##VIDEO ID:r219JPSFtEw## um call the commun to order 7M and I would have City to St public meetings this meeting is being held in compliance with the open public meetings act with the meeting notice advertised in the Trenton Times and provided to the times and County Democrat buts County her members on the list sered and department heads on December 30th 2024 the meeting agenda Pro provides action items known at the time of publication and is subject to change this meeting is being streamed liveed and recorded using the zoom meeting platform W call yes please councilwoman Kaminsky here councilwoman Lambert here councilman live here councilman St here mayor no here right the plan Allegiance uh you know all the things that happen in the world every day some of them most of them a lot of them bad i' like to reflect this evening on Jimmy Carter who life was a life of service and uh my here uh Mary would you would you start us off with f please thank you everyone you at this time I'd like uh to invite the Reverend Don Al and Rabbi Janine jackit to step up and offer us an invocation Shalom Happy New Year we gathered here tonight in service the Vibrant Community of Lambertville as we Mark the beginning of a new year let us take a moment to reflect on the blessings we have received and the opportunities that lie ahead may this year bring strength to our hands as we work together to build a more compassionate and generous Community let us honor the diversity that enriches our city celebrating our sh sh values of Justice kindness and respect may we be inspired to deepen our connections with one another to reach out in service and to lift up those who are in need May our city be a beacon of light where all feel welcomed safe valued and heard as we stand together let us offer our gratitude for the beauty of Lambertville for the grace of new beginnings and for the opportunities that await us in the fresh Year may we walk forward together with hope courage and unity bless this city its leaders its residents and all who come here may we all be blessed with good health peace and prosperity in the year ahead and let us say Amen now s if you would please read the certification of the election to the record the board C campuses of hun County New Jersey relative to an election held in the county of hun on November 5 2024 for the election of one threeyear term to serve as mayor the said board does determine that Andrew Jay no was duly elected mayor for the city of lamberville the certification is signed by Mary Mafi C of Clerk and Joyce Santos chairman of County Board of Commissioners congratulations thank you so [Music] raise your right hand I do after I Andrew J Nock I Andrew J Nock do solemnly swear do solemnly swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States that I will support the Constitution of the United States and the constitution of the state of New Jersey and the constitution of the state of New Jersey and that I will bear true faith and that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same allegiance to the same and to the governments established in the United States to the governments established in the United States and in this state and in this state under the authority of the people under the authority of the people and that I will faithfully and that I will faithfully and partially and partially and justly and justly perform all the duties perform all the duties of the office of Mayor of the office of Mayor according to the best of my ability according to the best of my ability you may ask you help me guide if you thank quite an honor it is thank you to have thank thank you like the red car than and now we have a nomination on election of the council president um I'm going to open the floor for nominations for the council president I'd like to nominate benedetta Lambert to be the council president second and I have second let's do a roll call just to be just to be th just to be sure okay councilwoman Kinski yeah councilman Li yes councilman ster council president L yes great pleasure congratulations Pres [Music] raise your right hand okay repeat after me I benedetta Lambert I benedetta Lambert you solemnly swear you solemnly swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States that I will support the con stition of the United States and the constitution of the state of New Jersey and the constitution of the state of New Jersey that I will bear true faith and allegiance that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same and to the governments established to the same and the governments established in the united states in the United States and in this state and in this state under the authority of the people under the authority of the people and that I will faithfully and I will Faithfully partially impartially and justly and justly perform all the duties of the office perform all the duties of the office Council president or council president according to the best of my ability according to the best of my ability That's essential okay going back [Music] now I know you have to go up pretty high [Music] is our custom here from time to time and especially our new year we like to uh highlight some some of the some of the especially notable people and things that's happened uh in our community and this year we have two proclamations um we're going to read the proclam we're going to start by reading the proclamations and then we'll uh presuming they're they're adopted we'll come down and U hand them out and ask for some some thoughts from from people so uh we'll begin now I'd like to start reading the proclamation um whereas Joseph fle began his Hardware business in the early 1900s pedaling wees door Todo and earned a reputation as a fair and honest dealer and whereas he grew the business from a horse and buggy operation to opening a scrapyard on Corel Street in 1917 and and whereas Joseph's son and patriarch of the current generation Abraham AB fle ran the business through the peak industry years until his death in 1994 and whereas nephew to Aid Richard fle worked alongside aid for 25 years and continued for seven more years retiring in 2001 whereas Rachel fle Aid's daughter joined the company in 1991 diving head first into the male dominated world of contractors building suppliers mapping inventory prices and transitioning the business from handwritten price binders to a modern Computing system and became a leader in the community all while navigating motherhood and that's okay whereas Sven Helmer Rachel's husband stepped in as vice president in 1994 filling a critical role in moving the business forward and whereas Finkles has retained its well- earned reputation of the world's most unusual hardware store while serving the community a collection of unique items and rare finds that could not be obtained anywhere else and whereas Alle Legend throughout the tri-state area Finkles once known as Joe Finkles or Joseph Finkles and son is closing its doors at the end of 2024 after 107 years of service now here hereby resoled by the governing body the city of Lambertville and in the county of hun in the state of New Jersey the fal hardware store and their employees past and present are here by recognized for their many contributions to our community and be a further resolved that Joseph Abraham Richard and Rachel Finkle and Sven Helmer are hereby memorialized among Lambertville Treasures for managing the iconic Century old hardware store that will be sorely missed the further resolve that Rachel and Sven are wished much success with all of their future endeavors ask for motion to adop the proclamation so move second all in favor I great in of [Music] everybody together guys back all right this is good all right so here you are thank you so much and I hope you'll have a a couple minutes to uh to speak if you uh have any Reflections oh and I'm wondering if you might take a picture with my right you want to say a few words uh I do thank you I why don't you st over to the elct just so we can hear you okay thank you very much please you're more than welcome to say a few words thank youate thank much I want to thank everyone who was ever involved over 107 years from the bottom of my heart whether you were a customer or people who worked for us for decades and decades and decades um a homeowner a contractor um a supporter a part of the community it's been a very long strange Journey um my grandfather's Beginnings as a scrap metal dealer and he would trade with people for payment and kind he lend people money so many people have told me that they started their contracting business coming to my father asking for a credit line and um that's how they were able to start their business uh it's a very different world today I wish we could be around forever but uh there have been Market forces that kind of worked against us the world changed but we sure did last a very very long time and I want to thank everybody for supporting us over the years and it was our pleasure to gain knowledge and be able to share that with every customer to help them complete their projects and one thing we never specialized in was the blank stair I just want to say thank you to everybody too it's been a lot of volume enjoyed helping everybody and it's a really great town so we will miss it but thank you very much for uh supporting us all those years so many different stories we' be here until I don't know March if we start start stream I I would be remiss if I didn't say say a couple of things one is I'm going to really missed to take a number I should have come in and taken a number and uh because when I first came to town in 88 I went into the hardware store and opened up an account and I named it after my store at the time which was Boomer vilia and so from that day forward every time I came into the store Rachel's father would say how's Mr Boomer beia today so it's that and many great memories and conversations uh not only with Rachel and SM of course but just just to be in town during during a period of time when your father was so active in the business and it it really uh helped me fit into a community that I really knew nobody in and it's always great to know the person who wants the hardware that that being said appreciate all the hard all I have to say that you fit right in because didn't you have like a plumbing background originally that was very impressive because that wasn't what your business was but you're you sure did know your way around at Plumbing fitting I thank you and my father thank you so once again than wow fler would be my part-time plumber and I have to admit I was always a little intimidated holding my number there waiting I felt like really out class by everyone there but I had a very old bathtub Corel Street and it was Pro it was original to the house and the only place that I could get aart from it was a fle so that bathtub lasted many many Ms longer than it should have and because it got a lot of love from you all thank you so I remember remember when I first moved to town in 2014 my wife went to thinkal to pick something up and she forgot her wallet and she came back with all this stuff and I was like how did this happen they said oh just come back you could pay us later and I was thinking where does this exist slamber bille and lar I had my own experience After the flood The Morning After the flood I went to pinkles to buy whatever I could and I forgot my wall and whoever was there they just said take it you know we know you're good for it you're going to come back and it just shows what special place pinkles is and we will definitely see itk well I have I think the um odd pleasure of not ever having really set foot into sprinkles until in 2024 and that's because my husband was the DIY guy and he was always there and he always went and he would time his visits he didn't want to go too early in the morning because that's when the crowds were there um but you know my uncle was also a h a union carpenter and when we told him he went we were you know moving to L back to lamori he said oh yeah there's there's some kind of hardware store there you can get anything you need so your reputation was Far Beyond Lambertville and we're honored that you operated in this community and we're so much a part of the fabric of what has made Lambertville the great place that it is and we really appreciate it and I will say that yesterday was the first day I had something break and I went I can't go to pinkles so um thank you for being there the couple of times I went in everyone was very helpful and I was the person with the blank star all right I first I told Rachel story recently in 2004 shortly after we moved out from New York uh we had a problem with one of our 19th Century door uh locks and uh the contractor said pulled it all apart and there was a just a very small Iron Spring uh in this block from 1859 and uh my H said go to Finkles and I said what's Finkles I went down to Finkles and I stood there for a long time not realizing that you had to take a number so I was a little feeling very much the idiot but uh and I was also nervous because I just was holding this thing that was broken and it was clear to me that there was no way that this was going to be found in the universe and of course you know I don't remember who it was but he said come with me I went to the back the cabinet with no name no labels on any drawers he just looked at the cabinet for a minute pulled open a drawer and there were three of them in there and then he charged me like seven cents oh this is moment of my life so it was so extraordinary so um you know it's not just about 107 years it's about the day-to-day for people and the experience of someone doing something that feels really unusual and quirky and wonderful all at the same time so uh I'm sure there are thousands of stories out there just like mine and ours and thank you again so much for being here this evening for being in the community for 107 years second this evening is in honor of Paul and Helen Co nobody calls Helen that I'm she just and so each too B Paul where Paul PA and Helen Bambi wal landed roots in the city of lamberville in 1983 raising their daughter Catherine pool and becoming an integral part of our community and whereas Helen endearingly known to the community of Bambi was first appointed to Ser as the Director of Social Services on August 1st of 1988 and whereas Paul completed his fifth term serving on as the chairperson on the planning board and colly has served on the board for over 30 years he was the co-chairman of the community advisory team and for the past five years have served as the chairman of the board of directors of the Riverside Symphonia he earned his nickname I didn't know this using his connections to reach uh Santa Claus for the annual uh tree lightning appreciated by children of all ages and whereas a community knows whenever there's a crisis individually or as a community Bambi will keep them will help them rather through to see another day regardless of the issue she has helped our residents through emergencies such as fires flooding as well as issues with housing and whereas Bambi has decided to retire from her position as the Director of Social Services and public assistance with the city of Lambertville on March 31st 20 25 25 however Paul while retired from work has decided to continue his standing on the planning board and whereas Paul and Bambi are considered throughout the community as the dynamic Doo providing Val valuable guidance that has improved the lives of our residents now therefore be it resolved by the governing body of the city of Lambertville and the county of hunon and the state of New Jersey the bamb and Paul cool are hereby recognized for their many contributions to our community some mentioned in this Proclamation and be it further resolved that's this Sunday that's Sunday January 19th 2025 is here by proclaimed cool day time I went for motion to adop proc so round two of [Music] here come on in here all right is there a camera around here somewhere no all right you guys want to say a couple words that' be great um I've done a lot with the planning board the planning board's done a lot but really it's it's all the wonderful to board members that have been on the planning board me over the last 30 plus years I think always work together well ask good questions and we all have the uh we want to make things best and continue to keep labor for what it is and that we we listen to uh the public listen to the applicants we listen to our fellow board members try to come up so it's really thank you to all those [Music] um I'm just glad that I had the opportunity to do the work and the support I'm not going anywhere I'm still doing oam and Human Rights Council so but thanks everybody you kept me here for a long time you did and you did too was so and everyone at City Hall much has been very helpful um Lind Cindy May Sue I know you're out there Crystal and tax collector and it's just you know it's it's trying to help people who don't have anything and that's it um I remember when I first met Bambi years ago M and we just had a chance meeting but there was this spark of chemistry and I always felt she would become my friend and she has become one of my dearest friends and Paul's been along for the ride and that's great he is great Paul you do so much for the city you're so tireless with your support as you are Bambi and Bambi reminded me when we were taking a photo that we were recently in Paris together and we discovered the French culinary version of Finkles I kid you not it was anything you want for cook cooking they had it and it was it was elaborate and old building that there little aisles and and they had and they had so your your spirit lives on Rachel anyway Bambi and Paul thank you for being such a part of the community that we've always been able to rely on both of you even when you've been on vacation and you will your your support will be sorely missed we're not going to be missing you so thank you and thank you PA as well I served on planning board a few times over the couple of decades that I realized that I've been sitting up and uh also has been such a great chairman and uh keeps and make sure he makes sure that every every person who was on the board as well as the public applicants attorneys professionals have an opportunity to uh speak and explain their positions and uh Paul is was just so great about allowing that opportunity to the public regardless of him running a meeting almost to 2: am in the morning but but that's okay we approved a couple of pot licenses which I am very thankful for and uh and Bambi of course never had a negative thing to say always positive always inquisitive always caring and uh and then you turn around and she was PA's job and you know congratulations on being acknowledged but I know that you don't wake up every morning and where people would talk so highly about you so I'm G to stop and and uh and thank thank you again both for both of your involvements over the years in St can I I forgot to say police they have been incredible though very very good Brown I just want to thank both of you for everything you've done for the city and uh you know it's been since you moved here I mean you wanted to make this a better place and you know I think back to a couple years ago sitting through some of those long plany board meetings as a member of the public and just really being impressed with Paul's ability to manage the room and you know to get to the right result and to let everyone speak and to let everyone be heard I think it's a very important part of it and you know just how you handled everything it just really impressive and to think that you served them the fourth for 30 years I'm tired after just the couple years this 30 years and Bandy you know just seeing what you did After the flood and helping all the residents really shows your compassion thank you lamille has did know what everybody else said but lville has a great tradition of of taking care of its community and its residence and um Bambi really captured the spirit of that taught me a lot of how that was done and I was always amazed that at like 1:30 in the morning that you could find some on a hotel and comfort them and during flood and bad times whether or not people at boats or whatever that your um your voice and just your spirit really help calm and you know and soothe a community but that Spirit of community I will lives in you and I think that as much as it was always there you grew it into a a beautiful thing here so thank you and thank you and I always know that I go to a party if B be a spiral should really said but anyway being on the board with you you know has been terrific I've never been at a calmer more thoughtful like what a great meeting and you made it easy for everyone to serve and have an opinion and on things that were very difficult at times and um you know your love of the community um you know was just comes out in the way that you know you treat everyone and treated the subject matter so um I'm grateful I'll still see you both because you're down the street walking your dogs whatever but you're a great part of our community and I'm so grateful to have to live here with you I certainly Echo what everyone on Dan has said I think um you know a lot of what we do in City Hall is not necessarily and what we do as people is not necessarily known in often times in a broader context and um you know I've had residents in my office after the flood crying and emotional and and and I see the depth of B personal commitment to people in this community uh and it's uh it can feel just so positively overwhelming really um to know that anybody can come in and be heard and be comforted uh by one person with whom they've had a relationship for possibly many years right so and as a council cominsky noted this is a special uh a special element of life in Lambertville and maybe it exists in another plac but we love the way it exists here and we love the The Compassion the dedication you've had to that ideal as well as the people Paul certainly you know planning board meeting till one o'clock when the bathrooms weren't working and we had people had to like we had to take a recess of people to go to City Hall I mean another thing that's so important to me as as coming into a new position and I think to anybody who's starting something new is continuity and Leadership uh around you people who are consistent people who are uh steady and certainly you've been that uh to me as a as a mayor and uh you know I dread the day when we have to pass the torch to another uh hopefully not in my uh my mayorip um hopefully you want to continue to do what you've been doing so so well for the last 30 years um so really thank you on behalf of the entire city and myself in particular right and with that we're going to move on um uh we typically have a few moments for Council commentary uh at the reorganization meeting and so we'll begin with councilwoman Kinski if you have any remarks that you'd like to make um I of course my bio I just want to say it was um a really great year and I really want to thank the public I think we had like great engagement and work together on a lot of issues we've had a lot got on our plate this past year with uh workable housing issues and storm water issues and I think that um it was great to have everyone come out and and participate and and become and and volunteer to kind of help find Solutions and I look forward to that you know going into this next year where you know we have some challenges you know I really to an environmentally responsible and socially responsible affordable housing program here of addressing our our P issues and continuing to be vigilant and working with de to come to up to with some solutions you know and and protecting our residents right to to save drinking water you know and uh also um certainly continuing with storm water management and and addressing that within the town and also like a final thing that's come to my mind too is also pedestrian safety you know it's it's a kind of it's an issue here that we've had on and off and um especially in the fall when everyone's going to Rambler practice and cheerleading practice and trying to cross the street at elely field I think that maybe you know 2025 will be a good year to address that with the de with the do in terms of that along Bridge Street I think those are some you know some again good quality of life but you know um pedestrian safety is is really important and I look forward to you know doing dealing with it [Music] 2025 uh I complely agree with you everything you said I don't have a lot more to offer which is unusual because obviously lawyers love thought but um you know I think what really makes this city great is the people here obviously ly and everyone that comes out and everyone that has an opinion I love hearing that I love when people come out makes a better democracy and you know I think we have a lot of challenges for this next year but I look forward to working with everyone up here to figuring out Solutions that's going to work for our city and um you know just thank everyone that comes out to the meetings and participates in our democracy of course I you know we're really experiencing this past year and we've come out and ver and verbalized how important it is for people to come to meetings and and I know that the owl sitting out here helps folks to participate remotely um but it's great to have the public come out and give them a for to to talk about what concerns them uh and it really kind of helps guide myself and I would assume the rest into into making very thoughtful decisions based on our own uh education on topics but also on on how to work through and make sure everybody gets heard and that's why uh uh you know that it's really important and I I appreciate everybody coming out as a uh again at this meeting and look forward to people making sure they you know they come and visit with us and uh and share their concerns with us because at the end of the day we're here that's why we're here is that's why we run for office and that's why we're so involved and knowing how involved everybody El is who lives here is is it's really great to to materialize and that happens here at the meeting so I look forward to you know a very exciting New Year coming up challenges we have we have challenges every year here um but to to quote former mayor Delio it is the peaceful transfer of power that we that we cherish living in Lambertville but living in this country that allows us that continuity and uh I thank you J for for those words of wisdom in years past and also I see councilman former councilman Sanders here as well uh you know I've had a very interesting opportunity to to be have to be have to have served with so many Council people in my run here is on city council that I won't go through the list but but it's been a it's been a real it's a treasure for me to be able to have experience that growing from my first years in office you know to get to know people that I've worked with but to to be kind of the steward as we all are to making sure Lambertville you know is a place that you know we love to call home and and cherish the fact that we're calling lbert so look forward to a great year first I'd like to thank my fellow council members for your confidence and electing me as council president uh for a second year um I think many of you know that this was a very challenging year for me and I really appreciate the grace and support that I received not just from my council member fellow council members City Hall staff um but really everyone in the community and I want to personally express my my thanks and gratitude for that support and it continues to this day um it's true we have had a challenging year but I I really feel like this governing body has become more cohesive because we've met those challenges together we don't always agree but that's not what's important you don't have to agree on everything you need to have the dialogue you need to listen to each other and then you find a way to collectively move the process the topic you know you keep it moving forward and I think we have done we have made progress it doesn't seem like it but we have with the area of affordable housing the fact that we're in instituting a affordable housing advisory committee is great it's going to help move us in a direction that will be really driven by what suits the community and that's really a um you know we we've worked on a lot of different things I look forward to working more on affordable housing I can't believe I'm saying that because it's tough topic right but um I feel like we're we're starting to craft a vision and it's very exciting for us to do that and I always thought that this was a community that could um take an issue and make it fit what the community reflects and and there's been some examples with that with Penn East councilman Sanders you know we you know that group of people knocked them down and that's what lamori stands for okay we're a bunch of really smart creative caring loving people and that's what makes it great here and that's what makes me very happy to serve on you on this Council thanks as myself it's a it's a great honor to begin a second term really so to me that this is all happening um but really A Joyful one I uh it was really born of an idea friend and um I'm just delighted every day to be among all of you this is now the third year this Council will have work together and I have a deep respect for each of you um and for the work that you do and for the voices uh you that you share um and your commitment to the community so all of that and the staff at City Hall we just have some we have more fun than we probably should um but there's no HR department so that's okay um I'm always working I never um so uh I just feel very blessed to be in this role and he starting a second term uh and I also think it's for for me we talk about Community which is obviously very important engagement uh people I uh I'm always always always uh helpy to talk to people and hear people's views and to have conversations um I would say that also important to me is our relationship with the county thank you again for being here I think that County uh I think I'd like to think that in my three years I've grown with the county officials and that our relationship is getting stronger um they're doing amazing things whether it's a grant for the video camera or whether it's an upcoming seminar on um shared service agreements that that that they want to Foster among communities which has been a big big U Focus for me although one that I have not had all the time I wanted to devote to right I think that shared services are very important and and and can be a very effective way to do things so I have to recognize the county and I also have to recognize the state uh I think that the D in particular and the dop have been very good to work with and uh we rely we rely on our partners up and down the ladder um whether they're constituents or whether they're the governor or anywhere in between and uh I appreciate those relationships and I do my best to to to grow them in a way that's um respectful and appreciative so that's really all I wanted to say this evening I'm just very grateful to be here uh I State at the city of Beach uh January 15th which I will share come some more dat thoughts about where we are and where we might go this year um so uh that will be if you can make the meeting uh so for it online it'll be available on the website but U thank you all for being here and thank you all for sharing the S with me and for working [Music] thanks again Mary for being here thank you for asking me you almost make me want to live here oh J Mary is my favorite Republican it's actually she is my favorite Republican my brothers hav't really got to that Mar has has been a good partner she helped us out she helped us vote while we were in Vietnam she been a great a great source of U responsibility all right we're gonna move on um now we have public participation um just a few notes about this um we ask members of the public who wish to speak to step up to the day step up to the lean unless they have mobility issues um you have three minutes of uninterrupted time to you know offer comments or those questions Council may or may not respond um and we do ask that you provide your name and your um address so are there members of the public who would like to speak this evening you know Lizzie will give you a heads up when you've got about 30 seconds up before I start I want to acknowledge that is it working yes that um bamb and Paul have one of the best rescue dogs in lamberville chry cool he is part of the what we call 188 188 uh Parson Russell Terriers rescued from a horrible hoing situation in kingri as he's a great representative for that my name is Lori stago Lambertville animal welfare and I am here in regards to um anal Services 2025 I can't believe that we are all here once again fighting for the safety and lives of of lamberville pets and Wildlife why would lamberville at the last minute uh choose animal control Solutions a company that we have all fought against for years at a cost of 24,000 plus all vet bills boarding euthanasia dead animal disposal etc etc etc when Animal control officer Murphy is offering her contract at 11,500 with all costs included over twice as much how come two years ago Animal Control Solutions offered a contract for 108 and now it is more than double as we all know Animal control officer Carolyn Murphy has a pending case against her with the prosecutor's office I am certain all charges will be dropped as she followed the strict Animal Welfare laws of New Jersey ping that case and know that because as you know I'm also an animal control officer in New Jersey as well as animal cruy investigator is that the real reason your selecting a company charging over twice as much with far fewer Services perhaps you don't want the publicity over the past few days I've been hearing that there have been complaints about Carolyn and her work sadly she has not been informed of these complaints and therefore has no way to defend herself or reputation or her livelihood in all fairness to taxpayers and to the animals of Lambertville this resolution should be delayed until she is advised of these complaints and able to defend herself to you and the public thank you my name is Kathy Williams I live at 84 Coral Street and I'm reading a letter that Judy gon sent to the council and the mayor because she couldn't make it tonight first the fees for the 24,000 plus kenneling and vet bills payable to animal control Solutions under the resolution are more than double the fees of $1,508 fully inclusive payable to animal control no justification for this large increase has made available to the public second there had been recently unsub unsubstantiated allegations that there have been a number of Citizen complaints made against Carolyn for 2023 and 2024 in lamberville yet in a short time it has been it has not been possible for the public to learn whether such complaints exist or if so the con content of such alleged complaints there's also been no record of such complaints made available to Carolyn based on initial citizen inquiries in the short time available since the resolution was made to the public I believe there is no dispute that the manner in which our elected officials review consider and make decisions in handling their Contracting obligations is both critically important and demands justification based on open public information there's been too short of time to provide this information and too little time for citizens to obtain this information for the reasons above I respectfully request that the final action on this resolution 24 be delayed to allow the information to be made available to the public I deeply regret that our prior commitment makes it impossible for me to be present today thank you Judith Kissa on a personal note come on guys this is ajoke it's a joke the charges against her are unsubstantiated we are going to find that out and she is innocent until prove you guilty thank you my name is Luc mahalic I live on Jefferson Street here in town um I guess I'm one of the people who made a complaint that we all never heard of I trust the Judgment of this Council and the mayor based on their knowledge and totality of all the aspects in this particular that has gone on with this particular employee my personal experience with ACO Murphy was troubling and traumatized my dog was brutally mauled and attacked by two pit bulls in town and my experience with AC Murphy was horrendous to say the least one question by um to I I asked her a number of times and then few phone calls directly to her she either didn't respond or it was a much delayed response and when we did finally speak um my dog was severely injured over $2,000 of veter bills she was given copies of the reports and her response to me was well he didn't he wasn't killed this is really difficult for me a second dog two months later was also mauled by the same pites the owner and I the other owner and I went to council members went to the mayor and discussed the ballings we discussed how severe they were and we discussed our experience with ACL marketing and while the mayor and councel were trying to help us much was out of their hands that they could not do and I understand that and I respect the folks on this Council and the mayor that tried to get all this the second dog was much smaller than mine and could have easily been killed but was saved by his harness because the pig couldn't quite get to the neck my dog because of De breed that it is was saved by its net because it has a thix scuff and could not get through his pit could not get through but he had it by the night the reason that I'm here is not to really discuss AC Murphy in terms of my personal experience because I know some people have had much better experiences that's fine I want to know I want to support the council's decision because at this point there's too many conversations going on that just because the town towns people don't know all the stories and all of the reports I was very respectful when you were up here please don't shake your head at me I'm not yeah you are anyway I'm sorry I apologize I think that a uaco is the way to go I think it's a necessity because absolutely nothing was done when these pit bulls attacked our dogs we asked for these dogs to be muzzled when they were in the community walking around and we had absolutely no response from that that's all we asked for we didn't ask for them to be put down we didn't ask for any restrictions other than muzzle the dogs while they're in the community see if you please wrap up yes I'm sorry so anyway my my whole objective for being here is to support the chain in this the situation because while the dogs have moved out of town it doesn't mean that this can't happen again thank you and I appreciate thank you Jeff TI 33 Wilson Street just want to start off by you mentioned former President Carter uh I had the privilege of interning in the White House in the summer of 77 I was the lowest guy in TOT Christ wasn't even in my department but once so towards the end of my my internship I get a call but I have to go to the White House to the Executive offices I worked in West Wing but I was like pretty much in the basement um and I had to go see the president and I come in and um the President says hello to me and asked me to sit down and he says I called your grandmother to thank her for having you come an intern for me and she hung up on me and said it was a funny phone call she said who's this one of just friends you don't even do a good southern accent please call your grandmother and tell her from me anyway by way she later hung up on vice president M um but the point I was going to just mention that his tenure was uh one that we tend not to remember as much some of the most important environmental bills from Super fund and Tusa that were passed under him in 13 national parks so we tend to forget certain things that got done and a lot of agreements got done um I wanted to just um mentioned a couple of things here U today uh you know last year we had all the issues going on with the hill and the development there and now we've turned into a new year but we need to get it done we need to remove the Hill from our current plan 140 units we still go up there we have to come up with Alternatives and we have to deal with the ground four uh we don't really have a lot of time to waste and my other main issue I want to bring up is um as we know it's a forever chemical that bio accumulates in community it's in a public system though low levels it's in Wells it's very disturbing levels we don't know exactly where the source is but we do know Electronics is a major problem in fact won't realize because of all the electronics in in Silicon Valley Santa clar county has more superfun sites than any County in United States and it's all people deal with electronics uh so we have that issue we have to get a hold of it and get on top of it can that West DW well you know run this we have to run it for our people um and like my last point is that we need to think about as other towns are doing suing the manufacturers the state of New Jersey suing them many towns are because clean up their mess uh make Poss US money uh there may be people in town that may sing the town as well because of it and so we really need to be take a proactive defensive posture by going after the manufacturer otherwise we may end up finding ourselves you know in in a serious set of lawsuits or or serious amount of things to do like bring a water system up on that field that may cost a lot of money so we really need to get on top of it my last point is to this point here I think we need to revisit the three minute Ro because sometimes there's some very important issues we need to have to walk through the thank you uh Chris mhart 25 South Main Street I just want to say that I think as others have said we should think about changing our Animal control officer to uh animal solutions for twice the price of what we're getting from officer Murphy um and it I understand what this poor lady went through but I think you don't pay more to get less if you think we need a new ACO do some research but I think right now we need to support officer Murphy and if it's because of the pending uh litigation again as someone said you're innocent until proven guilty let wait and see thank [Music] you how many people do we have online tonight 10 10 welcome everyone online good to have you with us right um I will ask therefore uh for motion to close a public participation session so second can you say I motion carries moving on to appointments to boards and commissions so uh each year at reorganization we uh we reappoint people and we appoint new people to our many boards and commissions we have about a 100 people that serve uh very generous amounts of time in these roles everything from uh Parks and Recreation to zoning and planning and uh everywhere in between so um a lot of good work gets done through our volunteers and um unless any questions for from the council about's appointments to boards and commissions um I that for motion anybody some okay second all right all in favor please say I I all right she carries uh and now we have the consent agenda the following resolutions would be authorized a consent agenda these are resolutions number 01- 2025 through 30-22 um these resolutions are considered routine and shall be enacted by one ocean should any member of the city council seek separate discussion of any item the item shall be removed and discussed separately so these are uh lar of things that we do every January uh first week of January everything from designating newspapers to setting up meeting schedules holiday schedules uh authorizing signature and Bank City accounts authorizing a a temporary uh budget um payment of taxes uh so forth and so on um res res to point by everything from shared services to the community Emergency Response Team um so I just wanted to check in with the council if they have any questions or need to discuss any of these in particular no no um I will just make one note uh we do try to make a little progress every year so this year I think uh uh we decided that we would publicize the summer hours for the DPW we set them on a calendar so that there's no confusion um when people are putting their running to put the trash out because we started summer hours so often times little things are helpful in the community and uh that's one I just thought we we should highlight so all right just questions or concerns with I would ask for a motion to adopt the consent agenda [Music] councilwoman Kaminsky yes councilman L yes councilman Stegman yes council president Lambert yes mayor no yes motion carries yes adopted um we have resolution number 31224 this is the resolution authorize profession Services of various contractors for the 2025 calendar year um so this is about separately um [Music] this on this one uh I will all right any question right can I have a motion this second all right um that's please Council Kaminsky yeah one second councilman live yes Council stman obain council president Lambert yes mayor no yes thank um moving on to announcements a couple of things here uh we have our fourth round affordable housing informational session on this coming Monday uh here at 7 o'clock be introducing uh members of the affordable housing advisory committee that committee we talked about kind of extensively over the last few months uh be meeting twice a month um uh probably the second and fourth Wednesday of each month uh to Begin work on uh or to Begin work of you know hous this year um so that will be this coming uh Monday that will also be available uh via Zoom for any can make me person um meeting will be recorded uh please not that the renewal of licenses dog and cat residential parking permit and land registration all uh yesterday and um please note that there are a number of um a couple of increases on a couple of these things and keep an eye out for the um the deadlines especially for landar registration um schedule of 2025 reorganization meetings are as noted here in the agenda um I'll be attending all of these meetings uh this month to thank our volunteers personally and to help set uh some gold for the year to go for in commission the convenience center hours are Wednesday Saturday January 4th and 18th um from 9 to no and Wednesday January 15th from 3 to 5 uh holidays in January or January 1st for New Year's day yesterday obviously Monday January 20th for Mar day the office we close uh at this time we would open this up to our second um participation session any would like to speak all right uh anybody online okay here not I'm ask a motion to close the public participation session second all those in favor please say I I I all right I'd like to thank everybody for being here this evening always a great success to have a reorganization I know wor I just want to say thank you one more time and Happy New Year and on that note motion to a journey please counc so then all in favor please say I thank you