##VIDEO ID:sROEAJr7b00## welcome everyone to the township council meeting Monday December 16 2024 this meeting is now called to order all rise the salute to the flag councilwoman habets please lead us thank you Madame clerk please read the statement of public notice than notice the adequate notice of this meeting has been provided in accordance with njsa 10 4-8 and njsa 10 4-10 as follows a notice of the meeting was prominently posted on the bulletin board at the municipal building located at 225 Main Street Little Falls New Jersey on January 4th 2024 a copy of the notice was sent to the north Jersey Herald in news and the record on the same date additionally a copy of the notice was filed in the office of Township Clerk on said date a link and a telephone number to join the meeting virtually can be accessed on the township website at www LF nj.com electronic Provisions have been established for the public to participate during the public comment portion of the meeting thank you at this time Madam clerk please call the rooll council member Patel pres council member Murphy pres council member haet pres council member van Sherry pres council president SCA president have a motion to approve the minutes uh from the meeting of November 25th 2024 so move moveed by councilman Murphy second by Council inhabits please call the RO for the minutes of the meeting for November 25th 2024 council member Patel yes council member Murphy yes council member habet yes council member veneri yes council president scova yes have a motion to approve the minutes of the meeting of December 9 2024 moved by councilwoman Patel second by councilman Venter please call the role council member Patel council member Murphy yes council member habblet yes council member vineri yes council president scova yes mayor Damiano the floor is yours thank you council president before we get into this evening's ceremony of giving out some very well-deserved medals to all of our softball teams that brought home a championship here in Little Falls I want to just give a couple of quick updates to everybody here that's here tonight as well as everybody that's watching uh first with respect to the traffic light at the corner of Francisco and Cedar Grove Road uh progress is being made the pole has finally been delivered uh the Mast arm that goes up vertically has now been uh installed they are waiting for public service to relocate some of the uh Power cables and low voltage cables on the pole so that the horizontal arm that will swing out across the intersection uh can sneak between uh the wires and uh we'll then finally have our traffic light installed in that intersection which has been uh known to have a number of accidents every single year and severe ones at that so we're looking forward to that being completed and that traffic light being installed we also are in the process of finalizing our Downtown parking lot in Little Falls there is some delay with public service and their trucks being able to relocate telephone poles there along with the electric on them and the coordination with the school to ensure that school one never loses power as much as many of you here may be looking forward to a day off of school because there's no power that's not going to happen we're going to schedule it and coordinate to make sure that the school is not impacted so that is H in the process of being finalized and we will then finally get the top coat of asphalt on that parking lot we'll get it completely cleaned up and we will be able to formally uh open it with the all of the final touches that are there uh next we have as everyone in this room I'm sure has been talking about quite a bit uh no real update with respect to the drones it's been a Hot Topic conversation there's been meetings uh for for all sorts of government officials unfortunately there has been little to no information disseminated uh about them they are telling us they don't know much about them but at the same time that there's no public threat right now again that I leave to everyone here uh with that on to far more exciting things than all of those we are here tonight to recognize two softball teams that had a tremendous year uh the first being our 12u team that was led by coach Alby Vasquez that had a 72 and one record brought home a championship and I'm going to invite you up your coach to call out the names of your assistant coaches and all the players so we can hand them out a medal um I just want to thank my team thank everyone in the T for letting me giving me the opportunity to take us as far as we went it wasn't me it wasn't else it was you guys and uh I know we were hard on you and tough or we know what you could have done and you've did it and now we know we want more from you it's not just we end right there now we want more and we know what your ceiling is and we want to keep shooting for that every single time um let's start here with my coaches can I have a Coach Jeff uh coach Pete coach Tom all right now let's start with the ladies uh we got Ari Simon Taran [Music] Jude emry Savannah Brooke Olivia McKenna Aubrey and Ava get in here girls girls spe all right and while I enjoy celebrating every championship team here in Little Falls there's one championship team this year that I got to watch all eight of their games where they went seven and one this Year and that is our tenu softball team coached by Jamie mauso and I know she's gonna do her favorite thing join me up here to introduce everyone you didn't tell me I was supposed to bring the Santa hat tonight sorry uh just wanted to say I mean I can't say enough about this team these girls are a tremendous group of girls they're not only some of the best athletes I've seen but incredible young women and to watch them play and grow and play together and be a team has been something we have really just enjoyed watching and can't wait to see what they have to bring to us in the future and this was a very tough season because we finally moved up to different rules different level and they had to play both we played a hybrid and you girls stepped up when you had to and we couldn't be prouder so uh along with myself uh we had coach Dan coach Kristen and Coach Paul oh and we had a couple mini coaches too we had coach Mila we had uh couple other coaches in there right uh let's start with the girls we have Emma Gomez saluna Suarez Juliana Macaluso Deanna deada IA barell Olivia Hamlin sorry I'm not going to say Lou I'm going to say Olivia domiano mleta El clavo Valentina Rodriguez Jenna Hazen CAC and last but not least Miss nen Gonzalez e all right you want to wish everybody a Merry Christmas Happy Holidays happy Hanukkah happy New Year enjoy everyone is welcome to stay for the rest of the meeting but if you're not looking forward to the rest of that it's a perfect opportunity to see yourselves out have a good night everyone you that throw it somewhere right hey here's your winner right be right put in his office hi M hey how are you you could be wrong the you took the see that thank you thank you thank you thank you we'll move on to council member reports uh January 6 at 6:30 will be our reorg meeting followed by our regular meeting that's January the 6th um those committee chairs if you can get me the list of your committee members please do so and if you have any additional information to those committee members that are on your committee such as emails addresses or phone numbers it would be appreciative we just trying to get one master list that we reach out to those individuals that are on all our committees and if you could figure out a regular meeting date in 2025 if you need the use of the upstairs conference room on a regular basis that would be also helpful so that you don't run into conflicts with other groups that use that room upstairs Council woman Patel uh thank you council president just a few updates on December 17th from 10 to 12:00 p.m. there's going to be free HIV testing at the Clifton satellite office which is on 207 Parker Avenue in Clifton they're going to be giving out $15 gift cards to those who go and get tested then on December 18th from 1: to 300 p.m. again at the Clifton satellite office they're going to do blood lead testing for children six and under um they're also going to be handing out $10 gift cards to the first 10 IND individuals that go to get tested so make sure to check out those two events um finally in January the public health committee is going to have its first meeting on Wednesday January 15 at 7 pm here in town hall and other than that I just want to wish everyone happy holidays and a happy New Year that's all council president thank you councilwoman Havas thank you council president um I would just like to again say congratulations to our softball teams um just some Library updates um the library is going to have their guard club meeting on Monday December 23rd at 6:30 p.m. um it's open to all levels of experience so go down to the library if green thumb is your thing um also there will be a poetry reading and open mic night uh tomorrow the 17th at 630 uh it will be uh poetry and uh after the reading there'll be an open um mic poetry session but you do need to register on the website and each and every Tuesday at 5:30 p.m. uh you can join them for happy hour yoga it's a beginning yoga class um no experience is required just bring a mat or a towel uh some comfortable clothes and there is a $5 C cover fee so that's just some things that are happening at the library um also there will be our annual manura Lighting on Monday December 30th at 6 pm at Wilmore Memorial Park there will be Refreshments served uh so come down to Wilmore Park to help uh celebrate with our manora lighting just like to wish all of our residents my fellow council members and the township um a very happy holidays and happy New Year that's all I have thank you councilman Ben Cherry thanks council president I also too want to say congrats to the two um PB lady horn softball students that were honored tonight you see they're still out there taking pictures having fun it's always nice when we get a packed House of um you know residents here um just a couple updates want to say kudos to the um little fall PBA for their pancake breakfast over weekend uh was well attended the kids had a great time um the little false police officers that were there you know Ser pancake sausage you know and everything and you know residents did bring in toys that were going to be delivered this week I believe tomorrow is it tomorrow Chief I'm not sure I know it's this week they're bringing all the toys to St Joe as well so thank you for always doing that um Everybody enjoys it and they did have some help from uh resident Jessica Myers this year she made it a point to make sure they had some decorations at the event so they were really really happy about that um you know lastly I just want to say you know happy holidays and everyone be safe you know and have a good New Year I mean for us you know we're always doing this we enjoyed you know another year but we're never satisfied there's always work to be done if you remember where we were a year ago we were dealing with a flood at this time and then a few weeks later another one so you know definitely um you know grateful for this year but looking forward to next year and again just more work to be done that's it for me thank you councilman Murphy thank you council president just want to reiterate my other council members congratulations to the lady Hornets uh definitely awesome to have them here tonight uh do have an update on the 2025 uh calendar uh this is probably going to be the last rep we have for the uh new year so we do have a couple more advertising spots left uh I think we have maybe three spots still remaining so if anybody does want to advertise um we probably have to have that in by next week uh so definitely reach out to Tyler perero at the rec center uh to get that in because we're going to have to go to print pretty soon uh also just a quick reminder it is a third month calendar it does have January 25 in there so don't throw them out uh definitely hold on to them because we probably won't have the new ones out till sometime in January so hold on to the uh current calendars that we have out there uh do want to bring up on the domestic violence rench committee we did have a meeting and the committee did uh want to ask if it's potential if we could change the name of the committee from domestic violence prevention committee to domestic violence awareness committee um so I'm not sure what would need to be done from that from a Township perspective if we have to change it if the other council members would be okay with that um but just want to see where we stand mayor I don't you have anything on that or uh councilman I don't see no issue with that uh Madam clerk I don't think we need a resolution for that do we can we just change it or we have to no I will I can double check and let you know for sure okay hopefully uh councilman we don't have a lot of bureaucracy and have to have two readings to change the committee name but if so we will get on it first thing in January so that the name would be clarified I agree names from time to time need to be updated and changed so appreciate it yeah they thought that just fits the committee in in their uh in their functionality a little better so other than that just want to wish everybody a happy and healthy holiday and New Year thank you president through the through the chair councilman Venter councilman Murphy What's the timing on the calendar because you know it's going to happen come January we're going to see anonymously on Facebook when do we get the calendar we don't know when recycling is you know when when's the garbage pickups luckily put the 13 uh month in there to have a little bit of a buffer so we'll try to have it out as early as we can in in uh January but we do have that month buffer we thought ahead uh this year and it does have the recycling calendar and it does you know it's coming it does so hopefully we're okay we do have that little bit of a buffer in there so we should have it out we're hoping in the first two weeks of January I was G say if you want just have the wreck department I all right I think working on the social media I think we got the point Point's well made thank you through the chair the point's well made uh Chief yes sir the floor is yours thank you I just want to start off uh with some messages of thanks uh thank the residents everyone there for their support uh with our annual toy drive it was another resounding success uh along with the thanks I want to thank the members of the public for their outpouring a support for our injured officer as of this morning the officer was still hospitalized so he's are our his family is in our thoughts and prayers um and we wish him a very uh speedy recovery we did uh receive the dries over holiday uh end of year holiday campaign Crackdown so that's 100 hours of enforcement that'll run from December to January 1st so that's no cost to the taxpayer but we're going to have increased patrols additional officers uh for DWI enforcement so we want to remind everybody you know uh use Uber don't drink and drive uh keep the roadway safe within the township uh that's a perfect segue into on December 3rd the um triaa Northeast had their awards banquet and I'm happy to report that this is the second year in a row now that little fallos uh won the Gold Award so there's different tier levels of awards they have gold silver and bronze uh all in all you have about 34 recipients of those types of awards and Little Falls is bringing home gold for the second year in a in a row so I'd like to present mayor Damiano with the triaa Gold Award office there were also the uh Traffic Safety hero awards did you get yours councilman so it's a it's a good plug to recognize uh councilman Venturi he was one of 22 recipients of the triaa traffic safety hero award he was recommended by um from our department for his work on you know the Committees and uh the support of the that he gives to our Traffic Safety section as well as all of you um that really allows us to accomplish the mission uh it aligns with my vision of making Little Falls a safe community and I just wanted to thank him publicly for his support and acknowledge that triaa did give him an award uh last thing everybody have a safe healthy and uh happy holiday season thank you Chief have a motion to open the meeting to the public for agenda items only move by councilman V Cherry second by councilwoman habets all those in favor I all those oppos 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 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 shall raise their virtual hand in the zoom application the meeting moderator will cue the members of the public that which to 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 9 to raise their hand members of the public who have joined the meeting via the zoom application must click 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 I see no one in our chat that'd like to speak to us no one wants to come forward in our council chambers that wants to speak to us have a motion to close the public so moved moved by councilman Venter second by councilman Murphy all those in favor I all those oppos motion carries c a motion to approve the consent agenda so moved by councilwoman Patel second by councilman V Cherry uh before we call the role the um resolution the last second to last one resolution D I have to say is a I'll use the word annoying to me that the uh president of Montclair State University decides that he needs the most lavish house in our Township to reside in um it was probably sold for over a million dollars and that home now comes off our tax rols so um I think we have we had quite a few other homes that could have been satisfying his needs but it's a little perturbing that our most expensive home was chosen with that said um Madame clerk called the RO council member Patel yes council member Murphy yes council member Havas council member van Cherry yes council president scova yes Madam clerk read ordinance 1506 second reading and public hearing of ordinance number 1506 and ordinance in entitled an ordinance by the township Council amending the township of littlefalls code of ordinances to to repeal chapter 86 and its entirety to adopt a new chapter 86 to adopt flood Hazard maps to designate a flood plane administrator and providing for severability and an effective date the public hearing on ordinance 1506 is now open does anyone wish to speak seeing none the public carry on ordinance 1506 is now closed can I have a motion to adopt ordinance 1 156 V move by councilwoman Patel second second by councilwoman Habs please call the rooll for 1506 council member Patel yes council member Murphy yes council member habas council member van Cherry yes council president SCA yes Adam clerk 1507 please second reading in public hearing of ordinance number 1507 an ordinance entitled an ordinance of the township Council of the township of Little Falls in County Pake state of New Jersey amending chapter 71 fees the public hearing on 1507 is now open does anyone wish to speak cn01 the public hearing on ordinance 1507 is now closed have a motion to adopt 1507 sove move so moved by uh coun councilwoman H second by councilman Murphy This is a roll call call the roll in 1507 council member Patel yes council member Murphy yes council member habetz yes council member van Cherry yes council president scova yes have a motion to open the meeting to the public so moveed by Council Murphy second by councilman vent Cherry all those in favor all those oppos motion carries seeing no one com before us uh have a motion to close to the public comment so move moveed by councilwoman haetz second second by councilwoman Patel c a motion to adjourn this meeting move by councilman Venter second by councilman Patel all those in favor all those opposed this meeting is now closed