good evening everyone oh vion there's the gang all right uh statement of compliance with the sunsh Sunshine Law good evening everyone 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 ttic Tribune and the Star Ledger on January 2 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 in Clos 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 www.face.com Livingston Township NJ questions or comments will also be accepted by emailing live comments Livingston nj.org by 4 p.m. on the day of the meeting each speaker should follow the rules of order in Livingston code section 2-15 uh carollyn roll call thank you mayor council member bubani here viea pres Klein here Deputy Mayor Minard here mayor Anthony here uh if we could all stand for a moment of silence in the Pledge of Allegiance and in the moment of silence we did lose a town worker Bob shield in the plumbing inspector Barry if you want to say a few words yeah just um with a heavy heart unfortunately Bob Shield longtime employee in the town Building Department plumbing inspector for 15 years with the town following a 40-year career uh as a master plumber died unexpectedly uh very sad big loss for all of us Bob was a real gentleman and a great guy uh so thoughts and prayers if we could for uh his wife his two children his grandchildren to the flag of the United States of America okay is Eileen Fishman here Essex County updates uh no I don't believe so okay we'll go to proclamations and present ations um first of all uh I'd like to acknowledge we have uh our president of the Board of Ed Pam Charles is here Asics County Commissioner uh Pat SEO the semi W boli is here uh Fong is here uh is that okay never mind are you the only one here from the board of it is Peru no sorry Bonita's X booe we have the planning board chair rafino Fernandez is here with us tonight night thank you Mr Fernandez chairman um okay so tonight we have a few different proclamations and presentations um it's really uh it's a night of the Stars here tonight we have we're going to have uh people who are having uh days named after them in Livingston people raising uh $25,000 for uh gun awareness gun violence awareness we have uh recognition throughout the entire State um for the um Talk which is the technical assistant construction officer of the year official of the year and we have a Unicon of the Year an organization that puts service above self that I and uh councilman Vieira belong to a great organization uh we also have National Gun Violence awareness day uh as well and we have the lcdi to talk about past and future events so I know uh Vanita uh you're we're going to bump you first if that's it's okay with you uh we do have a proclamation for you Venita Venita you are a friend of mine your family is like my family um you're beautiful family uh one of the nicest people families you'll ever meet uh not a malicious bone in any of your body always in it for the right reasons talk about service above self like uh Unico you totally put uh the service of others above yourself all the time um you were on the board of ed you've been on a bunch of service organizations always putting others in front of yourself and in it for the right reasons um and it's in giving you receive and in tonight um I want to present you with something and the council wants to present you with something so we have a proclamation here for you tonight that uh maybe we could read uh Michael you want to read the first couple uh paragraphs there I'll take the first two whereas Venita kanana is an active Community member a leader and an entrepreneur and whereas Vanita has called Livingston her home for the last 25 years years and is the first South Asian to be elected to public office in Livingston in Livingston Township and out of here going out of okay thank you sir all right you got it and I want to get this right because it's Venita of course all right here we go Venita recently retired as the past president of the Board of Education and currently serves as the vice chair of the zoning board and whereas Venita also serves as a member of the ad hoc larian strong and tracks committee the Livingston advisory committee for Disabilities the transportation committee and welcome to Livingston committee and Ed you want to get the next one where are we we don't practice this so um just give me just me a paragraph FR whereas Vita whereas Venita dedicates her time to shaping leaders through her classes one or no oh you you pointed the wrong line whereas in recognition of her continued service to the community Venita was congratulated by the Essex County Board of County Commissioners during the during their first celebration of the Asian-American Pacific Islander Heritage Month in May 2022 as well as honored by sanskriti of New Jersey with their first ever S I should really know how to pronounce us S samon award in August 2022 and right there yeah I'm just going to add a couple of sentences of mine known minita for 20 plus years and what mayor said allll fits uh congratulations my friend uh so I'm going to continue reading this whereas Venita dedicates her time to shaping leaders through her classes workshops seminars and personal one-on-one coaching sessions as the founder of orator Academy and whereas Venita has honored sorry hosted a popular South Asian radio show for over 15 years and has featured on NPR New York WNYC and NPR Philly wh y y and thanks Kon and I'll add live a little too um first of all uh vihan and Sandy are here your your adoring husband and your son uh shangi is on her way in Flight who just graduated Harvard Business School you're the proud mom of a Harvard Business School graduate um and when Carolyn was putting this plaque together you she was like man is she impressive so so here we go um now therefore I Al Anthony and the council members of the township of Livingston County of Essex state of New Jersey do hereby Proclaim tomorrow Wednesday 20 29 2024 your birthday as Venita con of day throughout Livingston what you sure you want to give the mic to me to a Communications person well what can I say I am feeling speechless at this moment uh a person who never have and never has any problem with words this is a very very humbling moment but this moment adds to the burden of responsibility that I carry on my shoulders to to do what I can to and to do it right and to build a legacy my biggest thing and thought when I was hitting a certain age no numbers mentioned here uh was what will I leave behind will somebody remember me for anything at all so and that's what kept my mind working and of course then I met people along the way who pushed me into things for example Pat Fernandez is here as a new immigrant and my first child starting Harrison school and starting the Multicultural Pat pulled me up and said VP I said no I don't know I don't know how the things work here no no VP you can handle it and ever since then I stopped questioning myself and I just started rolling with the punches literally and it didn't make any sense at that time where was I heading with all of that How would how will how would all that translate I didn't know but looking back it certainly seems like the dots connect my heart is filled with gra gratitude and humility I have made so many friends along the way and even though this Proclamation which I'm super super grateful for and to sandep also who might have some hand in it um I and this is being given to me in aapi month which is this month the month of May the American Asian-American Pacific Islander month but I am so proud to be in a town of this diversity how we celebrate diversity is just growing Leaps and Bounds and everybody is reeving in it and it really heartens me the colors that our town is showing are adding to the Vibrance of this community and that's why the problem of uh developments and housing because more and more people are coming here so uh he I plugged it in I threw that I threw that in I know I'm I think I think you're done now no no I told you don't pick before you give me the M no no I and I've learned one more thing so uh Pat you are a mentor I look up to you commissioner Pat cold Rosie assembly woman Rosie you are here thank you for your presence you show up at all our events which is commendable I don't know how you do it maybe there there are clones here and there Pam border of fed president I had the pleasure of working with you on the B of fed such an such a rewarding fulfilling experience thank you for being my mentor on the board I appreciate my time there Fang thank you for filling in for me now George my friend I appreciate uh your company your friendship I truly truly appreciate it they are Rudy thank you for coming tonight and so many of my dearest friends and family who are here thank you and thank you sandep and thank you vihan for being here as well I'm wrapping up uh two things that I live by one if you want to get somewhere fast go alone if you want to get somewhere far go together and second thing that I strongly believe in is be the change you wish to see in your world thank you for you might as well yeah two okay so to um finish uh agenda number five here we'd like to now uh honor George Shen um this is uh it is as Venita mentioned it is aapi month and um you know kind of um stealing a page from the Essex County Pat is that during the month you you honor some individuals as well so Vanita your day is tomorrow George we have a proclamation for you as well so uh Michael you want to start again I'll start the first two whereas George Shen is an active Community member and a leader who has achieved the highest level of Education a PhD in chemistry and whereas George has resided in Livingston since 2005 and was elected to the Livingston Board of Education in 2017 serving on the board until 2020 and whereas George has served on many community initiatives and performed in leadership roles in several organizations including Livingston citizens Institute the children's theater of Livingston the Livingston community of diversity and concl and inclusion the Livingston Chinese Association the Livingston haia uh Chinese school I think I blew that one um the the Livingston Multicultural celebration the Livingston community outreach Community uh committee and the aapi and whereas George has professionally served as chairman and president of this Ceno American pharmaceutical professionals Association he has taught as an Adjunct professor at the New Jersey Institute of Technology Department of Chemistry and environmental science and has spearheaded professional development programs for college and graduate students in collaboration with Princeton Columbia and Ruckers University and I'm just going to add a couple more sentences for you George as well I've known George for several years now one of the most put together person still a leader so thank you for what you do George uh proud to call you my friend uh so I'm going to continue with this uh whereas in recognition of uh am I whereas in recognition of of his continued service to the community George was honored and awarded uh by the aex County Board of County Commissioners and whereas George is extremely dedicated uh as a community leader husband to quing and father to three daughters Christina Jessica and Rebecca and and georgees is becoming old hat now that you were honored by Essex County here at the municipal level now therefore I Al Anthony and the council members of the township of Livingston County of Essex state of New Jersey do here Proclaim Wednesday uh Tuesday May 28 2024 as George shende no it's really my great uh pleas I'll be sure uh so only one thing I feel regret today is uh I didn't wear a tie uh so that's one of the reason I I feel I uh after the the uh School Board I start to move on uh because I hate to Wear Ties but I'm so glad that uh you know I set out my goal that uh uh we want to reach out to the community and let more people from the community stand now unfortunately I have the connection in the Chinese community and API broaden it uh we have more and more coverage in the in the community and uh it's really hard to follow you know those people are the real volunteer and the contributors I'm looking uh after them and try to learn from them and uh I think uh all of you can do it and uh uh let's keep the Ser serve the community on the top priority and and I especially uh thank my wife's uh support uh and the honor is yours as well thank you for we'll yes all right tako's next where I'll have the whole building depart Department mad at me here okay so um as I mentioned before this is a a Statewide honor we do have a proclamation um for Maryanne and we could read this one let I'm goingon to only do the first line because it's a shorter one okay so okay whereas Maran apostolis Leo has been a member of the township of Livingston's building department for over 20 years and where Mar on second whereas Mariann holds the title of principal technical assistant and holds 19 years of uniform construction code experience as well as holding a zoning official certification and a certified international code permit technician and whereas Maryanne is the secretary of the New Jersey Association of technical assistant and whereas Maryann received the New Jersey Technical assistant to the construction construction official award in 2024 and right here Y where as marann stated uh I know not many people can say this but I truly love where I work and I'm proud of the exceptional customer service and strong relationships we have with our residents and Builders that's commandable Cote and whereas Mary and loves going to the beach baking cooking and reading plus spending time with her husband hband Aloo her daughters Olivia and Elena and dog Bentley and now and now therefore I Al Anthony and the council members of the township of Livingston County of Essex state of New Jersey do hereby recognize Maryann and her contributions to the township of Livingston and congratulate her uh as the 2024 winner of the Susan H mcglaughlin technical assistant of the Year award congratulations maryan mayor Al mayor mayor if I could before you present I I do also want to recognize Maryann she is a pleasure to work with she's a real asset to the community and um I also wanted to know we we were informed by the Department of Community Affairs that she had won the award uh and they said she was chosen for outstanding contributions in the area of the administration the uniform construction code and they concluded saying we feel this is the highest honor that can be bestowed upon a code official I'm sure you and your Min pal as proud of her accomplishments as we are and that couldn't have said it better myself so congratulations welld deserved than I just want to say first of all congratulations okay so first of all I just want to congratulate you again second of all I just I couldn't help but notice but the entire building department is here to to wish you congratulations which to me is a real honor for them to be here and I and I would like to recogn I actually would like to recognize Marty and his whole crew who are here because they are really unsung heroes in this town for all the work that they do on a daily basis with everything that goes on in this town um that it is a team effort obviously you are an intrical part of this team but they are as well so I just want to recognize the entire building department who here as well congratulate them all I uh could also add in addition to being here tonight to support them they all went to Atlantic City for the presentation to support her so that that's a real teamwork come on up come on up yeah of course family as well right we do congratulations beautiful we've had that dry sa light yeah big shy n yeah thank you everyone so next we have uh rain AA Stern who's an unbelievable young woman who raised over $25,000 and maybe do you want to speak about it mayor mayor before mayor before you read the citation before uh Raina speaks if she wants to I told her she didn't have to so so it just we don't want to surprise her but Raina you know what I am so proud of you you know what um I met Raina in 2019 U and as a bar mitzvah project Raina held a uh a jel and Bell event uh raising donations for orange ribbons for Jamie um this is an organization named after Jamie Guttenberg uh Jamie was a 14-year-old uh high school student who was murdered in the horrific Parkland Florida shooting in 2018 and um Raina didn't know jimie uh the only connection that Raina had to Jaimie was uh Robert her father and Jaime's Father Fred went to the same school went to the same college and that was the only uh uh really connection that they had but I was honored in in uh 2019 along with my wife Gabby to be part of raina's fundraising efforts I know that uh commissioner seabold was also there and in 2019 um Raina raised a couple thousand dollars for orange ribbons for Jamie um and unfortunately 2020 2021 and 2022 um Co hit and Raina had to um you know she had to rely on online uh donations but she continued raising funds to end uh gun violence and in 2023 uh Raina was back with her jail and Bell event and from 2019 to 2023 Raina raised $88,000 and she was uh just barely uh that that year you I think you were a freshman or a sophomore but this year Raina now a junior in Livingston high school thought much bigger and I and my wife Gabby uh we're really honored um uh to be with you as you held the first orange ribbons for Jam Gala at Crystal Plaza and you raised over $25,000 that day congratulations you know I I know haly and Robert raina's raina's mom and dad you know I'm sure you are so proud of your daughter um Raina I'm proud of you too I I've watched you over the last few years grow up and continue to work for what you believed in and as long as you keep going know that Gabby and I will continue to be with you for your great cause so congratulations Ron you're unbelievable I'm going to read the uh Proclamation and then we're going to come down there and if you want to add to that um I know I know the fundraiser had celebrities it had um autographed um materials from different Stars right I mean it was it was tremendous what you did so this is what the proclamation says we are pleased to honor rea Stern for raising awareness about gun safety and gun control Raina planned a fundraising gwa at the Crystal Plaza in April 2024 which raised over $25,000 for orange ribbons for Jamie in honor of Jamie Guttenberg a 14-year-old victim of a shooting in Florida and for organizing two jail and bail events Raina is committed to speaking up against gun violence and devoted to advancing Common Sense gun safety in gutenburg G Berg's name so congratulations Raina everyone hi everyone um I'm Raina and I just wanted to come up here and say thank you guys for all of the support and to let you guys know that I will be continuing to raise money for orange ribbons for Jamie and throughout the rest of high school but also throughout College since I've become extremely extremely passionate about end and gun violence and I just really hope that you guys will come along with the ride with me and hopefully every year it'll get better and better all for okay next is uh unikin of the year and as I mentioned before as a member of Unico Pat I know you know I know our group has uh noted several things about your involvement with Unico unico's donations chairperson the organizer of the Christmas party uh submitting articles to the West CeX Tribune communico and the Italian Tribune almost perfect attendance at board meetings membership meetings and district meetings and for the citizen of the year you brought in many sponsors and like I said before uh our motto is service above self and no one exemplifies that better than you so we want to honor you here tonight uh with uh your we want to piggyback your honor of being unikin of the year we want to recognize you as well from the township Council and I think Michael you wanted to say a few things thank you as also a fellow member of Unico pack congratulations on being selected as uniin of the year uh for those who don't know you or your family are are very charitable um and volunteer and your volunteerism is amazing really it is not only is Pat a member of the Livingston Unico he's also a member of the the Livingston Kanas Club Knights of Columbus sons of Italy the Livingston Old Guard and I know I'm missing a couple Pat um but uh you know what I just want to congratulate you again on receiving such a distinguished honor so congratulations so Pat Uh the citation Michael you love the word citation I hate that word Citation for the record the proclamation says the mayor and the members of the Livingston Township Council are pleased to join the Livingston chapter of Unico in honoring you as unikin of the Year 2024 as you embody unico's motto of service above self and has dedicated many years to serving others so congratulations Pat for I want to thank uh Council for this a great honor today and um as a first uh generation Italian American it's uh it's an honor to give back to uh Livingston number one um born and raised in Orange as Mike has been you know we we go back a long time um no Mike told me uh I'm going to give you an honor because you're you're the uh unican of the year and now Mike stepped up and Al Anthony is as a member also and our assembly woman Rosie boli assembly Al a member also and um I be honest with you this is this is a great honor for me from the township and uh I tell you um Livingston gave back to me so um I'm giving back to Livingston uh with the help my wife also uh we she also a member of Unico as Mike said member of wanis a remember of Sons of Italy a member of olard I'm young though uh a member of olard uh member of a town American uh Association in uh East Hover and um a couple other ones I'm forgetting I don't have time on my of the week um but it is a great honor um I do get back to Livingston live livon is given back to me um and I do these donations I do other stuff because it's it's something that I love I love my culture I love all cultures but my culture comes first and we do help a lot of people in Unico and um as these two gentlemen right here could tell you what we do it is amazing and uh we do donations to all types of of uh situations whether it's Italian American everybody we got scholarships coming up next month and all ethnic groups get them so get your kids out there and apply for them in the high school um thank you very much again uh the the assembly woman has a uh Proclamation or citation citation we we love that word where in Italy are you from it's not fair everybody's getting Proclamation I'm getting tickets get tickets this is something I should be getting a proclamation if you haven't um been to the Knights of columb for Christmas to enjoy the meal that you put together and the wine that flows you're missing out everybody best dinner in town during the Christmas season so thank you for everything that you do for our community thank you for everything I know you don't do it by yourself your wife helps out she's an incredible cook too um uh we just as a fellow unikin I wanted to congratulate you on your s Service above self and always putting our community first thank you I don't have mine as fancy as his you know behind a is a great for okay next we have it is um National Gun Violence awareness day um it's a longer Proclamation I'll read a little bit of it and what are you going to come up okay so um whereas every day an average of 327 Americans are killed by gun violence and hundreds more sustained nonfatal firearm injuries whereas Firearms are the number one leading cause of death for American children whereas Americans are 25 times more likely to be killed through gun violence than persons in other developed countries whereas the US has a ratio of 120.5 firearms owned per 100 residents up from 88 per 00 in 2011 far surpass surpassing that of other countries around the world whereas the US gun suicide rate is 10 times that of other high income countries and access to a gun increases by three times the r risk of death by Suicide the council therefore uh resolves that it reir reaffirms its commitment to reduce gun violence to pledge to do all it can to keep Firearms out of the wrong hands to encourage responsible gun ownership and to support Common Sense gun violence pre prevention legislation consistent with the Second Amendment and there therefore it shall be resolved that I and the township council do hereby reaffirm the Township's commitment to remember all the victims and survivors of gun violence to support local community efforts to prevent gun violence to honor and value human lives and to declare that we as a country must do more to reduce gun violence and do hereby Proclaim in the F June 7th as 2024 as National Gun Violence aware awareness day so Lori do you want to come up and speak great is this on oh yeah hi everyone I'm Lori Khan I'm the vice president of advocacy at the National Council of Jewish Women and I'm joined by Rebecca grman who's the director of advocacy um first I just want to thank the Town Council for every year for recognizing gun violence awareness day um it's unfortunate that we have to do this and we'll keep doing it and keep doing it until we don't have to do it anymore and I also want to thank Raina you're amazing and an inspiration to everybody young and old so thank you for all that You' do um I'll just I'll make my comments brief but I just basically want to say that New Jersey is among has among the strictest gun laws in the entire country in 2022 New York State um brought in front of the Supreme Court a case where um the Supreme Court overturned a law from 1911 that um where people could um concealed carry where we know that it concealed carry um in the past you only people who had real um strict reasons to have um cons I'm so nervous I don't know why I'm never nervous when I speak in public I guess this really chokes me up and I get very upset when I have to talk about things like this um concealed carry in the past always meant where you would have to go and you would have to make a case for the fact that you had to have a concealed weapon whether it was your business or your police officer or something where you felt threatened and you had to carry a gun La in 2022 a case was brought in front of the Supreme Court and the Supreme Court overturned that law and made it okay for people who have gun permits to just file for um a concealed carry permit to carry guns so the person behind you at Kings or Sho right sitting next to you at a concert at Urgent Care when you're there to get a strep test that person could be carrying a gun R and um it was brought in front of the um New Jersey courts to overturn that and it's been sitting in um pending legislation and it has not passed yet so it's really important who we vote for um I always say that voting is like a vend diagram you picture voting in the center and all around voting are all the different issues that we care about whether it's um gun violence whether it's um Reproductive Rights whether it's imig rights for imig for immigration whatever it is it's always about voting so please be make sure that when you vote you check out who you're voting for you check out who your candidates are and you vote for people who are going to support your issues so with that being said um on June 7th which is next Friday night we will be having a rally at Summit Green from 5:00 to 6:30 I have Flyers here for anybody who interested in going um we have speakers that will be speaking um and lots of information so with that being said I'm going to say goodbye thank you very much and we e e thanks again laori thank you okay we're up to the uh approval of the minutes not a presentation it's a it's a uh it's a presentation not a proclamation okay we have the okay so we have lcdi Livingston committee for diversity inclusion the past and future events that's comfortable uh I would like to thank the Town Council and the mayor for giving us an opportunity to speak this evening thank you very much um my name is Harsh Raju and I'm the co-chair of the Livingston committee for diversity and inclusion along with Andrew Miller um so I'm I'm here to just give you a brief description about what lcbi does so before I uh do that I would like to thank uh councilman bani he's the town Le Ison for our committee and he has been very generous with his time he has shown us uh he's given us his guidance um every time we have asked him for so thank you so much councilman for that and I would like to thank the the Town Council for passing um the or adopting the resolution 7 2024 which gives us the opportunity to have high schoolers to be part of town committees and we really appreciate uh or we appreciate uh having these young minds and appreciate the contributions that they can make to committees like ours thank you so um having said that um just to give a um some of the programs that we have done in the past uh in uh in Jan on Jan 15 we did the MLK day um and then on May 10th we um had a new event this year which was called fashion able Ali where we had a fashion show celebrating uh disability Pride so that was was a well attended event as well and then we on May uh 14th we had Livingston celebrates Israel and then on May 24th we had the API picnic so I would also like to end by thanking all of you for attending all our events and we would look look forward to having you on our on our future events as well um and Andrew Miller is going to tell us couple months cple few months yes so Andrew is going to talk about the future events and the vision that our committee has sure thanks thank you we appreciate your time this evening and want to also thank some of our committee members who are here tonight to to support us so up as harsh talked about past events upcoming we have three events in June um that are open to the Community First of which is the pride picnic and flag raising on June 2nd uh from 12: to 5: at the oval um it's co-sponsored with shiv's third eye the events is for the entire community and it will feature music crafts food games and other activities and leading up to the pride picnic the Livingston Public Library is offering a pride takehome craft from today through the 30th um on the 12th of June at 5:30 we are having women the women's Veterans Day celebration at the Memorial Park at the oval uh this celebration marks the anniversary of women armed services integration act which was signed into law in 1948 uh the day honors the strength and resilience of women who have served in the military and the diversity and inclusiveness they bring to the force Livingston was the first town Township in New Jersey to recognize the day as a state holiday on the same day was signed into law in 2019 uh the juneth celebration will take place on June 19th um we're working with the Township Public Library um the uh celebration will start at 6 o'clock with a screening of our America black Freedom a film that highlights the stories of what black Freedom means today following the film there'll be a flag raising ceremony at 7 with comments from the NAACP of the Maplewood and oranges LHS students and Town Council um I'll just conclude by saying diversity inclusion and belonging these are the characteristics that make a town a community and the committee is helping to do that uh we are looking for additional members for the committee to help provide these help support these events as well as other events throughout the year and later in the fall we have Hispanic Hispanic Heritage Month uh Martin Luther King Day of Service Black History Month and looking into next year women's history month and celebrating women of of Livingston so we have a lot going on and we look forward to Bringing more to the community and helping to enrich it further thank you thank you so much it's incredible what you do and uh everyone up here really appreciates it and thank you uh councilman bani at being the liaison I mean you guys are really busy I know our calendars have been we've had a lot in the town and thank you for the future events as well so thank you so much thank you thank you mayor right now I can make a motion for approval of the minutes of the May 13 2024 regular conference meeting meetings and the May 13 2024 closed session meeting a second motion all those in favor I I I I'd like to uh open I'd like to make a motion to open the meeting for public comments on agenda items only I'll second it all those in favor I I okay we are now open for public comments on agenda items only seeing none uh I'll make a motion to close I'd like a second that motion all in favor I I okay next we have the consent agenda for Resolutions all matters listed with an aster are considered to be routine and non-controversial 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 Carol one first one or read them all together does anyone want any removed yeah I think mayor I would like to remove 24156 24156 for uh brief discussion fantastic Okay so on the first one uh resolution 24155 sale of surplus vehicles so moved second council member bani yes Vieira yes kleene yes Deputy Mayor mhart yes mayor Anthony yes uh mayor would you like me to read the pulled resolution sure for separate reading yep second one uh 24-16 authorizing njt application 2024 and providing assurances like to make a motion to accept to move it sorry have a second a second any discussion yeah I think uh I want to just get into uh more of the details behind this uh so Barry if you maybe we can start with describing this what this is about may you know background behind you know the reasoning and all of that right so the the old Force home which is across the street which is um designated it's it's on the national and state Registries of historic places it is sort of the headquarters of the Livingston Historical Society uh is in a significant state of disrepair uh couple years back prior to your tenure on the council we did apply for and were awarded approximately 550,000 in in state grants um as the process unfolded uh and some disco you know additional investigation of the condition of the building uh coupled with the significant cost increases associated with the pandemic and everything else um the the uh architect's estimate um of the overall cost which involves uh basically inside outside uh foundational Issues new roof uh walls insulation adding Ada bathrooms um uh to the house the cost increased so we um are are looking to apply for some additional funding from the state so this is essentially a Grant application for additional funding that we that we because of circumstances correct increased costs and additional needs that were discovered by the architect thank you I think the background is important it was prior to my tenure I want to make sure I'm voting on the right thing absolutely mayor bani council I got El I didn't realize I said that I got that was a huge promotion that's a huge promotion council member B ton yes Vieira yes kleene yes Deputy Mayor mhart yes mayor Anthony yes thank you Carol like to make a motion to open the uh meeting to the public portion comments I'll second it all in favor yes okay box running yes that thanks for seeing uh seeing us this evening my name is Jim Cooney I live at 34 Congressional and my family has been on Congressional since 1972 and my relatives across the street have been there since 1929 so we've got almost a century going for us here uh what I wanted to talk about I think the timing is good in Judy is one of the neighbors here the timing is good because you had your luncheon over at Northland last week and I know I spoke to Michael briefly you know that Northland park has become Northland parking lot take a good look around you have 15 school buses they are taking up 30 spots you have the DPW trucks there that we all know are going to go to the circle so everything that I'm bringing forth you're now is in process I've been working with officer Joe fosco who came to my house uh was had about 10 people from town different agencies walking around they couldn't believe what they saw there between the pickle ball it's a 16 spots the um um Cricket which is another 25 spots down there the school buses which should be on board of education property take up another 20 spots and then you have DPW trucks in the back the neighborhood is is can turn into chaos an example of that was the Trunk or Treat last year I'm surprised nobody died during that event because we have senior citizens on the street you couldn't you couldn't get back and forth it was actually dangerous for the children to be there we understand that the um officer Joe is looking at different ordinances to move private Vehicles out of Northland par Park parking lot to we know that the um DPW trucks are eventually going to be moved but there's doesn't seem to be a concern for Northland Park as there is for Memorial Park Memorial Park is the jewel Northland is an afterthought total afterthought to the residents and I'm speaking for the Northland residents um consideration should have been taken if we going to put the DPW truck there okay school buses have to go where are these parents parking try and go down to the bottom of congressional during a game day when parents are late and they're turning around and doing K turns they're driving the people crazy the pickle ball courts and the noise 75 yards away there's my pickle ball export expert over there 75 yards away from houses now Ron has been has a proposal somewhere in the budgetary process to to get a sound barrier put in and it's he says it's I don't know where it is I want to speak for Ron barbella but he's been great Joe fosco has been great but we need to have your support in getting the sound barrier put up there and then also let's get good oversight let's have Northland park again don't have Northland parking lot okay uh so I know my three minutes is up and I thank you all for the opportunity I really do thanks Jim Barry did try that and came to a negative conclusion the pickle ball sound yeah we are examining additional options we we made an attempt over by your house uh with certain maths that did not I gave you my ruling yeah not proved to be terribly effective so we are valuating other methods that would be more effective and and are committed to doing that um and it I'm glad to hear that uh officer fosco um has has been cooperative and and working with you because it it's clearly uh there are the school buses there are obviously the dpw's person at the seams and we hopefully sooner than later are going to get those moved out but yeah your your point is is certainly well taken when when all the spots in the lot are taken up by all those Vehicles then everybody that's coming for little league and everywhere else has nowhere to park but all up and down the streets and um we're we're going to I will follow up with with officer fosco on what he's done and uh we will continue and I know the uh mayor and counsel are well aware of the the school bus issue we also haven't parked over at the community center and uh not on Board of Ed property but um we we we're definitely working on it and and there will be a sound barrier of some sort up this year okay thanks Jim sure thank you thank you hi my name is Judy super and I live at 39 Congressional Parkway um my home is located exactly where the gnome parking signs end and during the baseball season there are a lot of cars that are using my space as loading unloading Zone my home is also a te intersection so that makes it particularly dangerous to unload and unloading you're not you're not even supposed to be parking in a T intersection people neglect that constantly last year my driveway was was uh blocked twice and I was unable to get out and I had to call the police to intervene I'm asking the town coun to consider the safety of the residents as well as the people who are using the street um adding some permanent protective measures will go a long way to ensure the to maintain the well-being and safety of residents of Livingston great thank you thank you Barry can we look into that as far as um there is a lot of turning around there um I I I'm on the the board of little league so I get to go through that gate but I see the people I see the people turning around down there um and it could be a mess um so Barry could maybe extend the uh the the no parking or I I'll check with all I know for fos was looking at all the ordinances all where it's allowed where it's not whether it expanded what to do yeah yeah further up going towards uh North Livingston yes going back right it does yeah and and Barry all sign uh that that comes before the council that's an ordinance I believe all right maybe stop at the first entrance right into North CL pool that Jefferson and Madison's the one closer to the gate yeah okay yeah thank you good Baron all right thank you so much uh next good evening hi Mr Mayor Deputy Mayor and all of our council members uh my name is India sweetney I live in town I really don't want to say my ex act address but I'm a living sner um I was coming tonight and listen I promise you I promise you I'm not trying to start anything I just have a question and you can direct me to wherever it needs to go because again I'm not trying to start anything I'm just looking for some information I didn't know if the Livingston Mall property was completely sold if they are plans for it or if it is still uh a bidding process where if some someone has businesses for it um could it be possible because I have a business for it that I would really like to speak about that I believe could Revitalize it as a mall number one and also bring a lot of Revenue to the town in a number of different um levels but I just didn't know if it was still you know yes uh so the mall has been quite a challenge um it was uh way back when the entire thing owned by Simon which is probably the largest small company in the country um the Sears had an option within their lease which they exercised so now the 16 acres to the north where the Sears building in that parking lot uh was owned separately by Sears here's one bankrupt there's a company called transformco that Now controls that piece of property Simon um then sold its interest to a company called Cohan retail Investments um within the remaining property Macy's also has an option uh that they've indicated they're going to exercise to peel off about 10 acres at the South including their building Hudson Bay which is the old lordon Taylor the parent company lordon Taylor uh has roughly 50 years remaining on a ground lease on their piece so it's it's been quite a challenge to try and get all the stakeholders involved um the town is actually uh authorized a study uh for whether it's an area in need Redevelopment with the potential for condemnation right now it's all privately owned so we don't have the ability to force them to do anything um I will say this and I'm happy to say it publicly that the uh new owner Cohan has been incredibly disappointing um unresponsive not participating and trying to revitalize them all not maintaining them all uh code enforcement has their hands full with them um so in terms of you know I think the the council uh we certainly would like to have a vision that if it gets designated an area need to development um and a new redeveloper comes in with a plan um obviously they'd have to if if we didn't exercise uh eminent domain they'd have to buy the various interests I will also say transformco that it controls the series piece and Macy's have been uh much more uh willing partners and talking about a vision and a future as what to do with the mall uh but right now it's just been an unbelievable challenge in terms of um your business idea if you mean in in the mall you'd have to the Sears piece the Sears piece um I mean I can certainly provide you with the contact information for transform Co it's again it's privately owned in private property so we can't make them do you know do anything right now the zoning permits a certain level of use is essentially a mall uh retail and all that if if what you're proposing um you know was within the permitted use and and you talk to them but we can't really make them do anything at this point I just didn't know if it was possible right I didn't know if somebody had already been talking to you all and you know I just didn't know if it was possible sorry we we had passed the um you know the the authorization for a study you know right where wouldn't we expect that back or when we we initially did a study um without condemnation we just recently changed that to do it at actually at the last meeting with condemnation um so most of the study is actually done um initially we when we did it Simon was still in control and we felt um the Redevelopment would just provide some additional planning tools and the ability to come up with a Redevelopment plan um given the performance of the new owner Cohan I think the sense was that uh eminent domain had to be some leverage that we had and the possibility that if we had to condemn it we would um when that stud's done Barry does that go to the planning board to to uh the study would initially go back to the planning board planning board then will make a recommendation to the council the council then actually has to take the official action to designate it as an area in need of Redevelopment um that does not trigger uh condemnation but the power is is authorized at some point and when do we think the study will be done do we have you said it's mostly done do we have a sense of when that'll be finished um I will follow up but I would expect they they just had to update some stuff but it certainly hasn't gotten any better so I don't think they'll need it's got more vacancies and worse conditions so should be pretty easy update so it should be pretty soon I would think I think they said July August I think they said okay yeah so in the if you had a good idea for the the middle piece the part that was sign for the Sears part oh for the Sears for the Sears yes that would then trickle down to everything else I don't want to say we're going to give you the address for uh Cohan okay but uh what's it Cohan Retail Group they're based out of Westchester New York if you Google them KO an first um if you Google them you'll find their information on um Coan retail retail Investment Group K that's all them all or that's just the Sears that's everything Sears the Sears is transform Co I can send if you um yeah s is a transform if you reach out to me tomorrow I can send you email the information for transform thank you so much you're welcome thanks any other public comment Caroline you got a comment on the inter yes mayor Anthony yeah all right Madam clerk um I actually have two comments to read um the first is uh from a Jack's Alan Brown non-resident I work in Livingston my partner and I are supporters of your lcdi events we like that you have a committee for diversity and inclusion but we want to know what your group does outside of showing up for events what do you do when issues of race and sexual identity come up in your community there is a group of about 40 women from South Orange Maplewood area who who one of your police officers Kevin milanni taught to swim over 10 years ago we remember being so proud of Kevin when he achieved his lifelong goal of being a police officer in the town where he grew up we're all also not surprised when we learned that Kevin was one of the one who stood up against homophobia in your Police Department when my wife and I heard from the fellow Troy athlete what has been happening with Kevin to say we were horrified and outraged would be an understatement Kevin obvious obviously has no support from lcdi and has been shunned by your community anyone who's met Kevin for 10 seconds realiz realizes he's getting railroaded here your treatment of Kevin is why people have problems trusting the police what's the point of having committees picnics flag raisings if you don't actually stand by the issues when they come up you have an officer standing up against homophobia an upstander who are kids should admire but you've done nothing save your vents we will no longer be attending my suggestion to the lcdi is to stop planning events and to start caring about the issues I'm proud to live in the south Orange Maplewood area where this nonsense isn't tolerated and people actually care do better Livingston your neighbors are also watching and it's not just limited to East Handover and your automatic weapons range anymore my friends and I hope to talk about these issues with you in person at a meeting in the near future signed Jax Allen Brown from Maplewood the next comment um is from Justin eard Albert who is a resident he writes dear councilman last year when we honored National Gun Violence awareness day it was shortly after another National Shooting strategy and the woman accepting the citation remarked under her breath how difficult it is to be back again without any meaningful change the same May likely go for this year while we are sure that young Miss Stern passionately and eloquently stated her case in a manner that would make us all proud let's commit to doing even more in concrete terms this year we have a clear and present local answer we know that our Township police are in need of a new Indoor Range as are the responsible local members of the weapons owning Community welcome opportunity for this Council to open a public dialogue between one the Mom's demand and all folks and two the responsible local members of the weapons owning Community here in Livingston we can develop a place for free citizens to responsibly exercise their second amendment rights alongside our our friends in blue have been sworn to protect and serve all while building up healthy local weapons owning culture can teach safety and responsibility both formally and by example at the next five on five meeting we could discuss a curriculum in the local schools that includes weapons history the science of gunpowder the calculus of trajectory tactical ideas and how how to field dress a deer k sorry I didn't read this can reintroduce the shooting I'm sorry got the go can reintroduce the Shooting Sports generally by taking on actually I can't read sorry by taking on actual responsibility locally we can lead a nationwide movement beyond the repetitive platitudes of annual citations something that we could all be proud of right here in Livingston as part of a broader Common Sense master plan in our schools in our community and in our warehouse districts thank you councilman for your consideration let's start making a real difference going forward respectfully submitted Justin aser Albert all right thank you Carol else and jar motion to close public a comment SEC second all in favor yes okay yes uh we are up to reports of Township officials and council members um an anything no nothing today thank you good okay thanks an Adam nothing tonight we looking good tonight all right uh nothing that we didn't do in the conference already thank you thanks Barry okay thank you uh Carol the only thing I like to say is elections are next Tuesday June 4th and just to remind everybody that the you know primary elections right around the corner and um we will be open in town hall the library and the community center so look at your sample ballot for your District great thank you Jared thank you mayor nothing tonight awesome Kayon yeah a couple of notes uh mayor thank you uh yeah first of all uh in advance thank you very much Caroline for all the days of work that's upcoming for you and the team uh for the upcoming primaries and and the volunteers that came in and thank you for to all of them as well um first is I want to give a shout out to a beautiful beautiful Memorial Day Parade we had uh we were lucky to had to have had that fantastic weather um but the organization that that committee did uh and organizing the huge event like Memorial Day Parade it's it's really a signature event as as I always say so kudos to the entire committee uh and uh just great job there um and I'll just close with a couple of reminders of some uh fun events coming up for residents uh there is one The Pride picnic that the lcdi team mentioned here June 2nd I think it's 12 to 4:45 is or so and then you have a walk around the oval at 4:45 followed by the flag raising so really looking forward to that and another event before we meet again it's going to be Summerfest um I know Mike I'm going to take that uh that credit for it but it's really it's really I can't help myself this is actually uh uh is really exciting um 11:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. at the oval there'll be uh music uh beer garden uh but the most important part is there's ton of kids activities there's a Kids Zone all in one admission uh there are Flyers everywhere so I do say to the residents let make make use of that it's it's really good thank you thank you mayor thank you Kon uh Michael so I'm not going to Echo my fellow rotarian um but uh Summerfest is coming up on uh June 9th please come out it's a great event um tons of stuff over there food trucks and everything else um again I want to thank uh all the veterans and everyone uh including councilman mehard as the leaz on uh to the memorial day uh parade committee fantastic job I'm glad that we did not cancel it um because you know it turned out to be a great day and uh it it was good uh electronic recycling and paper shredding June 9th um let me make sure I got it right 9:00 a.m. to 2 p p.m. great florescent tubes and rechargeable batteries fluorescent Tu tubes and rechargeable batteries and then also this Thursday at um at our community center essis County um uh Commissioners are having a Jewish Heritage celebration uh that's Thursday uh May 30th uh starting at 6: PM I know there's some um proclamations that they're going to be giving out there's some food there so uh May 30th that's a Thursday this coming Thursday at 6 pm thank you mayor thank you Michael uh Sean I'll keep it brief just wanted to uh Express a lot of gratitude to everyone that works so hard to make the parade such a wonderful event for everybody in the town uh it's one of the Marquee events every year um I think it's one of the things that makes Livingston feel really special to everybody that lives here and uh thanks so much for all the effort that went into it deputy mayor uh just I just going to Echo about theal day prade I did write an email on behalf of this on behalf of the Town Council to the uh to everybody on the Memorial Day committee parade Comm parade committee thanking them for all their hard work they did a great job uh Caroline I thank you very much in advance for the elections that are coming up um what we saw this evening with all the volunteers here was really what Livingston is all about while we all look good up here some days um it is the volunteers that make us that way and so without the volunteers uh obviously Andrew and harsh are still here so thank you guys for everything that you do as well but all the other volunteers who were here and Ena as well who does with the chest so thank you but they're also um everyone does a great job and so we really appreciate everything that they do um and finally um councilman Klein is going on a trip I found out this week or next week uh there's an expression that one says when one goes to Israel translated into English it says go in peace and return in peace so that's what I wish to you and a great trip thank you Deputy Mayor great thanks same here councilman um I I'll just I have to Echo the Memorial Day Parade committee did a great job uh thank you as the liais on we were getting updates uh right to the end of whether it was on or off and people were contacting us and you know what I was on a mayor's uh meeting today S6 County there was cancellation so it was great to keep it on I think Ed you were solely responsible for that or no 100% responsible okay it was a great move and we had a lot of people there and uh thank you all for coming out to that um we did write some letters to the editor in in the West Tribune uh trying to get like we said uh barbecues and fames are great uh no no problem there but um to honor those who have fallen to make this country so great and uh the way we live uh now we have to be thankful for that um since the last time we did have the Israel Independence Day you know awesome job thousands and thousands of people uh at the community center and out here for the flag raising a wonderful wonderful event uh thank you to you and everyone involved uh we also had the first aapi picnic uh which was tremendous uh very well attended um there was food and culture and and performances and kite flying and hopefully that becomes a tradition going forward in the future like uh Israel Independence Day as well uh we did have the Employee Appreciation uh lunch thank you Barry and uh and an and and Adam and everyone at Russ and Carolyn and everything you do uh to make this town so great it was really really nice um and we did see some of those parked uh it was hard to get into that parking lot fa but um also Let's see we had the holy celebration which was uh really terrific at the oval uh as usual and we had the uh fire department inspection dinner so thank you to lfd for all your hard work and our volunteers there as well and you guys up here mentioned the pride flag picnic and Summerfest coming up um so I think that's a wrap anyone else have anything yeah mayor um we should announce that uh was decided in conference um that the next meeting is moved uh due to a scheduling issue instead of June Monday June 10th the meeting will be on Wednesday June 12th 630 conference 7:30 and it will be noticed in accordance with the law but since any we anyone's here and watching at home yes thank you yeah thank you and horon Andrew the um the celebration that day is 5:30 right on the women's veterans so we could still make that and we have a 6:30 meeting here so great uh anyone else oh going once twice second second second all in favor I I okay good night everyone thank you