##VIDEO ID:Y8WD8WzGmt4## good evening everyone I'm going to read the uh statement of compliance with the Sunshine Law first this meeting is being held in accordance with the open public meetings act an adequate notice of this meeting has been provided as required by law specifically the annual notice was emailed to the West HX Tribune and the Star Ledger on January 2nd 2024 the agenda and resolutions for the 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 other matters as outlined in the Sunshine Law decisions made Andor discussed and closed session will be made known to the public at a later time notice to members of the governing body and Township staff any use of electronic devices during this meeting shall be used solely for the purposes of Township business and any Communications are subject to the open public records act to the extent possible this evening's Township of Livingston council meeting will be live streamed via Facebook at at www.fb.com Livingston NJ questions or comments will also be accepted by emailing live comments at Livingston nj.org by 4:00 on the day of the meeting each speaker should follow the rules of order in Livingston code section 2-15 okay Carolyn roll call thank you mayor council member bubani here Viera pres kleene here Deputy Mayor Marin har yes mayor Anthony uh here uh if everyone could uh please stand for a moment of silence and the Pledge of Allegiance I pledge allegiance the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible liy and justice for all all right uh Essex County for a few few more days yeah uh I don't see Eileen Fishman for the Essex County updates we are up to proclamations and presentations uh the first one on the list is sanskriti of New Jersey donation to the Livingston fire department and we have the chief and Tom here and we have representatives of sanskriti so um I guess I'll have you up and you would want to speak of course right with a microphone um if you want to no you want to grab the microphone and present the check just so everyone knows uh well I'm not going to spoil the surprise but uh during the Wildfire not only did these gentlemen and the entire all of our First Responders doing an absolutely phenomenal job but I had said I think in a statement I read here that our town my phone actually blew up with more from people wanting to help and people saying how can I help what could I do water food what what's going on can we any way we can and you bar remember that we were like fielding all those calls um now we're here a few weeks later is is the fire 100% contained because of the the they left it at 90 cuz there was still the smoldering even though they had done the perimeter you guys uh with the back burning and the and the was 300 gallons of water dropping from a helicopter just tremendous to watch all of this um but I think they left at 90 until everything even even the smoldering uh Embers there were out which hopefully I think we needed an inch and a half of rain and maybe we got a cumula okay good all right so anyway job well done um by our own yes our our own First Responders tremendous job and now we have a surprise for you I don't think it's much of a surprise but nois you want to take it away so may can I can I say a couple of things n sorry just a couple of things before that so I just want to highlight um the importance of of this and I I speak from my personal experiences uh Diwali and fireworks are goes hand inand uh all my years and I've I've lived more than five decades now all the years I have never had won Diwali without fireworks so you can imagine the importance of of uh fireworks with the festival honoring the the emergency that we had and what happened and how the fire department worked and everything the community as mayor said came together and kudos to sanskriti for honoring that coming up and say hey Community yes it is a very baked T characteristic of this big Festival probably the guest Festival um let's honor it and all the savings and of course I'm not not going to surprise take out any of the surprises but that's the importance I just want to highlight that and on the other side of course the fire department is just mayor said everything uh but it's amazing to have two great efforts combined here so I'm I'm really proud I just want to add that thank you thanks hi this is NES MRE yes absolutely okay thank you thanks thank you for the opportunity and I think so as you said K and very rightly I think so a big um festival for us but I think so the community thanks to the sanskritic committee also stood by the fire department and especially we ensure that we did not do fireworks this year so it was even our fireworks was actually cancelled so I appreciate that you know the efforts which uh uh the fire department has put in and I really appreciate Chris especially because he keeps us safe not only the town but he being my neighbor also sees ensures that we are safe so so but uh appreciate that in terms of that in terms of the appreciation we have some small um contribution which we want to do to to the fire department on behalf of sanskriti so please uh committee members if you can come in and hand over the check to yeah CHR you want to say something yes thank you okay thank you okay before they um present the check to the fire department we are very appreciative um we work with sansy and NES is my neighbor um so I see him all the time and obviously I see the rest of the crowd at meetings unfortunately we had to deny the fireworks due to the state regulations um we had a pre-meeting and we were leading up to it and we thought it might go off but unfortunately the state put a stop to it obviously under the conditions but we want to thank you sanskriti uh being a big part of the community uh along with a lot of other um as as the mayor mentioned his phone was blowing up and the support the fire department has received um during the wildfire and and after um including Financial donations which are always appreciative appreciated I should say uh the the department is a volunteer department uh the rank and file so we do depend on the community's um you know Financial contributions and especially it's extra special when we have a a group um that's really ingrained in the community uh supporting us so we appreciate it I'm going pass it off to time thank you thank you I I'll say the same thing um I want to thank all of our friends this greedy uh our volunteer fire department as we've seen in recent weeks is a very important part of our community and we are ready to respond to anything tonight tomorrow the next day whenever the big small doesn't matter uh but without the support of the community and groups like sansky we wouldn't be able to do what we do so thank you all and please thank all of your members for us I'm sorry your fireworks didn't happen but as as the chief said we're glad they didn't happen and next year I'm sure they'll go off without a hitch so thank you [Applause] Mike Mike's someone we got to worry I'm always ask app I'll be there oh my I'm sorry we don't mean to rush but we have an event to attend sorry about that thank you for giving us this okay [Music] thanks thank you thank you an is the new Russ and and and you got to say we keep it going we keep it going shutter flush shutter flly shutter okay we are up to a very proud moment for uh the township of Livingston um we uh the second one on the on the uh agenda here Livingston receiv receives sustainable Jersey bronze level certification and we're going to honor uh Connor Sweeney um tonight for all his hard work in getting us back on the list we are now recertified with sustainable New Jersey it was a lot of work I think we're at 160 points uh we needed 150 to get past bronze and we're in the bronze um level I think uh I think Silver's 350 so that's our next goal uh but Connor you did a tremendous job and we want to have you up here and um if you want if you want to say a few words uh you did incredible job I know it you had to bring a lot of people together on this the paperwork involved uh Russ it involved so many people it involved uh the library um the communications department and a bunch of other uh departments in town and and here's our good friend Connor we the sweny family is with come you want to come [Applause] up come here yeah yeah to see it yeah so what we're doing here is yeah when you receive um you're back on the list of sustainable uh New Jersey you get this plaque and we received this plaque from uh the whole state of New Jersey the league of municipalities which is all the municipalities of New Jersey I believe it's 565 of them we received this plaque which shows that here it is due to Connor's work 2024 to 2027 we have achieved the bronze level right there and and um you're really uh the rock star here do you want to say a few words sure okay you go um I just want to say I probably would not have done all that I did without the help of either lutino or Russ Russ Jones um along with all the other heads of the department your of the town he kept them going yeah say a few words about Conor's awesome job within Town well we were fortunate because not not only this summer he also worked with us last summer so this has been a two-year project and some of us know and maybe others don't Connor is actually majoring in sustainability and he's going to be finishing up in December right grad graduated from the rampo college up in the northern part of the state so that's that's a big deal and we do have one other thing for you you let Mom pin it on if you want your official um sustainable Jersey but this one now has a little red banner across it it says certified so nice pajamas go on the pajamas as well well you can put it on a shirt for tonight all right yeah so and let's see but we also have one other thing he's not going to get away I also have another copy of the sustainable jersey with the certification cycle for 2025 first round is due in February so we've already sort of recruited Connor to come in when he wants to help and make a you know help us out so we just need 190 more points on this on the next route that's all that's all that's right hey you got us over the hump for the last one so and it did come down to the wire we uh it was close yeah right yeah it was but we uh the library gave us a couple things at the last minut that would gave us an additional 15 points and we got to 160 out of the 150 that was required so good job yeah it was it excellent job so so con we have a citation we have a citation for you and as you could see you could read along here um the mayor and the members of the Livingston Township Council are pleased to announce that Livingston receives sustainable Jersey certification yes and we would also like to honor the efforts of Connor Sweeney and the many others who assisted him during this 2-year summer internship program that allowed him to complete the Sustainable New Jersey application and solidify a bronze level certification for the township preserving the environment and contributing to sustainable future is paramont and with this designation the township will be able to implement new environmentally friendly initiatives to keep Livingston green congratulations Connor Thank you all right you get to turn that around for yeah money shot you want to get a photo everyone yeah Sween are no no stranger to the anthonies uh she taught my [Laughter] daughter thank you congratulations thanks my friend great job this is quite an achievement e for e okay we are now up to the 2025 Essex County Community Development block Grant application the cdbg public hearing Russ you Barry it's Russ yep um this is the start of the uh 2025 ESS County Community Development block grant uh um program this will be the first of two local public hearings um we go through the ess6 county to apply for funds because the uh CBG program is you can't go direct to HUD unless you have a population of over 50,000 so there's only I believe there's four towns or four municipalities in Essex County that go direct to HUD uh Newark orange Irvington and I believe Bloomfield the other 18 communities are part of what they call Consortium with Essex County and so Essex County is actually the applicant and then we apply to Essex County for funding um this year they finally have gotten the new census track uh maps from uh the Census Bureau and we don't have areas that qualify for low and moderate income by census block groups or uh on the map so basically the projects that we're eligible for things that are barrier-free or as they now call them Ada where you don't have to do income qualifications so um but we've done a number of things some of the buses we bought have been through Community Development funds because they're accessible they have lifts um we're actually the last two projects we're getting the current project we're we're receiving funding for a ban and the year before which we've gotten it delivered we just have to have it finished to have it uh detailed on the outside as a sensory van for people that may need to have a a quiet area at an event and we can take it to an event and it's somewhat of a like a quiet room so uh so we'll be looking at a couple probably some if any of you are familiar with the automatic doors over at the police station that was a cdbg program uh project um they asked that we um announce this year too because I guess Huds is requiring more information he put out for public participation that if you have any questions about eligibility of projects you can contact contct the Essex County Community Development Office directly in Cedar Grove for further information so we'll have another public hearing on December 9th for any input on what you think the project should be for this year it it's yeah do we need a motion to open the public hearing okay you want to make it can I make a motion to open the public hearing second um all in favor in favor yep any oppos so the public meeting is open it uh Mo to CL leave it open do we close it since it has to be uh on for two weeks we do close it this one and re I'll second it yeah the other they've both been advertised separately okay all in favor of closing it I comments here and oh have a comment you have a comment okay okay um any oppos no okay now we close go right so uh a couple of quick quick comments I think this is great uh we definitely need to look at those those areas uh so Russ we had uh someone came up here uh few months ago and uh her name was Pam teer she talked about how uh we need in town more handicap parking would that qualify for something like this because there is uh for example what the the example she was quoting was at the oval you know in gazebo around gazebo area where there are public events happening there are one or two spots and maybe those additional spots are required and there there is validity to to some of those requests is that something that is part of this you said ADA compliance is that something um well it would be pretty much for Capital Improvements if it required some construction of that type of thing so any of these could be my question was is that something that can be a project which is part of uh the grant here yeah I would say if it involves construction possibly you know depending yeah I think Excavating and creating new spaces just putting up signs probably so I would I would absolutely underscore that that we absolutely need that in areas where we really have more you know public events happening um it is definitely a need uh it was expressed here in town in in council meeting as well so I would I would consider that and and you know take that as one of the options for the project mayor if I can just uh add on to what Kon has said um we you know when we at the five and five um we I had brought up the um uh the uh the plan for you know from a few years back on the oval and the different parking configuration and maybe if there is some you know some effort that's made to change the parking configuration that kind of grant you know could go towards as as Council m bani is saying go towards expanding um those kinds of spots but also least that portion of it spots in general you know possibly but um you know we were going to dig up that the old plan and take a look and see what was involved with that yeah um year a number of years ago we did a lot of curb Cuts around the town with Community Development funds and some work in the business improvement district but only that portion involved the curb Cuts because we don't have the qualifying areas as far as you know doing an overall you know like the papers and income stuff and it could be a sort of sorry uh just to add on to that right it could be a it could be a partial project which is really you know part of our regular construction projects and Appropriations that we do but other part could be part you know part of this grant it's an absolute Le need so how we balance it out is so some creative ways to look at it from time to time they also do reprogramming funds throughout the year because this particular application will be due December 29th so whether enough the time to get to I'm J Walker and I've been talking about um there's some automatic doors over at the community center um which there is now a better version of some of them and they're finding that where there's a set of double doors that some people can't quite make it out to the second set of doors before they close so there's some better controls and things like that so I think we're going to maybe look at that as the first priority at the end of the day we're probably around around 40,000 is about what we get every time we qualify but as an overall project you could carve out a piece and say all right our part the Community Development funds is going to do this portion of the project for example like you say the handicap parking spaces mayor I have a comment um well the first the comment is I I had spoken to to Barry about putting some temporary uh handicapped and Senior signage up at the cuso uh we've done that for the last couple years but bar in regards to handicap parking we just have to pass uh ordinances right that that's really what this pass ordinances and then ex it if you're using existing spaces It generally you got to take three to make two because you have to have the door clearances in those areas and then um although using existing spaces probably wouldn't rise the level of a project but certainly if we created additional spaces where you were actually Paving and Curbing and all that sign each you have to do this very specific but everything everything on that when really comes to the council with the with regards to ordinances and everything correct right well in order to have them enforced yes yeah okay thank you great thanks um we are up to the approval of the minutes motion to approve the minutes pending Corrections of November 12th 2024 regular conference and the 20 I'm sorry November 12 2024 close session meeting minutes is there a second I'll second it okay any uh all in favor I any opposed no make a motion to open the meeting to public comment on agenda items only second I'll second it all right all in favor I any opposed no okay uh we are now open for public comment on agenda items only hi just [Music] hi Mr Mayor Justin Alper 56 Amhurst Place uh three items sir one uh with respect to Essex County update she didn't show up to with respect to Essex County updates once again she didn't show up today we ought to reverse the lines of control there you know reach out to uh the ldcc chairwoman who also serves as a uh county commissioner ask her to get an accounting of the number of County employees who live in Livingston let's see if we're getting our Prat a portion back from the county and we start to exercise some control there two with respect to 24253 on the Deferred Compensation can you please pull that out of the consent agenda so there can be a discussion so we know what's going on it's not really clear from the resolution would love to hear a discussion of what's going on there please three uh 24264 with respect to this developers agreement whoever put together the um agenda accidentally left off the exhibits so I it's difficult to comment on this because there's no real exhibits here I don't know if you guys have seen the exhibits um I certainly haven't so I have not been able to see that um also before we developed that when we met with the school board uh they seemed a little bit concerned about the amount of development that's going on I think if we're going to be shoehorning in whatever it is 75 Family Apartments in there I'm not sure the rker hill school's ready to take that on and that's the near school there so perhaps we slow that down a little bit um would certainly like to see the uh exhibits there before we move forward and um welcome your thoughts on that have you seen the exhibits I've seen it was it sent out all right if you haven't seen the exhibits you can't possibly pass on this okay but the public has not seen the exhibits the council is not seen yes it's not in my copy from this morning and I looked at the copy there was up here when I got here and it wasn't in that either and the councilmen don't seem to have it either what time did you email it to them okay I didn't see it it's not in the in the copy I downloaded this morning it's not in here the purpose of these public meetings is for the public to give input sens I mean some are just not want to wait wait it's fine all right the copy I downloaded this morning the whole reason for having this 48h hour period is so people when they go on and they download it they can look at it and they have the weekend to look at it it wasn't there this morning I could downloaded it this morning it's empty exhibits Exhibit C empty exhibit D empty exhibit exhibit F empty okay well then you can't possibly pass this resolution thank you very much Mr Mayor are are you in agreement that you can't possibly pass a resolution without the exhibits without the public seeing the exhibits without the councilman seeing exhibits I've just asked the council I don't think we have uh a few of these exhibits so is there a motion to uh Barry you said this is not time sensitive it's not critical it's we can certainly wait Thank you very for the sake of I think we should thank you okay so we'll pull from the agenda yeah we'll pull that but a motion for that no okay so we will um have that on for the next time motion to close public comment on agenda items only second is there a second no no second yes second go again just uh all right uh favor I any opposed no okay all right we are now up to Barry you want to take something out of order here right yeah so that next up on the printed agenda in order is the introduction of a bond ordinance which provides additional funding towards the Public Works project as the council is aware uh we did receive bids came a little higher than anticipated um in order for us to exercise our ability under the design build statute to negotiate uh we have to have sufficient funding of available for preliminary award so there is an ordinance number 31 2024 amending to provide that additional funding um in order to do that though we have to make available the down payment which is what's provided in resolution 24- 262 so we need to move on resolution 24262 uh emergency resolution down payment on improvements first before you introduce the ordinance so is is there a motion to approve uh resolution 24 263 262 sorry I'll make a motion to uh um approve resolution uh 24262 thank you Michael second second Kon did you say second I'll make a second oh TR thank you discussion uh discussion on 262 no okay so we do a roll call on yes okay council member bani yes via yes kleene yes Deputy Mayor mhart yes mayor Anthony yes okay so Barry we could go back to now back to the agenda the introduction and as I noted that's a bonds to increase the funding we could do 31-24 on first reading correct okay count can we do um can you read uh 31 thank ordinance 31-202 Bond ordinance amending Bond ordinance number 26224 finally adopted by the township Council of the township o Livingston newe Jersey on September 23rd 2024 I'd like to make a motion to introduce Bond ordinance 31- 2024 second second okay um any any opposed all right roll call roll call discussion discussion discussion discussion got a discussion council member bani yes viea yes kleene yes Deputy Mario mehard yes mayor Anthony yes that'll be on for that'll be uh have its final hearing on December 9th December 9th okay thank you Carolyn and second one ordinance 32- 2024 amending and supplementing chapter 68 of the Township Code by expanding the public areas wherein residents may walk their dogs someone want to like to make motion to approve the ordinance okay I'll second second any comments any comments just a comment on yeah this was something uh that I I I would be excited to see pass um I think that uh a lot of people in this town love dogs and we should make this a dog friendly town and a lot of people bring their dogs uh into parks in lots of and lots of cities and towns and are responsible and clean up after their dog and there are people who bring their dog uh into our uh Parks even when technically it's you know uh not allowed um and I think it should be allowed I think that uh people should have leashes on their dogs and the dogs should be able to uh come outside with their owners and enjoy our park space and make everyone else happy the way they do so so I'm going to vote Yes when we vote on this mayor I'm just going to uh to thank councilman Klein for bringing this up uh I know that it was brought up a couple years ago and uh it really didn't get any traction so thank you very much quite honestly uh it's a no-brainer you know what people love their dogs more than their husbands and wives sometimes um and quite honestly I you know what we're we're really not enforcing uh dogs uh as as our ordinances say so and you know what it really is nice to have your your your dog uh with you walking and exercising so I too will be voting with this and thank you uh councilman Klein for bringing this up again one other comment our dogs even swim in our pool uh de mayor and I think councilman Vier I brought my dog this year we have our dogs in our pools we should be able to have our dogs on our Lawns but CH in jump in right CH jumped in a little was playing with on the record my dog did not jump in at all I carried him in several times actually on the record mayor I think you carried him in three times and he jumped out three times three so I can't wait for this summer because I have a Portuguese water dog so he better like the pool right uh any other comments I I I I think um this allows it Barry right for a resolution going forward to make Mr caner could address it but yeah so this allows the council to uh open up Public public space uh for dogs by resolution uh and remove because I know there's some there was we're not sure how it's going to work out so there was we wanted the flexibility to CH pick and choose different areas to allow uh dog walking okay yeah and the additional benefit by formally designating areas it gives us an opportunity to you know put in uh waste bag stations make sure we have garbage cans CU right now you know at least facil people making sure and I think the intent of the governing body was to um exclude the oval at the next meeting to allow people to walk their dogs around the oval on yeah right depending where to designate it as a do place of free space right and that resolution will be on for the next meeting yeah I just want to make a comment someone we should s of um differentiate because I do believe that there are no dogs allowed on school properties I know this is I know this is not school property but I think we should make sure that the residents know that that I believe is still effect by the Board of Education this is not changing that policy but just for this area right here because there are signs on school properties I believe that say dogs are not allowed so somewh we should just make sure that that gets out as well so this this particular ordinance doesn't affect any anywhere dogs aren't allowed they continue not to be allowed until this Council pass a resolution as Deputy Mayor points out we don't affect the Schoolboard property sure people thank you thank you thank you Jared for clarifying that okay so that was vote for first reading roll call council member bani yes viea yes kleene yes Deputy Mayor mhart yes mayor Anthony yes and this will also have its hearing on December 9th mayor okay great that 9th okay thank you okay we're up to the consent agenda for Resolutions all matters listed with an aster are considered to be routine and non-controversial by the council will be approved by one motion there will be no separate discussion of these items unless a member of the governing body so request 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 um is there any uh resolutions anyone wants removed we did have bar we did have one removed yeah 24 262 was already active Okay so that was already pulled and voted on separately um any other ones pulled no good all right so car want to just read them all together on 20 the last one 24 264 you previously agreed to carry to the next meeting so 11 and 13 on this list 23 253 the council group them together address it and anyone what's that you want to say anything the question the deferred compensation this is a renewal of it's company called empowerer they have provided Deferred Compensation Plan which we make available to employees it's at no cost the township it's purely voluntary employee pre-tax payroll deductions as a retirement Savings in addition to their Pension Plan there's again no cost to the township totally volunteer on be on the part of the employees and this is a renewal of a company that we've had in place for many years okay thank you Barry Caroline want to read them all together uh resolution 24- 252 appointment to local assistance board resolution 24- 253 adopting a prototypical Deferred Compensation Plan resolution 25 24- 254 authorizing approval of change order number one with mt McDonald LLC resolution 24255 authorizing the sale of surplus property resolution 24- 256 authorizing the award of a contract to FDR hitches resolution 24257 authorizing a contract extension with D DM group resolution 24-28 authorizing the award of a contract to durstein LLC resolution 24- 259 authorizing the award of a contract to Colliers engineering and design resolution 24-26 interlocal agreement to pool National opioid litigation settlement proceeds resolution 24261 authoriz authorization to cancel 2024 swimming pool budget Appropriations njsa 4A colum 44-60 resolution 24- 263 2024 budget Appropriations transfers okay motion motion to approve the resolutions I'll make that motion second Michael thank you K council member bani yes via yes kleene yes Deputy Mayor Reinhardt yes mayor Anthony yes okay make a motion to open the meeting to public portion of the meeting thank you Ed thank you I'll second it yep uh all in favor I any opposed no okay we are now open for the public portion on any subject hey Amy uh good evening and thank you for allowing us to speak um I am Amy IP I am a co-president of the League of Women Voters of Livingston um along with Robin Weiss um co-president and uh we received a letter from the League of Women Voters of New Jersey and we wanted to highlight it and to state that we completely concur with everything um in this letter and so we would like to uh read read it aloud in its entirety and I have copies for everyone great thank you uh dear League members and supporters first thank you you registered thousands of Voters this election season served as poll workers and poll monitors held nonpartisan candidate forums ran voted 411.org combat at misinformation and disinformation and more our elections and democracies are stronger because of your dedication and service while we celebrate a fair and secure election we will not ignore that the incoming administrat 's policies and rhetoric do not align with our member positions or our organization's values the work we do in New Jersey building a people-powered democracy is now more important than ever New Jersey is on a disturbing path recent actions include gutting our open public records act moving campaign Finance reform backward fighting against abolishing the line all while refusing to advance pro-democracy legislation at the same time the Star Ledger will cease its print print edition and the Jersey Journal will cease publication entirely our work for climate Justice Reproductive Rights economic Justice public education immigrant Justice lgbtq rights and more continues to be critical as well as as well as we work to build the future we want and fight and guard against harmful Federal policies that Target our communities okay I'm going to read the rest of this letter because we think it's so important um accountability transparency and responsiveness are absent in Trends in and in many cities around our state New Jersey must reverse these Trends now and start working to protect our democracy the League of Women Voters of New Jersey is a nonpartisan but wholly political but wholly political in the face of federal threats State action is critical and New Jersey must lead if you want to work to build the kind of democracy and future we all deserve we have a place set for you at our table even if you don't have and you don't have to bring it folding chair we cannot close without acknowledging the various emotions many of our members are feeling right now as an immigrant African American and female physician whose career has been dedicated to Reproductive Rights and is an lgbtq mother to a young daughter we too are grappling with complex emotions questions and fears we see you and we stand with you we also know as leaders of the League of Women Voters of New Jersey that our movement is powerful and strong together we are ready for the work ahead thank you and this is um signed by the the um president of the League of Women Voters of New Jersey um Jennifer Howard and Jesse burns the executive director um thank you and we wanted to make sure that the public was aware of where the league stands uh with the state and that the uh League of Women Voters of Livingston completely concurs with this statement and we have copies for you great great thank you yeah you want to bring them up okay and thank you for reading that and thank you for the opportunity oh of course and to to raise awareness on that and thank you um for reading that important letter and thank you Robin and Amy for all you do for Livingston uh legal Women Voters did you want to say no okay thanks Amy thank you great thank you again Amy and Robin thank you so much thank you yep okay uh Justin hi Mr Mayor Justin Alper 56 Amhurst Place three related items um someone was saying on the interwebs that uh the council conducts business by text with each other and your constituent went on and told them no you're wrong uh the council was specifically asked and they do not have a text message going and then he produced an item that came from an oppra report that showed that there was a text message amongst the uh Council and that it was um you know not put out into the public because it was confidential um you know it things are supposed to happen in public they're not supposed to happen in quiet uh and that got me thinking about last week there was a resolution on for the uh Public Works and when we got into you you were in the back room you had two items of business one was about Personnel the other was M about the mall and then you immediately came out for ice cream and then he came out here and sat on the deis and everyone was in agreement that one of the resolutions was pulled and I was curious when did that conversation happened um we want to make sure that the business of the community is done in public and then thirdly um this week three members of the council endorsed one specific person for governor the race has barely even started we have no idea if there was any political pressure applied and what a terrific waste of political leverage opportunity to engage the multiple members not only of the Democrat Party but also the Republicans who are running on policy but a majority of this Council gave up that leverage we could agree or disagree about the candidate in particular that's not the matter the matter is three members of this Council together I don't know if they were approached together I don't know if they were decided together but they gave up the leverage of this community we could have been argu I don't even know when the election is March April May that's four five months that we could be engaging on policy and we just gave them add up lastly Mr Mayor um it may not be that much of a matter of cost we did so much important deliberative work in the conference room can we please have the township manager just go out and get us a cost uh evaluation of what it would cost to mic and camera that back room do it simply so we already have the people here so that way the public can be further engaged thank you very much Mr Mayor thank you for your consideration thank you Jose good evening good evening mayor and Council Township manager those in attendance nobody left my name is Todd kesy I'm a patrolman in the Livingston Police Department serve as a State Delegate for the labor union that represents our police officers Livingston PBA local 263 myself some of our executive board president manger and Treasurer hesselberg here tonight to briefly introduce ourselves since we took over leadership of the police Union over the summer we want to let you know that you have a great town with dedicated employees that are hardworking and honored to serve the people who live and work in Livingston more specifically you have a professional Police Department that is full of employees that show up to work and answer the call no matter what it is each and every day every day our police officers are out here serving the public and keeping all of you safe when bad people come into Livingston to harm our community it's the great men and women of the Livingston Police Department who are already willing and able to stop them I want you to know that our Union supports you the community and most importantly our Township manager Mr Barry Lewis Mr Lewis has been an integral part of our Police Department success and he is a crucial decision maker in facilitating its continued growth as we try to grow with the community into the future from personal experience I worked in less desirable places with administrators who are not nearly as respected and as Fair as Mr Lewis has been to us he is considered a friend of the PBA we support him and we support all of your efforts to make this Township a better place for all those who go to school live work and visit here every day thank you for your time and have a great holiday season season thank you thank you you too mayor may I say something though I I just want to say thank you very much and uh I think all of us up here know how wonderful our our police officers are the the men and and women of the police force um and especially at the PBA uh 263 uh just want to thank you and and all of your members for everything that you do to protect our town and you know what what 6 years ago when I came on the council it was just that healing process from the uh prior Administration and uh I know that uh the the PBA and the police officers suffered a little bit and I do want to thank Barry Lewis for uh for bringing that all together as you had said but uh thank you very much for all you do thank you mayor I just if I could just add to what uh councilman VI said I know you guys are looking out um you know what um police work especially you know a couple years back was uh had a very hard time in this country but the people Livingston never lost faith in you guys and and and the ladies who serve for us um we we appreciate your protection and and how professional you are and and we thank you for what you did we never were down on our police force that's for sure and and thank you for um mentioning Barry Lewis uh and and our support of you as well that that means a lot sometimes some people don't come in and say anything but we're up here all the time having our police in supporting them equipment anything they need um so it's it's nice to hear that when you come in here and and you uh make a presentation like that and and I'm sure Barry's uh happy as well being supported um so appreciate it thank you and Happy Thanksgiving to all of you yeah if I just briefly mayor if I could as well um thank you all for coming in thank you for the kind words I didn't know they were coming and nor did I ask for them but I'd be remiss to not also extend uh my appreciation to Chief maru's entire leadership team it's a pleasure we have a very very professional organization it's a pleasure working with the DBA we work through all the issues I'm proud to say we've never gone to arbitration never had to have any kind of hearings and um and I think it's reflected in in the quality of our department and it's important and and certainly the council has always been a huge part of that and supportive of the police and of late it seems like some sort of scandalous headline you may may overshadow that and it's important I think that everyone in town know exactly how good and how quality of police department we have and and uh how what good hands they're all in and so thank you all and please extend my thanks to the entire membership yeah I'll I'll just also want to say thank you I just want to say thank you since everyone's doing it as well but it's actually it's it's really so great that you guys came in to say those nice words we uh we always say these great things about you and everybody else on the force and it was great to hear from you and we thank you for your support as well and uh that's really what this town is all about we get caught up sometimes in meaningless things whether exhibits were included or not in a resolution and we pull it or not but what you said is actually the real the real truth to this town and really the hard work of this town so we thank you for everything you do keeping us safe and wishing you and your families a very happy and meaningful Thanksgiving yeah I I will Echo all of that is said here uh thank you for coming down and introducing yourself that that is very much appreciated thank you for that uh professionalism absolutely that comes to mind when it comes to our police department and I I look at numbers um our numbers are significantly down in terms of crime rate and all of that Chief marus was here he was talking about it so all of that is really result of excellent work that the that the uh you know team is doing here so again thank you very much for being here and wish you a great holiday season as well you good night good night thank you motion to close public hearing second okay all in favor I any oppos no all right uh what are we up to reports of town ship officials and council members an yes I just wanted to mention that tomorrow we're having our bond and note sale tomorrow um and it looks very favorable we already have 13 um Financial houses that are interested in our bonds and at least four to six biders on the notes so we're anticipating a very good note sale Bond sale tomorrow that's great all right thank you an uh Barry uh yeah yes I just Echo what an said a thanks to her our Auditors our financial advisors Bond Council for all the hard work uh we're still pushing hard to get that AAA rating but we we uh got rated again unfortunately um it was a little disappointing because basically they said well the bad news is you're get not getting moved to AAA the good news is you're still at triple at Double A 2 whereas a lot of other towns because they tightened their criteria postco uh got downgraded so I guess the congrat ulations is you didn't get downgraded but we we want to be upgraded we're going to do it so certainly thanks to Ann her team and all our advisers um I alluded to it earlier as the council's aware and the public uh we received bid under our design bid proposal uh came a little higher so we've appropriated additional funds once those are in place at the next meeting uh we can then preliminarily award and open negotiations which are authorized by that statute um and I if I'm not mistaken I'll one day early wish the mayor a happy birthday said tomorrow uh so so happy birthday to May that's right couple hours a couple hours away and that's all I got mayor thank you Barry appreciate it uh nothing else tonight mayor thank you I've already mentioned the community development program and obviously our certification that we've received yeah you stand Jersey so yeah nice job Rose thank you yeah all right um Jack uh nothing tonight mayor thank you thank you Jared Carolyn nothing for me thank you all right um all right Michael you want to go first well k k I'm Gonna Leave a lot for you because I only have I'm not uh not a lot but thank you may for allowing me to go first this time I know you're looking at both ways but uh um first I want to wish everybody a happy and healthy uh Thanksgiving in a couple days um just uh be safe and uh enjoy the holidays mayor I want to wish you a happy birthday Tom tomorrow um also have to thank again the kuso uh my entire or the entire kuso committee we saw uh Tom Cooney here today he is the chief elf uh they're putting together and uh getting the cuso display up and going uh December 7th is opening night hopefully fingers crossed it doesn't rain I know we we're looking for rain to to to get this drought over that's one night we do not want rain is opening night for the kuso display um the kuso display uh area will also be selling wooden ornament decorations as they do every year you can um buy it for I believe it's $20 uh have your name on it it gets uh displayed in the uh the area so uh those will be coming out very shortly um I want to thank uh the Livingston clergy Association for their Thanksgiving uh celebration uh services that uh took place yesterday it was uh it was wonderful to have the community come together and uh and hear all the speakers from the different religions giving thanks so uh K I hope I left enough for you no I think that's this is good and you you covered it covered it all but I would I would like to add um and Grant or rather wish everybody a very Happy Thanksgiving our First Responders Township employees um all the township committee members I think these are the all the volunteers and as we celebrate Thanksgiving uh really huge thank you to all of them and all the service organizations one of them was here and there are several we have uh we have across town and of course our press um Tribune and tap into I think it's it's amazing service amazing to have such a Vibrant Community cohesively Living and honoring each other thank you to everyone and uh Happy Birthday Mr Mayor conr um I will just add that there was a um a food collection by uh Livingston neighbors helping neighbors yesterday uh uh back of town hall and it was just all of our Phil Phil was it Saturday my days messed up uh it might have been Saturday my I can't remember I it was this weekend over the weekend yeah the Unico helped to host it and we had a lot of our philanthropic uh All Stars including uh Stacy and Nick and Allen and uh just a whole huge host of people um who who uh were collecting food uh all day behind town hall and uh and caring it away uh no doubt uh nick uh took a lot of car trips that day so uh the wonderful work that they all do and thank you very much much for making Livingston look so good uh I wanted to just take my hats off my hat off one more time for Nick and 40 uh Livingston's kicker who kicks for Yale uh they played their biggest game of the year which is the Yale Harvard game up at Harvard and Nick hit a 46 yard field goal to put uh Yale up by two scores Harvard came back and scored a touchdown so it was really Nick's field goal that iced them and they were very happy because it cost Harvard their championship in the ivy league they they had to Harvard dropped down to a three-way a three-way tie with uh Columban Dartmouth so it was a an enormous um football moment for the cony family and for Nick and I congratulate all of them uh it was a really ecstatic uh day for them and and uh everyone here who's rooting for Nick thank you mayor from har thank you sure uh Deputy Mayor all right so I'll follow up on something interesting since we're talking about sports um uh which is uh not American football but European football here played the United States I'm going to congratulate uh the wolf family and the Wolf organization owners of the Orlando Prides the champions of the national women's soccer league here in the United States so Livingston is now the hometown of an organization that has won a national championship here in the United States so we're happy and we congratulate them the Orlando City Soccer Club who is the men's uh side of that are also playing in the uh Conference Finals uh this Sunday against the Red Bulls um so we wish them a lot of luck as to as they hopefully get on to the finals and obviously uh continue the Vikings best of luck for their great season that they're having so far um I just want to thank everybody uh last night's um Interfaith service was a great way to lead into the holidays um as the mayor mentioned in his remarks yesterday he really brings together this town the spirit of this town the diversity and inclusion of this town and um I love sitting there just listening to the speakers and just getting wrapped up in the moment so um wonderful way to start off the holiday period um and I do want to wish everybody everybody in the town uh volunteers um people who work here everybody a very happy and very very meaningful Thanksgiving uh all of us here have a lot to be thankful for living um in New Jersey and United States and here in Livingston so thank you thank you Ed um let's see I think most of this was covered uh we did have a couple ribbon cuttings in the last few weeks we had dance cult and hot works uh we do have the leadle one coming up but actually that's after our next yeah that's on the 11th very early in the morning big news though leadle opening is opening that's actually announc your your lips to go but it is scheduled it's been everywhere so I think it's really happening on uh December 11 okay um real quick yes that the Interfaith Thanksgiving is is really one of uh our Shining Moments in town um with the the clergy Association coming together and so many people speaking and it was it was really it was a a beautiful event yesterday and um I thank everyone involved there um we had Let's see we had um I want to give a shout out to Jessica Kelly for the $5,500 Grant uh that we received for the mayor's wellness program there was only 11 towns in the state competing over uh $27,000 a little over $100,000 so that was good it's going to go towards uh mental health and we'll see how that is best spent um just kudos to her uh we also had a group in town that I'm on the gala committee uh pillar which was formerly um cpnj the cereal py Association of of Northern New Jersey uh we had our our Gala and we've we've we raised $1.4 million and it actually more is coming in we there's a location on Old Lane and on oakner Parkway um and thank you for everyone who supported that we had a nice Lions public speaking um event on Saturday kids were phenomenal um there was some judges uh Lorie Khan was a judge and Amy was a judge my wife was a judge uh we had a bunch of Judges there it was just an amazing uh these kids were just phenomenal something that if they ever want to be lawyers there light years ahead of where I was at like 9 to 13 I think it was the older ones were 13 to 16 um did a great job they all were recognized by lions so I want to give a shout out to the Lions Club and oror academy uh which is uh Venita kanana uh who really organized a lot of it and let's see I think that's I want to thank again Connor Sweeney for getting us back on the list and I think that is it so yes and thank you Sean that was a great uh event uh the turkey donations did they get over 200 turkeys they got over I think they got over to him when I was there I was with uh I think was it Nick there no I was with the campanil and I think they were near close to approaching 200 um I believe they made it yeah and so that's that's amazing no it Saturday it was Saturday it was SE from there I went when you go over 50 years old and stick with the eyes it's all mixing this birthday what birthday is this one right so so thank you everyone for wishing me a happy birthday and thank you um uh thanks for everyone and and like Kon said the Press our our people that come in and speak their minds all the time and make us a great democracy our Council Our Town workers I'm very thankful for uh being on this Council for quite a while and and being mayor this year so uh thank you and I hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving appreciate thanks we are now going back into open conference but no no further action will be taken by the council tonight