welcome everyone to the township council meeting Monday July 22nd 2024 this meeting is now called to order with Mr Jason Z more lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance if you'd come to the podium please all rise I I pledge allegiance thank you we'll be seated Madam clerk please read the statement of public notice take notice the adequate notice of this meeting has been provided in accordance with njsa 10 colon 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 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 in a telephone number to join the meeting virtually can be accessed on the township website at www.lfg.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 the rooll council member Patel pres council member Murphy president council member havitz council member van Cherry pres council president scova president we're going to break break up the minutes for two different motions can have a uh approval of the minutes for the regular meeting of June 24th 2024 so mov moved by Council Patel second second by councilman Murphy Madam clerk call the rooll for the minutes of June 24th 2024 council member Patel yes council member Murphy yes council member van Cherry council president scova yes have a motion to appr approve the minutes of the meeting of July 8th 2024 please so move moveed by Council Cherry second second by councilwoman Patel Madame clerk call A rooll council member Patel yes council member Murphy yes council member vaneri yes council president scova yes at this time mayor Dam ano the floor is yours right we're good thank you council president this evening we have a number of recognitions of some of our baseball teams here in town but before we get to the recognitions of our baseball teams uh we have a couple of people who have done some incredible things on their own and one of those is an individual who is served this municipality for over three decades and I'm going to ask Marlene Simone to join me up here in the front of the room this evening for recognition for over 30 years of service Marlene has announced that in about one week's time from now she will be retiring as of the end of this month and we want to thank her for her service to this municipality and to all of the residents that she has served every single day for more than three decades so we have a proclamation to read in her honor and it reads whereas Marlene Simone has honorably served the residents of the township of littlefalls taking on many roles including DP W secretary recycling coordinator Police Department Clerk and budget coordinator deputy registar and Board of Health secretary since January of 1991 and whereas Marlene Simone has always worked closely with the township Administration her co-workers and the residents of the township assisting them with any and all issues that would arise on a daily basis and whereas Marlene Simone has been a dedicated employee of the township staff throughout her employment and whereas the township wish wishes to honor her service to Little Falls for the past 33 years service that was provided with the utmost professionalism and competence and whereas Marlene Simone will retire from service to the township on July 31st 2024 and we wish her all the best in her retirement now therefore I James bord Damiano mayor of the township of Little Falls New Jersey do hereby Proclaim in the township of little fall Falls Wednesday July 31st 2024 as Marlene Simone day thank you for your service the next individual I want to recognize while she has been an athlete and has played on a team sport her numbers cannot go unrecognized and I'm going to ask Savannah zamore to join me in the front and tonight we're here to to honor one of the student athletes Little Falls resident and recent graduate from pay County Technical Institute Savannah's ornament Savannah has left a mark during her time at pcti in the classroom and on the field in the fall she'll be attending Wagner College on a full scholarship on the field Savannah was a star softball athlete and the accolades are impressive during her four years at pcti as a four-year Varsity starter she was a first team all pay County and all League player for all four years at three positions Savannah also received several awards from the state and her conference to name a few nj.com named her the best shortstop in Pay County and the record named her one of the best players in the county pcti head coach Mike Borman called her the best most skilled player in the Bulldogs program in 24 years years she was also the team leader in batting average with a 585 average on base percentage of 1662 and slugging at 1070 and Savannah broke two school records at pcti for most career hits and most home runs Savannah also received SE several scholarship Awards including the ptso award and a week ago she received an award from the OJ Anderson Foundation Savannah was also a ranking member of the NJ Roc for four years Savannah has been a model student athlete on and off the field and cannot forget that she was on the principal's honor rooll list for all four years and finished with a 4.07 GPA tonight we honor her and wish her well as she gets ready for college in the fall congratulations hi that's all right and now this evening we have four separate baseball teams who went on to win a championship for us here in Little Fall Falls and bring the trophy back to Little Falls again this year so let's have a huge round of applause for all four base teams won a champion the first team we're going to recognize this evening was our third and fourth farm league champions coached by coach Yu but tonight we're gonna have Steve come up and join us call up all the players thank you for the record I'm not Al so Al told me about 20 minutes before that he won't be making it so in no particular order uh we would like to have the great great players of this season was an amazing season thank you to all the coaches had to coach Al we got um Martin we got I don't know who's here Lorenzo if I forgot anybody just please shout it out so no particular order can I have Jaden Step Up medals hang around here so it was a great amazing SE season next one up we have EJ all right we have Stephen come on up okay we have Joseph okay next player is near and dear to my heart my son Vante we have any more to the team but unfortunately um it was short notice oh Biggie You're Here okay biggie MVP thank you all right so like I said it was an amazing season really he should be doing this all right so it was an amazing season so I'd like to thank every one of the kids they did amazing this season they showed a lot of heart they pulled it together we had uh some MVPs and and um like to say thank you for little fs and thank you for the kids let's give Round of Applause all right parents come up get a picture on this side real quick come on up don't be shy let's get a picture in the center right there serious all right next up this evening we have our fifth and sixth grade Little League champions coached by coach Chucho so I'm gonna ask him to join me up here thank you everybody uh we have a limited team tonight but I figure you know one player for each base and I'll represent home plate so uh we did end up going on six and two the two teams that beat us we ended up beating in the playoffs and taking the championship and from one of our rivalry towns totoa so uh sometimes that feels a little better right because when you play against your friends and you know you're going to be seeing them hopefully at PV uh with that said the coaches that are not here on my staff Brian Callahan Nick defur and Ricky Gonzalez for the nine for the six players not here Bradley bogley Brandon tfur Chase Santiago John Luca benenti Logan aristal and Ryan Callahan are the three players that are here Jon Goring on Dominic Deo and read appio uh the parents could come up so we look like we at least have nine to fi a roster that would look good where chain mom come on MERS first congratulations again and for our third in town Pony League champions our seventh and eightth graders I'm going to invite up coach Newman to call out his roster thank you everyone this has been a great honor my son is in eighth grade so this is Bittersweet that's my last year of coaching so I want to thank not only my coaches my kids it's been an honor guys been eight years hard work and I'm very proud to say that we went 12- one we don't want to talk about that one loss against the other little false team but bringing home the championship is a great honor for me and for the whole team to share I want to thank my coaches uh we got Vinnie canfor uh Lorenzo is not here castaldo uh Randy Reynolds and Pat Styles you guys can come up in a moment uh players that are not here we have Luca castaldo that's not here Mason O'Neal and Henry [Music] saddlebury KFOR Max Castillo Christian Cruz we got Daniel Gabriel kvon Lopez Zachary Newman Brandon Wrangle pton Reynolds Dante style and berno Testa coaches come on up good good there you and the fourth and final team that we have to recognize this evening is our tenu travel team who had one heck of a season and I'm extremely proud of this crew and with no relation to me I'm going to invite up coach Damiano to do the welcome thank you Mr Mayor and Council uh honored to be here especially with this group uh the coaches and I have been coaching this group since they were U watching them progress over the years is just really really cool experience and uh to go undefeated in the spring uh we had a mantra we lost in the championship last summer uh real tough game so our Mantra was one more and uh All Season we stuck to that it was in our chant it was in everything we did it was in every play every every part of them and uh they came out and went undefeated and won the championship so uh it's a good group of kids we have a playoff game tomorrow night for the summer season if anybody wants to drive up to Airmont New York but uh yeah so I'll uh break out the lineup coaches uh dark Damiano Jeff Teo Vin sakusa Phil Gonzalez Chris Dingle get up here and the uh 11 Stars I think 10 of which are here tonight um Luca Damiano Gabriel zamb brono dvan Shaw Mason sakusa Dominic D Edison Seda Alex Gonzalez Jackson Guama is not here casy homberg bigy Reynolds Dingle and venzo castaldo spe very again congratulations to all of our championship teams this year and for those of you who don't want to stay for the remainder of the meeting now is a great time to leave as I say every time you're all welcome though of course have a good night everyone he it's a joh thank you mayor we'll proceed to uh Council uh remarks councilman Murphy thank you council president first I'd like to uh just congrat rulate all the athletes that were here tonight on their wins in the championship um definitely a huge success for everybody here and just an awesome awesome thing to see uh real quick on the domestic violence prevention committee uh last meeting I did uh note that we were going to have a uh D to donate on the 25th of July um there has been a uh change of dates um there was an issue with the restaurant they made us aware of so we're going to have to reschedule that we don't know the date just yet probably going to be sometime in August now so I'll bring that back to the council once I have it it's all I have council president thank you thank you councilman V Cherry thanks council president um a few updates for me but first to want to Echo my congratulations to the three uh recck teams from Little Falls that won each had a great year um it was nice to see that play out this season also congrats to the Little Falls travel team and also want to say congrats to Savannah zamore she put up really impressive numbers wish her all the best that wager uh this fall and then you know to Marlene Simone as well you know she's got a little time left but thank you to her for her years of service uh to the township of Little Falls um for me some updates earlier today myself and Mrs Krauss we jumped on the line with um Jonathan perah from the county engineering department we wanted to reach out to him just based on some previous discussions as it relates to changing the speed limit from 35 to 25 in particular on three County Roads uh it's Ridge Stevens and of course Main Street in Long Hill this is a conversation we've had with the county over the past year and today we had a conversation with Mr perah just to go through the next steps so I'm going to put something together to share with our engineer as well as the police department there's some documentation that we need to pull together and share with the county over the next few weeks that's considered phase one once that's completed and we get the verification from the county that we can proceed what I'm going to do council president is work with you and Mrs Krauss to pull together an ordinance that we can pass from a Township standpoint making the changes once we do that and it's passed then the next phase would be to share that with the county who will then have their own resolution to um hopefully approve as well and if that does happen through these phase uh the three phases the fourth phase would be the actual change to the uh speed limit especially on those three roads because I know from a lot of residents there are concerns with the excess speeding especially when you can get up to 35 and some of these so we're hoping to make that change um again more to come as we start the the process of phase one um the other thing I do want to mention is you know there's a couple events going on this week if you haven't had a chance to stop by the concerts in the park at 7 pm this Thursday the Little Falls ABC has been doing a great job these past few weeks kicking off the new season of concerts um this week they have the um New Watchdog blues band uh playing there's a lot of different vendors there including a food truck and some fried zeppoles and fried Oreos so stop by and then on Saturday if if you are around please stop by the rec center at 2m for the annual uh water Day event I know that's a fun time for not only kids but also the parents so bring your water guns bring your swim gear ready to jump up and down the slide and just have some fun hopefully the weather is good uh the fire department will be there as well to hose everybody down so if you are around this weekend Saturday at 2 o'clock please uh join us down by the wreck that's it for me coun president thank you councilman vent Cherry Council Patel thank you council president um I also just want to say congratulations to all of our athletes and a big thank you and congratulations on her retirement to Marlene and you know and thank you for her service to Little Falls um for the public health committee after having some discussions with the health department we've decided that it would be more productive and we'd be able to reach a lot more residents if we just had our health officer John beagle attend Council meetings on a quarterly basis in lie of Mayor and Council sitting as as the health department and so he will be here on August 12th um our next meeting so any questions any concerns um him and his team will be here to answer all of those um just a few events that are going on the essential role of sleep and promoting well-being is being held tomorrow at the library in clipon um it's from 12 it starts at 12 o'clock and registration is required I do believe there space is still available on August 8th from 12: to 2 they're going to do free stroke screenings at the Clifton Health Department registration is also required for this event so please call 97347 5760 to get one of those spots um on August 19th 2024 there's going going to be a free mental health screening again is going to be at the clipon health department that's going to be from 10: to 2 and registration is also required for that and then finally we are working on finalizing the dates for the Alzheimer's Pro program that we're going to have for our seniors so as soon as I have that date I will let everyone know and that is all I have council president thank you Council Patel I think that's excellent to have the health officer from Clifton come on a four time Z here to explain what's going on and to answer the questions we have four new banners that are going to be going up one is Jon Jonathan B Nelson uh he's in the US Marine corpse he's a Corporal he's one of our own he works for us at the DPW he served in the Marines from 2008 to 2012 Joseph John Joseph hitz he's also in the Marine courts lcpl E3 he served from 1959 to 1963 um we have John C May ason who was a lieut lieutenant colonel he was also a bronze star senior parachute badge and he served in Afghan Afghanistan in 2002 and we have Raymond L Walter in the he was a lieutenant commander in war war II his daughter uh apparently lives in town so we're excited to put up four new banners I just also want to mention we have a change of a venue for the movie night so it's no longer going to be held at the uh Rex center it's now going to be held at Wilmore Park so make a note of that the movie night's going to be attend at Wilmore Park um before we continue mayor um would you like to address mayor I know we've had some meetings with the master plan and the parking lot would you like to inform the council those two items is what transpired sure the master plan is continuing to move along uh our planner along with the uh entire executive board that is dealing with the master plan has been meeting regularly especially more so lately in order to address some final modifications to the master plan based upon feedback from residents whether it be from the survey the inperson meeting that we've hosted uh at the Civic Center and it is going to be the culmination of all that information uh Landing into one new updated master plan for this municipality our current full master plan is over 20 years old with revisions and amendments uh dating back more than 10 years now and good practice shows that master plan should be updated every 10 years in municipalities so we are certainly at the point where a full master plan rewrite was necessary we are approaching the Finish Line with that we have some final updates and reports to review from the uh parking experts that were retained to assist us in moving that portion forward so we are approaching the Finish Line on our master plan which will then be presented to the entire planning board at one of the upcoming meetings uh for everybody to have a full understanding and full presentation of what the new master plan will entail um any questions from the council with respect to the master plan all right and counc pres okay if I give a couple updates regarding our downtown and our street capes go ahead mayor all right so we now as most people have seen uh have finally concluded the major substantial work associated with our Main Street streetscapes between Maple uh and Union the holdup was the traffic light in the middle of town at Stevens AV where PS and we were waiting on them to install electric to the light pole so that the old b poles could be removed and the concrete work and sidewalks could finally be installed we have now finally reach that spot the downtown has been completed with the streetscape there are some final punch list items for the contractor to complete whether it be some small sign modifications additions uh some finishing touches but overall the streetscape in the downtown has now finally been completed and concluded along Main Street just in time for the streetscape along Stevens AV to begin we are waiting right now on pscg again to provide us what's called a red line a Redline is a document that Engineers put together to show them exactly where the electric will be run and where each and every light pole will be installed uh we are waiting on that everything else has been completed from County permits to our contract they ready to go uh we are now again just waiting for this final document from psng in order to move forward I was really hoping that construction on this project would have started uh around the last week in June after school had been out we're now three weeks into July and we are still waiting for these red lines from pscg of course the concern is that Steven Z is immediately adjacent to school one and getting this project completed in the summer was something that we were all targeting and hoping to have done uh we have to Pivot a little bit and figure out exactly how we complete this work without interfering with the schools too much whether it be a drop off or pickup each day so we are going to be dealing with that and working with the contractor to get that accomplished that's all that I have with respect to the street Scapes council president unless there any questions from the council mayor would you like to talk about the parking lot yes as far as the parking lot the old PNC lot uh also the Oxford lot where the Oxford theater used to sit uh that and maybe to no one's surprise here right now we are currently waiting for psng to relocate telephone poles that are now located in the middle of what would be the drive aisle for the parking lot and until that happens and those poles are relocated uh we unfortunately are at a little bit of a standstill it is largely completed with the exception of those poles being relocated and a top coat of asphalt being placed across it of course with the small section that doesn't have the the base coat yet and then the concrete work along the front end of it as well again because of the red lines we're waiting for that information from psng so we're at a bit of a stance still once again because of them in addition to that the water company we are waiting for them to relocate one fire hydrant that is located now in the middle of the lot so once that is accomplished uh we can then proceed with uh the the completion of that project in that lot which will be striped and uh add quite a bit of parking for our downtown are there any questions from Council regarding the parking lot thank you mayor would you like me to address the resolutions council president go ahead mayor be feel all right uh the first is a resolution extending the grace period for our third quarter 2024 taxes and this year uh we are looking to extend the grace period uh which typically is August 1st to August 10th to August 26 this year uh one of the reasons is because we on the back end here in Little Falls are in the process we're transitioning from one software to another um as is typical with many major transitions such as this uh it's taking a little bit longer to accomplish the complete transition uh and in order to provide residents with plenty of time to pay their taxes while August 1st is typically the deadline we are looking to extend that to August 26 because we have not yet mailed out the tax bills they will be mailed out shortly I've been getting a number of questions from residents about their 2024 tax bill or I should say their their August tax bill in particular because that's being delayed a little bit because of this software transition uh we are going to be extending the grace period to August 26 any questions from the council regarding all right next is resolution B now reestablishing four petty cash funds for the current year as is typical and common throughout the year our various departments have pretty small petty cash funds uh in order to pay for very small expenses here and there that may rise on a last second basis uh so we are just looking to reestablish and for petty cash funds that we have here in the municipality any questions with respect to that moving on resolution C uh resolution resolution C is the resolution where in the past uh Cynthia Krauss our clerk has also been our Municipal registar and Marlene Simone was previously the deputy Municipal registar uh with her retirement we are now looking to appoint uh Melissa deiro as the deputy registar moving forward uh upon Marlene's retirement which is effective July 31st 2024 any questions with respect to resolution C all right next is resolution D it's a resolution authorizing the use of Omnia Partners Formerly Known which goes hand in hand with resolution e which is the resolution awarding a contract to Amazon business uh through Omnia Partners this will allow our departments to purchase items through Amazon moving forward through a co-op uh it has been a long desire of municipality to do this because unfortunately there are a number of other providers through co-ops that have the same items available unfortunately often times for much more than we can purchase them on Amazon for so having Amazon as an option to purchase things from the municipality will certainly come in handy in Saving the municipality funds moving forward any questions on D and E next is resolution F the resolution to approve a license under the provisions of the township of Little Falls code section 33 cannabis what this is is simply and and updated administerial uh modification this has already been approved unfortunately the name that was utilized in the initial resolution uh was slightly Incorrect and this is simply an update to that name this was previously uh passed by the council several months ago again this is just an administerial update to this any questions with respect to F and the last is the resolution authorizing the municipal Alliance program funding fiscal year 2025 and as we do each every year Municipal Alliance provides a great service to our Young Generation here in town uh whether it be for alcoholism and drug abuse education and this is going to be the funding for their TW their their fiscal year is July of 24 through June of 25 and this is an approval for that fund any questions from the council that's all I have tonight council president thank you mayor have a motion to open the meeting to the public for agenda items only so move by councilman Venter second second by Council Matel all those in favor all those opposed motion carries Madam clerk anyone wishing to address the township Council may do so through 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 so discretion of a 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 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 of the public who have joined the meeting by calling in 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 rea the reactions icon and then the raise hand icon once the process is complete we we will return to the regular order of business thank you uh M deer is there anyone that like to speak to us from the chat room anyone here in the governing Council body would like to speak to us have a motion to close the public comment moveed by councilman Venter second second by councilman Murphy all those in favor I all those opposed motion carries c a motion to approve the consent agenda so move moved by councilman Murphy second by councilman and Cherry this is a roll call Madame clerk please call the RO council member Patel yes council member Murphy yes council member van Cherry yes council president SCA yes uh councelor W did you have anything for this body governing body this evening uh very quick council president um as you know there's been um Chang in the way that affordable housing is uh preparing for the fourth ground uh there were some uh dates uh back in June uh for municipalities to report on their uh residential development uh fee fund and their non-residential development fee fund are uh Township did report through our planner uh through H2 h2m however a lot of towns did not because of a misinterpretation of the statute uh the governor extended the time for reporting those fees until September uh now if you recall uh supposedly the the Department of Community Affairs is to issue each Town's 564 municipalities uh affordable housing obligation sometime in October uh now that those development uh residential non-residential development fee funds are being reported in September uh there has been no change the date when the DCA is to provide those numbers in October however I think that somewhat uh the writing is on the wall that the DCA uh may ask for additional time if they're not getting that information until less than 30 days before they're supposed to report so I will keep the council updated and advised but at at this point uh the township has done everything it has to do under the statute we await uh further information thank you councelor for keeping us a breast on this very important topic I know this is causing some sleepless nights by probably every mayor in New Jersey and along with the council members uh this governing body did receive a letter and that letter was read by councilman Vin Cherry at our last council meeting from a mayor in Montville um expressing that he would like to get other municipalities to join in a lawsuit um we have not done anything with that I think the concern would probably be um each town is different so each town has different needs when it comes to affordable housing it's not a one blanket across the board am I correct like in saying that it's not just a one stroke and every town has to meet this one specific requirement correct correct I I think the the issue that the mayor and Mont Bill brings up he's trying to uh bring up a bit of a more Universal issue in terms of the procedure But ultimately you're absolutely correct council president each town has a number uh that each Town had a number from from the third round which was unique to that town um little Fall's number is going to be different than towa's number and it's going to be different than the number Montville and a different number in Mont Vil um I always get those towns mixed up uh but nevertheless uh I think it remains to be seen what if anything uh is going to be f at this point there there are no there are no current lawsuits filed as to the current statute all the lawsuits involving affordable housing are left over from the third round uh so there are no new lawsuits yet and I think that to a large degree is because we're still waiting to see what happens in October thank you Council have a motion to open the meeting to the public for General matters so moved by councilman Venter second by councilman Murphy was that councilman Patel I'm sorry Council councilwoman Patel all those in favor I all those oppose motion carries Madam clerk anyone wishing to address the township Council mate ususa through 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 it may be granted additional time and the sole discretion of the council president members of the public who have joined the meeting virtually and desire to provide comment she'll raise a virtual hand in the zoom application the meeting moderator will cue the members of the public that wish provide comment and the council president will recognize them in order members of of the public who have joined the meeting by calling in must press star six to mute and unmute themselves in star9 to raise their hand members of a 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 the floor is now open anyone in the chat Mr D see no one else come before us councelor did we miss anything this evening no correct we followed the agenda did yeah we did the uh didn't you take a wrong call on the consent agenda yes did did thank you right there very unless somebody's got a fourth page thank you I want to thank U Mr Mrs Mrs D Mrs Krauss for helping put this meeting together to be efficient as usual thank you Kev a motion to close the public comment move uh all those opposed motion carries have a motion to adjourn this meeting moved you got all three have a have a second yeah we're passing the seconds right you could do it by I'm sorry let's let's let's go let's go back uh to close the public meeting who made the motion myself okay councilman Murphy who second that motion me okay councilman Venter to close the public to adjourn this meeting have a motion so moved moved by councilman Vel second second by councilman Cherry all those in favor I all those opposed motion carries thank you