e e e e e e e e let the record reflect we've reconvened with all members present for those who are able I invite you to stand for the Pledge of Allegiance unit States stes of America the for stands Nation Under indice please be seated welcome everyone uh tonight I've got the privilege of presiding over the council meeting as mayor Conley attends the annual gal uh in his role as chair of the league of conservation voters uh education fund uh so good luck to Mayor Conley as he conducts that bus the employees of the month for the month of uh June are uh patrolman Chris Buren patrolman Austin Nash and Corporal Nelson Jimenez from the police department these three officers were extremely professional and patient while recently helping a resident who was experiencing a mental health crisis so thank you to those officers from Madison police department over the past uh few weeks we've had some great things going on in Madison uh that the mayor has attended and some of the other council members as well on Friday May 31st the mayor presented a proclamation to Estelle ston in honor of her 100th birthday during the festivity she showed more energy than those half her age in the room including mayor Cony I think uh on Saturday June 1st uh we celebrated National Trails Day by cutting the ribbon on the first phase of the moror Memorial Park trails these Trails were made possible through our open space fund along with two grants from Morris County totaling more than $365,000 this includes uh funds for the Final Phase which is currently underway and there was a great turnout for the ribbon cutting and a beautiful walk in the woods on that gorgeous day uh joining us from Morris County was commissioner Shaw I also want to thank councilwoman Melissa hhan for organizing the event down to the bubbles for the children at the event and we encourage everyone to check out uh those chair those Trails uh as the nice weather is Among Us a reminder that for the month of June uh we will only be meeting uh this one time this month so our next coun meeting will be on Monday July 8th following the holiday weekend and finally tonight I want to address an incident that occurred over the weekend each year since 2019 the year that marked the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall rids in New York City Madison has flown Pride Flags in downtown and proclaimed June as lgbtq Pride plus month and each year some ask why these actions are necessary in the early morning of Sunday we saw an act of vandalism downtown where someone ripped down Pride flags from around the Millennium clock and stuff them in the trash bins along Waverly Place this act was certainly disturbing and upsetting for many in the Madison Community whether or not they identify as lgbtq but what we do know is that these actions do not represent the Rose City Community at large it does in fact however reinforce why celebrating our diversity and and all members of our community is as important than it's ever been so tonight I can't think of a more fitting time to be able to share the proclamation celebrating lgbtq plus pride month and juneth in Madison which we will do shortly I'd like to thank Chief Misha and the officers of the Madison police department who quickly responded to the incident including uh Corporal quino and one of our newest officers TJ meter the speed and professionalism by which the Madison police department handled this incident and affected an arrest should not go unnoticed also thanks to our DPW Personnel who responded first thing this morning to make sure the recovered flags were flying again as soon as possible and finally tonight thanks to Reverend Ironsides of CH Episcopal Church who in the face of this incident pulled together a moment of solidarity tonight at downtown and there were a number of council members um who were able to join uh where members of the community came together and sang some songs and just came together as a community so thanks to everyone obviously not something we had planned on having to do tonight um but when something occurs in Madison um the community comes together and that should be um as recognized or more so than the incident itself um so with that um I'll come down and do some proclamations and invite my fellow council members to come to the well if they so choose uh first we'll invite Kenisha Tucker with Madison hidden figures for the juneth proclamation and any other if you have any other representatives from hidden figures or others that you'd like to join by all means welcome whereas on June 19th 1865 2 and2 years after President Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation Union Soldiers led by General Gordon Granger arrived in gon Texas with news that the Civil War was over and that the enslaved people were now free and whereas with the origin in Texas in 1866 juneth is the oldest nationally celebrated commemoration of the ending of slavery in the United States since then juneth has been celebrated in communities across the United States proving an opportunity to Mark the emancipation of enslaved people and whereas juneth continues to be the most recognized African-American holiday observance also known as emancipation day emancipation celebration Freedom Day and June June and whereas juneth symbolizes for many African-Americans what the 4th of July does for all Americans Liberty freedom and justice for all and whereas juneth is a day for us to reflect on the suffering caused by slavery and commit and commit to being allies of our African-American friends families and neighbors whereas juneth commemorates the strength and resolve of African-Americans throughout our history and serves as an opportunity to celebrate the rich and numerous contributions of African-Americans and whereas juneth is an opportunity for Madison residents of all Races nationalities and religions to acknowledge the painful history and Lasting systemic impact of slavery racial and racial Injustice in the United States now therefore I Eric P range on behalf of Mayor Conley and the governing body do hereby recognize Wednesday June 19th 2024 is juneth to acknowledge the historical significance of this day and recommit to working towards dismantling of institutionalized racism hi good night everybody um a lot of what I wrote um down to say is going too exactly what councilman R um just said um good night mayor's not here I thought he was going to be here mayor uh uh council members and M citizens I'm honored to be here again um I think it was just about a year I was here for Black History Month and received that Proclamation I'm grateful um on that night I asked for a pause and I'm grateful that the mayor is pausing and asking citizens to pause um and uh to commemorate juneth a holiday celebrated by mainly by black Americans to recall the ending of slavery in the United States since 1866 June became a national holiday when President uh Biden sign the bipartisan legislation in 2021 like many national holidays it it is a day marked with Affliction yet still ignites us to to have the desire to be intentive and imaginative enough to not have the trauma in our history repeat itself in in his juneth proclamation in 2022 President Biden shared a quote from representative Elijah Cummings that states our children are the living Messengers we send into the future we will never we will never see he encourages us to work together to build a country where America's foundational promises and ideals ring true for every child and every family I stand here in solidarity with families from Madison and their children petitioning for Madison citizens to personally answer the call because the necessity for that fight does not Escape Madison we ask that in all the corners and spaces where you reside serve Dy worship and where our children learn that you advocate for Madison to be a space that is free from bias racism and hateful speech thank you [Applause] [Music] and now I would invite Valentina Palo from the Madison High School's uh gender and sexuality Alliance club and if you have any other members okay just that's okay totally okay to be just you all right whereas our nation was founded on the principle of equal rights for all people and some of the most inspiring moments in our history have Arisen from the various Civil Rights Movement movements that have brought one group after another from the margins and into the mainstream of American society and whereas in the movement toward equal rights for lesbian gay bisexual transgender and queer people the an historic Turning Point occurred on June 28th 1969 in New York City with the onset of the Stonewall riots during these riots lgbtq citizens rose up and fought against discrimin criminal laws that have been declared and have since been declared unconstitutional and whereas lgbtq individuals and their allies have an immeasurable impact on the cultural Civic and economic success of our country and whereas the bur of Madison is committed to supporting visibility dignity and equality for lgbtq people in our diverse community and whereas while Society at large increasingly supports LGBT equality it is essential to acknowledge that the need for education and awareness remains vital and whereas celebrating pride month brings awareness and provides support and advocacy for Madison's lgbtq community and it is an opportunity to take action and engage in dialogue to strengthen alliances build acceptance and Advance equal rights and whereas it is imperative that young people in our community regardless of sexual orientation gender identity and expression feel valued safe empowered and supported by their peers and Community leaders now therefore I Eric range on behalf of Mayor Conley and the governing body to hereby proclaim the month of June 2024 as pride month in the burough of Madison in support of the lgbtq community and to recognize all lgbtq residents whose influential and long-lasting contributions to our neighborhoods make Madison a Vibrant Community to which which to live work and visit [Applause] [Music] this is such a beautiful show of support toward our local lgbtq community and I would like to thank Madison for it outspoken continuous support year after year towards our local lgbtq community I would also like to shout out my other co-presidents who couldn't be here today because they are the Balor thank you and happy B everyone thank you in my Zeal to greet the public I over looked uh approval of the minutes so do we have a motion for the executive minutes of April 20 uh of April 22 2024 so mov uh it's not a roll call right that's okay all in favor I when you're down there you remember all this stuff when you're up here you forget which one's which here do I have a motion to approve the minutes the regular minutes of April 22 2024 second comments all in favor I motion for the executive minutes of May 13th 2024 moov second comments all in favor I and lastly the regular minutes of May 13th 2024 second discussion all in favor I all right reports from committees we'll start with Public Safety tonight and so from the police department uh on Wednesday June 5th Chief Misha and mayor Conley along with the police department Command Staff attended the Essex County Basic Police Academy graduation at the Cathedral Basilica of Sacred Heart in New York patrolman Thomas TJ meter uh badge 169 and Santiago Ron badge number 170 were among the 69 recruits that graduated following 22 weeks of basic training mayor Conley was in attendance and along with Chief Misha presented meter and renon their certificates uh last week patrolman Brandon Lake badge number 171 completed his waiver training at the Morris County Public Safety Training Academy Lake has already been in his field training and his expected to complete that field training shortly this past Friday June 7th members of the Masson Police Department join surrounding towns of East Hover hover Township Livingston Floren Park uh to once again run the 41st anniversary of the law enforcement torch run uh route 1A the Special Olympics of New Jersey torch run is on the move with Law Enforcement Officers as they carry the flame of Hope through over 2 six routes totaling 750 mil throughout the state of New Jersey the torch run raises funds and awareness for Special Olympics in New Jersey and collectively Madison and our law enforcement Partners have raised over $166,000 this year noted this last time but it's worth repeating that uh the Madison police department is proud to once again partner with De Falco's Towing and mol's ice cream to promote schoolage children wearing helmets while riding a bicycle Madison police officers will be on patrol looking for children who make the right choice of wearing a helmet while riding a bicycle and if observed they will be issued a reward ticket for one free Junior Sofer of ice cream uh with one topping and The Cools thanks to our partners uh the refer family Del Falco's Towing Madison police Community Service Bureau and mul's ice cream uh for making this possible and lastly from the police department tonight the Madison police department has instituted a crime prevention unit following the training of six officers uh this program is now active and residents can make a request to have members of the crime prevention unit come to their home and make security assessments the unit will also provide recommendations to further secure your homes uh there will be more to come on this program in the next several weeks however a new uh page is located on roset uh and it has been developed to provide residents with crime prevention information and to be able to register for security security assessment from the fire department tonight uh for the month of May the fire department responded to a total of 180 calls including 73 fire calls 107 EMS calls where 94 people were transported to the hospital the fire department and EMS division also responded to seven motor vehicle accidents on May 1st firefighters removed a person that was stuffed in an elevator on Community Place on May 22nd firefighters responded to an oven fire on n Avenue on May 27th firefighters responded to a kitchen fire in a restaurant on Main Street on uh May 29th firefighters responded to Bedford Court for a condo that had been struck by lightning uh fortunately damage was limited to several of their appliances on the 31st firefighters uh responded to a barbecue grill on fire on Valley Road and I'm assuming that's not in the good way um on uh June 5th the fire department was requested to shanor for a second alarm fire at a restaurant on Main Street where workers had accidentally started a roof uh on had accidentally started the roof on fire and on a lighter note uh Chief Wickman has been in contact with the Honolulu Fire Department in Hawaii uh after they contacted him after they came across photos of our confined space Trench rescue trailer that Madison firefighters had fabricated 100% in house um Honolulu was so impressed with what they saw and got more information that soon they will be building two trailers like the ones we have in Madison um and finally tonight from The Joint Court um just a note on cases for May 2023 versus May 2024 there have been an increase uh overall in year-to date or year-to-year uh cases of 20% but this is on par with other participating communities in joint Court um who have also seen a similar increase and some of that is just a function of um kind of things that are happening in the state and processing backlogs believe it or not from covid pandemic era where they're finally getting some of the backlog through uh you know two three four years later so uh that's all from the joint Court uh finance and bur clerk Council thank you thank you the audit committee met on Monday June 3rd the only audit comment in the report was one that will be familiar to those of us who have learned about the audit process before this is the comment about the segregation of Duties it's a repeat comment from your year and many smaller towns have this issue which is caused when a department collects payments and issues permits or other documents for residents the appropriate practice would be for the customer to go to the department get an invoice go to a central payment window elsewhere to make a payment and then take the receipt from the payment window back to the department issuing the permit so they can pick up their paperwork but given the decentralized setup of the burrow with departments on different floors and different buildings it has been determined that it would be too costly to resolve this minor issue not to mention uh inconvenient and somewhat demanding for our residents and customers the committee also discussed a new accounting rule called gasb 96 this is a state rule which requires the bur to list all subscription contracts that are longer than one year an example of a subscription would be our Utility Billing software or the software the B uses to issue building permits the audit will be finalized in the coming weeks and the results will be discussed at an upcoming council meeting special thanks to all the volunteers on the audit committee for their time their excellent comments and insights they share that's all thank you thank you uh Public Works engineering councilman land thank you uh from the Department of Public Works cones and barcades were distributed at various locations in preparation for and then cleaned up after the Memorial Day Parade various issues related to a recent power outage were addressed the parks department has been working on the r Recreation field so they are playable for all sports teams and finally Mechanical Services Group group installed the new radar board along with the police department on rill Avenue at Central Avenue thank you thank you utilities councilman har FIS and turn on your microphone sir thank you councilman inter mayor range the water department from the water department the water department continues to check Wells daily complete markouts and respond to resident calls summer help us started they will begin painting hydrants this week it must be a huge task I don't even know how many hydrants we have in the burrow the water meter initiative continues since the last meeting 25 meters have been changed I don't know if we started using the new company yet Mr Beret restart yeah in two weeks okay digging was completed at Value Road at Tracy Lane to repair leak on June 7th the work of wellbe continues we're getting close to stabilizing that well and being able to turn it on valve turning has begun with over 200 valves in town being turned so far from the electric utility the power outage on 61 2024 lasted about 4 hours Kus to our staff to have that resolved so quickly the department is working closely with asbun engineering and Verizon to repair the pilot wire between substations to ensure another page does not occur cook Avenue Park lot project is close to starting the electric will be very involved with that project the project at 64 Park Avenue is 90% complete the lamp poost lamp posts at 14 Lincoln Place were reinstalled nearing the end of that project right the relocation of the Transformer at the senior housing center is getting underway line clearing continues in the no section of town now the department continues to respond to president calls and markouts as well as checking the substations daily I would like to say something for two seconds about the recreation activity committee if it's okay we just had a meeting last week very short let me just open my computer so this week will be the final week of our spring sports schedule and we will be transitioning into summer program starting on Monday June 17th for information on summer programing residents please use the programs and information tab via Recreation Department page on roset on Saturday June 22nd and June 23rd we will once again host the Morris Elite cup youth soccer tournament at both MRC Fields games will take place throughout the day on both days and I'm happy to report that so far in 2024 we collected $523 38 in rental fees the no that was 2023 no that's 2024 and this tournament accounts for approximately $6,500 of that total thank you thank you uh community fairs councilwoman H thank you council president uh from the Downtown Development commission uh the Madison farm and marison market has kicked off and is extremely uh successful it's every Saturday through December 14th and it's in the Prospect Street lot between nine and two and it is a great example of Madison community at its best um uh bottle Hill day will be on October 5th applications and sponsorships just went online today uh the next DDC meeting will be held July 18th at 7:15 and is open to the public Chamber of Commerce the annual Awards dinner is June 11th tomorrow at 6: p.m. at the Madison Hotel the Madison Community Arts Center continues to have a full schedule open mic night June 12th at 7:30 and there are special pride month activities uh the first one being June 15th at 8:00 p.m. called just say gay the standup commedian so that should be fun and then uh lastly the rotary is sponsoring uh a shredded event and a repair Cafe on June 16th so uh that's coming up on Saturday will be a very busy busy day it's at the ambulance court and the farmer farm and Artisan Market will be going on too but bring your good like things so that you don't have to throw them away um save them from a landfill and there will be many volunteers thanks thank you and health councilman Forte thank you council president range um from the health department those 19 and over who are non-insured or underinsured can now receive vaccines free charge in the Madison health department at Harley Harley Dodge Memorial appointment information can be found at www. Westfield New Jersey or Westfield nj.gov Health Madison residents are encouraged to take the Mars County Health needs assessment which will also provide valuable local data to the Madison Board of Health the survey only takes about 10 minutes and can be found at marsc County health.com June is men's health awareness month the Health Department would like to remind male residents it's important as for a man to listen to your body and be sure to get regular checkups even if you don't feel sick it's important to see your doctor regularly and schedule annual exams we are anticipating a summer filled with many mosquitoes residents should fight the bite by wearing an EPA registered insect propelling when outdoors and by inspecting their home for areas where water can pool as West Nile Virus is now become an an indemic in New Jersey thank you thank you any Communications petitions none receive Mr pres up next is our first invitation for public comment during this period you can ask questions and make comments on any of our discussion items on the agenda or resolutions that I will share with you in a moment there will be another invitation for discussion later in the meeting where you can comment on any subject uh so the resolutions you may comment on are resolution 176 resolution of the bur of Madison ratifying salary increase to full-time confidential employees excluded from Union participation resolution 177 a resolution of the Bure of Madison setting salaries for full-time non-union Personnel resolution 178 uh renewing liquor licenses in the B of Madison for the 20124 2025 license term resolution 179 amending resolution [Music] 266-2204 7,879 for the public uh for Madison Public Library interior Renovations construction project resolution 181 uh appointing part-time per DM emergency medical technician to the Madison fire department uh resolution 182 authorizing the execution of a courtesy parking agreement uh with the Madison Memorial Home for the parking spaces at the hel Center uh resolution 183 a resolution of the B Madison appointing Sarah Murphy Murphy to the position of administrative secretary for land use boards resolution 184 appointing Janet Wagstaff to the position of administrative secretary for the historic preservation commission and Secretary of the Board of Health and resolution 185 accepting the irrevocable retirement of the evening codian uh effective September 1st 2024 if you would like to comment on those or our agenda discussion um which we'll be getting an update from uh Chief Wickman on the Madison EMS services so if anyone would like to comment on any of those topics seeing none I close this portion of the meeting Chief come on [Music] up good evening feel like I'm becoming a regular and for the record I did volunteer to go to Hulu assist with the trailer build and I was denied for the record there's no money in the budget for that council president I tried um I got to here just give you a quick update on that how the EMS division is kind of started and it's going um we started on April 6 um we literally like just kind of turned it on um we were all we got it took months of this getting this all up up and running and once we finally literally turn the key we we uh we got our 21 per DMS ready to go it it took a while to kind of get that started because when we did say go they had you know their their schedule was already a month out so we had to kind of fill holes until we kind of got to the next few months where they were able to be more available so on average we're covering 18 of the 24 shifts during the during the week so um there's only a few days where the existing ambulance Corps members are still writing it's it's it's literally Friday Thursday night Friday Friday night and uh Sunday and Sunday night all the other days are being covered by a combination of firefighters and our new pums um we've also covered several events where we couldn't get any volunteers to cover like the Platypus uh lacrosse tournament at the high school which which was is a massive two-day event we've gone to a few uh graduation ceremonies locally and also um a half marathon that we've covered with with a combination of other towns next slide um January this this is where it kind of gets interesting to look at the numbers is between January one in April 6th there was 155 medical calls that were taken care of by outside agencies which means when someone dialed 911 in Madison it wasn't a Madison ambulance that was taking him it was Floren Park chadam Atlantic Ambulance um and mainly was Floren Park that was covering a big thanks to those towns for covering us but um once we turned it on and April 7th it went down to we only missed 15 calls where a Madison ambulance didn't didn't provide service only because we were busy we were already on a call and I'm very proud of our firefighters I you always get nervous introducing something new I mean firefighters don't generally complain too much I mean the old joke is you hand them a bag of gold they complain about the weight well with this I kind of got nervous but we've had several instances in town where the pum ambulance goes out and another emergency comes in and two firefighters on duty run across the street grab a second ambulance and we've a able to cover multiple uh EMS calls at once I knew we'd be able to do that but I didn't know we were going to be able to do that so quickly and so a huge thank you to them for for providing that and being able for being able to get it done um so yeah we've we since April 7th to Friday or present day we've responded to 147 EMS calls that's all been handled by by by the new service January 1st to April 6th we did have 32 um calls where a firefighter driver would assist an existing volunteer member they would both staff and ambulance that that happens where you just can't get two two EMT two volunteer EMTs and only one's available we we'll provide help where we can especially if we can't get a PDM like again we've I feel like every council member I keep adding more PMS we started with about 14 but we realize that it it's hard to get they're in such high demand that we're competing against other towns and from the feedback I'm getting from them they're all very happy to be working here and they keep asking me for more hours so it it must be going pretty good because it's we're up to 21 I don't think we're going to need any more for a while because the biggest problem we're having was Saturday and Saturday night as who wants to work on Saturday and Saturday night but thankfully we've also had a few College uh volunteers come home and we're plugging them in where we can like hey you want you want to shift here's Saturday here's Saturday night and then if we did have pum scheduled and then two college kids showed up were like hey staff a second ambulance like we haven't had two ambulances on on available and and remember a long time so it's it's been a a tremendous relief the I've been sleeping a lot better knowing that someone calls 911 an ambulance is coming um we've gotten some great feedback back from the the pums again most most of the pums they either they either full-time firefighters in in Clifton or Patterson or you know North planfield we've got several nursing students and we have a lot of EMTs that pdms that work in several towns and they've come up with some great ideas that you know we we don't we weren't doing EMS on a full-time transport um as as we weren't doing it the Ambulance Corp was but the ideas that they've come up with and modernizing our technology has been it it's like I'm like bring me your ideas I want to hear your ideas and and the stuff that we've gotten is with this this particular board right here is called a scoop board which was with if somebody had a broken hip this this this thing would would come apart you're able to scoop them up this replaced something that was over 50 years old that was on the ambulances and when you would use it it was terrifying it was it would make horrible creaking noises and even though it was strong it just simple things like that I mean that even floats so God forbid there's an injury in a pool you can get this underneath somebody in a pool and lift them up much easier where we've had backboards before but this does so many things and again bags and stuff like this just great ideas that we've had and that they've had that we've ran with and it's it's been it's been tremendous again thank you for the support you know and helping with with the budget for this for us to be able to update the ambulances and get this equipment that we needed um so pretty much things running pretty smooth um again we're in our what our second or third month so I know it's kind of still growing and it changes daily weekly and monthly and I'm sure it's going to keep changing but for the most part we're moving right along any questions questions from the council yes sir Tom and I'm just asking the financial side did we start our soft billing yet we have and we started with the billing with our building company and um I actually um the clearing house and all the the organizations that do all the billing they've been setting everything up since April 6 and they said again it's like starting a big wheel and once the wheel gets started the the money doesn't come in for a couple months because they're still setting up Medicare Medicaid and setting up an an established relationship with all the insurance companies okay thanks Chief I had to verify my employment several times with them and so far so good John so not a question but more a comment I think number one I think we should all be proud of what's happened here in terms of uh the council supporting this and you embracing it and wanting to do it and getting it to where it is I think it's really phenomenal and and I would just for the public uh I would just say uh state law doesn't mandate that we do this this is something that we choose to do because we believe in the health uh safety and well-being of our residents and the people that come through Madison on a daily basis and we take that commitment to that very seriously and and it's one of the most basic things we can do and I I love the fact that we've stepped it up and and are doing it better the other comment that I would just make is you're talking about the feedback that you're getting from the pums and I don't think you know my experience of business tells me that you don't get feedback unless you're a good leader and people are willing to forward and give you the feedback so thank you for your leadership on the fire department really appreciate it thank you very much we wanted to join the everything as one team and so that's why we accepted them in we wanted them in I wanted everyone to work completely together and it's I love hearing one of the greatest compliments I've heard so far is is they're like this town isn't real like like they're like everything like I can't believe you walk next door and you see the police chief you walk over to town hall and you see you know Administration and anybody they said it's unbelievable and then when they started to figure out that Madison had its own electric utility they're mining [Laughter] long we're F thank you very much it took it took a lot a lot of help and I got a lot of help from the administration all of you and and the firefighters it's been great this is just to Echo what councilman for said but uh Chief you've done something that hasn't been done before here in Madison and it's extraordinary I knew it was a big list lift uh it was something that everyone had to learn as they went and as um John said the leadership he provided to encourage people to take that leap do something new and um do it as best they could is extraordinary so uh I'm really proud of our town I can't imagine this happens very often in New Jersey where municipalities are under so much strain that they can take on a new responsibility like this for People's Health and wellbeing and I'm I'm just so pleased that the new level of uh professionalism and responsiveness that we're offering and that's thanks to your leadership your your department and um the shared vision of the governing body the administration and all of our emergency responders so thank you for that thank you thank you very much many towns are looking at you know line items they can cross off not taking on you know new new responsibilities so um again Chief thank you for uh your incredible leadership over the course of I don't know it's been 18 months at least now but almost 2 years I think we've been batting this around yeah right this has been a long time finally as you I think you said it one time to rip the bandaid off let just get this done so thank you for for your leadership and I think you know the other thing that we'll be discussing moving forward I think there's um we took on the possession of the one ambulance and that's got some outstanding debt so I think there's some dollars there that you need to complete that transaction right yes yeah that that to complete the purchase of that and then we're looking in the in the future for Grants to replace um another one down another ambulance down the road we we have a couple of strong leads but the the ambulances have never been in better shape because there's hands on them every day so it's taking good care of the equipment okay thanks thank you this evening we have no ordinances for hearing so at this time I'd invite members of the public who want to comment on uh any other any topic uh they may do so we just ask that you limit your comments to 3 minutes we will give you a one minute grace um so put your name on the clipboard there and take it away good evening Judy troll 27 Laur way I'm here representing did the forest this evening and I have just some information to share that's kind of fun and interesting tonight about things that are happening in the forest um first of all I'll start with just some of the things that are blooming there that are really beautiful to see uh there's a wild Carolina Rose that's blooming in the forest it's a beautiful native shrub it has a little pink flower that sort of looks like a Wild Rose versus a a domesticated Rose and uh that plant supports several be species and then in the fall when the flower dries up the seeds are eaten by the birds also Virginia sweet Spire is one of the favorites of the bees those are blooming um on this heer and wood side of the forest jewel weed which is a native shrub that virtually disappeared from the forest because of deer and invasive plants um but reappeared on its own after the deer fencing one in in 2008 and it is now prolific in the forest it's going to bloom probably in the next week and a half it's a beautiful little Golden Flower and it's very attracted to uh hummingbirds and butterflies also toads and frogs are very active in the forest right now it's mating season for green frogs and Bullfrogs and American toads are transforming from their little tadpole lives in the ponds and they're moving into uh the forest as they become terrestrial Critters for their adult lives so that's exciting as well so it's a good time to walk in the forest there's a lot to see there and I'm really happy to announce that friend of Drew Forest is going to be offering group tours again um we are very happy that Dr Link of the University um and her staff have helped us to coordinate registration and everything that we need to do to be able to provide tours so the the guided tours available if anyone is interested you can go to our website and just click on visit and you can sign up for a a group tour also just outside of the Zuck fence there is an amphibian research project underway right now and it's um including Drew biology students they are studying the impact of an invasive fungus that infects frogs and this is a very special learning opportunity for the students because they are able to observe the animals and their natural ecosystem which is very rare usually have to study this kind of thing in a lab but the forest provides a living lab for them and next month um 12 students from the 2024 Governor school program in The Sciences which is uh consists of the top two students in almost every High School in New Jersey they come onto the Drew campus for a 3-we program and 12 of those students will be studying the amphibians that are outside right now in the in the Zuck Arboretum area so again it it's an illustration of how broad the benefits of the forest are not just for us here in Madison but people in Morris County and really throughout the entire state so um that's what I wanted to share with you tonight and again thank you all for your support of the efforts to Pres of the forest thank you Judy anyone else wishing to be heard seeing none I close oh yeah thank you um my name is Jonathan Ying I live on 33 South Street I work with the YMCA I volunteer soccer coach um and I help I've Vol here at St Hubert's uh with Foster dogs and uh I just spoke to the chief on the way out and um guys commended him as as being a good leader and showing some good initiative and um from our brief conversation said appreciate your support with approval to have a uh a facility dog on a trial basis there we just had mental health awareness week but I think for our um I'm I'm also an army brat so I come from an army background and um first responder so I can um I can appreciate the value that the therapeutic value the stress relieving value the healing value of having a nonverbal way to communicate and connect with another uh beinging so that'd be cool if you guys could help support that and make that happen or at least let him know that he has your approval to do a trial with a animal from St Hubert so we'd be helping the First Responders and we'd also be helping an animal that needs a a place to live outside of the shelter um the thing I came here about um was to talk about um the dangerous Crossing situations that we created in our town on Park Park Avenue um I live on South Street so that that's the part that I'm talking about um I think there's three Crossings there now where there's a dropped curb um you know would would indicate to somebody with visual impairments like hey this is a stfe place AC cross they're using the cane um but yet there's no there's no signs saying that it's a crossing and there's no markings on the street um there was a uh a sign in the middle of the street at one time that said Crossings but when they did the Milling work um I have from the authority of a a a county sheriff vehicle that was sitting there at the intersection watching him do the work said hey what happened to the sign that was in the middle here letting people know you know this is a a Crossing he said oh Madison PD came and took that away so I would like to suggest another suggestion would that we get three or four of those signs and put them in the middle of the road we have them other places we certainly have them right there even if I understand bureaucracy or whatever that some of the stripes are going to be P painted by the county and some of them we're going to paint but instead of like somebody getting hurt because we're waiting for the county to do the right thing or whatever the the the politics are let's just get some $200 signs that you can order and we probably already have different places and put them there in the meanwhile um and then uh communication uh I was hoping the mayor would be here today I emailed him I haven't heard back um so I'm just I was just curious about the best way to for accessibility sake not everyone has the ability to come up these stairs and be here in a meeting it'd be great if they could use electronic communication to communicate with the leadership of the town in my experience that's been difficult um I had an incident and then yeah so maybe the comment can be Che your one minute yeah um one minute one minute left okay uh Madison access quickly uh for people with disabilities I know we had something in place that was kind of Geared for senior citizens um I'm looking at the website from the the minutes of the meetings and it looks like there's not any recent activity with the Madison as Madison access project yet we still have stickers on a lot of the businesses uh I reached out to the Chamber of Commerce I didn't get a call back but uh I had a dispute at Madison Bagel um where I was discriminated against for having a service animal there um and I asked for the Madison PD's help they came out they were equally ignorant of the law of the Ada law and um and they hand me a business card to email them I emailed them the email bounced I emailed communication saying hey email balance me you said I understand she had her name changed her made a name she still has a bogus business card it's hard to communicate with them can you set up a forwarding so that her her old email goes to her new email like no response um anyway thanks thanks for your time thank you uh we'll cover some of those so you are spoton in the fact that uh Park Avenue is a County Road um so we will certainly uh Jim if we could follow up with the county on that but we can also follow up locally with uh Chief Misha and the Traffic Safety Division to see what else we might be able to do uh to alleviate some of those as far as communicating with the mayor or any of us um we do all have email addresses and normally we are pretty good at um at returning those um we are part-time volunteers so sometimes things do fall through the cracks um obviously that is not the case for our uh our full-time professionals um but you can also email clerk rosenet.org um and that will go to Liz and she can pass it along to um the appropriate Authority as well um okay and as far as um in animals for the fire department we'll follow up with Chief on that too all right anyone else wishing to be heard at this time seeing none I close this portion of the meeting and we move on to introduction of ordinances will the clerk read the statement ordinance is scheduled for first reading have a hearing date set for July 8th 2024 all will be posted excuse me all will be published in the Madison Eagle posted on the bulletin board and made available to members of the public requesting copies I call up uh these ordinances for first reading and ask the clerk to read ordinances by title ordinance 19-22 ordinance of the Bureau of Madison amending ordinance 56 2023 which appropriated $125,000 from the municipal open space Recreation and historic preservation trust fund regarding the Madison Masonic Lodge 170 Main Street Mayor I move ordinance 19-22 second any discussion roll call vote please M yes Mr landan yes range yes har pus yes Miss anahin yes Mr for yes ordinance 20-22 for ordinance of the buau of Madison appropriating $105,000 from the general Capital Improvement fund for the purchase of a 20122 Horton ambulance mayor I move ordinance 202024 second any discussion um as alluded to this is um to basically pay off the existing debt for the ambulance that we acquired um as part of the transaction with the Madison B ambulance courp rather than having a monthly payment uh any other further discussion roll call vote please mck yes Mr landan yes Mr range yes Mr harmas yes Miss Hanahan yes Mr 14 yes next up is the consent agenda will the clerk please read the statement consent agenda resolutions will be enacted with a single motion any resolution requiring expenditure is supported by a certification of availability of funds any resolution requiring discussion will be removed from the consent agenda all resolutions will be reflected and full in the minutes I move consent agenda R 176 2024 through R 185-202 24 second any discussion or any that need to be pulled oh okay all set then okay uh roll call vote Please Mr erck yes Mr landrian yes Mr range yes Mr harm pudus Yes except I recuse myself from resolution 178 2024 M onahan yes and Mr foron yes he there is no unfinish business do I have a motion to approve the vouchers oh yeah read those vouchers first and then we can approve from the current fund $1,672 34 from the general Capital fund $996 35 from the electric operating fund 97,7 2226 from the Electric Capital fund $ 3,768 120 from the water operating fund 3, $223 74 from the trust $1,814 the total is $295,400