[Music] [Music] okay good evening everyone notice of this meeting stay the day place and time has been disseminated as required under the open public meetings app chapter 231 pl1 1975 copies of the agenda are also posted on the city's website in lyen TV for the public this meeting is now called to order Mr clerk can you please conduct your prayer and flag [Music] salute god of the universe look thou with favor upon these here assembled and bestow th guidance upon the members of the governing body in their deliver this we ask in thy name amen I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all in the event of an emergency the proper method of exiting the council chambers is through the three doors in the rear of the room occupants should proceed down the staircase out the front door and move away from the area of the front steps any member of the public wishing to speak during the public comment session at the end of the meeting please sign in on the white sheets provided at the front of the room with your name and address if a member of the public wishes to speak on the city budget please sign in on the Ping Sheets if a member of the public wishes to speak on the Sid budget please sign in on the green sheets in the front of the room we ask you to please turn off all cell phones and play or place them on vibrate if you must take a call please leave the council chambers to do so Mr clerk can you please call the roll Mrs Orman here javic present Caldwell present Mohammed pres revas present Roman here Strano here Armstead here Medina here Hudak here Mrs Yus here can we have approved of the public session minutes of March 8 March 19 2024 please council president I move for approval of the public meeting minutes of March 19th 2024 and request a second second Mrs Orman yes javic yes Caldwell abstain Mohammed yes Rivas yes Roman yes Strano abstain Armstead yes Medina yes yes Hudak abstain Mrs yamus yes okay um this evening this is the time and place conduct a 20 uh 24 budget hearing um I know we have a lot of students here this evening but unfortunately due to uh it being advertised and uh under statute we advertised it for 700m so we have to do our budget presentation first but we'll immediately get to the students after that okay so uh Mrs Zach is going to do a budget presentation this evening okay this is how we spend your money guys so pay attention yeah it's a good learning experience don't worry I'll talk okay got your attention good evening everyone I would I'd like to take this opportunity to thank the mayor and Council for allowing me the opportunity and the honor to present this year's Municipal budget the municipal budget for the city of Lyndon is17 m637 26156 cents the budget is broken into two categories of operating expenses salary and wages and other expenses our salary and wages for the year 2024 is 53 million 21,561 72 this represents all 675 full and part-time employees the other operating expenses is our other expenses which that which encompasses our debt service our other expenses to operate our departments at 74,500 69984 for a grand total of27 m637 26156 this chart illustrates the various categories of how we break down our Municipal budget our number one priority is our Public Safety departments our Public Safety departments comprise of our Police Department a fully paid police department at compliment under the direction of Chief Hart we have a fully paid fire department under the direction of Chief hasco we have tremendous dispatchers and thank you to all the dispatchers this is dispatcher week and we also have an incredible office of emergency management under the director of Chief Hart our Public Safety department expenses are 39 m666 16172 cents or roughly 31.08 per of all Appropriations go towards running our Public Safety departments our second largest category is our insurances which this year had gone up tremendously for our health insurances our workers compensation insurances and our liability insurance at 2,846 or roughly 17.8 8% of our total appropriation goes towards insurances the third largest category is our community services department which encompasses under Nick pantin and Jerry Bishop the Department of Public Works Dave Martinez we have Municipal garage under Dave Martinez we have engineering that Joe cobach is instrumental in buildings and grounds and transportation and properties under Tyrone given in addition Keith pressy handles the operations for our Parks and Recreation Department the total of those combined divisions and departments is 15,41 15,100 or roughly 12.8% of all Appropriations g go towards operating those critical departments the fourth largest category in our budget is our statutory expenses which again went up this year this is our statutory expenses of our unemployment FICA Social Security and deferred charges and pensions at 15 million 31,6 5347 or roughly 11.99% of our total budget the fifth category is our debt service we always try to maintain a level Debt Service however this year our our debt service is 13,740 th000 or roughly 10.76% of our total Appropriations The Debt Service as we see our General Obligations drop off we then do permanent financing through General obligation bonds we will be doing a bond issue this year for the city of Lyon the sixth category is our general government category which comprises all the smaller departments from the mayor's office to the city clerk's office to the Board of Health to my department the general government category is 12,235 n946 or roughly 99.59% of our total budget the 7th category is what's called our reserve for uncollected taxes as a municipality we never get to collect 100% of our taxes however we do collect all the taxes and it's our responsibility to turn over 100% of the levy for the county to operate 100% of the levy for the Board of Education to operate and therefore we have to budget What's called the reserve for uncollected taxes at 3,875 th000 or roughly 3.04% of our total budget for reserve for uncollected taxes the eighth category is our library category this is a state mandated minimum number that we cannot budget below at $2,918 31 or roughly 2.27% of our total Appropriations and the last category is our utility for all 23 facilities and our 40 Parks the total utilities is 2,696 n50 or roughly 2.11% of our total budget I know many people ask where our tax dollars go this governing body has control over the blue section of our tax bill the municipal amount to be raised by taxation for 2024 is 65,67 24291 or or roughly 33.712183 or roughly 1.49% we have a category of our County this is an estimated number we don't have the final number yet as they have to uh certify and adopt their budget it's at 31,6 22,277 one982 16.34% of each tax dollar the Union County Board of Commissioners are um run the County government and we have our very own Joe bodak as a Union County Commissioner prior to him we had Chris Hudak as a county commissioner from Lyndon that made sure Lyndon was able to receive exceptional services and that's continued under Joe bodc the open space is a component of the county and this is an estimated number at 1,191 41731 and this we were fortunate enough for the last several decades to be able to get funding for our parks and park improvements through the kids trust grants from the open space and the last category is our school and this is an estimated number of the levy for 93 m215 n16 the members of the Lynden Board of Education have done a phenomenal job over the last several years working with mayor Armstead in the administration to try to be as fiscally responsible and they have an outstanding superintendent of schools under superintendent Perkins and I know that they're going to continue working very closely together in helping try to stabilize the taxes whenever possible mayor Armstead and his administration has worked very hard over the last six years for fiscal responsibility in 2018 the mayor had abolished the eliminated the garbage search charge which is was $120 annually for a single family home based based on $120 a year each year thereafter residents did not have to pay that in addition to working on decreasing taxes each year so that the residents did not have an tax increase on the municipal portion during the worldwide pandemic um the mayor and his administration work very closely in trying to reduce wherever possible so over the last six years it's been over a s $73 decrease if you were to add each year up unfortunately in 2024 because of the mandated increases we're not going to be that fortunate to have no tax increase on the municipal side we have many statutory expenses that had increased that are mandated that we have no control out outside of our control our state pension system increases nearly $900,000 our health benefits increased nearly $1.2 million liability and workers comp insurance had increased nearly a million dollars the State Library minimum again based on a formula based on our equalized valuation increased by 311,000 those mandated increases were over $3.3 million coupled with the other expenses in each operating Department suffering from the inflation over the last three years of double- digigit inflation has hit each of our operating budgets so it's costing more to operate our services in addition we also have 10 bargaining units and 675 employees and we have mandated and contractual obligations that we have to meet so therefore in 2024 it's going to be the first tax increase from the municipal side since 2017 it's at $19.71 per month based on an average assessed home of 133,50 or an annual increase of $236.44 annually for the municipal portion we've had six years of the decreases and basically the net um from this increase would be still a decrease of $466 Mayor Armstead and his administration work very hard in making sure that the priority is servicing the citizens and the residents and the taxpayers of Lyndon we have a Department of Public Works that is second to none in the state of New Jersey that does more than any any town around us we handle trees we handle sewer service we handle the maintenance of waterways we have to dispose of our garbage collection that we annually cost us over $1.3 million we have four trash collections a year that we don't ask the residents to contribute towards that's an an annual cost of almost a half a million dollarss we have street sweepings that we must dispose of we handle Recycling and we also do Park landscaping for our 40 Parks over 201 acres are some of the services that are provided by our public works department we have a recreation and parks department that have many programs and opportunities for our residents to enjoy we have over 40 Parks we have five recreation centers and we also have three summer day camp programs we have three summer playground sites that have over over 600 residents um I'm sorry five my glasses need fixing we have five summer day camps and five playground sits and we also have three spring playground sites and three fall playground sites um available to our residents we have a multitude of events that we do every year mayor Armstead and the Easter Bunny and council president had a blast over this last March 30th celebration for our annual Easter egg hunt and starting in May and going all the way through December check our website and check with Recreation because we have a lot of fun festivals and activities that will be coming up for the residents of Lyndon our recreation parks and recreation department also have various youth sponsored activities not only Just Sports we have stem classes they have exercise classes and they also have open gym we have a special needs camp and special needs programs we offer adult sponsored activities from Fitness classes to mental health seminars to open gyms we also have our senior citizens that have a various programs dances and every year we have an annual outstanding senior citizen of the Year where we honor them the second component of the municipal budget is our capital budget in order for an item to be included in our capital budget it has to have a life expectancy of at least five years and a value of over $20,000 if you come to the meetings you'll see that there's various Bond ordinances that are on the agenda those items are because they're part of our Capital Improvement plan public safety this year's total for their Capital Improvements will be $1,336 500 we were fortunate enough to have Senate President scutari uh allow us to get through grants from the state over a $2 million grant for brand new fire truck and we're working closely with our congressmen and our United States senators to get additional Federal funding for police vehicles and radio communication equipment so those numbers should hopefully be offset by Grant fundings the next Department that's critical to our infrastructure and addressing our needs is our engineering department Joe kobach and his staff do a phenomenal job of addressing our aging infrastructure from the various Street resurfacing projects he works on getting various grants to offset those expenses we have curban sidewalk reconstruction storm and sanitary sewer improvements we were fortunate enough to get a streetscape grant for Wood Avenue that was over a million dollars and we're right now working with the federal government for with our United States senators and our congressmen to get additional funding to do sewer work and mayor armstead's going to be implementing a Workforce affordable housing program that's going to be the premier program in the state of New Jersey it's something that's going to be brand new for the city of Lindon and it's something that we're excited to be looking forward forward to uh having more affordable housing in the city of Lyndon so the total engineering budget is going to be over $8.3 million um this year alone for our capital improvements the other Departments of non-public safety that will be addressing their needs are going to be buildings and grounds transportation in properties Public Works their total is $1.9 million of improvements the information technology this is our it division they've become very active in replacing uh not only cameras throughout the city but we also have various Hardware that needs to be replaced for Public Safety and non-public safety departments and we are coming into the 21st century and getting a brand new telephone system throughout the city of Lyndon a Voiceover IP telephone system those total Appropriations is $1.3 million we also have a department of Parks and Recreation Keith pressy has worked very hard with the state of New Jersey in applying for several grants that we're hoping will offset some of these expenses and he's working on a multi-park Improvement project that's going to last between five and 10 years that we will be addressing every park within the city of Lyndon and doing upgrades this year's appropriation is 2 .2 million and we have the director of Health Amy paluso who has done a tremendous job in our health department and they had requested an SUV for their nurses and we had included that in our capital budget for $38,000 mayor Armstead and his administration along with Alex lospinoso has have worked tirelessly on various Redevelopment projects this is not a list of all of them because I didn't have enough space on my slide to put all of them these are the most AC active and the ones that we will be seeing uh pilot Revenue that's reoccurring revenue of payment in Lee of taxes that the city of Lyndon gets to have 95% of the revenue from these pilots and we share 5% with the county of Union over 7,553 465 are in our revenue for 2024 and that's a reoccurring Revenue that will be in our budget for the next 20 to 25 years we have over a total imp investment of these properties of a billion dollars over 770 residential units and more coming and we have a total industrial commercial and hotel square footage of nearly 4.8 million square ft lastly I would just like to thank our tax collector Stacy karon for her tireless efforts on increasing our tax collection rate she's Relentless when it comes to this and thank you for your hard work and your effort as you can see our tax colle collection rate is on the rise steadily even during a worldwide pandemic our taxes our collection rate is going up it's nearly at 99% um collection rate which is for town our size is unheard of so once again I really like to thank not only Stacy but all of my staff for their assistance in putting this PowerPoint presentation together I would like to thank everyone and especially the cast of Mama Mia for being so patient in sitting through this presentation I truly appreciate it I was young once and I understand and um if I didn't answer your questions during this presentation please feel free to ask me any questions thereafter and once again thank you everyone for your time and attention have a good evening have all right okay we're g to continue with our budget presentation can I ask everyone to please take their seats okay the 2024 Municipal budget was placed on the city's website after its introduction last month uh councilwoman Oran could you please read your budget statement yes thank you council president the introduced budget represents a total of27 M 6372 6156 in expenditures for the year 2024 the finance committee will continue to work to further reduce expenses wherever possible the finance committee has worked with every department head in keeping expenses to a minimum based on the average assessed home value of13 $3,555 this year's increase is $236.44 for the year or $19.71 per month this includes an annual increase of $15.33 which is a state mandated increase for the library portion of the tax rate I would like to thank all the members of the governing body for their assistance and recommendations on the 2024 budget I would like to especially thank every department head for their dedication and diligence in reducing the 2024 Municipal budget wherever possible okay can we have an o a motion to open the public hearing on the budget Madame President I'd like to request to open uh the public hearing on the 2024 Municipal budget I request a second second Mrs Orman yes javic yes calwell yes Mohammed yes Rivas yes Roman yes Strano yes Armstead yes Medina yes Hudak yes Mrs yamus yes okay is there anyone from the public who wishes to speak on the budget now is the time for the municipal budget okay um seeing none uh can we have a motion to close the public hearing on the municipal budget I make a motion to close the public hearing can I have a second second Mrs Orman yes javic yes Caldwell yes Mohammed yes revas yes Roman yes Strano yes Armstead yes Medina yes Hudak yes Mrs Yus yes Mr bodc can you please read the resolution adopting the 2024 Municipal budget be it resolved by the council members of the city of Lindon County of Union that the budget here herein before set forth is hereby ad adopted and shall constitute an appropriation for the purpose stated of the sums therein set forth as Appropriations an authorization of the sum of 65 m657 24291 for municipal purposes and 2,918 2.31 minimum Library tax um General revenues Surplus anticipated $10 million miscellaneous revenues an anticipated 46 m7781 $26.33 receipts from delinquent taxes $2,300 th000 amount to be raised by taxation for municipal tax purposes 65,67 24291 amount to be raised by taxation minimum Library $2,918 31 total revenues of 127 m637 26156 okay can we have a motion to adopt the 2024 Municipal budget please thank you council president I'd like to make a motion to adopt the municipal 2024 Municipal budget as stated and ask for a second please second Mrs Orman yes javic yes Caldwell yes Mohammed yes Rivas yes Roman yes Strano yes Armstead yes Medina yes Hudak yes Mrs yamus yes okay uh now we have to have the public hearing on the 2024 Sid budget I'm going to call upon Mr capzza uh to do a presentation on the Sid budget just remind everyone anyone wishing to speak on the Sid budget please sign in on the Green Sheet in front of the room should we explain what a Sit is to the students you want to do it John Mr flee could you explain what a sid is stands for and and what it what it does and how it gets its money before for the students phone Felipe hit your mic is it working there there you go go I got a strong voice anyway again special improvement district doing business Uptown Lyon it's our storefronts on wood basically it's a collection of all those proper anybody knows we're located on ford3 Northwood Avenue yep what if you don't mind um what we do we assess the properties on Wood Avenue an additional tax uh it's a and and it goes to a special improvement district so that we can have functions if you ever see what's going on in the prominade U and we can do various things on Wood Avenue for to to uh clean and improve it the money that U is is assessed to these properties that's where it's derived from okay all right can you do your presentation and we also bought Felipe a new suit just kidding get my eyes [Music] on we got a city revenue for $182,900 2024 is $73,345 give us a total of $255,300 th000 uh purchases of insurance Professional Services lawyers accting audit $13,200 marketing supp and supplies office supplies advertising marketing is $133,000 lease for 43 Northwood Avenue uh year lease payment copy machine leases utility psng and Comcast is $2,200 Special Projects this is what we we get our bread bread and butter from comedy shows new signature for C District banners Wood Avenue redesigned seasonal events entertainment is $185,000 totals of $255,300 any question on that Mr Rivas we're good Mr Muhammad good anybody else Mr Roman you're the question guy I am indeed $200,000 budget um I know that you are planning a uh power washing program uh this coming spring I'd like to hear more about it if you if you got a moment for the kids sure we purchased a $10,000 high pressure power washer for $6,000 the power wash was delivered exactly a month and a half ago with a defect we CAU it right on time we called the distributor distributor said don't worry about it we'll send you another one so we got two for the price of one okay that's good news on that one uh what we're planning on doing is a spring cleaning we're starting at the uh beginning of May and we're going to be doing the sidewalks this is a high power uh steam cleaning hot water power washer is going to be removing the uh the gums the mildew on the sidewalks hopefully and some of the walls on the buildings so you're going to see a lot of um Improvement just on the sidewalks along we also have the um the cafeterias and the restaurants they're going to be doing some uh dining out or Cafe out um helping them getting the permits so you're going to see a lot of people eating outside which is going to bring in some food traffic so uh please be careful with those that are sitting out don't be bumping into them don't be smoking at them thank you sir I guess I conclude my uh presentation unless you have any question there miss yamad yes okay um we're going to open the floor for public comments is there anyone from the public who wishes to speak on the Sid budget okay seeing none can we have a motion to we we have question here oh Mr come on all right I I have a quick question Craig Hower 120 Donaldson Place uh at one point when the Clark properties was turned over to the developer Sid lost 25,000 in funding did the city ever find a way to make that up [Music] okay repay thanks for the question that was going to be my questions but um I was trying to get a hold of the developer unfortunately this was done through a financing department they do an agreement on the financial agreement with the developers and for some reason the uh C District was not supposed to be included in there um they bypassed that therefore we lost some revenues we try I'm trying to see how we can get that Revenue back fortunately for the Builder there is an issue there was an issue with the um an inground oil tank where they had to spend more money than they anticipated so therefore I have to back up a little bit wait until they get their their breath of air again and maybe I'll um address that one particular question for them so yes I'm trying to get the money back if not from the city from the building it's not from Mr Ras budget all right is there anyone else from the public who wishes to speak on the Sid budget okay seeing none can we have a motion to close the public hearing and adopted 2024 s budget please Madame President I'd like to make a motion to close the hearing on the SE uh 2024 budget hearing I respectfully ask for a second second [Music] Mrs oron yes javic yes Caldwell yes Mohammed yes Rivas yes Roman yes Strano yes Armstead yes Medina yes Hudak yes Mrs Yus yes thank you very much [Applause] okay we thank everyone for their patience with the budget hearings tonight they were advertised for 7 pm that's why we had to proceed with them um Mrs arm said uh said it was great for you to have SE W uh the presentations to see how the city functions so we appreciate you did very well here this evening okay um presentations mayor we'll do um the Mama Mia play first since they waited so patiently and their parents all came out it I had they [Music] okay if everyone wouldn't mind we have a presentation uh for um fire captain toi they're on duty right now so we just like to get them take they're down here okay yes so I'm going to ask the members of the fire committee Chief hasco and fire captain toi to come forward please the 2024 New Jersy State fire investigator of the Year okay good evening everyone today we are here to honor a great fireman that we have in town Carl toi I've known him since he was kneehigh to a grape you know I mean he's an excellent excellent young man his mother raised him well and she's my secretary I know where he gets his work ethic from uh but I'm honored to be able to present let me see what that award says again hold on is it okay it is an award uh honoring Carl toi as the fire investigator of the year and um what I have to say is that this is the first time Lyndon ever received such an award uh and to me that means a lot Carl as long as I've known him has been a hard worker uh he um he's just an excellent young man and I'm proud of them you know and I'm it's we this is what we work so hard for we work hard to see our children become something we put a lot of work into them to make sure that one day they can stand in front of people like yourselves and be honored and and just make us proud as parents and uh I'm proud of him I can tell you that right now um he's a excellent young man and we're just um happy to be able to give this presentation so I'm going to let the chief read the resolution okay let's take a picture okay take a picture first okay let me present that to you young man [Music] [Music] all right good evening everyone uh for those who don't know me our name is William hasco I'm the chief of lyen fire department uh tonight I have the honor of recognizing one of our members of the Linden fire department Captain Carl toi who was recently named the 2024 new New Jersey state fire investigator of the year like to tell you a little bit about Captain tooli he's a 15-year veteran of the Lindon fire department and he has quickly moved up the ranks he was promoted to Lieutenant in May of 2017 captain in April of 2021 and became a New Jersey certified fire investigator in May of 2021 where he was assigned to our Lynden Fire Department fire investigation team seeking additional knowledge and um experience he was appointed to the Union County fire investigation task force on March of 2022 where he is currently a deputy coordinator over the last three years he was very instrumental investigating the firing the following Fires at the VFW in Lyndon the singer factory fire in Elizabeth and a line of duty death firefighter in planfield tonight I'd like to present you with accommodation from the department and I'll share it with everybody here so on behalf of the Lynden fire department and city of Lynden i' like to commend you for being awarded the 2020 for New Jersey state fire investigator of the Year award this prestigious award recognizes you for outstanding achievement in fire investigations the fact that you were nominated by both the uni County arson task force and the New Jersey ATF CFI unbeknownst to each other is a testament of your hard work and unwavering dedication to fire safety investigation the Lyndon Fire Department in the city of Lyndon is proud to announce that you are the first member of the lynen fire department to receive this prestigious award I am proud of you and honored that you're a member of the lyen fire department dep and congratulations on your achievement okay now we're gonna honor M [Applause] [Music] [Music] Mia I can't begin to think of the number of times that I've been at this Podium and we've given out Awards to basketball players baseball players football players soccer you name it we've given out Awards but this is the first time that we're giving out Awards to the people the young people who did an outstanding job outstanding I've been to several plays at Lyndon High School in fact I try to go every year and I'm not saying this because my daughter was in the play and she sang and she sang her oh man she and she really sang um but it was something to see and I am so proud of each and every one of you you guys did what a tremendous job I I can say this my wife will never have to say come on honey come on don't you're not watching T we're going to the play she will never have to do that again cuz I'll be attending all your plays from now on you know it was just phenomenal I would be remiss if I did not acknowledge the production staff as well okay um and I have all the names here so forgive me going to take a couple seconds to get to that last page production staff we have um Mr Howard Whitmore now Howard and I go back for years I mean I used to when I first started as a politician I used to knock on the door and his mother I I couldn't get to another house because his mother would keep me there for two hours she was a talker but you know she was a great person we we loved her and we miss her cuz she was a wonderful person um we have Dwayne Cosby is he here tonight I watched Dwayne put his heart and soul into these Productions and he's always done a great job he's got the he's he really has gotten the best out of our students also so congratulations to him as well and I would be remissive I didn't mention Barbara Brady is she here tonight where's Barbara Brady she's not here she she's another one she puts her heart and soul into these children let me tell you and she gets the best out of them we love her for what she does she's a CH what it say a choreographer okay and then we have Anthony Spano where's he at where's Anthony at Anthony uh he's our Orchestra director he does an excellent job we appreciate the hard work that he does and we have Dana I'm gonna I hope I don't mess up your name Dana can say that again one more time we half tick I want you guys to sing that okay we're halfti we're half tick okay yes and Dana we have take stage manager thank you for what you do okay and and before I call out all these names I'm going to thank all your parents because the parents are behind you 100% they get you to back and forth to a rehearsal uh and without them you know hey if it wasn't you wouldn't be here without them so you know so but we want to thank them for uh taking the time out of their busy schedules to make sure that you get back and forth to pray play rehearsal and um you know they're they're very important in his overall production so um so without any further Ado I'm going to go through all the names here um of all of you young people and who've done such a great a great job so the P first person we have you don't all have to come at one time we're going to go outside and take a picture I'm going to call we have the cast is Daniela vesco Joe Ashley arachi Miranda mcnight Christina Ramos Rodriguez Lola Grasso Abigail ree Abigail Reese Armstead [Applause] Christopher L Joiner Jason bites I hope I said that right if I say a name wrong if if I get a name wrong all you guys just say in unison and correct me okay Samuel Ares Christian Maderos Justin barnea Stefan cabby Bianca Spencer Emily a Aela jelle Brown Diana Cooper Reid D say it again di who dianah Cooper Reed imanuel deby [Applause] Marcelina huh doar doara Tanya Dron Tanya huh oh tan tanah Drayton okay sorry about that [Applause] Tanaya nuran elbwi shukran elbwi Ariana Elvin Joyce Fitz Kayla Francis L Lea Garcia I say that right vict vioria Geraldo Ry danana Jean roana Ro okay say it again in unison rodana Jean Nadira Jenkins Kayla Le Selena [Applause] Luciano Lee lyanna Ocasio kuz Lanna Lanna Ocasio quz Samantha PES Kayla sanon Mia stolov Myra tenner Anna Viana this is going to be a tough one Brianna exal peek did I say that re okay this is the crew now we Chris acrian let see if I can get this next next name right okay Amina Armstead next one's going to be tough too Amaya Armstead did I get did I get that right then we have kayen bon Amaker [Applause] rude Marley Cherry Clara Mary Garcia Rachel morcis Naomi mirata selet Sanchez Michaela wheeler Franklin Danielle Jack Karina Martinez and That's all folks but but as you can see it's not just it's give him a round of applause it's not just it's not just acting it takes a whole lot to put a play together I mean and even if you have a lead a lead role you have to remember that you're only as good as your supporting staff those people around you who are working hard to make this thing happen they're just as important as having a lead role and and and people have to understand in that business that you're in acting in in theatrics Theatrical world everybody comes together in unison to make something into a great production and that's what you all did you made it into a great production and I'll say this a thousand times I am so proud of you I am so proud of you uh again you'll never have to worry about me missing the play again okay so anyway I do have um some special guests here I didn't knowledge that uh we have U our superintendent of schools here Mrs AA Perkins uh and uh we have some board members here as well and the board president where the oh the board president I I was going to invite her I was saving the best for last okay uh we have some board members here as well um we have lamari Centron in in the back she's there um Brianna Armstead there's another Armstead here Brianna Armstead and did I miss did I any other board members here did I miss anybody okay all right I think I got everybody okay so last but certainly not least I have the board president Dr Marina berghammer would you like to say would you like say a few words you want to come say a couple words this lady is never short on words I want you to know that's what I love about her you see I I have I have Liv but she she she writes speeches I'm going to make I'm gonna hire her to be my speech writer [Music] next I want to start by saying it takes a village the mayor the city of lynon and the Board of Ed education has come tonight to reward you on an amazing amazing play my name is Dr Molina berghammer and I'm the president of the Lyon Board of Education First I want to thank the mayor of Lyndon Mr Derek Armstead for inviting The Talented cast and crew of the Mama Mia join me in celebrating them today I also want to thank the council members who work TI tirelessly to keep our city clean and safe and to keep our real estate taxes down you have my support I want to thank the high school principal Mr Coons who is doing an amazing job at our Flagship school superintendent Perkins and the staff at the Lyndon public school for all their hard work I also want to thank the cast and the crew because you know what you guys are not as good as you are by without the people that are carrying you they are the wind beneath your wings they are you are good because of them thank you but today is the day we celebrate young entertainers I want to congratulate All The Talented entertainers sitting here today whether you are a singer a dancer a producer a script writer or a stage hand you have once again proven the power of teamwork your commitment to work together to make mam Mia success and to bring the joy and laughter to your peers and the lynon community is simply amazing your creativity your passion your dedication deserves this honor tonight several stars are shining bright because of you anyone who can bring joy and laughter to this world should be celebrated once again thank you and I hope that one day we will all have the opportunity to see all of you on the big screens thank you so what we're going to do next we're going to step outside give you all your certificates uh and we're going to go out and take a picture and I we're going to we have the names in order so that it shouldn't be hard to give everybody their certificates if we just one at a time when we get outside we'll give them to you but we want to take that picture Okay mayor we have two more presentations that we need you for first oh my goodness before we can move on okay so sit tight all right thank you all right our next one we're kind of hoping to hold this one off but it's for uh ninth W councilman Armando Medina we're GNA ask him to please come forward he's going to be leaving Council on April 30th good everybody we'll be back we'll be with you okay okay [Music] you want to come up with Dad hey Mom's going to come up too mom's taking pictures we we got special picture she wants okay gotcha gotcha right [Music] I I guess you can say this Bittersweet councilman Medina has served for 12 years um and sometimes uh opportunities come to us and we have and and some when you have an opport chance to to seize on an opportunity that's what you do and councilman Medina uh is moving to a different town uh he's moving to Colonia or has moved to Colonia so uh with that being said he he he's no longer going to be serving as a councilman but I will say this he served with distinction uh he served his his his community well uh he was accessible uh kind uh and um worked well with this council with this governing body you know and we don't get a chance to to come in front of uh our citizens and say that we lower taxes without the cooperation of all these on the on the governing body these budgets that we put together there's nothing easy about it our our department heads are coming to our council members constantly asking for input and direction and how we should proceed and and we try to provide and and and Amando Medina councilman Medina he'll always be a councilman um has done just that and uh we're proud of him we're proud to have served with him uh and we wish him we wish him well and um while we're here I don't want to steal any of his Thunder uh but we uh we have another gentleman here with us who lives right down the street his name is Alfred Rodriguez and he will be uh filling in in some pretty big shoes uh as he will be uh serving to uh he he will be replacing councilman uh Medina uh you got some big shoes to fill young man I want you to know you're young too so you know we're gonna we're gonna we're going to send Medina councilman Medina over give you a little training okay you don't mind do you but anyway um we again we we thank you for your service I'm going to read the resolution before we take a picture it's a resolution honoring Amanda Medina for his dedicated Service as councilman of the Ninth Ward and it reads as follow whereas amand Medina will conclude his 12th year of service as councilman of the ninth ward on April 30th 2024 and whereas amondo was elected to his first term to office on November 6th 2012 and began a service to the residence of the ninth ward in the city of Lyndon January 1st 2013 whereas during his time on Council Amando has served as chairman of the cable TV technology cable TV technology and communication committee he's also served as a member of the engineering fire Public Works law real estate and Parks and Recreation committees and whereas his dedication and commitment has benefited the citizens of the ninth W those of the city in Lyon in many ways his hard work contributed to the efficiency of the operations of the Lyndon government and to improving the quality of life for all Lyon residents and whereas councilman Medina has discharged his duties with great diligence compassion diplomacy and faithful dedication to the residents of the Ninth Ward and to all of London now therefore be resolved by the mayor and Council of the city of Lyon that councilman Medina be and hereby is thanked and congratulated for his years of distinguished public service to the city of Lyon we further resolve that this resolution be entered into the into the minutes of the Council of the city of Lyndon and that a copy be presented to Armando Medina in recognition of the forging and is signed by Michelle yamakai as council president and myself Derek Armstead as mayor and Joe bodic as a city clerk will attest to it and I'll say this again thank you for your service it's not easy being a councilman uh we're going to miss you okay and um listen I know you move to Colonia but you can always come back if you want may we also have a plaque for him okay okay Armando we're going to miss you I know this is tough on you this evening you know you served the residents of Ninth Ward Lyon with your heart and soul so we're going to miss you so the plaque is acknowledging um ninth W councilman Armando MAA for the dedicated Service as councilman of the ninth W of the city of Lyon from January 1st 2013 to April 30th 2024 congratulations Council now we going to take some pictures she she she that's right she's working in Sur you want to hold uh oh go please get in thank you I'd be remissed if I didn't tell this story uh I wasn't much older than you the first time I came to this council meeting uh you know trying to get more involved in the city and find out where my parents tax dollars were going and uh through my first couple years coming here I started trying to help out the candidates that I saw best uh you know that would be best for my parents and I'll be honest with you when when Armando Medina was running in 2012 uh I was the campaign manager for his opponent and uh I never knew him I just saw all his signs going up in the ninth ward which is a local uh to where I grew up and he uh I never met him but uh it was the it was the week that Sandy hit right before the election and Armando called for a complete cancellation of campaigning that we'd be doing no more campaigning and it was really an honorable thing uh and I met him on Election Day you know a lot of us stand outside the polls trying to get your last minute of votes and I met him there and I spoke to him for about four hours outside uh where the candidate I was supporting wasn't even there and by the time I finished talking to him over those four hours I was like that's a guy for the job I hope he wins and uh and I did all that work just to support him in the end I've I've uh I've supported he's he's become like a friend uh to me and he's he's the literal definition of how to do this job he picks up the phone for the residents when they when they call uh and he helps them with their problems and that's our jobs as council members so I just wanted to say that and tell that story and thank you again Armando thank you I'm going to add to that story the other guy who was running against him he didn't stand a chance cuz we were supporting Amando I'll something real quick you know I'll share something real quick since we have the staff of mamia and U and I also have my my son here but when I ran in 2012 I ran as independent and let me tell you something guys I had no aspiration of being involved in politics and whatnot but what really got me involved just BR me back backstep a little bit I'm an Elizabeth boy so I grew up in Elizabeth so I'm here no I'm here cuz my wife's a Lyndon girl and uh we chose to settle here in Lyndon we had like a five-year plan no aspiration running for policy but I got involved in my community and I started making phone calls and I started seeing little things here in there that just didn't make sense or wasn't right and one day I got a knock on the door like hey you'll be good at this and we did I think oh my God we met with the mayor that time he was a councilman and we had a little pwow meeting in my backyard I think we gr up GR up hot dogs and hamburgers back there and you know what and I knocked on doors and I still couldn't believe in that day in 2012 I not expecting to win and I actually won but what I think was the most proudest moment um that I became the first Latino councilman in the city of Lyndon and you guys no one can ever tell you that you can't do something um so just keep that in your hat and keep that as inspiration to keep moving forward in life do well guys thank [Applause] [Music] you okay we have one more presentation a short one um Jen okay at this time I'd like to ask Mindy kak to please come forward this will be a quick presentation tell if she doesn't want them I'll take them how you doing while we're waiting for Mindy I just want to acknowledge someone else in our audience this evening we have former sixth W councilman Bob Sadowski where she she's coming okay don't be shy Mindy we know you don't have a shy bone in your body okay hey one thing uh the Armstead Administration is very big on is let's catch somebody doing something good now Mindy um Easter week during spring break ran a health fair here in City Hall and it was exceptional all I heard from the employees was what a wonderful job she did uh she brought many vendors in and she did this a lot of this all on her spare time so Mindy we'd like to acknowledge you and thank you for your hard work and dedication and thank you for all you do [Applause] you're welcome you even took your mask off conratulations all right okay we're going to go outside okay Mama and M staff we're going to go outside and take pictures now oh okay I'm I'm I forgot [Music] [Applause] [Music] mon okay we're we need Lisa can the council members please return to the Das we're going to continue with ordinances on hearing please [Music] Christine's here [Music] all right okay okay could all the council members please return to the Das okay okay okay we're continuing with our meeting okay we're going to continue with ordinances on hearing please okay Mr Martinez could you please close that door ccil president I moved to have just get everyone yes please close the doors the room alen can you close the doors for us okay all right we're going to continue with um ordinances on first reading beginning with ordinance 6815 please an ordinance authorizing the sale of lock 89 lot 6 known as 610 East Baltimore Avenue on the current tax outlas of the city of lyen not needed for public use setting a minimum bin price of $130,000 and esta abl lishing a public auction date of May 1 2024 at 10: a.m. okay has ordinance been properly published and posted yes ma'am has any written communication been received no ma'am is there anyone from the public who wishes to be heard on this ordinance okay seeing none can we have a motion please council president I'd like to make a motion that we um close the hearing on ordinance 68-1 15 adopted and ask for a second please second Mrs Orman yes javic yes Caldwell yes Mohammed Rivas yes Roman no Strano yes Armstead yes Medina yes Hudak yes Mrs Yus yes ordinance 6816 please an ordinance to amend and supplement chapter 31 zoning of an ordinance entitled an ordinance adopting and enacting the revised General ordinances of the city of Lindon 1999 pass November 23rd 1999 and approved November 24th 1999 and has amended and supplemented amending certain provisions of the c-1b district revising section 31-121 permitted use 31-1 19.18 parking lots and 31 uh- 2513 signs in the c1b commercial District okay has the ordinance been properly published and posted yes ma'am has any communication been received no ma'am is there anyone from the public who wishes to be heard on this ordinance okay seeing none can we have a motion please I I move to close the public hearing of ordinance number 6816 move for approval and request a second second Mrs Orman yes javic yes Caldwell yes revas yes Roman yes Strano yes Armstead yes Medina yes Hudak yes Mrs yamus yes ordinance 6817 please an ordinance of the city of Lyon adopting a Redevelopment plan for Block 426 Lots 23 and 4 formerly a Mei Restaurant pursuant to the local Redevelopment Housing law njsa 48 colon 12-1 at sequence okay has an ordinance been properly published and posted yes ma'am has any written communication been received ma'am is there anyone from the public who wishes to be heard on this ordinance okay [Music] okay can you please state your name and address for the record sir yeah John kaser 23 West Mel Avenue okay go ahead um Can somebody up there just let the citizens of the of Lyndon know exactly what this is going to be this Redevelopment project right Mr Mr anelli [Music] sure the the Redevelopment plan that is on for adoption before Council this evening creates an overlay zone for what I'll call the amichi property uh and basically in looking at the Redevelopment plan uh it calls for essentially a mixed use building uh as at least the the major U I guess use for for for the property okay uh so it's going to be Apartments multif family residential okay how many units I don't know if it I'm just looking now I don't know if it calls for an exact number I think that that will come at some later date this just allows the use to take place okay uh I'm I'll just let the residents know it's going to be 70 units and four for affordable housing uh this is a Peter mlo project with Vic vegra the city engineer and um uh I think it's being sold for 2 million and they're trying to sell it already for 3 million what I'm saying is like like everybody on the in the city knows what it's going to be so I I just want to be uh transparent there for the residents thank [Applause] you Mr o' hallerin Craig hin 120 Donaldson please uh I'd like to speak on this the other day at one of the meeting I went to I believe the developers calling for a four-story apartment with a penthouse on top in where this property is located and I don't see how that fits in with the architecture in the area which is called for by the city master plan that's my question Mr anelli I'm not a planner but uh the uh the city's planner Paul Ricky put together the Redevelopment plan that calls for this overlay for multif family residential and uh the the bulk requirements that are set forth in the plan so uh I'm a lawyer not a planner but uh I I I Rely and I know this Council does as well as the mayor on Paul Ricky who has been the city's planner for quite some time and has a lot of institutional knowledge about uh zoning all throughout the city thank you I I'll ask Paul my myself when I see him again okay thank you is there anyone else wishing to be heard on this ordinance seeing none can we have a motion please Council pres council president i' like to make a motion to close the hearing on 68-77 adopted and ask for a second please second Mrs zman yes javic yes Caldwell yes Mohammed yes Rivas yes Roman no Strano yes Armstead yes Medina yes Hudak yes Mrs yamus yes ordinance 6818 please an ordinance amending chapter 2.72 entitled Committees of the coun city council uh be it ordained by the Council of the city of Lindon section one that chapter 2- 7.2 entitled Committees of the city council shall be amended as to read as follows this ordinance merges the finance committee with the revenue enhancement committee and merges the Public Works committee engineering committee and public property committee into the community services affordable housing committee okay has the ordinance been properly published and posted yes ma'am has any written communication been received no ma'am is there anyone from the public who wishes to be heard on this ordinance okay thanks come forward [Music] a two-part question um first can someone your name in Virginia Malik ly Road thank you the can someone in one sentence explain what is the function of the revenue enhancement committee what do they do what's their remit the revenue enhancement committee they meet uh try to try to bring uh read development and more Revenue into the city so is this what Al is this Alex is part of this or this is so that's actually his council president may I if you don't mind Virginia uh Alex is not simply go ahead Alex is uh is the director of lyen Economic Development Committee it's an autonomous agency that we just give some funding to uh however uh the revenue enhancement committee is a council manic committee this whole Council runs off of council committees and they look to enhance the revenue and then bring those designs before the whole Council our finance committee is a big portion of it uh Council woman oron's been on that for part of the enhancement they're looking to bring more Revenue into the city okay so they're going to be working closely with the with Alex yes they're combining the Committees because they're mostly the same members anyway they're combining the Committees because they're mostly the same members anyway so they can handle all the business together M it's making it more efficient okay thank you thank you that's okay is there anyone else who wishes to be heard on this ordinance seeing none can we have a motion please council president I move to uh close the hearing on ordinance 68-1 18 and ask for a second second Mrs oron yes javic yes calwell yes Mohammed yes Rivas yes Roman yes Strano yes Armstead yes Medina yes Hudak yes Mrs Yus yes ordinance 6819 please an ordinance to amend and supplement chapter 7 traffic of an ordinance entitled an ordinance adopting and enacting the revised General ordinances of the city of Lyon 1999 passed November 23rd 1999 and approved November 24th 1999 and has amended and supplement be it ordained by the Council of the city of lynon that chapter 7 traffic check 7-20 oneway streets shall be in the same is hereby amended 7-20 oneway streets name of Street add lindar Street Direction North from West West Elizabeth Avenue to West blankie Street okay has the ordinance been properly published and posted yes ma'am has any written communication been received no ma'am is there anyone from the public who wishes to be heard on this ordinance seeing none can we have a motion please council president move the hearing be closed and ordinance 6819 be adopted and request a second second Mrs oron yes javic yes Caldwell yes Mohammed yes Rivas yes Roman yes Strano yes Armstead yes Medina yes fak yes Mrs yamakas yes ordinance 6820 please an ordinance to amend and supplement chapter 7 traffic of an ordinance entitled an ordinance adopting and enacting the revised General ordinances of the city of Lindon 1999 passed November 23rd 1999 and approved November 24th 1999 and is amended and supplemented be it ordained by the Council of the city of Lyndon section one the chapter 7 traffic section 7- 22.1 four-way stop inter section shall be in the same is hereby amended as follows add Clinton Street and East 13th Street stop signs to be located on Clinton Street and East 13th Street East 13th Street in Clinton okay has the ordinance been properly published and posted yes ma'am has any written communication been received no ma'am is there anyone from the public who wishes to be heard on this ordinance okay seeing can we have a motion please council president I'd like to make a motion to close the hearing on ordinance 68-20 adopted and ask for a second please second Mrs oron yes javic yes Caldwell yes Mohammed yes Rivas yes Roman yes Strano yes Armstead yes Medina yes Hudak yes Mrs Yus yes ordinance 6821 please an ordinance to amend and supplement chapter 7 traffic of an ordinance entitled an ordinance adopting and enacting the revised General ordinances of the city of Lyon 1999 passed November 23rd 1999 and approved November 24th 1999 and as amended and supplemented be it ordained by the Council of the city of lynon section one that chapter 7 traffic shall being the same as hereby amended as follows 7-33 handicap parking regulation 7- 331a handicap parking on the street add 119 East Henry Street one spot okay has the ordinance been properly published and posted yes ma'am has any written communication been received no ma'am is there anyone from the public who wishes to be heard on this ordinance okay seeing n can we have a motion please council president I move the hearing be Clos and the ordinance number 6821 be adopted and request a second second Mrs Orman yes javic yes Caldwell yes Mohammad yes revas Roman yes Strano yes Armstead yes Medina yes Hudak yes Mrs Yus yes ordinance 6822 please an ordinance to amend and supplement chapter 20 shade trees of an Ord entitled an ordinance adopting and en acting the revised General ordinances of the city of Lyon 1999 passed November 23rd 1999 and approved November 24th 1999 and has amended and supplemented be it ordained by the Council of the city of lynon section one that chapter 20 shade tree is hereby repealed in its entirety and shall be replaced as follows this is all right no that's it okay has the ordinance been properly published and posted yes ma'am has any written communication been received no ma'am is there anyone from the public who wishes to be heard on this ordinance okay seeing none can we have a motion please Madame President I'd like to make a motion to close the hearing on Ord and 6822 move for adoption and respectfully request a second second can we discussion thank you council president uh just for the Public's uh knowledge this is a ordinance that comes to us from I think the d uh that all municipalities have to pass a a tree ordinance essentially uh creating a permit fee and creating a process where you have to get a permit to take out a tree on your own property on your own property not on public property this is private property you have to get a permit to take out a tree and also um institutes major fines if you don't get a permit so I just wanted that to be on the record for everyone it's $30 to get your permit to take out a tree on your own property all right we had a motion in a second can we have a roll call please Mrs zman yes javic yes cwell Mohammed yes Rivas yes Roman no Strano yeah while seeing that this is in my opinion a government overreach I vote no Armstead yes Medina no Hudak yes Mrs yamus yes okay we'll now move on to consent agenda items all items listed with asteris are considered to be routine by the city council and be enacted with one motion there will be no separate discussion on these items unless the council member so request we have items number uh 1 through four and we have a motion please council president I off motion that we adopt the mentioned items ask I second Mrs Orman yes javic yes Caldwell yes Mohammad yes Rivas yes Roman yes Strano yes Armstead yes Medina yes pudak yes Mrs Yus yes on our consent agenda we had a retirement this evening I'd like to congratulate Robert Firestone labor and public works and wish him best on his retirement and thank you for his service to the city okay we'll now move on to um reports from the governing body beginning with councilwoman oron thank you C thank you council president I'm going to start up with the budget review and finance report approval is requested for the following Finance actions the payment of bills totaling 1, 686,000 89850 bills have been signed by the mayor council president Finance chairwoman in a detailed check register and vouchers are on file in a city clerk's office we are in receipt of investment made by the city treasurer for the month of March at the rate of 4.16% I move for approval and ask for a second second Mrs Orman yes javic yes calwell yes Mohammed yes Rivas yes Roman yes Strano yes Armstead yes Medina yes Hudak yes Mrs yakes yes go ahead with your report Council okay my next report is div vision of transportation and properties um I hereby submit the monthly financial report from the vision of transportation and parking for the month of March 2004 the report includes the collection of on and off street parking meters railroad parking lots railroad parking permits and Merchant parking permits the Trenton site collections $1,588 New York site collections $9 $2 Railroad Credit Card transactions $2,457 railroad permits $768 railroad mobile mobile payment um 2320 parking 8,346 online railroad permits $1 14,835 parking meter Collections $7,923 and Merchant permits $125 for a grant total of $ 59,94093 10 submitted by the traffic maintenance supervisor Tyron given okay I'm going to just be real brief um I'm going to pretty much forego um a basic W report but I would like to just take my time or my minutes to say so long and farewell to Amanda Medina amondo and I uh go back quite a ways I think he was on Council just for one term longer than I but there's something unique about Armando's Ward and my ward it seems like we always wanted to flip flop our residents there was one time things on one side of St jge Avenue belonged to the Ninth Ward and then they did some redistricting and all of a sudden it became the first Ward and then they realized well maybe we weren't so bright when we did that and they took it back and it now belongs to the ninth ward so for about I would say six years or so amondo and I kept flip-flopping res residents so now we have this great little group of people who always seem to call us both but I wanted to say that he was just he's an amazing person to part partner with when it comes to doing um yard sales and just anything that helps to make our community better um you're a great person Amando you're a great council person and I'm going to I'm going to miss you you're always someone that I could speak to who kind of like you know levelheaded you know and just makes a lot of sense with some of the things that he says I wish you and your family the best in your new Endeavors don't forget where you come from okay and just remember you can always come back home so once again many blessings to you and your family next I got a special phone call from one of the residents in my ward who amondo and I work with uh quite a bit his name is JJ W and unfortunately JJ could not be here today to wish you well so he asked me to take a few moments on his behalf to thank you for being an amazing man and to say thank you for being an amazing person for being an amazing councilman and for being just a an amazing member of our community he also wants to say thank you for being someone he who he could respect for being someone who helps everyone regardless of their race religion or background but mostly he says thank you for being a friend Amando JJ wishes you well and he too will miss you that ends my report thank you councilwoman Norman councilman javic yes thank you council president as chairman of the fire committee the fire prevention Bureau collected the following monies during the month of March 2024 a total of $2,331 26 regarding the Linden fire dep Department ambulance billing the amount of uh 8,851 26 for March 2024 have been added to the total deposits for 2024 totaling $278,500 58 the construction code department has has issued 220 permits and processed 32 certificates for the month of March 2024 monthly revenue is as follows building and CCO permits and additional permit fees $179,500 zoning $3,650 Court settlements for the month $7,000 reflective total being $1 190,191 uh Little Thing from the Board of Health dates have been set for the 2024 rabies vaccination clinic as follows Saturday May 4th 10: a.m. to 2 p.m. Firehouse number two uh 302 West St George Avenue Monday May 6 400 p.m. to 8:00 P.M Firehouse number 3 125 East Elizabeth Avenue uh the next date has been changed so please mark Mark that down uh the new date is Tuesday May 14th uh 5 to 8:00 p.m. Firehouse number 1 302 Southwood Avenue these clinics are free and open to all New Jersey residents and we encourage all lyen residents to take advantage of these clinics for the vital immunizations that protect the health of their pets for safety uh all dogs must be leashed and all cats must be in carriers questions or information call the Lynden Health Department department at 9847496386 Street will be converted to a one-way Street for safety concerns with the flow of traffic in this area scooters electric bikes and such have become a problem in our uptown area and we are actively looking uh for ways to handle this situation also uh as a reminder gas line work will be start on Wood Avenue in the evening within the next two weeks please plan alternate routes this year we will finally be repaving Fuller Road which is the Street alongside super freshh on style street by the new Dunkin Donuts Drive-thru this is long overdue and extremely needed please also be vigilant when walking your dogs also always keeping them on a leash we have had several instances of dog attacks and bites uh around our town I can be reach at 98494 4608 or email me at B javic Lind new jersey.gov on Facebook second word counsilman Barry e javic and remember to visit our city of Lyon website for all additional information council president and the report thank you councilman javic councilwoman Colwell welcome back thank you Council uh council president I'm going to need a little bit more time maybe like a minute a minute and a half okay if that's okay with you okay dear residents of the Third Ward I hope this message finds you well and in good spirits as your chair of the local assistance I want to take a moment to remind you of the various resources available to our community local assistance service provides valuable information and resources on benefits including general assistance benefits through work first New Jersey and emergency assistance benefits for eligible residents in New Jersey you can easily apply for these benefits online at www.njhelps.org unemployment. newjersey.gov in case of emergencies do not hesitate to contact 211 for IM immediate assistance and I want to thank um our director John Watkins for all the work he does thank you very much furthermore as the chair of it I am pleased to inform you about cyber security initiatives and projects we've been implementing to ensure the safety and security of our city digital infrastructure mandatory cyber security training is now in place for All City Lindon city of Lyon employees with doov accounts or access to City Computers the training covers a range of topics including online classes ethical fishing email simulations credential leaks and vulnerability management to enhance awareness and prep uh to prepare against cyber threats several security projects such as adoption of password manager for All City and Fire Department Personnel awareness to restrict access to City accounts outside the United States and the deployment of crow strikes a advanced endpoint protection through New Jersey the state and local Cy cyber security grant program are underway to bolster our side cyber security defenses I want to thank Telly app as well as our uh police department and Jerry Bishop for working on this and you're doing a phenomenal job in addition to these updates I want to express my sincere gratitude for your patience and support during my recent Health journey following a challenging period of misdiagnosis and mobility issues I underwent a hip replacement surgery in Jan January of 2024 after losing 80 pounds to meet the surgical requirements through dedication Physical Therapy lifestyle changes I regain my mobility and I am committed to inspiring others to prioritize their health and advocate for themselves in a face of adversity I extend a heartfelt thanks to my medical team especially Dr Amed sadiki uh H Hackensack Meridian health JFK as well as my husband Ray my sons Trevor and Tyler friends colleagues Who provided unwavering support through this journey moreover I I am grateful to the mayor council president Council and community members for their support and support my request for the infrastructure improvements at the four-way stop at PA the P I've been asking for this request for since I became councilwoman and it finally came into fitions as your councilwoman I am honored to serve as the Third Ward and remain dedicated to being a part of the solution remember I am here to support you and my commitment is never to give up or give in let's continue working together for the betterment of our community and please mark on your calendars the upcoming third world community meeting on May 28th at the Lyndon Public Library your participation and feedback are invaluable as we strive to address Community needs and concerns I want to thank all the city's employees for their work and dedication I want to give a special shout out to Mindy kusak for her hard work on the health care Fair Affair and I want to address the scooter issues because um on um between Roselle and um I'm sorry yeah between Rosel and Elizabeth ab and wood a knew there is a scooter issue please be considerate of uh other constituents um walking on the side well you're causing issues and you are you can cause harm to our residents so please um take it easy and do not ride the scooters on the um sidewalks I also want to wish councilman Medina um well on his new chapter and his life it has been a pleasure serving with you I can call you and bounce ideas off of you know some you know he's been here for what 12 years so I'm still a noice as a councilwoman but I appreciate um all our conversations do not be a stranger I wish you the best and um that concludes my report and by the way my number is 98531 676 and my email is mwell london-new jersey. org that concludes my report council president thank you very much thank you councilwoman councilman Mohammed good evening council president councel my dear friends and neighbors I look forward to being more seeing more of you as the weather improves and moving about the community please reach out to me if you you like uh you have any fourth W uh uh concerns and also please reach out to me if you have a child that you would like to be considered for our summer help program text me 908 463 4843 text me 98463 4843 I also wish to uh congratulate and wish him God speak to councilman Medina in his next Iration of his journey in life and I'd like to welcome back Miss Virginia Malik back to the council chambers it's always good to see you there are some we don't I don't know it's it's not a such a pleasure but when we see you I know things are going to be okay welcome back and welcome to all the uh people that are here to keep seeing the city move forward we appre appreciate you thank you thank you Council that concludes my report thank you councilman Rivas good evening council president as my as a lead on with the city and the Board of Education I would like to inform you of some of the uh activities that the uh lyen Board of Education of the school district is uh offering to our citizens um they have a excellent program called um mental health matters uh it is part of what they call the parents University and they will have a session on the ti title mindfulness for parents tomorrow April 17 at 5:30 p.m at 100 Edgewood Road here in lynon uh the following week there will have a session on social emotional learning uh this is a offer for all the parents of our children at school uh these are great seminars uh I would like to invite all of you to please to attend addition Al Madame President City Council Members the U lyen board of education has SP uh has a great partnership with our city hall with mayor AER the city of Linda and the Department of Public and park Recreations and throughout their web page they are um informing and advertising some of the uh different activities that the department of Park and Recreation offers to our children's um there is a spring wrestling um they they are the dates are between April 9 and J June 13 uh they are uh all these information you can find it um in the um emails that normally our lynen school district superintendent sends to all the parents and if you are don't have a child in the school system you can find all the information not only in the city website but also in the uh uh website of the uh School City uh district there is also another program for youth arts and crafts um a nice program that I I looked at it that has been advertised through the uh board of education is uh called hookum fishing um our children to have the ability to fish and there are certain certain days available with a $10 fee uh the first day was April 11 but then the next day will be April 25th May 2nd and May 9th continue all the way into June 13 for registrations uh please follow uh the information provided last but not Le um we have two other activities that they are advertising through for our childr is the summer track conditioning program and kids to Parks day which is a schedule for Saturday May 18th 2024 uh to all my neighbors and citizens of Lyndon um as you as you as you were part of the presentation of the budget the uh School Board uh takes great amount of our budget and they have their meetings where all of you can uh learn from them the good work that they are performing the work the next work session is on Tuesday uh April 23rd and the regular meeting is scheduled for Thursday April 25th at the gym uh at the gation of school number one in regards to my fifth word report I'd like to uh say thank you to all my neighbors and the fit word for continuing to give me support messages uh on the uh personal circumstance that occurred to me a year ago I really really thank you and God bless all of you for understanding how difficult could it be for a family uh to learn a a new a new chapter on their life uh I want to say that I am committed that I am going to continue to work for the U best that I can in order to provide assistance to all the uh my neighbors in the fifth work and as well to anybody in the city that I can uh I'd like to Echo uh my partner councilman for the third work on congratulating and say thank you for the hard work of a city city officials uh especially to Mindy uh who uh wish very well deserve everything of the what she does I have witnessed that she has a lot of heart on everything that she do um I also like to inform you that uh on April 27 and April 28th together with the award we're going to be hosting the uh 2024 white garage sales with no permit require for the uh cities uh neighbors of the fifth war and together with the award and later on on the year we will have uh another opportunity in October ladies and gentlemen um I'm still new and city council and as I said I'd like to continue to thank all the neighbors and the support that my Council partners and members are providing me uh the mayor council president and everybody else if you want to reach out to me please don't not hesitate to do so uh my email is C Reas Linden nj.gov Madam president that concludes my report thank you councilman revas councilman Roman thank you council president I'm going to need some extra time uh because I have to read the Health Report um oh you know what Barry javic already wrote it I'll I'll skip on that um councilwoman Caldwell it's great to have you back on this Das very happy that you're here uh I wanted to uh as a member of the lyen fire committee I want to invite residents to the 2024 junior fire academy which is taking place June 25th through June 28th uh this is a great program for your seventh and eth grade age children uh to learn what it's like to be a firefighter over a week long uh training especially the ones you think that might be future firefighters we have a really great fire department who honestly uh they see some hard things and they protect us all day and night uh so if you have a kid that may be interested in joining up visit our linen website visit the lyen fire department Facebook page for more information on that uh speaking of our fire department we're about to pass another resolution uh for a new ambulance uh to the tune of almost $400,000 uh I think we have two amb ambulances and a fire ladder on order we have two brand new ambulances and a fire ladder on order which is probably in the tune of almost $3 million um but the point is is that uh this is equipment that is needed for our firefighters uh we as a council spare no expense to make sure that a fire chief uh his Command Staff and the men and women of our fire department um have what they need so that they can keep our family safe and do their job and keep themselves safe as in the process uh so 2023 and 2024 resurfacing projects work has already started on wood lawn in the dead end and we are going to be resurfacing and doing concrete work all the way up to Union Avenue about two blocks from one and N uh that's already in motion you'll see a lot of new concrete uh a lot of new Curbing and new handicap accessible walkways um I really wanted to say that in front of Dian wiling but she left right before it uh because that's her neighborhood and she's going to be very happy about that Bob Sadowski were're also replacing his sidewalks I wanted him to hear that as well uh so it's overdue for the area uh we are also Paving East munsel from Clinton Into the Dead End near the graveyard uh cemetery and also East Stimson from woodlon to to Mel I'm sorry wood law to Clinton honestly after this there's only about a half a dozen roads in this Sixth Ward that over the last six years that have not been paved uh West msel uh is certainly on top of the list as well as um the obvious one which is pleasant and West Lyon Avenue uh over near where the GM property was in Legacy square is now uh Pleasant and West Lyon Avenue is just in atrocious condition uh it's it's unexcusable um the water company isn't quite done there yet but they've really really made it hard to drive on that street um so just avoid it if you can uh um not even if you can just avoid it completely until uh the work is finished and we can get something done over there uh so it'll be up to the water company to replace it as they have done a lot of the damage over there um and DPW is or or DCS is uh filling a lot of the potholes over there but they just keep opening up uh it's really hard to do that so if you do drive over there you're going to damage your vehicle and I just uh just tell you not to not to go over there until the works done but the work on the train station uh and the train station block and Bridge is nearly complete I really want to sincerely thank Jerry Bishop uh Nick pantina Tyrone given uh everyone at the Department of Community Services who worked on that project there's a lot of you uh it looks great so far there's a little bit of painting that is going to be done and there's going to be a really good spring cleanup um coming through with our special improvement district uh and our public properties division so I'm excited that things will be spruced up around the train station Aesthetics and cleanliness go a long way uh for making proud where you live uh and the train station has long been uh considered the the open front door of our our city so I'm glad that we're we're trying to make it uh look as aesthetically pleasing as possible um we just passed the ordinance for four-way stop sign on East Clinton Avenue on East 13th Street in Clinton uh as many after many years in Council finally we have a four four-way stop sign to slow these Speeders down I've seen multiple horrific you know 40 mph accidents at this intersection uh and I want to thank this Council for your support on this ordinance um we may need another one down the line uh but um we're going to be looking at that as as time progresses um I'm also asking our Seventh Ward councilman to my right who shares one side of the street in the Seventh Ward um as well as our traffic committee to help me expand the signage on Clinton Street to stop these Monster uh light traffic trucks um that are way over the legal limit from turning on to 13th Street uh and 12th and 11th uh they're always breaking the law when they turn on those streets um they are way over the legal limit and they're taking down many of our tree branches or our electrical wires uh they get stuck in the in the streets because they can't navigate them uh and it's just a loud noise in a completely residential neighborhood so I appreciate the help uh we're going to be looking to expand signage to stop them from coming on and expand enforcement through our Police Department finally uh Armando councilman Medina he fired up man he's been saying that to me for over 10 years I've known I'm every time he saw me fired up fired up I'm really going to miss that up on this di so thank you for your service to uh the residents of Sunnyside and the residents of Lyon thank you sir council president concludes my report thank you councilman Roman councilman Strano you really didn't have to reset that's you know some of us are old and I'm not going to take as much time as these other people real quick confidential Personnel report for this month Department of Treasury number one approve the change in work hours for Isabella Gonzalez student assistant not to exceed 35 hours per week at the rate of $713 per hour effective May 9th 2024 through September 9th 2024 number two is in the department of construction code approving the advertisement Statewide for the position of an electrical subcode official full-time at salary of $74,900 to $138,700 B is approving the advertisement Statewide for the position of a Fire subcode official part-time at the hourly range of 3937 to 6638 an hour three in the department of the police or Police Department a is approving the amendment of the appointment dates for Renee Garcia and Diamond Livingston Public Safety telecommunicator trainees from March 1st of 2024 to April 15th of 2024 um and we're approving The Residency waiver for Renee Garcia for is in the office of the mayor a approving the advertisement for the position of a confidential administrative secretary secretary to the business administrator full-time at a salary range uh beginning at 48,2 137 463 five in personnels approving the FMLA NJ F leaves on file in the division of personnel uh move for approval and answer for a second second Mrs oron yes javic yes Caldwell yes Mohammed yes Rivas yes Roman yes Strano yes Armstead yes Medina yes Hudak yes Mrs yakaitis yes go ahead C all right that concludes the personel report real quick update on our skate park our skate park is not officially open yet uh we're at this point uh doing some final dressing up on the Landscaping on the outside and I just want I mean it's as much as it's not open yet it's being used every day it just warms my heart to see that there's a park that's being used every day even when it's raining out and it's U um it's just great to see that you know there's a outlet for those people who are Endeavor to enjoy that sport uh stay tuned for the uh ribbon cutting ceremony um hopefully we should be able to set a date for that at uh next month's meeting and real quick I just want to um congratulate Armando Medina on a job well done um little side note story um when Armando's son was attending school too I would get a report almost every morning hey Ralph there's some guy's got a truck parked over here or some guy got a truck parked over there and it was always great about you know being you know just personal personable and being able to you know uh you know um communicate you know with other Council people in such a way that you you always felt good to um you know have have that gu back and I wish you luck and um I know you'll do great you're a great individual um and um you know um simp fire whatever they say fired up concludes my report thank you councilman sto councilman Armstead uh thank you uh council president uh real brief I just going wanted to let uh the people of the eighth Ward uh know that there is a new convenience store that just opened well it was rebook by somebody else it's on the corner of mcgilvery and G Avenue right on the corner it's a new store so um support local business their prices are pretty decent I've been in there and shopping I also wanted to um thank the department of uh DPW um for the outstanding work that they have been doing in the community I have seen the streets so cleaned uh the areas where people are dumping they on it right away they're getting it cleaned up and also as well I wanted to um speak on the streets that needed to be paved I'm getting a lot of calls and I'm just asking people to be patient these streets are on the list chanler Avenue Baltimore Avenue they're on the list to get paved and just be patient it is going to get done also and I'm going to just going to close this out on April 27th and April 28th the a word is having a yard sale you don't need a permit for the yard sale you can just sit yourself out that day but I'm also asking for you to register with me you can call me at era code 98463 3 8986 or you can text me and you can also uh go through my email address um Mr Armstead at Linden dj.gn knowing you I've known you um before I was even thinking about running for office and one of the nicest guys that I can honestly say that I have met uh on this city council you know everybody has a journey and and people there never ended the journey and a friend of mine once told me he said the joy is in the journey so I hope you keep enjoying life and I wish you all the best and and that's all I have for today thank you thank you councilman councilman Medina thank you council president of course this will be my last report uh on this Das um you know setting up here just think of the ways how am I going to start this report right can I talk about what's coming down the pipe for the ninth ward um or should I talk about you know what we accomplished as a community and I think I'm going to start with that um we accomplished so much and the ninth W in the last 12 years I can't believe it's been 12 years it's just it just time just just goes so fast you know from living on Orchard terrrace seeing all the craziness and wildness getting involved uh and actually winning an election uh which which is just just crazy and uh getting getting the work put in right from day one first things we did stop signs on Orchard and the with Terrace that took a year no no no NOS so I kept on getting up here nose nose nose Nos and we finally got it done resident Park perit parking on all nine side streets and and we do these things for quality of life for the residents of the Ninth Ward and throughout the city of lynon um so much more have been accomplished between improving Parks Sunnyside Park palent Park you name it Etc so many things have been accomplished and I can sit up here for a couple of hours and kind of go through every single one of them but I think the most important thing is answering people's phone calls listening to them meeting with them trying to address their concerns because you cannot address every single concern but I think the most important piece is just listening to people and taking their calls treat them like you want to be treated and I think that's what made me successful as a councilman the last um 12 years here uh on this governing body uh and that's why they had so much faith in me and kept them voting me back in uh with no obstacles and I really enjoy that so this is definitely better Suite um I'm going to miss the daily interaction um that's actually a double-edged kind of statement to say because sometimes those interactions can be stressful but I will miss the daily interactions I will miss the community um I will miss Das just working with council president she's actually my favorite up here sorry guys council president and I go go back a ways and we got Elizabeth Roots yes we do yes we do and council president was there along with Joe bodak in his office with Jennifer Honan uh assisted me throughout the first couple years uh on Council just trying to get things accomplished um but I will miss his dice I will miss working with with everyone here uh maybe I'll pop in from time to time um but a lot has been accomplished and I'm proud of that um a lot of people have called and thanked me for my service and one and some have called because they've been they're a little bit upset why are you leaving why are you leaving why are you leaving you know we all have our reasons we all have to take care of our families and do what we have to do to uh benefit our own families of course um so I won't be far and um I think um the ninth W is in good shape alred I you're going to be coming in I met this guy a few years ago he almost hooked me up but he hasn't called me in a while but it's all good I'm still waiting for that call back from that text by the way but I will be assisting him if he ask me for help I will help him um transition into the role uh and I just ask PE people allow this Council and in a democratic process to transition outward into this role um he's also an orcher terrorist we're right right in front of that beautiful stop sign that we put in there in 2013 By the way um but um I'm here to help with anything and answer any questions for anyone that might need um some answering but real quick on the ninth ward um Road Improvement are coming down the pipe Orchard Summit and thewit Paving will begin I hope in this beginning of Spring um sidewalk I actually just submitted a few sidewalk um that I missed from last year and those were already submitted in as well so the ninth war is in good shape a lot of things have have been done a lot of due diligence have have been done to rectify some of those issue between the flooding on Rosewood and thewit and Rosewood and Northwood Avenue and whatnot so I think you're walking into a pretty stable place you just have to take the calls out for it remember just take the phone call no matter what uh or just text people back but um again it's going to miss everyone here there's a lot of people I want to thank again city clerk office uh Treasures Office DPW public properties everyone here the Police Department fire department engineering it's just so many people construction code it's just so many people everyone here made it possible for me to be successful here and uh and I built some good relationships so look forward to just checking in and hopefully people check in with me with that being said I will be available until April 30th 11:59 p.m. my number is 908 98661 thank you and that concludes my final report thank you councilman Medina [Applause] councilwoman Hudak thank you so it's time to declutter your home the 10th Ward is having a free yard sale this weekend April 20th and the 21st so all residents of the 10th Ward are welcome to participate and the lynen recreation department they have many activities that play an important role in our community so I encourage everyone to go to their website and look at the many activities and to also contact them at 90847463675645364 evening on behalf of the city council I'd like to uh thank uh our telecommunicators our dispatchers down in uh central dispatch is telecommunicator week it's not an easy job that they have uh not everybody could do that job you have to have a lot of patience remain calm so um we'd like to thank them for their service that they do to the city of lynon also um I attended the friends of Linda Library this past Saturday their uh reorganization meeting they are doing a lot of funraising to bring programs to the library one such is um they're having uh bulb sale there's a catalog available you get it online or it's available at the library um it the sale dates are March 20th to May 10th or online sales are March 20th through May 15th um the shipping is just $6.99 per order you could have it ship to the library or if you do the online order you could do it out of your house they have some very beautiful bulbs and stuff and other products so I encourage you if you're going to buy any uh products for your Gardens consider looking at uh the library fundraiser and last but not least councilman Medina I want to wish you the best on your next Journey um you did an exception job as a councilman here and big shoes to fill you know never any complaints from your constituents you're always there to serve them so we wish you the best I know you're moving on but so your most important job you'll have more time for is that with time with your son so we're going to miss you you know always come back to fire us up a little bit you know you're welcome and we'll all stay in touch with you so thank you again for everything okay mayor Armstead yes good evening all the only thing I'm going to report on tonight is the fact that we uh today we had our official groundbreaking uh for our RNG um project which will be um converting uh natural food waste to a natural gas by food waste into a natural gas byproduct um the project uh is going to be uh on the old Clayton property down on l Road uh it's a 440 million dollar project um it will again produce a valuable renewable natural gas um and sustainable energy recovery from diverted Organics into waste from from food waste the project is going to be the largest carbon reduction uh project in the state and probably one of the largest in the country the um facility can process approximately one 100 1,500 tons of of organic waste per per day and will produce 3,800 decms per day of renewable Gas Energy um that's your equivalent of 31,000 gallons of gasoline every day um so this project again uh is a tremendous U project for the city of London uh it it it it sets the tone for us to be considered a green City and it would reduce the carbon footprint uh for years to come that's it and incidentally back in 2014 uh if you can remember what I campaigned on it was to eliminate the garbage tax uh and find ways to um better utilize our our our waste uh so what we're calling this this a waste diversion plan and and that's exactly what we're going to be doing here at this location diverting waste that we we be sending to an incinerator to get burned that we pay to have burned by the ton tonnage it will be coming to our it will be going to our um anobi digestor facility to be processed so it's going to take two years it shouldn't be it won't be completed until 2025 late 2025 but when it's up and running it's going to be a tremendous asset for the city of London that concludes my report oh and I know I said this already Amando we're going to miss you thank you for all you've done all your contributions to the city and again people don't realize uh when you become an elected official uh it's like living in a fishbowl and all of a sudden you're damned if you do you're damned if you don't you know so but um takes a special person to be an elected official and uh we thank you for putting up with us and putting up with the public so God bless you and your endeavors thank you mayor okay we'll now move on to resolutions this evening we have resolutions 2024 199 to 2024 to 28 can we have a motion please Madame President I'd like to make a motion to approve resolutions 20241 199 to 2024 228 and I respectfully request second second Mrs Orman yes javic yes Caldwell yes Mohammed yes Rivas yes Roman one moment Jo I apologize yes to all except 209 I vote [Music] no Strano yes Armstead yes Medina yes Hudak yes Mrs yamus yes to all I abstain on 227 we'll now move on to ordinances on introduction beginning with ordinance 6823 please an ordinance to amend and supplement chapter 7 traffic of an ordinance entitled an ordinance adopting and enacting the revised General ordinances of the city of Lyon 1999 pass November 23rd 199 99 and approved November 24th 1999 and as amended and supplemented be it ordained by the Council of the city of Lyon Section 1 the chapter 7 traffic shall be amended to add section 7-36 entitled lynen multi-purpose Center parking lot as follows section one 7-37 Lyon multi-purpose Center parking lot okay can we have a motion for introduction of ordinance 6823 please council president I'd like to make a motion to introduce ordance 6823 and ask for a second please second oron yes javic yes Coldwell yes Mohamed yes Rivas Roman yes Strano yes Armstead yes Medina yes Hudak yes Mrs yamus yes ordinance 6824 please Bond ordinance amending Bond ordinance number 66-48 finally adopted by the city council of the city of Lindon on July 19th 2022 providing an additional sum of $350,000 for the city hall Chiller project okay can we have a a motion on ordinance 6824 please council president I'd like to make a motion that we adopt ordinance 6824 and ask for a second please second yes javic yes Caldwell yes Mohammad yes Rivas yes Roman yes Strano yes Armstead yes Medina yes Hudak yes Mrs Yus yes okay we'll now move on to comments from members of the public in attendance on City business only no personal political derogatory comments not to exceed three minutes okay Craig howerin Craig howerin 120 Donaldson Place uh first I'd like to say councilman Medina it's been an honor to work with you up here and thank you for your service and I only wish you and your family well into your future councilman Codwell it's good to have you back again I have two questions one is why do we need a city administrator and two under Robert's rulle of order if I don't use all of my three minute speaking time can I seed that to another member of the public that the end of your comments that's it okay Mr Antonelli would you like to respond to the Robert rules one so uh with regard to the uh City administrator obviously there's an ordinance that uh created the position sometime some years ago but I could tell you Mr howerin uh I've been practicing law for 26 years I've been representing public entities for just as long that the city of Lyndon does not have an administrator defies common sense and logic and while I think mayor AR armstand does a fantastic job running the dayto day uh at the end of the day most if not all municipalities and those even smaller in size population wise uh to the city of lynon so for example uh our neighbors in Fanwood which I believe has a population M of about 5,000 people has a an administrator uh so uh public entities municipalities particularly have become very complex over the years it's actually a profession it's a professional position uh people take courses they get certified so while I I'm I'm speaking for Council I suppose uh but it's obviously council's decision it's a maril nomination with advice and consent and counsel and obviously it's their decision to make that appointment or not um so hopefully that answers your question on that issue I am not questioning the mayor's ability to do his job I like what he does I'm not questioning that at all but last night at the Caucus meeting was brought up that uh somebody in the public works department was making room for a city administrator's office and that's where my brain started thinking well why do we need this and maybe I missed something and I admit my hearing is bad but I thought I heard that last last night at the Caucus meeting uh so so much for that comment sure and your second question again can you repeat that yes under Robert's Rule of Order if I don't use my three minutes of speaking time can I see that to another member to public so so uh our rules obviously as you know limit uh public comment to 3 minutes it would be my position uh that you cannot uh seed or defer your time to another member of the public okay that answers my question thank you you're welcome okay thank you mrin okay Virginia Malik no okay um hope I'm saying this right ju Ron W and Alan Barnes yes okay good evening name take your name and addresses for the record yes Ron wac not a name you he every day and Alan Barnes okay and we are both volunteers with the Reed Foundation okay it's recyclers educating against drugs and the way we are a 501c3 charity that helps other Charities and nonprofit organizations we also contribute to the Lynden mayor's youth commission and uh we're happy to be able to do that and that's the reason we're here tonight uh we're looking to get some more clothing bins that's how we raise the funds so we're looking to get some more clothing bins uh on the ground and we're asking the uh commit Council people here to uh help us in that endeavor you know your your Wards you know your people who do you think could help us who would be a good candidate uh we'll do all the heavy lifting we just need you to help us uh maybe do a little selling for us and we're looking for obviously businesses and uh two other points uh I uh have a connection to lynon years ago uh had a plumbing supply in lynon on St George Avenue and unfortunately that burnt down otherwise I probably still would have been here yeah and the other point I'd like to make is uh I'm just sorry that we won't be able to work with uh councilman Medina we're missing an opportunity thank you okay I'm sure the council will look into seeing if they have any locations in their Wards okay I have um some little literature for you just okay that'll help you want to [Music] okay thank you thank you okay just going to get some more okay thank you sir next we have John [Music] kazor John ker 23 West Mel Avenue I know my name was second on there I thought you was going to put a little oky do on me um so I'm not going to apologize last month for going over I did it on purpose obviously I wanted to show the uh hypocrisy and the rules that aren't really rules they're arbitrary guidelines you know to benefit you rules for me not for thee uh welcome back Miss Caldwell how are you um I asked about you a few times good to see you good to see you healthy um Mr Rivas I want to thank you yesterday you kept apologizing for asking questions about the um resolutions but we need that we need Council people engaged knowing exactly what they're voting on uh each month uh the train station does look nice um just a little concerned we replaced it with the exact same thing that was destroyed so hopefully um it doesn't it doesn't get destroyed uh Mr Medina thank you sir uh good job I met him a few years ago came up to me with uh Gretchen and and um abigailes I saw your letter on nextd door app really nice I saw all the uh people that um responded your your um constituents and you just you did a really good job uh it's going to be tough shoes to fill um smart men stayed off of Facebook didn't get involved in all the stuff we called them Switzerland for a while right just neutral um just got the job done but uh I think I put you on a few memes throughout the years thank you for not taking me to court sir uh so he's not the only ninth W councilman that's jumping you know we have uh lyndon's favorite son Mr Nicholas scutari just sold those properties too you know we hear about how great lyndon's doing and uh that's a little concerning that we have two prominent politicians in the 9th Ward uh and they're leaving uh so there's going to be a new councilman good luck sir welcome um Mr my arm said mayor arm say got his hooks in you already um uh you know they're going to get to but you know you're going to come on board and there is going to be a democratic process and it's going to be an election still right uh there's going to be a primary and there's going to be two men on that primary there should be three men okay of course the mayor stuck his nose in a place he shouldn't have um John this is the the corrupt stuff you talked about that you said you'd never run out of information about but uh you sto doing that so it kind of sounds like the mayor violated New Jersey election law 183 0.1b but that's for another another day um they're about to start the uh stuff on my block my my neighborhood's going to go through a change like I've never seen before I've been the staunchest defender of this city I love my town I love Lyndon um it's just it's getting tough you know my friends that moved away they say why are you defending the it's a sinking man when they say it's a hole I I I almost want to fight them sometimes and it's tough to defend some of the things that are going on right now sunny side is just a mess driving through there I can't believe uh what's happened there the rental properties are just it's crazy um and there was a shooting in there I'm surprised you didn't bring that up uh councilwoman uh Hudak from the other night I was there uh 11 o'clock so that's very concerning um what do I got 10 okay I won to go over on my time this uh this month so thank [Music] you thank you for your comments okay uh could we have a motion to close the public comment portion of the meeting please council president I'd like to make a motion to close the public portion and ask for a second please Mormon yes javic yes Caldwell Mohammad yes Rivas yes Roman yes Strano yes Armstead Yesa yes Hudak yes Mrs yamus yes okay uh comments from members of the governing body okay all right councilman revas thank you Madame President uh in this uh short minutes I'd like to um say something that I did not said within my it was my time to speak uh Armando has been the only one possibly there during the the time that I have didn't didn't mention how sorry we are that we are losing you um you're going to be missed uh I would like to say that um when I learned about politics here in in the city of New lynon New Jersey I learned about uh our first uh Hispanic councilman in the city and um you inspire me you inspire me and you inspire many others they have wanted to keep defending uh a great place to live like the city of Lyndon I wish you the best uh you know that you have friends on all of us uh you have friend with me and my family and God bless you and good luck in you ende Endeavors all right Council Strano thanks council president real quick I feel to mention that on April 25th believe that's Friday I didn't check my calendar but uh um Stephanie from the engineering office reminded me today that Williams pipeline is doing a volunteer day at the rain Gardens that are around um Memorial Park and uh it's a volunteer day so happens to co inside would take your kids to work day so if there's anybody that feels like they need to get some good gardening and they we sure could use the help thank you thank you councilman councilman Roman thank you council president I just want to um talk about the shooting uh it was on my mother's block John block I grew up on uh and I heard that shots seven shots were put through a house on Elmwood uh knowing my mother was sleeping like 100 yards away if even um it's scary um the degradation of what's going on in our society and and with our law enforcement uh uh and disrespect of our law law enforcement is making it uh is making areas in the city and other cities unsafe uh and I just want to thank them for doing their jobs it's not easy every time they pull someone over or what they got to worry about what what they're going to find so I appreciate our law enforcement and I will make a guarantee that what happened on Elwood is going to find a resolution I'll tell you that so thank you council president thank you councilman uh javic I just want to wish uh councilman Medina all the best in his future endeavors and it was a privilege to serve with you thank you councilwoman Ormand uh thank you council president I just want to take a few moments to say that with everything that went on today Council Medina leaving a fire fary being honored the students being honored um we did not take the time to mention that April is Autism Awareness Month not even just autism awareness month but autism acceptance month it's more than just being aware but it's it's about accepting the population that's growing by Leaps and Bounds and embracing them into our community when my children were diagnosed it was one in 6 366 Now 1 in 36 children are being diagnosed on the Spectrum it's a pervasive developmental delay that affects children in a neurological aspect it impairs their social their their communication skills and it's a challenging life if you're raising children or if you are one of those children that are in the Spectrum so just to let the parents know the caregivers know the teachers the social workers and all the people who are involved with children and even young adults on the Spectrum don't feel as though you ever have to walk this journey alone there are a lot of people that are behind you and are supporting you happy autism awareness and acceptance month to everyone out there thank you councilwoman thank you for uh supplying the pins for Autism Awareness months for the Das we appreciate it anyone else on a Das wish okay um to the residents of the ninth ward once councilman Medina um leaves on the 30th it till we make a transition to a new councilman if uh any if I could be of assistance to anyone my number is 98494 0880 and my um email address is on the city website mamitis linden.ave I'll be willing uh to help you in any which way I could and I'll be looking forward to I'll be working with whoever is appointed as the new ninth W councilman and have big shoes to fill you know so I know you're trying to keep it together down here councilman Medina we're going to miss you you know stay fired up okay all right our the next Council meetings will be as follows Council conference meeting Monday May 20th at 6m in the council conference room City Hall Council conference meeting prior to the council meeting Tuesday May 21st at 6 PM in the council conference room council meeting Tuesday May 21st at 7:00 p.m. in the council chambers these meetings will be held in person could we have a motion to adjourn please so moved second foron yes javic yes Caldwell Mohammad yes Rivas yes Roman I Strano yes Armstead yes Medina the final time yes absolutely yes [Music] [Music]