##VIDEO ID:acoQtb1US8g## okay call meeting to order this is meeting Hill B Council the 1st of October notic the time place meeting proved News Record copy was posted on the yes there it is uh bulletin board outside of the meeting room and provided to any interested parties please silence all cell phones and wait to be recognized by the mayor during the public hearing uh and the public comment part of the meeting you will need to state your name and town of residence for the meeting we are not going to have that so let's start off with Pledge of Allegiance Pledge of aliance United States stand indivisible with liberty and justice for all uh will the clerk please read the rle council member kti here council president Escobar here council member Fox here council member Oso here council member ruko here council member choim Muk absent I don't get to be called I I'm here I'm sorry it's okay I'm here I'm here uh we'll start with the approval of the minutes uh special council meeting for from August 29th close session we'll do them one at a time uh special Council meet um council meeting minutes from August 29th um can I get a motion second second cler please read the role council member klei abstain council president Escobar yes council member Fox yes council member Oso yes council member ruko yes council member chimu is ABS okay those that passes close session minutes uh August 29th 2024 CL you need a motion oh do we all right do we have a motion Mo second second clerk please read the vote the rooll council president Escobar yes council member Fox yes council member Oso yes council member ruko yes council member Chim Muk council member ketti abstain all right coun that passes council meeting minutes from September 10th 2024 can I get a motion motion second second clerk please read the role council member Fox yes council member Oso yes council member ruko yes council member Chim Muk council member kti yes council president Escobar yes and passes as well okay we're going to go to the initial public comments excuse me there can we just approve the um member for the fire department regardless of okay okay um so let's move on to uh administering well we're not going to administer the O but we're going to uh motion to app approve fire department full member Carlos Hernandez motion to approve second second and second from uh council president Escobar clerk please read the role council member ketti yes council president Escobar yes council member Fox yes council member Oso council member ruko yes council member choim Muk welcome aboard uh inial public comment time limited to 3 minutes items on the agenda only one topic per speaker please state your name and town of residence for the record would someone like to speak Lauren Mitchell 73 ballera um Mike and Mike and I have communicated already so you know you were expecting us but he told me five minutes you can have the full five okay discussion mayor she's on a discussion yeah but that's Oh I thought you I thought this that's not for this you're going to be that's a separate time this is just three minutes a public comment I thought you had something else you wanted to go over no no no I'm happy okay Mr Savino I'll try to be three minutes is that possible for an ex lawyer no didn't think Richard Savino Westdale Avenue and Hillsdale I have two things of General um one uh tonight you just approve the minutes when the minutes are posted the no one there it's a clo there's no file it's closed and I'd like to suggest that the minutes be go up up as a draft so the public everyone can see them in advance and I'm saying that because on two separate occasions I spoke in a public comment o January 3 meeting there was no record of it it was said says there's no public comment I'm in the video uh that was the night I I spoke to uh councilman ruk's uh statement about the impropriety of having on the PBA on the negotiation committee Y and I think that was a pretty important public statement to be in the minutes and I didn't see it until months later by then I didn't say anything it seemed You know Denise has more than enough work to make Rick you know than for Rick Savino to make trouble back at the October meeting I spoke and I addressed the three fields that were in consideration by the wreck parents for Turf and I spe spoke up and I said they were all at one time Wetlands they're filled and that was abbreviated down to about eight words in one sentence and left out the Third Field now Stony Brook Field isn't being considered today that but again I saw when that was published I saw hey what happened to my comment and I thought that was important because my point was that the engineers really needed to take a hard look at those Wetlands that those those former Wetlands um before we spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on engineering and studies and turf so um I'd like to suggest that going forward make that a policy and maybe include it in the council bylaws for the new year but it would be very helpful and it would make for more transparent government and I think we need that my second suggestion it's one per one one at a time I'm okay keep track wait here hand um is in reviewing the minutes um a while ago I see instance since the past month I was looking I see there's a number of instances where a council person recuses themselves um or stains obviously it's for recusal and I know in my time on a nonprofit board that's regulated by the IRS we had to have conflict of interest statements and if I ever it was rare in our situation that a person had to recuse themselves but we would make a statement I used to work at that company my child works there but it's not a requirement but I think in the interest of transparency and good government because now as I look at those all those extensions I wonder why was our former council person abstaining and it just I don't think I think for good government it doesn't have to be an explanation of what you're of what's going on but a word my I I will say I I'm sorry we go back and forth but I I will say that when the former council person abstained she always said that she had somebody that worked at that law firm yeah that may have been that might have been in the minutes but there were a few others I don't think that made the minutes though I'm reading the minutes I'm okay so and there were a few other instances periodically um one was the uh the new risk management firm the vote there was a abstention in approving the um the new risk management firm and I didn't take notes on them but I that they jumped out at me especially now with what's going on that this Council needs to be transparent um and everything it does thank you thank you okay would anybody else like to comment public no okay we're going to close the initial public comment uh and now we're going to go on to the discussion of the gardens Lauren Mitchell Mitchell 73 Bor you may want to bring the microphone somewhat towards you so that the people at home and that or you can just if that's on Sit down you're going to sit yeah just make sure it's on oh that's even better just for you okay make com okay well I want to say good evening and I appreciate the opportunity to speak with you no it's that long right just move it closer to you just it and see if it's I think then no red light that's good it's good so on behalf of the trustees of Sapienza Garden just want to thank you for speaking today um our other trustees uh some of them are here Angela ruko Lorraine Thalman and Jenny franton we do have a few more but who's sick who's stuck in New York and whatever um the other people are suaro LEL and we have a new member Melissa um um new just by a show of hands how many of you have been to Sapienza Gardens okay not everyone and I've run into lifelong residents who don't know about Sapienza Gardens so for those of you who don't know um and don't know where it is it's located off of kindak road at the end of um St Nicholas Street it's a 2.7 acre parcel but it's contiguous with County Land and they have never said you can't do this you can't do that so we just run our Trails right through it so altogether it's probably close to 11 acres um it is uh it is named after Barbara Sapienza uh if you're if you've been in town a long time she had an untimely death and the Sapienza Gardens was named after her um in 2008 it was um an abandoned residence and um the town entrusted the land to Sapienza Gardens Corporation um it was really rough in the beginning uh there was trash there was debris there were uh household appliances and a car that we had to uh pull out of there since then our small but dedicated group has transformed the site into an environmental Oasis one of the few Open Spaces left in Hillsdale and some of us were prior we were on the environmental commission for years and at one point I did an overlay of the Decades of the diminishing open space in Hillsdale um and it was surprising so to have this gem in our community is is really great so if you could switch to the next one so the beauty of Sapienza Garden can be enjoyed all year round in Winter the quiet Serenity of walking through paths that weave through snow covered Woods is breathtaking in Spring you can look for the emergence of thousands of daffodils that we planted in summer you can take your pup for a walk on the trails or use the Fitness trail and fall we have a spectacular show of colors we can flip the page again I think we went too over but that's okay um one of our uh 11 Eagle Scout projects and and Counting I think we have two in process right now is this the inspiration Garden um it's the centerpiece of the gardens behind it you can see um um raised beds that's part of the sensory garden both Eagle Scout uh projects and maintaining the gardens um is a little bit challenging because we have no access to water so we're either trying to carry buckets from the brook or we we're filling up gallon jugs um so it is it is kind of difficult um if you go to the next one looking if you take a close look around you you'll see some of the Flora and Fauna in um in the gardens let me turn another one thank you um besides these furry and feathered creatures we also have a great horned owl who likes to frequent The Gardens and you may spot a fox or two again did that get out of that got out of sequence all right keep going just how beautiful it is especially in the winter time so paraphrasing our mission statement um the charge of us is Trust is to benefit the community and to provide educational and Community programs so our goal is to increase awareness and appreciation of the gardens and expand usage within the community over the years we've held many programs and fundraising events um and I have a small sample represented here in just a minute however um without much needed resources events that can take place in the garden are are limited so if you can hit the next one so um we had uh New Jersey Batman um he came with bats and we had it for families you know young kids loved it he had a race on uh which back could he faster um so we had that if you change the next one so that educational program um we had a gardening we had a gardening tips day where we had vendors gardening advice oh we got to move up and a plant swap next one the Hillsdale Education Foundation um has used it for several years um for their fundraiser hike for Hillsdale next one and our biggest um fundraiser is called doggy days which this year is um October 27th from 1 to three in the gardens that's an old one because we didn't have the new one when I did the photo um but I have these to give you um and maybe I invite you to show up we need judges for all our contests uh John has done it in the past it was a lot of fun right okay um and then you'll see for yourselves why we are so passionate about the gardens if you can flip it again there's some just some pictures there's our costume contest you can turn it again we had a k9 um demonstration one year yeah okay we have again our our uh 11 Eagle Scout projects we uh speak speaking of Scouts we would we would love to host um the first camp out for you know the Boy Scouts when they move from Cub Scouts but again we we currently don't have what we need um for them to do this which brings me to uh talk about the challenges that we face in maintaining a flourishing and a safe environment in the gardens so if you flip again we have vandalism and this has been an intermittent um problem in the um in the garden particularly on the shed I don't know how many times it's been repainted so um motion sensor lighting increased police patrol security cameras they all of those things would deter the occurrences of that okay uh we also have ni yes down trees so down trees have blocked the trails they prevent safe walking and hiking and several tree trunks that used to line the roadway have either deteriorated or they've been washed away with the flooding again thank you oh that didn't come through it was a movie works on my end that movie worked that movie worked on my end I tested everything if not yeah is there a button to play it though no I get 30 more seconds so anyway I have other picture I have other Stills to just to show you but this to really understand the scope the movie would have been better so anyway heavy rains really cause havoc in the gardens and we have debris from the Culvert and the poor condition of the roadway they cause this extreme flooding um it prevents access in and out of the gardens uh which is a particular concern if we have to get emergency vehicles in there and you could just go on it's all right so you can see the extent of the flooding uh from the brook and the just things things just float away um if you just go through the next one as well and again so uh I'm I had conversations with Mike over the past couple weeks either by phone or email and I'm very appreciative that Mike along with Barry um visited the gardens to understand that the challenges that we face and what they could do he he was great on the phone we spoke and he said first thing he said was what can I do for you um so I think it's safe to say that Mike when Mike went there he was surprised by the Beauty and the peacefulness of this magical place um we're very grateful to the DPW that M and empties the trash receptacles and recently they filled a very deep Gully that's it right there I mean I have a I have a pickup truck and I I mean my my truck was going like this um and they started to reinforce um the roadway near the brook and you can go again okay so that's our site um I'm still working on it's pretty much done um and it's public um so we are here tonight seeking several things um electrical and water access to so that we when we provide events when we have events we can provide these things and it's again for safety um security measures that I mentioned you know the cameras and so on and a permanent solution to the CT and the roadway you know for the flooding um without additional help it is impossible for us to fulfill the mission of Sapienza Gardens and that is to Pro to benefit the community so I thank you for your o the opportunity to speak tonight we are happy to answer any questions at this time um and I you know I I did send this letter I guess in this summer um so you should have that somewhere in your in your um files or whatever and these I'll just leave you know these here like um but we are looking for judges so anyone have any questions and we could direct you know anybody can answer these two if I can just add for the flooding um mediation U the bridge over the Culvert where the brook goes with the indent that you mentioned we did add more rocks we're going to add more rocks but we have to bring in boulders to so when the water comes over the cul uh the bolters will will protect the Rocks the gravel you talk in the grav yes the gravel so the gravel washes away unless we have it protected so there are three Boulders on the property we're going to be moving over uh as a wall so that will will take care some of that we thought about maybe having U black top from the entrance to the Culver over over the over the C but I didn't know if you wanted to change the natural look of the gravel versus black top so a question for later on you can tell me I just want to mention the CT that it come toic sorry lman 2 38 Liberty Avenue in Hillsdale uh the thing the issue with the covert is it is packed it has a lot of debris in there it has a lot of dirt in there so there's and it's not a single covert it's two smaller ones so what happens is branches back up into it and there's a lot of dirt and rocks in the bottom of over the years it is filled up so the covert cannot handle the flow of water from the stream so I don't know River or whatever if something can be done with the back one more time before the winter and clean the CT and and move those Boulders I don't know about the electric access we have to look if there's a electric access there so I have I have some notes I mean it cute little story I was there with that flooding and a gent came with his dog and the dog always liked to take a walk in the woods there the dog came to the foot of the bridge took a look at all the flooding and the dog actually had a shocked look on his face because it couldn't go into the woods it had to turn around so everybody knows about it who uses it thank you you know as I said it's it it's a Township property we just uh are the volunteers who try to maintain it and and because we're getting more and more use from other other uh groups and because it's such a nice parcel of land it would be wonderful if we could improve it um and I tell you the truth we're we're um we're up to I think SE six or seven of us and unfortunately we're all females we we do grab our husbands I don't know if they appreciate that but we do because there sometimes there's really heavy work uh to do there and we we don't mind but we just we need some support are you doing work on the county side of it you're saying it's two acres so basically 11 acres so just under 20% is Hillsdale right um trying to get a sense for where everything lays out as far as what's ours and what's theirs we have trails that run through there but but are but are we doing anything in there other than no wearing wearing no the Fitness trail is on our property uh we have the inspiration and the sensory garden is on our property um we have uh we have a teaching Garden that we have to refurbish it it it it has some vandalism and some other things so we have to do that but we do have and the shed is on our property it's all on our property yeah it's all that everything everything is on just some trail through there yeah Lauren is it not true that the scouts when they do the trail that does go on County property yeah just the and do do you have any sort of relationship with them you know it's what what's that saying you know ask for forgiveness well no I get that I get that but there's you know there's we we have never we have never uh it's all natural it's it's it's fairly natural there's nothing um we line it with with Fallen uh you know trees and it's really you know we're bringing we're not bringing any anything artificial in it that's not um that's not we like to keep everything pretty there a whole lot going on there and and you're and you're in two acres yeah and I was wondering whether or not you had pushed out well those you know even those Trails they were kind of natural Trails because you know if you've got the back of pasag Valley and then it goes all the way through to um U um Prospect you know and you know that people just walked their dogs and when they were formed so they were just we just kind of outlined them okay anybody else we check out our website that was up there um it's public I'm probably still going to work on a little more but it is public um and really if you can come to Doggy days it's a lot of fun um and we do need judges and if you haven't visited and you like to visit and you can't make doggy days come another time um send us an email we'll be happy to meet you um and show you you know but um you know that's that's where we are like to do more thank you thank you and I'll leave these for you okay Nick you're up professional monthly reports good evening so it's going to be pretty brief tonight there's the capital projects are kind of winding down we finished the uh I would say the vast majority of what we've been working on for the summer um we still do have two active Paving projects the first one is the 2024 dot grant for Melville that's currently out to bid it has a bid opening scheduled for October 8th it's next Tuesday uh so the the goal for that is to get that bid and awarded so we can construct before the asphalt plants close in November so we're going to try to squeeze that in before the end of the year um for Magnolia that's the 2023 dot project the uh construction on that is complete we are just working on closing out the project processing payment applications and uh working with the contractor for wrapping that up and and closing it out uh Centennial Field we're still waiting on D permits before we can move on that um it we're we're told it should be soon but you know anything outside of that is kind of you know anyone's guess could we be moving into you know I hate to even say this because the weather has been very nice but are we going to be moving into a point in which we get rebuffed because we're just too late the year we get the perm plate or I I I don't think that is the issue as much as that the project actually has to be awarded within 60 days of when the bid opening was okay so I I'm I'm more concerned that we get that permit prior to that 60-day Mark rather than weather for construction I think that part we can figure out what's the 60-day Mark um I would have to check no according to Denise we're at November 8th is that that 60 days November 8th it is yeah that sounds about right um Nick can you explain a little bit about the D permit process and is it somebody sitting on somebody's desk like what why does it take so long your your guess is as good as mine I'm not the answer is probably yes it probably is sitting on somebody's desk um but it's it's kind of a vault a bit of a blackbox it goes there um you know we're told that it's in the final steps of review and basically just waiting for somebody to sign off and that hasn't happened for about a month so you know I I I don't really have any more information than that we're not handling the permitting on that that's done through uh Lois Spagnola that's the lsrp for that site um so it's it's really it's kind of out of everybody's hands at this point um and we just hope that we get the permits in time so we can award the project and and get it built and if we don't in a position where she does a followup on this so she calls once a week to D and as Nick said the last call was they're preparing the review the final review letter it's this supposed to be a minor permit not a major permit MH six months is not out of the question for major permits for this one it should be any day uh we do have a follow up with her this week and if not we may have to do our own calls yep so you know fingers crossed that uh that all works out if we if we do miss that 60 day Mark then we'll probably have to rebid the project and and with regards to the bids the the bids that were submitted especially the winning bid is does that conform to everything that was speced out yeah yeah we we we saw no issues with the with the bids received or at at least the low bid received um so it's it's really just a matter of having that permit in hand so we can award the project um and then the the last project that we have U active right now is the Memorial Field project which is in the final stages of the concept phase I guess you could say um so we're we're pretty much wrapping up that concept stage we have a pretty good idea of what the scope of the project is going to be we're ironing out final details um and then once that is complete we will be moving on to a final design for that project so that's that's all I have if anyone has any questions any questions no thank you sure great okay we're going to move on to committee reports let's start with council president Escobar thank you mayor uh the police committee had a meeting to discuss personnel and the PBA contract uh there's nothing further to report as of yet but more meetings are scheduled in the upcoming weeks uh the emans committee we met last week to discuss a potential of regionalization and we're waiting to hear back from a couple of our neighboring towns on whether they want to join us so as we get any reports from them we'll be reporting further on that and for OEM there's nothing to report except for the testing of our flood notification system and that's it we we a couple months ago went to get the three towns we got the specialist to come in and review it do we have that information yet have it yet we don't have it back at all okay Mr Mayor could you elaborate on the regionalization concept yeah sure well so it's the daytime shift which is which is basically um right now we're footing the bill at and we've got basically um downtime and so there are other municipalities that were are now where we were when we decided we're going to implement it they realize they have a need so the idea is that if we can get a couple of more towns interested to go in um we increase the number of of people that can that can serve the community number of volunteers that can can uh get into and we also uh then can basically there's the potential to offset the cost some of the costs there I think it's costing us about $220,000 I may have Mis misheard you're talking from what you're saying the ambulance yeah yeah I thought he had mentioned something about regionalization with respect to the police committee oh no he was talking that was ambulance right just ambulance okay and I guess this this just goes to the point that sometimes I cannot hear councilman Escobar in his report so I sit all the way in the end so the details of that report to me and the rest of the public may not be clear you were also part of that meeting so I think you pretty much heard the ambulance yes but I thought you mentioned regionalization with respect to the police if we were do New Concept would be filled with officers and there would be a lot more going on than just that discussion I suspected that yes okay uh councilman Fox excuse me thank you mayor uh Stony Brook had another profitable year gross revenue of about $1,955 profit over 300,000 uh they recently just closed uh four pools over the last weekend uh one pool is still open for uh competition uh for swim team until uh November 5th uh they're replacing the kitty pool filter as part of the 2024 upgrades um there also have been uh uh handing out permits to the high school students for parking which they've been charging uh has that started yet because the last time we talked they weren't parking there yet so they're Now parking in $ uh is the uh permit fee for that um there's also a car show this coming Saturday with a rain date of uh 1012 about do they still meet judges for that I think I think they they procured those oh they got those because otherwise we one of them no you are yeah good for you councilman kti starting off with the environmental commission the commission met on September 16th they continue to make progress on their initiatives uh those initiatives include the Beachwood nature nature trail signs the lantern flly trap distribution program styrofoam reduction uh Community composting Tree Management and they also hosted a a really nice wheel of questions at the Town Festival that I thought was a big hit especially with the kids uh in terms of Board of Education as we all know the referend passed last week um and now the buildings and ground committee is meeting with the Architects they're developing the timeline and plans to go to Trenton for approvals they're going to start interviewing contractors very shortly if they haven't already uh they're considering their bond structure uh which is led by their bond committee uh and that will determine the timing and the amount of the fundings uh they're currently also designing the modular campus which is AC will which will be located across the street in the existing Park area and they're still planning the break ground in summer 2025 with the goal of completing and fall of 27 okay um let's go to the far end councilman roko uh yeah couple areas I wanted to uh speak to uh the finance committee met on September 26th the CFO took us through the reports uh appropriation revenue reports for August nothing of major concern to him or to the burrow administrator or to the members of the committee at that point department heads have budget sheets they're due back to the bureau administrator uh and the CFO by the end of this month uh then the ba and the CFO will meet with the department heads in November to do preliminary reviews the finance committee will review the budget submissions in December um the draft budget will then be assembled by the ba and the CFO in January with a possibly new finance committee um and they'll review it the the finance committee that's appointed in January will review it in early February the final budget should be ready by the third week of March uh for the mayor and Council to see in a in a draft uh the next meeting of the finance committee is October 24th at 1:30 at that meeting we're going to be reviewing uh the revenue and expense reports for September 30th um that'll be distributed by the CFO next week to to all of us he usually produces them around the 5ifth or the 6th of the month the access for all committee met uh September 23rd they're in discussions with a group called The Family Support organization to discuss the feasibility of qualifying for a grant uh from New Jersey um they're also exploring an arrangement with sensory Taekwondo of Bergenfield I'm not sure uh what that will entail uh but they're in discussions with them to perhaps develop something for our uh handicapped uh children here they're continuing their involvement with the direct director Dan KY and some submitting an application for a grant under Jake's law which I think you're familiar with um the next meeting that they have is October 28th at 6:30 in the library Board of Health met on September 26th Northwest Bergen Regional Health commission gave reports for June July and August since there hadn't been meeting so it was sort of jammed up uh nothing of an unexpected or alarming nature regarding uh failed inspections or complaints so far according to the stats that Denise keeps they've ACC accumulated almost $20,000 uh in revenue for the year um they um well was Cohan gave a report on classes webinars meetings home visits and referrals that she has done in June July and August it was announced that uh our our nurse Miss debber uh was no longer in the Burrow's employment effective September 19th uh we had a special Zoom meeting held September 30th uh with the ba Board of Health uh members and myself uh to discuss uh or to ensure actually that uh the concerns of the Board of Health were made apparent to the burrow administrator both in the short term and in the long term I think it was a good meeting uh we we talked about uh different options available to us uh to react to the departure of a nurse uh so that's got to be worked out and I think we're having another meeting with uh I think with the county and then with we're always engaged in discussions with Northwest Bergen because we utilize them already um and then for the seniors there's a 50 plus meeting October 10th at United Methodist Church at 11:30 and the monthly senior lunch will take place October 16th at St John the Baptist at 11:30 and that's for Hillsdale residents only that's all Mr Mayor thank you C manoso yes um so we have a field and Parks meeting scheduled for this Thursday um I'd like to follow up again with um the community on the D Department um hopefully we have more information on that um you know I'd like to commend Mr Lombardi and his team uh at George White and the school board for providing a great deal of information to the community um George White renovation received the favorable outcome I think it's going to be uh great for the uh residents uh in the town overall to have a a renovated School in a couple years uh with regards to the rec commission uh we had our fall festival um that took place on Sunday we had 40 vendors and seven food trucks we had uh really good feedback the weather didn't cooperate so much but uh I I believe it was well attended it was able to spend a few hours there and it seemed that there was a great deal of traffic um the seemed the kids enjoyed the pony rides and the bounce houses that were out there and it seems like a lot of the vendors are going to come back and join us again next year um couple of things that are on the horizon for the uh the recommission uh we have the Halloween parade uh dated uh for slated for October 26th at 10: a.m. at Beachwood Park um and we have an October Fest with a a live band and a beer garden on October 18th um you can visit the burough website and the the recreation department uh heading uh to find the brochure uh that Dan KY and his team puts out with all the events that are slay for the next quarter uh we also have a fire department committee meeting scheduled on October 14th uh and after that I'll provide an update on the apparatus and the the fire trck that we approved uh uh a year or so back uh find out when we expect delivery on that and also provide an update on the reports of calls answered over the course of the last uh 10 months yeah that's it that's it that's it dieo the council has been busy Mr Mayor oh yes uh for the DP uh for the DPW the four bay garage that is on the higher ground at the DPW site uh we're changing that where the mechanic will be operating from it uh the new lifts are coming in uh next week we're are going to get new uh four bay garages um installed and hopefully he can start to operate there within a month uh the funding for this is coming from an Ida a grant that we received u a few years ago U for the flooding mitigation the front of the building is being analyzed right now to see if we can make any changes to the front of the building and to the salt shed uh we have agreed all of us that that is the site that we will stay at and we just have to operate from it and uh make it work uh we have meetings as councilman ruko mentioned with the county on Thursday and then with Northwest tomorrow uh we'll be looking at three different options to continue to provide the medical services uh to the borrow either with our own nurse in conjunction with Northwest Northwest alone or the county alone uh we'll be looking at the pros the cons of all three options and we'll work together with the committee uh to come up with that uh in the meantime there are no services that have stopped we do serve 17 other towns and Northwest Bergen has been helping us with all of that um we will be receiving our affordable housing obligation for round four on October 20th you say that you say you say that hopefully definitively uh what we were told by the DCA is on October 20th okay um so on October 19 so the eve of October 20th we may have get together uh we are finishing our vacant land analysis uh at the Bor to see how much land we actually have uh that is is being done by Darlene green once she's completed uh I've seen the initial but needs needs more work uh we will share it with the governing body I'm hoping next week uh so this way we know exactly where we can build if anything and that's all I have Mr Mayor is is there any constraint on when we have to spend the Ida funds by for the DPW is that open it's open as far as I know it's been 3 years now now uh spend or lose it there we we've got it because we we have not done the work yet right okay okay can I can I ask the ba a question uh not related to what ask the ba a question not related to what you reported on but as far as cell coverage down at uh the Beachwood Park area where where do we stand on that I know that we had discussed that that up on this so we actually we actually have the plans uh with the engineer uh they reviewed it we have to go for a d permit the site we're looking at is by Stony Brook uh where the soccer the old soccer field used to be there's a a driveway that is coming in from Cedar um so we have the plans we going to go for the permit um it's going to be fairly high they have to go up 10 ft and then start building the tower to stay above the flood the planes M but that's in progress I don't know the timeline on this but uh the B has been involved as well as the engineer myself that's yeah it's it's the great unknown as far as when it's going to happen Nick do you want to comment on it yeah I I mean like we spoke about before with the DP permitting side it it obviously is is difficult to predict what their timelines are um I know we've been hearing that they're understaffed in certain departments so there are portions of the review that'll go very quickly and then it'll just get stuck in one stage because they only have maybe one or two people for every application so there's bottlenecks there um outside of that I don't I don't know if there's a possibility for us to make any um revisions to the proposal that could potentially avoid permits I I don't know how we could do that we're unless we move across the street and putting it in the school we're going to run into that that distance I I mean potentially shifting it inward uh away from where there are trees so they don't have to cut trees water but right we don't have to work it here yes we're working on it okay yeah and we'll see I mean there will not be any grass growing under our feed on this one okay anything else no you're good okay thanks no questions great thanks okay uh let's move on to the uh ordinances we have one up for adoption 24-14 an ordinance supplementing provisions of chapter 63 Police Department of Code the burrow of hills to establishing procedures for the utilization of off-duty police officers we get a motion motion second second okay let's move to discussion well all in favor no no we're not going to do that we're not doing that until we vote this is the public hearing portion right this is the public hearing portion right so we're going to open it to the public hearing um would the public like to comment on this or ask questions motion to open to the public was that motion made and seconded mayor it was it was made second was there a vote on the motion to open to the public it was just verbal okay so we have a by acclamation right and of course I'd like to open to we're now open right yeah is this a good time for me to ask a question of the public please um it appears to me that this ordinance establishes procedures for a process that we had no procedures prior to correct so what did we do when we had requests for from vendors for Off Duty Officers work four hours minimum I mean what what we to just send them there's a schedule and if we don't have enough officers then we reach out to the surrounding towns to fill the schedule and and this is primarily with like Verizon psng or or even someone who might want like the fire department might want a police officer for their this is for utility for all so that's what this but 10% for somebody else who wants contractor okay okay um and does the officer have the right to refuse off duty it's not they're not required to do it it's whether or not they want overtime okay mean so it's optional yeah but okay right so setting thank you it's optional but there is u a scale so if you did if you did that today you can't do it again tomorrow there's rotation they rotate right okay so so if you do want it and you're in contention with somebody else there's some Equity to it there's some fairness to it but CH but if an officer can't do it he's not forced to do it I got you okay thank you there doesn't seem to be a shortage of people volunteering to want to do this happy to do it right okay so is there anybody else that has a comment or a question on the board having seen none let's move forward towards adoption um can I get a motion to adopt motion second second okay will the clerk please read the role council member Oso yes council member ruko yes council member chimu council member klei yes council president Escobar yes Council member Fox yes oh we have it is now passed um uh close resolved it's now copy sorry all um therefore the res resolution of the ordinance is adopted and the burrow clerk is authorized to advertise the same according to law okay we now have uh the consent agenda 24258 through 22 24266 um is does anybody have any comment before we move I'd like to pull 24261 and 24266 separate disc H to talk off consent yes all right so it's 24 261 and 66 and 24 266 okay uh so let's deal with everything that's not anybody else have anything they want to pull no okay so let's get a motion for the consent agenda with the exception of 24261 and 2426 66 can I get a motion motion second second clerk please read the role council member Chim mute council member Ki yes council president Escobar yes council member Fox yes council member Oso yes council member ruko yes okay so the consent agenda with the absence of 24261 and 24266 has passed let's deal with these one at a time uh 24261 Council R you've got I'll make a motion for that okay motion I'll second second okay let's have discussion yeah I I had it pulled for discussion um how was that $150 arrived at because the ordinance itself talks about time and a half at the at the salary of the officer so now we're passing a resolution saying no no screw the ordinance that portion of the ordinance we're going to pay him $150 no no no 150 is what we take it's what we charge in the beginning of the paragraph it says the Burrow's compensation for what they are supposed to get based upon this says that the rate of compensation ah to the burrow to the burrow from the vendor for outside gotcha so the the process is one where we are setting the rate that the burrow gets at a relatively constant rate um and that will cover handling charges and all the other stuff that goes into it administrative fees and administrative fees thank you and then the officer rates have nothing to do with that gotcha okay all right then it it was deceiving because the resolution says law enforcement offic is at $150 per hour that's where I got thrown off okay we can probably do that better down the road because the process is one in which we will be adopting a very similar resolution on a virtual yearly basis and that was done so that we don't have to redo the ordinance anytime the numbers change okay so so pscg is doing something they require a police officer officer gets time and a half we will get 1550 an hour what do we still get the vehicle uh fee because there's a there's a vehicle fee if I M and there's an administrative fee that's not included in the 150 in the 15 that is already in the one so that's basically the goal was to go to a flatter rate which seems to be what towns are doing just by way of institutional memory I think in 2019 or so this I think the state passed some guidelines on this and almost every town including ours adop adopted ordinances is that dealt with this um unfortunately it does not appear we drafted an ordinance it was circulated I received comments and changes on it uh I think even the chief had comments and changes at the time but it doesn't appear that that ordinance was ever adopted so there was a framework that people were working from which was effectively the correct framework in the ordinance that every town adopted back then in response I think to a uh a finance notice um but now it's time to do it recognizing that that doesn't exist to do it the right way and also to on a yearly basis or periodically establish the rate by resolution not ordinance okay thank thank you okay makes it cleaner one other question on and and since the $150 is static regardless of the rank of the officer we're always govering Cost Plus no matter what that that is the intention and that's how it how it works um and of course uh on any one instance the the amount the burrow maintains may vary the process over time is one in which it's been deemed to be a very fair Arrangement and in fact it's the same amount used by a lot of our sister communities thank you all right they have the well there is a range not everybody does exactly the same but ours is not out of line with what other communities Mark stop me if I'm wrong but I thought there's a CO in our code there's a discussion about that administrative fee and the vehicle fee am I correct I I frankly am not sure if there is this right what I'm saying is we need to get that part of out of the code when when the ordinances are recodified we we don't delete that when the ordinances are recodified that process which we do periodically and uh we used to have a a committee called the codification committee which hasn't been around in a while um the codification company picks ordinances that supersede other ordinances and then deletes those early on than okay so let's move for forward on adoption for 24261 we had a motion we had a second had discussion will the clerk please read the role council member ketti yes council president Escobar yes council member Fox yes council member Oso yes council member ruko yes council member TR and the resolution passes uh 24 266 motion second second yeah okay just for discussion and uh you know the resolution specifically refers the terms of an agreement with riveral are Incorporated by reference therein and that makes it part of the resolution right by any interpretation of a legal law um yet you know no one here on the deis uh objects to the agreement not being made public via a link on the agenda when you in your resol solution when you say something is incorporated therein I would hope that it's made available to the public prior to the meeting uh but it's not and I think that that's uh you know that's that's a sad commentary on our level of transparency and that's all I wish to say thank you okay so we have a motion in a second uh cler please read the role council president Escobar yes council member Fox yes council member Oso yes council member ruko yes council member chimu council member uh council member klei yes 24266 passes uh we have nothing on the non-consent agenda it is time for public comment uh you can now speak on any subject you would like Laura Mitchell again 73 Valor um I just had a question I forgot to bring it up um so uh we have that website which I I don't know if you have a Web Master for the town I no okay oh we would love to get that on the Town's um website you know so that people who don't know it's there will find out um and then the other thing uh if you could put me in contact with the Web Master because at some point there was an old website it's so outdated and things are not working on it um I contacted who I thought was hosting it and not quite um on your end for for your right and so I I need to take that down because when you Google it you you're some sometimes get directed to the old one so I would need some help I'm kind of techy but not that that much yeah that's if you uh call me later on just tell me what website that is so are we hosting it or are you hosting it no it it's somebody else third I thought it was WordPress but they're saying no so I'm not really sure so I just need help who retained them it's very ambiguous I don't if you come to office we have enough technology to land a spaceship here so if we can't figure that out and at the very least we can put the relevant the the right stuff right we can yeah because if we can put the website on that's great people will know and we don't want them get misdirected with an old outdated website so if we can get that t help taken down I'd appreciate that awesome well we'll see you at Mike's office there you go thank you so much okay great anybody else no okay we're good um we'll go on to commentaries um I just wanted to say Clemente you had brought it up about the uh cell tower we're working on it um it's you know everything is going to take time and the process but um we're moving forward and uh I'm as eager and as anxious as anybody so yeah it's tough to run a fall festival when you can't get I know I know you're sitting there and your phone goes from zero bar from one bar to Zero Bar to SOS right right yeah so yeah so that's that's the goal um okay so we're going to go on Council cars let's start this way first Clemente what we'll go this way we'll go all the way reverse I don't have any comment Council thank you Mr Mayor um I'm very happy pleased that the reservoir nature walking triail um along Woodcliff Lake finally was approved by violia uh came as a surprise I happen to see it in the pcac Press uh online um officials from Woodcliff Lake from Hillsdale and from Park Bridge work very hard to to get that over like probably an eight-year time frame um I know C former councilman pizel worked hard on it um I did as as mayor and former administrator uh tro worked worked on that so I'm glad to see that it's now a reality and hopefully our residents will be told what the rules are um posted on our website in terms of when they can go you know what it's the opening hours and closing hours and what the rules are in terms of using the trail um second point and this sort of timely because we have an election coming up um I have a vote by mail concern um very concerning incident that I'd like to bring to the Public's attention my wife and I requested mail and ballots um for the George White referendum we checked the school box right and uh we received the ballot and we used it to vote last week both of us received a mail in ballot that was not requested for the general election I called them up we knew that we did not request that that mail in ballot um and the instructions say you can't check off a general election and then go to the other types of Elections you only have to pick one and we call the Board of Ed we were told we could Oprah a copy of it um they told us oh no Mr Mrs ruko you checked that not the Board of Ed the board of election board of sorry Board of Elections okay um we opened and contrary to the instructions the applications did have check marks for both the school and the full general election and we knew we had not made the check mark for the general election um my wife and I have concluded that uh someone in the uh County Cork's office had checked off for us all future elections um and I asked them I told John Hogan by what right does anybody in that department have to check off all future elections he passed it on to uh his underlings they wrote back today and said um no the check mark was there and that's why we send it off so but you can remove it for future elections this yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah you can remove for future but you could here's my concern but here's my concern if this happens to any degree with other residents who are maybe less sophisticated than I to see what the implications are of checking it off they're going to get a vote by mail ballot right um they're going to either disregard it or perhaps mistake it for the regular statement that comes out toward the election of what the sample ballot um they're going to show up at the polls well they could still vote they have to vote provisionally they're going to show up at the polls and they're going to be told they have a provisional vote right which really is not something that I think anybody well it just takes it just takes longer to clear it takes the after that eight days that it takes to come in then provisional ballots are dealt with yes yeah in an election that already looks like it's going to be a long time before you know what the outcome is maybe not in New Jersey but yes and and here's the other rub this is more likely to affect Republican voters than Democratic voters because Republican voters tend to want to vote in the polls in person whereas Independents and Democrats like to vote as some Republicans and well in the vote by mail process so I see this as problematic I have no choice I'm going to be sending in the mail and ballot I wouldn't dare CH ask them to change it now and if I don't think they would it's too late um but it caused me and my wife to be suspicious of the overall process uh you know of the staff and what they do and what they're allowed to do um so just so I'm understanding correctly you uh requested a mail and ballot for the SCH and they they chucked off everything they claim they got it with the check mark but we looked at the at the check marks and especially in my wife's case she makes very small check marks this one was like a massive check mark she doesn't do that so in any event I want to end up on wishing all our Jewish residents Mr Mayor a very good happy rosashana thank you there we go we're going all the way back Council M ketti Council commentary thank you uh this will be brief um Clemente councilman alsoo uh commented earlier on the Town Festival and I wanted to uh really pay tribute to all those that participated at the Town Festival the weather wasn't really cooperating with us uh but the vendors as well as the patrons all showed up and we had a really good day uh some local institutions that exhibited at event and I think did extraordinarily well uh included uh the the recreation department the public library the Board of Health the environmental committee and there were many others as well and I also wanted to thank the DPW because their presence and their support was extraordinarily necessary that day given the weather and that was to both the attendees as well as the patrons so thank you I don't comment don't comment council president no comment mayor no comments okay um seeing no other business um can I get a motion to adjourn motion second all those in favor signify by saying