welcome everyone to the township council meeting Monday January 22nd 2024 this meeting is now called to order we all please rise to salute to the flag councilman Habs please lead us Madam clerk can you read the statement of public notice please 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 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 dat 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 if there's no objections can I have a motion to approve the minutes of December 18th January I'm sorry can have a roll call council member Patel present council member Murphy present council member habetz presid council member V Cherry presid council president scova present if there's no objections can I have a motion to approve the minutes of the meeting December 18th the workshop meeting January 2nd the reorganization January 2nd and the special meeting January 8th so moved moved by Council inhs second by councilman V Cherry there's a roll call please call the roll council member Patel yes council member Murphy yes council member havet yes council member vaner yes council president Sila yes mayor uh the floor is yours for your Proclamation thank you council president this evening we are here to recognize an individual who went above and beyond for all of the victims of the recent floods that we sustained here in Little Falls and our Toro from Kasa Toro opened his doors to anybody in Little Falls who was impacted by the flood and invited them to eat at his restaurant at no cost the gesture and kindness shown by him and so many people here in Little Falls has not gone unrecognized but Arturo has really gone above and beyond by making sure that anybody who needed a warm meal after dealing with back-to-back floods had the ability to come in sit sit down and eat no questions and in talking to him and hearing some stories I understand that in that restaurant that evening there were friendships made there were friendships between residents who were meeting other residents their neighbors for the very first time living just a block or two apart a couple of homes apart people who had never spoken to their neighbors and that is something that is immeasurable the absolute degree to which you went above and beyond cannot be commended enough and I'm going to ask you to join me up here as I read a proclamation in your honor and the proclamation reads whereas artoro moracho and his family established Kasa uro Bistro at 75 Main Street in Little Falls in 2017 and whereas Kasa atoro Bistro has distinguished itself as one of little falls's favorite restaurants offering the finest Italian cuisine and whereas the moracho family through Kasa atoro Bistro have been active members of The Little Falls Community through sponsorships of athletic teams and donations to community groups and causes and whereas Casa atoro Bistro remained open during the covid-19 pandemic offering take-home fair and outdoor dining to a community in dire need of normaly and ways to gather safely and whereas the recent EXP expansion of Kasa atoro Bistro has enabled the moracho family to serve more clients on a nightly basis and whereas during the flooding in LF Falls of 2024 artoro moracho and his family felt sincere empathy towards the victims of the flooding and sought away to use their talents to bring Comfort to those members of The Little Falls Community and whereas on January 18th 2024 Kasa atoro Bistro and the moracho family opened their doors to victims of the flood and provided a delicious meal to them free of charge now it is fitting and proper that I James bord Damiano mayor of the township of Little Falls along with the entire Township council do hereby Express heartfelt thanks appreciation and recognition to Art Toro maracha the entire Marano family and the staff of Casa atoro Bistro on this 22nd day of January 2024 atoro thank thank you thank you yeah um can we bring the podium oh you want to spin it Ram yes your doc thank we're gonna uh move we're gonna move this agenda to the portion we have a Mary celis here from United Way um and I invited her to speak to the governing body to talk about what the United Way could do for the Little Falls resid residents that were affected by the recent double flooding so Mary hi good evening my name is Mary celis I'm the CEO of United Way Paya County um and in response to the flooding that occurred um in December the United Way launched um the disaster relief and Recovery Fund for Paya County um that I sent out the press release the Friday before uh December knowing that many families um had suffered significant loss heading into the holidays um the announcement was to raise funds uh for flooding victims and the funds would be used to coordinate um uh recovery response uh the United Way activates What's called the coad or the community organizations active in disaster um in response to disasters like flooding or covid um and the funds would be raised um in collaboration with uh and and we would decide on how they would be administered in collaboration with um our partners through the coad such as Salvation Army the Red Cross offices of Emergency Management um the Red Cross and offices of Emergency Management are really First Responders in this type of disaster and um so we worked with them they've the ride cross has done disaster assessments office of emergency management has all of the maps in terms of where the flooding was took place um but the purpose of the fund is to help meet unmet needs of residents that have been impacted by flooding knowing that um FEMA assistance um most likely is not going to be be come to directly to individuals in this instance um and so we knew that there were significant need in the community um not just because of the flooding but we're aware of the fact that um many communities have been hit hard by things like inflation and high interest rates um in addition to people maybe having depleted uh things like emergency funds because due to the pandemic um so um sent out a press release this morning that we're partnering with um Catholic Charities um to provide case management to disaster um disaster case manage it victims of a flooding um and there'll be cash assistance um that will be um given out um again as we have funds available um the one thing I'm always talking about is the fact that we don't have enough for our one um we're trying to raise the funds we had a local business um in Patterson donate um to the fund we've also had some individuals donate I'm continuing to do Outreach but this really can only be successful through partnership and so we're letting everyone know um and really that was the purpose of the announcement in December was we needed to raise the funds to be able to help people um um so you know in the press release um that I sent um to tap into to uh the various Outlets it'll provide um the name of um the the contact information for case management uh individuals can reach out to this to the case manager um have an intake um and then on a case-by Case basis you know direct assistance would be um administered um also case management is an important component of this because there may be referrals that can be made to provide um you know additional assistance will exhaust all of the re resources that exist um and then the direct assistance is really to meet unmet needs because we know that there are significant needs in the community thank you um other questions from the council um Council I have had residents uh reach out to me about monetary donations um so making a monetary donation to the United Way does it go into an overall pool or could it be specific to the township of little or the residence of Little Falls I should say yeah that's a great question thanks for asking that so on our website we have a um a disaster uh Recovery Fund page and I always encourage people to if you want to if you want to donate specifically to the this uh disaster relief Recovery Fund please go to that page and make that donation it's it's in a separate portal um from our general you know online donations if you're writing a check please make that notation in the memo um and you know and and the account for uh the flood recovery is is how separately is it it's it's in a different bank account so you know we're very um we're the United Way we're going to be very rigorous in our financial management practices um to the to the question about making a designated donation specific to little calls I think that would be a conversation I'd be willing to have with the donor um if it was you know a sign a sizable donation um it would be challenging for us to have a lot of you know small donations come in and try to keep track and designate them to specific municipality um we haven't had that request um as of yet so that would be something that I would have to take under consideration and and confer with my board of directors on that thank you I said something yeah Council councilman ventair thank you missel appreciate that um with your release today if you could get it over to council president scob mayor Damiano we should consider putting something on the email blast and putting on social let residents know about this so it' be great if you can get that over to us this way we can get it out because I'm sure once it hit social media and a lot of the residents that were impacted will want to look into the information but again thank you and your organization for doing this for our residents so no thank you and thank you for helping me raise the funds I mean that that's one of the reason Reasons I'm here you know there's the stories that are coming in in terms of like what people have been going through it's really heartbreaking um and I know that we don't have enough funds in place to meet the need so thank you for your support do you know a range of what uh possibly the residents may receive when this program kicks off yeah so it's going to be based again it's going to be case- by casee basis depending on the need depending on household size um and you know everyone has different C irst ances but we're we've ballparked it in the you know up to $750 um Mr kushia staff do you have any questions regarding this program mayor no other than to say that I really appreciate you coming here this evening I thank you for everything that you're doing for the residents of this community who do desperately need this assistance during this time and thank you council president for for setting this up it is very much appreciated this is certainly something that this Community needs much like kaso Toro providing meals through our Toro you are providing another level of assistance to these people uh who who certainly need it so thank you thank you thank you thank you mayor state of the township thank you council president this evening I will be providing the state of the township on January 22nd 2024 as we entered 2024 I had hoped to start the state of the township differently I was hoping I could begin by talking about all the great things that happened in 2023 and all the things we have to look forward to in 2024 unfortunately the topic I'm going to start with is neither of those as everyone knows this Township has dealt with grave hardship over this past month two devastating back-to-back floods hitting this Township just three weeks apart but with that Devastation in spite of all the hatred and animosity in this country I watch this community come together to support those affected in an incredible fashion putting race religion and politics aside watching this occur right before my eyes with mountains of toys being delivered to assist around the holidays to neighbor donating food to restaurants providing free meals was inspirational I stand here today as the proudest mayor in this country I stand here today before a Township that has reaffirmed my faith in humanity and I want to thank everyone who has had any part in helping these residents from our police Fire EMS and office of emergency management our DPW who work tirelessly to help get our neighborhood back on track in record time our Recreation Department who collected toys and our Administration who worked to make all of this possible and most of all our residents who came together as one family and now I ask that everyone bear with me over these next few minutes as I present the 2024 state of the township 2023 was a busy year here in Little Falls and I along with this Council have no intentions of slowing down in 20124 as I drive down Main Street especially during the holidays I was excited to see our new beautiful streetscape with new sidewalks and curbs lights and wreaths all funded by grants soon the streetscape will extend down Main Street and our other main corridors from end to end as we invite our residents and neighbors into Little Falls now I'd like to take a look back at some of the accomplishments and highlights that were achieved in 2023 and talk a little about what we can expect in 2024 I'm thrilled to announce that in 2023 the township saw an overall tax decrease for the second second time during my seven years as mayor over these past seven years taxes have increased only 2.88% in total meaning an average of only 0.4% each year I'm confident that this is a sign of what's to come over the next several years as the tax benefits of the revitalization of Little Falls take effect in 2023 the township received hundreds of thousands of dollars in grant funding which will offset the costs of all of these improvements including a grant to improve Wilmore Park in the upcoming months an incredible new playground will be built where the now wooden structure and swings exist and with a state-of-the-art jungle gym and Swings with a rubberized flooring and soon a real bathroom will also replace the current Porton at this park I'd like to thank councilwoman habets along with our Recreation directors for making this a reality in 2024 we will continue to seek out grants to improve the playgrounds at the recreation center as well as Amity field and in the future we're hoping to improve Lewis Street and sakori Parks this Administration has placed a premium on improving our recreational facilities for our youth to strive while offsetting these costs with grants this past year the site of the former municipal building and police station has begun to see its new life as part of the historical society and future sight of Ethan and the bean after sitting vacant for over a decade with all of this work taking place at no cost to the taxpayers I'm excited to see the revitalization of this building as our streetcape extends past it this upcoming year this is a major step towards modernizing that property as we strive to continue to bring the curb appeal back to Little Falls as we modernize and Revitalize our downtown and the demand for Downtown parking continues to grow I'm pleased that the township is making progress on the expansion of the former PNC parking lot where soon 75 plus parking spaces will be available for public parking this is all part of the Township's plan to meet the expanding need of our Downtown parking as our businesses in the area demand this base with respect to the pekman river just this past week the Township's excavator has continued to clean out the pecman of any shs created by prior storms it Our intention to continue to do so as the need arises we've also had an engineer explore the removal of trees along the pecman pekman bank that need removal and 30 trees have been identify that need removal to ensure no damning occurs at any of our bridges this is all being done in effort to reduce the the risk of future floods as we continue to work towards finding additional flood Solutions just as important as it is to have these trees removed it is equally important to plant more trees than the township removes and we will continue to identify locations for the planting of trees with the assistance of our DPW superintendent Ron Campbell who has planted over 100 trees during my tenure as mayor this past year to more quickly and efficiently address issues raised by residents we launched the complaint portal which can be accessed on the Township's website we've received dozens upon dozens of complaints and concerns which are all monitored and forwarded to the appropriate department heads who can quickly address those concerns thank you to our construction official James D Maria for launching this portal into assistant business administrator Vince quatron for monitoring it on a daily basis ensuring that all of our resident concerns are addressed expeditiously in 2023 the Little Falls Police Department led by Chief Brian prw received the triple AAA award for being a safe town the police department has ALS also had a record number of traffic stops exceeding 8,600 stops walked through our schools 1,116 times and dealt with nearly 900 motor vehicle accidents in total our 30 member Department dealt with 41,46 various calls for service and made 180 arrests all while patrolling 100 3 4,896 miles enough miles to travel around the equator of the earth nearly six times all while doing so in our little 2.8 square mile Town I'd like to I'd like to commend our police department and the dispatchers not only for all of their work but for the countless hours that so many spend away from their families while working on nights weekends and holidays in 2024 in addition to so many other great programs the Little Falls Police Department now has a full-time school resource officer to assist with keeping our school safe a great addition to our department this year the police department is also looking to begin increasing security throughout town with license plate readers to ensure that no stolen vehicles are entering the municipality and allowing our officers to respond accordingly in 2023 the fire department led by Chief Ken sichi started the process to acquire a new engine to replace to replace company 4's almost 30-year-old engine our EMS coordinator Mike berski has also been leading the charge as little fall EMTs respond to calls within and outside of our municipality for life-saving emergencies providing under four minute response times over these next few years the needs of these departments will be evaluated to ensure that residents remain as safe as possible here in town in 2023 the township has continued its Road resurfacing program which was suspended under prior administrations as we strive to bring all of our roadways up to date we will continue to make improvements to our roadways as the needs arise while ensuring our roadways remain safe as we have experienced over the past couple of weeks the Little Falls DPW continues to be second to none when it comes to cleaning roads after a snowstorm I want to thank them for all of their hard work including during the overnight hours to keep us all safe waking up the black roadways thank you to our council president Anthony scoa who has greatly expanded the Senior Citizen Services and dances offered by the Township in 2023 he's advocated for more winter summer spring and fall events for our seniors which we have continued to expand each year I'd like to take this opportunity to publicly thank all of the employees of this Township who work so hard each and every day to keep the town up and running especially our business administrator Chuck cuchia our assistant business administrator Vince quatron who are my right hand on a day-to-day basis here in town hall and our Township Clerk and assistant clerk Cynthia Krauss and Melissa Theo who keep our clerk's office running smoothly I'd also like to thank all of the volunteers in town who assist with our committees and our council members who chair each of them you could you continue to be an invaluable asset to this community finally I want to thank all of you for making Little Falls a great place to live where I have the honor to serve as your mayor I've truly enjoyed each day that I have been fortunate enough to serve as your mayor and I look forward to what's in store for the township as I've stated in the past if you ever have any issues no no matter how big or small no matter day or night I invite you to contact me by phone email text social media or whatever way convenient for you I hope I've made everyone proud of the 2023 that we all have had here in littlefalls and I look forward to continuing to serve as your mayor thank you and God bless thank you mayor damelle have a motion open to the uh public uh hearing for the green AC program Grant application for approvement at duva field moved by councilwoman Patel second by councilwoman habets all those in favor thank you um so that's okay um mayor would you like to to explain how this process works sure council president the public hearings for the greenacre Improvement programs for the Jake law application at duva Park as well as for the Greenacres Improvement for the application at Amity Park uh the purpose of tonight's hearings uh is not so much to dig into the nitty-gritty of the particulars of the improvements that will be made but rather to discuss whether or not residents are in favor of making improvements to these particular areas so the purpose of this evening's hearings are to either show support as to why improvements should be made or if residents have objections as to why objections should be raised as to why not to make improvements to the playgrounds uh at these two locations and to be clear the Jake's law application for duva Park uh is a very specific and particular application that focuses on Ada accessibility and allows that Park to become even more inclusive uh this grant is also targeted towards making improvements at our restrooms to make them even they are already ADA Compliant but to make them even more ADA Compliant into the future so again the purpose of this evening is for residents to either voice uh objections to the fact that these improvements would be made or to show support if they so choose Thank You mayor councilwoman Habs looks like we're going to be applying for $968,000 uh yes so uh with this grant for Jake's law it is to have a fully inclusive uh playground and there is a requirement of only a 25% match uh so for our portion of the match would be only 242 $2,000 as we are applying for $726,000 which is the maximum for this grant um of course we will see how the grant comes in and after the grant comes in we can apply for other funding or we can change the scope of the project at this point um we have put in for the ultimate inclusive park or playground and we will see how the grants come back so I'm sorry uh council do you have questions regarding this Council Murphy can you hear us yes you have any questions regarding this resol resolution C at this point I do not council president okay so I do so at if we if this grant gets approved at 968,000 uh the township uh monies that we'd have to put forth is that $242,000 242,000 but we can look for other funding um like our Pake County open space Our Town op our township open space um or just um bond for the other 242,000 anticipation when this is going to get done uh somewhere around two the end of 2024 25 council president just to be clear answer that question a little bit further the award that we are seeking is the maximum amount of the award of course as all Municipal projects are this project will ultimately go out to bid and with the hopes just like with Wilmore Park the actual ual cost of this project will come in substantially lower than the amount that we might receive we will still have a 25% match to whatever that is uh however we're seeking the maximum amount so just because uh the current uh indicators are in the $900,000 range of course the playground and improvements to the actual uh facilities may come in substantially lower when the actual bid is received thank you mayor so anyone that like to come forth Mr kushia any in the chat room that like to speak on this seeing no one in our council chambers have a motion to close the public hearing move by Council Cherry second by councilman habt all those in favor all those opposed c a motion open public hearing for the green acor program Grant application improvements at Amity Park so move mooved by councilman Habs second by councilman V Cherry Council inhabits would you like to talk about this sure uh so this is similar to what is happening with the uh Jake law funding um only there's a little bit of a difference with the just Green Acres uh grants um the project cost is estimated at 582,000 again uh we do ask for the the um most amount that we would um think about spending for that playground um for this particular request uh we are putting in for a grant for 145,00 uh because the this particular particular Grant uh requires a 75% match uh for the project so again we can apply for additional fundings uh after this Green Acres Grant as well as always change the scope of the project and as the mayor said uh we do not know what the bid will come in as so it could so it could be also less than that as well um this would be 2025 26 as far as timing questions comments regarding this Council councilman Murphy I do not council president um so why are we going for both applications uh is there a type of strategy to go for both applications for in 2024 what so because we are going to need additional funding probably so we will start with the Jake law funding for the and their two different playgrounds for duva and then for AMD will apply for one hopefully then being able to apply for other grants as well within the timing Mr Kush is there anyone in the chat that like to speak on this there's not see no one come before for us in this council chambers that are not that does not want to speak on this can have a motion to close a public hearing so moved second second moved by councilman habit second by Council Venter all those in favor I I all those opposed motion carries have a motion to approve the mayor's appointment of Leonard Lopez for the Municipal Court Administrator so move mooved by councilman V Cherry second second by Council habt this is a roll call council member Patel yes council member Murphy yes council member habl yes council member vaneri yes council president scova yes councilman Patel the floor is yours for Council reports thank you council president um so I was able to meet with the Clifton health Department about two weeks ago um we're really excited for the upcoming year there are a lot of events that are available through the Clifton Health Department already um and I will name a few that are coming up but um a lot of them do currently take place in Clifton so the goal for 2024 is to get a lot more of these programs available here in Little Falls for the residents so there's not an issue with anyone being under able to attend them because they are really great programs for example on Thursday February 8th and the 22nd from 2:30 to 4:30 p.m. um they have a free dental clinic for school AG children so anyone can go you do have to make an appointment um but it's being held at Clifton city hall because that's where their resident dentist is but I think that's a great program for parents that need to get their children into a dentist quickly and cost effectively um they're doing free eye screenings on January 30th 2024 um between 9:30 a.m. and 10:30 a.m. again that's at the Clifton health department and 900 Clifton AV in Clifton they also have a mental health screening that is going to be taking place on February 2nd that's between 1: and 3 pm this is not a program in which clinical diagnosis are made however they do offer um screenings to see you know if there's any mental health issues that they could provide you the services and the information for you know like depression anxiety substance abuse so that's again going to this is actually at their satellite office which is on 207 Parker Avenue in Clifton then on January 24th between 4 and 6: p.m. they have a bone density screening that again is at the satellite office uh and finally this is a little different from all the other programs but they are going to have Northeast New Jersey Legal Services at their satellite office on January 24th between two and 4 and Northeast New Jersey Legal Services is just a nonprofit program that tries to help um well residents of Little Falls and clipton through this program with any uh questions that they may have that are legally related um and if they can offer their services and represent any of the residents they're able to do so we have a lot of things coming up um they're going to be placed on the Township calendar so everyone can look there and that's all I have council president thank you it's a wide assortment of um medical um activities that you told us about tonight and that are available besides the calendar are there email blast because often residents as you know Council will say I didn't know about the program or I was unaware of the program or how come I didn't know I get that information so I have previously sent out certain some of these um by way of email blast I could make it more um consistent we just were talking to the library and hoping to get just one little section in the library where we can constantly have these flyers up there so residents when they go in they could just you know browse through the table section um and then I'm open to any other ideas and ways to reach um the residents but okay it gets difficult because they do have a lot of programs they do thank you thank you for that good report councilwoman habitz the floor is yours thank you council president uh so first I would like to again thank and congratulate am atoro and Kaza atoro for what they did this past uh Thursday with the meals for the residents who were affected by the flood um your generosity is just amazing and we really thank you um also I would like to thank uh Bob debrowski and the St Agnes uh food pantry uh this past Friday they opened their doors for residents affected by the flood um for food pantry donation when I heard that Bob was doing this I knew that we had to help stock the pantry and help him so uh with the farmers market I put out a request for our Farmers Market customers and for our residents if they wanted to drop off any food pantry donations uh to do so and dropped them off at the recreation center all week last week and again the outpour support was amazing um I filled my entire uh trunk and had to put down the the seats in my back seat um in order to fill my trunk to get everything over to Bob and the staff at St Agnes and they were very very thankful they had um so many supplies so much for the resident so really thank you to St Agnes to Bob all of his staff and to all of the residents and uh people who came together to give donations it was really appreciated um I want to just go over some Library events as well uh some upcoming Library events uh this week they will have a strength and balancing Workshop uh this Wednesday the 24th at 1M uh this program is especially great for seniors and there's no res uh registration required so if you're interested go on down to the live library at 1 pm. uh also there is a pet party on uh the 24th at 6:30 p.m. for uh ages 10 and up uh you must have a library card you must be a library card holder and you must register um on the website to create your own Masterpiece um they do have lots more events coming up they have a great trivia night that is online every Friday uh so for more events check out the Little Falls Library um website or the Facebook page um and lastly I did have my first open space meeting um of the year on January 10th um myself and the members of the committee uh spoke about the five-year plan for our uh Parks and Recreation which the mayor had also addressed in his uh state of the township uh we talked about the um approval of the bid that came in even a little bit lower than we expected and our next meeting we um put a um Cadence on our meetings which will be B Monthly our next meeting will be on March 13th that's all I have thank you uh councilman councilman Venter thanks council president um couple things first before I dive into a few things um I know he hates the attention as he's sitting in the dasas over here to Lewis from Kasa uro thank you once again um if you know Kasa uro you know their owner and his family care about this town they love it just recently bought a house in town as well does a lot for the community and to hear all the stories from people that went last Thursday was great not only hearing it from Lewis but also the actual residents and just seeing that just know that he's one of our businesses and just continue to support it because like so many of our businesses in town they do a lot for the community you may not see it all the time but believe me they are doing it so lisis thank you so much for everything that you do um as councilwoman habets alluded to too with the St Annes uh food pantry have to say you know myself council president scoa and councilman Murphy stopped by Friday night as well when they were hosting the pickup from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. at St Agnes church and it was it was a great turnout I mean a lot of residents came out to grab some items and just seeing the sense of Pride you know seeing how residents in town and others rallied uh to volunteer and donate items so it's really nice to see because that's one thing about this town is we always come together no matter what because look what happened recently you know we had our second flood in about three weeks and mayor again amazing job just you know leading the Char making sure everyone was up to date on terms of what was going on to Chief PRL as well the police department was out there Manning the streets keeping the residents of of what's going on making sure they were safe to our fire department as well the uh OEM led by Danny Jen Doo the cir team was out there dropping letters off prior to to let everybody know what to expect our DPW Department was out there doing the cleanups helping with the residents you know making sure that things went back to normal once uh the Water went down so just grateful for all the efforts there because you know it's very rare at this time of the year when you see two storms like this in a three-week span but yet we continue to persevere and hopefully get things done because like the mayor alluded to as well I mean there's a lot to address but you know when it comes to the saake river and also the pean river but you know as discussions continue with other municipalities as well I think you know you're going to see a united front where we hopefully find some solutions some of them may be short term some in the long term but we've got to get things done because I think everybody is tired of going through this on a consistent B basis because unfortunately the 100-year storms are pass it's more frequent than usual I also want to commend the DBW for the work they did with the latest snowstorm our roads look great I wish our director would do a tutorial for some others that could learn how to like take care of their roads because when you go to Little Falls our streets are great can't say that about everything else but you know just grateful of everything the DPW department does and just lastly to um Mrs celis you know doing what she's doing for the United Way it's nice to see again where you know there's an opportunity to help our residents knowing that they can get up to $750 potentially through this program you know I urge all of you that were impacted to look at the information whether it's on the United ways website or you know look at it when we put it out on our uh website in Township blast because anything helps at this point having gone through it I know what it's like so you know just make sure you look into these resources that's work for me council president thank you councilman V Cherry councilman Murphy yes council president thank you I just want to apologize for being on Zoom tonight uh a little bit under the weather today so we made the decision decision just to uh play it safe and uh join virtually so just apologize for not being there in person I just have two items to report on tonight uh the town calendar is being printed as we speak I actually spoke with the printer earlier today and they should be done in the next day or so with Printing and the calendars will be sent out as soon as they're finished so we're hoping that they're dropped in the mail either later this week or early next week uh to be delivered uh probably mid to late next week or at the latest the following week but we're hoping for a delivery sometime next week I know some residents have been asking about the recycling schedule you could find that on our town website and I believe will even be sending out an email blast if it hasn't even gone out already today with the recycling schedule for January and February uh on another note I just want to publicly thank um and express a big thank you to our fire department uh today marked another incident of a work in fire I believe this was even our third or fourth fire this year um where the department demonstrated just a fast responsiveness and in each instance they acted swiftly and and they protected the homes and businesses and successfully mitigated you know any spread of fire so I just want to give a big special thank you to our fire department members and uh Chief Ken sichi for uh their dedicated efforts and and always being uh fast to respond uh lastly I just also like to thank C ruro and Bob debrowski it really is heartening to witness their compassion and and their care and solidarity with that's within our community um their contributions really did play a crucial role to provide food for those uh in need and I just really want to thank them and note that it really is just great to see how our community comes to together that's all I have council president thank you thank you councilman Murphy mayor um your assessment of of the floods uh when we had the floods of the pecman you came back to this governing body and requested a a specific type of vehicle to remove large dumpsters um I know this is pretty recent but um you what do you feel you'd be coming back to this govering body in the next couple of weeks regarding Staffing equipment uh what you learned what occurred uh to this Township so following some of the floods as a result of the pekman riv in Jackson Park it became apparent that apparent that we needed a rolloff truck uh a rolloff truck is one that moves dumpsters the larger dumpsters that you see around the areas uh or when people are doing major home renovations and and we have ordered the rolloff truck that this Council previously approved unfortunately the it has not yet been delivered but this reaffirmed the fact that Little Falls having its own rolloff truck is something that would be money well spent and I say that because there were periods of time where dumpsters were full in this are in the areas impacted over these last couple of weeks and it would have been nice to be able to remove those dumpsters from those streets and from those areas uh until the contractor was able to to pick them up especially over the holidays or anticipation of a second major event uh so it is certainly something that reaffirmed the fact that the purchase of the rolloff truck was The Right Move by this municipality in the past um I will tell you that our Police Department with our office of emergency management with our fire department with our DPW with our administrators here in town and myself including em mess there were times when I was under the impression or I shouldn't say under the impression that I was concerned that I may have to make ultimate decisions during this major event and I mean that and I say that because there were a lot of topics and conversations that many people could have had many differing opinions on all of those people in an authoritative role here in Little Falls and and I could not be more proud of every single individual that was involved in this entire process because at no point did I have to make an ultimate decision in fact all I ever had to do was essentially bless the decision of the group because everybody was lockstep on every single decision that needed to be made this town and all of the administrative Personnel of agreed every step of the way what our next step should be and it made my job as mayor easier and I want to thank all of them for making it easy for me there could have been infighting there could have been number of opinions that that that were differing but there wasn't and it made my role as mayor throughout this entire two major events very easy and rather than have to focus on dealing with inter internal issues I was able to focus my energies on providing the residents with the information that they needed with the uh important updates as information became available and I cannot tell you how appreciative I am of the entire administrative staff that we have here in Little Falls uh and and how they responded to this there were a lot of heavy eyes over a lot of hours that we were in the emergency Operation Center because all of us were running on very little sleep and a whole lot of coffee but the way everybody came together was inspirational uh I honestly hope we never have to do it again but I am confident that if it ever came to a point where there was another emergency within this Township we are more than well equipped to handle it to respond accordingly and we will do so hopefully uh with the same abilities we had during these past storms and I want to thank all of them uh for being able to assist all of our residents who have gone through so much Chief Pro Excuse me yes sir anything you like I just want to reiterate some of the mayor's comments uh yeah the cooperation that that we had across all uh divisions and departments within the within the township um I've been through a number of different floods I believe this was my 10th either as a volunteer firefighter as a police officer uh and even as a resident living on Lewis Street for two of them and the amount of cooperation and communication and collaboration through each step we've never experienced in this uh community and I'd like to thank mayor Damiano really for spearheading that and make sure that that level of cooperation Not only was voluntary but but everybody was you know willing and really having him there to spearhead it it just ensured the success overall success there's probably some learning lessons um that that I'd like to uh sit down with everybody that that comprised the emergency Operation Center and then we're going to do a formal after Action Report you know a lot of things went right there you know Minor Adjustments that we can make on going forward and what it really was going to be is an evaluation of you know what additional policies might be lacking or what equipment can we bring to the table just to better prepare us for the future so we look forward to that within the next week or two we'll sit down with the fire chief DPW the township Administration uh fire Chief office of emergency management and myself along with the mayor and then we'll we'll do a formal after action report on it thank you Chief our hometown HERO program banners we have uh gonna be having six new banners go up one is Sergeant Carmine J KY US Army National Guard Staff Sergeant Michael Joseph massina US Air Force specialist Steph D Medina New York National I'm sorry New York Army National Guard sergeant Robert Lai US Army veteran I'm sorry Vietnam H Staff Sergeant John a messenberg US Army Air Force and uh Jack C Jones USMC I think Jack just graduated high school a couple years ago so those banners will be going up uh shortly that's six new banners also on February 14th it's time to have our dessert and dancing with our seniors 1 to three o'clock at the Civic Center uh we'll have a lot of good desserts from shoppr DJ music uh we also will have the township bus available to pick up seniors that do not want to drive or cannot drive um it's $5 a person for non-residents all council members and mayor and staff are welcome to show up and again that's February the 14th at the Civic Center 1 to 3:30 those that are going to attend please give me a call at 9732561200 SCA LF nj.com something new this year that we're going to be doing is having uh some gluten-free desserts and some um I'm sorry I'm thinking of the milk that oh almond milk we're gonna have glutenfree gluten-free desserts and alond milk this year and that was a big discussion believe me if mayor thinks he has a hard time doing the flood I don't know what type of how many hours that discussion was so um so that will be on the uh on the menu that day all right we'll move forward councelor wsel do you have anything other than the fact I'm not having anything made with and okay have a motion to open the meeting to the public for agenda items only moveed by councilman Venter second by councilman Matel those in favor I all those opposed Madame clerk anyone wishing to address the township Council M us 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 appropriate you may be granted additional time and 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 Cee the members of a 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 icon once the process is complete we will return to to the regular order of business thank you the floor is now open Mr kushia no one in the chat sir okay no one anyone like to come before us here in the council chambers seeing no one have a motion to close the public comment so move move by Council Hab second by Council Cherry all those in favor I all those opposed motion carries have a motion uh to approve the consent agenda moveed by councilman V Cherry second by councilwoman habetz this is a roll call to uh approve the consent agenda are there any questions or comments please call the r council member pel okay yeah call the r council member Patel yes council member Murphy yes council member hav yes council member van shering yes council president SCA yes madame clerk read ordinance 1475 ordinance number 1475 an ordinance entitled ordinance of the township Council of the township of Little Falls in the county of pay state of New Jersey amending the Township Code chapter 136 noise with a second reading and public hearing scheduled for Fe feary 12th 2024 um this is brought before us is are we we're looking to do this on a short-term bases mayor counc president this is a uh our noise ordinance here in Little Falls and because of the number of victims who uh had damage to their homes as a result of the floods one thing we're looking to avoid is any sort of issues with noise complaints while they're trying to make repairs to their homes so in extending them occur to see what I'm proposing is that this Council provide uh you know them some relief allowing them to begin working earlier especially on weekends when they will be home around their their houses be able to make repairs uh so that again there's no issues with them doing so I we're looking to accommodate them in every way possible at this point they have been through uh more than enough two floods in three weeks is is unimaginable and accommodating them with just a little bit of extra time to perform without running the risk of of violating our ordinance was something that I thought should be extended to them have a motion to introduce ordinance 1475 so move moved by councilwoman Patel second by councilwoman habits please call the rooll council member Patel yes council member Murphy yes council member hav yes council member V Sher yes council president scova yes madame clerk ordinance 1476 ordinance number 1476 an ordinance entitled an ordinance of the township Council of the township of Little Falls in the county of pic state of New Jersey authorizing the private sale of municip Municipal property located at Jackson Street and otherwise known as block 225 lot 13 and accordance with njsa 4A col 1213b with a second reading and public hearing scheduled for February 12th 2024 thank you so this is brought before us this is a small piece of land I think roughly about 9 feet by 25 feet um Can mayor can you give us a back out on this or absolutely council president there there is a uh resident in town who has a lot next to theirs that we've come to determine is actually Municipal property as you indicated is a very very small piece of land but because it's Municipal property they have been using it as their own for a number of years now it's essentially a little tiny piece of wooded area next to their house uh we have approached them and asked if they would like to purchase this lot as a result of having to open it for sale to any contiguous neighbors first they responded with an intent and interest in purchasing the lot the lot does not allow them to double the size of their lot where it's now subdividable where they can build extra property the only thing that this does is provide them with a couple of extra square feet of a lot again that they have been using that is now Municipal property it would become taxable uh by them once they acquire the lot the purchase price for this lot is $88,500 uh the assessed value of that property again it is a low assessment because the lot is not able to have major improvements made upon it that would otherwise make it very valuable have a motion to introduce 1476 by councilman V Cherry second by councilman Patel this is a roll call Madame clerk call the roll council member Patel yes council member Murphy yes council member havet yes council member Venter yes council president yes c a motion to uh open the meeting for General matters so move move by councilman Habs second second by councilman Venter all those in favor all those opposed Madame clerk anyone wishing to address the township Council me do with the council president it is preferred if you give your name and address for the record comments are to be limited to three minutes however if appropriate mebe 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 she'll raise their virtual hand in the Zoom app 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 icon once the process is complete we will we will return to the regular order of business thank you the floor is now open I'm sorry let's give us a moment we're just going to turn this out just give us one moment okay sir thank you thank you Melissa for the record state your name sir uh Jim Doran and I live on good evening Circle and first I'd like to thank everyone responsible for allowing me to return to my home the afternoon of the the morning I had to leave it was very uh the uh water was not yet clear on uh Parkway but it was judged low enough and it's not often that people who are responsible for decisions like that wouldn't go for well we can't be too careful we did it was done perfectly I'd like to thank everyone involved for that uh person Al I'd also like to uh thank uh Arturo moracho for uh a chance for me to meet my neighbors when you're walking the dog you can't much take time to talk I have two comments about the uh flooding uh in uh what was it 2012 uh Hurricane Irene um the governor then uh allowed water out of I believe it was the uh uh far Upstate Reservoir RQ and I saw the my my house backs on the river my my H my property and I saw the water rise for two days declined and was gone electricity went off for a full week it was fun being on the Deck with a gas grill but the with the electricity off the sumps would not have worked and unless that water had been Downstream there would have been flooding in houses that didn't have to have it in in that particular I'm not that was super storm Sandy rather sorry that the uh so the first thing I'd like to ask to be kept in mind as as forecasting abilities are tested and improved can uh we ask the uh state government to have plans to release Waters from larger reservoirs in anticipation of very heavy rains uh or however the uh precipitation is going to uh come uh it was successful Len and with um gradual Improvement in in supercomputers we should be able at people generally should be able at some point to know how much water can safely be released from the reservoirs without endangering uh the uh water that's needed in the summer however it would work we we we it it's an enormous task but uh as abilities approve improved for that that I think should be considered releasing water ahead of very serious flooding and maybe there a lot of modifications on that maybe there are places that uh well that's enough on that so we can let's just talk about that for a moment because you raised this issue and it is issue that comes up Time and Time and Time and Time Again the mayor I think gets bombarded by this issue I think he was on the um news talking about this you're leading up to the fact of opening up the dam and letting orders out prior and when to do that and when not to do that right and there's a big argument of discussion uh going on so mayor you've been involved with this Enlighten us sure so ahead of this or these re this most recent storm um there was a push to have the pump and Dam opened uh ahead of the the storm's arrival um and I think that after getting more information there may not be as much relief as a result of that as people believe there to be and what I mean by that is is that for about 15 years now the Pompton Dam and Reservoir has been controlled solely by the gauges in the river and when the Upstream gauge it's 11.5 ft the dam begins to open and depending on the water levels it determines the quantity of water to to to release before it begins to close uh in reviewing the amount of water that's actually retained in that Reservoir versus the quantity of water that actually comes down the Pake river by the time it hits Little Falls uh to I'm not saying that there is any amount of water that might not cause additional damage but it is essentially in consequential the amount of water that comes out of the the dam held back by the reservoir as if it's released early because it is a very shallow Reservoir that holds very little water overall and because of the volume of water in the Pake River um again this is the other argument contrary to that of opening and releasing the waters early uh this information was provided by an individual who is much more familiar with the reservoirs operations and the way that it operates again I'm not taking a position that it would not have helped but I'm not also comfortable based upon what I've learned taking position that it certainly would have helped uh so there is certainly two trains of thought here as to whether or not that there is any substantial relief I I did request that it be opened ahead of time not knowing again all of the scientific data behind when it is opened uh but again there is a lot of uh I guess science that goes into determining when the dam is opened and it is no longer left to as it was years ago to human uh eror I guess in the sense that a individual human decides yes we should open it now no we should not it is now computerized and once the gauges H appropriate levels the the the reservoir is opened or closed and or the dams are opened or closed for the reservoir so again we've gone you know almost or or over 12 years with a number of substantial rainstorms where the river did not cause flooding so questions could be raised as to whether or not it is operating as close to correct as possible uh and then the contrary argument can be made that maybe it would not have flooded these recent floods had that happened again I I I don't know enough about it to provide more than both arguments that I have heard thus far is the Pompton Dam uh the one that uh allows release of water from wanu Reservoir Chief that's correct right the wanu reservoir is associated into the Pompton right yes correct but that so when when the reference to the uh Pompton dam is to the dam uh on the wanu reservoir reason I'm asking is because the wanu reservoir is quite large and you say and you're saying that it's shallow it's just a gauges I'm sorry the dam that I'm referring to is the one in Pompton Lakes ah no I'm not the wanu reservoirs okay that's what and I don't know if there is a dam associated with the wanu reservoir itself I think it's just a Spillway the wanu is just a spell way yeah it's to the panic and then pton River to the Panic the ripo and the wanu all come together at in Pompton Lakes right I think think that's so the the spillway is not not controllable Spillway on the wanu reservoir is not controllable oh that's the monksville reservoir yes yeah right which is not controlled by a dam by by a motorized yeah I believe it is but it's the monksville that takes in the W right so there it sounds like there are some things that could be explored if the uh relative to monksville or wanaku Reservoir because there were huge quantities of water there and the fact that as far as I could tell uh the uh superstorm Sandy uh a lot uh a lot of damage was spared by getting some of that water Downstream and you're s you're selling you're saying that that was done uh by the automate automated gauges before the storm that's around the time that they were figuring out the exact automation of them yeah during that time but what people need to understand is that little Falls especially at Batty's Dam here is a choke point for the Pake River and when I say the Pake River it is the Pake River when it comes here through Little Falls but as you look further Upstream the Pake river is comprised of the Pake River from where it originates the whipy river the Rockaway River the Panic River the wanaku river the Ramapo River and the Pompton River and Little Falls itself if we were the one area that got dumped on with rain the Pake River itself would not be an issue for us the issue is the rain that is dumped to the north and to the west of us where all of these Seven Rivers start because when water is dumped there it all makes its way to each of those rivers and then eventually to the Pake River as we know it right here in Little Falls over this choke point that we have Batty's Dam so Little Falls may see very little rain yet see a flooding incident along the Pake River if these Rivers were to get hammered further Upstream by a major storm so it's it's a there's a lot that goes into whether or not we see our water levels Rising substantially right here in Little Falls or not and exactly where storms end up being the most severe has Major Impact as to whether or not we see our water levels Rising thank you um and oh the other uh question I have is um there's dredging below the uh dundy dam is there a compelling reason why we don't have enough um scientific knowledge and Technology to do some dredging I I heard from someone a couple of days ago and I can't vou for this that uh the river around uh Fern Island Park was over your head 10 feet deep now you can walk from uh my house to Fern Island Park the the silt has built up to the point where there's hardly a river and I know there is a concern about uh volatilizing the um uh sediment in the in the river where it's where it's dangerous but it is it possible that technology will be able to address that before much longer Mr that was the conversation when that came up that those uh those toxins yeah it was on it was was could not be done to Drudge because of the toxins and then the issue was where would they put those toxins once it was lifted so that Ah that's right right so once you can pick them you can take them out now what do you do with it right you know where do you put it where's it go so uh it became an that that died pretty quickly because keep in mind this River was um unfortunately the most po polluted river in the United States at one time uh but what are they do for example what are they doing with the what redge material that below the dundy dam I'm not sure so there there must be I think there'd be possibilities all right and just one more thing um I raised two suns in Little Falls and in retrospect uh I've Ked people that I was thinking of writing a book about perfectly passive parenting I took them to Scouts I did what I was asked to do I I asked about homework and generally they had done it in in in class uh before the end of the day and I did help one of my sons with uh the physical properties of water but uh what they got from little for WS has taken them uh further than I could ever have imagined and I'm very grateful that so much is being done to bring little Force forward as a community based on everyone saying I want to contribute to a world that I want to live in thank you for your comments this evening Mr K no one in the chat correct I have a motion to close the public comment move by councilman V Cherry second by councilman Vel all those in favor I all those opposed that motion carries can I have a motion to adjourn this meeting so moved moved by Council havitz second second by councilman V Cherry all those in favor I all those opposed this meeting is now closed