##VIDEO ID:9vJr-48XJTg## this meeting is now called to order welcome to the township Council Workshop Monday November 18th 2024 please all rise for the salute to the flag remain standing for a moment of Silent out of respect to Mayor Rick rodelli to the flag of the United States of America and to the repblic it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all you may be seated Madame clerk please read the statement of public notice take notice that adequate notice of this meeting has been provided in accordance with njsa 10 4-8 and njsa 10 4-10 as follows notice of the meeting was prominently posted on the bulletin board at the municipal building located at 225 Main Street Little Falls New Jersey on January 4th 2024 a copy of the notice was sent to the north Jersey Herald in news and the record on the same date additionally a copy of the notice was filed in the office of the Township Clerk on said date a link in a telephone number to join the meeting virtually can be accessed on the township website at www.nj.com electronic Provisions have been established for the public to participate during the public comment portion of the meeting thank you Madame clerk at this time please call the role council member Patel president council member Murphy pres council member habetz pres council member van Cherry pres council president SCA president mayor Damiano the floor is yours thank you council president this evening we have this evening we have two proclamations uh the first I'm going to do this evening is our Alzheimer Alzheimer's disease Awareness Month Proclamation and it reads whereas during the month of November national Alzheimer's disease Awareness Month focuses on making the general public aware of the disease among the US population and whereas Alzheimer's disease ad also referred to Simply as Alzheimer's is a chronic neur neurodegenerative disease that affects approximately one in every two families in the US with 5.7 million Americans being diagnosed and whereas Alzheimer's is the most common form of dementia a general term for memory loss and other cognitive abilities serious enough to interfere with daily life worsens over time accounting for 60 to 80% of dementia cases and whereas every 65 seconds someone's in the someone in the United States develops Alzheimer's disease and by 2050 an estimated 14 million Americans will have Alzheimer's disease and whereas the greatest known risk factor is increasing age and the majority of people with Alzheimer's are 65 and old and whereas Alzheimer's is not just disease of old age approximately 200,000 Americans under the age of 65 have younger on on set Alzheimer's disease also known as early onset Alzheimer's and whereas Alzheimer's is the fifth leading cause of death for adults age 65 and older and the seventh leading cause of death for all adults and whereas Alzheimer's has no current cure but treatments for symptoms are available and research continues today there is a worldwide effort to find better ways to treat disease delay its onset and prevent it from developing and now therefore be it resolved that I mayor James Belford Damiano on behalf of the township of Little Falls council do hereby Proclaim November 2024 as Alzheimer's disease Awareness Month in the township of Little Falls and the second Proclamation that we have this evening is epilepsy Awareness Month Proclamation and I'm going to ask Valerie John and G and Gian to join me up here in the front of the room for the reading of this Proclamation and the proclamation reads whereas epilepsy is a neurological condition characterized by recurrent unprovoked seizures and whereas epilepsy and seizures affect three million people across the United States including many children and adults in the state of New Jersey diagnosed with recurring seizures and whereas epilepsy can affect anyone no matter what their gender race age religion education background or socioeconomic status and whereas epilepsy is the third most common neurological disorder among adults in the United States behind Alzheimer's disease and stroke and whereas 10% of the American population will experience a seizure in their lifetime 3% will develop epilepsy by age 75 and whereas while epilepsy cannot currently be cured many of those diagnosed with epilepsy can control their seizures with modern medicine and surgical techniques and whereas people with epilepsy continue to face social Stig stigmatism and discrimination and whereas National epilepsy awareness month is designed to increase the awareness of the disorder in an effort to encourage more Americans to understand the effects of effs and now therefore be it resolve that I mayor James bord Damiano on behalf of the Little Falls Township council do hereby Proclaim November 2024 as epilepsy Awareness Month in the township of little fall Falls and I want to thank the sarona family for joining us here today and do you want to say a few words about the foundation come on I know you got just on behalf of the epsy Foundation we thank you for acknowledging um this the foundation and epilepsy awareness we hope that it helps people to uh learn more about it and possibly take a donation that would help um fundraising efforts to find here thank you for joining us here tonight we have this Proclamation for you want to stay here so mayor let's move on to discussion of best practices and the affordable housing versus municipalities thank you council president so the as far as our best practices inventory goes um our score this year was far in excess of what was needed in order to not lose any state aid that we currently receive um we are in very good shape as far as our best practices go it is filed in the clerk's office so I'm they looking to review it in full detail I can do so but we are in really good shape as far as best practices go well thank you to all of our staff here in the township who assist and Aid this municipality in ensuring that we continue to meet all of our compliance with our best practices next is the affordable housing mandates and I know we've discussed this in the past it's been something that I've addressed with this Council and in recent times our new number for Our obligation in the next 10 years has recently been released and Our obligation for affordable housing moving forward under the current projections or current requirements is 285 additional units that is a number that is in my opinion simply unattainable by this Township it's unattainable because at a 15% set aside number which is what we've been seeing most often the township of Little Falls and not the township itself but developers in the township of Little Falls are going to be required for the next 1,900 units to set affordable housing inside of them which is frankly choking developers making projects impossible without them being extremely dense with far too many units in order to meet their requirements and at 285 units again 1,900 units would have have to be built in this Township at a 15% set aside to reach the 285 units and just to give you an idea the read the Sak Redevelopment project was a total of 287 units it was 185 apartments and 102 town homes and this Council and I are all well aware of some of the comments and some of the concerns that residents have raised about how tall it is how dense it is all of those things we would need to do that seven more times in order to accomplish the 285 affordable unit obligation that we are being forced to meet and as this council's aware there's pending litigation in a class action suit that is growing additional legs and I would urge this Council to consider I know it's been discussed or to reconsider joining this loose lawsuit as an actual party to it rather than just sitting on the sidelines waiting to see if the lawsuit prevails number one and if it prevails if we receive that benefit because we were not actively participating in it uh and it's a major concern that I have um one of the fears is that in the event the lawsuit is successful uh typically in class action suits you see everybody who might have been impacted by it benefit from the the result the issue here is is if the courts or if the arbitrators or wherever this suit May Land review it and they only review the municipalities that are included in the suit and say you're you're right you all have too many units you have a reduction of x%c or X number of units or whatever it may be if you're not in the suit the concern is that you may be overlooked or you may not be considered for the reduction and again not 100% common in class actions but certainly a realistic possibility in fear of mine because this 285 number is is just again unrealistic and it is going to be requiring developers to cram too many units into too small of a space and we know we need to find a balance between the amount of development and the size of the development and the density of the development and the amount of green space and the setbacks and all of those other things that we look to accomplish in making developments more attractive but with this obligation at a number that's unattainable the only time we will be able to increase our rateable base here in Little Falls is going to be with developments are frankly far too dense and not good for the township uh again it's a major concern and I would really ask that this Council consider joining the lawsuit it is a $10,000 a year uh number is what the current projection is again that could potentially uh change uh but right now they are uh suggesting or requiring a $10,000 annual contribution to be included in the lawsuit a number of the surrounding municipalities including both of our Pake Valley sister municipalities totoa and Wooden Park have recently joined the suit and is something that I'm encouraging and suggesting that this Council consider doing uh if not right away in the very near future I'm gonna open up this open this up for discussion council members do you have any input on this uh on the direction that we should go if we should join this lawsuit or or that you the failings are that we should stay off of it sure council president uh councilman Murphy president mayor I agree I think this is something that we really need to consider are joining in to um as you mentioned it's definitely not something that we would want to happen is that the the class action comes forward and and we're not a part of these reductions should that happen so I'm I'm all game for it and I think that's something that the council we should definitely consider adding Mr President councilman Venter yeah thanks uh council president uh mayor I agree uh with you as well as councilman Murphy I've had a chance to talk to some elected officials and other towns that are part of this lawsuit and just looking at the numbers that are required and knowing how much we would have to build that's a huge problem I mean we've seen the reaction like you said if you build five units what people react to imagine having to build 1900 right now to hit a requirement so I am all for uh getting a part of this lawsuit I think it's the right thing to do for the township sure and council president if I may add I believe that Little Falls was very uh aggressive in Prior years in attempting to reach in really good faith numbers towards our affordable goal and the way I view this new number at 285 units is almost a slap in the face to the municipality because we were so successful in adding so many affordable units in so many zones where it wasn't even considered or contemplated in our prior r that the state has now looked at how well we've done and I almost feel as though we are being penalized for having been so successful in adding these units and it's almost given the impression that well Little Falls is doing great let's set a really high number and hope they continue to to strive towards that figure and again there was a couple of years ago I I think the uh kind of the the thought process here was that the number was completely unrealistic even if the number was cut in half 10 years ago when we first did this we still weren't going to achieve that goal and was it really worth fighting as one small town to the tune of hundreds of thousands of to planners and to experts in trying to have the number reduced again at that point even if we were successful in cutting the number in half we were still never going to achieve it in any 10year period so the thought was let's just agree to the number it's unrealistic but even if it's cut in half it's still unrealistic it doesn't really make a difference I do think now because there is enough discussion and sometimes uh you know bringing shedding light on something brings additional attention to it I think that's what this class action is doing and I again that's why I'm recommending that we certainly join in thank you mayor um councilwoman abetz yes so I also agree with the mayor just hearing what he saying and you know as far as our TR toown joining with TOA joining joining with Woodland Park and the others who were on the lawsuit hopefully the numbers will increase as as the lawsuit goes on other towns other municipalities joining and I think it would be the best thing for Little Falls councilman Patel uh yes council president I agree I think fact that there's a major issue with the legislation overall um unless there are numbers of municipalities going up against that legislation nothing's going to change I don't think trying to meet this hypothetical number that they just came up with without really taking into consideration the open space that we have you know what's already been built um we have no choice we have to take a stand along with our neighbors okay so correct we're only 2.8 square miles when we look at the situation of this small town um to try to fit all these units and it's it's it would be Beyond challenging um so Madam clerk let's set this up for the future meetings that we move on uh taking part of the lawsuit c a motion to open the meeting to the public for General matters and agenda items so moved second all those in favor all those oppose Madam clerk anyone wishing to address the township Council may do through the council president it is preferred if you give your name an address for the record comments are to be limited to 3 minutes however if appropriate may be granted additional time in the sole discretion of the council president members of the public who have joined the meeting virtually and desire to provide comment sh shall raise their virtual hand in the zoom application the meeting moderator will cue the members of the public that wish to provide comment and the council president will recognize them in order members of the public who have joined the meeting by calling must press star six to mute and unmute themselves and star 9 to raise their hand members of the public who have joined the meeting via the zoom application must click the reactions icon and then the raise hand icon once the process is complete we will return to the regular order of business thank you madam clerk is anyone in the chat that like to speak to us this evening thank you is anyone in the governing Chambers would like to speak to us this evening see and none have a motion to close the public comment by councilwoman H second by councilwoman Patel all those in favor I all those opposed motion carries mayor 1 two and three thank you thank you council president as we see numerous times throughout the year the first is somewhat standard a resolution cancelling the 2025 preliminary taxes and refunding 2024 PR rated third quarter taxes due to property exemption and again we see this often times throughout the year here for various reasons whether it be for veterans whether it be for religious exemptions things of the sort and this is another one of those that is going to be cancelling a third quarter tax uh I'm sorry cancelling a 2025 preliminary tax and refunding 2024 taxes that have already been paid uh any questions on item number one all right the next is a resolution approving a change order resolution for improvements the Mozart AV and Cherry Street and again as is Common from time to time with various construction projects there are sometimes change orders uh for them sometimes for increases sometimes for decreases this is no different and this is a change order to mozar and Cherry Street where we just recently completed a complete streets application through with uh substantially funded by cdbg money from P County any questions on item number two all right item number three is the introduction of ordinance 1505 privately owned salt storage and where do I begin with this so the short of it is there's going to be a number of new requirements that I believe we're going to be seeing come in from the state from time to time requiring uh various obligations of the municipality uh moving forward that of course none of them will come with any funding as we often times see so what does this mean that means that the township is going to have to uh from time to time adopt ordinances that we may or may not wholeheartedly agree with uh but frankly don't have much of a choice and don't have much of a choice in order to modify them whatsoever either and this one we're in pretty good shape this has to do with deicing materials salt brine various things such as that and the storage of them and our obligations in order to uh not allow all of this salt to essentially run into waterways uh and this is uh the first of what again what I believe will be many obligations from the state that we will need to comply with as a municipality uh to to Simply meet the state's obligation so that is what the ordinance 1505 has to do with has to do with the storage of our salt and salt related materials on Township property uh we are complying with them um we have been but again there we I think we'll see more where they just make them Absolute requirements rather than recommendations and suggestions any questions on item number three thank you mayor have a motion to approve resolutions a through C move by councilman vent Cherry second by councilman Patel roll call Madam clerk council member Patel yes council member Murphy yes council member Hab yes council member vaneri yes council president scova yes yes have a motion to approve the following applications and correspondence moved moved by councilwoman habitz second second by councilman Murphy This is a roll call call The rooll Madam clerk council member Patel yes council member Murphy yes council member habet yes council member V Cherry yes council president scoa yes Madam clerk read ordinance 1505 please introduction of ordinance number 1505 an ordinance entitled ordinance of the township Council of the township of Little Falls in the county of pay state of New Jersey amending CH chapter 218 storm order management of the code of the township of littlefalls with a second reading and public hearing scheduled for December 9th 2024 thank you um can I have a motion to introduce ordinance 1505 so moved mve by Council Patel second by Council habets please call the RO council member Patel yes council member Murphy yes council member hablitz yes council member van Cherry yes council president SCA yes I apologize but mayor would you like to uh discuss uh give a tribute to the former mayor Rick rodelli please yes thank you council president so uh I have had the pleasure of knowing Rick rodelli personally for more than 20 years but fairly well for the last 20 years uh he was actually uh he had his real estate license through my father's office and I would oftentimes go there once a week for lunch and have lunch with Rick and spent a lot of time with him talking to him about the township talking about everything under the sun and and he was truly a genuine outstanding human being and his loss is severely uh you know as a major loss to the township and at um you know 68 years old certainly far too soon to to lose anyone but during Rick's tenure here in Little Falls he spent a lot of time well not in these council chambers but in the old buildings council chambers in wearing many many hats now the he started on the township committee uh in 1996 where he was there until 2001 and served as mayor in 1998 he was the police commissioner from 1998 to 1999 the deputy Police Commissioner from 2000 to 2001 the deputy Recreation commissioner in 1997 1998 and 1999 the deputy fire commissioner in 200 in 2001 as well as the deputy water commissioner in those same years he was also the deputy DP W commissioner in 2001 the Emergency Management Council in 2001 he served on our grant committee from 2000 to 2001 and he was on the real estate committee from 1998 to 1999 so he wore a lot of hats during his time here in Little Falls one of them being mayor and I can tell you he had nothing but fond memories every time we would talk to him about his tenure here as mayor uh and again he will certainly be a loss to this Township he truly loved the Township of little fall Falls although he hasn't been residing here the past number of years uh he always wore Little Falls on his sleeve proudly so he certainly lost to this community and our thoughts and prayers are with his family and friends at this time thank you mayor we'll move on to uh council members reports I'm happy to announce we have three new HomeTown H banners that will unfortunately not be going up because we the DBW will be taking down the banners uh to to get more longevity off of them but next season next year these banners will go up and one is Stella Fon she's an active duty she's in US Air Force Ray Martin who was US Navy and also John Joseph McNamara um he was a chief radio operator US Navy uh there's going to be a senior holiday luncheon on 1218 you can contact Mr Pace or contact the municipal office if you would like to attend that uh Council habets sure thank you council president uh some Library updates uh the library has the honor of a wonderful display this month um it's exhibit is the private Hollywood collection of a VOD um it's the first time it's ever been displayed anywhere and it features many pictures of him from Barney Miller the original script from The Godfather it really is a very amazing display um so you can stop by the library um anytime this month until November 30th to see it um this Thursday the library will also have an author reading by John deore uh for his book Dead fellas um there is so much more going on at the library and you can keep up to date by going on their website or following their social media pages that would make Jeffrey very happy um also back again this year is our light up Little Falls house decorating contest uh the holiday season is upon us and pre-registration is required through Community pass uh your house will be included on an interactive map with the participating homes and voting will take place for first second and third prize on no um excuse me on December 18th um lastly I'd like to thank the mayor for his Pro Proclamation tonight uh for epilepsy um and thank to Little Falls Girl Scouts this Saturday they painted seashells uh with QR codes that has information about epilepsy and they plac them all around Wilmore Park uh so stop by the park you can scan the QR codes and find out more about PSY and um also about fundraising thank you that's it is there any movement on our calendar do we know any um yes we are in the process of the calendar um myself and the recreation department and councilman Murphy met today um we are also thinking of implementing um an app a my little false app uh but the final decision was not made yet yet today and we will keep you up to date on that Council Patel thank you council president um just want to send out my condolences to Rick's family especially his son like James said he was full of so much joy and laughter he was always a pleasure to be around and he definitely going to be missed um a few updates for the public health committee there's a lung cancer assessment tomorrow the 19th from 10: to 12 at the Clifton Health Department registration is required so you'd have to call LEL tomorrow morning at 973 4705 760 and then on Wednesday December 11th at 10:30 there's going to be an understanding the importance of breast cancer screening um seminar here in Little Falls at the civic center registration is also required for this so you can contact Kimberly spinkler at 973 986 8678 again all of these flyers are always on the Township calendar with all the contact information or you can contact me and then finally uh we continue to put up weekly Vector borne surveillance reports and respiratory illness surveillance reports um on the township website along with our monthly update from the clipton health department that's all counc president thank you councilman Murphy thank you council president i' just like to Echo the words of M council members and the mayor and express my deepest condolences uh to mayor rck uh uh on the passing of Mayor Rick Rickard Deli uh I had the pleasure of knowing uh mayor relli and uh but even I didn't know the extent of how many hats he wore in this town and I got in the chambers today I saw the uh every role that he had and uh I'm not sure how much time he had from 2000 to 2001 but he sure was busy with the township but it just goes to show um to test him in on on how much he really did love our Township and how much he's truly going to be missed so just want to express my condolences to him and his family um another level just want to comment on the calendar uh we are still having some discussions on it but we are still taking ads so we think we have about 11 or 10 ads that we received so far but there's about six spots still left so if anybody is interested in taking an ad for the calendar um just reach out to the rec department to Tyler perero this way he can get you in because we do have some spots still left that we would like to fill that's all I have council president thank you Council Murphy councilman V Cherry thanks council president I also too want to Echo my sympathies to the mayor rodelli and his you family and his passing um as the mayor said you know he wore a lot of hats and you know people knew him were very appreciative all the work that he did so again my condolences to his family um just a couple updates too I want to thank the sarona family for coming tonight uh they had reached out about uh the proclamation for epilepsy awareness and um if you didn't notice outside the lights are actually purple in honor of epilepsy awareness month as well as Alzheimer's awareness month they both used the purple color and then um what the sarona did along with some friends they actually put some epilepsy Awareness Month information along the telephone polls around town so you see that and as councilwoman habets mentioned um over the weekend the Girl Scouts got together especially with GI who was here tonight um to do the seashell so it's pretty cool to get a chance to check that out um just a couple other updates too if you didn't know uh not this coming Saturday the following Saturday is the three toown holiday parade I think everybody's excited for that um so make sure you mark off your spot along Main Street it starts at 5:00 pm and um I know the rec department is going to be reminding of the businesses to to make sure they're open so you need a hot cup of coffee or pizza or something else but it's definitely a great event last year we ret treated to the first time where Little Falls was a part of it and I know a lot more people are excited about it this year because they got to see what it's like so looking forward to that again it's h next Saturday at five o'clock starting at PV High School um also too last week Mr Quron and I had connected because we had reached out to the county about a month ago and had asked about um our application to potentially changing the speed limit on several of the County Roads from 30 5 to 25 we didn't hear anything so I reached out to uh the engineer to ask for an update and he said the application was with the Traffic Division and then earlier this uh today we learned that the engineer is going to do a uh physical inspection of the roads that are up uh for discussion and hopefully we'll have a decision shortly from the engineer to move ahead as I've mentioned before if we get the green light from the county engineer to pursue the change the next step would be for us to come back and draft and pass an ordinance to change the speed from 35 to 25 in Main Street in Longville as well as Ridge and Stevens's Avenue once that is accepted and approved we would then share our approved ordinance with the county and the Commissioners would do the same thing and once they pass that we can then uh look to move the change ahead so more to come on that but at least now we have an update and we know it's under review so hopefully this week or next week uh we'll get an update on that um the other thing too I wanted to mention was I'm waiting for uh the county roads division to to get back to us usually around this time of the year you know the county will come out and retouch many of their roads especially the double yellow lines I'm trying to get an update from Ken Simpson in terms of when they're planning to come out usually it's around this week or the following week after Thanksgiving so hopefully we'll find out soon if they are going to come and retouch up many of the County Roads especially too because a lot of the crosswalks were just red about a month ago by the DPW Department uh lastly I do want to say thank you to commissioner Sandy lazara about a month ago resident had reached out along with several others that had some concerns regarding the corner of velt and Main Street when it comes to the bus stop for many of the kids that go to State County te they were having some issues trying to cross the street in the morning especially because there was about 10 kids that were waiting for the bus to to go on its way to pcti so I reached out to uh commissioner Lazar and asked if she could look into this and she moved quick you know she worked with the engineers and Traffic Division and they actually put in a crosswalk over on Van Falon main for the students and I can tell you the parents were very delighted to that so just grateful for uh commissioner Lazaro's support and like I've said before you know when we have an issue you know we try to reach out to the county and and I do want to mention too we had a resident here um last meeting talking about some issues on rout 46 and the noise that he's getting from when certain trucks come by um we did reach out to Senator curado as well as uh commissioner Bartlett and you know based on their efforts making phone calls it looks like it's going to be reviewed um by the dot so hopefully we'll have an update soon but a little progress again that's where you know reaching out to some of our elected officials to see if they can help so thank you for that that's it for me thank you councilman vent Cherry Chief thanks council president uh December 3rd triaa Northeast will be awarding Little Falls a the um another traffic safety award for 2023 so I'm happy to report to this Council that our uh increased traffic enforcement efforts are being recognized by Triple A uh this will be the second award that I'm able to present to the council so I'm excited for that uh councilman Venturi will be recognized at the same luncheon if he didn't already get his email we did submit him for a traffic safety hero award uh for his you know good work and assistance with the police department and moving a lot of our initiatives forward and and really that's uh he will be receiving the award but that's really for the mayor in the entire coun uh we want to thank you thank everybody for your uh continued support I know we haven't had a meeting in a while we did have our onsite accreditation um inspection I'm happy to report um preliminarily at this point that the uh the visit was good we're going to have a hearing in the spring but I'm expecting to be re accredited as a police department and recognized through the New Jersey state uh Chiefs of Police Association just to give you a little bit background I know I read this at the council meeting but this is our second re accreditation so in 2018 we received our initial accreditation um and it was good for three years we got re accredited in 2021 and then three years later here we are in 2024 so the little fols police department uh is still operating under the best practices and recommendations of the State Chiefs Association uh and then when when after I have the uh the hearing the State Chiefs will um be here to present that to the council um and we should all be proud that we have an accredited Police Department thank you Chief we're we're very proud of the hard work you do for the police department um and it's recognized by everyone who sits up at the at the St uh you did have the council and the mayor come in or I would say a seminar uh talk about what you are doing are you going to be doing that again sometime soon if if you'd like to we can do we can do another one in the in the winter okay we put that on right everybody that'd be fine y have a motion to open the meeting to the public for agenda items only move by councilman Venter second by councilman habets all those in favor I all those opposed motion carries Madam clerk anyone wishing to address the township Council may do so to the council president it is preferred if you give your name and address for the record comments are to be limited to 3 minutes however if appropriate you may be granted additional time in the sole discretion of the council president members of the public who have joined the meeting virtually and desire to provide comment shall raise their virtual hand in the zoom application the meeting moderator will cue the members of the public that wish to provide comment and the council president will recognize them in order members of the public who have joined the meeting by calling in must press star six to mute and unmute themselves and star N9 to raise their hand members of the public who have joined the meeting via the zoom application must click the reactions icon and then the raise hand raise hand icon once the process is complete we will return to the order of business thank you anyone in the chat that like to come before us I don't see any anyone in our council chambers like to come before us no have a have a motion to close the public comment so moveed by councilman Patel second by councilman Venter all those in favor I all those opposed motion carries I want to thank staff for working with me and putting this agenda together I appreciate your experience and your time working with me to uh put this particular meeting together I know we had some back and quite a lot of back and forth so thank you Kevin motion to adjourn this meeting mov moved by councilman V Cherry who was second second second by Council Matel I'm sorry I didn't hear all those in favor I all those opposed motion carries this meeting is now closed