##VIDEO ID:RAO8IZ4SOvg## e e e e e e good evening everyone is this working is this working is it out again good evening good evening it's not it's not working hello hello good evening testing testing hey Nance how are you good good did you have ice cream did you have some ice cream tan Tano's Jato the CH the dark chocolate the hazelnut good evening good evening testing one two three Barry this isn't working testing testing up there we go all right thank you all right I'm going to read the um reading of the sunshine statement hi everyone this meeting is being held in accordance with the open public meetings act and adequate notice of this meeting has been provided as required by a law specifically the annual notice was emailed to the West Essex Tribune and the Star Ledger on January 2nd 2024 and 48 hour notice was emailed to the West SX Tribune and the Star Ledger on November 8 2024 the agenda and resolutions for this meeting are available on www. Livingston nj.org certain portions of this meeting may be closed to the public for the purpose of personnel Andor matters as outlined in the sun Sunshine Law decisions made Andor discussed in closed session will be known later to the public at a later time notice to members of the governing body and Township staff any electronic devices during this meeting shall be used solely for the purposes of Township business and any Communications are subject to the open public meetings open public records act to the extent possible this evening's Township of C of Livingston council meeting will be live streamed via Facebook at www.fb.com Livingston Township andj questions or comments will be accepted by emailing live comment Livingston nj.org by 4 pm on the day of the meeting and shared with Township Council and Township professionals during public comment each speaker should follow the rules of order in Livingston code section 2-5 uh roll call carollyn thank you mayor council member bani I'm here viea pres Klein here Deputy Mayor minart here mayor Anthony here if we could all stand for a moment of silence and the Pledge of Allegiance and for the moment of silence uh Veterans Day was yesterday if you could keep our veterans in your thoughts and prayers as well as their families thank you I pledge allegiance the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all I don't think we have uh the Essex County update is Eileen Fishman here no okay that brings us to the proclamations and presentations uh the only one on for this evening is a uh big thank you from all of us from everyone up here from over 30,000 people in town that want to thank our bravest our people who put themselves in front of the in put themselves In Harm's Way put themselves service for the down above their individual interests and we had here today um we had some ice cream we wanted you to come in so we could thank you personally we have some citations from the council which we do represent the the whole town and we wanted to just also if um I've reached out to a few of uh you if you want to share any moments about uh the major wildfire that we had on October 26th uh we obviously a major Wildfire is uh a wildfire over 100 acres um we had 192 acres and thanks to the people in this room and their bravery and courage and again putting them the uh the town above themselves we had absolutely no injuries reported and we had no structures damaged which was an incredible incredible feat um and we see what's happening in the state with wildfires and I unfortunately I probably should have said let's have a moment of silence for everyone see there was um an 18-year-old uh firefighter who lost his life um in the fire up by the border of um New York and New Jersey it's just something that's going on in the state right now lack of rainfall but our town responded in a huge way and they always say it takes a village and I'm looking around this room and we have a good part of the village here um that just did a tremendous job so we want to honor uh our fire department our police Department our first aid uh hatala uh the DPW and our auxiliary police who all that night uh especially the 26th but continuing for the past few weeks um as part of being at the command center I saw what each and every one of you did how you all worked together seamlessly you all had the interests of every resident in town in in the Forefront of what you were doing and um you really made it happen 92 Acres no injuries no structure damage so I'd just like to give you a round of applause right now we have a citation uh for each of the uh six I just mentioned fire police auxiliary police uh DPW first aid and hwa and they all say the same thing so I'll read it once and then if we could have each group come up here uh maybe say a few words um we'll start with fire chief mullen's here maybe give a an update of the fire but each of these citations are from each and every one of us and again representing the entire town they say the mayor and the township of Livingston council members are pleased to honor and thank each one of the six organizations for your bravery and unwavering determination in fighting the October 2024 major wildfire that claimed 192 acres of land without damage to one structure or any individual truly an incredible job and we can't thank you enough the Livingston Community is so grateful to have you so with that said Chief you want to give an update on the major Wildfire good evening everyone and and thanks to the council and the administration for having us tonight um quick update I was told I only have about Barry what do I got minute and a half um we have a kill switch on yeah I was out I was out there again today I was out there again today at the end of dors Avenue in the woods um thanks very small visible fire we hit some stuff with a with a water can we still have some stuff burning up in the trees and unfortunately it's going to burn until we get some significant rain or snow um but I want to thank everyone obviously that come out that came out supported the township uh obviously the firefighters um our Squad members our our our fellow Squad members from uh hsala our auxiliary police our police officers um our DPW I don't think anyone here tonight but um and then it was just the the heartfelt from the community we got back to the Firehouse about 11 o'clock um Saturday night and a lady I forget her name but she pulled up when a when I tell you a car load of supplies you know both food and water all kinds of stuff so we appreciate it and uh every one here these are the ones that obviously made it happen along with our mutual Aid Partners uh from throughout the county and uh also that really assisted us was um East tenover fire department and uh police department and office of emergency management uh Johnson Tenny uh sent over to the Drone and and I know the mayor was there at the command post and you could see we had an eye in the sky so we could actually make tactical decisions on what where the fire was going and what we had to where we had to place Saar so um I'm happy to say there is nothing visible now hoping the winds you know die down and I hope it obviously it turns better for the for the troops up north and and in the south of the state so but I thank you for having us tonight thank you Chief thank you so much Chief do you want to um call up everyone and we'll take a picture with this this citation and uh yeah came out in force e e e e e e thank you so much Livingston's bravest uh now let's uh is there Gary uh you want to come up and uh say a few words uh you have a hard act to follow 90 seconds spent a lot of time with you also and police were very involved in the auxiliary police were involved you here G I got it I got it all right I'm going to call up we have the auxiliary Captain Dubrow here so come on up here and also Joe Deandrea our administrative Captain I'm going to call there are two captains and at the at the end we'll call everybody up and take a photo I guess when you present the plaque but um but U Jody Andrea uh was filling in as a patrol captain that weekend and Russ meller is our our other Captain our Patrol Captain he's actually at the Ranger game tonight so he couldn't make it but uh it was kind of funny we're in a command post and he was filling in as a Patrol Captain for covering for him and then all of a sudden Rush shows up he got home from his flight from Vegas and went right to the scene so certainly uh Russ deserves some credit too but I want to congratulate the fire department they did the heavy lift on this one so wion fire department um I could say I was proud of them too I'm sure uh Chief Mullen was but I certainly was proud of them too uh they did the heavy lifting on this one and um it it was really a major incident a lot of different annexes there a lot of um uh Support Services other departments um so all the firefighters not just the Livingston firefighters but um we appreciate this award uh we want to thank the council and on behalf of the hardworking uh men and women of the Livingston Police Department especially the ones that are here tonight um I just want to thank them for uh their contribution and that includes our dispatchers um whenever we have a major incident in Livingston um the the call takers the communication workers uh they get inundated with calls right from the beginning so um if you ever were in our Comm Center the number of calls that they handle it's absolutely incredible so honestly the hard work on any major incident starts with the call takers and then um the initial officers respond and assess the situation and work with the fire chiefs who arrive um our role in this basically was to uh help the firefighters evacuate buildings uh closed down roadways and we're always thinking about safety but we're thinking about safety from um you know the opposite side of it than the fir Fighters um they're trying to protect pro life and property from the actual fire and they did a great job on that and then we're looking to uh protect them and protect the civilians from uh the traffic and Clos roadways so that people can get enter and egress from the uh from the scene so again I I'm very proud of our officers and their contribution so I'd like to call them up too so we have a few officers here here tonight and also our communication workers and our auxiliaries arrived at the scene and they were uh uh very helpful as well so I'd like to call them up and unfortunately our Squad that was actually working is off tonight so we didn't get a lot of the squad members that were actually working but uh we still have some some flying officers and and communication workers that are going to come up here and auxiliaries are going to come up here and accept this award again we want to thank the council and we certainly appreciate the honor great thank you chief yeah I think he's got them all no right here you that's Dar that's for Darren first okay e e thanks Chief and thanks uh Darren I I got a lot of what I was doing that night was watching you guys uh close roads making sure everyone was safe and assisting the fire department so thank you so much and uh we're all grateful to you as well um now we have uh the first aid Squad uh Stacy okay there we go hello everyone so my name is Stacy melhorn for those of you who don't know me I'm the president of the first a squad and for those of you that may not still know anau I hope you know by now but these wonderful men and women of the fire department our first aid Squad our police auxiliary and hot solar are all volunteers we do this for free so a lot of people think that first aid we're going out for injuries and in this case thank goodness we didn't have to um but what our job is on this is we heard um officer Lewis call and asked for EMS so we got two rigs together we headed up to the scene we pretty much become part of their control we were able we just stacked all the water together in the rigs and everything else and brought it up so we could take care of our firefighters all those people out there fighting and hoping that there was no injury and of course if any anything happen with the buildings we would be there to help luckily again thank goodness to their great work and credit there were no injuries everybody came out safe um we did do an overnight standby as well because we know that the forestry was out there as well as a couple of our um fire department members in case something were to happen again thank goodness nothing did uh same thing I would be remiss as6 County was fantastic I know we had South Orange first a squad H solo came and relieved us in the morning we're very appreciative of that Verona came in as well and then our members headed up again the following Monday for them to finally I think close out the scene but everybody this is your community and volunteers like when we say we're a family what you see in this room it is one big family we work together when we need it most and it was truly um an exceptional job done by everybody thank you thank you stac thank you e thank you Stacy and thanks again reminding everyone uh what great volunteers we have in town I've always said council's always said what a special town we have because we have so many so many people that volunteer and make us such a special town so thank you so much um we are now up uh Livingston hatala Response Team uh Josh are you here there you are come on up if you want to say a few words if not it's okay got turn all right so good evening name is Josh kmer um one of the coordinators of uh Metro West hutsol actually um we uh represent uh a group of volunteers that live in Livingston in West Orange and in marown um we're the newcomers to town basically in the EMS uh side of things um we were happy and privileged to be called out that night um to be has to be put on standby so like Stacy said just in case something did happen while the firefighters were busy fighting the fire both from our own town and all the other towns as well as the uh New Jersey forestry service um so we were on a standby that night and then we came in the morning like Stacey said and relieved their Crews along with several other EMS squads um because still at that point I guess there was multiple areas that were um being fought the fire um thanks to the s six count the EMS task force I guess they were really organizing all the EMS squads and making sure that everybody was able to communicate with each other um take over for each other as they needed to be put where they needed to be to make sure that everybody was safe um and yeah we had about eight members uh during that day and we're happy to be part of the team and and look forward to helping out the town whenever we can thank you so much CH great work okay call up e great I'd like to thank the uh Tribune and the tap into I I did have a a very long statement uh they a couple uh meetings ago and thank you for printing it verbatim thanking like Stacy said different towns that helped us um the New Jersey forest fire service uh us fish and wildlife so it was federal state the county helped out all 22 uh towns in Essex County helped us out uh the bell and siren helped us out with uh food and hot chocolate uh great organization there and it was just uh it really it took a village and a bunch of villages and they they all helped us out as well um so we do have one uh DPW anyone from the DPW okay just real quick we will get it to the DPW um they also assisted uh assisted our firefighters with uh knowing the roads um actually moving brush and and and helped out with the entire operation as well so the same uh citation to the DPW we'll make sure we get it to them so again thank you so much for coming out fighting the uh the great Wildfire of 2024 uh and thank God uh no injuries or structure damage and really um this is what makes this town so special the volunteers and and the town workers I mean it is I've said it a million times I've never been so proud to be the mayor of this town so thank you so much for coming out all right and if there's any more gelato uh it's melting thanks everyone e e e thank you Scott and appreciate all you've done and uh I don't know if I mentioned before uh the dado is by tanos Italian dado which has chocolate hazelnut all these fantastic flavors we thank them from the bottom of our heart as well and uh Scott uh I appreciate um from my statement a couple weeks ago I just want to read it again um this part uh as usual thank you to our residents who I always say are not only super intelligent but are so generous with their time and talents especially through volunteerism our residents and businesses flooded us asking for any way to help out we have such a caring and generous town from food food and water to prayers and well- wishes thank you all so it really did take a village and I wanted to acknowledge our residents and businesses again here tonight and one of our businesses Who provided uh gelato which everyone's enjoying so um thank you thank you so we will now move on to we are up to the approval of the minutes so like I'd like to make a motion to approve the minutes October I haven't finish yet October 28th 2024 regular and Conference minutes I don't want to do both second oh you saying you beat um and uh all in favor yes any opposed no like make a motion to open the meeting for the public comment uh on agenda items only I'll second okay uh all in favor yes any opposed no all right here hi Justin oh oh Justin so you don't um so you wait did this time stop I'll give you this back um 24- 250 is being pulled tonight yeah the rejection of the bids uh the proposals so yeah sure and Barry think M I think um Julie who sitting in for jar tonight um would that be for public comment since it's off the agenda since it's off the agenda it wouldn't be on as an agenda item if you can ask a question under the general public comment okay so that would be during public comment it's pulled though good evening Mr Mayor Justin aler 56 am HST place um first what was discussed in close session tonight please I'll let our Council say what we're have to say what was disgusting Clause um it was litigation affordable housing and um which which property affordable housing at the Livingston Mall and the Livingston Mall and the Livingston Mall all right this is I mean you've discussed the Livingston Mall number of times in close when are we going to bring that out into public for a CommunityWide convers ation soon Town manager said soon that was part of the discussion just without getting into it um okay cons uh DPW is off so we can't talk about that um I guess uh lastly uh going back into conference tonight um can we hold that in public so the public can see it rather than going it back in the uh back room can we do it in public where the cameras are on we're going to hold it back in the conference room can we do it out here where the cameras are on we're going to do it the way we always did and also how it's noticed I believe um so you're invited I appreciate that um can we mic the uh back room so we can broadcast those meetings so the public can see all the uh Rich conversation that goes back in there between the council members I don't think we have any plans of miking the back room do we Barry or uh I that's our yeah yeah thank you very much Mr Mayor thanks Justin motion to close uh this part of the meeting on public comment only second uh all in favor I I any opposed okay all right we are now up to the passage of ordinances uh Carolyn the final hearing tonight yes uh thank you ordinance 30-22 24 amending chapter 29 regulating urns on certain streets Ridge Drive move the ordinance open no we have to open open Sor I'll make a motion open the public hearing second okay second all in favor I okay any opposed no Okay so that is now open the um ordinance uh I'm sorry uh 30-20 24 I'll make a motion to close the public hearing second okay um all in favor I any oppos no okay now I can move the ordinance comments comments got a comment motion second motion second I motion someone has second someone has second I'll second it okay um any comments no I thought you had a comment you're just tricking me at this point you have to move it you have to move it we move it second and then we could talk about or else it's on a motion move it second okay so now we have no comments first and second roll call thank you Carol Council M up Tani yes Vieira yes Klein yes Deputy Mayor Reinhard yes mayor Anthony yes okay that was the only uh final hearing we had um none for introduction tonight so we have the consent uh agenda for Resolutions all matters listed with an aster are considered to be routine and noncontroversial by the council and will be approved by one motion there will be no separate discussion of these items unless a member of the governing body so requests in which case the item will be removed from the consent agenda and considered in its normal sequence on the agenda as part of the general orders uh does anyone want the either of the two resolutions I see two oh that's right I didn't cross off there's only one so one second I'm crossing that off all right uh Carolyn you want to read the one resolution yes resolution 24- 249 authorizing approval of change order number one with Capa Services Inc so move the resolution second council member uh bani yes via yes kle yes Deputy Mayor Reinhard yes mayor Anthony yes like to make a motion to open the meeting to the public portion on any subject second uh all in favor I any opposed okay great we are now open for the public portion on any subject hi Mr Mayor Justin aler 56 amher Place uh two things one 24250 it was surprising to see that on the consent agenda to begin with being that we've spent so many years trying to build a DPW uh facility and certainly would welcome a public conversation amongst the deas uh telling us what's going on there and uh why everything is being rejected and uh why it was pulled from the agenda would love to hear about that second Point uh last night at the 5 on five uh it was mentioned that uh some of the housing I guess on Mount Pleasant is being built as an accommodation to one of the religious communities and that we don't expect anyone going there to attend the public schools and question the Rel uh the propriety of building housing just for one religion and um whether that's a good idea for this community generally and whether it's even legal so um those are the two points welcome your comments on either please you want for right now uh Barry want just give a little synopsis why we pulled it uh the bids tonight yes so uh there originally as uh I think the community and certainly Mr Albert where um we have been in the process of a design build um process to procure a contract to build a new DPW uh we went through the process qualified four firms received two complete uh proposals the proposals uh submitted came in higher than we had anticipated and higher than we had appropriated at that point in time so the uh initial reaction advice from the attorney were to reject the bids uh because they exceeded the amount of available funds um on further reflection discussing with them there are some options um and we have additional time to potentially appropriate additional funds and how long will this set us back uh depends on how quickly we move and and the other part that I was going to say was the the process which is relatively new for all of us it was just adopted by Statute within the last year or two um does allow a negotiation period where you can actually negotiate and sort of value engineer and potentially try and bring that cost down um so that's why we decided to pull the rejection and explore those options in order to potentially not lose more time um and give us the option to negotiate potentially see whether we can get it into a number that we think is is within what we can justify and and then also give us time if need be to appropriate additional funds okay anything on the religious housing yeah also so it wasn't it was a request by a religious institution but it doesn't mean that's being held open just for any it's being not being held open for one single religion you don't expect anyone who's going there to put kids in the public school it's 55 and over first of all it's a 55 and over community so that wasn't explained yesterday it was explained I said they talked about the 55 over community that but we're talking about the one where you said it was an accommodation to one of the religious the 20% it was not a 55 and over you're right but it's not being held for any religion any religion can certainly rent in those places but you yesterday said that you're not expecting I I don't I I because you expect that it's going to be relig you said not you I don't remember that there's a good chance that the people who sent that will send their kids to private school there is because just based on the knowledge of everybody who belongs to synagogues and the Orthodox so it's being built for one religion it is not being there is not nothing it's open to everybody but on the basis of its proximity the thought is that there would be Orthodox Jews who would be interested in living there and as a result they a lot of them will not send their kids to public school because that's in their Community they tend so it's just a proximity thing it it's a proximity thing there's no restriction anyone's allowed to have access to those units of course you're right that it would not be legal to say only certain people could have it so it's it's just a proximity based on on where we know it is and who's going to be attracted to live there that's that was a that's a reasonable guess uh of who would be the people that would be seeking those units that's all it is okay thank you thanks thank you Justin and thank you Barry that what we did tonight by not rejecting the bids keeps us moving forward or at least possibly with negotiating on these bids not rejecting them outright starting everything again you know cuz we had fully anticipated awarding a contract tonight yeah and and I we mentioned it several times Y and um this gives us I think the the best path forward to try and negotiate see if we can get it to expedite the process um obviously had we rejected them we would to your point be starting all over again and that would start a whole new time clock so thank you Barry for uh trying to keep this on on schedule um okay uh any other public comment motion to close public comment second all in favor I any opposed no okay we are now up to uh reports of Township officials uh and council members hi Ann I nothing to report thank you great thank you thank you nothing to report tonight okay thank you um I I kind of already I was going to provide an update on the DPW but we already crossed that bridge so I'm good thank you bar and Barry thank you for all your we didn't give you a pler citation you didn't ask for one uh I didn't I didn't deserve one but thank you for everything you did with the the great Wildfire of 2024 um and getting out information and us being Constant Contact and being you know the the the CEO of uh the town here and running everything so I appreciate it sure thanks uh Russ nothing other than we'll be setting up a couple local public hearings for the Community Development applications which are two I think the end of December okay great thank you Russ uh Julie nothing to report mayor okay great Carolyn um mayor if I could I you're still awake after the uh the polls and everything and the awesome job you did with election deck thank you and and actually that stems right into what I wanted to say I mean there's been a lot of accolades about the student poll workers and uh the Synergy with the the veteran pole workers that were there on Election Day and it really um helped make the process a very smooth one we were actually out in record time on Tuesday night we only worked 18 hours instead of our normal 20-hour day and I just really wanted to um applaud my team uh Deputy clerk Liz Peterson she really um stepped it up worked a lot with the student pole workers making sure that was um all our lists were correct and that everybody had the accurate information Casey Kimmel he single-handedly uh maintained the community center which is half of our district and uh Renee resy who has been a pole worker and has been here and has a wealth of knowledge that's beyond belief so I just wanted to thank them because I know that their names have not been mentioned and they were a big part of the process and I appreciate all that they did great thanks caroen thanks for acknowledging you do have a great team and it was it was just so smooth uh you drive up you could vote uh it wasn't I I my phone would have blown up with a lot of problems there was none I don't know if yeah so great job and thank you for all your involvement and uh shopping online for uh tote bags and drawstrings for the pole uh pole workers Rock uh LHS pole workers Rock so uh the the the young adults the the students were great and um thank you for your initiative on that so appreciate it um let's see uh Kon sure thanks mayor um yeah I would like to start exactly there amazing job Ken and the team um the whole team the kids oh my God I was walking through many of those po woods and they were tremendously respectful the training did wonders actually they were very knowledgeable of how to guide and where to you know uh help people out uh fantastic work there can't forget the veterans they did amazing job as well uh so thank you across the board and of course um we already done a lot of citations today thank you for first aid uh atsala um auxiliary police police and of course fire department that we celebrated today um couple of acknowledgements here uh one is uh what an amazing Veterans Day celebration we had um in town uh number of events and one was done by the recreational department that had lunch uh for the veterans and that was fantastic job by Jen Walker and and and the team there um and of course we had a brilliant celebration on a very bright sunny and very bearable day in November outside at the gazibo for the veterans so that was that was very good yesterday um another kudos to Recreational department I think it's the rec department had done the fantastic job with cornhall League I think uh couple of the players who played quite a few games I played a couple and I think we are in uh we are in some sort of playoffs I don't know but you know not anymore some sort of some sort of playoffs not anymore as as of as of 8:30 we're no longer oh no okay you mention we we had to Forfeit today because we had a council meeting there you go so okay see that's what it is so so we were we had to give a walk um and and a call out um that we have on 24th of November uh before we meet next time uh it's going to be a thanks giving Interfaith service at the Presbyterian Church I think um that would be a good one I'm looking forward to attend that that's all thanks mayor great thanks Kan um Michael thank you mayor and I am going to repeat um a few things and I want to thank all of our veterans uh we have a wonderful veterans group and uh just uh thanking all the Veterans for um what they did for our country what they did uh for our freedom so um you know some of us actually spent uh a couple days with the veterans we had a uh in the morning uh councilman batani and I uh on Friday morning had a breakfast uh over in cooperman Barnabas uh Medical Center they honored um some of our veterans over there and then we had the luncheon as uh councilman Bania mentioned oh my God probably about 180 people over there uh Jen Walker and her entire staff do a wonderful job uh with everything that they do uh and then Monday we had a Veterans Day yesterday um and it was a great event uh I think it's probably one of 11 uh events that they have that the entire Council always goes to so um again just thanking the veterans we have a wonderful veterans group um if you pass uh our um our oval you you'll start seeing um the uh cuso elves have started uh building the holiday display um I just want to give a shout out to Tom Cooney and all the uh the elves uh it takes weeks and weeks and weeks to uh start preparing um uh what um what is really a a a wonderful Wonderland over there there uh mark your calendars December 7th is opening night for the kuso display uh again Caroline I want to thank you and your staff I know that uh it was probably about two years in planning knowing that that this was going to be a big election and uh I remember talking to you about oh my God we're going to have um lines around the block like we did uh in 2016 was 2020 was um vote by mail but we were kind of you were kind of going with a a 2016 idea of what was going to happen but you're you're um you're entire staff uh just uh extend my my thank you to to them uh and the last thing is I want to again thank all the First Responders in this town what I saw in this room today when I looked around and I mentioned it to council mlin was except for the police chief and the captain and the fire uh um uh Chief and the assistant every single person in this room today was volunteers and when I looked there and you know Livingston has always talked about how how wonderful our volunteerism is it was in this room tonight and we saw what they did by protecting our town against that fire and it was just so wonderful seeing just just the volunteers and then the sacrifices they make so again thank you to uh the first aid hatala auxiliary police our Police Department our fire department uh and our DPW so thank you again thanks mayor thank you um Sean I'm not gonna I'm going to say that ditto to everything and all the thank yous that uh Kon and and Michael uh I don't to repeat all of them but I also I also want to absolutely agree with all of them and emphasize them um a couple things I do want to say um the cornhole was an absolute blast to play in it was really fun um and I would encourage everyone to to try to do that come up with a team of two people or more in case someone's you know can't make it that night um and uh don't make it that it's five people who have to come to a council meeting because we you know as we said we got we got eliminated tonight we got eliminated tonight because we're all at the we had to Forfeit um but that's okay uh it was so much fun to play and and I'm the reason I'm bringing it up again is because there's going to be a winter league uh and uh everyone who is in the sound of my voice should make an effort to sign up for it it is really a fun time um and I I I don't know if I'm going to do the winter league but I'm definitely going to do it again uh in the spring if it's available um and I'm going to keep doing it because I it really was fun and I encourage everyone to jump in um the Veterans Day ceremony um you know the as as they said the big uh the big lunch was just is always a pleasure and and well attended so many people were there but the actual ceremony itself um from yesterday afternoon um at at Memorial Park is just a really um meaningful and solemn ceremony uh that that really impacts everyone that's there it's just I think it's you feel like you're doing something important and uh in recognizing uh all the veterans in a way that uh that feels appropriate um the I want to congratulate uh rotary and we have some members up here on on our panel here who are who are members uh for a wonderful event at tast of Livingston um hugely attended as always uh lots of uh money raised for good deeds and um I think that's terrific uh you also on the cuso elves I want to thank them uh for all the work they do and will be doing uh and I'm I'm certain can tell you that my family can't wait to uh to go and visit and uh and see all the and you know whatever is new this year there's always something new uh and we can't wait to to to see what that is and be surprised by it uh one other uh two other things um I I do want to touch on the kids at the polls I mentioned last night I talked to several of the kids who were working there and the thing that I kept hearing was they were so happy to volunteer because they thought it was such a meaningful experience and they were so proud to participate that they couldn't believe they also were making money they were surprised that they get paid for it so I just thought that was really great to hear um it just shows you where their heart is and uh and shows you uh what kind of kids we're raising in Livingston um and then the last thing I want to say is I want to give a hats off to Jared Fisk uh who plays he's Livingston's own uh Jared Fisk uh who plays for Vasser on the Brewers um they went to the Liberty League finals and it went to penalty kicks and he made his penalty kick and their team has qualified for the uh NCAA and they have a game this uh in Vermont this weekend and uh very exciting stuff for the Fisk family and and all the large extended group of friends that they have in town that's it mayor thanks you mean my coaching of him didn't ruin his entire athletic career he doesn't remember any of that little league but he see went into a different sport so great thank you I say you you put him into a different sport exactly so I'll just I'll make this I know there's a lot of lot of repetition so I just uh will thank everybody the elections Carolyn you and your group and all the kids um the veterans you know I we go to these events and I can't think of my own uh late father who was a veteran of World War II and certainly uh very meaningful for me as well um and tonight the volunteers every everyone has said it they're all they're all are volunteers and my only request is anyone who is listening this evening if you would like to volunteer for any of these wonderful groups that were in front of us this evening they're always looking for more help so please if you can please do uh and finally the one other shout out I'd like to give um is to the DPW um they have started and are in the process of their leaf collection and I know they haven't gotten to all the areas yet because they're just so many areas and so many people who can do it but the areas that they've gotten to um have I've heard the feedback has been beautiful the streets have done a great job I saw it myself a couple of times how well they they they've done it and I give them a lot of kudos for all the hard work that they're doing great thank you deputy mayor uh real quick a lot of it was covered um I uh did anyone mention the Friendship Circle walk or no a great uh great organization the Friendship Circle and obviously LIF toown which is uh Garner National Acclaim uh there was a walk past the past Sunday and the amazing things they do there um there was a kind of stripped down devali event which was very nice there wasn't fireworks obviously with the band uh but there was sweets and uh sanskriti and the community uh always makes us feel so welcome and uh I think the comment was there you know your family now I thought that was really nice um great job uh to every member of rotary and everyone involved that was a terrific food tasting uh last Monday night uh thank you to everyone who participated the Board of Ed uh in the five on five as well as Dr fishbine Barry uh really uh carrying a lot of the information at the five on five you know the information giving um terrific job there we had ourari stamman Town Hall kind of a charet itself right that uh where we were uh a pretty good turnout of um a bunch of uh people in town everyone was invited I think there was pretty good um you know Outreach to get as many people invited and there was a bunch of maps of the three different properties Orchard Hill lari and stamman and and I don't know maybe 40 different options where people could cut them out and paste on the poster boards what you want to see at those open spaces so lucari has 11 o 11 acres of open space stamman has nine acres of open space Orchard Hill has about an acre or so but it's connected to more open space um and I thank everyone for coming out there still is a survey online I think we could do it through our website uh it's a QR code yeah I think it should be up for a couple more weeks they said they're probably wrapping up the beginning of December so I would probably the end of the month and and also um to point out as of even as of the meeting last week they had already had 1,200 responses to survey which is really impressive 1,00 responses of people the open space uh ordinance was passed uh many years ago I think 2006 or so um and it's always been a a favorite of the town for in a town that's so desirable and people want to develop that people also want open space our residents want open space for Peace of Mind Recreation go somewhere to go think uh have some quiet time so a few years ago we purchased 20 acres and plus we had Orchard Hill and 1,200 responses as to what people want to see that was the survey and that's still open like Barry said till they said to be on the safe side try to do it before Thanksgiving um but then we had I don't know about 50 75 people show up with all different groups and put together maps and put together what they want to see at those properties so please if you haven't uh filled out the survey we'd like to hear your thoughts on what we could do with this great open space um there was a lions event um which was terrific um I think you may have mentioned uh Kon it was a long time ago now we're all speaking so I forgot what you you said I know was mentioned we had the chief elf Tom uh Tom Cooney here who's saying it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas so uh that's always a a fan favorite in town it's awesome um and thank you so much to our volunteers um who did a great job we mention that we gave out citations real quick I want to thank uh Russ Jones and a few other people um as well let's see Connor Sweeney um Judith heler uh Melissa from the library Nathan I mean this was a process that um Russ you kind of quarterbacked and we are back on uh Sustainable New Jersey the bronze level I know this uh warms your heart Sean that I mean this is thank you it does yes it does Sustainable New Jersey is a it it you get points for everything you do green in town and how you're trying to lessen your footprint and how the town as a community is not only interested in the environment but putting their money where their mouth is and and really um doing everything you can between sustainability saving water saving energy uh solar uh energy aggregation which we were all a part of and you there's points that rate you and we've been off this list for quite a while and now thanks to Russ and and and definitely the the council who all you what they did was they looked at when I mentioned Judith and the library I mean they they communicate with Nathan things that we've put in place in in over the years and Barry as well and and Adam and an and everyone else um that now count as points to lift us up and say and and New Jersey is saying hey you guys are very green and you're you're you deserve to get the bronze medal I don't think there's a gold medal I think they have they have uh gold stars eventually they will have that but they've been rolling one out about every year okay they have I think about four of those right the councilman Klein is a member of our green Green Team yes and councilman kin is a member of our Green Team which is actually the super group that puts it together you have a member of LEC you have a member of open space and those are those committees get us points too that we have trails and Greenways we have open you don't have a green team you can't even apply because that's a mandatory requirement that's right other you get the we know he's green he's he's I I would say I would say microphone's green we're all green and because you hit it on this mayor is that we this is more of a paperwork issue we were doing all these things all along it's not that we dropped the ball on on on taking care of the things that we should take care of not at all right we were doing these things all along it's just it's a tremendous effort to collate all the information and submit it to the state and we had an intern who was doing that for us over the summer so it really helped to solve that problem of the actual paperwork but we we've been we've been good boys and girls this whole time yes and I thank you councilman coin Dr coin and I thank the entire Council because I don't remember did Ed vote against some of the green initiatives no no I'm totally busting uh I'm just turning my back to so anyway thank you for this this Council for such Progressive Forward Thinking and thank you Russ for kind of shepherding it through with all the paperwork that we are bronze we're going for silver next year and gold stores uh from here on in so thank you um anyone else uh yeah Ed will be a no vote if I keep talking so we are going back into uh conference now and uh it is open the doors are open it just happens to be right here so everyone is welcome thank you so much e e