welcome everyone to the township Council Workshop meeting Monday February 12 2024 this meeting is now called to order after the flag salute please remain standing for a moment of silence for past resident Joe Coyle who served 27 years in the littlefalls police department retiring as lieutenant and Sheriff bernick please rise councilman Ben Cherry lead us in the flag I pled to the flag of the United States of America and to the for which it stands one nation God indivisible withy and justice for all you may be seated Madame clerk read the statement of public notice notice has been provided in accordance with njsa 1048 and njsa 10410 as follows notice of the meeting was prominently posted on the bulletin board at the municipal building located at 225 Main Street will fall New Jersey on January 4th 2024 a copy of the notice was sent to the north Jersey Herald and 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 and a telephone number to join the meeting virtually can be accessed on the township website at www.j.com electronic Provisions have been established for the public to participate during the public comment portion of the meeting thank you madam clerk at this time please call a roll councel counc council member council member vaner pres counc president president mayor Damiano the floor is [Music] yours February and feary 24 Black History Month crating the many contributions that people of have made to our in 1986 9al black history model to bring awareness black where Cate diversity of black people selfi afrian Aman where recognize black to recognize and may not able toly understand show treat each other respect and encourage all by standing the gap of every opportunity bar [Music] February upon people our efforts to the [Music] world proceed have a motion to open the meeting to the public this is for a general Ms and agenda items moved by councilman Ben Cherry second by councilwoman habblet all those in favor all those opposed that motion carries Madam clerk anyone wishing to address the Town Council may do so through the council president it is preferred if you give your name and address for the record comments are are to be limited to three minutes however if appropriate it may be granted additional time and the sole discretion of the council president members of the public who have join the meeting virtually and desire to provide comment she'll raise her virtual hand in the zoom application the meeting moderator will 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 n to raise their hand members of of the public who join the meeting meeting via the zoom application must C the reactions icon and then the raise hand eyes on once the process is complete we will return to the regular order of business thank you madam clerk the floor is now open I see no one in the council chambers that are is going to come before this governing body Mr Cru has in the chat room that like to speak to us I gather the people in the chat can hear us is that correct right council president here at the mayor on okay um well we're gonna have to proceed have a motion to close the public comment moved by councilwoman Patel second by councilman Venter all those in favor all those opposed motion carries mayor Damiano we have three items that you're bringing before us this evening thank you council president this evening there are a couple of items on the agenda but before we get to the agenda I just want to update the town I spoken to our DPW superintendent Ronnie Campbell who advised that all of the plowers are ready to go with the anticipated inclement weather that we have coming in uh it did look like the last band showed up to a potential of 13 in in this area uh it's quite a bit of snow of course just advising and recommending everybody St you know stay home stay safe if you can um be out on the roads as little as possible to help our DPW get them clean as fast as possible please remove all vehicles from the streets you're not allowed to park when roads are snow covered you are subject to being ticketed and towed of course there are uh you know a number of uh roadways that or I'm sorry number of parking lots that you can use if you are looking for additional space including the municipal Lots uh we first ask that you use the Mars Canal lot and fill that one first and if that one is full you can use the PNC lot uh so please get your vehicles off of the roads as another update the intersection of Main Street in Stevens a where everyone has seen some additional construction ongoing to complete the streetscapes good news is that the light pole has arrived uh it is going to begin to be be assembled beginning next week so there will be a period of time where one of the lanes from main from Stevens AV onto Main Street will be closed and there will be a couple of days where the intersection will be closed entirely so there will be a detour set up there will be a crane in the area as they install and take down the the new and old light poles so please avoid that area if possible while that construction is happening we'll do our best to get an email blast out ahead of that in an anticipation of the the road closures in that area as far as the report this evening item number one is a resolution authorizing affordab AB ility assistance grant with renters of affordable housing units a through d uh that has been a resolution that we've seen on a number of occasions over the past year or so and those are the standard resolutions to assist those with the affordable housing next is a resolution authorizing the township to apply for funds from njdca under the roid grant program and that is a grant that is being afforded to the library to assist them with some programs there are there any questions on it number one and two all right moving on to item number three it's a resolution authorizing the shared service agreement with the bur of wooden park for qpa services uh and this is again something that we have seen here by this Council in the past and our qpa Mr cuchia will continue to provide services to wen Park as he has in a joint Financial uh deal with them where the municipality uh earned some additional funds for his Services being provided and loaned out to wen Park mayor can you explain what qpa services are sure uh it's a qualified purchase need but I think the best person to explain the real role would be Mr cochia himself so Mr kushia explain what qpa services are the state of New Jersey a few years ago decided that uh purchasing should be a certificated position so if you would like to have an additional amount uh available to you under the bid threshold had to become a qualified purchasing agent uh for those of us who did that and the bid threshold is now $44,000 if we're not a qpa it's $17,500 so we enjoy the added level of able to purchase things without going up to bid because of so it gives us breakage in certain categories when we go to purchase or yeses right it affords us the ability as a Township to instead of going out and requ having to wait for bids to come in on larger ticket items up to $444,000 or I should say between the 13 and $44,000 uh as long as Mr cuchia now reviews the uh a couple of quotes that are submitted he is able to select the lowest responsible on his own without us having to go out to the full formal bid process okay all right and item number four is the surprising resolution affording a change order I'm sorry approving a change order for improvements to stin in place with a decrease of 9,123 12 from the original contact contract price so uh again it's not often that we see decreases in the contracts that we have uh on these projects but we're fortunate to have had a decrease to the CH in the uh improvements that were made to stin in place thank you mayor have a motion uh to approve resolutions a through H moved by councilman Murphy second by councilman haetz um this is a roll call but before we call rooll um Council MH habits you serve on the library as leison do you want I know the mayor touched on uh e resolution e you want to talk about that a little bit more what the dis for individuals what disabilities grant program is programming uh will accommodate uh for a life skills and uh cooking programs for both people with disabilities and there'll also be people without disabilities that are welcome to join in these programs um the library did remodel uh their staff area um into a working kitchen uh for programming so that will allow some of these cooking programs uh to be done um also the library is looking into uh partnering with other organizations in the county and um also partnering with school number one's lldd classes to see if they can bring for program this gr and uh their their percentage to cover this grant 20% would be $500 right I would ask the uh the council to entertain uh picking up that cost of that $500 uh instead of letting the library pay for that $500 I think they do a lot of goodwi there matter of fact I know they do a lot of good will there and um it's a type of uh organization that i' be honest with they Count Their nickels they really really operate on a tight budget uh they don't spend anything fly and they provide a lot of Goodwill services to the community uh I don't know how we go about doing that uh counselor do we need to go through a big formality uh well you need to um go through a resolution yes you need to go I think it would be best to go through a resolution uh under uh e um so it wouldn't affect it wouldn't affect so so it wouldn't affect the actual grant that they're so so we could approve this and go back on another meeting and do a resolution for the 500 um yeah you may not have to do a resolution Council council president I have to see where you're actually uh what okay you're pulling that money from recreational opportunities so I think that going to give them some money from okay so I think that that would just be something we'd have to just double check to do that make sure it lines up and before we proceed to my colleagues on the day is how do you feel about that I'd like to get your input it's just an idea as I was reading this over the weekend um you know I I know we operate at times in different entities but at the same token the libraries you know we do own that building so it's I'd like to hear the council's input on that I agre with everything you said I think they offer so many programs to Township um they've expanded tremendously their offerings and if there's anything we can do to help let you counc president mayor might I recommend that when the payment comes due that the municipality simply make the payment on behalf of the library at that time rather than the municipality provide the $500 to the library so it's more transparent so uh whether El can we do it that way um listen usually the uh the match is part of the contracted cost so um the program is going to cost $5,000 and they're going to get a grant for $5,000 they're going to spend $5,500 so putting up having run the program you would have to provide something R500 to some part of the program when they when when they run the actual program when they run the actual program okay so so the technical part of this Council W you'll work that out Mr Kush just make sure we're not breaking any laws here so we don't get no uh you know I don't see I don't I no men in black suits coming in that door and you know so can you check that out please I mean we're not asking for a big situation here but I don't want to make this bigger than what it is so no that's exactly the point coun because I want to see what we could do to resolve it and handle it in the least uh intrusive matter very good uh so this is a roll call Madam clerk call the rooll for a through HC Murphy Council counc van Cherry council president SCA yes ke a motion to approve the following applications moveed by councilman Murphy second by councilman man Cherry this is a roll call please call the row yes yes madame clerk read ordinance 1475 second reading and public hearing of ordinance number 1475 and ordinance entitled ordinance of the township Council of the township of Little Falls in County mate state of New Jersey amending the Township Code chapter 13 six noise thank you the public hearing on ordinance 1475 is now open does anyone wish to speak Mr cusha anyone in the chat I don't know if they're hearing us there is not sir there's no one in our council chambers therefore the ordinance on 1475 public hearing is now closed have a motion to adopt ordinance 1475 move by councilwoman habets second by councilman V cherer this is a roll call Madame clerk call the roll counc council member Murphy counc member council member V yes council president yes Adam clerk read ordinance 1476 second of public hearing of ordinance number 1476 an ordinance entitled an ordance of the township Council of the township of littlefalls in the county of pay state of New Jersey authorizing the private sale of municip Municipal property located at Jackson Street and otherwise known as block 225 block 13 in accordance with njsa 48112 d13b thank you the public 1476 is now open does anyone wish to speak concerning ordinance 1476 Mr Kush anyone in our chat room seeing no one here in the council chambers the meeting uh the public hearing on 1476 is now closed can I have a motion to adopt 1476 mooved by councilman V Cherry second by councilman Murphy roll call Madam clerk mph yes council member van Cherry yesc president still yes mam cler read ordinance 1477 please introduction of number 1477 an ordinance entitled ordinance of the township Council of the township of Little Falls in the county of Bay State of New Jersey amending the Township Code chapter 71 fees with a second reading and public hearing scheduled for March 11 2024 thank you this is uh ke okay I'm sorry I asked I need a r did we get a roll call to introduce this Okay C uh Madam cler call the RO to introduce 1477 I'm sorry have a motion to introduce 1477 move by councilwoman Patel second by councilwoman habets call the rooll for 1477 councel counc member Murphy counc member H council member V Cherry counc president yes councilman V Cherry thanks council president sorry problem um you know first I know we haven't had a meeting in a while unfortunately during that space uh we lost Sheriff berdnick so just want to express my thoughts I with his wife his four children and his grandkids and of course the men and women of state county sheriff's department um you know over the years we got a chance to work with the sheriff and you know when we did put in some requests he was able and willing to to help us out so it's a it's definitely a loss for the county and just you know again vots and prayers with uh his him and his family I do want to shift gears and mention a couple things uh the mayor and I had some residents that had reached out about pulling together lighting ceremony to Mark Ramadan which takes place uh next month and I had a chance to meet with several residents uh last week here to discuss the program that we're looking to pull together and I'm pleased to announce tonight that on Saturday March 9th from 5 to 700 pm at Wilmore Road Park we are going to hold up the first ever Ramadan lighting ceremony um at U at the park and we are in the process of working out all the details to have a nice program in place we're going to have some food uh there are some food trucks that are willing to donate their services uh some music and um some other activities for the kids uh the committee also wanted to do something nice for the local Community Food Bank and are going to ask residents to bring canned foods that will go to the St Agnes uh Church food pantry so looking forward to that um I do want to thank our friends in Prospect Park for helping out with a few things on um just pulling this together with some background information also contact so that we can get the Crescent lighting that would be positioned at Wilmore Road Park so we can light it on March 9th and you know barring the weather it's a Saturday in case there is a rain date we would have it the next day on um Sunday March 10th because Ramadan officially kicks off on Monday March 11th but just like I said I mean this was a situation where you know residents had reached out and as we've done in the past you know we have we take time to meet with them and you know we want to make sure we're doing things to acknowledge our community so looking forward to this first event I'll give everybody a flyer tonight I'm also going to work with uh Scott to get this out in the blast and we'll make sure everybody puts it on social media as well but just wanted to let everybody know um a couple other things uh recently I had a chance to talked to a few businesses last week and also gonna meet with some more this week uh just based on my schedule uh there's some concerns when it comes to Main Street around the parking situation because right now we have three hours and a lot of businesses would prefer if we went a lot shorter say two hours if not one hour because a lot of the places are not the type of ones where you can sit down and spend a lot of time so I'm just gonna continue to dialogue mayor and I have been talking about it um just getting some feedback from the residents and once they do have a good sense of what they're looking for want to Circle back with the mayor council president of course Chief you know just to talk through some of the concerns that they have I mean you know we're always trying to look at ways to alleviate some problems and I know it's hard because the way Main Street is set up but if we can do a few things at certain sections along that route you know I think it'll be beneficial to a lot of the businesses so more to come on that that's it for me council president I appreciate your hard on um Works concerning the new program and working on the parking but I do caution we do have some businesses that patrons uh do spend more than two hours at certain establishments uh so I think proceed their Rec caution I know we always mean to do well and sometimes we forget of all the our establishments on Main Street and and um the time that it takes I know quite a few you could you know get out in two hours but I think there's one or two establishments that uh the clientele would be there longer so just take that in consideration absolutely and I think what you notice too is the way the street is broken up there are certain parts that definitely would warrant more time especially some of the restaurants and hair salons and other things but then there's other parts where they would prefer you know it was easier because a lot of their businesses take out so get more to come on it but you know it's something that again when residents and businesses come to us we always want to look into everything before making a decision with the full Council so thank you councilman Murphy any good news on the calendar thank you council president fortunately not so our original expectation was the calendars were going to be delivered uh third week of January um we were on track for that unfortunately the print house had a little bit of an error um that issue has since been resolved um unfortunately during the printing process some of the calendars were ripped up so they had to go back to a redesign or change some page sides around and so that has been resolved they have printed them just a matter of the calendars get delivered at this point I'm hoping that this week they're going to hit the post office I know some of them are completed uh I believe they have dropped some do so some residents may get them at a little bit earlier than others but just keep in mind they will be delivered to all residents um and uh luckily for next year it will be a 13th month calendar and we will have that extra month of a buffer in there and I think a lot of the hiccups have been ironed out for next year's calendar so we'll be able to move moving forward we'll be able to really you know Hammer this out and get it out from that thir week time span um just a quick uh note on the other end of the domestic violence brench committee um our regular meeting is set for tomorrow but due to the uh storm that's forecasted I will be switching it to zoom so anybody looking that is wishing to uh attend the meeting you can just hop on the town zoom and we'll be able to let you into that meeting another note to keep an eye out for on our town calendar um it's not be the hard calendar because we just came up with this idea for a Dy to donate um the domestic violence PR committee is going to be doing some D to donates around town so we've reached out to some local restaurants um if any other you know local restaurants want to participate in it you can just send me an email but I'll be putting those uh dates once we get them on our calendar and I'll be announcing them at the meetings as well so it's a good uh program that we have coming up other than that just want to wish everybody a Happy Valentine's Day and that's all I have President thank you thank you for your hard on works on that domestic violence that's not an easy committee to be on councilwoman habets thank uh first I would like to thank my colleagues on the council for considering giving $500 to the library as you said council president they really want a tight budget and watch all of their Niel and dims in order to put everything into the library they can and there are many services um that the library is providing not just books anymore but arts and gardening clubs and cooking classes um so it really it is great to have such an active Library um speaking of some of those events uh tomorrow evening as far as I know it is not cancelled as of yet but tomorrow evening there is a love your dog with treats uh make treats with Heather from shop right who is a dietician uh for your dogs there are pumpkin balls uh pumpkin peut butter balls excuse me um and that will be at 6:30 at the library um They will announce on the website or on their Facebook page if anything gets canceled due to the in clinic weather uh theate County Clerk will also be at the library on uh February 22nd from 5: to 7:00 p.m. they will have notary services passports and Veterans IDs and as always you can check the Facebook page or the website for more upcoming events for the library um I also have some great news uh the township met with the contractor uh who will be building blore Park um and the park is slated for demolition in the next two weeks and should be completed by the end of April so very excited to finally see the playground coming to coition and lastly the farmers market is planning it's a fifth season it will begin on May 19th uh anyone interested in being a vendor should inquire at LF Farmers Market at L fj.com that's all I have thank you for your efforts councilman pel updates the department is still holding the clinic where you get exams xrays cleanings and fillings forly for children between um a till age of 18 um we do have to make an appointment it's Thursday February 22nd from 2:30 to 4:30 and you can make an appointment by calling 97347 2039 um the health department will also be at the library on February 22nd the county cour is there just um provide information there will be a NSE on hand if anyone question they can feel stop by and say hello and then finally on February 20th at 10:30 at library um they're going to have a presentation on heart health we do have to register for this as well and do so by calling 97347 5773 have thank you counc for doing a fine job there you know it's really interesting how there are Services out there that are let's use the word free correct that individual as our library although the library is somewhat you know funded by taxes but to go there and get books as well as a program where you just mentioned this evening about individuals who get dental work done so thank you Chief Pro anything you'd like to bring for us tonight Police Department family so Lieutenant coil honorably served the residen Comm from 1966 to was retirement 1991 achieved the rank of uh lieutenant in the police department it's worth noting he was also a United States Marine serving from 1956 to 19 myces to him and his family onf of you know the entirety of the men thank you Chief councelor wsel do you have anything you want to bring before us not this point um it's going to get to my report thank you so uh Wednesday the 14th is the senior advisory Valentine's Day program starts at 1: goes to 3:30 uh we just uh went to shop I picked out some really delicious uh desserts that will be supplied along with um some hot coffee from Dunkin Donuts and great music uh being supplied by DJ Fabo um along with uh sweethearts The Originals which I found kind of remember these back in the school days where we used to put two from I don't know if anybody remembers that you know and uh also chocolates from Russell Stover everybody will be getting those as well so we have 50 residents showing up uh those Council mayor and chief if you if you're available and staff please stop by uh and that's from going to be from 12: to 3:30 PM we have another um Banner uh correct Vinnie uh Mr Kon he was a um SP four uh Army I think is that correct and his last name was Maza um I'm sorry what does sp4 stand for special okay thank you uh let me see what else I have oh uh the business administrator supplied uh through the mayor a list of Capital Improvements uh for the upcoming uh budget uh it was done very well uh thank you mayor and to Mr kushia I'm reviewing it I will then pass it along to councilman Murphy who's on the finance committee and after that it will go out to the council um and then the discussions can begin on what items will uh that the council would like to see stay in uh for 24 what items will be pushed off for 25 and 26 and hopefully we'll have a good dialogue and selecting uh those items coming up that's really important it really sets the uh sets the future of the township so I'm looking forward to that thank you uh to the mayor and Mr cusia for putting that all together have a motion to open the meeting to the public for agenda items only moveed by councilman Venter second by Council habets the floor is there's a Voice vote all those in favor all those opposed the floor uh Mrs Council um Madam clerk anyone wishing to address the township Council may leave the council president it is preferred if you give your name an address for the record comments could be limited to 3 minutes however if appropriate may you may be granted additional time in the sole discretion of council president members of the public who have joined a meeting virtually and desire to provide comment shall raise a virtual hand in Zoom application the meeting moderator will Fe the members of the public that wish to provide comment and the council president will recogniz them in order members of the public who have join the meeting by calling in must press star six to mute and unmute themselves and star nine to raise their hand members of the public who enjin the meeting have a zoom application must put the reactions icon and then the raise hand icon once the process is complete we will return to the regular order of visitors thank you madam clerk the floor is now open I don't know if anyone could still hear us in the chat but is there anyone in the chat room that would like to come forth I see no one else in the council in the council chamers I'd like to come before this governing body have a motion to close the public comments I'm sorry was Council Patel uh motion by Council Vel second by uh councilman V Cherry all those in favor those opposed just a quick U shout out happy birthday to council habitz whose birthday was yesterday was it not on Super Bowl Sunday happy birthday too Kevin uh thank you staff for working with me I know we changed it up a little bit this meeting and it worked out pretty darn well so look forward to doing that in the future have a motion to close uh to adjourn this meeting moved by Council habetz second by councilman V Cherry all those in favor I all those opposed this meeting is now closed po