##VIDEO ID:o8bC5zd88VI## good evening everyone all right statement of compliance with the Sunshine Law good all right all right 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 west6 Tribune and the Star Ledger on January 2 2024 and 48 hour notice was emailed to the West S6 Tribune and the Star Ledger on October 4th 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 and or discussed in Clos session may be may be 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.fb.com Livingston Township NJ questions or comments will also be accepted by emailing live comment Livingston nj.org by 4 pm on the day of the meeting each speaker should follow the rules of order in Livingston code section 2-15 H all right uh Carolyn roll call please thank you mayor council member bubani here Viera present kleene here Deputy Mayor mehard here mayor Anthony here uh if we could all stand for a moment of silence and then the pledge of Alle flag of United States of America stands indivisible andice okay uh Essex County updates I don't see uh Eileen here all right we have uh the proclamations and presentations no proclamations tonight but we do have the bid the business Improvement District update and we have the director Beth Litman here hi Beth Beth the microphone is right there is it on have to pull all right everybody I'm here tonight just to give you an update what's going on in town with businesses what's going on with the bid so okay you want me to sing you don't okay so anyway I thought I'd just start by telling you about new businesses I expect about 20 this year 24 by the end of the year 24 new businesses We Have Forever Young vvv bubble te sombrero toor Dairy Queen hot works Mr Tandoor Boardwalk zeppy which we have our ribbon cutting tomorrow um was one of the places Bergen Pharmacy strategic Insurance J crew Factory Outlet Wonder core weave which is uh an office uh in the office building A 290 West Mount Pleasant La bikini and Town Center dance extensions taekwan do shipping Logistics um and opening soon we'll be just Salad Sugar Tree Cafe the Sleep Loft dance cult Lial which I know everybody's been waiting for but I've been given a date of December 11th for that one I'm trying to follow up and and confirm that one blue ale which Al you spoke to the people there I don't know if that's what it's going to be called when they finally open or is it just blue not sure blue Livingston yeah and cars which is going to be a hamburger place opening over at 142 South Livingston which is near food BS um they're they have a place in Monclair and hacketstown and they're going to be opening here their third place and blue run which is interesting this is over on Eisenhower Parkway 82 Nyon Avenue it's going to be a ski uh a snow skiing facility type teaching and I'm not quite sure how they're doing it but they'll be training skiers people can come and and learn different skills for skiing so that should be an interesting uh thing to come that's great because there's a new SK team second year of the ski team in Livingston high school they just started one and they could probably practice there possi they're actually they're actually getting two machines from Europe um they're there are simulators that you're actually going to be on these machines and rollers and they go up and down and it's it's very it's a very interesting thing um I Haven to know him because we do doing the architect I think that's going to bring a lot of people town it's great it's a first one on the east coast it's very popular in uh the Colorado area obviously first one on the east coast and these Machin are coming right from Europe where they're very popular in Europe as well interesting what's the name of the business uh was the name of the ski business it's going to be called Blue Run blue Runk blue run okay and top Wiz Academy um trying to open we had we had some places that I considered almost not rentable because of parking issues like the old ilj alone space well someone bought that building and they're trying to put in a coffee shop they're going to be going before minor site plan because there are some issues that have to be worked out especially with the parking um Jerusalem West Restaurant you know they had closed and there's another restaurant trying to come in there they have to go to minor site plan uh they need to clean up the property and they probably they have to pave their parking lot so those are all happening I don't think they'll be open this year but those hopefully by next year we'll have those filled which is great um sleep LOF which is coming with the old Regal Bank you know that's shopping center has been very difficult to fill that space because of parking where Sweet Basil is so it's nice that we're getting this sleep Loft it's I think they might even be open I'm not sure if they're open yet and they're going to be by appointment only selling mattresses which is an interesting use for that and a low parking uh impact um we have quite a few businesses that are moving within town like they're moving one space we have Michelle's dance studio chocolate Works move Jacqueline's is moving um we have um another one pink jewels and test R Opticians are moving from Town Center uh testr bought a building on Mount Pleasant near the right near the diner to there's the dentist next to the diner then there's another building with two stores he bought that building and pink jws and himself were going in there so um we have some new owners of existing businesses State Farm Insurance which we did the ribbon cutting for and board and brush which was sold to someone else to be coming in and the businesses that closed we have gentleman's row barber shop that closed but we have a shipping business like a UPS type place that's coming in already um what I'm finding is that people are closing and going out but new businesses are coming in pretty quickly Mattress Firm on Route 10 closed one day they were there one day they were gone and what I found out is that they just they had the lease on that place and they kept it open but they have another mattress firm right down the road in East Handover so they closed this one um Spirit house they opened up um next to where C is called where Michelle's dance studio is now took that space and they they were just testing and they had a six- Monon lease they were just testing they had a location in an office building they wanted to see if retail space would work for them I guess it didn't um and then Cala coffee which was next door closed and Jersey G's creations and to go into just some other bid activities um I participate in something pretty interesting with Michael Vieira we were judges in the high school shark tank for youth appreciation week that was pretty interesting they had like five groups of kids who came up with ideas for the town and I don't know if you're going to have them come they're going to come at the the next meeting be yeah that that was a lot of fun that was great um we had during youth appreciation week we ran a stick of a sticker book search where people had to go into stores that participated get stickers and then once they filled the books they submitted it to us and won prizes so we had 42 businesses that participated in that 59 people total uh W prizes we had about 188 to entries of full books and we've had we had great feedback from participating businesses on that one um all promotions that we do are posted on uh social our social media and other social media and emailed around we do promoted posts on some of our events and then we just do regular posts as well um October 18th through the 31st is going to be a restaurant celebration week where we're going to have restaurants that have signed up and um people go to the restaurants they send in their receipts and then they put it in win prizes as well our town loves winning prizes they love the contests and we get a lot of participation in that um for November December we'll have our holiday deals which is just the all the stores um having like coupons having discounts and that's always something that's very popular during this time of year and again it's almost that time of year for cuso you'll be seeing everything popping up in the oval so um we do monthly business spotlights um that's something we email around and we post as well we have um business the marketing company that we have and myself go and meet with new businesses coming and we have B meetings with them to talk about how they can Market themselves the best way to Market themselves the demographics in town um ribbon cuttings we had 16 to date that I counted Al um and we have a couple we have two tomorrow this the last couple of weeks have been really busy we have two tomorrow we have uh one on Thursday which is J crew and then we have I think on Sunday is La bikini uh I have to make sure you get this scissor the 19th yes I think uh there's an email on that I'm sorry you knew what time the rib CS are yes I have it I have it here Saturday Beth that one's Saturday tomorrow's 4 and 5 o'clock or it's Saturday Okay um the ribbon cuting the tomorrow is 4:00 boardwalk zeppy and 5:00 is Michelle's down Studio yeah what's the J crew the J crew is on Thurs Thursday October 17th at 3:30 yes and then Saturday October 19th at uh 12:00 noon uh okay and Beth you're are you setting up the other ones that opened in that mall the uh I'm trying I've reached out or just Sal or yeah Dair Queen said he wants to have one I asked him to send me back some dates and times I'm waiting for that um I've contacted liel again to find out exactly what they want to do and I haven't contacted blue ale yet because I'm not sure when they're coming in okay so yeah and um let's see what else yeah so that's pretty much um oh the art program taking it to the streets we call it we had the sculptures that were around town people enjoyed it we got a lot of responses from that they've been taken down and I'd like to just give a thank you to Tom Cooney who without him he helped install the sculptures and he help take them down secure them right he's been great um uh and our sponsors we had sponsors for that we had Nero sponsor George press aarian properties bnz Opticians and Antonio salon so that was terrific now we have also a mural the we're working with the environmental Commission on putting up an environmental mural they're going to be put it up on the Seymour's wall that faces South um there they're going to do it in panels for that one because the owner didn't want to have it painted right on the building so they'll be doing that on panels they've started that already they've launched it they're doing a contest and they have a lot of kids that are participating it was really interesting they set it up where they have mentors people who do murals who's going to teach these kids how you do big format art and it was a very nice meeting that night and I understand our Footprints are going to be also she's going to put that online somewhere as well cuz when we came in we had to draw our Footprints and so that's been busy and I have a couple of other people who asked to do murals so I spoke to Alice and I asked if we can get more so she's looking into that and talking to see because they're going to probably have about 15 kids 15 kids or groups submitting Concepts um they're going to have a judging panel that's going to narrow it down to three and then the three they're going to have judges yeah they're going to project it they're going to use the wall in the winter time probably in January I think she's trying to do that I've spoken to Jeff con the owner of the parking lot which is not part of Seymour's but he said we can use it to do the projections and have a night just to show all the artwork that's been been done and I think she's going to want to do some other display as well around somewhere um for all the artwork and I'm sure once other businesses see this going up um I already have one definitely and I'm sure there'll be more who would like to do environmental murals on the side of their building so that'll be great to have around town I think so yeah it's been a busy couple of months but uh looking forward I'm sure it'll be busy in the winter time and uh it's been great yeah any questions or any uh questions I do have a couple of comments so thanks first of all U this is this very very exhaustive report uh lot happening as you rightly said uh the comments I have is excuse me um we should have some sort of audio visual I think when we run through the list right it's very important that people watching at home here as well be able to visualize it you know you had a tremendous list of businesses but if I ask you a question how many we did right it's very difficult you to count it I mean it would be very good to have a visual I would that would be my recommendation uh stuff like you know what B bid do you know what bid do for or businesses in town would be a good education you know to have a transparency and people asking questions and also getting answers that you know this is the service we have for our businesses um the other thing is maybe make it regular right sorry about my throat but make it regular I don't know what's the Frequency we do it here yeah I am going to to be making it regular if not every month every other month be coming just to update you on everything we're doing yeah and let everyone know as well and I'll try to put together a visual you mean just put all the everything I just said on a power something to watch see on the screen I mean names of the businesses you know it'll be great so even categorizing it how many restaurants we open up right I mean how many uh Personnel facilities you know great to see you know the yoga studio right there right so I think it'll be it'll be very very good I think it'll be very appreciative I think of people watching again at at home not too many people here but if they replay the Facebook you know feed and all of that that'll be very helpful yeah and I think frequency I think if we make it a regular event this will be this will be good that's what we're going to do thank to get it out and I don't know how it works but if there's anybody out there who has any questions I can give them my email address to email uh it's Intown Livingston at gmail.com and just email any questions you might have about business or what's goes there right that makes it very very simple right this is reading it and it may make mistake but I can't see that it's facing that way right so it's important that we we have it in the audio visual yeah but I do have something to hand out to you Beth I I have a question before you hand it out um last year um we met with um a barbecue place any update big madd's or or big MD's barbecue I I've been speaking to him almost every other week just talking to him I've been looking he wanted to do like a food Hall and he wanted to be in like more of a industrial type building I have not been able to find any buildings that are available at this time that you know then he said that he would consider just opening the restaurant and um possibly do the food haul concept at a different time um at you know when we first started talking I thought Anthony um calire would be a great location for the restaurant but then it was taken by the time you know he I spoke to him about I said no it's taken already for Wonder and then so then I also told him to call up the owner of I spoke with the owner of Jerusalem West the property owner and I had him call and speak I'm not quite sure what transpired but I think he's trying to bring in some barbecue restaurants how about where 7-Eleven is how about uh the the Jerusalem the according to I heard the uh the zoning board at the Jerusalem location reson that properties for um for residential I believe so I I don't I don't know what that's going on but I don't think that that's going to be a potential Place anymore the there's I he told me he told me he's he's signing a lease with the restaurant the zoning board the zoning board split some of the property back there already it happened a few weeks ago with the zoning committee so I don't really know where happed spoke to that's interesting but I he told me that he's talking to someone and I spoke with Marty about it too and and he's been talking to Marty about some restaurant coming in there as well so we're still talking to so I'm still talking to him he's still out there he's still trying to find a location you know it's just the right spot for him thank you give this out to you this is just uses we would have to be that yeah because Marty was the one who told me that um he has to clean up the property bring anything new in and spoke to him about it so I don't know that's interesting but okay did so I so I'm sorry yeah so all right so I I have a couple pause from Justin got to app from Justin that's that's pretty good you did well so a couple things so so I thought so I I have a I have a couple things um so this is this living so I'm going to follow up on what councilman bhani said I I you know I think a lot of the business owners don't really know what the bid does I know that they pay your they pay money into the bid budget which I know pays for your salary every year but I don't really know that the business owners understand the value of what the bid brings in especially business owners who are not on the Avenue themselves and or it's not on there so I think it might be interesting maybe to have like a town hall with the business owners as well sometimes to try to get them involved and see what they suggest that the bid does because I think they're really your they are they're not really they are your clients because they pay in every year to the budget which pays directly for your salary so I I think it' be for to meet with them you know maybe twice three times a year and see what it is and see what kind of suggestions that they have um what you handed out is great maybe this should be this should be at all the retail locations so when people shop they know actually what the bid does because I don't think the residents particularly know what the bid does um and I've said that to you many times I don't think they know what they do um you know I know there's 24 openings or or 24 stores and 16 openings you know I know that the Realtors are very involved with that as well and I know it falls under the bid but I know the Realtors do a lot of that kind of work to get these people into town yes I work with the realt but I know I know but a lot of that work comes from them so again I it's you know it's more I think the bid is really should be out there trying to promote the Livingston residents to shop and to make it exciting for people to shop in Livingston um the other thing I was I find and I just want to say something that that's what we do with all our promotions that's who it goes out to that's who on our soci social media and our list no I get it but we it just doesn't seem like it's out there a lot like I don't I don't hear any Buzz I don't hear any things saying wow this was great like I never hear that kind of buzz from from the people who I'm with who I who I my friends and the other thing I find interesting is that uh you mentioned that xarion I believe was one of the sponsors of the um the art the Arts up so you know again we should really be meeting with them and seeing what we can do to to clean that place up that that is an absolute embarrassment for our town um I know it's private surpris I know that we as a council cannot do anything except you know send them the fines and stuff that they don't do and try to get after them but it is the center of our town and for them to be a sponsor of that and not put money into their own building I think it's kind of a little bit it's it's an it's embarrassing that they're able to to sponsor that but not want to clean up their own property and I know it's Deputy Mayor and also that it's the biggest clock in town and it's broken okay and it's broken so but but it's not that a day but it's not only that though but if you if you drive into the parking lot and you and you take the elevator each floor you know it's scary to get off the you know it's not it it doesn't look right there's no lights there the whole thing is just doesn't work and you know it' be nice to be able to get them to the table and sit with them and seeing how we can work together and maybe there's things that we can do as well to partner with them to see how we can get that thing back up and running yeah we did that one time we I remember we that you at that time Barry was there we all met with them trying to get them to continue and I've been on the phone with them and the person I was dealing with through the sponsorship is the daughter Amanda there and she's out in California actually um working on marketing and she called me and said they want to do a lot of marketing for the town they want to do and I said great and then they disappeared so I'm not quite sure what to do to get them to do I called them to I call them you got to mow your lawn I call them about that all the time yeah we've done that too I think Marty I think Barry correct me if I'm wrong I know you you know we've gone you know Marty has from the you know and and the zoning the officer the code officer whatever goes after them as well but you know again it's just it's just it's kind of striking that they're willing to spend money for that and not not clean up their own place but thank you and thank you for coming and I appreciate you taking the suggestion that I gave you to come in uh and start this process you know we met back in August and you and I and I said this was something that I suggested you come in and talk about you know obviously it's not a pack crowd but I think the more you do this I think I think the I think I think councilman bhutani is correct that the more you do it and more people hear things I think more of a thing gets on so I do appreciate this comments and hopefully you you will come more often for these kind of updates right absolutely love that uh the additional you know more frequent comments Is frequent commentary is very important but again I'll stress visuals I think it'll really make Drive the point home uh this is fantastic you know this is what should be there uh similar to that I think that will really really help exactly that'll really help them deliver the message but I also just to follow up again I'm sorry but this should be this this should be at all of your clients places so when people walk in when the residents walk in they pick it up this this is a way of getting to understand what you do so maybe that as a suggestion maybe have that at you know at the shops may it actually goes to show right that um that how desire able the town is many of times we hear that you know businesses and all the commentary around it but this actually underscores that our town is desirable by businesses you have listed with a lot of them who were who were moving in to one of the points that you really are trying to bring home is that if somebody is leaving that store is really chased chase after you know after number of businesses are looking to fill up that space that is true so that scores the desirability I think this is that's the point we all trying to drive home I just want to also say what one of the things I do is every new business that comes in you know we have an architect Review Committee that has to review signage before they can get permits so I get to see who's coming in as they're putting in for their signage and I get in touch with them and we meet with them and we talk to them I help them through the building department I help them through if they have to go to minor site plan I help help them through the processes of getting into their space I talk if sometimes they call me before they sign a lease sometimes they just want to talk about the space and you know and I'll talk to them a little bit about what they should be asking for when they sign a lease you know things like that try to help them along the way then we meet with them about marketing marketing to this community marketing to this demographics the best way to do it and and so we're there and I've had a lot of them say to me I've never had this in any other town I've been in if I've been in another town this is just great and they're they love it they're happy and most and a lot of businesses do know about us they're calling all the time the Brokers call me all the time when they have something that wants to come in they ask me to help them they ask me to help with parking with whatever it is I often go in and meet with Marty with the prospective tenants as well Marty at the building department to talk about what they have to know what they have to do how much parking they have to have and what they have to bring to the building department so there's a lot of that as well that's I mean my main takeaway is the matter volume of places coming in is just incredible I mean it took you you know eight minutes to list all the all the new places that are coming in so it's just an incredible volume what's the vacancy rate right now like it's pretty low I haven't gone through but we have very little vacancy because I've been trying to find some people some people who want to move from the Livingston Mall space you know so I give them to the Brokers you know but we're trying to find Space around and and there's very little available right now thank you I mean people don't always see that because of what you know the Bottle King building but we all know that that is not included in our vacancies Beth I I have a question are you finding any businesses coming out of the mall wanting to come into Livingston the heart of Livingston yeah they're calling me and they want to um the problem is a lot of them don't want to make the investment of the move I have one the tea lady she's contacting me all the time she wants to come I try I I had her contact two different Brokers at work in town who I knew there was space and this goes back to last year and she contacted me yesterday again and said Gee is there anything they're turning off the power they're and I said you have to get out of there I said so so so that's very important to make sure that we keep those businesses that are in the mall in town so you have a job ahead of you I know but they have to want to do it you need to convince them to do it I if only if only had those Powers I'm sure you'll find it Beth um good you're good Beth so thank you so much you know I'm the we on to the bid for a long time now and I see how hard everyone on here uh works and I just want to quickly give them a shout out uh the Board of Trustees are Pete Chael and Sher Roth and Lorie Kaufman Ellie Owen oer Steinberg Anthony Mara Anan press Jeffrey Rosen Rosenblum Ryan tiger Ron Weiss and The Advisory Board is Hayden tiger and Punam uh B Bava um I I get to I I'm on some pretty busy uh liaison committees the library the LC but the bid um thank you for all you do there it's very busy um I think what Sean said that uh you went on and on about I mean we haven't done we have to catch up on ribbon cuttings that more have snuck past us that we need to actually uh do ribbon cuttings which is uh a great thing um I think it usually hovers around 4% the vacancy rate somewhere in there it's lower now lower I don't think there's very much space avilable amazing that's uh it's amazing and than thanks for if anything I think Town Center now will have some space of but they're filling up too there are people coming in there're I know I and what's happened there though what's happening where why test R and pink jws are moving out is because they were there from the beginning and they're paying higher rents and the new people coming in are paying lower rents and it came time for their leases to be up and they're raising their rents so they said see you but they're staying in town that's a good thing and um yeah and it was nice in August we sat down with the deputy mayor and thank you for coming in here because that was one of the ideas that was discussed just to give an update um of what the the bid does and how important it is and how our businesses in town are are are booming and I'm looking forward to uh Livingston blue and uh Lial uh and and yeah we have two tomorrow uh one was it Thursday and one on Saturday I it's probably going to be here on straight out a lot a lot of ribbon cting till the end of the year and just to make you aware that we have like over 800 businesses in town because every commercial property and every business in town is part of the business improvement district which makes us a little unusual from other towns because other towns just have their down towns but it's our whole business district so we have a lot of businesses in our town and that includes the professional you know that includes the office space as well so so Beth I have a question because the building going up on uh Northfield uh and South Livingston I see the retail sign out there are they starting to fill up yet do you know he only is G I think he's only going to have two stores I think it's only two stores now I EMA I happen to email him today just to follow up and find out what's going on and there's anything we can do to help uh I haven't heard back yet so hopefully great no more questions great thank you so much be coming in appreciate it okay we're up to the approval of the minutes pending any corrections make a motion to uh approve the minutes of September 23rd 2024 regular and Conference and the same date of close session meeting minutes thank you I'll second it great um all in favor I any opposed no okay make a motion to open the meeting for public comments on agenda items only I'll second it great all in favor I I any opposed no all right we are now at the public comment on agenda items only what is being pulled tonight okay so the 27 2024 right we're Barry we're going to have a little bit more info on the the urns okay and I think Barry uh 29 2024 um we're just going to talk to um some of the people on Old Road first correct okay so that just leaves 28 2024 and from the resolutions I think we're pulling one out because of a recusal but none being pulled out okay with that Justin that's what's on the schedule tonight hi Mr Mayor Justin out for 56 Amur Place uh with respect to miss litman's report um you know we need the ability to tax en forcibly depreciate outside institutional interests when you get the long-term uh trusts owning the center of town uh and we have new buildings and we're planning for long-term outside institutional interest owning it we really need the ability to depreciate those values and reclaim the value of the real property in the community and make it affordable for uh our own residents two uh we just did that massive salary report for the community we ought to engage the um the bid and have them do a similar salary report and let's compare let's see if the salaries in the businesses in this town match up salaries in this government in town there should be a uh level of equality between the two otherwise it's not sustainable three um we ought to develop a new metrics of uh rents uh against salary and uh take a look at the various retail spaces and other commercial spaces and see how much are we paying to residents of the community and how much are we paying for rents that's flowing right out of the community that would give us a massive uh understanding of how our commercial districts work with respect to the um consent agenda please uh item number seven uh for Lots one and 101 condemnation area in need of redel development uh please pull that from the agenda uh first of all kudos to the entire deis uh thank you Mr uh mayor for your leadership on this we are condemning the Livingston Mall That Should Be Sung uh proudly and loudly for everyone to understand uh we understand that lots to and three are not involved in that condemnation would like to understand what those are a and why they're not being included and also understand what the plan is of this uh Community with respect to Common generation how will we know if you're successful what are we going to do what's it going to look like we know that you're going into Clos session tonight to speak about litigation about them all but if you could ched pull that from the consent agenda uh would certainly appreciate that so we could have a conversation there uh with respect to 24234 item number nine um we discussed that in the back room so we're good there I item number eight um authorizing a preparation of Redevelopment plan for 576 586 W West Mount Pleasant Avenue would like to know what the plans are back there is another Huge lot out on Route 10 and would like to know uh what the town's plans are there and lastly with respect to uh 24235 authorizing the cancellation the outstanding sidewalk program charges uh we understand that there was a breakdown in Communications there with respect to failing to include an outstanding balance with for a new purchaser uh that seems like a systemic problem it seems like a systemic issue it might just be a one-time thing would like to understand what went wrong there and what we're doing so that doesn't happen again in any similar situation and uh that is it thank you very much Mr Mayor great thank you Justin okay motion to close motion to close the meeting on public comments on okay all in favor I any oppos no okay we now up to uh there's no final hearings tonight um Carolyn which just the one ordinance uh 28 2024 thank you Mar ordinance 28- 2024 chapter 135 filming I'll make a motion to uh second any comments yeah um is this Adam you may know this best is this is this to make uh Livingston film uh this is part of making us film ready your film okay want to make sure that was part of this okay thank you something we've all been excited to get going so that's great and thank you Adam for your work on this Y and Judith helped out and uh I think Amy from the library was asked about it too thought she mentioned it the other night the library board I think a lot of people have been involved but thank you for spearing this um all right a vote council member bani yes Vieira yes kly yes Deputy Mayor mhart yes mayor Anthony yes all right we are now up to uh let's see 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 request in which case the item will be removed from the consented agenda and considered in its normal sequence on the agenda as part of the general orders um I know we're going to PLL separately 24- 233 cost of a recusal by one of our council members um is there any other ones anyone wants uh removed for special special reason no okay okay uh resolution 24226 authorizing utility agreement with NJ do resolution 24227 authorizing a contract with extension with ha Graphics Inc resolution 24228 authorizing a contract with Hudson County motors resolution 24229 authorizing the sale of surplus property resolution 24-230 authorizing purchases under the Educational Services Commission of New Jersey purchasing program resolution 24231 authorizing purchases under the north Jersey Wastewater Cooperative pricing system resolution 24- 232 designating properties identified on the tax records as block 602 Lots 1 and 1.01 as a condemnation area in need of Redevelopment resolution 24-230 awarding a contract for Professional Services and evaluating Township pool options and providing cost estimates to land Associates resolution 24- 235 authorizing the cancellation of outstanding sidewalk program charges on block 409 Lot 1 and block 40 4901 l23 resolution 24236 authorizing a conservation restriction at block 100 L 52 and lastly resolution 24- 237 disposition of surplus um Township property I'll make a motion to approve to approve the resolutions is there a second second second okay council member bani yes viea yes kleene yes Deputy Mayor mehard yes mayor Anthony yes okay we are now up to the public portion oh I'm sorry pulled out yeah oh I forgot the one we someone's recused them yes okay what's the reason for recusal Mr Mayor um this is uh council member coin uh it's the same it's the same recusal on straight through on what's the reason for family relationship yeah there you go I thought you knew that but sorry okay yes thanks Carolyn next one you reading that one um I need a motion okay oh all right sorry I'm sorry resolution 24233 authorizing the preparation of a Redevelopment plan 576 to 586 West Mount Pleasant Avenue move the I move the motion I'll second it okay uh roll call on that comment any comment what's that any comments no com questions so first question is um can we simplify this and talk about it maybe bar you can do the job please um preparation of Redevelopment plan can we talk about that what this entails um so this is the property on Route 10 that's currently was formerly a car lot it is currently vacant it is in an area that's previously been designated as an area need a rehabilitation which allows for the preparation of a Redevelopment plan um typically those are done where you may have a use that you know may be uniquely suited for that particular piece of property but you don't want to amend the entire CI Zone to necessarily apply to every property north of there um the plan um the authorization the planner will get involved um work with the the owner to try and understand what uses they're looking for obviously report back and and the council would have to approve it um to see what would be a suitable use on that property so that's this is sort of the preliminary stage to start that dialogue so with this vote we are not actually authorizing it to be a Redevelopment uh property requiring Redevelopment if we're not authorizing it it's already been designated as a prop as an area in need of Rehabilitation which allows for a Redevelopment plan uh the principal distinction between the two is uh this is not in an area needed Redevelopment as such it would not be eligible for long-term tax exemption relief so this is really more uh about sort of customizing Zoning for a unique piece of property as opposed to again amending the entire CI Zone correct yeah thank you good okay yeah all right all right uh roll call on that council member of vatani yes Viera yes Deputy Mayor mhart yes mayor Anthony yes and mayor if I could just go back to the ordinance that we introduced chapter 135 filming I don't know if I mentioned it the final hearing will be on Monday October 28th oh great thank you I don't think you did and now you did so thank you like to make a motion to open the meeting to the public portion meeting on any subject I'll second it okay all in favor any oppos no no one oppos okay thanks all right public comment hi Mr Mayor Justin hi Mr Mayor Justin aler 56 Amhurst place um read in the new the local newspaper the other day that there's an issue with the charging for Oprah requests um I know we've previously discussed with respect to the anonymous people I think you guys ought to take the hit and just not go through the disclosures on the anonymous people uh and bring them out in public and shame them and embarrass them but when the Town Newspaper makes a request that needs to be granted without charge um it is a luxury to have a community newspaper we are fortunate to have a community newspaper if the community newspaper is making a legitimate request that should be answered and that should be answered without charge we pay the Township Clerk to do this kind of work if there is going to be a charge there ought to be a very public hearing right here in front of the deis to explain why there's a charge for our Township newspaper doing an Oprah request I think we should all commit to that tonight um Point number two we do a lot of really important work the discussion work takes place next door in that conference room we do a lot of pump and Circumstance out here but the really important discussion work is largely done back there we ought to mic it we ought to camera it so that way residents of the public can be more involved they don't you know they don't have to participate but they can see what's going on and they can understand the deliberations and that takes it back out into the community and opens it up uh while I have some time at third Point uh you decided in that back conference room a few meetings ago to stop the comments on Facebook the power of Facebook is that it engages the community and we've undermined that value by uh stopping comments there and you know comments can be tough but you're in a skilled and educated Community there's really no reason to shut that down this Council ought to reverse that decision thank you for your consideration Mr Mayor thank you just mayor if I may respond yeah of course um so Mr alert you know to that Opa request and I I did read the article in the Tribune um I would I would like to clear a few things up first first um it was unrelated to the new Oprah law special service charges had been part of Oprah uh from the beginning um the request made by the Tribune was a duplicative request that we had gotten from other residents and we already had put a special service charge on that Tor claim notice um so we had already put a price on it and that's when it will be uh additional hours I can tell you that there was a tour claim notice F by Sergeant melany um it was over 100 Pages um there is some very sensitive material in that tour claim notice that this Township can just not release upon request uh it would take several hours um and that wasn't directed first at the Tribune it was first directed um at someone who made a request and when the Tribune made the same request we couldn't give it to the Tribune for free when we said we're already charging another person that would not be fair or legal so we had already put that special service charge on it um we can certainly discuss you know consideration of of waving it at some point but I can tell you that uh the torch claim notice is over 100 pages and it will require several hours either the clerk's office or my office's time to redact as there is very sense of Mater in there that the township can just not provide to the public without a thorough redaction thank you thank you chair all right we are uh up to the any other public com mayor there's a couple of oh yeah okay live comments go for it uh the first live comment that we received is from Jay Paulson um in Milbourne New Jersey he says sitting here watching these meetings from Milburn and in awe over the dumpster fire your Municipal attorney is cing for both of our towns check out all of the problems caner is causing with our fair share filings I saw caner recently filed a motion for the judge to accuse himself of the Milburn case I'm wondering if caner is going to recuse himself from representing livon after he got lying about open public record act requests any comment from your governing body about L your line attorney the second comment is from Gary Johnson new brwi New Jersey I am running in to clarify some false information spread by your Township attorney last meeting since attorney caner is already trying to intimidate me by suggesting I'm violating a non-disparage order I won't offer any opinions but will just stick to provable and deniable facts Mr caner stated he wasn't involved in my previous legal matter with the township false anyone can go online and see Mr Canter's name on the docket Mr caner stated Harry nuts and Louis the dishwasher submitted Oprah request to the township false recent opr records revealed that Harry nuts and Louis the dishwasher never submitted Oprah request to the township Mr caner stated and I quote all of Kevin melan's claims are false unquote not true Mr caner must not speak with the same members of the police department who speak to me Mr caner stated an investigation into melan's claims took place false if an investigation actually took place Mr caner could not simultaneously assert that all of millen's claims are not true I really hope hope Mr caner isn't lying to the public Mr caner stated alleged anti-Semitism at the police department would be investigated promptly and that allegations of anti-Semitism have never been made there was an active member of the police department who was never interviewed by Mr caner but he sure would like to be Mr caner just because you sit here in a suit speak with conviction doesn't make the sky red and the grass purple I take offense to your cact assassination campaign against Kevin meany and your attempts to intim imate me melany is a former resident who has worked tirelessly for this community he does not deserve to be lied about or ignored melany made a black officer like me feel welcome in a field dominated by white males in a town that has historically lacked the diversity we see today does this Council just raise Flags or actually care about diversity and inclusion aside from setting the record straight I would like to know what this Town Council is doing to address the false statements made by your Township attorney will you be apologizing to melen or are you complicit in what continues to be a falsely spread narrative okay is that it okay thanks car M May I'm sorry did you I'll defer I I I'll comment after and before okay I I just uh like to go back to the first letter that was read by this resident of Milburn for a minute um it's just a shame it kind of goes to where the world is right now that we have to listen to a letter written by a resident not of this town who doesn't really has any doesn't really have any consideration doesn't even care about this town to say that our attorney is a li is a liar you know Mr caner has served this town very well very reputably and we are very much appreciated for all the work and hard work that he has done through the fair share work and all the other stuff that comes through this town and it just I don't really even understand the concept of how people can just go from one town to another town to another town and blast an attorney um in front of other people that that they're not even members of this town it is a shame that we have this process um that this that we have to listen to this process from people who don't belong to this town I know it goes on in other towns as well and I'm sorry that Mr canther has have to sit up here and listen to this quote unquote garbage as far as I'm concerned um and I want to thank him for everything that he's done for this town mayor may I say something sure thank God I have thick skin and I tell anybody who wants to do this job that you have to have thick skin or you can't do this job and uh you know I I've had um at least one individual um uh in town not only harass me but try and cyber bully me I'm not going to let that happen but you know what that same individual is doing the same thing to you and I'm I'm sorry about that because uh you are an attorney for other towns and I know this one particular person just goes right into their town on on their on their uh call-in meetings and harasses you about things that happen in Livingston which is is wrong you're doing a hell of a job and and thank you Jared yeah um I I also just want to say that um I know that everyone in this Council feels that uh that Jared does a terrific job for us and I've talked to uh council members in in Milbourne and they all think that he's doing a terrific job there as well so uh I don't give any Credence to to these kinds of comments yeah just a quick quick comment from me as well uh yeah these these types of comments it's uh I I I agree with uh U my fellow council members and also spe specifically what the deputy mayor said for someone to just come out from outside of town and just blast and uh character assassinate as someone who who works diligently that just seems wrong uh and thank you for your work chair CH I think it's all been said thank you for all your work up here and all your Council you know uh we we uh rely on it all the time so thank you um so you know I I don't really typically respond to personal attacks um they certainly are becoming uh weekly um in this town and from those same individuals that councilman Viera suggested um you know and I appreciate all the all the confidence and compliments that this Council gave me um I'm the founding manag managing partner of one of the top Municipal firms in this state um my firm success is based on our on Integrity our expertise our knowledge and how hard we fight for our clients and the results we've we've obtained for our clients a little history my firm started in 2017 with three lawyers we're now up to 22 lawyers with more coming this growth is based upon U my reputation advice and results that I've gotten which has all driven the growth um in that regard I currently serve as a municipal attorney of four towns the township of Livingston Milbourne Short Hills North calwell and um moris Township I'm additionally I'm assistant County Council in Middle sex my firm provides the highest level of Integrity we represent multiple municipalities across the state multiple boards we represent nor Hoboken Irvington do Union lyen Berkeley Heights Rosel West cwell Jersey City Barony cwell Verona Edison Irvington Nutley Monclair West Orange East Orange Orange Patterson Trenton Mercer County Hudson County The Joint media vest un County the middle sex Improvement Authority multiple Board of educations and I probably forgot some we don't represent all these public boards because we lie or because we or because we do things and yes we sit up here with thick skin um but the personal tax just need to stop we do all our work with with the highest level um of integrity and commitment and I just want to reiterate to this Council it's important to me these personal taxs um just invigorate me um to my commitment to advocating for you um this gives me greater resolve to make sure frivolous lawsuits are dealt with um we cannot just settle or pay everyone who leg just complaints against townships that's easy and I am I am I client in this case I'd be doing a disservice my client if I didn't do in this case my clients's the township and the residents of Livingston who are my friends so uh we're going to continue to fight um and you know this seems to be a coordinated effort related to one certain litigation and what I can say is and I've been doing this for a long time and what they teach you is if you're weak on facts and strong on the law well then you pound the law if you're strong on facts and you're weak on the law then you you pound the facts and if you have no facts and no law to support your case you attack the attorney on the other side and that's clearly what's going on here there's no facts and no law so all they can do is just attack the attorney and I just want to end with what I say at every meeting um you know I'm a resident um I have two kids in this school system I'm friends with every member on this Council um and our police force is one of the best if not the best in the state um our Township manager is one of the best in the state our police chief is one of the best they would not allow these things to happen um and it's a disservice uh to our police department and to those in there and these people making these complaints um you know it's already come up that one of them has has settled the case um if these are the people um who are associated with this you can tell a lot about a person with the company they keep so with that matter um thank everybody again for all their comments tonight great thank you jar well said all right mayor motion to close public comment second second all right uh any opposed no all in favor I I I all right all right we have the uh Township uh officials reports uh an nothing tonight thank you mayor great all right Adam no comments at this time thank you uh just couple brief updates the um Public Works project is proceeding uh we did receive um uh and qualified for uh design build teams uh all of who have a great deal of experience and and so I think we're in good hands there um there was some additional time granted due to the complexity of the project and the number of people we will be um in a position to conduct interviews in the first week of November with the expectation to award a contract on our meeting on November 12th uh to to allow them to get started this year um one other I did want to respond uh or just because we we've had some inquiries uh relative to the Livingston Mall uh initially to Mr eer alert's Question Lots two and three while they were included in the study area those are actually owned by PS and they're the strips along eisenh hour that are parking lot um and and so they weren't part of the designation but they were part of the study area um there also and and I'm assuming people were aware uh the power was shut off at Livingston Mall on Friday um it was due to non-payment um to jcpnl uh they subsequently made some arrangement or some payment and got the power turned back on um this is not this is the second time that that was imminent and this time it actually went through uh it's indicative of the larger problem which is part of the reason we're going through the process that we underwent before um the township continues to do everything within hour power um the property is going to be in tax sale uh in a week or two two weeks end of nove end October yeah so it's advertised for the tax sale October 30th uh due to delinquent payment of taxes um code enforcement continues to work on them so we we certainly understand the residents frustration and we share it um and we will just continue to do everything within our power and legally available means to to address the situation great thanks Barry and thanks for the uh DPW update I was so so excited when that was opening I stopped by right there was four four qualified right at was it 12:00 noon on October 1st I think it was but so we're going to award the contract November 12th wind up right all right great thanks Barry uh Russ uh just one thing our a reminder that our last recycling electronics recycling event of the year is this Saturday um there is also a early drop off at the craft room at the community center on Thursday in Friday if you can't make Saturday but uh we'll be there from 9:00 to 2 there'll also be paper shredding records uh fluorescent tube collection and lithium batteries collection thank you Russ y um jar I nothing further mayor thank you great thank you Carol just that tomorrow night is the last night to register to vote and uh because of that the clerk's office will be open till 900 p.m. tomorrow night for anybody who still has had an opportunity we have the forums and you can come down to the clerk's office and we will assist you very important tomorrow night 9:00 until 9:00 p.m. thank you car um see Kayon sure I think we had a amazingly busy last couple of weeks uh lots of stuff happening in town although some of it was rained out with the community block party uh that signified the end of Youth appreciation week that was even it was wet but was well attended and still was a humming place so great to attend that we had Garba that I I think all of us most of us made it I know cons we couldn't make it but everybody else made it uh steps for life and breast cancer awareness walks that they were they were great um sandwich making I know most of us were there and making those sandwiches peanut butter and jelly sandwiches that was fun um 1538 15 1938 was the total number yes exactly 1, 1538 sandwiches and kudos to Horseneck motorcycle club for for doing that amazing work um for me uh attending the event on the night of October 7th um at Temple Benet jesan um and the prayer meeting there uh was really somber moving uh event there it was a lot of um you know music but at the same time remembrance uh reflecting back what could have been should have been and also uh you know the awareness uh and the and the camaraderie the support I saw the whole Temple all all floors all all seats were taken and full lot of leadership was there as well and and it was really moving um so that's something I I I think I take it I take it home and um and reflect back on I think looking forward uh I guess some of the Halloween activities is going to start I just want to give it a call out for an lacd Halloween party I'm sure there are others as well uh but on October 26th we have that noon to 2 p.m. the LA City Halloween party and of course um the Mets one tonight the Ys are yes hopefully on their way to win it I'll PA there yeah let's go Ms um Michael thank you councilman bhutani someday I will get my number one uh slot back but uh thank you I love to you did you want next time no no that's that's okay let uh let Kon do it for me but uh I do want to talk about a um an annual event that happens in in Livingston it's a great annual event it's the Livingston rotary food tasting event and this year it's going to be on November 4th uh at the Handover Manor um we're expecting between 30 35 uh local restaurants to participate uh tickets are on sale uh they are $80 um to to come in um if you're interested just go to the uh Livingston Rotary Club uh Facebook page um I'm honored to be chair this year also so if you uh need any information or or need to get some tickets uh you could reach out to me on social media also but uh uh it is a great event and uh we look forward to seeing uh many people uh usually we get between uh 350 to 400 people at that event so thank you mayor great thank you Michael uh Sean okay thank you mayor um so I just uh you know everyone touched on stuff I don't want to repeat everything but um I thought the October 7th event at jesman was a really special night um there were you know four Congress uh Congressional representatives there including our own congresswoman Mikey Cheryl um and uh I believe we were all there um and it was just a very special night I think um the first year anniversary of that attack was something that we all knew had to be commemorated and I think that uh the FED Metro West federation did a great job uh with the event and there were 3,000 people there uh it was very special to be there um the uh I want to just comment again on horse necks uh PB&J uh that was a a great um effort uh led by uh Steven L uh lickstein so I want to congratulate him and um of course uh we celebrated Columbus Day with a flag raising the aan flag um uh earlier today so that was that was uh terrific um we had someone in the other room um shata talked to us about a program for composting in Livingston so uh I think that generally got a um an encouraging um response from the council and I'm looking forward to seeing us uh take steps to set up a composting program um and if uh this is something that people in Livingston have been wanting to do there are a lot of other towns around us that are doing it and uh I'm excited for that to happen um I want to give hats off to Jared Fisk who is at vaser college right now uh was named uh the LI uh the Liberty League's offensive player of the week I think that's the second time he's gotten that honor so uh for soccer men's soccer um and uh he's really uh crushing it uh at Vasser and uh great athlete Little League scared me he's always been very very very athletic um uh so I just wanted to give uh Jared a big shout out for that uh thanks mayor great thanks Sean Edward I was just going to follow up on two things the October 7th um event was great it was nice to see the diversity of everybody who was there so thank you Council batani I actually watched it on close circuit at my own Temple at Temple Ben Abraham so I could spend it with my kids uh all us together so I just wanted to thank everybody for attending um I also just want to give a shout out to the LPD um this past weekend and the week prior uh were the Jewish New Year holiday of rashan yum keur and um all the temples had police presence there and kept everybody safe during those holiday periods and uh I think it's just big shout out for what they do not only for the last two weeks but everything they do throughout the year to keep everybody safe but I know everybody was very happy to see the uh extra Presence at those synagogues there so I just want to thank them as well great thanks I think everyone's covered everything other than it was your birthday last week a big birthday happy birthday Deputy Mayor oh and and uh he did come in him and an came in second place at today's PBA PBA golf outing El despite my health elements thanks to yeah an and um Jen Walker and Ron barbella myself came in second place at the Livingston uh PBA event this afternoon and it was well run a lot of fun so thank you congratulations it's great um real quick the uh the community block party yes it rained but it was a terrific event it kind of it combined our night out from August um with our typical Firehouse open house um as well well was first aid and it rained but it couldn't dampen Spirits uh it was a really nice event Appreciation Week the end of it was the end of Youth appreciation week which was a smash as usual with Allan carpus uh doing an awesome job uh let's see real quick we had the lucari stamman subcommittee with the stakeholders um we look to do a town hall I think that's November 7th Barry wereing on a date did it get supposed to be tomorrow at Sean and I had down but it was uh I think was bumped I think we wanted to get more um you know Advanced time to get the work yeah and that'll be for as everyone knows the 20 acres of open space that we hired a consultant um Landscape Architects and Engineers of what we could do what's possible there and best utilize it for the town so we'd want to seek everyone's input we did meet with the lucari stman committee we did meet with Town employees and we were going to have a an open Town Hall um and I think I think it's November 7th but we could probably confirm push that out on one of the on social media um and we have a meeting before then as well uh we had the go pink event uh for breast cancer awareness we had the sanskriti breast cancer walk uh last Sunday um which was terrific I I I'll Echo what my colleagues have said about the um the Israel one-year uh anniversary of a tragic event and how Metro West uh did an incredible job there the the singing the the um the speeches were were really heartfelt and and really got you right there um we did have the Italian uh flag raising which was nice and un I'll give a shout out to Livingston Unico for Italian Heritage uh month uh they do a great job they provided uh I don't know if everyone had them there was a lot of uh desserts and pastries and uh gelato and everything else back there um and let's see we also had the oh you mentioned it Michael yes the uh rotary food tasting which is always always the night before election night right I think that's uh traditional oh we had the Wonder uh Beth went into the uh the ribbon cuting but the Wonder uh ribbon cutting was uh really great it's really 20 restaurants Under One Roof uh Sean we were we were there uh and uh Kon and Michael and and Ed so uh that was really fun I think they're going to do well um and the last thing let's see we have had um we did have a there was an anj award ceremony that a bunch of Livingston high school students uh made it to for that they're doing that in virro art which Beth liman uh spoke about I I just see those kids uh all the time they were studying Canoe Brook the other day as I drove past on South Livingston a so kudos to uh our high school students who are uh into the environment and like Sean said there was a good uh composting presentation um I think that's it we are going to continue the um conference meeting in the back room and I think we have one item for close back there um so thank you we're going to adjourn this meeting and go back to conference do you want something