're looking at a much lower elevation but it would also help the communities not just us but primarily hackin suck so the frustration here is that we keep getting put off and put off and what was most frustrating is if you look at the notes there basically at this meeting they said ah we're not even going to start to talk about it until second quarter of 2025 you know we're talking two years after we've made this request so there's a lot of of frustration and discouragement and I'm going to talk in a few minutes a little bit more about some of that next slide Frank Toro airport I have to say has stepped up and is doing things in the beginning N I wasn't so thrilled with what they were doing to promote this but they are doing a much better job they're taking some of the things we asked for they're going out um they're participating in workshops they're promoting the use of this airport of this flight path they have mugs that denote it that they're giving out at these things they're having meetings with the pilot user groups so they're trying to get people to use this and we appreciate that it's really the the the ability of the FAA to step in and make this happen that's where we're frustrated next slide Frank all right just to take a look so you see this just shows from January to September 2024 comparing to other years of this particular time frame just the volume of what's coming in and out of that airport all right now you see you know back in 2019 preco there's they talk about activities that's a that's either an arrival or a departure there was over 124,000 flights coming in or out of teor just from January to September not even the same not even the entire year um and then during covid it dropped off so we had a little bit of a break slowly but surely you know you see now in 2024 we're right back up there at this point too over 124,000 flights that are coming in and out of that airport you know in these in these few months so just imagine I know they fly over my house so I know I can see them sometimes it's one a minute and sometimes it's every other minute and it's it's not just the noise but it's the the smell and the the the fuel it's total pollution and when you think about noise we had this discussion at our last meeting when you think about noise it's noise that is pulsating noise it's impulsive noise you don't know when it's going to happen all right sometimes it's quick sometimes it's slow and you can relate that to think about when you have a foret dripping in your house right how annoying is that because you'll go away and you'll think oh it stopped for a minute and then it's back or it's slow or it's fast and it's the same with this kind of noise so it's very disturbing to People's Health it makes people anxious when they have this and you can't enjoy your outdoor space so just imagine that this is what's what's happening again now at the airport next slide Frank all right so if you look at Runway 19 is ours if you're the one that's in green so Runway 19 is the one that flies right over our city on rals coming into tior airport and just looking in these last nine months we've had 26452 arrivals just coming right over our over our uh coming through over over Summit Prospect Avenue going back down over over the second ward over our Hiller school next one now who's using this alternate route now instead of going over all of our homes and our schools and disturbing all of us they could be flying over Route 17 and much lower elevation right than the height of Prospect and Summit plus if you're living on Route 17 which I believe no one is in that area the noise alone from Route 17 would be far worse than what you're experiencing here yet you see that the little blue one is is the number of times they're using that alternate Ru which is actually even decreasing over years and it's only really being used at night which yeah we want to sleep well and we like it at night but you know out of what 7,500 flights in this past quarter it was only used 38 times I mean you can't even consider that a use in my opinion next slide all right now look at the two green ones that you see there uh what what tanak has done is they've put noise monitors in different towns throughout Bergen County that are within 5 miles of the airport that's the qual so we actually have two of them if you see RMS 103 RMS 104 RMS 103 is on top of the hospital now if you look at that compared to last year for this time last year the noise was at a number called 60.4 that's the average decibel of noise over the 24-hour period now look at this year it's on gone up by 2.4 DB I mean so we're seeing it not even stay constant but to get worse the other one we have is on I think it's on Park trying to read it I'm trying to remember I think it's on Park Street and there it went down a little bit but it's still it's still up there now look at everybody else you know moonoi little fairy no one is near the amount of noise that we're seeing so hackensac is really the town in this area that's suffering the most from this noise and that's why it's so important for us as residents to speak out and have our voices heard that we need this to change right next slide uh noise complaints those of you that know me I'm always saying you know if you if you hear something see something say something you can go to the Airport website and you can log in noise complaints and you know the squeaky wheel kind of gets the grease you can see there's now if you look at it 50,4 s noise complaints have been filed so far this year by all of the towns in the area but I have to say there's a tool out there that you can buy that you could press a button and you can just continually hit that so there are some anomalies to the numbers that you see here but it's still a lot of complaints next one all right in green you see hackin sack and those of you that have been here know me we're in the fight with Rutherford we always compete who gets the most noise complaints filed last year it was us this year folks R's killing us right they got way more noise complaints so we have to do that your voices will be heard you hear it you file this report online and it gets registered and it must be reported that those that that noise is is increasing next slide I'm not going through this but these are non- tanic times so these are towns throughout the whole of Bergen County that are also submitting noise complaints next one Frank or is that the last one yes okay all right so real quickly what do I want to do about this uh all right a couple of things what was very disturbing to to me at the last meeting was the airport has a new airport manager so whenever you get someone new you know they want to change rules and the the whole basis of this committee is to have two-way conversation but a lot of it focused on them listening to us in other words we live with this every day and it's us raising our voices to them and acknowledging that we we're not dealing very well with all of this noise activity so right now they're you know they're kind of trying to introduce ways to sty some of the conversation and anyone that knows me and can hear me tonight knows that I do kind of talk a lot so I'm not real thrilled with that I think that this is supposed to be listening to the cities and I'm there to represent all of you so I'm a little disturbed about that plus I think talking about this four times a year for a few minutes is not going to get anything done so I've asked them if I can chare up a subcommittee within the tanet community to try and come up with a better way to get some change effective not waiting till second quarter of next year to still even just begin to look at it so one other thing I want to do and I want to see if any interested parties here and if anyone is interested that's here or out watching this on in TV land or or YouTube land um I would like to create a little subcommittee of our environmental committee right here in hackin saac and I think we need some people that are interested that want to have a voice to come I'll host the meetings you know maybe we'll start having one a month and it may be for a short period of time a longer period of time and just to kick around some ideas you know I've kind of used every trick in the book I can think of to get this done so I'd like to hear if some other folks maybe have some ideas as to how we can pursue this and get our voices heard better with the FAA so anybody that thinks they might want to enjoy and be part of some of this my email is is listed on the city website it's my first initial last name k canestrino hackensack.org just submit an email say Hey you know I'd like to be part of this committee I'd like to come to some of the meetings and have some discussion and then I'm going to see about setting it up thanks sorry if I was a little long-winded but I think it's worthwhile for people to hear Council have any questions no no thank you Chris uh yeah next up uh city engineer Chris weaton evening everybody even uh so getting into our uh construction projects for sewer parks and others roads Etc um our major projects overview um has a couple changes in it uh shown in blue the polyfly drainage improvements uh are delayed as uh we're trying to resolve uh workarounds for the utilities uh in polyfly Road uh those are in progress and there so it's just a a slight delay while we while we resolve uh the pipe placement the storm pipe that's going to Cross polyfly Road uh there is a change also in uh Anderson Street drainage uh Area Sewer separation uh we've had uh some uh in the in the past couple weeks there was a break uh of violia water supply as we were working near Barry Street and um that was resolved but it did uh uh create a a slight delay and uh we are delayed again as violia is considering our next encounter at the next intersection with uh Stanley place and um so violia is uh working on their plans for improvements to their pipe um either before or concurrent with uh the work that uh the city has planned so uh we're awaiting that resolution and hopefully uh it will not delay us um uh significantly in our sewer separation projects again our current project is the Anderson Street drainage area um shown in pink uh it's a significant drainage area where we are separating uh sewers separating the storm water from the sanitary sewers on this project we're currently um we've made progress we're really very far along in the project as I say it it it should should be should have been completing this month we now anticipate it'll be completing next month um there are new sanitary sewers installed the S the storm sewers have been completed on clay and berdan and James Street and Barry uh and as far up railroad as uh uh just approaching Stanley place so we're just uh uh awaiting that violia uh improvements uh so that we can complete the storm work on Stanley place and the intersection uh there and uh complete Railroad Avenue uh storm pipe also uh up and up to uh to the to the north of the project area um and again on this project we are restoring the streets as we're as we're moving along uh so the the curbs uh and sidewalks uh are being um are being restored uh we've completed Clay Street uh bdan and James Street uh uh with with Paving and curbs and sidewalks and uh Barry and Stanley uh and the remainder of railroad AV uh remain to be completed in other sewer contracts we are uh working on the generator and automatic transfer switch for East Kennedy Pump Station the uh the ATS or the automatic transfer switch arrived early uh and so we were meeting with the contractor uh today and this week um they are working on the installation and commissioning for the transfer switch uh the generator is scheduled to be shipping to the city in December uh and the completion of the project will be shortly thereafter Chris could I interrupt and ask a couple of questions here because I've received a couple of calls about this particular area and actually I think there might be uh some people here that live if you live in the area surrounding or in or on around Hudson Street just raise your hand folks is there some people here that are from that particular area from kind of the southern part of the city okay so folks you might want to listen here um there's been you know as we know with the bad weather we've seen flooding in different areas and there was a lot of concerns or some calls that I've received um particular about this particular area you know Southport of Hudson and the and the other areas that had some pretty bad flooding during some of the storms and I know compared to other towns we've been blessed you know we really did not have the impact that some other towns had but we did see some flooding that was that was detrimental not only to homes but to businesses in that area so I'm very happy to see that we're we're having a generator there now we we've done the work to make sure that the size of this generator will handle how many pumps are there there's three pumps there and that this generator will handle all three uh I believe there's two pumps at a time that run the one is a standby is a is a spare okay so it it should be able to manage these two and and there'll be an automatic transfer or should there be a loss of power right okay so that that was always a big problem you know if we lost power especially in the middle of the night getting somebody down there to to fix it and and in a timely way but then the second part again is I think we're doing some work if I'm not mistaken with um the screens uh we have solicited quotes to uh to clean the screens at all of the uh Pump Station and CSO facilities yes are are we replacing any of them we making them more updated is there some way that there can be a better way of maintaining these during a storm because you know once they're clogged in with debris which can happen especially in the fall as we know you know everything is running Downstream and then of course it's not very effective for the water to to be going through those screens um are we doing anything or is there anything we can do that can help in that situation uh yes absolutely um there are improvements that will be needed for the screens um they are uh at times prone they they have to be uh watched you know during operation to uh ensure that they are uh operating effectively uh and so there are sewer operators uh at the facilities when they are in service to make sure that they are uh you know U operating as intended but say like during a bad storm do we do anything is is our DPW available do we do anything proactively to know that hey if this thing is clogged or these screens are blocked in any way that we can work at it at that time and not wait until it's after the fact and we've already had the flooding yes that's correct as I say uh uh typically sewer operators are staged at these locations during during storm events which would be you know prior to storm prior to the storm starting when we know that it's coming sometimes there are storms downpours that that happen that we you know we can't necessarily stage I'm happy to hear that we that generator should be running by the end of the year you're saying right yeah thank you very much sure um and while we're talking about sewers again just a reminder uh that uh some homes are equipped with Backwater valves and these would be important uh if you have a basement that's below the location of the uh the nearest Upstream manhole to your uh to your residence or to your um or to your place of business uh Backwater valves um uh need to be maintained and cleaned and checked on to uh to ensure their proper operation so just a reminder uh to the public to you know keep an eye out for your Backwater valves and if you if you think you if you're not sure if you have one um you should speak to a plumber and uh if you that is if you if you think you should have one it's it's worth uh having a plumber investigate and determine if you do have a Backwater valve and maybe uh maybe you should consider having one installed if you are subject to uh to water possibly entering your basement uh in the event of a of a sewer backup in Parks uh as I mentioned we uh uh on the on the polyfly drainage project uh this project is essentially complete except for the the final plan for crossing polyfly road uh which is uh is as I said in progress right now we are presently rebidding the Johnson Park uh sports complex project um the project is out to bid and uh bids will be do December 2nd and in facini park we are uh just updating the plans for uh Fields 8 n and 10 um renovation uh the plan is slightly revised to address the Wetland transition area uh flagged by d uh there will be design documents circulated uh to a a subcommittee next week uh regarding shini Park in roads and traffic we are working on the the prospect AV pedestrian Safety project this will include two uh flashing um uh signals for pedestrian Crossings one at uh Prospect AV at Thompson Street and the other Crossing Prospect AV uh uh sorry Prospect yeah Prospect AV at uh at Atlantic Street and the work next slide please Frank uh the work is essentially largely completed uh the crosswalks are there the street improvements have been have been made uh as you see there there are these kind of bump outs into the street at Atlantic Street which are intended to uh and do provide um improved visibility for pedestrians who were trying to to cross the roads so um The Hardscape improvements are are done except for the signals themselves uh the signal equipment should be arriving this month and uh will be completed in in early 2025 and with that any questions just uh i' mention to the city sorry real quickly I have an issue with uh the Atlantic Street Prospect uh crosswalk project and even here it shows two lanes as you know we lost the lane somewhere along the way which is causing uh a dangerous backup to traffic which does not allow ambulances to get into the hospital which we can't have so we we need to move forward I spoke to Vinnie there has to be some kind of change there um it cues up and traffic backs down past to the women if ambulance is coming westbound up Atlantic uh and it's the traffic is queued back past women and children's which is the entrance to the ER all right and there's traffic a lot of traffic coming uh eastbound ambulance cannot get up that way and and uh there was two lanes before and I understand we were presented this before but nobody ever said we were losing a lane of traffic so that that to me is an issue that we need to address there there were two lanes previously and just to clarify there were two lanes only uh at the time that you get to that intersection it's it's it's one lane up up Atlantic Street until maybe the last but it's still loud it didn't cause the queuing that's being caused now I see it every day I get out at 4: 3:34 and that's when it really starts at shift change um you know at other times of the day when there's not shift changes but when you have 8,000 people working in a hospital and they're all leaving it you know 3,000 are leaving at the same time uh you you're going to have a problem so it's it's something we need to monitor I don't know whether we need to do a traffic study but uh you know I I've have been just hammered at work because I work at the hospital with this I I I did I did hear those concerns uh and uh conducted you know some um uh some some observation myself last week um I did not see admittedly it wasn't four o00 so it other thing there's a double yellow line going all the way across the intersection all right if I'm not mistaken I don't know if you can make a left across those double yellow lines and it it it's it's weird because the the way the road curves now it seems like you know it's wanting you to make a left hand turn yet technically you got a double yellow line that you're supposed to it's supposed to be a break in that double yellow line at the opening of an intersection I believe I mean I'll have to take a look at that I the double yellow line continually down the street so that's an issue as well that we need to look into I yeah let's let's check it out just to make sure because the last thing you want is somebody who need you know when you're in an ambulance time is everything and if you're sitting there waiting for for 30 seconds 2 minutes 3 minutes for traffic to clear here that's that's not a good thing yeah of of course mayor uh and yeah I I would suggest that we do some traffic counts uh to uh to determine if there is a a concern with the the level of service there okay we can definitely do that thank you all right I have okay so I need a motion to and obviously we're going to have a little later night tonight uh I need a motion to open to the public offer second all in favor I I my apologies ahead of time because the other meeting is going to start late I'm sorry but the public gets their right to speak so anybody would like to speak please come to the podium uh we're going to keep a strict three minutes listen up folks everybody's going to get three minutes and that's it so good evening Marty Smith Prospect Avenue like to start by thanking Mr Caruso for providing me with certain information concerning the request we made for a lower speed limit on Summit Avenue between pic and Spring Valley Avenue uh one of those things he provided me with was a letter from Captain Michael antista concerning the survey that was done by the Bergen County Sheriff's Department uh the survey showed that 11,9 170 Vehicles drive that section of Summit Avenue on a daily basis what I did was I rounded that out to 12,000 I took away four hours of the daily survey from 1:00 a.m. to 4: a.m. when there is literally no traffic on Summit Avenue and I divided the 20 hours into the 12,000 it came out to 600 Vehicles an hour use that section of road I then used the original figure of 11,975 and multiplied it by the seven days in which the survey was done and that came out to 83,000 835 vehicles that use Summit Avenue between those two points now the reason we asked for the reduction in the speed limit was because of two things the width of Summit Avenue which is a wide Avenue and the fact that there is 10 intersections between pic and Spring Valley Avenue only two intersections have crosswalks eight of those intersections remaining are unprotected now unfortunately captain antista at the end of his letter says that we should not be lowering the speed limit because certain speeds within the jurisdiction of that section which is under City jurisdiction should be a remain the same as other sections below uh Bic Street which is 35 miles an hour now actually there are three speed zones on Summit Avenue and we have cities in hackensac that have as many as five speed zones so I don't know what the difference would be if we added a four speed zone of 25 mil an hour to ensure the safety of pedestrians in that stretch of Summit Avenue thank you um Bill wasley 464 Kaplan Avenue um I wanted to do a little clarification about your airport noise thing and runways um you mentioned the alternate Runway just goes up 17 and it get directly to the airport that's not actually where it goes it actually goes from the airport of 17 but then it start has to curve in to get to the thing there it does run over houses I know which house it runs over because it runs right over my house on that so I just want to make clear that when you said when you telling me you're trying to benefit hackin sack and all of that and you mentioned when you said it goes over your house you mentioned something about noise and and the smell and all of that yeah I know about all of that and you're just trying to move it over my house okay that's fine not in my backyard I guess or something like that all I'm saying is you're picking and choosing favorites you may decide there's more more people here and we're just going to pick on these people here but whatever you're doing you are picking and choosing favorites in terms of this and it doesn't just go over 17 it actually curs up it does go over houses on that there are someone else there's a councilman Liv right in this block over here who might have some idea about this as well that I speak of on that and that's why I just want to clarify that because you make it sound like it's just a dynamic one-way Choice one way or the other it's really not you're really just picking and choosing favorites and I can tell you I'm not being picked and chosen up thank you just just so you know it's not what we're hoping to get is perhaps 30% relief so it's not like this will be the only choice it's just saying if we could at least get 30% relief for some of our residents as well and I I understand that it may cut through a path but it's pretty noisy in that whole area as I'm sure you know I'm sure you hear it even right now so it's not like this is going to take all of the volume its plan is if we could get at least 30% relief for some parts that of the other town that really have a terrible burden that's that's that's what we're our goal is I just want to make sure you understood so it's not like all those planes will be coming over your area it will be a very small portion if we have some noise there now doesn't mean we deserve other Noise Okay that's really not the case that 17 has so much noise really someone really said someone said that really come on all right next please um good evening my name is uh Fabian Gonzalez I've been uh living in hacking since 1980 uh I'm not only here represent myself there's a small group from South hackin saac the south side of hackin saac that um are people that are testimony to how Leo will always answer our needs and um I met Leo in 1981 I was like probably like s years old 6 years old through soccer and ever since I know him that's his only love if he hates anything it may be football and baseball other than that he's if I had a top 50 of people that I've met in 45 years in hacking Shack he'd be on the top 50 list um I know him to be honorable man and it's a sad day for hackin sack no matter how you look at it because this is not the hackin sack that I know like um maybe I'm naive but I always thought hackin sack was like everybody was one obviously is not perfect there's racist people everywhere but this is not a town where people want to throw fire on that part of the United States of America that is suffering so much from this type of thing this type of stuff if we want to throw hackin sack into that then I all I could do is pray but like the the Reverend said earlier as far as I know him he's a great man and I don't see a racist bone in him and like the Reverend said Moreno prto negro that's just a a a skin complexion in Spanish we don't have that the n-word in our culture and that's all I have to say he's a great man that's all I know thank you my name is uh javanni baglia I haven't been present at both incidents seated just 10 feet away from the person that accused Leo of being a racist at the pamis high school bleachers I'm in a unique position to set the record straight I must emphasize the significant harm caused by missia statements that slander defamation and unfounded accusations of racism for those who may have had friction with Leo I want to make it clear he is on the council but he's not a politician he's a dedicated citizen of haac for over 45 years who immigrated from Ecuador raised a family in haac experienced racism and eventually became frustrated from attend attending Council meetings where no one addressed his requests let's start with what happened the first incident occurred Thursday 9:12 where Leo is accused of trying to push children off the hackas Middle School soccer field of course that is a lie to slander Leo he would never do that we have a group of hackas senior alumni that may be playing on the Middle School field for years with a permit they are there they are here to attest that was an absolute lie then on Monday 9:16 the visitors bleachers at pamis high school at least 50 yards away from where the coach was standing Leo was nowhere near the coach or the player's bench some people are assuming Leo was wearing his usual councilman gear when a family engaged him and asked him to please come back to coach him because the comments were losing bad most may not be aware of this fact but the varsity coaching position is a paid role it is not uncommon for parents fans and alumni to express criticism of coaches it happens in every sport I can state with confidence since I was present that any comments made by Leo were entirely within the bounds of decency especially considering he was there representing hackas and standing directly in front a crowd of comet fans Melissa ask why Leo was in The Stance the answer is very simple his son lives in pamis and his grandsons play soccer for pamis high school and his kids are Hack and Sack alumni as Leo walked away he made a final remark he couldn't coach but to let him know when a coach Moreno left Melissa was listening to the conversation and this comment triggered her her immediate reaction from five rose up in the bleachers she jumped up and accused him making a racist remark something only she perceived in response Leo motioned for her to quiet down we're in paramis let's not make a scene and then he just walked off the bleachers this part she didn't mention in her testimony when she came here on 108 she was cursing loudly for all the fans to hear declaring she was not afraid to confront a councilman that she did not give a multiple times then from the top of the bleacher she called Leo the violist exploitive without any regard for the fact that young children including my 12-year-old niece my 14-year-old daughter were sitting right next to her my daughter visibly concerned came over to ask me why this woman was cursing at her grandfather I gathered up my kids my mother we left the bleachers while she continued cursing I chose not to engage her because my primary concern was the safety of my family we made the right decision by leaving the bleachers I did not call the police because she was the only one yelling I was worried about getting away from her and and having to wait for police to fill out a report in hindsight I should have Mr pagle your time is up you can come back and speak another 3 minutes at the regular meeting if you haven't finished with your comments tonight okay so the NAACP there will be races in hackas but my dad is not one of them good evening everyone my name is esta garciaa and we come in representation of Newman Street and Lee High Street thank you Leo and I'm being real thank you to him our street is free we not leaving we were trapped in our own house we couldn't go outside our kids couldn't go outside nobody else is hanging out is no more violence no more chat nothing else thanks to him and we appreciate you he used to go every day in the morning at night checking on us he go and listen to us this is the type of person that we need in our town look at all these people here you saw us coming here every meeting right guys crying out leaving in our own house we couldn't go outside now we are so happy we couldn't we could go outside no more cry crime thank you to you guys thank you to you li and we really really appreciate you guys we really appreciate the police too so thank you so much yes next person please give your name to the clerk I am Courtney ragas I am here for not the rest of this I am a a resident of 284 Kaplan Avenue my complaints is about the speed and parking on my block uh the week of August 15th to the 22nd you guys put the black box at the end of our box at the end of our block excuse me 4700 cars went up our street in that week that is a non-school week that is a summer week and the end of summer week 4700 cars we are here for a speed bump maybe no parking in cannot tell you the amount of accidents you cannot pull out of your driveway you have to back in your driveway because there is uh just speeding cars going up and down our other issue is Hospital parking they have four blocks of parking we have just heard that you can't come in and out of the lot or in and out of the streets they Park on our streets it is 2hour resident parking the Teslas the Maseratis that are doctors that are more than 2 hours I call parking enforcement they know my name they know my voice I've had an officer come to my house and says what happens how would you feel if you come out of your job and your car is ticketed or told I'd feel great cuz my husband can park in front of his house we have to do something behind these people fighting for black rights is the rest of 28 of Kaplan Avenue and we all have the same complaint something I don't know what needs to be done but you guys did the box I don't know what comes from the box but we still cannot park on our street there's still accidents on our street my neighbor just had his car side striped so now he's going to park fit two cars in a driveway still with no results something can I ask you uh two I'm not familiar exactly with I'm obviously familiar with Kaplan but 284 is between which blocks it's between Parkway and Prospect so it's down towards the hospital and more yes okay is there per thank you par yes 2our it's 2our parking and or with the resident thick a yes you also have I believe because hillers is Right a few blocks our problem isn't hillers though yeah no most of the teachers Park a little closer I think yeah the teachers tend to park I more on Simons and that I work from home three days a week my office window is in front of the street my problem isn't hillers I for the speeding though it is cuz those kids if they cut through the park and they come down Parkway to go to let's say essic street or to Newman they're fighting for their lives so do you think a lot of it's caused by people making lefts on to Kaplan from ply coming on the Kaplan from poly it's making the left from Essex to Parkway and then and then it's also coming down from Prospect so do you think having a no left turn off of a been discussed maybe something with speed too maybe the little you're doing Prospect you're doing I'm just looking for the lwh hanging fruit on how to help this situation a speed bump I don't I don't know maybe no parking on one side I don't you get paid the big bus right yeah I wish I have I'm going give you back your time all right thank you appreciate it next person please good evening Council uh my name is Sam Allen I'm resident of Kaplan Avenue this is my wife uh we are here with uh the couple that just left and we wanted we know you guys uh understand that we've been complaining about the speeding on the Block the speeding is a hazard I am the latest victim of of my car being sideswiped right in front of my house uh the cameras you know everybody has cameras but side swiping you really not you don't catch anything we've all right you know looked through minute by minute and and you can't see anything but all of my neighbors have had uh their cars damaged badly from Speeders or or you know drunken drivers or what whatever it may be but we are looking for help in solving that problem whether it is uh the left turn sign on to Kaplan or uh the speed bump that that uh I know we've asked about before and we we've had that conversation uh so we really are here to ask you guys for that help you know a bunch of Kaplan Avenue residents here today we've been here a few times understood so we are you know we are here open to suggest we've been uh for the last few meetings have been getting a lot of kapan Avenue complaints and we're addressing different in different ways but one of the thing I mean you have the school issue you have the hospital issue obviously I me personally I think it's a lot of people cutting through neighborhoods to expedite their trip home M let say or their trip in one way or the other do you find most of the sideswiping happens going westbound on Kaplan up the hill or east down the hill eastbound so that would make me think it's more people at any certain time of the day that's particular all day all day we've we I mean you know I could hear the Speeders at 2: in the morning sometimes because it's just so loud because if I'm coming down Prospect and I cut up go over Essex and make that first left I'm flying down your road you're flying down the road all right yeah so that's klet Prospect seems to be where we really need to focus on cars cutting through and even making the right on to Kaplan off of Parkway yep people are not even stopping at the stop sign we've had we l we came home to a car totally flipped over right there in that intersection from not stopping you know somebody speeding up the hill somebody not stopping at the stop sign catastrophe understood we'll get to it we're getting on it believe MEK appreciate it thank you next person my name is Carz I also live in Kaplan at 293 my car personally has been hit twice first in 2022 with repair damages upwards of $116,000 and then again a few months ago uh someone hit my car and they hit it so bad that the the car that hit mine um was stuck onto the other car and that's how I was able to get the other um car's Insurance Company to pay for it but at this point you know for my insurance and you know I have two car uh accidents on my record um just from having my car parked in front of my house mhm so I feel like I'm about to be uninsurable for one um but two every time I come home at night I I feel I feel anxiety trying to park my car in front of my house because then I don't know what I will see in the morning um it's very frustrating every time I I you know I wake up and when I saw those two incidents my car was almost completely total you know and it's it's all the speeding on on the on the street I have two young children that cannot play out in front at all okay do you also live between if I may do you also live between Prospect and and poly yes okay so we are definitely looking for that no left turn on to Kaplan from poly as well as some kind of a speed bump or something okay and we'll also be looking at no local uh local traffic only type of signs from ess6 down Pro South Prospect and then we do have other people that you know park there from the hospital I don't know what's going on that's problematic I I understand it's problematic I work there I know parking stuff at the hospital yeah it is yeah I work for hack and Zack as well M all right thank you thank you thank you sir we know you're kapan a how you guys doing this even good full house today I see um yeah so I've been working with Tina kadana your Lieutenant in traffic okay and why couldn't we get speed bumps on kapan Avenue I know you tell me the plow and everything else but I just came from Union City myself and you want to talk about congestion yeah blocks over there have speed bumps they're not speedy so do they have traditional speed bumps or the speed BS speed the longer ones just the longer long ones so they're not the okay so that's there's a difference so that's something we can look at well I don't listen to if like I said you could put anything on the middle of the road that's going to prevent people from damaging their car and I can assure you that nobody's going to come doing 50 m hour called table bumps it's a longer more gradual I'm okay with that and and the plows handle them much better you want you want to use our block as a test dummy I'm I'm okay with it well we may do that well because of what's Happening we may do that it's just it's just going crazy you're writing this down so we might but my one question is you got a lieutenant who came to me and I spoke to her on the phone just recently Vinnie you told her to call me she called me we were on the phone for 45 minutes if she doesn't believe that there's a problem on the street she shouldn't be working for your department yeah things that she said to me was unbelievable the microphone she said that's normal that's not normal this is a residential block yeah so the reason why I said okay fine you probably would have had more people here today but they couldn't fit and some of them couldn't come everybody on this block is getting damages to their car and the speeding and their old kids at the end of the day what's it going to cost by putting a speed bump or a speed bedp Road a hi light I don't know mhm but it's just getting to that point that as taxpayers we shouldn't come home my son came home from college couldn't fit the three cars in my driveway I had to put half my car in the sidewalk and half the car in the street right that's not just not as a taxpayer no not in this town at least I I don't disagree with it's growing pains and let's put speed bumps she doesn't believe it she doesn't feel like that block qualifies for anything yeah so I mean and what really gets me even all this and I said Tina I must have called you and sent you multiple emails you've never been to my block to look at it as a lieutenant you would think that she would come and see what's going on there okay that's something a city manager to do with again that's I just want to voice my opinion my wife may want to say something as well yes microphone I work at the hospital I know it's quick I work at the hospital I walk home um this is not only kapan Avenue essic um there have been people who have died in this town recently there was an employee crossing over and Second Street um this is an issue this is a problem um this is a great turnout for obviously different issues but as a community people have to come here and address issues I mean uh the poor woman that passed you know was killed on polyfly no one you know even thought twice to say hey um all we heard was that's a County Street uh if not it's it's they're not addressing the problem we did we did approach the county to lower the speed limit yeah yeah well that is a problem I mean I we tried to get that speed limit lowered several times well that gentleman that first came and and we've also approached public service for for more Lighting on your previous said that's a p problem because they're not well no it's it's it's a city slash versus psng we we've said we need more lighting here the speed limit's too high and uh we've gone back and forth for probably I mean there's been at least three fatalities I know of on ply Road in that stretch between Loi Street and essic Street we're growing Community I mean obviously a lot of people are coming in from different areas uh our Hospital you know is getting huge I mean um it needs to be addressed and I think for different neighborhoods um you know that that's something that please you know we could keep coming we've been coming for the last few months and we've seen you know again the the the change in this community uh all the growing but it needs to be addressed that's one of our problems and we thank you guys for all that you're trying to do but we do need to see change I mean before someone else dies or before more accidents I mean every other day these police officers have to like just come for traffic accidents this is ridiculous people are not you know it's it's if you ticket these people for Speed we were told 4,700 people come up our block in one week and that's not an issue and I mean bottom line is it's the volume and the speed we need to address that and again as a community um I see everybody is here there's um we've been here for a few meetings and um hopefully we've never had issues with racism or anything like that in our community I've been here for 25 years and unfortunately whatever happened between a group of people um it's unfort it but as a community we are very diverse and I've never I can tell you as my family my neighbors we're all United we're very good friends um and again hopefully you know things get resolved so that's all I leave but speed bump please thank you thank you for your comments appreciate it next person please Jeff Carter president Bergen County and aacp I stand up here with my executive board and also Deacon Robinson here and other members of our uh board what happened should not have happened Leo you said you were going to resign we're waiting for the date we are 100% waiting for the date um it shouldn't as a public official you should be held to certain standards period let me say that period and when you go out and do things you represent the entire Community not a portion of it and if you think you're the best um soccer coach in the world that's fine but you don't need to demean other Soccer Coaches I was heard that uh by somebody that the coach is paid absolutely but a coach is a mentor a coach is a a guider of young minds the kids are out there doing their best job it isn't about winning it's about winning in life I've coached for 15 years in football had winning seasons had losing Seasons but it's about the kids um getting an education because even if they're the best soccer player they can't pay play for life and they need to know that and you should be ashamed of yourself for what happened people just don't make those remarks because they don't like you so we stand here and other people we have pastors and everybody who will come up and speak we're waiting on you to give us the date that you will resign because in Bergen County there is no place for what happened and the way you gracefully do is for you to resign next person please good evening even uh press yamu press like the button yeah good evening everybody um May La Bron Council um as a concerned member of the community I'm deeply troubled about um how you're handling uh councilman bag's harassment of Sean holder the um head soccer coach of hackers High School I've since been made aware councilman bag has tried to interfere with recreational youth programming by intimidating and threatening participants um it is a responsibility of members of this Council to nurture scholar athletes and encourage them to participate in leadership roles uh in our city council member taglia you have failed in this responsibility hackin sack is a diverse community and as we know it doesn't count skin color against those who wish to give back this behavior is Unbecoming of an elected official of our community anyone who serves in leadership understands that it's not an easy task as you all know however as a person of faith my commitment to man demands that I say to you bigotry bias and racism cannot be tolerated in our community especially when our children are watching one of my favorite leaders Martin Luther King Jr said the time is always right to do what is right and as I stand here once again I implore the council to do what's right by removing councilman Baga immediately thank you for your time next person please give your name to the clerk Jamie Bland and on behalf of the National Action Network I would just like to say I really thought um that it was beautiful that there was a community of Hispanic people that came out and they said how great you were they said they they expressed a lot of the love that you have for them and that they have for you however there's another set of Hispanic people that translated racial slurs so now I'm in the middle of right now trying to figure out why did this happen because first of all the afroamerican people they voted you in the ones that you racial slur word they were your biggest fans so I don't know how you can hurt us and other people can come out and say to you how great you are but you're tearing us down and our black vote counts it voted you in not only you but everybody up here so if if we're not seeing color and you are the councilman and you see color I see a huge problem and if I see it I know most of these other great people of God see it other great Council people have to see it as well so what I ask you is with the humanity in you cuz that humanity is what sometime make it so that we can't sleep maybe can't even eat I ask you to do the right thing you know what you said the Hispanic people were hurt maybe not the great ones that were here today and I'm glad GL that you were nice to someone but we are all hurt black Hispanic and other nationalities because there's no place for racism here or nowhere else thank you okay this is um going to be a little bit hard for me uh my name is Gaga I have have lived in hackin for 24 years they close to the microphone W I'm also a mother of two children my oldest son is 24 and went to hackenson middle school my youngest one who is 12 and attends the middle school right now as a member of this community and as a relative of Mr Baga I would like to express my deepest con my deepest apologies to the hackinson community for the pain these false accusations are causing to all of us many feel angry frustrated imp and hurting about this difficult situation a situation that should have not escalated if politics had not been involved this problem has hurt families and children in many different ways and even created a division in hackin something that we as a community don't need right now shame on the people who supported one side of the story knowing that Mr bagia is not a racist we are not a racist as a family also to the ones who believe these accusations without finding or asking for the other member who has been also a member of our community for more than 40 years Mr bagle is a human being with many qualities and Imperfections just as we all are he cares for the hackin community with passion and dedication helping every citizen unfortunately when you have such a desire to make things better not everybody will agree with you therefore he has many political enemies who will hurt their Community to take him out of office in addition as a parent and citizen we have to remember that we are role models for our children and teach them that we all make mistakes as having difficulty conversations are Essentials to respect and understand each other's culture that being said I would like to address the word that my father-in-law used while having a conversation with a friend which was the war Moreno with anticipation I ask for forgiveness if I have offended you by saying it this war is using many Latin America countries to call somebody with affection or neutrality I was called Morita my whole life or Mora my whole life and I never felt discriminated by using that word that was part of my culture I understand that I live in hackinson if my black friends or co-workers tell me that this is an offensive word that makes them feel discriminated I will be more conscious of not saying it because I care for them and it's about understanding and compromising and living in a better place is it time not yet okay I'm sorry the last thing that I would like to address is that use of social media creating POS postings that are sensationalistic to to damage person's reputation by sharing lies or misleading information doesn't teach value of of in Integrity or truthfulness to our kids on the contrary we're teaching our kids to handle situations with impulsivity and anger with intention to cause pain and hurt the other person let us be mindful and responsible when we post information on social media I understand we have freedom of speech but before we before you post something think about you how could you be hurting the pleas finish up thank you hello my name is Ashley speaking in front of large groups isn't something I usually do so I will keep it short but I'm here to address the accusations against Leo Baga which are untrue I was one of four people who spoke with Leo at the pamis game on the day of the incident Leo was walking past me and my relatives and we stopped Leo and greeted him and as we chatted we joked with him asking asking why he wasn't coaching anymore and saying he should consider coaching the high school team in response he mentioned that he might be open to it gu morenoa referring to Sean holder in our Spanish speaking Community this term simply describ someone with dark skin and it's not intended as a negative remark in fact I often describe myself as Morena and many in our community use the term similarly given this culture context I find it difficult to understand why he's being accused of racism by a community that also uses the same term during our conversation two young women overheard and began interrupting and shouting and calling Leo inappropriate names like vijo ASO this language was especially stressing as children were present including my own three-year-old daughter who overheard these remarks Leo handed the situation by walking away which I believe was the best response given the circumstances I chose not to engage further because my primary concern was the well-being of my daughter I didn't want her to witness her mother in an argument so I kept calm focused on watching the game I'm simply not the type of person who likes to argue Leo if I had if I hadn't greeted you that day maybe this situation could have been voided thank you everyone thank you ad my name is Milan I'm from Overlook Avenue and I'm not from South America I'm from Croatia which is a small country right across from Italy beautiful country we should visit it I moved to hakak 10 years ago and uh met Leo but I heard of Leo before from from uh soccer which we were in German American League and heard nothing but the best I met Leo here we be became friends right away we travel to haak and sck we speak about soccer we talk soccer we dream the field which would be great for hakin whatever Leo promised any time and needed anything with a field with the players Leo gave his word Leo came out with it this this is not the first time I came to hackinson 10 years ago I used to come here for you young soccer players I used to come here in 1962 63 64 Main Street was a place to be hakin was a place to be it was Cars it was beautiful beautiful life in hakas time hey excuse me excuse me while someone is at the podium speaking we give them the respect and we don't speak behind their back and so they can't be heard please no speaking from the line there please thank you appreciate it as I repeat again I move to hakin and I love hackensak I know there is 157 I believe different nationality in hakin I go to the church here and I meet all of those people in the church and I love every moment of it I'll find so here my friend and I we run the soccer team over 50 anybody's Welcome to our soccer team we play at Johnson Park every second Sunday okay as I said I come from Europe and it's a mentality is more Italian we've been occupied by austrians Italians so we have different languages different nationalities in Croatia we say for a dark screen person we say Morrow also on Italian which is also they said for beautiful girlsa one beautiful dark skinned girl so there is nothing to that that should be of big concern that something derogatory Leo is a great man Leo you should stay on a Cil if somebody doesn't want to vote for you that's too bad you have too many people who support you here and your Council should support you which Unfortunately they didn't they should support you they should stand by you either you die together or you live together thank hello my name is Vincent I'm South hackensak resident former hackensak resident I'm like to start about the previous gentleman say I agree with that it's always the right time to do the right thing and that's why I'm here today um and remind everybody on the October 10th committee meeting when everyone lined up here uh speaking against RAC they had right but let's just remember that it was they heard that someone said something in the language and culture and translated it conveniently into a particular Old English word let's not forget that it's all what somebody else said originally for the same person let's start there I'm um I also did my years of uh coaching I know Sean holder sha holder was one of my kids a great kid and whose family and whose brother and mother great people Sean was the type of person that would never start a fight he always start try to end one I love that kid but leaya is like family to me I've known over 40 years what is unheard of what nobody speaks about until now is all things that nobody knew about the little things you should do making sure kids are safe pick them up from practices take them to practices always volunteering even the things that nobody ever heard of like a phone call to a coach to get a kid into a particular school or to be a college or push him through a scholarship of any color of any color now sure they're right there should be no racism here but is this what happened here is this what happened here it was a particular word in a different culture particularly translated to an Old English word not even a true translation a particular Old English word let's remember that and everyone tested here was only here say what they heard somebody said let's not forget that as far I can attest though Surly for his character only for 40 years the thing he used to do for kids him his wife making sure all the kids are picking up keeping kids off the streets giv some sort of Hope for the future I was also a volunteer coach when we did it for free there was never any any uh problems with uh with money because we any kids that couldn't afford it we we chip in for it that's how the hacken Z Recreation program was and continued to be much of a spearheaded BYO right there so there's a lot of adults now who can attest to his character so if the council is going to hear all the people that were here in October 10th for the record of what they accus him you should hear all the people support him his character long before any of you were in the council that's all I'd like to say just remember he is not a racist just because one person decided to translate something in a particular way right thank you good evening uh councilmen and Council women um like my brother Vinnie just said we are here hearsay of one word okay I'm here to offer my perspective on Leo Paglia as a person I've had the privilege of knowing over 40 years my name is sakar Musa and I was a player for Leo soccer team since the Bergen kickers in 1982 during those years I learned not just about soccer but dedication leadership and the true Spirit of coaching it is these qualities that I believe that define leo Baga Leo's commitment to Youth Soccer particularly hackin saac cannot be overstated as a volunteer coach he consistently went above and beyond to ensure that Bergen kickers team had every opportunity to succeed he organized tournaments provided transportation for Players whose parents could not drive them and never let Financial barriers get in away from preventing of and preventing anyone from playing his devotion was purely driven by love for the game and his desire to see kids Excel I am forever grateful for Leo's role in shaping my my soccer career thanks for his leadership I played soccer for 43 years including as a captain at hackk high school captain at R University a coach for soccer Excellence a coach for white golf Torpedoes for I coach for over 10 years I know firsthand that the challenges and sacrifices involved coaching and Leo's commitment was truly remarkable he didn't go it for recognition but because he genuinely cared about players and the sport Leo's impact goes beyond just coaching he's always been a force to good Community bringing youth players together and fostering a sense of Joy through soccer his ex extensive knowledge of The Game and his ability to recognize and nurture Talent had made him a pillar in hackit recently his efforts to advocate for for the construction of the Dome at Johnson Park is just one of the examples of of his ongoing dedication to improving recreational opportunities to the town's Youth Soccer most of it he did it volunteering like my brother Vinnie said volunteering out of his own pocket I'm aware of recent accusations against Leo and I feel compelled to set the record straight I was not there present for incidents on September 12th nor the 16th but I can't say without doubt that the claim that the veteran players were deliberately trying to remove children playing soccer on the field so the veterans could play absurd I spoke I I I'm one of those players I go there time and you know what I don't believe let me just let me just finish one more quote rubers are as dumb as the people who started them and as fake as the ones spread them thank you evening uh my name is Anthony uh Brothers with them um get close to the microphone Anthony I'm no n Leo about 40 years now and I'm testimony to what everybody's been saying about him I remember him me driving around his his van pick up all the kids to bring to practice his brother actually started with him the hackin sack Royals my brother Vincent Co coached Shan for free all those years for free what is Sean charging now 1,500 a kid is what they're charging what does that do to a hackin sack family trying to raise somebody right raising a couple kids want to play you know and all this I watched this whole thing this whole thing on the 10 the time where this woman came up hold on Sir one second Outburst from the audience will not be allowed if it happens again I'm going to ask a police officer to take you out I don't know who said it but I hear yelling from the audience we're not going to have it continue I'm sorry sir well anyway I was watching this uh video of the last meeting on the 10th of 8th of October and I saw some woman come up here and quoted again Cameron said I can't repeat what he said everybody else filled it in everybody put their own word in everybody here came just listen to Karen say something oh I can't repe people and all a sudden he's a racist and everybody came up here pointed fingers and called them racist you don't even know the man the journalist writes an article allegations didn't follow it up with anybody in any kind of interviews puts it out out there she sells her papers does everything and everybody's on the jump W jumping on the bandwagon all over this man I no this man he is not racist if he saw anything of the doubt with kids he would tell him to stop he wouldn't he would he's not the type of person I've seen this guy do what he did when when he with all the kids it was all about the kids he taught me how to coach I coached 18 years free P from six from 6 years old to 18 years old all free now it's all a paycheck or other reasons why they're calling this man racist which I can't see is it because we're voting that's another priority that you have here don't say that he's racist if you could step down step down I would never apologize for something I never did that's for sure and everybody should back him up on this because everybody knows who he is everybody is just pointing fingers and that's it she said oh I can't repeat what he said really that's what we're going on did anybody do any checking on her it's all Reverend Carolyn Davis the scripture also says to be careful what comes out of your mouth and if you offend whether you meant to or not you're supposed to apologize that's what you're supposed to do a lot of people here are saying you're a wonderful person I'm not saying you're not they know you a lot of my friends here would say I'm a wonderful person I would hope just like this community doesn't know everything you do and everybody's talking about what you do what you do your community doesn't know what I do the Power of Words does not uh just lost it hold on one second I'm not good with these phones The Power of Words does not always come from the words themselves from the perception of hostility the offended person does not have to prove it was offensive to them now of course to all of you who understand what Moreno means that's fine among yourselves but to somebody who doesn't understand it's offensive right I can call my friend something doesn't mean I can say it to you that's why in many work situations they don't want people speaking their language around other people who cannot understand what they're saying because it can be interpreted in the in correct way you have to be careful of what you're saying this was not said in a jaful way you were upset and when you use the word in a different con it takes on a different connotation I know what this understanding about Moreno but I've also heard other Spanish people and I looked it up myself and first of all why do you have to refer to anybody by their color at all especially in a mixed situation I've been in hackin sack 76 years I've always lived in a very divice diverse neighborhood and know we didn't have racism and nobody's trying to say cause racism but when we see something that looks like it we're going to call it out and it looks like it and in my 76 years there's many times when we didn't say anything we step back well we don't want to say anything well I'm old now I'm old and when I'm old I want to call it the way I see it you're a counsilman you have to be careful of the words you say around people it's nice that all your friends understand that it's not uh a bad term but for people who don't understand it if you just wanted to talk about the coach you should have said coach holder but when you say something in another language knowing that person can't understand it it takes on a whole different connotation and coming here when he came here if you were really concerned about his feelings you should have said I'm sorry that you were offended I didn't mean it that way but that's not what you said you said I'm not apologizing hello uh my name is Steve and I met Leah when I was nine because he scouted me over at the Johnson Park fields after I scored some goals and I can say that I met him when I was nine I'm 23 now so I've known him for 14 years and for me Mr Le has always been someone who has instilled good values and respect since I've known him um I remember very vividly uh when I used to play for Royals one day him sitting us down uh during a practice and teaching us about respect and it was because we weren't being very respectful to our coaches and he took all of us set us on the bleachers waited for everybody to get to practice and he was like we need to be respectful and it's something that was prevalent throughout the team throughout the the coaching staff throughout the players my teammates we had what you'd call Americans Italians Hispanics African-Americans both in the coaching staff and also alongside me and we were always taught to be respectful to each other also as a person and his character he has always been unwavering towards his friends and his community for me he's always been there in good times when I've scored goals for him but also in times which haven't been too great for me in life and always unwavering in his support toward me and I think his community can also say this thing thing about that another thing is that I feel that he makes people that he interacts with always feel respected and feel like they belong there I feel that you can get on a field with 20 random people and within the first 5 minutes you feel that you've made many new friends and a new community that you can talk to now that you can have a good time with and being with Leo I always feel that I can connect with other people and never have I ever felt that he's made a situation uncomfortable if not it's the complete opposite and so I'd just like to finish off by saying once again that I've known Leo for 14 years at this point and the way that he's treated me and also the way that I've seen him treat people around him and people around me has been nothing but kind and in my eyes as someone who always goes above and beyond for his community thank you good evening my name is Gil Pon I live in 46 Broadway here in hackensac I got to this country in 1988 I never played for Leo I always played against Leo why because it was I was too good to play for his team I'm in Alum night here in hackin saac I graduated in 1998 I mean old County old League all all of that good stuff but we're here for one reason a lot of people might think that you know you know we're not minority anymore we were in 1988 we were minority Spanish people were minority now we're not as you can see the turnaround we have a lot of Spanish people we have a lot of Spanish people that own businesses here in hackin we have a lot of Spanish people that own their homes here in hackensac like myself in my whole block and people don't come out until election time they don't come out to our houses and they say that we don't vote because we're Spanish is that racist because they say we don't have papers because they say we don't have a voice that's what Spanish people are now that's what they consider us Mr Batalia has always come around for us and we came out to vote for that purpose that's what we heard that's what we come out to vote when they come out to our houses we vote because we have a voice he is our voice in our town the problem nowadays is that everybody's sensitive about everything I voted for Donald Trump am I racist no right does it make me racist no if you know that it's like the jacket gentleman the gentleman is wearing this hat Obama correct proud of Obama correct you know that Obama deported more Spanish people from this country than any other United States president in the in history exactly so this is where we're at this is the type of how we're living nowadays I appreciate everything you do I was about to sell my house cuz I was having problems with getting my permits to fix my house to make our community better but I didn't sell my house because Mr Batalia helped me out with the city manager so we could come to an agreement so I could build my house so I could stay in hackin sack my kids do not go to hackin sack schools why is the reason because obviously our system is failing here in hackensac I got my kids in private schools because of that reason my kids do not go I make enough so I put my kids in private schools because of that reason but because of Mr Balia I'm building my house I want to make my my city better because I I grew amongst everybody not just white black Indian I don't care what you are it is what it is we're a community we got to come together none of this nonsense about he was or he got more or he got less it's the community that we have to be with not anybody else thank you is thing on question first of all can you give you your name to the clerk please my name is uh Elijah Covington like I said the last championship that Hackensack won in wrestling we don't care about what what took place 30 years ago we care about now coach holder name is sea holder not the Moreno it shouldn't take a month for you to say oh I came up with Morano because Morano is not close to negro Morano is not close to cuz I'mma say it I don't care about how many people you pulled out the gutter and said oh I need you to come here and and say you know me for 40 years what have these people done for the community we don't see him at the soccer games the the young kids matter it don't matter about 40 years ago it matter now what you doing now it matter about what you say now it matter about what you put in now we don't care about 40 years ago oh this that that no what about now what are you doing for the community now and Sir what are you doing for the community you tearing us apart you bringing African-Americans and Spanish people to collide and Clash about something you said that you're not meant enough to say that say you know what I said it you're not saying that you're not meant enough to step down it's been a whole month now and you're going to cahoot everybody in the city and say oh let me bring out all my classmates that played against me or all about oh I just did some illegal stuff to get this guy a permit to to fix his house we know what you're doing step down like I said you're going to see me all year long I'll tell you where I live at I'll tell you where I be at my name is Elijah Covington I'm the last and probably will be the last one to win the championship here so Mr Leo I'll see you at the next council meeting and all your pals I bet you they won't be here next time thank you you better on yeah better stop hi good evening Katherine carlberg um I'm going to speak of the use of the words because I think we're getting lost in semantics and we're getting use the use of language is alisca the issue here which is and just bear with me the Spanish Spain brought slaves here 500 years ago negro black african- Americans were referred to as negro negro very similar I've brought I was brought to this country centuries ago so if you have come here recently bringing your language you have to adapt to American culture which does not accept calling people by skin color you go through Google translate Moreno Brown dark skin we don't have to relive the horrors of slavery and Jim Crow to know the impact of skin color and colorism and its impact on the African-American Community even Europeans who were considered not light enough in this country were mistreated so please don't tell me you don't know that is is willful ignorance and you are an elected official you don't have the luxury to hide behind words and use culture to avate what you should not have referred to another human being a man who's employed by the City by a skin color coach El Ombre I'm muchas palabas and I'm not Hispanic I'm from California so I learned Spanish in school because it made sense cuz I lived on land that was formerly owned by Mexico so if you know your history you won't be so negligent in your word usage you will be more careful and African-Americans have been in Bergen County for hundreds of years I do not see Morenos here or African inos here citing your love for them your support for them I don't know where the colorism band ends where you become a Moreno or a Blanco or whatever words you all use for endearment to describe colorism but I don't see a lot of people that I would call dark skinn here and I think the council should wonder why thank you hello um my name is salvator poo uh I live in hackin saac I lived here most of my life I've known commissioner baglia for most of that time uh I've known as a hardworking committed to hackin sack um he's done so much hard work on the board get close to the mic and as a volunteer um I've seen them reach out to uh the people that work in hackin sack the people that live in hackin sack and always have an open ear uh I don't know what was said who said what or um who did what um I would hope that maybe the adults in the room could sort of maybe get together and try to resolve this um it's been unfortunate to see this sort of anger and Division in the town I've never seen that before um hopefully um again the adults in the room you know may be able to find a way to meet and resolve their differences right thank you thank you give your name to the clerk please Santiago uh good evening I just wanted to um speak out on Leo bagia as well he's not a relative a relative or anything he's um but I consider him my second father I met him when I was four and honestly he's just there there's no words I can say like the impact that he had in my life I heard someone talk about the van that he used to take people in and out come to practice he used to take me 3 hours away with African-Americans in the car with Asians in the car all the same age we were maybe 5 six seven8 and we just have such a good time and he would do that week after week after he fed us he used to feed me he used to feed me I swear he used to feed me sometimes I tell him listen I can't go to training because like I don't have a ride so he to take me to training uh coach there's like my parents are working no problem I'll take you come to my house afterwards I he's my best friend over there Leo Leo we used to play together for hours after he opened up his doors to his house every week every week and I just want to say like just the values that he gave me respect he used to he used to tell me you know what your mom told me that you didn't behave or you you got bad grades you're not training today and he used to sit me down he used to sit me down in the bleachers and I used to think to myself oh my God like I want to train I want to play I want to play but he didn't even care about soccer at that point if it was more about the values respect your parents respect your teachers eat well um go to sleep on time you know these are the values that got me a full ride at NGIT got me a full ride after when I transferred to Monmouth not not soccer it was for soccer obviously but the values those are the things that no nobody else had with the kids that I used to play with soccer yeah it was important I don't even play soccer so I don't even care about soccer anymore but the values I have a nice daughter now I have a a wife um 24 I think I have a good career that just started this year and it's all because of him his values you know get to work on time respect um I don't care the color the manager respect uh your elders these are the moral and value like the values that he used that he gave me that I still use to this day and I'm 24 and this he met me when I was four so I don't know how anybody can say that he's a bad man or racist this guy is not a racist I'm telling you in Van it used to be me his uh his Grand uh grandkid um I saw a couple of them back there there was African-Americans that in that van there were Asians there were Europeans in that van and we were all best friends cuz of him we were all best friends and we still talk to one another I I still keep in contact with some CU I used to play with when I was five six we didn't talk we don't talk about soccer we talk about like the times that we had with Coach Leo and we you know these are things that we just carry on throughout life and you know I just want to say like you know you have my full support coach thank you thank you hey people are talking a lot about me so I'm here so here we go uh I'm honestly baffled by the lengths that I'm hearing that you guys are going to to to rec Contex something to make racist statements okay I'm baffled by it that we're sitting here and listening to it listen if you didn't mean what you said I don't care about all that you said what you said you know what you said let's make a bridge today you could apologize and this is done I don't care about no resignation you brought that up on yourself I am asking you to apologize to me and call me by my look at me I asking you to apologize to me and call me by my name for the first time in my life you've never called me by my name since I've met you apologize to me and it's over never happened never happen next Ellie Bieber um I don't think that this is about coaching um councilman bagle is not the only coach on the council um coach lebros Geral Carol has coached and taught so many young a scholar athletes in our community touched their lives continued his relationships with them coaches are teachers in a pH nomenal way so this is not about coaching also this is not about soccer we could talk about soccer but there are cultural and racial issues issues that touch on Race religion throughout the continent throughout the world right now there are issues in soccer but this not what we're talking about we're talking about an elected official showing diligence respect and professionalism to the people that was elected to serve this has been going on far too long and instead of continuing to waste our time with this we should be focusing on other things you guys have big issues um recently you know right now the Dual roles of the police chief and Police director in hackensac big issue um you know creating internal conflicts cost illegal consequences Chief anista is a very capable person and you know the sooner we can put this to the sooner we can start talking about the things that really keep our community safe thank you thank you sir cine gains Hack and Sack I've never had the pleasure of being coached by councilman baglia sounds like a wonderful person I'm hearing all sorts of great things that did to inspire people but I do want to talk about the truth I know that our Deputy Mayor said the worst thing you can call someone is a liar to her and so I want to share exactly what was said because so many people came out today to say I don't know what was said but and then defend you and so what the parent said was that black Negro does not know what he is doing and doesn't have what it takes now that is I'm speaking I'm speaking sir speak now that's what the parents said that's not me that's not hearsay that's what the parents said now I I appreciate people that are saying that's a term of endearment we want to believe that you're saying that sweet little brown skin coach doesn't have what it takes but that doesn't make sense to me that doesn't make sense to me I appreciate actually that you said that you would resign now I want you to do what the deputy mayor said and that's tell the truth you said you would resign so go just go you said it no one's holding you to that standard but you you said it do it be a man of your world word now I appreciate also that you have done amazing things for people that you know intimately I understand that and I think when we think about your record and your history here there are amazing things that you have done for people that are closest to you that I don't think we would look favorably on it wasn't all that long ago that when your wife was an employee of this District of this city she received right before retirement a 20% raise now everyone who's of retirement age understands what that is when you get a 20% bump right before you go and what the long-term impact is to your F don't look at the time to your family now your son is currently the IT director earning $220,000 more than the previous it director now these are people that you know very well and you've taken care of them like you've taken care of many people in this room but that does not mean that you are not a racist in all of my years I've actually never heard of anyone admit to being a racist never isn't that amazing in this whole world no one's a racist thank you sir thank you good evening uh my name is Alonso sori I live at 473 Washington Avenue in hackin basically I know all of you wonderful people you're doing a lot for hackensak all of you and I would like to keep everybody in hakak I heard one side I also heard the other side so to me at this point half of my family is black and us at Spanish my grandfather is Italian so what I am what do I do in this case you know what I do I says keep up hackin sack keep it up and let's be great again and let's support our new president Donald Trump and that's one thing the other thing I'm a Democrat I'm a Democrat but I voted for Trump so let's do this thing better for hackin saac and to me after I said all these things this is all a misunderstanding a confusion just I don't know like I said I'm half but I'm going to support you this time Mr Leo Baga like the whole hackin suck and uh let's keep going up hacket at Le doing better now thank you next person please Drew Ross um I have a couple of things to say I think that one thing that we need to be aware of is that two things can exist at the same time one is is that you can do great things and also do bad things I think that we need to be aware of that that just because people do good things don't mean that they don't offend people and you can't tell someone not to be offended if you do something that offends them and I think the reality is that if we offend people as public servants I being one as well that sometimes we have to take the low road it doesn't always feel right but sometimes we have to apologize even when we don't think we're wrong because that is the state of humility by which we must occupy and I think that in this setting one of the things that we must be clear about is that what has happened is causing more divide we don't need that as a community we really need things that bring us together one of the things that I think that has not gotten a lot of attention in this conversation is the fact that there's more divide than just this one issue there's more divide than just what was said against the coach or about the coach in the uh conversation of what happened and how it unfolded you weren't the only one that took a hit and I see no one standing up today to talk about Gerald Carroll Gerald Gerard Carroll and how he was let off the ticket for the next time because he wanted to have a an opinion a say about how he felt about what you said you can't tell someone not to be offended if you make a statement that they believe is offensive and I think that if you gave the word it was your word that you were going to resign then one of the things that we expect of a person that serves the public is to stand by their commitments you make commitments when you run for office you make commitments while you're in office you make commitments as you serve in office you make commitments about how you hold office your commitment was resignation and I think that all you hear a lot of people saying today is you can be a good person and still resign you can be a good person and still offend people I I'm not going to say you're a racist I'm not going to go that far what I am going to say is that if someone believes that you offended them by a racist statement and you take this long to apologize it's hard for people not to think you may be and there's a window of time that you had that you could have gotten through this but I think we're now at a different place thank you thank you Pastor good evening earlier my president Jeff Carter introduced me my name is Courtney Johnson Suffern I am the second vice president of the Bergen County NAACP I come today before you with a message of urgency a message of justice and a message that reflects the voices of many in this room and across the community it is with deep concern and disappointment that I addressed the actions of councilman biglia who made some remarks as Pastor Drew said that offended and hurt your local soccer coach while councilman bataglia has publicly stated that he was step down the reality is the actions and his behavior have shown that he remains unfit to serve the people of hackensac his decision to attend several official City events since he stated he would stepped down only underscores that his words were Hollow and his commitment to accountability is non-existent let's be clear stepping down is not a gesture of good faith when you continue to show up in your official capacity his presence at these events only perpetuates the harmful message that this kind of behavior racist behavior is a is tolerated it is a contradiction and it must be addressed this community deserves better the entire Community we deserve leaders who reflect the values of respect integrity and Justice when a public official engaged in actions that diminish the Dignity of other s especially based on race or color or whatever we're going to argue about today whatever we want to call it they lose the trust of the people that they are meant to serve the message sent by council member bag's action is one of disregard disregard for the community he was elected to serve disregard for those who trust him to uphold the values of fairness and disregard for the people who make hack aack the diverse and Vibrant Community that it is racism colorism whatever we're calling it this evening we can argue about that that's semantics at this point it has no place in our city not at our community events not in our public spaces councilman bia's failure to fully step down in which he stated he would is a glaring reminder that we must take action therefore I stand before you today along with countless others to say do what you said you were going to do that was your choice stand behind your word and again like Pastor Drew said two things can exist in the same plane you could be an excellent soccer coach you could care a lot about what I've heard everybody say your community but the community as a whole is hurting and offended thank you thank you Miss Johnson y know my name is Victor um hey Stephanie congratulation on your win that was great um Leo you had an opportunity here tonight to put this to bed the young man just asked you just to apologize but your arrogance would not let you apologize now I know things about you I know things about John I know things about Kathy I know things about Stephanie that if we start talking ain't a damn one of yall will ever get back in that seat so Leo I don't understand you man I don't understand what what how would you be offended if you just said I'm sorry if I offended you you could have end that tonight but no you sat up here and said I you're never going to get it so that's just telling me you must be a racist you you got to be no don't talk to me say something no when because cuz you that that was ignorance it was ignorance Leo you could have just ended it tonight no my I'm I'm Leo bagler I'm not apologizing to nobody you are un that's unbelievable how ignorant that was I I don't get it when it could have been over tonight you could apologize and not just you but that reflects on the rest of you that this is still going on right Stephanie okay but um what we gonna do here what we going to do John is up to it's up to the boy what are y'all G to do could you still if if after what you heard tonight from Leo if you don't if y'all don't vote to put him out you're offended get a lot of damn people in here and you think we just going to sit around and bend and bow and sing songs I'll be damn as I do that just gonna work hard to get your ass out of here so can you I just want to for the record speak to what Mr gettis was speaking to about us removing the councilman please there is no legal Authority in New Jersey law for you to remove any elected council person it is uh he has the lawful right to fill out his term if that's what he chooses to do and this governing body nor any Court nor anyone else can take any action to remove him this is a decision for Mr baglia and Mr baglia alone and quite honestly everybody in this room should know it after what we just went through with Senator men Menendez so correct well I mean look the Senate's a different uh elected body true we operate under state law and under New Jersey Law um the councilman was duly elected and he has the lawful right to serve out his term if that's what he chooses to do thank you next person please thank you good evening my name is Mark Edwards how's everybody doing um again tonight was it's been a poor display as far as I would say across the board right allowing this to go on as long as it has um not really getting to the situation as needed so what I'm going to do is I'm going to speak where it really matters correct you should be sir sir excuse me you are required to address the you can kick me out then um as far as what Leo just showed the animation to my brother this is a violation of our rules of procedure harassment that has disrespectful to the governing body should not be personally know that I do not anything yes sir you are violating the rules of procedure you are here to address the governing body you're apologize I apologize because I felt like you guys violated me I just wanted you guys to know what it felt like nobody viol no it's all right it's been so long we've got rules of procedure follow them and you will have your right to speak like anybody else so I'll wait for my time to start once again thank you you go the people have felt violated unheard Mr croa said that Mr pagia keeps his word he gave his word he may not keep it though correct there's animosity that goes on there's a ton of animosity when I first showed up I told you guys egos will fill the room it's shown many people have said what they said prior to me so do I need to reiterate it no but again the intimidation that you show I wish you show that to me I'm his older brother what you just displayed when he said just apologizing this could be done and you belt it out it won't happen it's a lie it shows a lot again so I'm not going to call you what everybody else has called you I'm going to stick to bully you've removed kids and this is all hearsay but until we get the police report right or we decide to release the police report and show when you were removed by police I guess it's not factual so let's go for misuse of power right can't prove that but we do have police reports stating that you had to be removed that's a tough one to swallow so I would like to say that you do harass people you do intimidate people what you've done for everybody prior to listen from the bottom of my heart I personally am proud of all of the people that came out to speak for you but why should it be for a divide there's a lot of people here that know me I don't come out to fight this argumentative State should never happen between people that are citizens of the same town whether it be self hackin sack it holds hackin sack's title we're not moving as a unit and you're the only person that's called cusing that and the board has allowed you to do so people have spoke before me again and I hope you stick to the misuse of power that you continue to do the time that you guys have taken it's showing a lot of character thank you thank you Mr Edwards good evening my name is Leo baglia I just so happen to be my grandfather's grandson that's my grandfather father right there um first of all thank you for all the people that came out to support my grandfather both teammates of mine family members coaches friends um so I'm not here to reiterate what they said I've been with this man arguably every single day of my life for the past 24 years now literally and I'm pretty sure you guys can attest to it whenever you guys happen to see me as either with my grandfather wherever we are um now going in and out of school out of work coming home I happen to see a brand new person that I've never seen before inside the house any race Asian africanamerican wherever they're from my grandfather's there to help them whether they're from the city whether they're wanting to come into the city where they need help somewhere else my gria helps all types of people and on top of that putting blood in all of that aside I've been taught a lot both within family and outside of family and Integrity character having respect not only for people of our own race but people from everywhere all around the world that man has taught me a lot taught my friends a lot taught my sister a lot I like I said I'm not here to reiterate everything that they said because they already said it for me a lot of the stuff that they said is here say this person said this this person said that at the end of the day that is blood and I've been with that man every single day of my life and he is not a racist because I've literally when I tell you every single day of my life whether it's from school from practice seeing my friends hanging out with my friends having my friends over who's the one to go pick everybody up him all Races so I appreciate everybody that came out family non-family friends coaches I love you you're not a racist and thank you everybody for coming than good evening everyone so your Brian laugher deia San Antonio and L Street in hack I'm Father Brian lafar I'm director of the Church of St Anthony of pasua on L Street in hackin saac and um I'm with some of my parishioners that have come tonight and support of Leo uh one of the things about Leo is that Leo has been a councilman to all of hackensac the darkest time in my memory in my 34 years in hackensac started on Friday the 13th March 2020 when the pandemic started and there were 50 people in our IM immediate neighborhood that couldn't leave their homes because they were sick with Co Co multiple people died Leo rolled up his sleeves right away and reached out to people to multiple churches of all backgrounds to provide hot meals that were delivered directly to people's homes it didn't matter what color the family was they just had to have that need that's who Leo is this is the kind of heart that he's continue to have is this the heart of a racist I would say no having known Leo for many years when it comes to the kids and any kind of program for any children in our city Leo's always been right there with his hands open at very often at personal financial costs so um Leo has served every single part of this community whether that is acknowledged or not and actions speak larger than words do thank you thank you uh uh good evening my name is Joshua Beaver son of Elliot Beaver who you might recall spoke uh earlier this evening I'm here to very quickly and concisely address the comments made by councilman Leo I'm 17 years old getting ready to to go off to college in my naivity even I know there are certain things you can and cannot say you are expected to act differently when in public it's called decency being decent means knowing there's a time in place for things my father taught me this before I could walk and I am 17 years old I'm a kid and so I know that my fellow classmates and my peers and my fellow Hack and Sack citizens have been taught this as well being decent means there's no a time in things for okay sorry knows there's a time in place for things and acting accordingly hackin sack and New Jersey are places where decency and respect are expected of its leaders and as someone who has Ambitions of being a leader of tomorrow I expect but better of our of our leaders of today I expect people like councilman Leo like Steve Kleinman to do better I expect better of our leaders of today I expect for you to apologize so you can make a better future not just for some of us but for all of us to make a better future so that my generation can be proud to be in this country so I'm asking you to just apologize do the right thing do the right thing because I'm just telling you if you don't no one will and that's going to set the type of precedent that we don't need in this time it's a very divisive time and we need to get together but we can only get together if you show some Unity apologize apologize to the people that you offended the people that voted you into this office into this I'll be honest this probably quite nice salary that you are currently uh experiencing the money whose taxpayers are paying for so just apologize and do the right thing thank you very much hello my name is mael Bonia I am the vice president of Royals Kathy and John with your Mission um I'm here to represent our community I'm here to represent the kids I'm not here to go with back and forth with what's going on but I do want to mention that I was called from my daughter's High School game when Leo was at the middle school field and the first thing when Leo saw me and Lord is my witness when he saw me he pointed at me and said don't worry I will deal with you later you don't know who who I am I said Leo everybody kind of knows already at this point who you are but I'm not here for that I'm here because the children the children are the ones that are in Jeopardy right now I have spoken to numerous of people why hasn't Leo collaborated with us I don't care what Royals was before who was before me who this who that all that drama this is Royals now we are young motivated inspired educated people with the young children in the community growing up I have mentioned to Leo numerous of times and to his people around him why has he not collaborated with us people are mentioning oh yes he's done amazing things he has 20 30 years from now what has he done now nothing he actually has kicked us off the field has tried to take away our permits to use the field space and do not nod your head because you know this is true right now I'm here and I want to cry because my children are part of Royals but they were part of wreck but not only that I'm here for the children I only care about the children and the community you were Leo baglia once the soccer Guru guess what I'm the soccer Guru now and sea holder you might have the old school ones right but we're the new ones and that's why I have asked numerous of times why don't we collaborate soccer should be an amazing huge sport in soccer with in hackin sack the way that is being moved but you never wanted to you've actually given us your back numerous of times and not only you other people in the rec department and not not right now the rec department people on the board all we've always wanted Royals is to collaborate make soccer a thing in hackin sack but not by yourself because you can't anymore by yourself this is what matters you know why we came so late because we were at the middle school so graciously some of your team members helped us out to give us the middle school because we do not want to go to Johnson Park anymore and be harassed you look at us weird you kick us out you make a comment thank you Mel thank you you can't speak twice not allowed no you can speak actually hit the next session probably be about midnight I'm sorry he's not allowed to talk either did he speak before yes no this gentleman did not speak do you wish to speak sir ahead he was standing there but he did not you did not speak I don't believe my name is Robert Robinson no he he didn't speak yeah he did not it was the other gentleman yeah my name is Robert Robinson I've been in hackin saac for all a long long time and I just want us to get together you know amen I know most of all of you that's sitting up there I've been to a lot of your Council meetings I've been at good for a relationship with Y and all of that let's cut out the foolishness no one is saying anyone is bad but everybody have a right to apologize it caus more to this confusion that's going on right now let us come together and sit down and have a little talk and get it together as he say have a little talk with Jesus and he will make it right so let us sit down how a little talk Walk With Jesus conversate with each other and do the right thing and just take a look the guy ear you said all they don't want you to do is apologize it's easy it's easy I apologize ain't nobody perfect the only perfect one that ever walked this word was Jesus the Christ so we all have made mistakes we all have said things that were taken the wrong way so only thing we asking is let's take it the right way you are elected officials and voting is coming up let us stand up do what's right no matter what it don't take so much to take and say I'm sorry I apologize and let's move on we don't need all this commotion here tonight you are a good man I known you for a long time I agree you are a good man but but you made a wrong statement admit it move on pray get over it and let God handled the rest have a good night 11 next person please good evening council members um Dr Angel carry on Davis Davis Avenue hackin report I live and work here I've known Mr Baga councilman Baga uh 10 15 years uh got us involved through the program I moved here from the Bronx and um one of the things that I didn't hear anyone talk about today directly was that Leo bataglia loves this city and everything he does is to help improve the city obviously he has a special connection with the Latino Community which is not one group of people but many many groups of people and he's able to in his way to to work through the sports department and teach these kids the importance of values and respect which will ultimately make a better City because they are the city and no one seems to be talking about these things okay um I don't know what happened between councilman baglia and and Sean Mr coach hold Holden I believe um and I'm not getting involved in that uh my understanding is that when there's a an accusation of something as as important and disgusting as being a racist which I I don't even know where that came from in this situation just from what I heard um there should be a full investigation I don't know if that was done or not maybe you can correct me has it been done Mr bagia has admitted to using that I'm so I'm sorry turn my mic off Mr bagia did admit to using that word that mentioned before Spanish okay that is not a racist word in my culture I'm a Latino from the Bronx understood okay um and we say it with loving loving nothing but endearment now I'm not telling you that that's the way it was used or anything like that I'm telling you my experience with it okay um however trying to get a councilman to resign based on a hearsay uh to a to a deeper degree as racism because that's a much deeper level of evilness that has no place in here that's not what we're talking about we're talking about a bad judgment quite possibly um a confusion something that they should be able to handle themselves as grown men uh we have politicians in this room sitting here leaders of organizations involved in what could quite possibly just be a confusion a misunderstanding I think it's a little too much okay so thank you very much Council thank you Mr caran Deborah keing gettis Hack and Sack um just quickly with all of this um at the last meeting I stated that this situation was handled terribly terribly where are your PR people are the s binsky still on the payroll are they we still use you still still use them where are they this could have been shut down this should have been shut down weeks ago it should have been shut down I you know I don't know if they're still on the you need to consider somebody else if they didn't come and handle this situation um as a former councilwoman uh the former city managers David tro and Ted aronberg the late Ted aronburg always warned us about how we handle um how we interact with other city employees and the public Leo my advice to you is let somebody else schedule your games stay out of The Fray let somebody let your son or the members just stay away there's obvious friction between you and the the Royals just let somebody else deal stay away from you know from the the field when they're there whatever whatever you got to do just put a button on this because this is ridiculous it's just ridiculous okay the main thing I want to talk about is there a vote tonight on the Dome yes yes there is yes and is it for uh bonding yes money how much nine N9 million okay um as a taxpayer homeowner and taxpayer and all the homeowners here we have received a considerable tax increase this year um what is the projected total cost for the Dome 20 million probably about $20 million 20 million not probably what is the projected what what what what is the total cost for the D because I remember when I was up here we bonded for $15 million that was for the M&M building and for the do uh the dome right yes how much was left out of that no that one didn't include the D you have the number there for the D we' spent like about eight and a half so it's been eight and a half and how much has been bonded since then I don't remember exactly but the only thing that I can tell you that maybe the total amount that they were to spend to do the D mhm maybe $20 million 20 million yes okay that's including the Dome administration building the sidewalk around whatever whatever it is see you know de our all right at this point Our Town needs a school there has been no I work in the district okay whoever said that okay we need a school my thing is I think that this Dome should go out for a referendum all right let the people vote to see whether it's needed at this point okay we need a school none of this Redevelopment has brought any money into the district okay I'll I'll I'll come back later thank you okay next person my name is LC Lor and I live in Lyon Street okay I just want to do an a short statement about this situation with Mr Baga and maybe my husband know more hint about soccer for my son and but uh I want to talk about the community job he do for hacken sack if he's not in hackin sack I feel like we are losing somebody a speak for for the community he is always involved when we had some problems in in our street with our neighbors he is over there I don't see nobody else I see people from any another departments but from all this with all my respect the person I know is him okay and about about the way he Express and the word he use I don't want to defense him but I want to say is I don't think so with my broken English but my Spanish doent and Moreno is no discrimination work I had this child I had this child over here I raised him he was my foster kid and he's 35 years old now he com to hackin saac and when you hear are talking about him and Colombia I say me negro mro if you translator they will be like and he's not here he was here I will be bring him if he feel offended when I raise him size 11 years old and I always call when I talk about proud I am more a proud my two kids they are a good men but I am very proud mro and when I talk M do this I never use his name I say always say mro because I love him I don't need to deliver him when you want to be a mother Foster mother I hate the word fost mother because it's why you need to put a step mother when you want to be an a mother is a mother simple work they say I love him because I making him to be a human perfect and a man for the community this is I I'm never thinking like when he Express he do races you never can be in the community for more like 30 40 years working and one time now when you getting older you are racist I can't believe it that because I want to C with that and I am agree with the when my son was in the in the school many many years ago we are a lot population in the schools so I think when I see a lot buildings I don't know why we give you the buildings parking lot from H the close to the bowling area to do on another Apartments when we don't have any schools I pay for the passes and this is pencil more for the schools but we need to fix that problem too and the parking is is crazy I'm coming back tomorrow thank thank you hello everybody hey Bob I'll make this real brief I've known Mr pager for nearly 45 years I never ever heard any signs of racism ever this man cares this public servants this public servant donated his time countless of hours to various activities and charity all the good and volunteerism should not be diminished Mr BAGI is a dedicated public servant and I stand here today calling him my friend with all the respect I would Grant all of you thank you very much thank you good evening everybody my name is Bridget listening to everyone talk about how great Leo is and it was just one error you made and everyone is saying your arrogance you want to be so Superior over others where you don't even realize like his brother said like Debbie said all you have to do is just apologize it is not that deep just apologize that's it but I want everyone to know all communities our community the Latino Community all you got to do is do research I don't know why nobody don't do research but there are police reports there are video cams there are phone conversations that's all they got to do that's it and they'll have their truth a police had to be called to the middle school police officer had to be called to Johnson Park that's a li uh Leo please no back and forth please no he said it I understand okay I meant for everybody I'm sorry no no no I have the police report so you right here so am I so it's not a lie it's a lie the police were lie not going to go back and forth stop the time please how arrogant you truly are because you're going to tell me that a police would lie when he takes a report now you need to make that make sense but I don't even think you can make that make sense your arrogance is going to kill you but it's going to kill these people who stood up here and said how great of a person you were were from 40 years ago not from the present and that's the part where you don't understand so if you just apologize I'm quite sure coach holder would be more than glad to have that conversation you could have it in private no one would even have to know but you don't even want to apologize I don't know I hope the pastor that stood here before you that you called to speak for you I hope when you go into the confession booths and you make your confession I hope God does forgive your soul I really do cuz I feel so so sorry for you sometime when people get older they get ignorant they think they can say anything you can't you can't say anything you can't say anything and who said that's not nice so let's not have C between please please ma' ma'am let's you're here to address the council so my thing here is you need to apologize to that young man that's all you need to do your soccer days are way behind you your days ahead of you are much shorter trust me thank you good evening my name is gwenny Bert um this um has been a grueling evening it's been a difficult evening to sit through one of the things that I've learned as a leader and a community leader is that there are certain qualities that we must exhibit and one of them is humility humility means that even when I may not agree I accept that you feel the way you do and it's dis disheart ing that if someone feels offended that we don't make the effort to resolve it you may not have said anything and I don't disagree with all of the good things that were said about you I've seen things that you've done over the years I don't disagree with them at all but as a leader in the community in order to resolve any kind of division sometimes like they said we have to take a different Road and we may have to take a different approach we have to be careful about what we say we're going to do if we're not going to do it because at the end of the day we're expecting people who say they're going to do something to do what they said they're going to do and so today we got a chance to kind of see that things were flipped a little bit and if someone else had been in your seat the expectation would be that they honor what they said or that if someone said I feel offended that they would at least humble themselves enough to say I'm sorry that you feel offended that was not my intention please accept my apology and so we spent a lot of time here tonight rallying troops getting people incited to to go against each other and that's not what this is all about if we're going to be Community leaders then we're supposed to represent every everyone we ought to be able to resolve this kind of dissension between people but that's not what happened tonight we just added more logs to the fire to keep it going and so somewhere along the line there needs to be some real sou searching and some thinking about how we can resolve this to get through it because if we say we're going to do it and we don't do something then it makes people uncomfortable particularly when they've been around you all this time and so it it's been very disheartening this is not the Hack and Sack that we know and so we need to really look at it humility is a big part of being a public servant thank you anyone else from the public I see one more coming oh you have a letter to read read okay oh don't clerk has a letter to read do you want me to read it because of your voice yeah yeah read it because nice you guys going to have to bear with our clerk tonight it seems she's got a little case of aritis starting so we're going to have to give her a little help uh so this was addressed to Mr de Carson RMC that's our clerk please read this letter at the Open session on my behalf I've never seen this before just for the record through respectful members of the hackensac council my name is Malik SED Mali I live at 160 Overlook Avenue hackin saac New Jersey I've had the pleasure of knowing Mr baglia for nearly 18 years since I moved to hackin saac from Arizona he is in my opinion and many others in town one of the most helpful kind caring and productive persons always there listening resolving whatever issues the public have he is passionate and protective of our city and has always given from his heart and soul he is most definitely not a racist does not care what color race or religion you are he is there for you always when you need him he is an important part of the city and we hope this misunderstanding is resolved immediately and Mr pag continued to do what he does best which makes us feel as if we're all one family and part of the city which we call our own thank you Malex say Mali okay so that letter is right into the record uh obviously Mr Miki could not make it here today so any other members in the public before we I need a motion to close the public off offer second all in favor I I okay I minute to go the yeah we're going to take a five minute bio break any of you want to speak while people are here do any of you want to speak speak now at the end well this is there's a whole another session so you can say something something now sure good evening everyone appreciate everyone coming out tonight sure can you hear me yes um I appreciate everyone coming out tonight I took a lot of notes on um everyone's comments just as I did last time um at last month's meeting um you know there's a lot of a lot of emotion in our in the discussions tonight just like there was last month um I think uh Mr Robinson no one said it better than you you just had a sense of of calm um and I think what you said made made sense and was calming but I do appreciate everyone's comments um you know I I think Leo is a great guy he's done a lot for this Comm Community I I've seen it um I can never fill his shoes or or do as much as he does he's a great man um and I think that you know there are a discussion to be had just as Mr Robinson said to sit down and just to talk about it because I know he's a wonderful man um and I I don't want to see him go anywhere um but I think a discussion should be made um had and communication um to figure out you know how we how we move forward as a community just as you said so thank you every everyone for coming out and have a good night thank you thank you Steph and thank you to everyone that came here tonight um you know we never really very rarely ever have a crowd like we saw here tonight and I think it speaks a lot about everyone here in hackin saac and how strongly we feel about the emotions of our wonderful City and what's made this city wonderful is the diversity that we have in this city and we as counc members greatly appreciate that um I know Leo baglia for probably over 30 years and he is he's a wonderful man he's been a wonderful friend not only to me to my family and to many people that I know in the city and he's done wonderful things for the city throughout his the entire time that I know this man in the city none of us are perfect we're all human beings sometimes we say something without thinking about it especially in the heat of a athletic game it happens we're not perfect and again what the gentleman front said before really was I think the best statement sir I think of the entire night you know that it it it can be solved this problem can be solved simply and can be unified what Mr bagle has said in his culture in his opinion in his culture is an acceptable thing but it's all about perception you know it's all about perception and if someone perceived something differently Leo you know I love you but to me it has to be said that if anyone was offended by something because they interpret it differently than you do I think we have to unify ourselves and be sorry for that for them not agreeing with what it was that you intended it to be or that you feel in your culture it meant and as a good friend I wish you would please listen to me Leo and just understand that perception is critical everyone has their own perception and to come together as a city as a country we need to accept that fact and there's so much to be gained Leo by just having insight into that statement and I pray for you and I pray for the city we will get through this thank you first of all I want to clear the incident that start with the two groups that there was coaching the kids you got the recreation and you got the Royals some people say oh I walk away from soer for a long time yes I did why because I don't want to get involved with people they not doing the right things that's the reason I stay away right okay so I got the phone call that the group from Recreation want to break away from the people from traveling for different reasons okay so with the okay of the city man and the rest of the console what we was doing is putting all the sports under the city guidelines for the simple reason that about a year ago two year one of the coaches walk away with 35,000 bucks okay $75,000 away from the kit okay so soccer was the last sport that we want to put into the city guidelines so when Ana Koval everybody know me I go with names when Ana Koval andto fet from the recreation department called me that they want to break apart from the Royal fepc for Miss manager I say no problem I spoke to the city manager and we cre the recreation department under the city so the money go in the money go out and then we went for bid for three or four different acmis we select the city manager and the person in charge of the recre department select the academy that was working already with the kid for more than 10 years okay definitely the the academy that was no in place or we don't look into that was something related to the recreation department and the city manager so they re they really got mad with me okay I've been running the adult soccer program for the last three years four years and always we got the permit to use the Middle School from 6:30 to 8:00 right this particular day I open the the field the custodian opened the field for me and I know that the key they going to be in the socker field so I put the goals between the line and the bleaches the fence because we're going to play fight against fight and sometime I said that the feel like I don't play because everybody know that I got a tumor in my head and I have to be careful okay so we set out the field and the sideline so the field for the key was free we was touching the field but when these two coaches they start putting the backpacks inside the area that we were supposed to use it simply say please can you put the backpacks over there and that way we're going to play here that's it when the whole Escalade and then M start coming to me calling me a different kind of name boso that mean there man a bunch of stuff so I decide to maybe go back to Johnson Park for see if we can use that soccer field I went over there and there were like about 75 kids I spoke to Ana and and I said listen I was trying to try to be the guys over here but I too busy I went back to the middle school when I get off from my car in the Middle School Mark the president of the royal approach me and blocking me not to let me pass not to let me walk I put my hands on the a say Mark I don't want anything to do with you okay please let me pass and he still he was blocking me my grandson got in between right because he saw what happened I'm black Mar and I continue walking I walk maybe 10 ft now Shan come out with the phone in the hands and I start doing the same thing I say Shan I don't want argument with you please let me pass when I pass and I see that the problem was escalating I made a phone call to the police the police show up and asking the permit to Mr Bonia right and she say I don't have the permit what about you Leo I don't have the Me by he in the office we've been doing that for the last three years with the seniors right so the police said Leo you know let the kids play and then you play I say fine we sit down and we wait by 7:15 Sean come to my grandson and say we finished now you guys can go into the field so everybody start walking into the field and then he blocked me and said no no you you don't go in the Field the police said Leo so I said fine I see down again and the and the curve by the basketball court two or five minutes later maybe Shan went back again to my grandson right and said listen this play is getting dark you guys can go to Johnson Park because I got the permit to play over there you guys can play with the lights so the kid come back to me my grandson say he invit us over there and say okay go over there I follow you later so they went to Johnson Park they get in in the field and then the police show up because I was coming right behind there I par my car and I was watching the whole scene so the police was there and then they got in the report that my group the seniors that mean mil and everybody else they followed them and that's not true he by the group to Johnson Park so my grandson called the C and said okay and they got together with Shan and my grandson asked to him tell me one thing do you invite us to play in Johnson Park yes or no and he say yes I did okay so the group went up to play and I went home right that's what happened that night in the meantime the reports from him and everybody El oh the the police scor Le that never happened okay I called the police and the police never score me I went home by myself okay what happened for the later there was a soccer game and the high school my grandson play for the JB and param they play the game they tie the game one1 then my grandson say hey Pap why we don't go and watch the game and paramu they going to play hack against paramos we don't have nothing to do with my wife and my two granddaughters or whatever we went over there I see down in the middle of the field all the way up in the bleachers I was watching the game right and the game was one1 two one couple of things happened now they're losing the game 52 five minutes before they finish the game I start walking to go to the car right and the maala family right Michael the father and the three kids that were the two kids they were here today they asked me hey Leo why you don't come to come back to coach and I said well when the Moreno goes call me okay that's what I said I love that to me Moreno know as a bad work I never use the Endor but the lady that with three bleaches behind there three seat behind there he start insulting me and say a bunch of bad words I said keep your mouth shut because we are in par we not in hackinson okay and I walk away from there okay that was it now I been accused I a racist and this and that I never going to apologize for something that I never did I never use any a work or anything like that I say the word Moreno that to me is not really insult okay so I don't regret anything I don't want to apologize for something that I never did okay and this is the truth now if you want to say that you never invite the group to play in Johnson part that's a lie you did or no answer me you invite the group to play in Johnson Park ahuh no back no back and forth no back and forth okay so that's it thank you you guys for coming thank you for your support I've been doing the best best I can for the city I do the best I can for the kids and that's it now when I going to resign or when stand down it's up to me it's not up to you guys okay thank you and good night jar is this our closing statements that we're making now for this session for this session we still got a whole another session to go I hope you're all staying for the next full session right everybody I officers lock the doors they're all staying I just want to make sure I just want to make that make sure that I you understand that okay great because I do have um something to say at the second session but this session here um you know I heard a lot of um conversation going back and forth the bottom line is this there is absolutely no reason at all to call a person who you know their name call them out of their name and that is the bottom line I am a professional I have coached for many years and I have been out in public with numerous people on every level from politicians down to um School teachers and all and again there is no reason whatsoever to call an individual out of their name and that's all I have to say take care and have a good night now I the John no you can go you can you have to go to the bathroom go I know all about when you have to go to the bathroom so all right uh just to reiterate some of the stuff that happened um I really appreciate gwenny's comments gwenny ber I don't know if you're still here Gwen are you here hey Gwen um this isn't the Hack and Sack we know or the Hack and Sack we want uh this might be a learning opportunity but certainly not something we'd like to do on a regular basis I'm sure um the other one I want to speak to is Brother Robinson all right all the stuff we heard tonight we heard both sides we heard people praising Leah we heard people you know not praising Leah um Brother Robinson broke it down very easily cut through all the stuff that happened all night and says we're better than this we got to get through this we got to get over this all right Lio you're the only person that can do that and that's up to you this Council can't make you step down this Council can't force you to apologize all right that's not what we do it's not our job okay all right so that's all on you um this isn't the hack aack I want all right and I want to caution people who might be out there taking advantage of the situation for personal reasons and that's all I'm going to say about that um because it's happening that I know I've been doing this long enough to know Silly Seasons here um I appreciate everybody's comments tonight both sides all right I found most of them to be reasonable on both sides obviously all the people I've known Leo a long time whenever I need anything Leo's there to help Leo is helps people believe me and it would be a tremendous loss to this community to lose Leo but that said that's not in my hands and as Brother Robinson said it's in God's hands all right so hopefully we'll figure this all all out and uh be able to move forward with this and be better for it and uh be better people for it um I've you know we this Council has been called racist repeatedly without any explanation none whatsoever I've had people stand at that Podium and say John you know you're a racist right to my face without any explanation no apologies I heard about apologies tonight there's no apologies and if you call me a name at least explain it to me why you think I'm name all right so this goes you know it's an ugly world when we get to this level it really is ugly when it gets to that all right we try to treat people respectfully and uh I always try to to do the best at what I can none of us are perfect all right we're all God's kids and uh he didn't make us perfect right but we can be better so with that uh thank you everybody for coming it's been a long night we have another session to go I was hoping you'd all stay but I understand completely thank you motion to close the meeting off all in favor I I what about the executive session I need a motion to close the Cal session offer executive session executive session offer uh just as usual for the record we talked about various litigation in closed executive session including the cases involving keenig Briggs and McCarthy thank you motion to close Council the H offer second all in favor I I oh and Mon and manahan on the agenda tonight Manan too okay can we close everything Deb that we supposed to close e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e so the clerk is going to start this meeting while she has a voice and if she can't continue either the city manager or myself will take over for her all right thanks to those who are staying um enough please Madame clerk this meeting is being held in accordance with the open public meeting Act NJ NSA 10 4-6 set SEC notice of which was sent to the record in the Star Ledger and was posted on the municipal blls board if you need me to read anything just let me know well let me just start and it's a matter whether the public can hear you or not can you folks understand her they can okay thank you we going to go for coffee and panana council member Von rudenberg here Deputy Mayor canestrino here council member bag here council member Carol here mayor Leos I'm here would everybody please rise for the flag Salon I 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 liberty and justice for all thank you okay I do have a proclamation to read tonight believe it or not and the proclamation reads whereas First Responders include 911 operators and dispatchers Law Enforcement Officers firefighters emergency medical technicians search and rescue teams and other roles in the public safety sector both professional and volunteer who work tirelessly to keep residents safe and whereas First Responders show courage and selfless concern as they put their own lives in Jeopardy as they respond to dangerous and devastating incidents and disasters and tragically some have paid the ultimate price and whereas the Deep commitment exhibited by First Responders is worthy of admiration and the residents of New Jersey owe a debt of gratitude to their First Responders who make our state a safer place and whereas acts of kindness and appreciation from the communities they serve provide First Responders with needed encourage encouragement and support to confront the uncertainty they face every day and now therefore I John P Le Bross Jr mayor of the city of hackin saac along with members of the city council do hereby recognize the month of October as First Responders appreciation month and salute the contributions of law enforcement firefighters and Emergency Services Personnel to the security and well-being of the state and especially to our city I urge all citizens to join with us and recognize our own First Responders and their commitment and services that they provide as professionals and volunteers so officer Frank aille are you by yourself now no off who else is here you guys thanks for what you do how about a round of applause for these guys tonight and all of our First Responders our our cops our firemen our uh dispatchers our EMTs uh volunteer ambulance guys anybody who helps us in the time of need these guys are always willing to to just be there so thank you for that guys appreciate it um approval of minutes September 24th 2024 Cal executive and regular meeting October 8th 2024 cow executive regular meeting October 15 2024 special meeting I need a motion to approve offer second all in favor I I None opposed was everybody here for all those meetings yeah everybody was here except for the special meeting Leo was absent on that one all right so Leo abstains on that one he read them that's fine okay oh he read that's okay read the minut yeah but you read the minutes so yeah but you read them it's fine okay if you read the minutes you're fine and you're good so with that City manager's report I'm expecting it to be brief this evening yes all right the city of hackin is delighted to announce the winners of our annual pumpkin carving contest uh first place was Gomez M we don't use the last names because they're juveniles with 528 votes second place was Ariana C with 273 votes and third place was Marian f with 249 votes we'd like to thank all who participated and we're looking forward to the Spooktacular designs next year the City Slam junk slam dunk the junk was held on October 26th there were 44 groups in total with 486 volunteers they picked up around an estimated 193 bags of litter the city's program has been so success successful that it has earned recognition from the clean communities and they sent the new Loi coordinator and fairlong coordinator to watch and learn from hackin saac city is thrilled to announce that our downtown has won the American plannings Association great places in New Jersey great downtown designation hackin saac youth basketball winter league registration is now open the program runs from December until March for ages 5 to 14 the city is also actively seeking basketball coaches for this season reach out to our Recreation Department for more information Hackensack Recreation is hosting the annual senior trip to hun and Hills Playhouse to see a playhouse Christmas only 50 tickets are available first come first serve for seniors only $40 per person includes transportation show and a lunch the city recently held the grand opening of our new Safe Streets Command Center this is a state of art facility which will serve as a central Hub of our police patrol efforts that's it mayor thank you so we're going to go right to new business resolution 36524 this is a resolution for final adoption of ordinance number 40- 2024 in ordinance amending chapter 32 of the code of the city of hackson Police Department to establish a new article entitled private outdoor video surveillance security camera registry this ordinance has been published according to law now calls for a public hearing need a motion to open to the public offer second all in favor I I None opposed anyone from the public who' like to speak to this ordinance and this ordinance only please come forward seeing no one from the audience motion to close to the public offer second all in favor i i n oppos opposed motion to adopt the ordinance offer second all in favor I I None opposed beer isol by the city council of the city of hack County of Bergen and state of New Jersey that ordinance number 40 d224 has passed a second and final reading is hereby adopted thank you resolution 366-2404 d224 a bond ordinance providing for the construction of the Johnson Park Sports Facility by and in the city of hackensac in the county of Bergen state of New Jersey appropriating $8,500 th000 therefore including federal funds received from the American Rescue plan Act of 2021 in the amount of $2,375 and including funds available in the city's cash Reserve in the amount of $2 million and authorizing the issuance of $ 3,932 th000 in bonds or notes of the city to finance part of the cost thereof this ordinance has been published according to law now calls for a public hearing need a motion to open to the public offer second all in favor I I None opposed anyone from the public who like to speak to this ordinance and this ordinance only please come forward again Carolyn Davis again um I'm just going to say this with all the things that our city needs right now a dome with that amount of money is not necessary in this town we need a school we need a school badly so if we're going to put $8 million or this kind of money anywhere it needs to go into finding the school our children are crowded into the classrooms it's more important for them to be have classrooms that are not crowded the teachers being able to uh teach in appropriate settings they don't need a sadome right now that that's not the priority priority should be getting a school for the students something we have been talking about for eight years and you just mentioned not too long ago that you had a school in plan so that's what we need to do that's what we need to do not a dome thank you you want to speak to that because I know you're on top of that yeah just as I talk you know mentioned with you before uh Miss Davis you know we're working the city council is working very closely with the school we have been for the past couple of years we presented the city actually did uh drawings and feasibility studies on two different properties for them but it it didn't meet their needs so the school recently well the last what six months or so came back to us with a new place that they would like the city's out having the formal appraisal done because the city can't purchase anything without a formal appraisal I think the feasibility study is done so we are in the process of hoping to move forward if the appraisal comes in good Jim right I've got all my fingers crossed what what but the city what the city is trying very hard to do I can't promise you know I don't like to say things because if I can't promise you can't hold me to it but we're getting close and I'm hoping it works the city wants to purchase the land and donate it to the school and in addition it it in includes um a city piece of property that we would also allow them to use and build over to give them adequate property so it would get the property under control and it would get us started towards the new school and the primary focus is multiple Steph and I have been working on this Steph and I both meet with the Board of Ed monthly um is Dual Purpose one get us out of padrio right because we're just pouring more good money after bad into that into that and hopefully get the fifth grade out of the middle school so that we we get them back to the Community Based schools which you know read all the studies the longer we can keep our kids in a community based School the better it is for the students to to learn and grow till they're old enough to really be into that middle school and then it will hopefully eliminate that whole bottleneck of what's going on in the middle school so I think be our priority should be it it is well the referend we of course they're going to need a referendum for it to be built but we're trying the Dome should be a referendum no that's not a referendum that's not it's the city doesn't go through a referendum process but the the support for the schools has always been there to get this done I just want to reinforce that over the oh God how long ago did we do those original appraisals three four years ago so we have been working in conjunction with them I just want you to know that we understand how important it is and we're 100% in support of that initiative and I'm hoping we get that appraisal and we get good news and we can really celebrate it all together I know don't want back and but just question whyn't theare You' been doing this that's all I'm say no I'm gonna answer you a lot of I I do talk periodically about our meetings with the board of vet a lot of it is for the reason that I think I'm just so exhausted physically and mentally and emotionally I don't normally say things unless I'm 100% sure you're getting them because as we know there's lots of people that like to criticize and say I you on that night Kathy canestrino you said we're getting this so I'm trying to disclaim it and say I'm praying and hoping this comes together but normally we wait until we can tell you that this is a done deal those very reasons but this is what's been happening over the past number of years and we can document it with meetings you can talk to the board of V about it I'm sure they'll confir Mr Sanchez is no longer here but you know these meetings go back with him so this has been something that the city has been working together and the board of ENT and the city have to work together on projects like this it's critical so um it's good absolutely it's good for everybody so so I just want to speak real quickly to the Padre Pio situation I'm sorry ma'am let me just jump in real quick um that deal was made was just one of the most horrible Leasing deals ever with the arch dasis we're we paid for that building three times over in the last 12 years think about that think about that horrible horrible deal been trying to get out of it forever the sooner we get out of there the better for the kids um and it doesn't meet State Standards it doesn't meet State Standards it doesn't even meet state standards and the requirements of the lease of what we're responsible for is ridiculous so we need we need to get that done with that that's number one priority is get out of Padre P we were paying $5 million a year we're getting close so I'm like that's why I'm leaking it out a little bit but pray for us that it all comes together and we're able to and our CFO is I'm crossing all my fingers and twisting all his so we can get this done all right excuse me Sly optimistic cautiously optimistic yes we're hoping we're really hoping okay ma'am I'm sorry I'm sorry too we took wait wait uh my name is Eileen O'Reilly at 106 Pine Street um actually five or six years ago I was involved in a very large group that was called to the um Board of Education meetings uh excuse me the um the board meetings anyway and all of this stuff was talked about and then all of these 45 people who came for three consecutive meetings in a row it was all dropped it was invisible do you school never happened that was before the covid so no excuses there and the approvals on the Dome and the recreation center were already made so the school was not a priority in those days and you were at many of the meetings promising this that and the other thing from the builders I I I'll wish you finished anyway I didn't come to talk about the school I'm just saying that I don't understand how this was supposed to be built for $10 million which is extraordinary money uh however many years ago how is it and now double that amount what happened I didn't like the idea then I think it's ridiculous that you have buildings on the River of all places in a park it doesn't make any sense it'll be a cost center because through all of covid if it was up and running you would have had to pay for heat and make maintenance and everything else and this is what's going to happen even if it is running but twice the price what happened who's doing the numbers here it's not the exactly the same building as the original estimate was the there was but that's the one we knew about I didn't even know there there were some changes into the structure type of building it was uh we went with a a more structural type building versus a uh what they call the I don't want to call it 10 a blow up a dome everybody's talking about a dome now it's going to be it's more of a building than a dome it it has a metal roof it's it's much how can you justify an extra 10 million that's the cost things have gone up just since no no I mean and continue with the project I mean you only uh did the cement recently how could you continue without this being an issue it's we feel it's needed in the city we've done studies on it not needed in the city but you're one person man we have a lot of people want to use this facility yeah but you're talking about a school where is all this money coming from a lot of this money is everybody says let the buildings pay for it well the buildings are paying for it through income through Pilots everybody says oh I don't pay taxes for 30 years if I hear that one more time I'm going to jump off and how much are the schools getting the pilot already bringing how much is the charter school the charter school gets nothing okay from from the city county gets a am and the public schools do not get but notice also people seem to forget Public Schools our public School how many years ago got all right so let's let's talk about the economics right the the pilot is in New Jersey the state of New Jersey uh I understand the pilot okay and the reason for the pilot is you have to prove that your infrastructure is aged and especially the age of the sewers being more than 50 years for you even to be able to enter into this program which we have and the sewer work that we're doing already Jin what was it 53 million 52 million how much have we I don't want to know about I know about the p i get it because you're you're you're saying what is the school getting I'm saying the purpose of the pilot is to do things for the city not the schools now the schools let's talk about the schools Aid right up until six or seven years ago consistently in state aid the schools got $13 million all right you know what the schools get today in the last six years every year do you have do you know what that number is that number is now 40 million so the schools in the last six or seven years have increased their state aid by $27 million okay so let's just think about about that our pilot money is watch himim 7 million this year I so they've seen an increase in the school state aid by $27 million and God bless that's what it's for it's for the schools we're not asking for that money we're not asking the city we have we have sewer problems we have quality of life issues with people having sanitary lines backing up into their into their homes right we had our Parks were a mess our children were playing in an Eminem building where we had to cancel basketball games because it was on a wood floor that got so wet they would slip and fall right we needed to do major things in this town and that's what the our pilot money is being used to do the schools have received increased state aid as well that's for them pilot money is for the city to do infrastructure and we're working together yet we're still hoping we have some money that Jim is telling me yes maybe that if it comes together we could donate city property to them and buy the other piece that they need to do this to build this the school and that's we're doing that as a council or we hope to be doing that as a council because we agree with you and we have been working on this school I'm sorry but we had no let me finish we have been working on the school going back many many many years it's not our decision we can come we spent money on architectures we located properties we did all of the work and we presented it to the school but we can't say oh let's pick that and let's do it that's the school's decision and we honor and respect that that's not our decision well let me ask something else about the money that was spent on the recreation building yes $10 million as well I think it was eight or N9 oh excuse me million here million no let's just if we're going to talk numbers let's talk numbers so the building department all of a sudden gets moved over there because you want to sell the property to a builder so they're in the recreation building how many senior programs do you have I can't find one on your website they just moved into their new building it was it was mult how many years was that there was right there was you want me to answer you or you want yes I do okay there was when we knew the JRE building was up for sale which it wasn't all one and the fact that we could now have the city hall complex all together which is important and have more room not only in the in the Jal building is the building department but also the new Command Center that for the police officers to do really Safe Streets that whole Safe Streets program if you haven't been there you should go for a look it's absolutely amazing to see what's in there for our Police Department so the the ability for us to do that made sense for us to sell the property that they were in it didn't make sense to save that property for a school the John Earl building the John the John Earl building no the green that was not the footprint there was not large enough oh no no it wasn't I mean we can show you drawings if you'd like there's a certain requirement to have for outdoor space drop off space footprint if we're going to build something help the school look into building something we're going to make sure that a it meets state standards and B maybe we're going to build it a little bit bigger for growth okay so that we have that ability to grow that's that's I think the direction that the school is going in and we're in 100% support of that if you're talking about preco $170 million referendum that failed yes we were against that as a council because no one and none of our taxpayers could substantiate that burden and that was far more than the cost of building the school and that's what we asked for is to separate the two and give voters a choice because I believe at that point if they would have separated and had a referendum for the school and a referendum for everything else at least the school referendum would have passed and that's my personal opinion schools benefit the entire city so let me let me ask the recreation department when it's not filled with the building department benefits the whole city what do you think this is only going to be soccer what is the biggest no no no no she's saying it's only soccer it's not just soccer it's stop building you you you hardly started end she has the question and let's let the environment take every sport that's played inside can be played in there all right there's going to be a wrestling room football practice there soccer baseball baseball field hockey this is a multiple use it's a multiport facility I don't I just don't get it an education should be outside I don't so let me ask you a question let's go back to the schools what's the biggest problem in the schools today why are you asking me I'm I'm ask you I didn't come about the school I came about this so but the talk became the school the big thing is overcrowded so right now much money do we have to spend well because this has to do with building a new school which you are talking about all right so obviously if we need new school you wor about the Dome wait can I can I speak to the the dome for a second I have I have young children in sports multiple Sports in town and what happens is we go to all the other towns around us the wealthy areas in Bergen County and those parents can pay thousands of dollars for winter training and doing these things our families can't afford that here the way we can offer them to have more training and get to that Elite level is owning our own inside space that they can go to in the winter without paying for it and compete with these other towns and that's what happens here it's not fair to our kids you know you go play these towns that the parents are paying thousands of dollars the club's telling the the rec team's telling them I want $1,000 doll for winter workouts we can't afford that here so yes this is a big project but in the long run it's going to benefit every sport I just don't no I don't have children in soccer so I wouldn't support if it was just soccer um I have my kids do many different sports and it's for all all different sports there and that's the only way I would have support and our children but our children deserve that Competitive Edge I mean no they don't children in general don't they should be allowed to be children play their Sports they're not all going to be professional no not professional more like M Baga has done over the years apparently from what I heard is have these kids learn things like sportsmanship and and respons responsibility and all that not to be the always winners and the elite group who needs an elite group these are children they want to compete they want to compete they parents want them to compete not only that but some sometimes I have a couple of very competitive Grand and they good they get scholarship and they go to school for free many of the kids that were here tonight they went to school for free so they say the P maybe over $200,000 what about that I I just don't get it that you can have it mil10 million think about benefits of sports for our children right the physical aspect you know giving them something to do after school in this giving them something to be proud of let them see that hard work pays off don't waste your breath on me I'm totally against I'm not wasting my breath I think it's I think it's critical that you at least try to understand that's see anyone else from the public hi Deb so um um so do we know that everyone wants the Dome at this point yes do we know that every citizen in the city of pakak wants this is why I'm asking for you saying that it can't be put out for a referendum to this way elected officials make these decisions you were up here you made decisions on things all right I'm sure there are people that disagree with decisions you made this Council has decided to move forward with this project uh we're we're into quite a bit of money we're certainly not going to just throw that you talk about criticism if you've spent six or seven million dollars prep prepping this thing or whatever it is and you don't move forward that would be catastrophic to me and and the city um it's it's an important project it also has the possibility of being used after hours and bringing in some income to the city as well so a minimum be self sustaining so there will be no to the city and who will be running it the recreation yes yeah um so asides from the pilots there have been no separate agreements for the developers to help with the construction of a school yes oh no of the Dome the schools toward toward the schools whatever not not for the Dome no no no separate agreements no why not we have we have used some of the monies from the pilots or from aside from the pilots no I'm just saying we have use some of the money or some for example we took some City properties like and we now have them they now have garages and living space so that was sold for certain monies we've used some of that money to support the Dome and other things sewer easements Etc so some of the sales of the properties as well as the pilots have to support the Dome the the some of the sewer work etc we we our mentality as a council has been from the very beginning with the pilot money is we are going to get as much cash as much money into the city as we possibly can and use that this we have control listening to the residents as to what and how we're going to spend that money whether it be sewers or or whether it be Parks whatever it may be so you're there's only so many there's only you can't bleed a stone right there's only so much Debbie I know you understand this there's only so much you can get out of a project financially so whether you say oh do some Park work then you're going to get less money right the total is always going to come down to a certain number that's affordable and achievable in dealing with in dealing with um with developers or anyone in that it has to be at least some modom of of um of a profit for them to can be in this business and in the pilot World they can't make more than 12% % pilot 12% uh return if they do then their pilot gets adjusted for that so the state put this mechanism in this tool into place and I think did a good job to help cities like hack and saac that are aging and need this type of work to be done and a way to fuel that infrastructure and that's what we're taking advantage of okay um I can't read what I wrote how can you find oh how much can how can we find out how much is it on the uh hackensack.org how much each building has brought in if you go to hackensack.org and you go to the budgets right if you look at is it in the user friendly budget Jim no it's in the adopted budget sheet 10 adopted budget she 10 that's the revenue page right so every pilot is listed there by name of the of the building and how much money is included in this year's budget because it goes straight to the bottom line that's where we put it and what they actually paid last year now if you look at this you're going to see over time the state has very strict rules I should be having Jim explain this where we can't include in our budget any more than they paid the prior year even though we know they're going to pay way more like early on so most years we pretty well exceed what we anticipated to get in the pilot money as well but we're limited to the way the state allows us to use that money but they're all there so you can certainly take a look at it and see as well as the monies that we've negotiated in the host Community agreement with the hospital that's listed there too so all of the things that we've been able to negotiate to bring more Revenue into the city would be on that Revenue page um so that property across from the Middle School that huge building there would have been sufficient for a new school that cor that's I'm just that's just my observation we have to comment on it but that whole block the orny was that whole block that whole block would have been perfect we we had two lots right adjacent to the middle school that we proposed and and the Board of Ed did not want those choices we have the it just seems like all of the prime no that have been think about it it was more Prime we offered them the locations directly adjacent to the middle school or which there's some at that point in time those churches were for sale and the houses behind them and then we also talked about that Corner property remember I think it was an old Simple Simon or 711 7 that property which would have which was our selection as a city that's not even as big as what it is across the street the parking lot but you go back we go all the way back the house is behind it I know I know what you I know exactly on Union and the city has their parking lot in part of that too that we were donating so um both of those pieces actually were more than adequate to build exactly what was needed um okay so my concern is as a taxpayer is the bottom line how much is it going to cost taxpayers all of this for what for the dome for the schools I mean it let's ask J is the Dome going impr it's it's going to cost us money is it going to increase taxes Jim okay I'm glad you stayed yeah the uh well just remember we don't refer to it as the Dome anymore more because that was the original project original project was a soccer dome it's now a sports facility to accommodate multisports as the mayor said to do that uh that's how the project uh grew to in order and and originally it was going to be a m a membrane structure Dome not anymore now it's going to be a rigid structure to do that the the foundation um was a huge expense remember this project also in includes the University Plaza parking lot which right and that parking lot isn't just a parking lot it's also going to be a second form of egress out of the facility um you know along with the road coming in it'll be a way of getting out and the other thing to remember is the location of the Dome is where the pistol range used to be contaminated with lead all that soil had to be remediated now having said said all of that the um the the Johnson Park Sports facility project Park the SE parking lot too parking lot purchased too oh okay all right well for Johnson part but okay what I'm saying is that project was designed to not increase taxes at all it was all done within our existing Debt Service budget even as it's grown okay and and we're still holding to that today this $8.5 million Bond ordinance right is only you'll see it's only uh appropriating 3.9 million in debt the other 4.2 million or whatever it is uh 2.3 two 4.37 4.3 yeah that's our money that's either ARP money or the money that we've accumulated as the the deputy mayor said from selling properties uh for Developers okay uh so to answer your question Deb is will taxes increase because of this no they won't um not for this project because when this project was designed same time as the Eminem building same time as the two-way conversion on uh Main Street same time as the Performing Arts Center was all done with the thought that it would all be within our existing Debt Service budget thank you thanks okay I'm going to hold you to that um me too um okay uh I think that's it for now good night thank you motion to close to the public offer second all in favor i i n oppose motion to adopt the ordinance oh thank second all in favor no vot one the time council member V sorry thank you Deputy Mayor count stre note hi council member paga Leo Leo yes say I you want to councilman Carol stay mayor Le Bross hi be resolved by the city council the city of hackensac County of Bergen state of New Jersey that ordinance number 41- 2024 has passed its second and final reading and is here by thank you okay let's go with the resolu solution 37-24 is a final adoption of ordinance number 42-22 24 an ordinance to amend chapter 175 zoning of the code of the city of hackensac to allow for two Class 2 cannabis manufacturing licenses pursuant to the New Jersey cannabis regulatory enforcement assistance and Marketplace modernization act this orance has published according to all now calls for a public hearing need a motion to open to the public offer second all in favor I I and oppos in this particular I I am voting no yes in case councilman whatever you want to do okay need a motion to open to the public okay we're open all right anybody from the public would like to speak to this ordinance and this ordinance only please come forward seeing no members of the public motion to close to the public offer all in favor I I or you're voting no I am voting no he's voting no so roll call sorry well first I didn't offer it oh sorry offer second okay roll call Council rudenberg hi Deputy Mayor krino hi council member paga no council member Carol I Maya Bross hi be resolved by the city council of city of hackensac County ber and state of New Jersey that ordinance number 42-22 24 has passed a second and final reading and is hereby adopt thank before we move further I just want to speak forward that uh we went forward earlier in the night with money that is being Revenue brought in by uh the dispensary we have in town monies from that are going to be going to purchase trees throughout the city to our uh shade tree commission uh Sean Josh Cohen uh would be very happy I think he was in the audience earlier too he should have walked out with a smile on his face at least but uh yeah so that's a good thing so it's good stuff coming out of that that's found money for us um and uh we certainly could use the trees our our trees have taken a beating with the storms we've had the last few years um hack a beautiful C we Tree City number one and beautiful tree City at that so resolution 36824 same resolution for the introduction of ordinance number 43- 2024 an ordinance to amend chapter 170 of the code of the city of hackensac vehicles and traffic to remove Second Street and haes place as resident only on street parking need a motion please off second all in favor I I None opposed be resolved at the above ordinance being ordinance 43- 2024 as introduced is now passed on first reading and the set ordinance shall be considered for final pass the j a meeting to be held on December 10 2024 at 8:00 p.m. or as soon thereafter as the matter can be reached at the regular meeting place of the city council and at such time and place all persons interested be given an opportunity to be heard concerning said ordinance and that the city clerk being and she is hereby authorized and directed to publ set ordinance according to law with the notice of its introduction and passage on first reading and of the time of place when and where said ordinance will be further considered final passage sorry resolution 369 I think somebody's going to have to do the rest of this need a motion can't do this she done all right Steve going to take over so bear with us I have you want a c drop sheett all right where are we now we're on resolution on resolution 369b here give you my last one Deb need I got a cough drop no not gonna help the problem is I can't oh all right so we we are now we finished 368 we're on 369 this want me to read it it's easier for me to read it CU I have to go over it anyway it's up to you 369 whatever you want to do I'll read whatever wants to read I'll read it I'll do I'll keep read fa enough I need him to guide me in case I make a mistake so we where' you let off just at 36924 correct so 36924 is an introduction of ordinance 44- 2024 a bond ordinance providing for various 2024 Capital Improvements and positions by and in the city of hackin saac in the county of Bergen state of New Jersey appropriating $6 million therefore and authorizing the issuance of 5,465 472 in bonds or notes for the city to finance part of the cost thereof need a motion offer second all in favor I I None opposed so you read uh have to read the be it resolved that the above ordinance being ordinance 44-22 four as introduced as now pass on first reading and that said the ordinance shall be considered for final passage at a meeting to be held on December 10th 2024 at 8:00 p.m. or as soon thereafter as matter can be reached at the regular meeting place of the city council and at such time in place all persons interested being given an opportunity to be heard concerning State ordinance and that the city clerk B and she is hereby authorized and directed to publish said ordinance according to law with a notice of its introd uction and passage on first reading and of the time and place when and where said ordinance will be further considered for final passage all right I'm tired already um if you need uh I was going to say you know relief piter I was going to say Weaver but he didn't do very well clay Holmes I don't know if that's better resolution 37024 is an introduction of ordinance 45-22 24 and ordinance to amend chapter 17 the code of the city of hackin parking to add no parking on portions of Elizabeth Street need a motion please offer second all in favor I I None opposed be resolved that the above ordinance being ordinance 45-22 24 is introduced as now pass on first reading and that said ordinance shall be considered for final passage at a meeting to be held on December 10th 2024 at 8 p.m. or as soon thereafter as the matter can be reached at the regular meeting place at the city council and at such time in place all persons interested be given an opportunity to be heard concerning State ordinance and that the city clerk B and she is hereby authorized and directed to publish said ordinance according to law with a notice of its introduction and passage on first reading and of the time in place when and where said ordinance will be further considered for final passage okay ordinance 46- 2024 an ordinance to amend chapter 88 of the code of the city of hackin sack fire prevention to add section 88-2 firewatch need a motion offer second all in favor I I I don't hear any opposed um be resolved that the above ordinance being ordinance 46- 2024 as introduced as now pass on first reading and that said ordinance shall be considered for final passage at a meeting to be held on December 10 2024 at 8m or as soon thereafter as the matter can be reached at the regular meeting place of the city council and at such time in place all persons interested be given an opportunity to be heard and at such time in place all person person's interested be given an opportunity to be heard concerning said ordinance and that the city clerk B and she is hereby authorized and directed to publish said ordinance according to law with a notice of its introduction in passage on first reading and of the time in place when and where said ordinance will be further considered for final passage Okay resolution 372-2406 d224 an ordinance to amend chapter 32 of the code of City of hackin saac police department with respect to the duties and authority of the newly established position of police chief need a motion off and I'm sorry roll call you need a motion first oh motion for introduction and then no yeah somebody say second you need a second yeah okay okay now I can do roll get your second now roll call Stephanie I I I Jerry stainstain mayor says I okay be resolved that the above ordinance being ordinance 47-22 24 as introduced has now passed on its first reading and that said ordinance shall be considered for final passage at a meeting to be held on December 10th 2024 at 8:00 p.m. or as soon thereafter as the matter can be reached at the regular meeting place of the city council and at such time in place all persons interested be giving be given an opportunity to be heard concerning said ordinance and that the city clerk B and she is hereby authorized and directed to publish said ordinance according to law with a notice of its introduction and passage on first readings and of the time and place when and where said ordinance will be further considered for final passage thank you resolution 373248 redeveloper and authorizing Redevelopment agreement with eser realy LLC for the Redevelopment of block 500-1 lot 7882 within the 112 to 120 hackin SEC Avenue White manner Redevelopment plan area need a motion offer second uh all in favor I I None opposed uh um so there's no further reading on that right d no that's just a regular resolution CU it goes with the yeah so resolution 37424 is an introduction of an ordinance 48224 excuse me an ordinance authorizing entry of real estate purchase and sale agreement with designated developer esy LLC for sale the block 500.1 lot 7882 parentheses 112 to 120 hackensac Avenue pursuant to the local Redevelopment and Housing law I need a motion offer second all in favor I I be it resolved that the above ordinance being ordinance 48-22 24 is introduced as now pass on first reading and that said ordinance shall be considered for final passage in a meeting to be held on December 10th 20124 at 8:00 p.m. or as soon thereafter as a matter can be reached at the regular meeting place of the city council Council and at such time and place all persons interested be given an opportunity to be heard concerning said ordinance and that the city clerk B and she is hereby authorized and directed to publish said ordinance according to law with a notice of its introduction and passage on first reading and of the time and place when and where said ordinance will be further considered for final passage thank you next one is resolution this is an introduction of an ordinance 49224 an ordinance authorizing acceptance of deed of permanent drainage easement over a portion of block 82.0180 -224 as introduced is now passed on first reading and that said ordinance shall be considered for final passage at a meeting to be held on December 10 2024 at 8:00 p.m. or as soon there after as the matter can be reached at the regular meeting place of the city council and at such time in place all persons interested be given an opportunity to be heard concerning said ordinance and that the city clerk B and she is hereby authorized and directed to publish said ordinance according to law with a notice of its introduction and passage on first reading in up the time and place when and where said ordinance will be further considered for final passage okay next is 37624 which is Introduction of ordinance 50- 2024 an ordinance amending city of hackin SEC Redevelopment plan governing the Main Street area in need of Rehabilitation need a motion please offer second all in favor I I None opposed be it resolved that the above ordinance being ordinance 50- 2024 as introduced does now pass on first reading and that said ordinance shall be considered for final passage and a meeting to be held on December 10th 2024 at 8:00 p.m. or as soon thereafter as the matter can be reached at the regular meeting place of the city council and at such time in place all persons interested be given an opportunity to be heard concerning said ordinance and that the city clerk B and she is hereby authorized and directed to publish said ordinance according to law with the notice of its introduction in passage on first reading and of the time and place when and where said ordinance will be further considered for final passage okay bear with me resolution 377-4683 n 142-144 can Kansas Street Redevelopment plan area need a motion offer second all in favor I um resolution 37824 is a resolution authorizing Financial agreement for payment in L of taxes pursuant to njsa 55 colon 14 k-37 with 111 ess6 Apartments LLC for a 68 unit 100% affordable multif family rental housing project located upon block 76 Lots 45 and 7.03 111 Essex and 142-144 Kansas Street need a motion offer second all in favor I I I None opposed just for the record everybody I'm sure they heard me say this but this is for the affordable housing project going on Essex Street um looking forward to that project uh becoming a reality in the city of hackin saac with our commitment to that resolution I'm sorry 37924 is a resolution authorizing tax refunds for state board judgments and overpayment may I have a motion offer all in favor I I None opposed resolution 38-24 is a resolution authorizing transfer of the 20124 budget Appropriations may I have a motion please second all in favor I None opposed resolution 38124 is a resolution requesting approval of items and revenue in appropriation njsa 48 colon 487 National opioid settlement Reserve need a motion offer second all in favor I None opposed resolution 38224 is a resolution authorizing award contract and negly Engineering for Bergen County Ada Kur ramp compliance on South River Street need a motion offer take all in favor I I None opposed resolution 383-2401 to contract the Suburban engineering for construction management and oversight services for the Jefferson Street emergency sewer repair need a motion offer second all in favor I I un opposed resolution 384-2411 resolution authorizing a crude time payout of $2,871 49 to retired firy fire excuse me retired firefighter Charles A need a motion offer second all in favor I I unone opposed resolution authorizing a crude time payout of $1 122,123 78 to retired police Sergeant Edmund Maness Edward Edmund Maness roll call Steph you need a motion first I need a motion sorry need a second second second all uh roll call Council council member Deputy Mayor Cino hi council member paga hi council member carolain May Le Ros I resolution 38724 is a resolution authorizing tax appeal attorney to settle the cases on the attached list dated November 7 2024 and and that were scheduled for try uh trial or settlement need a motion offer second roll call I'm sorry all in favor I I None opposed resolution 38824 is a resolution authorizing tax appeal attorney to settle the case on the attached list dated November 7th 20124 that were scheduled for trial or settlement need a motion offer second all in favor I I None opposed resolution 38924 is a resolution authorizing the settlement of litigation entitled Onan at alv city of hackin saac at Al pending in the superior court of New Jersey Pake vintage docket number p- l-33 24-21 need a motion offer all in favor I I resolution 390 d24 is a resolution authorizing the payment of bills need a motion and I'm sorry offer offer roll call council member Von rudenberg hi Deputy Mayor krino hi council member Paglia hi council member Carol hi mayor Le Bros I abstain so we're down to the consent agenda we're rounding third base heading home not as easy as it looks is it yeah take job this one two three four five pages packed does anybody have any uh conflicts of interest on the consent agenda no no two yes I know Jerry has two I believe it's uh 40024 and 401 d24 right so we're going to pull 40024 and 401 d24 to be voted on separately okay so resolution 39124 the consent agenda is a resolution authorizing endorsement of proposed Bergen County Redevelopment block rant increase for the public uh Johnson Public Library ADA Compliant elevator project resolution 3 9224 is a resolution authorizing appointment of jeppi Randazzo as temporary judge for the hackensak Municipal Court resolution 39524 is a resolution establishing a stiping for the municipal housing liazon mayor that was 393 39324 my apologies that's okay resolution 39424 is a resolution authorizing leave of absence for Carlos arenz Public Safety telecommunicator from November 11 11 2024 to February 2nd 2025 resolution 395-2428 railroad Place resolution 39624 is a resolution authorizing release of performance bond for 161 163 Main Street resolution 3 9724 is a resolution authorizing release of a performance bond for 300 South Summit Avenue resolution 39824 is a resolution authorizing release of escro funds for various properties resolution 399-2418 24 is a resolution authorized in the endorsement of proposed bur County Community Development Grant resolution 43-24 is a resolution terminating the designation of hackensac Main Street urban renewal LLC as the redevelop of block 315 lot 1415 21 24 25 26 27 28.1 28.02.15 32.0 and 34 within the block 315 Redevelopment plan plan other otherwise known as lot D resolution 44-24 is a resolution authorizing a raffle licenses Bergen County Academy's parents partnership organization resolution 45-24 is a resolution authorizing the mayor and councel committee the whole and regular 2025 meeting schedule to which all dates and times are subject to change resolution 46-24 is a resolution authorizing the City to participate in the adopted drain program developed by Hamline University so I need a motion to adopt the consent agenda as I just read it offer second all in favor I I None opposed now we'll read resolution 4-24 it's a resolution authorizing the employment agreement for Michael antista as police chief roll uh need a motion offer second roll call council member Von rudenberg hi deputy mayor conino hi council member Paglia hi council member Carol stain mayor Le bruss Hi and then resolution 41-24 which is a resolution authorizing appointments of special Law Enforcement Officers class one for 2025 calendar year I need a motion please a t all uh council member V Ruden hi yes mayor canisto hi council member tag HIC member Carol stay BR hi okay okay with that I need a motion for the second time this evening to open up to the public awesome I can't believe there's still people here at 11:30 at night pretty good guys we've been here since 5:15 yeah so with that anyone from the public would like to speak please come to the podium you will have Frank you still awake three minutes good evening good evening evening good evening good evening Anette Janowski condo Co-op Advisory Board in recognition of the First Responders of appreciation month the condo Co-op Advisory Board would like to also add our own personal thank you for the work that they do certificate of appreciation for First Responders from the hackin saac condominium Co-op and multi-unit rental buildings Advisory Board to all our First Responders we would like to express our sincere thank you for all you do to keep our condo and Co-op communi safe and healthy your hard work dedication and professionalism is greatly appreciated it's signed by myself Murray runin past chair councilman baglia he is our Council liaison thank you thank you thank you great job thanks appreciate it clerk will take that yeah just leave it there thanks oh thank you thank you yep we'll see that they get it good night thank you good night have a good night anyone else from the public okay motion to close to the public offer all in favor I I None opposed Stephanie real real quick I know it's a late night just want to thank everyone that put together the Veterans Day uh ceremony it was a a wonderful a wonderful day great weather um it was nice to see everyone um there celebrating and um giving our veterans their attention and that they deserve um thank you to our First Responders as well and uh one other thing oh um Library the friends of the library they it's a new um it's a new group that are raising funds for the Johnson Public Library they're having a uh hackin sack community clim night at Goat at the goat climbing gym on Thursday November 21st um check out their their website for more information um I think they had it something at the archery um event a couple weeks ago as well so um that we got a quick tour of the library they're really doing some great things over there great programming um they have a lot of citizenship classes um resume classes uh ESL classes and they're just doing a lot over there so try to get down there if you if you haven't been there in a while and that's it have a good night thanks everyone for coming out thanks all right you guys do you want me to go through my recap or you want me to say good night no good night and thank you everyone for coming I know I always explain everything but everybody's tired hold on I'm have a heart attack K KY got five seconds thank you everybody for coming and I'm sorry to you guys to keep you that long so that mean that I can say I'm sorry when when I have to do it okay I'm never going to apologize or say I regret or whatever it's I don't commit something that I consider that was wrong so thank you for coming good night yeah good evening I'd like to start off by thanking all the military veterans who have served our country although I'm not a veteran I have many friends and relatives who have served thank you again now unfortunately I must bring up the latest and ridiculous accusations about me from our mayor at our September 24th council meeting mayor Le BR made a statement which is on video that I was removed from his campaign ticket because he believed what Deputy Mayor canestrino told him that I was going to call the council racist now on the NBC news program broadcast on October 14th the mayor stated quote we made the decision to replace councilman Carol on our ticket prior to this entire incident because he has been meeting with our political opponent for months end quote this is totally untrue but since you publicly made that statement could you also publicly identify by the political opponents that I have been meeting with for months now this is the second excuse that the mayor has used to rationalize Dro me from his ticket the strange part about this second excuse is that he invited me to his to his campaign kickoff with his campaign supporters if he had planned to remove me from his ticket months in advance as he stated why would he have me show up to his campaign kickoff was it to deceive his supporters to show he had an African-American still on his ticket so what is the excuse is it or would he wait or should we wait for his next excuse eventually he might find one excuse that the citizens might believe now at the October 8th city council meeting mayor Le bruss turned the microphone over to Deputy Mayor kenren to State her side of a conversation between her and I during her statement the deputy mayor decided to yell to my wife who was just sitting in the audience and didn't make a statement at the public Podium by calling her out by her first name and public this disagreement should be between the deputy mayor and myself and should not include any member of my family whatsoever during the deputy mayor's Tyrant of calling me a liar she tried to solic solid um uh she tried to get the city council um City attorney to agree with her lies go back to the video and to the newspaper and read the city attorney's comments he never stated that I said I was going to call the council racist citizens of hackas saac the mayor and the deputy mayor should be ashamed themselves for the lies and dishonest statements they are making about me instead of being open and transparent to the public about the alleged racial slurs that was allegedly made allegedly made by councilman pager they should be they decide to divert their attention away from him and focus it towards me as I stated from the start of all this by not being transparent to the public is going to make the council look racist enough's enough we should be devoting our efforts and actions to what the citizens of haac elected us for and making this a better City for all of us to live in I would like to thank everyone who has attended this meeting tonight physically and remotely take care and God bless sorry and I will respond to that um that decision was not 100% made that decision was discussed prior to I can't I don't know the exact timeline whether it was months or weeks um you yourself repeatedly said to people I'm meeting with my team my team and we thought you were on our team meeting with my team my team my team constantly saying that um I don't know you know what you expect us to think but when you're meeting with another team you're kind of uh implying that we're not your team so that's where that came from um we know your connection to uh certain people in this town I'm not going to go into depth I'm not going to make names um it's just I will say this being on a city council and you're a coach you're a coach I'm a coach it's and the word team I'll use the word team right people there's no god-given right number one that you're get to continue on uh any city council and that goes for me as well if this team wanted me off I'd be gone I'd have the right to run on my own and nothing's stopping you from running for City Council on your own that said teams get rid of players all the time and replace them with other players to make their team better that's a fact and that's where I'm going to end that statement I we really want to thank everybody for uh especially the few that are here left uh for staying the course tonight it's been a long night it's probably one of the latest Council meetings we've had uh I got to get up in five and a half hours so not looking forward to tomorrow but uh we'll get through it so thank you everybody for coming I need a motion to uh close the meeting def all in fav