##VIDEO ID:VNr6shJIrVA## everyone and thank you for joining us this is a conference meeting of the Council of the township of Montclair and is being broadcast live on Channel 34 and is streaming live on Montclair tv34 YouTube channel it is available on demand and can and will be rebroadcast this meeting is called pursuant to the provisions of the open public meetings included in the revised annual notice of the meeting of the meeting schedule is set forth in resolution r24 d174 adopted by the township council at its regular meeting on July 17th 2024 transmitted to the official newspaper on July 24th 24 posted on the bulletin boards outside of the municipal building and has remained continuously posted in addition a copy of the revised annual notice is and has been available to the public and is on file in the office of the municipal clerk please stand for those who can do so for the pledge of Allegiance I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all yeah it says a conference meeting up here though I don't see I do um I'm I am I have a question for Madam clerk please on here this says it's a regular meeting and the announcement that we said is it's a conference meeting so just for my clarification this is a regular meeting right okay um and so when I read that this is a conference meeting because that's what it says on here U that should be changed to regular meeting thank you okay um and um Madam clerk would you do the roll call please yes mayor Deputy Mayor Anderson here Council Birmingham here Council damato here councel lofman here councelor Toler present councelor Williams here mayor Baskerville present they have been presented to the council the minutes of November 12th 2024 are there any corrections or additions comments or comments yeah councilor lochman um yes I I um was just wondering uh Madame clerk if you could flesh out a little bit what's in the minutes so that for example when you have residents who come up to speak you might say what they spoke about rather than just giving their names no no the the minutes are of her btim record no I understand that but just to give a little recap of no okay um the next thing was when we have resolutions or um ordinances that are tabled could you give a reason why they were tabled if the governing body gives a reason and puts that on the record I'll gladly put them in the minutes well they usually do when they say why something is being taed it just you know kicks off your recollection when you go and read these what happened at the last meeting if you have something that is speci no no I'm just going forward yeah okay thank you anyone else uh I'd like to make a motion to accept the minutes second all in favor I opposed extensions thank you um at this time we're going to have the reading of a proclam for Reverend Frank J Bera um by councelor lochman is there anyone here tonight to receive the proclamation I know that the 100 Club is um going to have a dinner where they celebrate and recognize him if there's anyone here that would like to come and stand at the podium with councelor lochman please feel free to do so I mean I I'm going to that dinner so I could give it to him then I'm going to oh you'll do oh okay never mind they wanted it read into the into the record so I should read it well some of it which every part you wish to sure yeah you have to hit out yeah he's such been such a contributor should I get up it feels so moved I yeah okay okay okay getting old okay so um this is a proclamation from the township of Monclair New Jersey honoring Reverend Frank J Bera whereas The 100 Club was established in 1966 and maintains a fund that was established to support the family members of police officers and firefighters injured or killed in the line of duty and to provide scholarships for the qualifying children of Montclair police officer officers and firefighters the award created in 2009 was named in honor of former Montclair police chief Edward Giblin and former fire chief John Gardner in recognition of their exemplary community service records as Leaders of New Jersey's finest and bravest Public Safety departments and whereas the township of Monclair is pleased to join The 100 Club of Montclair in honoring and saluting the Reverend Frank J Bera an esteemed member of his Garden State Community in recognition in recognition of his innumerable contributions to the township of Monclair and its police and fire departments as well as its ambulance unit and whereas father berer will be honored with the Giblin Gardner community service award at The 100 Club annual dinner on December 4th 2024 and whereas since his ordination in 1963 for the arch dasis of Newark the Reverend Frank J Bera has served others with dedication and inspiring industry Contin demonstrating the spirit of Brotherhood and love underpinning his faith and serving our community and whereas during his extraordinary career in the priesthood father Frank J burer served with distinction as a parish priest of Immaculate Conception Church for 47 years until his retirement in June 2011 and whereas in addition the Frank J Bera has lent his wisdom and expertise to ma the conception high school as a teacher counselor athletic director and moderator of the Blue Lion Club and he has given generously of his time and energy to the citizenry of Montclair and as chaplain for our First Responders and whereas as a result of his exemplary skill as a sincere and effective leader which is eclipsed only by his extraordinary understanding of and affection for the people with whom he labors the Reverend Frank J Bera has created a standard of Excellence towards which others who would serve Humanity with compassion and love might strive now therefore the mayor and Council of Township of Monclair proudly joined the 100 Club in honoring Frank J berer for his many contributions to this community and congratulate him as a recipients of this award um attorney Burr um I'd like to um uh announce the a small change in the agenda I'm going to give a few words it's not noted here and after that time I'm going to see if any of the council members wish to um say a few words also this is nothing else on the agenda changes we're going to have the comments as it as is scheduled on here we're going to have the council comments at the end of the meeting on those things okay thank you good evening as we convene this November 26 2024 Town council meeting just two days before Thanksgiving a celebration of harvest Intercultural peace and the welcoming of newcomers to America the sanctity of Home family and community and hope for ourselves and others according to celebrated historians I give thanks for these things today and also I give thanks that governments of Israel and the Lebanese group Hezbollah accepted a proposal to end Israel's conflict with Hezbollah ceasefire agreement was backed by Biden Administration neither Israel nor Lebanon wanted the war with Hezbollah nor did the United States the war was one of the deadliest Wars in De decades and the war forced 70,000 Israelis to live in country as refugees and 300,000 Lebanese to live as refugees in their country the ceasefire is meant to bring about a permanent cessation of hostilities at 4:00 a.m. tomorrow morning Thanksgiving Eve the guns are slated to go silent I am thankful for this small Act of good news I mindful that there are Mont clarans right here who do not feel safe in our Township because of hate speech as your mayor I want to make it unequivocably clear that I stand against hate in all of its forms I believe in fostering Community where every individual regardless of their background their ethn ethnicity their beliefs can live with dignity and respect and safety I'm here to tell you that I will never never condone anti-Semitism islamophobia racism homophobia or any forms of hate or behaviors that seek to harmm others and cause others to live in fear I along with our Public Safety team will do whatever we need to do to create a Township where all feel well welcome and safe I reiterate we will I will never condone any form of hate or behaviors that seek to harm others threaten others or make people feel unsafe we must be vigilant against efforts to encourage division violence or evil our strength as a community lies in our commitment to one another and to rejecting hate at every turn let us stand together as we move forward to build a community of mutuality Montclair is about Unity what has been used to divide us should now unify us because Montclair will stand against hate and say no to lending our name of the Monclair Township for the purpose of hate we stand together and declare that any behaviors that cause harm fear or hurt are unacceptable may we mo may we move forward as one mon cleair of mutuality standing against hate may we be thankful for those who are working to ensure the safety of everyone in this Township and those who are working indefatigably to obliterate hate thank you counselors would you like to say anything councelor um deato uh well I second all that uh I'm just not sure what it means in specifics we have uh we are certainly tolerating hate so uh I would like to stop tolerating hate in specific terms that's all anyone else okay we're going to move forward um and we will go next to public comment the public comment you're going to be allowed to have three minutes of three minutes of comments please sign up at the table and please when you come before us if you would give us your name um we would appreciate that and uh it'd be really helpful if you um monitor your own time to three minutes thank you first guest please okay you ready for me m oh yes certainly am thank you good evening good evening I'm here to talk about um a social media please would you give us oh I'm sorry thank you Nicole for Johnny Monclair um I'm here to talk about a social media law enforcement problem that we might be having if you adopt Zen City tonight I don't know if it's on the agenda I got an email I didn't get an email back from Mr Lolo but thank you madam clerk for answering you're always so diligent um thank you for what you said we cannot tolerate hate in any form absolutely agree but I have to say Mr damato your emails contained hate and they contained Division and you've never answered what you meant about the violence you saw and the the whatever fear you were trying to bring here but they seed Division and you need to be held to a higher standard as an elected official I'm shocked that our local government which claims to be Progressive would even suggest to spy on their neighbors as we know the IDF is under scrutiny by human right groups all around the world right now for war crimes including the United Nations and Amnesty International and others elel feder Levy is the owner of Zen City it's a very controversial data collecting I'm shocked like I said it's well known that these companies aim to restrict online speech they're controversal I sent you emails I'm sure other people have sent you emails I don't know why it was brought here miss buring inham I think maybe you met well and didn't do your homework or else you did your homework and you still went with it I don't know you would have to clear that up how does Montclair plan to utilize the data they collect how much will be shared with police and who would make that decision if it was shared with police reports online show companies like this have been marketed to Target protesters which is a given right I do not want my town Pur purchasing this type of technology to be used as tools to treat protesters like enemies in addition the racist implication of social media surveillance technology are not surprising we know when law enforcement gets to conceal the use of surveillant Technology through things like this like Zen City they also get to conceal its misuse how can you assure residents that this technology won't be used in racial profiling I'll leave the rest for another time glad to hear it's not on the agenda thank you next guest please hi Tony Martin 41 North feron Avenue I want to be respectful as citizen Birmingham used to always say when she showed up at this Podium but I really do want to be respectful it's two days before Thanksgiving as you've noted when we will all be called upon to demonstrate rhetorical restraint and I will do so however when I heard about the notice of a potential disciplinary action against our town CFO who is a hero to many in this community for her excellence and for her whistleblower role and then when I heard that her request for a public hearing of the complaints against her against her was denied I was absolutely incensed I am further exasperated by having just read a report about the firing of um Bruce Morgan our affirmative action officer in a new um news organ called the torch reporter Craig wolf whom I greatly respect we have placed so much hope and faith in you council members we voted you in all of you knew and promise you promis to keep the faith with us and fair open and honest government I hope other speakers will here tonight will also make it plain that many citizens do not have that kind of faith in town management we have a strong manager form of government but we elected you to hold the Reigns we elected you to bring change and sunshine and fairness Integrity yes we have a strong manager type of government but we also have a strong involved type of Comm Community you are insiders now at the voters behest but I beg you to remember what it was like when you were just concerned citizens like us thank you thank you next guest please I am uh John Weber I live in Bradley Beach New Jersey so not from Monclair and not speaking on anything controversial I hope um so I'm here to speak in favor of the introduction for the ordinance 24-36 with the uh the plastic utensils and whatnot um there's a name for this type of ordinance it's called skip the stuff and for the benefit of everybody if you don't know what we mean when we say skip the stuff is when you order takeout food you don't get plastic utensils and plastic containers and plastic uh condiment packages like every single condiment known to humankind um when and you order some takeout food and uh the idea behind this is we will make much less plastic waste and that is the idea I think we're up to uh 15 towns in New Jersey have done this the state is looking at it but as is often the case towns are going to lead the way and uh towns are adopting skip this stuff ordinances and I think you are poised to do this maybe at your next meeting so I just want to speak in support of that and I've neglected to mention I work for oceanana which is an an ocean conservation group so thank you thank you to the council members and whoever brought it to uh the council and I look forward to hearing that this passed thank you very much thank you next guest please good evening Council uh David corage 58 tux Road very briefly I can be very brief I want to thank you for bringing forward this skip the stuff ordinance and speak out in favor of it I hope you pass it if not tonight whenever it comes up for a final vote it's good for the environment good for the planet good for the climate I look forward to getting not as many ketchup packets in my hamburger orders or my diesel and Duke orders I'm going forward um but no I just thank you for bringing it forward and I hope you vote to pass it thank you thank you next guest please good evening everyone my name is Kenny Burman and I live on Highland Avenue uh I'm here tonight to address a pressing concern regarding Kevin and mean the police department chaplain in previous Township Council and Civil Right commission meetings it is has come to light that Mr am has publicly posted anti-semitic images and videos on his personal Facebook profile despite bringing this to your attention no action has been taken to remove him from his position while I respect his right to express his opinions as a private citizen his role as a Chaplain represents our community and it's deeply troubling that we as a Township that Prides itself on promoting inclusivity and tolerance would permit a representative to share such offensive material I here to urge the town manager to remove Mr Amin from his chaplain role furthermore I ask that the Town Council hold the town manager accountable for this necessary action Mr Amin is claimed that he did not perceive these posts as anti-semitic despite being informed by members of our community and the Civil Rights Commission that they were indeed offensive his decision to then double down and repost these clips was is a serious affront to our Jewish community and undermines the Integrity of our Township you may wonder why more voices aren't present here tonight talking about this many in our Jewish Community have learned to endure these slights and pass them off as mere misunderstandings however I assure you a significant number disturbed by not only these posts but just as important the lack of response from our leaders we must take a stand against anti-semitic propaganda in any form especially when it emanates from a representative of our Township thank you yes um manager Lola okay uh thank you mayor with regards to this issue police the police chief and I have reached out to the to um the Imam uh we have not been able to reach him it is our understanding that he's out of the country but as soon as he returns we are going to uh have a meeting with him and this issue should be resolved I can't get into more details than that I would hope that he'd been we would had that meeting prior to tonight's meeting but we have not but I can assure you as soon as we are able to meet with him it will be addressed thank you manager and I'd like to um thank you and thank chief coni for your uh movement regarding that and um I appreciate you for allowing me and um the the council to um Express um our concerns so that you can move forward and whatever decisions um you make and so thank you hi Josh Katz 99 Midland Avenue um mayor first thank you for your comments at the beginning of the meeting thank you and uh for the guys from oceanana I'd want to give a quick shout out to Monclair House Grill whenever you call those guys they always ask you if you want uh utensils and uh plates so know that you've got an ally there already um and so and then thank you Mr Lola for uh clarifying and I do hope that upon um the imam's return and hopefully uh well judging from his posts perhaps he's in Amsterdam but um you know uh hopefully on his return it gets resolved and that's a that's a great update to have mayor your words were uh on point and it's just everyone's wish that the M those are the double standards that we're seeing okay all right well thanks for that um excuse me can I um please just ask that we don't have Outburst like that I'm here I know a lot of the different topics that are on our agenda from time to time um can cause people to do that I I I had an out first at the last meeting and I need to remind myself that that's not acceptable so please try not to um have out burst like that and allow the person at the podium to have the fullness of their three minutes so now you can take your full three minutes thank you mayor it's okay I'm used to it from that individual um so uh as I was saying I appreciate your words and the spirit behind them and I think your earnest intent and would just like to see that the municipality lives up up to uh those words by dealing with this situation appropriately and it sounds like perhaps that's the case uh I'm not sure there's more to say about this at this point just other than that it it seems to have but you know it took a long time for us to get here but we're happy we're here if in fact this is moving forward and um I hope that it can get resolved quickly thank you next guest please good evening my name is Nicholas dommini proud owner of 11 Bruce Road and grateful to be a resident of Montclair I was 9 years old the first time I came to this town I didn't grow up here and 18 years ago my dream came true and related to that I just want to briefly State a little bit about my background I'm not applying for a job I'm 74 happily retired but if I was younger I would be on the list to be your new manager okay I started off uh in The Reserve officer training program in college and I attained the rank of Captain in the US Army Reserve after that I uh was an accountant in the private sector moved on to the public sector eventually became executive director of a large Department in Pay County with over 100 employees three in three cities throughout the county after that I eventually moved on to William Patterson University I was an administrator and as well as as the adviser to student government and um and I've seen my share of uh let's say politics and politicking although we have a nonpartisan form of government here I'd be very naive to think that the higher powers and parties do not have something to say in how we make our decisions I sincerely hope and I have a lot of faith in all of you and like the previous speaker I was very concerned when I read about some of the personnel actions here um that I feel are injust and unfair and I hope that we don't spend another 1.25 million on another lawsuit it's my understanding that there are several other lawsuits pending the one thing I learned early on as an officer I'm only as good or we are only as good as the people we lead and I knew it was my role to lead and motivate yes you have to be technical but the bottom line is as a leader you need to be out front you need to set the example and more importantly set the culture the culture that we have right now and it's not any of your faults the culture that we have right now Montclair is is unacceptable when I I'm so proud to tell people I live here and most people react with a big smile on their face wow you live in Montclair yes that's that's reality folks and that's why people are paying so much to move here so basically I know you all live here I know you wouldn't have run for office it's not easy you could have been home having dinner with your family and I'm just asking all of you to please do the right thing thank you thank you next guest please good evening um my name is Lonnie summer Padilla and I am a resident of Montclair uh mayor thank you for your words at the beginning of this meeting um I really appreciate it and um and I agree with what you said um so since September of this year the Jewish community of Montclair has been faced with increasing incidents of anti-Semitism that has taken the form of swastica graffiti harassment intimidation and bullying of Jewish students in our schools hate speech yelled for hours on the corner of our streets in the center of town and hate speech used in public comments in Our Town Council meetings by residents and a and by a Montclair police department chaplain who in addition to using anti-semitic tropes in his public comments here an in Civil Rights Commission meetings and also posting anti-semitic and homophobic content on his public Facebook account some of which includes calls for violence against Jews even after he was spoken to about it in Civil Rights Commission hearings and by the local clergy the chaplain has made it clear that he has no intention of taking the concerns of other Town officials or the knowledge of the pain and fear he has caused members of the Montclair Jewish Community into consideration and that he has every intention of continuing to utilize hate speech and content at will to put this into a broader context earlier this month Jews were violently attacked by a large organized mob who had premeditated their attack in Jew hunt a day before carrying out the assault reports on this program have revealed that some of the am Amsterdam police force ignored the violent assault on Jews because they felt it was deserved because of their opinions on Israel in his role as Montclair police department chaplain Mr Amin provides counseling Comfort to police officers and also to Residents who are victims of crimes or who have lost loved ones in an accident I believe that Mr Amin has been provided with more than enough chances to correct his behavior and make an effort to take accountability and work to repair the damage caused by his words an expression of hate towards the Jewish and LGBT communities of Montclair we cannot tolerate this kind of rhetoric and behavior from an official especially one who is responsible for counseling and comfort enough is enough Mr Lola we have been exceptionally patient as someone who is who was able to who was unable to attend the unfortunately unre recorded not streamed Town council meeting held on Saturday that person shared with me that you said you don't enjoy dealing with these kinds of situations I understand I don't enjoy this situation either please do the right thing and dismiss Mr Amin from his role as Montclair police department chaplain immediately thank you thank you next guest please good evening mayor and councel betet mclair um I was prepared to speak and thank you Mr Lola for what you said but you know just to go on the record um thank you for allowing me to address you today on an urgent and sensitive matter that affects the fabric of our community I am here along with several others to speak about a troubling issue concerning the recent anti-semitic social media posts made by the Imam who serves as the Monclair Police Department chaplain as you know the role of a chaplain is one of guidance support and unity particularly within our diverse Community however when a leader who holds such a position disseminates messages filled with hatred and intolerance it undermines the very values that we strive to uphold these posts have not only hurt our Jewish Community but have also impacted all of us their message promotes Division and fear at a time when we should be fostered ing inclusivity the Jewish community in our town is feeling increasingly unsafe and marginalized as these posts contribute to a growing climate of anti-Semitism we are seeing Rising tensions and a fear of expressing our identity freely which should never be the case in a community that Prides itself on diversity and respect the presence of anti-semetic rhetoric from a community leader sends a powerful message that cannot and should not be ignored we believe that the imam's continued role as the MPD uh chaplain is untenable in light of these actions a chaplain must embody the principles of compassion understanding and unity qualities that have been called into question by these statements we cannot allow a figure who promotes hate to represent both our law enforcement and the values we cherish as a community our call today is not to silence voices but rather to affirm our commitment to a community where hatred has no place we urge the council to take a stand by having the town manager reassess the imam's role within our community it is critical that we send a clear message that anti-Semitism and any form of hate will not be tolerated thank you thank you next guest please good evening my name is Richard copier um I live on Seymour Street um I'm just speaking tonight on behalf of my lovely neighbors people that come visit us uh we have a problem with the parking authority and it just comes down to I feel like I've been I've been in Monclair for a long time I moved here when I was a young kid uh my parents moved from Europe they found Montclair to be lovely in every manner um and I've seen it change for good and bad on both parts um my girlfriend she lives with me on Seymour and she has to go back and forth every day to norc airport to work pretty heavy shift um she works for probably like $19 an hour and sometimes we get hit with fees just to find parking for $35 or $70 and that takes a chunk out of your your budget we pay almost $2,000 for rent alone so we know that Montclair excuse me could be very very expensive in some ways and then you feel like you're being taxed or punished on that on top of everything else when you try to contribute I tell everybody how nice the restaurants are to come here we try to invite her family over so we try to bring money to Monclair and sometimes you feel like Montclair is taking money straight back whether it's for the roads or whatever the case may be but I feel like we're all frustrated I have Elder neighbors that have trouble to find parking every evening like I'm young I can walk but they have trouble finding parking because you know one they have no spaces because none are given on our street for people that might have handicaps and then on top of that you know like I said my girlfriend's gotten over 20 tickets and we're responsible I go on the Monclair parking permit Authority website every night and pay $5 I might as well smoke a pack of cigarettes at this point cuz at least I get more pleasure out of that you know so I feel like if somebody can understand that and feel the human you know humanization of it I think that's really important it's like we shouldn't be punished to live in Montclair it's already like I said it's it's pretty expensive and already we live in a recession I I own my own business I'm a photographer cinematographer and I understand the cost of living and everything else but you know if if if a permit is $5 at least slap me on the wrist for 10 don't hit me with 35 and 70 you know we we all have Investments we all have responsibilities we all get tired at the end of the day I feel like we should have the right to just find a parking spot let's fight over that you know what I'm saying so that's basically what I have to say I'm speaking from the heart hopefully you take it into consideration we do thank you very much next guest please Ral exat 316 Park Street so I campaigned for many of you sitting up here and I planted lawn signs knocked on doors even hosted Gatherings as did many other people in this room and in Montclair and you all got a seat on this dis because you ran on some combination of transparency fiscal responsibility open communication and the promise of a new town manager I'm going to read you some of your own excellent words regarding these subjects so councelor Shen Anderson when asked about the town's top priority said hiring a highly competent effective and knowledgeable permanent Town manager the person hired must be committed to act in the best interest of the Monclair residents is able to lead and guide the township departments and their staff and is committed to regular communication responsible stewardship of Township funds and making Monclair a place for which individuals we will be proud of working councilor lofman said a search for a permanent Town manager should commence immediately once the new council is in place my team wants to require the town manager to present a report of his activities at each council meeting Council Birmingham said the most pressing issue facing Montclair is to create an environment of transparency and openness councelor damato said the Ral case represents a perfect storm of bad government and I strongly encourage every Monclair voter to to read the cfo's concise complaint to see what is alleged to have been perpetrated in our names I will absolutely support maximum transparency with regard to all documents in this case most of all we need to make a decisive break with the bad habits and practices that have turned the township government into a lawsuit factory making quality governing Poss impossible and further injuring our already overburdened taxpayers so now here we are our CFO was served rice notice and may not get a public hearing Miss Ral has been uh Miss Ral has been employed here for 11 years she is always professional open kind she took us through the storm of the last counselor Council and was a whistleblower her bravery is what led to the ousting of the last Council and mayor in large part and to all of you now sitting at the dis and now here we are 2 and 1 half months after announcing that a search firm had been hired and no communication as to what is going on on with the search instead Mr Lola seems anchored to this job m r is the type of person I want in our government it's time for a new town manager not a new CFO if you said that a new town manager was part of your platform to get into office then you owe it to the residents who voted you in to hire someone now lastly I stand with Miss Ral she deserves the right to defend herself no person should be treated as Miss Ral has and continues to be treated it's unconscionable and the roar will get louder if she is terminated and please pass skip the stuff thank you thank you excuse Deputy Mayor Shen Anderson I'm sorry to interrupt the public comment I just wanted to briefly sort of nip this in the bud there is a town manager search that is taking place it is not not true that updates have not been given I believe that we've almost every meeting at the end of every meeting we've um given an update and there's going to be one today so I would just like to clarify that contrary to what it may being said the search is underway and progress is being made so if anyone cares to reach out to any of us and find out what's going on you're more than welcome to do that thank you did you okay next guest please thank you good evening good evening uh Anna Gman resident of Monclair three things first I support skip the stuff and want to thank Judy Myers and Aon bullan for being the resident Advocates who initiated this second please use the Green Acres Grant in a climate resilient way do not pour plastic on the ground when you have sustainable Alternatives third Mr lapola you hurt my neighborhood let me ask you this last year when you found yourself trying trying to settle the lawsuit the Boe brought against the town why did you not set up a meeting with Woodman field neighbors or their lawyer to understand how you could best represent our concerns if you were genuinely concerned we would sue as both you and Mr Burr kept saying did you ever think that perhaps a discussion with neighbors could have resulted in a more harmonious outcome for all not just for the party that sued our town at which point did you decide that Woodman field neighbors had no right to expect zoning code be up held was it before they legally filed an appeal to the permits that you so easily granted or after the board agreed with us listen I know it's hard to be in the public eye subject to criticism speculation untrue rumors trust me I know but siding with others and blocking out everyone else is not how you resolve conflict good Conflict Management requires fostering a culture of psychological safety actively seeking out diverse perspectives problem solving good management requires is honest and transparent communication and fairness where dignity is given to all parties had you managed conflict well there would be trees that would be lasting us hundreds of years at Woodman trees that would Shield the sight of 50ft black poles placed only 30 feet from our Windows maybe there would be retractable poles instead of permanent ones maybe our water wouldn't be vulnerable to more past runoff maybe there would be significant access for emergency vehicles maybe the same dignity extended to mka neighbors would have been given to our are Woodman neighbors maybe this community could have healed from what chairperson Harrison described the other night as a violation of citizens rights but you didn't do that it's clear to all that you took a side I'm sorry to say I no longer trust you I no longer respect you I don't trust what you're doing with Miss Ral but I do trust Miss Ral because she's a whistleblower and a shirou and what you what she went through in order to speak truth is more than I can ever imagine especially as the only Indian woman here serving at such a high level managing conflict is not taking sides and throwing hardworking people away managing conflict is having compassion and ensuring all parties have their dignity respected for the ultimate purpose of our community thank you next guest please uh good evening Sarah Avery good evening when I began my investigation into fre and corruption in Monclair I immediately observed multiple resolutions for increases in not to exceed caps and determined that this was an area of high risk since the majority of these resolutions were for Professional Services I documented that the township attorney regular regularly violates njsa 53- 11.9 C by procuring services for amounts in excess of the not to ceed cap without the governing body's authorization as required by law vendors with a high-risk profile include Linda B McCormack The Firm that was hired to perform an independent Employment Practices investigation in the r case the names of witnesses interviewed were redacted on the invoices provided legal invoices generally include a lot of data date attorney name time elapsed which I translated into an Excel spreadsheet the lindabury invoices also include lengthy explanations such as telephone call follow-up email preparation of interview summaries and so on because many tasks are presented on the invoices in a narrative format I assigned each task a code for example there are 15 occasions that attorney bir directed revisions to be made to the report drafted by the independent investigator the original not to exceed cap was approved on November 14th 2022 for $10,000 invoices through the last date of service February 2nd 2023 total $1,434 these Services were rendered long before the resolution was approved on February 21st for $7500 at the end of the meeting on Saturday Mr Burr stood within inches of my face and asked me to provide him with a copy of my public comment I said you were aware of what you did and bur said keep going I repeated you are well aware of what you did in the Linda Pur McCormack investigation and bur said keep going I felt intim ated and asked him if he was threatening me he did not move away even after I repeated are you threatening me thank you next guest please hi I'm Barbara German lifelong resident of Monclair and I'm here to speak about 16 Seymour well Seymour Street period parking is horrendous you can't even find a parking space I have a handicap placard can't even find a place to park I can't do all that walking up the hill Union Street to get to the apartment if I'm carrying stuff it's just terrible out there something needs to be done about it since they put that walkway there the back part of the street you have to go to the to the end of the street where the uh Summit health is whatever that is do a U-turn just to get out of the street every day it's ridiculous I mean did they have any plans for the residents in the apartments there's three big apartment buildings there one has underground Park and the other two have nothing there's like seven spaces possibly that you can park fire plugs at the top end of the street and another fire plug at the other end something needs to be done it's terrible I asked to have someone come out there and and check and watch the traffic coming in and out this morning I sat in a space 10 minutes because UPS pulled up alongside me to make his deliveries he said could you please wait I said sure another truck comes up FedEx or somebody I mean you just sitting there it's horrible when they thought about that walkway did they think about the residents who live in those apartments no I have my crew here that live at Seymour Street we're all having the same issue it's terrible something needs to be done nobody wants to pay the park you live there you should be able to park there period I'm thank you next guest please Joan pransky uh 11 Steven Street yes uh I checked you all spoke about transparency when you were running for office councelor loin you sat across from me at a table you talked about how important transparency was it made me go out and collect signatures for you and ask others to do the same transparency in government is about openness encouraging participation from residents listening hearing and responsiveness from elected representatives transparency and accountability go hand inand together they stimulate public engagement they strengthen and enrich a democratic process they improve government this is what Fosters trust and satisfaction with government critically this is what prevents corruption in government this is the best of democracy regularly I now get calls about council members seeking to close committee and commission meetings limit public common sessions limit the subject matter limit the time to speak and council members determined to sit quietly without query without feedback or engagement no matter how expertly informed by its residents democracy is messy and apparently many of you don't want it I fear your takeaway from the previous Council has been that the more closed you are the more efficient and effective you will be and the more things will go smoothly and quietly I believe the eventual consequence is more likely to be a hostile distrustful Community a council less informed and divorced from its knowledgeable residents making poorer decisions resulting in the absence of Civility a recipe for litigation I can't believe you're about to do this to miss raal again mayor you've been beloved by this community because one of the reasons is as a council woman you held regular Ward meetings urge your constituents to come to Council meetings and discuss their concerns for all to hear televis for the benefit of the entire Comm Community engaged with them when they spoke to bring out their concerns asked for responses from Members Town me manager and the councel you insisted on being informed you refused to be silenced you refused to allow your constituents to be silenced mayor you are in control of how these meetings should operate you can take input but do not seed your Authority please be who you have always been and Design these meetings in accord with the Democratic process you always knew was best for Monclair you receiv received thank you next guest please good evening Dave Heron good evening thank you mayor for your words of support to our community you know when people say it's our community I've been coming to a couple of the meetings lately because I was taking the back seat and Dr bassville you know how much I love a good fight I hear something that's disturbing I've been the NAACP president passed for 12 years prior to that for 20 I was education chair for the NAACP I was vice president we fought hard did I say hard we fought hard to stop bigotry hatred and yet I'm hearing from some of my neighbors say they are afraid we are allowing our neighbors to be in fear no we shouldn't allow that you as elected officials have to step up to the plate sooner rather than later it disheartens me to hear that people say they live in fear see as African-Americans we know what fear is and we won't do it we won't allow it from anyone hatred lives in Monclair racism folks is here it's here and we need to address it you as Council people said we want to be transparent I don't see transparency here folks you say you want a community community requires interaction not for you to go behind closed doors and diby up your little sidebars stop stop it stop doing this to this community I wrote it for some of you if I could take that vote back I would I've heard comments from some of the people sitting up there addressing the audience saying don't the flag represent you how dare you I also heard someone say oh African-American amans are less in this town it's not as many but that's okay cuz we're getting Hispanics and Asians that is racist you got to stop it if you don't know what racism is call me I'll explain it to you you guys have got to get on the stick we are not feeling it and you know something folks we ain't going away thank you next guest please good evening good evening my name is Sharon rad Muhammad I'm a resident of Seymour Street I've been a resident in Montclair since 19 excuse me can is it possible for you to speak up just a little bit sorry I've been a resident of Monclair since 1987 with two properties and now I'm down siiz to 16 Seymour Street 2 bedroom there are several issues on Seymour Street that really need to address GED school has children that they have out on the Plaza that's divided off and they start from 11:00 until later on in the afternoon and there are babies there that cry hysterically all the time and I know the difference between a baby that's cry that needs attention versus one that just is crying that's number one number two you've taken five parking spaces off now with the permit parking and you plus you have par um you have accommodations for trucks that come and deliver in them doing so they're on the opposite side of the street going in the opposite opposite direction so if you're a tenant there and you have to bring your um packages in you can't even get your packages out because you have people beeping on the horn for you to get out the way that's number two you have an entrance on Fulton and one on Seymour that you can go in and out exit and entr on both streets instead of having it a drive-thru like the one on Park Street and then when the Wellmont has an affair you have to wait for your parking space so then when the cleanup comes through the street they do not do trash removal on Seymour Street no trucks come through there at night I mean or day to clean the street up the other thing is is that um the people who come and pick up their children they don't have displayed parking permit so they're utilizing our parking spaces until they pick up their children and they sit in the car sometimes and wait for their children to come out of there so it it puts us at a disadvantage it the street should never be a colder saac and a colder saac is a turnaround that has businesses on it which impacts us as residents and that's what I have to say thank you next guest please uh Mark wasaka Seymour Street um I want to say first and foremost that although there's some other issues that have been brought up as the Seymour Street issue is still very big um first off there's a danger so you had the school she was just speaking of and when the the mother and daughter mother father and son whoever come up the street then they go into the street they in their car there's Ubers running down crazy it's a it's it's a very dangerous situation that needs to be handled also the permit parking needs to be enforced it's super easy to enforce that's all we ask you guys to do enforce the permit parking I can have good ideas if you guys want to talk about it but um please help please help thank you did you say your name did he say his name did you say your name I'm sorry Mark is that good thank you hi good evening my name is Jamie bedan I actually came to speak this evening about um something to do with driving and parking in Monclair but I also uh want to say that I'm grateful that you are taking the issue with the Imam seriously um because there's just no need for any type of um dis dis um dissemination of anti-Semitism on soci on social media in Monclair or anywhere else um I feel really badly for our neighbors in Monclair who can't seem to find anywhere to park and are dealing with this um repeated issue I was at a council meeting a few weeks ago and a woman got up and said you know that she has to pay five bucks a night and it just it really doesn't make sense we've got to come up with some kind of solution whether we can offer some kind of um permit in one of the garages or um you know let's help them because I mean as a resident I feel bad um you know when I can't park and um it's terrible that people are are unable to you know particularly someone who may be handicapped or elderly um what I really came to talk about though is the situation of the YMCA and the um wonderful beautiful um deck over there I'm there all the time because I have a child that's on the swim team and um when you are in the deck and you are leaving certain times of the day and you want to leave on Park Street you're not supposed to make a left if you're leaving you're supposed to go right as this you know you're heading towards um you know northern part of town versus the southern part of town you cannot safely turn out of that deck because nobody's enforcing the parking situation and there are trucks blocking typically it's a truck um essentially they've created a a a a jam so when you go to pull out I look to the left then I look to the right then I look to the left then I look to the right then I look to the left I look to the right and I hold my breath and I pray that I'm not going to hit somebody that someone's not going to W um walk or bike into my car or that a car isn't going to sort of be like a sleeper and come around so can you guys visualize what I'm talking about I'm leaving that deck the you know the Y is now on my right pizza place is on my left church okay I don't know what we can do but I'm fearful because I'm a thoughtful responsible driver and I'm scared I'm going to hurt somebody because I just there's just no line of sight and I don't know if there needs to be more enforcement there I mean there's this issue creeps up um all over Monclair this is just one examp exle that I think we really need to address because there's so many kids coming in and out of that lot um and it's such a congested lot thanks thank you next next guest please good morning oh good morning good evening good evening yeah it's night time good evening uh mayor and councel aava fad um on behalf of the tenants organization of Montclair the advocacy group with the community that brought us all rent control let's see the last couple of uh Council meetings my tone was just entirely too Melancholy it's because all these things are going on in town and sitting in here it gets kind of it kind of feels like an anvil on your back sometimes and I prefer to be a much Li much more lighthearted person um Beyond wanting things to be structured and organized to help people the most so um I'm going to keep it more light tone today although there are a lot of things going on in town what I'm hearing here at the podium things that I do know about have recently read about or read about in the past um we just I don't like what I see I don't like what I hear here um a lot of the things are upsetting but I would love to uh focus on more of the Silver Lining so I'm going to hold my tongue on one of the emails that I receiv received today in the tenants org um Gmail and I'm going to go on to a letter that one of my friends wrote letter to the editor to The Star Ledger so for those of you who do not know on in the November 18th star lger uh nj.com we have a letter from Noemi gbank gbank and um we're both monair High graduates and we did music together we were in band and Orchestra this is more New Jersey Town should embrace rent control I won't read the whole thing just enough a lot of people want to live in Montclair and consider it a special place I grew up there and have owned a home in Montclair since 2009 our town has a fascinating mix of people from all walks of life which enriches us and enlarges our perspectives we are also very lucky that the tenants organization of Montclair advocacy group successfully secured rent control starting in May of 2022 the ordinance caps annual rent increases at 4% and 2.5 for seniors 65 Plus for many of the rental units in town that's incredibly important because rents are already significantly higher in Montclair than most other towns in New Jersey without rent control we'd become a victim of our own success and quickly price out people with more modest incomes becoming more homogeneous every year it's also important for building continuity among Generations perfect timing tenants organization Mont Clair gmail.com 973 936 8848 and direct into me 973 619 2855 thank you have a good night thank you next guest please hi um excuse me uh my name is jenesy and I live at 154 Upper Mountain um I'm here tonight as a 51-year-old professional woman and the mother of a 14-year-old daughter I am standing here in support of the CFO I am so saddened to know that this Relentless retribution against a whistleblower in our town is going to continue I haven't been here to comment with the new Council I was here a lot before the most recent election and I'm so happy that you're all here um but this is just devastating it is devastating to know that um that m r is again dealing with whatever whatever it is that can't abide her whistleblowing and her standing up for our community and our town and um it's just devastating and I just want to be here as a witness to what she's been through Additionally the um Bruce Morgan being fired sort of boggles my mind um and I just hope that in the fast moving activity of Montclair which is like so busy and complicated all the time I just hope that we keep our eye on what's going on here and um a lot of us are paying attention and it's just devastating and I stand here in support with Miss R who I saw just walked in so thank you thank you next guest please good evening Council my name is abashik sha I'm the new executive director of the mon Center bid I'm here to implore you to pass the free holiday parking for the downtown and the entire Township's commercial districts free holiday parking isn't just something that is a giveaway it's something that creates economic Vitality draws people to our vibrant commercial districts and removes a barrier to access some may say that you know $2 or a few dollars for parking isn't much well it isn't for some it's a lot and at this time of year especially after the economy being the way it is and you know I go shopping too though that those few dollars can be the difference between someone coming to shop and someone not and it's this message that we're sending saying that everyone is welcome to come and Shop here regardless of your income status and hearing from other residents here well not other residents I'm not one unfortunately but I think there is something we can definitely do to work on this parking I know some of you have already talked to my processor Jason Clon about parking and all the data we've been working on we're looking to work with the township and work with the community at large to improve and make this more accessible for everyone especially those living and residents near the commercial districts in the downtown so hopefully this kind of holiday parking will incentivize people from to not Park in residential areas and park more in the downtown and hopefully give back some of the residents the their parking spaces so I implore you to please pass the resolution this evening let's sit down get to know each other more and talk more about how we can reform these things and work on making this work better for the entire community at large and really I hope everyone here is having a decent night has a Happy Thanksgiving and if you have any questions please please contact our office you some many of you have my number contact me and you know I hope that we can pass this and look forward to working alongside of all of you uh lastly is it appropriate if I give a compliment to one of the employees or at least the office here if it's not I can I can just email at to you good go you know in a spirit of being the holiday season I do want to shout out to one of the first departments I got to work with as the interim director which is a clerk's office they did a phenomenal job really came to bat to help out with the permit process and I really want to thank the whole office the staff for all their work and I really appreciate everything you guys did so thank you for making my job easier is one of the first things I had to take off on as the inim Director and I really appreciate it and I hope you know this brings a little bit of joy to a very serious evening have a wonderful night Happy Thanksgiving and look forward to meeting talking to you more soon take care thank you next guest please seeing number 23 okay I'm at 26 good evening I'm Chrissy Thomas second ward lifelong resident um active and involved citizen lawyer municipal government afficianado I really want to be able to sit quietly and clap loudly for this new Council and to believe the change that you're all the change that we hope for and that you can implement it well but sadly I can't sit back and clap yet I worked tirelessly knocking on doors making calls because I believed in Eric eileene Carmel and Amina I believe they could bring the kind of government that we all deserve a government that listens and acts with integrity and that makes a real difference in our lives that's what Renee Rah and Susan Shen Anderson all said they wanted to and I have faith in all of you but four months into your terms I find myself deeply troubled I've been impressed by mayor baskerville's thoughtful questions sometimes and I've been equally disheartened by the nonsensical dismissive answers from Mr Burr his advice to a counselor to when in doubt sit it out especially in matters of responsibility and Duty was not just a poor it wasn't just poor guidance it was a dereliction of legal Duty it was malpractice I also thought that eileene Eric Amina and Renee would stand by the whistleblowers Bruce Morgan and ped maaja R who showed courage in exposing wrongdoings I encouraged every person in this room to look up www torch ofont clare.com to read about what really happened to Bruce Morgan and what's now happening to padmaja who appears to have been mistakenly mistakenly and illegally told that her rice notice somehow does not actually allow her the right to a public hearing which is a misunderstanding of basic case law so too is Miss der Burr's mistaken belief that the law somehow requires the town to give a rice notice which applies to employees only to volunteers then there was the Saturday meeting its sole purpose it seemed was to out the public hope that nobody appeared people like you and me whose voices are too often dismissed as noisy but the public always deserves to be heard not just when it's convenient or when it fits a certain convenient narrative that someone wants to move forth I'm truly disheartened to see how quickly the new council members have allowed themselves to be guided not by the wisdom and intelligence that they possess but by an Executive Suite that frankly has not served us well at all as IR carasic so eloquently said in his comments in the local which I encourage you all to read your counselor you counselors have to make the hard decisions when those in power are not living up to the responsibilities entrusted to them you can and you should reconsider the appointments of the manager and the attorney and take action on behalf of the township to enure its proper functioning the CFO deserves to be recognized for her work array should be a priority if we're serious about maintaining professionalism and fairness in government if we don't want to be sued we should consider getting Bruce Morgan back and taking out the town manager this isn't about politics it's about doing what's right for our Township our community and for all the people who believe in you thank you thank you next guest please hi my name is Lyn stockhammer and I live on Forest Street um I came here initially to talk about one subject so I'm just going to keep it short about a number of them that were brought up tonight um and that have also been going on on social media um to to start with and I had not planned to talk about this there's been a mischaracterization about um the group that was also referred to tonight which is New Jersey peace action um Monclair chapter and we do stand on the corner and have been for decades at the feton and Church Street um this group was formed after the nuclear bombs in h Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the primary purpose had to do with the abolition of nuclear weapons um it continues to be a goal to work for peace the past year um has been primarily year and a half now almost um primarily directed towards protest of what's going on with our taxpayer dollars it's nonpartisan in terms of the murdering of children and an entire culture and population and health system and infrastructure in Gaza um and I'm also very happy to hear about the um efforts that are being made now in Lebanon um what's being characterized as hate speech by um an New Jersey peace action is and I'm I'm Jewish by the way um I stand I just feel I have to say that because there are a lot of and I know you're laughing behind me um and not in your heads excuse me excuse me we have we have people who travel on buses and at great time and expense especially since the um vigils have been starting earlier and um I stand with my Palestinians sisters and brothers and they come from other towns and from Clifton and other communities um this is not anti-Semitism there a protest against both the government of Israel and their practices and our United States tax dollars that are going towards billions and billions of well not billions I I don't know the figure forgive me for being loose with that a lot of money um towards killing money that could be spent here to feed and clothe and House people that we need in this country and in our town and that's what and that's the primary focus now um very quickly I also came to speak out against Z City I sent an email very late in the day today and I very much apologize for that after Saturday's meeting it's just been a crazy time for me I hope you will read the articles and realize the potential for complete intrusive of this social media tool thank you very much thank you very much next guest please hi before you start my time can I just quickly ask because it's not in the agenda if the numbers are still the same for the two consecutive items of bird netting at 95 and a contribution to mash at 35 is that still as is she asking did it change from the last meeting when you discussed it because is that being put through tonight I don't think so I think it's pretty much the same thanks um couple of things I understand you're passing skip the stuff oh I'm sorry I'm Jessica stalsberg I live in Montclair uh thanks so much for passing skip the stuff tonight there's going to be some pretty easy basic communication that would be really highly effective to get that rolling and just to make sure that the restaurants are on board Etc if that's not in place among you I think you guys by now probably know who you could reach out to there's a lot of volunteers ready to go and really excited about it and would be happy to help um so at the last meeting and I guess it's what is being proposed for tonight you were discussing a contribution to mesh for $35,000 um I just want to which is great um I just want to mention that today got in my email um a message from Tony's kitchen they're looking for $50,000 because they need to upgrade their kitchen equipment they serve 880,000 hot meals to members of our community a year um and yesterday new jersey.com published an article about the unhoused population of New Jersey it's up by 23% in the last year Essex County 43% I was pretty shocked by that 43% I obviously don't know what it is in Montclair so this brings me to the other expenditure that the town manager has recommended that uh we need to spend $95,000 on bird netting to control bird poop at a parking garage and at this juncture I highly recommend you table that expenditure also I happen to know some really talented Needle Masters in town maybe we need to just crochet bomb the garage and that will take care of the issue for free and it'll be gorgeous and fun so let's look into that at no cost and I really would encourage you to take the $95,000 that the town manager is recommended for what he described as a very serious serious issue and move it on over to mesh and Tony's kitchen because I think that that I think that as we head into the winter months knowing that there are members of our community who need food and shelter is a very serious serious issue and we owe it to these members of our community to spend the funds that we have on their well-being not on bird poop um lastly there's also an expenditure that's being proposed for this new software Zen City at close to 20 $2,000 a year I don't know if you're doing it for one or for three and I understand wanting to streamline public opinion and and engagement but we are in this room and in your inboxes for free all the time so again $220,000 a year let's give it to issues that we need to give money to more pressingly thank you next guest please thank you hello good even my name is Christine ogara mazaka I've lived at 16 Seymour Street for the past eight years um my husband and I have lived through the construction of two Seymour uh two Willow Street I think it's called and the whole Plaza and we enjoy you know going to the Wellmont once in a while and having you know having our friends over and going to a concert but for the most part my family and friends say I don't know how you live on seamar street and I'm used to it but they're they're aggravated just coming to visit me the main problem is the lack of enforcement the Gard school they put this daycare right in the corner of the plaza they provide spots for free for the parents to park in in the parking garage but they don't do that they Park illegally in the cesac which actually doesn't bother me because it it bothers my neighbors who can't get in their driveway but I would rather they do that than Park in my Park permit parking spots that we pay for because I come home from work I work on Park Street I have a two-minute commute and then I sit in my car for 20 minutes waiting for the day care people I call them to come out of the I I know who they are because we kind of know all the cars on our street out of town plates someone who just moved to Montclair they got their kids into Goddard and they Park in the permit spots and I if they're sitting in the car I go up to them wave my hand you know every night when I come home from work it's a little confrontation wave my hand can you know do you have a permit oh I pay for this spot and they usually leave sometimes they ignore me sometimes they're not in the car I can't get them to move um but it is really a lack of enforcement and people maybe they're coming to shop on Bluefield Avenue I'm just going to park on Seymour Street because they never enforce it because they got rid of the Hang tags and now it's all by license plates but we talk to the municipal parting people we we like them we want them to do their job they say only you know a couple cars have the license plate Raiders so they can't enforce it so people just keep parking in the same Perman spots they get away with it once in a while I have to park illegally because I there's no spots I don't have time to park in the municipal lot and run around so I park illegally maybe I'll get a $70 ticket it's my own fault I parked illegally but I just had to do it and the other issue is I would park in the municipal lot on Fullerton but the the wait for day permits is like three years I should have gone on it when I moved to town but the lot is empty all day so I don't know why the weight is three years for an empty parking lot so I'm forced to either pay to park in the parking garage which I can't do when it's a show at the walmont because it's $30 so you know my options are you know as a police officer told my husband a couple years ago Monclair is a very expensive town to live in but you know for people who live in apartments it it's extra expensive thank you thank you next guest please uh good evening good evening I'm sitting listening I don't know all of you I do know that young lady is sitting right there good evening but I can't judge you because I can't create myself so I don't judge my own self so we all have ability to do things in the world excuse me please would you give us your name please my name is Dr Marat Muhammad thank you and I just wanted to tell you why I have a love for SE um 16 Seymour Avenue street I want to say that you all don't know me but Governor Burns came to me and asked me to buy the bulletproof vest for the state troopers I did just that and put 500 officers in nework New Jersey that never ever carried a pistol and here I came here and I want you to know that I'm a my uh life is I'm a doctor and I have my license with the casino control board that means I can run for governor Senator or owner Casino so I got those license and I put Governor M Murphy in office and I said I won't do it he knows I got 40,000 doctors in the state of New Jersey it's a long story but I'm on ABC NBC CBS HBO USA and I own all my rights exclusively I put Bob Iger in office I did that for ABC I do just ratings so I came here to arest I did so much for the police department it's unbelievable why they love me here all of them love me here cuz when Captain Willam bash I did I spoke on his behalf got a stand obeson for every man that came here Tracy was the woman there and Tracy is the one that have a great love for me she talks to me all the way from Miami I want to say this I watched three not once three people little kids almost died the way they shoot out there if that lady would not have grabbed her uh and he she was gone this is what's happening here they hitting cars getting away with it and they stole all the cars with the where we park at when we want to park so I said to them go to North and find the ones you stole all the cars they fought 20 cars that were stolen right around the corner from us now I say this because I'm in every app my name is marad Muhammad I'm in the wicked Pier you got to be a b in there to be in there I'm in every app on the country I'm in every library in this country just put in my name but I came here because of my my wife she's been here for 18 years and I wanted to rest that's what I wanted to do excuse me um Mr Muhammad I'm I'm sorry we we are concerned about what you want to have we have a rule here about 3 minutes are there some things that that you you know would like to tell us very quickly because your three minute time period is up I would like to just see if I can help to stop what's going on in seamour if you do that I'll be able to help you all financially peace and love thank you very much next guest please good evening mayor good evening as you all know I was served a rice notice on Friday by Mr Burr um and the last item on the agenda I understand includes a discussion about me since it is a discussion about me I am requiring that it should be held in the public session and and I understand there are other employees involved in this but if you all governing body members want to discuss these other employees you can definitely do that in the private session if they so like but it is because the discussion is about me I am requiring that it should be done in the public session okay thank you receive thank you good night I'm I live on Garden rest Avenue and I'm here tonight to thank Miss how because she has been standing up for us and she's she has sought transparency when other people chose to hide things from us and she didn't need to take on that lawsuit it wasn't for her the only people who get rich with lawsuits are lawyers and she's an intelligent woman she knew that but she also knew that there was the way for Monclair residents and taxpayers to know what was happening in our town she deserves better than this notice right before the holiday season when she's been walking in this town for over 10 years and she's been standing up for us I'll never forget that she filed that lawsuit immediately after the Glen rid fire contract that she she was sidelined on all her work to assess the cost of the contract was hidden from the previous from the previous Council and that cost us over a million dollars a year that is the price of not having a good attorney that is the price of sideline in your competent CFO and whatever you believe about her today I would like you to question yourselves if you can be sure of it how much confirmation coroporation do you have and how would you like for it to happen to a member of your family Ral has so many late nights at work and so many early mornings a friend of mine told me that she rented an apartment downtown she spends time away from her family spends nights away from her family that's her level of dedication to this town I people should be ashamed honestly and people should be ashamed of that Saturday meeting I I like the words to describe it so I refer you to Eileen birmingham's comment on December 6th of 2022 about meetings there are not um streamed for the public I was very unhappily surprised to not find a recording to of that meeting thank you thank you are there um others okay um just for my knowledge please um is it okay if I ask our um attorney to reply to miss Ral because I'm not I'm not even clear about um you know what that would entail I would have no reason not for her to do that in public but I don't know the law so I defer to our counselor um our Council mayor uh I had sent the response to miss raal with the law uh related to her request to have this discussed in public um there are other employees can't hear you we can't hear you uh I'm speaking in the mic there are other employees that receive rice notices relating to the matter that's being discussed tonight and pursuant to opma um those employees would have excuse me we can't hear you speak loud I'm speaking to the council right now but we have a right to hear what you're saying you should be able to hear me you want me to screen Excuse excuse me excuse me please if the audience is having a difficult time um attorney Burr would it be better if you go down to the podium because I think that if we're going to have the meeting I would like for everybody to be able to hear this and understand it thank you very much I appreciate that attorney Burr I think that Prov Mr Haron that you Mumble under your mouth about me Mr Haron please thank you I'm pulling up the law um mayor and counsel and public pursuant to njsa 10 col 4-12 B8 that's open public meetings act the public body May exclude the public only from a portion of a meeting at which the public body discusses any under sub eight matter involving the employment appointment termination of employment terms and conditions of employment evaluation of the performance of promotion or disciplining of any specific prospective public officer or employee or Current public officer or employee employed or appointed by the public body unless all the individuals employees or appointees whose rights could be adversely affected request in writing that the matter or matters to be discussed at a public meeting which that means is anybody who is r on a particular matter that is being brought before the on a Personnel matter that is being brought before the council to be discussed would have to have all of those employees requests that the comments or the discussion take place in public if any one of them do not make that request or request that it be held in close session their right to confidentiality exceeds the employees right to have the matter discussed in public the uh matters that are being discussed before you we are unable to separate out those employees the involvement of those employees with Mrs ral's uh discussion in order to speak about Miss rrow in or her matter in public without discussing those other employees so the law doesn't permit us to hold the uh discussions and in public it has to be held and uh in Clos session there are two cases on point olivary versus colat is Rutherford Regional building of Education 160 NJ super 131 app div 1978 where that Court found the right to have the public meeting discussed publicly is a right that must be exercised by all affected employees so again Court held that if you're going to have a discussion about a Personnel matter that affects multiple parties or multiple employees it must be all the affected employees must say they want it to be held in public in order for the discussions to take place in public may there's another case sadus versus Patterson Public School District sadus versus Patterson Public School District 466 NJ Super 40 they are the Appel division uh addressed the open public meetings act and its legislative intent in that case the Court held that the New Jersey legislature clearly and expressly declared that a public body May exclude from certain meetings in its examination of njsa 10 col 4-12 B8 which is the exception in the open Public's meeting Act for personnel matters to be discussed in closed session that it found that the statute has no ambiguity excuse me in its application all right so the statute says if you're going to discuss a Personnel matter it's it's exempt from open public meetings act and it's to be dis and it should be discussed in close session because the employee has a right to confidentiality that employee can wave the rights as Miss row would like to do for her particular matter however there are other employees affected and those employees are entitled to have their matter discussed in closed session based on their confidentiality and they have not requested to have this matter discussed in public question may I yes the oh go ahead iead I didn't see sure go ahead okay so U Mr Burr I just wanted to know were those other employees other than Miss Ral asked if they wanted to have if they would be willing to have this done in open public session those those uh employees were served with r notices just like Miss Ral and they had the right to request by 5:00 p.m. today that this matter be discussed in open public session we have not received those requests from those employees just to follow up were they aware that Miss raal wanted to have this an open public session yes okay thank you councelor Toler thanks um the two cases that you stated is school law the same as Municipal law because two cases you stated I just want the the open public meeting act applies to public entities that includes school boards um and the rice law cuz you it sound like when you started you were reading the open public meeting act for executive session is there a separate Rice law no so you're it's a r Rice is a case is case law about a public employes right which originated in in a a matter relating to a teacher against a Board of Ed or a board district school district employee I don't know if it was a teacher exactly but in the uh their right to have received notice that the board was going to meet and have a discussion and close session about their yeah no I work for the board of we do right notices too so I'm familiar with right notices is is the same right so for municipality Municipal Employees County Employees state employees government employees in New Jersey are entitled to a race notice councelor deato so there must be some way to sever some of the content I won't be able I can't give you an opinion on that until after we are in s after but it doesn't mean that if it is said in executive session that by definition it then becomes in privileged well it depends on what the content is and how it relates and whether it's privileged or confidential information now and if we as a governing body or a majority thereof wanted to have an open hearing on the general topic of these beefs capital T capital B we can have that hearing correct I'm not say repeat the question I someone if we would like if we would prefer to have an open hearing on the cfo's situation not having to do with these three R employees per se but just the larger issue we are free to do this only on this particular topic any Alle can I just be clear as long as you're not discussing anything that has to do with another employee whether that can happen or not what about if it has to do with what about if if it has to do with the manager who is a political appointee if it has to do with the manager and um so if you want to discuss the manager employment if I'm not clear I would like what I you know despite what people think I do just want to have an open airing of whatever the issues are that can be talked about to the maximum you know extent that's possible under the law and that would mean having a hearing where several of the key parties can give their side to the stories that we hear about and read about so I would like to know what the legal framework for such a discussion in in public would be if it involves Personnel matters I do not believe you can hold that I hold a hearing in public if it involves other employees that's my opinion so I don't know how you would go and have a a discussion and a hearing I'm not sure what you mean by hearing ing what that looks like um however if it involves other employees you can't it would be a violation would we be able to is Miss I didn't mean to cut you off councelor um I think what you're trying to say is would we be able to hear Miss Ral out right here in public with whatever her stance is and not involve the other employees that may have a case or an issue against her or with her you just want to hear from her we want to hear from her in public is that what you're asking I mean councelor Birmingham thank you I I it's I have no idea what's going on honestly like so the question I guess I have is we are going to hear an executive session what's going on and then if it does seem like I again I have no idea honestly but if some action is being taken that applies to miss raal can can that be publicly discussed then and if she if that is her desire to again I I have honestly no idea if it only involves Miss r i I would say yes okay okay right if after we are in executive session after the discussion is had if there is anything that specifically involves Miss round does involved any other employee and you want to have that conversation the majority of the governing body wants to have that conversation out in open public session I would say there is a path forward for that discussion with Miss Ralph if we want it we could have an executive session with said employees afterwards is that correct you are you can invite an employee or employees into executive session but you have to keep in mind you can't can't discuss those employ employees with the other employee right CU they're entitled to confidence so for instance if uh if it's me as the town attorney and you want to discuss with me confidential matters that pertain to miss Ral I wouldn't be permitted unless it was a litigation issue I wouldn't be permitted to hear that and I wouldn't be a be shouldn't be privy to that if Miss Ral is in there and you're going to start talking about her after if she has her public hearing if this is something the full Council wishes to do we could then later when we go into executive session not have not have Miss R there but the other employee speak to that person at that point in time in executive session if they were available okay about their about their particular right correct okay councelor lochman I just want to say I feel like I'm on the same page as ien we're coming into this executive session with apparently a controversy about MRA I have no idea what this is about and we are supposed to lend some kind of judgment or uh way forward with her without coming in hearing whatever we hear and for whatever the length of the executive session is go through that and then come up with a decision maybe I have no idea I don't know well she probably knows more about what's going on than I do let me remind you yeah about the faul yeah right Miss raal in her capacity as Chief Financial Officer is a uh is a Personnel that is uh supervised by the manager right all right contrary to belief that she's a council appointee which she is not okay she receives tenure uh and I won't even say she receives tenure from the council she re receives tenure by Statute for working for the township as the CFO for four years and then submitting if she's continues to work after the fourth year uh submitting a letter to the clerk and to the local government services that request tenure so when is her four-year term up she's she's already she's already tenured she's tenured it's not years I'm just saying is already Tech well I'm just saying let let me be I don't want to go into details about her position I'm just saying about the Chief Financial Officer position in Broad terms is that you do not have authority to discipline her take action to discipline her that is in the manager's purview so there is something coming to before you that the manager just wants to bring to the council's attention would we be able to have executive session with the others before Miss R's public hearing would that make more sense um I don't know the the employees are here to say for you to have executive session with okay manager the outside Council involved in this matter is present and we'll be addressing the governing body in executive session correct did you did you want to say anything else did you want to say something s any any more questions Deputy Mayor I first of all I just want to ask please if everybody could just please can we be respectful to one another when other people are speaking respectful to the I think we've all been respectful from the from the Das and if people cannot if you want to be disruptive that's fine but please give people who are speaking the respect that we're all showing to all of you please council members are there any other council members here that um wish to ask our attorney any questions before I thank him and um I I don't have any further questions thank you very much um and so we're going to move on oh you do yes I'm so so sorry about I have a question very quickly for Seymour Street residents who are here um I don't know how exactly they do this but to be very very quick maybe you could do like one one to five on your hand how much of a problem is or Uber drop offs oh okay well that was fast like on on the circle up there to go to the Wellmont or to go to the school and to other things where people are not being dropped off to go to the Seymour Street apartment complexes but to come down into the plaza excuse me if you're going to un reply when we want to hear it would you please come to the mic so that we can hear it and then it's going to be recorded as well thank you I didn't get to touch I didn't get to touch on this because I ran out of time yeah very quickly but um it is a big problem when there is a concert at the Walmart because that drop off time is uh the Dr off address is that culdesac it should be Bloomfield Avenue it should be Roosevelt it should be anywhere but a deadend culdesac where all the Uber drivers there's a lot I look out my window someone is going to get killed and I wanted to say that because everyone starts beeping there's a line of Uber drivers or it's not a culde saac it's the smallest culdesac ever it's very difficult to so it it is a big problem and I wanted to okay I'll very very quickly just tell you um I just discovered about a month ago that we actually have power as a governing body to tell ride share Services where to drop off at certain locations and we can shift that that would be a great idea and there are I Bluefield Avenue but but it's something we can do we can look at it thank you sit okay um we're going to move along list councel do you have anything else that no no okay we're going to move on to pending ordinance um second reading I'm going to open the public hearing without objection is there anyone um present who wishes to be heard in relation to the proposed ordinance um Council damato 0 2425 ordinance approving yeah this same uh Grant of easement to Ram 51 new LLC to Traverse over and maintain a certain portion of Township property located at 53 New Street Monclair New Jersey and I so move okay second thank you any discussion I think she opened theor okay anyone from yeah anyone anyone from the public wish to be um heard on ordinance 0425 we're gonna um oh yes um please miss Avery and then I'm GNA hold it any no worries good uh yeah hi thank you Sarah Avery a Monclair resident uh I think I may have brought this up uh previously the owner of uh 51 New Street malar Zada Dolan she was granted over 5 uh s uh variances on uh 17 different uh properties between uh Mission New Washington and Wheeler streets and in particular on Wheeler Street uh number 13 Wheeler Street uh James Williams own that house and he sold the property to miss Dolan for $325,000 in 2021 Dolan was able to get a subdivision so there's now number 13 and number 15 there is no impervious there's no perious coverage on number 13 and 15 you know there's a spot of grass about 2 feet by 3T in front of each property those two properties were sold for a combined total of over $2.8 million and this town thinks it's okay to Grant this person and easement I urge you all to vote no thank you thank you um any other guests that wish to be heard on this ordinance okay Madam clerk Deputy Mayor Anderson oh oh I'm sorry did you have no I just i' see Mr Burr is not here but we've discussed this many times right that the lawyer that that this is an easement that will be okay right thank you yep Council to did you have anything okay Madam clerk thank you mayor Deputy Mayor Anderson yes Council Birmingham yes Council damato yes Council lofman yes councelor Toler no councelor Williams yes mayor Baskerville yes next ordinance um please councilor Birmingham um pending ordinance 02434 ordinance to amend section 327 vehicles and traffic of the code of the township of Montclair New Jersey um and it is South Willow name of Street South Willow Street West from a point 60 ft south from Bloomfield Avenue to a point 55 Street feet South there from these will be designated as loading zones and I so move second discussion anyone from the public wish to be heard on this this ordinance ordinance 0242 oh 20 34 sorry okay council members um roll call Madam Clark clerk thank you mayor Deputy Mayor Anderson yes Council Birmingham yes councelor deato yes councilor lofman yes councelor Toler yes Council Williams yes mayor Baskerville yes okay okay next ordinance ordinance 04- 36 councelor lochman please okay um so I move an ordinance to prohibit the distribution of plastic single-use food service items at non-plastic single-use Food Service items for takeout or delivery orders unless requested by a customer in the township of Monclair second counselors any discussion so I'll start yes Deputy Mayor um apologies I'll start uh so um a group of us up and specifically the council committee on human services and Public Safety has been working with uh members of the mon envir mental commission um Department of Health and others um to um put forward this ordinance it is um affectionately known as skip the stuff as as we heard during public comment multiple municipalities in New Jersey have adopted similar ordinances including Red Bank Maplewood hobok and Garwood Westfield Etc um and we looked at all of those um ordinances to compare and and um craft the language um this ordinance is one that prohibits restaurants and food services providers in Montclair from including plastic wear as well as napkins and other items intended for single use in takeout and delivery orders unless they're specifically requested by the customer so um this the purpose of of this is really to reduce the amount of plastics um it's consistent with our Town's commitment to sustainability um uh we want to reduce litter and also um it uh uh will save businesses money um we have um engaged with um restaurant owners through a survey that is modeled after one that Westfield has used uh it was um um shared with restaurant owners um through the health department which is going to be uh is being proposed as the department to be responsible for enforcement since they do an annual um inspection of all of these businesses um and yeah um so state agencies are encouraging municipalities to adopt these these practices and policies and uh um and I just uh I just wanted to the only other thing that I want to note is presuming that this ordinance does get passed and becomes effective in March um it the plan is to um follow it with a very robust education campaign the environmental commission and others um are going to help us with that um uh getting the word out there to the public um and designing toolkits for roll out um to restaurants and um and and customers so any other the council members um yeah I would just say I was at a conference last week and um a council person from Red Bank was there and she said that um her the restaurants there reported that they were giving away giving out 70% less waste or or stuff and um that the May the mayor from wewood was also there and they actually have had this ordinance for a few years in association with a plastic bag band and um you know they all said that it's been well received in their communities and I think we will be doing a um as you said an education campaign for both consumers and um restaurant owners food service providers to try and have this go as smoothly as possible also with some other little kit with some other um environmentally friendly things that they can do as well so um yeah hopefully this will just be a a positive all around thank you councilor Williams I'm in favor of of the ordinance and when asked I'm I'm going to vote for it I just had um one of the warehouse Clauses uh the third Warehouse clause in the last sentence it you know talks about New York's environmental burden where mler waste is burned at New York incinerator I was just like that removed you know um you know I I don't see I I don't think it enhances this any any way shape or form and I I don't know what potential um liability that it would sight up I mean you know that that's just me it's not that's just my opinion so so are you um we have a somebody moved and there was a second no no no there're already there's already a motion on the floor okay so can it be edited is that I'm not sure um attorney how edit now I attorney what is the process if we if you wanted to um change something on the um ordinance before we voted am amend the ordinance you can do that while there's a motion on the floor because there's one M motion right so you have you move and second to adopt the or to introduce the ordinance yeah that if you want to amend it before that motion that's uh a secondary motion that you would deal with first you would make a motion to amend ordinance they a vote on that and then re remove to introduce the amendment ordinance oh okay so councelor Williams um would you put that in the off I apologize would you put that in the form of a motion please I want to make a motion to remove the last uh the the part in this ordinance where it's talking about uh New York's environmental burden mayor well where it says contributing to newark's uh environmental burden okay is there a second um I I I might have something too that I'd want to edit out or whatever so should we make the motion all in one Fell Swoop yeah okay so to add to Mr Williams motion um first of all there's a typo and we should change the typo um and the where it says now therefore be it resolved by the Monclair Township Council that blah blah blah blah blah environmental hazards of the Monclair Township Code to prohibit restaurant and food services I believe that's correct yeah and um I I really didn't understand on Section 13422 exemptions and I think ROM you said the same thing what do you mean by C used by any customer with a disability or other impairment Deputy mayores how does that app PL Deputy Mayor sure um so we did get clarification that that is language um taken from another Town's ordinance and um like let's say just as example um let's say it's somebody with a visual impairment who can't read the signs or um anything that says you know we don't give out um single use that would allow the um person who's working there to say hey would you like um a fork or a knife or whatever thank you and Council deato I believe the idea is that they can always ask yeah no they're supposed yeah they're to ask but the the food service provider is not necessarily supposed to ask no like that's oh I see okay got you and I also I maybe I'm being Dopey today but I also did not understand the B above that prepackaged drinks sold or distributed by a food service provider what does that mean those are like those juice boxes that have straws with them and so they this doesn't apply to that oh because the stores are stws are built in I get you okay thank you yeah and just a I mean I am for this but I just have a comment I mean this seems to me very difficult to enforce but you you did do surveys with other towns and that's not an issue I mean for me uh sorry I think um the enforcement would primarily be through these license uh annual lure visits but I think for me it's less a little bit less about being punitive than it is to affect a cultural culture change thank you now I just say they you know work in the city and that's been in in place and for the most part folks abide by it okay and I just have one more um it's just a little Bugaboo of mine when we do things like ordinances you make the statement that um Monclair continues to experience the detrimental effects of single use waste in storm drains and waterways as well as in solid waste streams you know we don't have any real data supporting that statement that's just anecdotal and we all believe that but you and not that I want you to go you know looking at storm drains or anything but it's just kind of my Bugaboo about when we do these ordinances if we're making statements that also raise the question about how do you know this I prefer that we have some backup to that just we go okay so counselor lochman um would you please read the um Amendment with the changes so that Madam clerk would be able to have the I will thank you yeah um so the first change is under the now therefore be resolve paragraph I believe the third sentence should read Township Code to prohibit restaurant okay and then um okay I think it was also the third where as yes um we want to okay yeah delete contributing to newark's environmental burden Etc okay and I I think that's it so I move with those amended changes changes you didn't want to put the little Bugaboo out no uh so I make a motion to adopt this ordinance with the exceptions with the changes that I've just made or announced M mayor I think that we're not this is just the first reading oh excuse me right there you go so now what do we do is there a second seconds Madam clerk thank you Deputy Mayor Anderson so wait I'm sorry can I just confirm we are voting on all of these together no we're voting on um C with the the amended C that's this we did ordinance ab and now we're on this is a motion to amend ordinance 0 2436 as councelor lofman put on the record those two changes okay um sorry I would so it's the contributing to newark's environmental burden is coming out okay I just I'm okay with it coming out but I would just say do it's think it's important to acknowledge that's where our waste is burned like that's sort of where we're and um um and actually I'm just on aside um Lisa who now is Dr Johnson um has a really good a lot of data on how much we burn and how much it costs us and and so I hope we can have a community forum for that once is there any excuse me um Madam clerk thank you mayor Deputy Mayor Anderson yes councilor Birmingham no councel deato I'm sorry did I just that was just that's just to change the language yes this is the motion to amend the ordinance thank you no you're welcome councelor deato uh yes councelor lofman yes councelor Toler no I think we need to acknowledge that our waste is going to Nork and buring other residents councilor Williams yes mayor Baskerville no the motion carries the ordinance is is amended okay yes councilor lochman so just for clarity with respect to the public understanding this will go through a second reading as this amended ordinance probably at the not next week but right at next week's meeting now we're going to introduce okay yep but I so now we will make the amend the motion to intr introduce the amended ordinance is there motion I'll move it second second any further discuss at this time Madam clerk Deputy Mayor Anderson yes Council Birmingham yes Council damato yes Council lofman yes councilor Toler yes councel Williams yes mayor Baskerville yes okay we're going to move on to resolutions um mayor yes um managera uh resolution number uh item number one resolution r24 233 should have had an asteris asterisk next to it as part of the consent agenda even though it's listed under there it's missing but one through 20 are part of the consent agenda those items were on the agenda at the conference meeting uh uh two weeks ago so but can we keep it out is it okay to leave it out as a separate just I want yes so did you want to leave it out because there's some others that we're going to okay um so consent agenda number um four number 19 and number 20 I'd like to have um out um yes Council damato I'd like to I'd like to interrogate or ask a question about 10 13 and 18 so we're also going to take um quickly 10 13 and 18 out of the consent agenda and Council lochman yeah um number two number three number five number two three and five will come out of the consent agenda yeah anyone else anything left yes we have number 6 7 8 9 11 12 14 15 16 and 17 so much for the consented yeah we Tred okay I'm sorry mayor yes item number one is it taken off of the consent agenda at the request of counc Birmingham thank you okay so I have item 1 2 3 5 I'm sorry 4 10 13 18 19 and 20 are not on the consent agenda somebody wanted five out too yeah I said 235 two that was councilman 2 four five I'm sorry mayor I I'll do it again in this time I won't make a mistake no thank you item number one MH item number two MH 3 4 5 10 13 18 19 20 not on consent thank you very much okay at this time does anybody wish to make a motion to move the consent agenda items so moved any discussion no since it's consent I guess not okay thank you mayor Deputy Mayor Anderson yes councilor Birmingham yes councelor damato yes councel lofman yes councelor Toller yes councel Williams yes mayor Baskerville yes thank you now we're going to start from the resolution number one um Deputy Mayor resolution number one uh resolution regarding the suspension of meter collection on Saturday November 30th 2024 for small business Saturday and during the 2024 holiday shopping period which according to this resolution would be through and including Sunday January 5th and I still move second discussion um yes I I think we had tabled this at the last meeting and to the extent that it at all upset our small business Community I want to apologize I think we are going to really try and be obviously ahead of this you know um going forward um and I look forward to working I know parking is a real issue in this town um but we did take this back to the finance committee because um as people have said it is a you know it's been a tradition in um Montclair to have holiday parking but we're now at 5 weeks of holiday parking and that is something that has not always been a tradition um in 1975 it was December 15th to 24th in 1997 it was the 20th to the 28th in 2001 there was none so we discussed with um Mr germano you know what is the financial impact and again not that that is the primary driver but it is important to consider um and monthly revenues for our parking and this would include the meters the um the pay stations and um the um I'm blanking on the name of the app what's the parking app Park Mobile sorry Park Mobile is about $109,000 per month um and that is before the fees which are probably about $9,000 a month so we're talking in five weeks over $100,000 in Revenue um and you know of course we will we are Monclair has invested in our parking infrastructure um you can see that and we have debt related to our parking we have 10 over $10 million in our parking utility debt um and so again um I think most of us in the community are happy to um invest in our small businesses my question again is in saturated parking uh markets and I think we all would agree that Montclair is generally a saturated parking Market you don't drive down Bloomfield Avenue and see lots of empty parking spaces usually it is very hard to find spots um you know in places where they've studied it it's not really clear that free parking improves that situation and it I'm not really sure that there's a lot of economic things that when there's scarcity scarcity improves by giving something away so just that idea I think this year what we're what we've asked um Mr jamor to do is look to see is there turnover of cars because we've you know you hear and this has been in Verona in fact they did away with free parking on Bloomfield Avenue because people would just park their cars there um and so again I think we're going to look to make sure that there's turnover because for retail environments um that is that's important to be able to turn over cars um there so I think from the finance committee we are coming to you know we do recommend this at this point um we will be looking in the new year to sort of look at our parking strategically um both to try and acheve achieve a real balance for um you know people who need to use parking retailers Food Service establishments who need to have you know obviously customers using parking um keeping our streets safe um with all the people coming into town and I so I think we all look forward to doing that and um this is sort of a long- winded way to say that um happy holidays to everyone and um happy parking any questions I have a question so on the part that says including Sunday January 5th um was it was that your understanding that the finance committee wanted to include that because my understanding yes and we and we had discussed um again because traditionally parking had stopped on like around the 26th between the 26th and the 28 but I think because there are some there are holidays that are running later this year that we would recommend to keep it this year to January 5th which is um a few extra days it I think the um New Year is on a Wednesday so New Year would be free parking and so then it's the Thursday Friday Saturday um those days would we would still leave in for free parking this here because I believe it's Quanza and Hanukkah are both running late in you know they're they they part of that yeah H starts de 26 councelor lochman so this is the discussion part right yes okay so um if I'm reading this correctly you looked at Princeton Verona Ridgewood and Po hoken and Westfield from the information that you gave it looks like Princeton on certain blocks has eight days of free parking Ridgewood offers free parking on Thursdays in December only so that's four or five days hobon offers free parking in a deck if you have a receipt show you spent money Westfield had four days why are we offering five weeks anyway no Westfield has longer you said Westfield last year was November 29th to January 1st so okay yeah um right I mean I think it is because we've discussed this is a tradition this is something that we did not we're not ahead of and for this year we you know I think we will proceed as it's been done it was I think January it was 2021 when people may remember we had the problems with the 3G networks and the meters so the meters weren't really functioning I think it was that year they passed the resolution that extended it out to um January 9th so um and since that time it's been extended into January and so I think for next year you know I think there we can consider potentially um and and that's why we're hoping to get some data from the parking utility this year to see how cars are moving and things well just to continue so and probably to use an appropriate metaphor I'm the Grinch I feel like this town we want to try to keep our taxpayers not every year having more and more taxes opposed on them so I want to try to keep our budget flat oruh reduced but anyway um we have major things that we need to finance we have our town hall our Police Department our Public Works building our library Clary Anderson why would we not try to save $100,000 and not just say oh we'll do it next year let's do it this year let's try to save some money so that we can put it towards things that absolutely need to be addressed we cannot let our assets completely deteriorate until it costs us much more money to fix them or to address them or to build new ones so I am not for this other counselors councelor damato I um absolutely give respect to council lman um for you know uh saying the hard things um and I think that that's great um I think we should have a discussion about it next year I think being the one that gives away the most I I did hear by the way you know people were a little upset I got some but but I got emails that were so smart so thoughtful so civil from some of our retailers uh and and it was very clear that they were saying you know the truth that this meant a lot to them um the key for me is like why we would say yes now is because you don't end an entitlement like this just as it's beginning that's the key thing so if we have the discussion the discussion doesn't happen in November to change this when people have literally you know made purchasing decisions and done all this kind of stuff so in general um you know you just we and the frustration that people have with this room and this body is that things are people feel like it's sprung on them so I I I I I agree completely that this is something to look at I also think there's an Enforcement issue with two hours and and people did bring that up and they said we want it but only if you enforce it because if there's just people parking all day it's bad for business so we have to do it right but we do we shouldn't make a change I would say right before something is about to happen and that just it just is bad form and and it sets everybody's teeth off but I really think both of you for doing the hard work and saying the hard things and I think it's it's it's great can so yes any any other counselors over here no councelor lochman I'd just like to respond to that so if you're your your argument is that we haven't told we're springing this on people we haven't told them so why can't we commit ourselves right now to not doing this next year because I'm chicken yeah chicken counselors well I just want to say um councelor Toler you I I respect councelor Lan's U thought process on this um if we're looking to save some money we need to take a look at our bill list and see why we're paying you know overbid prices exceeding thresholds things of that nature I'm sure that would add up to some of this money that we're losing and parking um I'm open to a discussion for next year I understand where you're coming from um but I think we should go ahead and let this be for this year thank you mayor mayor councelor oh I'm sorry sorry um Deputy Mayor um I also want to I want to thank councelor Luckman for bringing up all those very important points um and yes it is a lot of money when when I saw the figure um in um in Eileen's uh the email I was pretty shocked uh I mean that being said um I would just ask perhaps next year I do want to see the data on the turnover I think that would be really important for next year to see if maybe we should reduce the um the number of weeks um I I do think that it's a good um gesture for the small business Community um as well as our residents who um who are going to be you know doing some shopping and trying to enjoy um I I I think I do just want to see if we can get this in front of the council um you know whatever proposal it is next year a bit earlier um to give us more time to be more thoughtful about it um and and be able to have this discussion uh not like a week before suppos to happen um yeah I would just say I think um councelor lman we I I completely appreciate which is why I went through the data because I do want I want us to be you know transparent and and understand some of the impacts of the things we're doing and and I think going forward we can be a little bit more strategic and I see the um executive director of the bid here and I and I'm looking for I think we are looking forward to working together I do think there are some opportunities throughout the year for us to hopefully you know be able to going forward say you know that we're going to give up we're going to have this much holiday parking um and then see how we can potentially make up some Revenue I will say this year just so everyone's aware there was a two-hour limit and they have license plate readers this year so um just so people are aware and then the other question that I know has come up um recently is that there is flowbird and there is Park Mobile and I think people are confused as to if um flowbird is replacing Park Mobile and the answer is that no they are both able to be used so it is just another option for you to use when you're parking um and hopefully we'll be able to get that fully explained and transparent and um clear for people thanks councilor lochman I i' just like to have the last word here if I can Eric you had mentioned that um enforcement is so critical here and we've just heard how difficult it is to have parking enforced so I'll just remind you of that when people are there for 5 hours in their one spot okay Madam clerk Deputy Mayor Anderson yes C counc Birmingham yes councel damato yes Council lofman yes Council Toller yes Council Williams yes mayor Baskerville yes resolution number two please councelor Williams resolution r- 24249 resolution to adopt the council meeting schedule for the year 2025 okay I'm moving forward I think I'm moving forward second discussion yes Council lochman yeah um okay so I thought that we have um you know a number of meetings but sorry we have a number of meetings scheduled we have nothing in June July and August and I recognize that's holiday time but what we have one meeting excuse me we have one we have one in each of those months which every other month we seem to have too I believe that we should have we should schedule we should schedule some more meetings here because we have a lot to do especially early in the year and um I don't know how everybody else feels but I think you know three meetings a month would would be better I know that sounds like a lot but certainly in January February March perhaps just so we get things rolling um and I also think it's easier to schedule the meeting and then if we feel it's not necessary we can cancel it but then everybody can work their schedules around a predetermined date for a meeting that's just my thoughts Deputy Mayor I um yeah I I I hesitate I I I would say no because partly because we are also doing in between these meetings we have Council subcommittee meetings where we're doing a lot of what well you know we're going to be doing a lot of work so um I I I think for that reason you know anticipating that a lot of the really um hard work is going to be done in those committees between these regular meetings I would I mean I the only the only thing that I would um maybe agree with was is I think there probably should be an additional meeting in June but probably not July and August councelor Toller thank you um I'm fine with this meeting schedule um the reason I'm not interested in three meetings per month is because we have employees that are involved with putting these meetings on um they have families and lives as well so we have to be mindful of that similar to what counselor um Anderson stated we are on subcommittees um other committees we have other responsibilities three meetings a month would be a lot um I'm happy with the July and August being one meeting and I think we should also leave June as one meeting because people have families and they may have other obligations towards the end of June with graduations things of that nature so I'm 100% comfortable what the schedule as is just wanted to put that on the record thank you councilor Williams and then um councilor Birmingham sorry I actually don't have anything to say okay councilor Birmingham age um I want to say thank you to um our clerk here because I the June 10th to the July 22nd that's six weeks so I was thinking could we sneak in um a meeting in in like in in June 22nd and um she reminded me that my daughter might be graduating from eth grade right right so I and your daughter's graduating from eth grade and they're to and yours as well so we'll be having um we'll be busy that week um and because it goes glennfield Buzz than the high school um anyway all I would say is that because that is um that is six weeks of time if there is something that comes up maybe we might need to have some flexibility there in terms of if if um we needed to attend to business we might want to you know maybe July 3rd anyway thank you council deato did you wish to add anything okay um so did you make an amendment or you just said that you no no amendment was made okay disc all right roll call please Deputy Mayor Anderson yes councilor Birmingham yes councilor damato yes councelor lochman yes councelor Toler yes councelor Williams yes mayor Baskerville yes resolution um number three R 24250 please um councelor Toler oh sure uh r24 d250 uh resolution designating official newspapers for all advertisement and notices and designating two newspapers to receive notice of meeting for the calendar year 2025 I still move second second discussion Council lochman yeah okay um so I had a couple of points one I have a question um I'm C ious how much we spend on legal notices it's just something you can get back to me with for all the planning board the council whatever else all our legal notices what the costs are U yes councelor laughman I can have her the governing body not for the planning board but if you want me to reach out to miss ask please i' like to know the total cost that we pay to Star Ledger and mon whatever it is times yeah and the other question is um I we have to anticipate that this is going to be approved to go on our uh town website where the town website will be the source of the legal notices I'm wondering if we could start to plan to have programming done does that make any sense or to have yeah okay thank you anyone else councelor to toer did you have anything no anyone oh Council of Birmingham um I've still so now that the Star Ledger um unfortunately is not in print anymore um and it might be that when they go to um um the web only and I don't know if it's already like this that there's a a pay wall um which I I don't know yet but can we I know we've had this discussion but the mclair local seems like it could be a choice do we know why we don't it doesn't qualify as a legal newspap no but now the Star Ledger is not printed anymore in February the Star Ledger plans to stop printing they're still printing as of right now they are okay yes we can revisit of course no but of course why would we pay for the Monclair local if we could have it on our town website all the legal notices well when if the new legislation passes to your point counselor then what you can absolutely revisit it but it would be in the Township's best interest in my opinion to have official newspapers because we have to continue to advertise under the current law Deputy Mayor Shen Anderson and then um deato councelor damato might be saying thinking the same exact thing coun deato and then Deputy Mayor Shen well no this was this was actually a big top a pretty popular topic um at the league of municipalities uh and people just wondering if if if the state legislature is going to pass the amendment to to the law which you know I mean this is this is the whole point of this is to comply with the law um but that doesn't mean that we can't start um publishing on or posting on our town website now right which notices the the short answer is no that doesn't mean something can't be posted to the township website but if you could make clear which notices you want on the township website so the the same notices that we would have to put on in the newspapers that the legal a lot of those are on the website okay okay just just wanted to check we especially now that we have a communications director they put like a news alert out so that one that way everyone gets alerted yeah I just want to make sure that as many people because for instance I think when we were talking about it at the last meeting um I wasn't even aware that the Monclair times existed and it's because I don't get that I mean I don't get I think a lot of people don't ever get that so how are people supposed to know um so um as long as you know they are going to be posted on the website consist ly and other um forums that would be better roll call Deputy Mayor I mean I'm sorry uh Madam clerk Deputy Mayor Anderson yes Council Birmingham yes councilor damato yes councelor lochman yes councilor Toller yes councelor Williams yes mayor Baskerville yes number four please um Council damato R 2425 51 oh I'm sorry mayor if I may yes uh I'd like to make a request to the governing body that we withdraw item number four oh that's right you did tell me that yes ma'am we received a written objection at about 3:00 this afternoon so the law department is reviewing that that written objection and you know we'll move forward according to what the law requires yeah I'd like to withdraw number four what what's the next one that's not in the consent five five sorry but what were they objecting to the notice was just received at 3:00 it's under review with the law department so I don't have much detail outside of the fact that they object to the transfer uh resolution R 24252 resolution authorizing transfer of funds pursuing to njsa 48458 so moved number five Al so um I think I wanted to talk about that second oh second yeah okay discussion can yes Council lochman so I I um I see Mr Aus Austin Ashley is here I I had someone brought to my attention that another way of um managing birds in garages and hangers and all of that is to hire a person who has a hawk I mean it sounds far-fetched but when you actually read the person's website they have a hawk that scares away all these pites excuse me um counselor docman well it's because it's um on page on schedule a they're transferring money from one account to another to pay for the the pigeon problem at the DCs so that's what I'm okay thank trying to figure out all right okay thank you well anyway I was just wondering so that seemed like a you kind of a very environmentally friendly and um maybe much cheaper option is to use this Hawk to scare away you know the pigeons and I mean I know I feel like I sound crazy but um if you I don't know what they do they they they maybe they nest in the garage and then the pigeons don't come but I do think that it's a reasonable thing to at least investigate whether something like that is an alternative to paying $94,000 for netting but anyway just throwing that out there Mr Ashley did you get a chance to look at that website good evening good evening um we did and we spoke with um is it East Coast Falcon East Coast Falcon uh they came by they did an assessment of our facility they're working up three proposals for the garage itself the problem with the Hawks is it just scares the pigeons away and they do come back yeah so the only way to effectively rid the facility of the pigeons is with the netting there are um ways where we can other ways that East Coast Al can eliminate the pigeons but they're not correct yeah so yeah they'll be permanently eliminated but there still the most effective way is the the bird netting and I just wanted to to reiterate it's not just a garage where these where the we're having this problem it's a workspace yeah so effectively it is eliminated a workspace that that we need is a critical workspace that for our garage to service plows it's also it it's a major problem for the storage in the facility the the storage and the trucks get covered in a layer of bird excrement which attracts other Vermin so it's it's a major health problem for the employees that work there and um it's damaging our equipment yeah I have no problem with the for it I know some other public speakers might have said like kind of poo pooed it so to speak but I agree that it seems needed I was just trying to think of there other ways and I appreciate you're looking into that for me thank you thank you councelor Toler thank you um my question is this 180k is this including does this include salaries benefits medical pension or is this a flat the flat 180 is including all of that because oh okay all right but this is to hire two people no or one C was here she requested this resolution trans cuz it's coming out of the from the top three right it's coming out of one account code another but I thought this read that it was for position of M maintenance worker so that's what I was trying to find out is this for a person a position division right and then so then my question still stands this 180 that's being transferred is that enough or to cover and Does it include benefits medical pension Etc if it's going to go to a a body it's going to a person correct right so there was no expenses on those and then be fully funded for next year but they didn't come on until August so that's why we had the access not s i just not okay that's what I'm trying to find out if it was for a person or not all right thank you do you need additional information and would you like to pull it councelor Toler or what are you where are you with this before we just go ahead well miss the CFO is not here right stepped out it's on the record I asked the question so I can follow up later it's fine okay anyone else Madam clerk Deputy Mayor Anderson yes Council Birmingham yes Council damato yes Council lman yes councel Toler counc thank you Council Williams yes mayor Baskerville yes resolution number 10 r24 d257 um counselor damato uh resolution uh r24 257 resolution requesting approval of items of Revenue and appropriation pursuant to njsa 4487 and my question here was basically just the agenda in here Mr manager showed a long list of alphabetically close municipalities um that are I imagine also receiving the same revenue and I'm just wondering why is ours so much larger are we that nice and good like and and population adjusted it's it's even more dramatic so North Bergen has 60,000 people and is getting $10,000 and we're getting 17 with 40,000 and and North Brunswick the same thing 55,000 people I don't know the answer to that question but I can try to get it for you yeah I mean is it just is this a like what is this why are we what would drive these numbers is it our underlying spending the size of our police force what is it I don't know the answer you don't know I'll get you the formula they're using can can we wait on this then I it's just it's just accepting okay be part of the budget come any other questions just want to know why Madam cler Deputy I'm sorry I have a movement do I have a second a second thank you Deputy Mayor Anderson yes councelor Birmingham yes Council damato yes councelor lochman yes councelor Toler yes councelor Williams yes mayor Baskerville yes uh resolution 13 R 24260 please councelor Birmingham um 13 R 24260 resolution requesting approval of items of Revenue and appropriation and JSA 48 colon 4- 87 um this is a um hereby request the director of division of local government services to approve the insertion of an item of Revenue in the budget of the Year 2024 in the sum of $750,000 which is now available from njde Green Acres Grant in the amount of $750,000 and I so move second discussion yes do any any discussion yeah yes um no I I was just uh I have wellp friends and constituents who have asked about the poured in place plastic surface there and who were just curious why we couldn't use a new and different surface the cork um thing and I know that there's been some back and forth with Mr Ashley and if you could just explain to everybody where we're at with that if we could take another tumble onto that topic so we've looked into the the um I forget the the cork Corin material the the issue that we have is is there's not a lot of test cases within the United States where the material has been used and the compaction uh test for full protection are not equivalent to the port and place rubber surface so it's a twofold it's a safety concern that we have and it's also a durability concern councilor Toller yes um I just wondered how much would the difference the cost difference be to use the corkin versus the plastic the reason I'm asking is because I live across the street from Glenfield Park okay and they use L plastic in that Park my water stinks I invite you to my kitchen to sit down and have a glass of water the area stinks I don't want to see this initialing part in the fourth ward where children are playing so I'm curious to know what the difference is and the cost again so it's not been used a lot within the United States but we project that it's going to be roughly double well I need I need a dollar amount if you can get look that look that up for me I'd appreciate it um you know it has to be safe the park has to be safe you saying that there is no data or not enough data currently for corkin is that that's what you just said on the record right so we know what the effects of a port Plastics are right now and we don't want to keep going down at least I don't want to keep going down that road so if you can get the cost difference sure that I'd appreciate that um The Parks have to be safe they just have to be safe for our res I agree okay and if you want to come by and have some stinky brown Water you're more than welcome okay Council lman I'm just curious um counselor Toler H how does uh the park surface affect the the water that's a very good question we would have to ask the county I maybe that's not what the issue is well I don't know it's something but I know the park also stinks in the summer it's very hot over there the area stinks well no I can see that I'm just curious about how you think that I don't know I'd have to talk with the county or have somebody go underground and it's not just me in my house with the water the residents you know surrounding areas some of the streets we have brown water and the water stinks like none of us drink the water we use spring water so I don't know which way it's flowing what's flowing in it um I do know living across the street that when you go out there in the heat in the summer you can actually smell the plastic cooking it's just horrible so you know we're going to do Nisha Wayne over we're going to try to do it overright uh make sure it's safe for everyone and um if you can get those numbers I really really would appreciate that absolutely thank you any further discussion just a quick question like when when is the order by date for these things for this this when will this process start the renovation uh we we're still in in the planning stages so this is not uh it's not fully uh flushed out yet yes but if we could just have like an A and B like when and then the drop dead date question okay get that roughly I mean not to the date but like that would be very useful coun toer yep I see in the report from uh I guess this is from one second neglia right mhm all from the state to neglia it talks about tree removal do we know how many trees they're going to be removing from the park when this goes uh it is not many there might be some of the the trees in the center that might have to go where we're trying to retain as many of those as possible because part of the inclusive uh playground Grant has requirement for shade so when when we when possible we'd like to retain the existing trees as shade instead of supplementing them for an artificial shade structure I agree with you but I still want I would like to know the number of trees they're thinking about they need to they might need to remove and then um Item B I'm sorry D is in David where it says development compliance checklist I don't see a checklist here if you could forward that to me sure okay and then item number six on page 4 or5 um again it has to do with the change orders and this is where the corkin installed thing could possibly be applied here um depending on what we once we know what the numbers are um I think that's all I have for here Deputy masan Anderson just have two two questions um the first question is regarding the tream removal so I know um I Heard what you just said but is there will any of the trees would would they be replaced would they be replaced with other Greenery that might provide you know other types of shade I I I would like to know that yes I mean if we have to reduce if we have to eliminate a tree we'd like we'd like to replace it one for one okay um but again our goal is to retain as many existing trees as possible okay um and then the other thing is about um corcan so can you just explain a little bit about what you mean by durability concerns like how long would would something like that last well that's the question we don't know exactly how long it would last so there's not a lot for us to look into within the United States that that we can compare it to so it's a it's a new material for but it's safer I mean I don't I I respect what you're saying but the cost shouldn't matter for someone's health is it for the fall protection it is not as good as the the uh report in place material um okay I um saw councelor lockman and then Council birming okay Council Birmingham and then councel lochman um so in terms of the Corine we know that it's been used in Europe for a long time so or quite a bit it seems like and in in um environments like snowy you know what I mean like it's in different kinds of um environments so I would also be interested to see um in terms of the cost differential the one thing I did read in terms of what you're saying it sounds like it might have a different critical fall they call it a critical fall height so like you when you design the equipment perhaps it couldn't be as high maybe it sounds like so um but again that's my what I read I'm not not an expert on this but has this playground been designed is I guess the question because I know it's like has or are we still in the design phase yeah conceptually so you know for the Grant application we have a conceptual ideas there's not nothing has been okay so there is still a lot of in room for input from the community yes and then the in terms of the budget this is a 75% matching Grant so of 750 ,000 so is our match 250 is or what I the exact numbers on that I don't you know in front of me so it's supposed to be like a million dollar part okay when is the deadline that you need to have everything in I don't have the paperwork in front of me early in the process yeah okay councelor lochman yeah I just wanted to ask it is typical in the process of looking at this park that you'd have Community hearings to see what they they're interested in having the park look like and uh the equipment that might be in it yes there was one in um I believe it was February it was a hearing here okay will there be another one when you have you more information I I'd have to look and see what the requirements are I guess we're interested in community here yes thank you you said you don't know what date this has to be in by I'm off the top of my head I don't have the date no I'd like to make a motion that we table this okay oh well if we're just accepting the grant money that's fine but I definitely need to know the um the date cuz I want to have a community meeting with fourth W residents and I'll invite you so you can hear what they have to say sure M cler would you do a roll call please on accepting this amount of money yes uh mayor Deputy Mayor Anderson yes Council Birmingham yes councelor damato yes councelor lochman yes councelor Toler yes Council Williams yes mayor Baskerville yes um resolution number 18 I requested to be withdrawn no yes why did somebody request 18 to be withdrawn a question about it just a question okay and discussion on resolution number 18 should I read it in and get it rolling uh r24 265 resolution to cancel Grant receivables Andor Grant Reserve appropriation balances and I so move second so I just would like to know is this just as a ballpark guess of around $100,000 of Grants so the idea is that we go through and figure out what is expired and then we have to purge it from our balent from our p&l and is this a normal year is this like a normal like $100,000 would be stuff that we just couldn't leverage she's just nodding which means yes you don't yeah you can if you wanted to it just sad you know again the money you know it' be nice to have money oh you can ask you a question now mhm I know I remember so may um few of the municipal Alliance grants Municipal Alliance grants they were not able to complete working on that that Grant period expired so both sides it got cancelled the receivables got cancelled and the propriation got cancelled and some of the police grants they are like this is the period when in 2023 when we had the uh cyber hack they were not able to schedule the uh uh cops police officers and the on this grant related work at that time so that's what the information I got from the police that's why those are uh getting cancelled um but it happens normally this is like from it was a little bit more but it could happen depend depending on the kind of grant for example today um there is a resolution to accept the clean Fleet Grant I don't know the number it's like about $264,000 that is the grant period is up to next year April May you know it could extend but there is no guarantee okay to get that $264,000 like I informed in the finance committee is $800 $70,000 is a total cost of that you get 260 and then 550,000 about that much the township has to spend if the township does not have the appropriated amount to buy those to to fund that amount from within the Township's funds kind of a local match then we will not be able to use the entire $264,000 before the deadline that means whatever is left gets cancelled it has to get cancelled you know it the state allows us one year sometimes two years it just sits on the books the grant period is over until we reconcile and do to clean up but every time the budget time when we submit the budget for review at that time they look at this two and say Hey you have too many old grants so clean up your books but we again we have every year I mean this is a story that would always people would tell me you know that we miss out on grants and I guess that's that also means things that never show up on our books that we've just like never applied for this only would be the things that we've actually passed resolutions accepting the money yeah we applied for we got we never we don't know necessarily what we are missing but but this would be a standard once a year thing of aund something like this okay yeah once a year thing but it could be 100,000 it could be like a 10,000 one year depending upon what kind of Grants you got so there is a $750,000 Green Acres Grant if we are accepting that if we don't do the project the whole $750,000 we have and then we have to do this to it can lock if you don't do it you can do it next time too it's an annual thing end of the year one of the end of the year routines so I have a question so with respect to a large Grant like 750,000 where you're saying there's a matching element before the who writes that Grant and is there anybody in particular who writes grants we don't have a grant writer individual Department indidual departments do they come to the finance committee and say look finance committee I'm going to apply for a million dollar Grant you'll be obligated to pay 250 do they get that approval before they go through the process of trying to write the grant it used to be in the last few years I don't know what the process is if we didn't have finance committee for a while and then now we have a finance committee but this was I believe the $750,000 towards the end of a Spiller Administration I last year something like that I'm sorry but did you ask a right question it was approved last year by the council at that time Council uh the Spiller Council yeah before the person actually wrote the grant it got approval to apply for this grant is that what you're saying yes okay yes thank you madam clerk deputy mayor Anderson Deputy Mayor Anderson yes Council Birmingham yes councilor damato yes yes councelor lman yes councelor Toler yes councilor Williams yes mayor Baskerville yes uh resolution R 24266 uh is that councelor Birmingham M um the one about the bird just went r24 266 resolution authorizing execution of fair and open contract with geocorp Contracting Inc for bird control netting and ISO move second second discussion Council Toler I I don't know I'm just I can't wrap my head around this I I understand what Mr Ashley is saying um and there's absolutely no other alternative to fixing this issue besides bird netting at $94,000 I mean nothing happy nothing and just I mean we're talking about Holiday Park and losing money but we're going to pay this I don't just doesn't make sense with the um the the the Hawks or the um the B I mean it's it's it's it's a good environment for Birds there's just no getting around that there it's a it's a wide open space that um is is good for them to to nest in and which garage is this this is the main garage so this street on northon noron yeah um nothing you can put on the roof to distract them I'm just throwing ideas out there see them what's going to stick now we' we've had we've had people come in no bird feeders on the property maybe they'll hang out there and eat unfortunately I believe that's what caused the problem is years ago there was someone feeding birds so that's that's what drew them there in the first place MH I mean and Council Birmingham I'm sorry Council Williams no so I actually would like to table this because I want to go to North Fon and see the condition see why this is I mean it's it's a lot of money sure and I'm I'm sure if you're recommending it that it's worthwhile but I I just need to place eyes on it absolutely anytime councilor lochman I'm sorry oh go ahead go ahead no I I'm just also can come and visit but basically you H with the garage you have to leave the doors open like you have to leave it open right for ventilation is like part of it is for ventilation yes I mean so most of this garage houses the the garbage trucks so oh they track the bird that'll do it okay so you have garbage trucks but you also have people working in there so it's not just a storage for garbage trucks people are actually working and exposed to the cor that's okay that sounds okay thank you yes so um do you know if you have any workers compensation claims that have arised Arisen out of people inhaling and working in those conditions I do not you do not know or you do not have okay all right thank you we yeah I bet that that would be cuz you know that's we do joke about it but if you go there it is it's a serious disgusting and it's you literally you're working under these conditions of garage you can't use because of the bird so yeah I get it so I I just just to be clear though like we have a meeting next week like our next week we can get our visit and CU I do think if these are people working there like we should make a decision pretty quickly in terms of yeah I I think I have um I have a tour schedule already and with this department and another department so may I I just have a quick question yeah umy if I don't know if I'm going to be able to um make the visit but um if somebody could take pictures that would be great I'd also like to I'm very curious to know about the maintenance issues if if if um these conditions have actually had an effect on I mean uh premature wear and tear on equipment causing us to have to purchase you know New pieces of equipment before you know their their useful life has yeah I so I mean one of the main um impacts that we've had is is again is the is the bay that we repair the salt trucks and the and the the major snowf plows has become unusable again also the equipment that's parked in the the garage immediately adjacent to it which what you'll see on your tours is um where we keep uh cones and larger equipment and these trucks and Cones become completely covered in the bird excrement can I join the tour yeah tell me when same thing right wear good shoes how many employees are there uh we have roughly 80 employees that work in that actual Garage in and outk so we'd like to um withdraw the resolution number 19 R 24266 and to councelor lochman to your earlier point we are tabling this and what is and until next we because you want the reason so we'd like to table this until what's the date of the next December December the 3rd it's too soon it's be the one it's going to be the one after December 3rd is Tuesday 17th is the one after that okay yeah 17th so we like the table resolution are 24266 until December the 17th but I so that we get a chance to tour the facility would be the reason right councelor um Birmingham so well unless we I'm sorry unless we do the do the tour this week cuz or this Friday when I guess I when was the plan to I I just don't I don't I'm a physician I don't like people working in pigeons sh um and so I I guess if the plan like if the plan was we're not going to do it till the after the holidays anyway then but if it's like we were going to do it Mr Mr a Ashley Ashley Mr Austin Mr Austin Ashley Mr Austin Ashley is I just want to get a sense of when this um netting was going in again as soon as possible you know you know as soon as we get the approval we would have start the contractor to come in and and get the the burdening up okay so we'd like to um go back to um the date of the 3rd of December we'll table that until and hopefully the people that need to get a visit we'll do that the rest of this week or um as Council Williams said this weekend I don't know but yeah I I'll I'll make myself available be another be another Saturday uh okay the group okay moving on to the bill no resolution number um 20 I ask um um to have resolution number 20 taken out of the consent agenda because I wanted to amend it to um include $50,000 instead of the $35,000 we discussed this at the um last meeting and I um very strongly feel that you know just because we've been doing 35,000 for X number of years that we should continue doing that I know that the numbers of people that they're um servicing are going up I know that now they are part of the 211 um system I know that they are trying very very hard to provide um additional services so that they don't have to wait until 32 degrees so um for example when they said like if the weather is extremely rainy and it's just not good they're going to try to um have other people but the numbers of people that are seeking these Services have certainly gone up and the resources haven't and so I'd like to suggest that we start out with um the sum of $50,000 and I'd like to um move move that yes I'm sorry did you your second first F yeah um maybe I'd misunderstood the last meeting but this contains a certification of funds for $35,000 yes so we can't vote on the 50,000 withraw well we can yeah I may can I yes so this is for next year okay this is for next year right so this is for next year's budget the certification of funds clearly says for next year's budget pending adoption of the budget pending allocation of these resources so I can change it now because it's pending next that's fine all right got it's changed to $50,000 yeah uh coun damato I just noticed the grants cancellation is not 100,000 it is uh 48,000 receiv receivable that's 48,000 on one side for 48,6 63 and the reserves are 57,000 it's only one side you take reable not thank you excellent and they have to pay um rent to the um St St Marks every every night that they're open and I believe the amount was like 1,200 they have security and and a lot of other things that go in here so then I'd like to um move the amendment is there a second please thank you is there a discussion uh yeah councelor lochman I I would just like to know does um does mesh or are are they associated with anybody that provides Mental Health Services or are they just strictly a homeless shelter they're not um a homeless shelter the mesh program here provides um overnight resid for individuals who are unhoused um when the weather gets to be 32 degrees um so it's not like an on like a shelter like it's an emergency emergency shelter that's good but is is there any place in Montclair where we provide any Social Services for people who are home less and have mental mental issues um that's it um were you going to respond to yes yeah I I believe that mesh mesh also provides like they they um have meals and um and they provide food uh I don't to mind please somebody from the township correct me um Town Tony's kitchen like organizations like Tony's kitchen they don't provide services per se but they direct people to services they also have a part-time social worker yeah they have a and they have a huge um network of people that they refer to a lot of what they do there is referral and they work extremely close with the Essex County um and so the referrals would come there and the mount Clair mental health facilities and you ask about um locally places that we have the mount cair mental health group and they have a residential um location on Orange Road where um people who um need counseling can rent an apartment different things so we have a lot of things in the township but I'm not certain if they do that every day there if they provide that on site that was not something that they offered to me when they were discussing the services that they have in there anyone else councilor Toler Williams anyone else damato no um Madam clerk okay mayor just for clarification this is resolution R 24267 and the motion is to adopt the the resolution with the amendment from 35,000 to 50,000 yes yes yes okay Deputy Mayor Anderson yes councilor Birmingham yes councelor damato yes councelor lochman yes councelor Toler yes councelor Williams yes mayor asille yes okay okay unless I'm forgetting something that's all of the uh resolutions and we can move on to the bill list bills list Bill Bill list okay bills list oh boy who's going to do the Bills list councilor lman okay uh Bill list resolution R 24268 whereas invoices against the township of Montclair in favor of the following persons for the amounts set opposite their respective names have been received duly audited and found correct now therefore be it resolved by the Council of the township of Monclair in the county of Essex that said invoices be and they are hereby ordered paid and that checks be drawn by the finance department to the order of such persons for the amounts respectively and here and after stated on the schedule attached her to and made apart hereof um council meeting date 11264 total amount1 18,9 2237470003 could that could be I'm just saying otherwise I had to go up and look because I don't have access here U that could be the construction fees that uh our second floor the building construction fees part of it goes to DCA okay that's all right it could be and that's the only question I have right now thank you anyone else counselors tomato No Birmingham anyone okay Madame clerk Deputy Mayor Anderson yes Council Birmingham yes councelor damato yes Council lman yes councelor Toller yes councilor Williams yes mayor Baskerville yes um thank you manager Lolo can you um take us through the new business resolution please uh resolution number 22 is a resolution requ requesting the approval of items of Revenue Appropriations pursuing to njsa 4A col 4 d87 and this is to ask the division local government services to insert uh $264,000 Grant the clean Fleet Grant into our budget anyone discussion no okay uh well these are for votes for tonight so I don't right that's what I'm saying can you anybody have any questions otherwise we can go and if they have questions between now yes sir okay next all right R 24270 is is a resolution awarding a fair and open contract to National metering services for the installation of water meters with radio frequency meter interface units this is our replacement of water meters and this is just the next order for those meters um councilor to and then Council Williams Council Williams yeah just uh in the resolution the third whereas Clause it says three vendors but there's only two so were we supposed to get three I believe there was only two but I will find that answer out for you um I guess my question is I'm sorry were you done okay um does this mean that the town is going to install new water meters in homes that are smart meters or yes okay we've been in the process of doing that um I have a concern with residence and exposure so um are we certain that these are safe and there's no radiation and we have reports and everything to verify that right and we give notice when we're coming and everything else so this is you know and when will this happen roundabout do you it's ongoing it's ongoing you have to call in and make an appointment if you want them and if you don't they add what $16 a month to your um I don't remember ex so residents don't want it they don't have to have it you well the goal for us is to have everyone do it because it's uh no no I understand I understand that but I'm just saying if residents some residents may not want this in their home and you mentioned that they can opt out is there an opt out I think it's more of a penalty not an opt out so the penalty is what the $16 the mayor mentioned yeah I know the exact amount yes okay thank you can I a question yes councelor lochman okay so um are these these meters are put on the outside of your home no no inside oh they're inside and if you have a three Family House you get three meters you don't sounds to be separate bills yeah no I get two bills well then you'll have two separate meters yeah it get two meters but if I wanted to have three separate meters even though I have only have two now I have a three family house but I only have two meters can you update it to have three meters I think that would have to be You' have to separate the syst You' have to separate the system and how do people know about this you said you can you can call in about it we send letters and notify them as we going through a certain neighborhoods so you didn't send me a you we may not have gotten to your part of time all right okay thank you I goes block by block yep okay uh Mr unless someone else has something on that one no Mr and then R 24271 is a resolution to approve the temporary budget appropriation for Debt Service due toi prior to the adoption of either the temporary permanent budget so what this means is our first meeting I believe is January jary 3rd we have Debt Service payments on current debt that are due uh to be paid on January 1st so this authorizes us to pay that on January 1st because we can't wait until January 3rd I I just have a quick question yes coun William I I know that I know that the the town acts as an agent on behalf of the county and Boe in terms of collecting taxes and then Distributing to us so I see the Boe here for Debt Service are we actually making this pain we're we're taking the taxes in and then we're making the payment on behalf of the Boe councelor Williams um yeah this is before the school became type 2 School District like it happened in 2021 before that it was a type 1 School District which means that all their debt was managed by the town so this is a leftover of that debt that's what we have to service it but eventually it gets on to their Levy mhm got it anyone else oh Mr Lola okay R 24- 272 is a resolution awarding contract in neelon Ford for to the provision of Township uh Automotive trucks um and there's r24 273 is also for the um uh purchase of uh Vehicles if you recall we had a discussion about this and we were not able to find uh electric vehicles that met the specifications for what need to be done so these are those even though it's listed as new business we did have a discussion about these particular uh purchases I would just like for the ease of dealing with these purchase resolutions for the fleet when we're con concerned or committed to doing something about electrifying the fleet that we can have like for 2025 let's say just a single document that is provided to us that shows us what we're purchasing for the fleet and because I feel like we go back and forth and I I can't remember which story is which and I don't want to keep hassling people if it's the same you know um what was the Digger what was the Digger that you liked the uh there was there was some there was one there was some some piece of a caterpillar yeah yeah so I would like to get something that just shows us even a projection of like how many vehicles are we buying in the year in in 20 part that will be part of the budget process but yes whatever we have planned already yeah not only that how many vehicles do we have and what are they used for like a vehicle list I can send that to you oh you have that oh okay uh I mean yes Council Williams just to piggyback on what uh councilman deato said you know we're we're getting these and seems like was it like a week ago that someone discovered that oh we need you know 4 F150s or whatever the case may be it it seems like you know our vehicles have a certain age and they're narrowing their useful life and probably at certain period of time we could probably put together a list I mean which I have the vehicle list but you know uh I don't I don't know if it shows the age but in any event and just say hey we need to replace all these vehicles this year and then also the other thing I was thinking when I was looking through this uh this past weekend is why did why did the depart why isn't this done centrally like have a person not that I want to add to the overhead but have a person be responsible for the municipal Fleet right and you know making sure that you know have it go through one one person rather than each department doing it because you know we could have some vehicles that are sitting idle like you know some of those do things that are out there that I haven't gotten around the chalking it yet but eventually I'm going to do it uh but in in any event you know anyway that's my comment so any further discussion on that Mr Leola and I believe on R 24243 which was the Zen City resolution which had previously been on for discussion and was deferred until tonight I I believe the request was that it be pulled from the agenda for now we're going to withdraw it again I'm I'm I'm asking yeah no we were I was I was answering okay yeah I would like for it to be withdrawn I I actually would I would actually I I had wanted to see if the communications committee could um actually review this product and and uh come back to us with a with some kind of a recommendation and I would go further just to be clear here so just to clear up some things um I think I emailed this something about this to you in February um because I had been talking to a friend who lives in Princeton um and Princeton she was talking about how well-managed she thought her town was and she specifically talked about this piece of soft the Civic engagement um software and so I emailed it to you you looked at it and thought it was a good good idea it is a piece of equipment that or software platform and I think it was initially civil space.io you can find it in like Mont pillar Vermont East Greenwich um Rhode Island and when you look like I can tell you what's going on in the development of the community center in East Greenwich Rhode Island in 5 minutes quicker than I can tell you what's going on here in Monclair so it was a purely the the whole reason was about communication trans and because I do believe we have some major projects that need to happen in our town um and so then it came up again because I think the staff it was not my idea to um introduce the resolution at that time so what I would say is I think you should look at this piece of software but I also think the communication um committee should look at all of the options for civic engagement and how in terms of whether software can enhance that so not I'm not I would say please don't just look at this one piece look at everything that might be available be and and and maybe it's nothing it again it was a very um it was really just I you know it came from Princeton I looked at it I thought it looked interesting and that's what it was here yes so um I think there are a few things to say about this I'll try to be very quick um so I'll try so uh software is a complicated thing and software that's like the Civic software um they usually are composed of different modules like you you'll have one thing and it'll have one name actually it'll sometimes have a few names but it'll do different things and sometimes you'll only buy one bit of it and and and a piece of software can get known for doing one thing and then also do another thing and I think that Council Birmingham was interested in this and I was for for one thing which was literally to make a more transparent process in in in terms of having Community engagement directly on projects it wasn't about something that's putting its hand over social media to figure out what's going on that may be one part of what it does so that's the first thing is that know that nobody was deciding to have software that was about you know uh uh social media reading as the as the focus I do not think that that was what I was about two um we on the committee and in general uh the township is looking and uses lots of different software it's a very very Dynamic field there's a lot of stuff going on I'm a believer that the services that we delivered can actually be delivered a lot better with the application of some software in Atlantic City this week I spent several hours talking with some vendors um including uh one runin that was hilarious where it turned out they were using Monclair as their demo City and I was like hold on for a second and then I said you have to give it to us for free for this I mean anyway so there's a lot that I want us to look at and everybody in the new year and if there's new you know U uh Personnel that we will be taking a closer look at how it all fits together so that's that's why I would be for you know there's there's no emergency that anything needs to be done however the third thing I will say is that there is some criticism of this particular brand of software that both seems overheated in terms of what it does and that's a normal thing that people look at something they race to the worst uh and it seems just it just seemed overheated um um and not really supported by the facts um there's a lot of sensationalist you know reporting or just if you go looking for drama on the internet you'll find it more importantly I do believe that there's criticism of this particular company that is that is uh uh quite low and just basically based on bias uh there are uh uh Israeli members of the staff or the company part of it is based in Israel um and I do believe I'm not saying here necessarily but that that is a source of criticism on no level will we discriminate against a company based on the country that it comes from with two exceptions or a few other exceptions where we are mandated by law you will see sometimes in our paperwork that there's a Russia and Belarus uh a waiver that has to be signed in some of our vendor contracts that they are not doing business in Russia or bellarus there may be one for Iran North Korea and other countries that are sanctioned by the federal government however beyond that we do not pick and choose vendors based on race nationality or religion and in this case um uh certainly not my desire to see it um um um not on the agenda next week uh has as you can probably tell if you know me zero to do with that so so that's that councelor oh manager the council councel councel lman I mean I'll defer if you have a follow-up question to something that Eric is saying I was just actually just wanted to clarify that we after counselor uh Birmingham had made us aware of this we looked at it thought it would be very beneficial especially for big projects and everything else this is not going to be used by police we do not collect information from residents and it is used by over I think at least 250 municipalities and cities in the United States and I was kind of shocked and I would agree with you that this notion that because it's based in Israel somehow this has a international political slm military component to me I don't want to use the word absurd but I just don't understand it so that was never our intent this has been used for years by others it's a phenomenal system I agree you can look at whatever systems you want to look at but I also want to make clear that we don't look at that and the notion that because the company's based in Israel is something that we should be concerned about is not going to happen Deputy Mayor I just wanted to say um I I agree with that I don't think that if we're not prohibited by law from doing business with a company just because it happens to be based in another in a in a particular country I don't think that that should be a consideration in this case I mean I I also um when I saw Princeton's um use of it and other the thing that really attracted me was the fact that you can see like this exact status of all of these major projects you know um just really um clear and very transparent um I I I also just want to acknowledge legitimate concerns that some people have about you know um their information being used for you know nefarious purpose I I get that um so that's why I think you know any sort ort of examination into like the different tools that might be Avail the software that might be available should take all of those things into consideration so that's all I wanted to say Council um this is not really about the software itself but as I keep saying I'm trying to uh make sure that we're trying to keep cost down in the town and we've just hired a new Communications guy and what's he going to be doing if he can't give updates and statuses of projects do we really need I mean I really don't think I'm going to be looking at something like this as a counselor but I would like to see our Communications guy giving out a lot of information to the public and um so I I feel like why do we need this if we have him yeah I I think that's the communications committee you can do that your review and see what see what you come up with okay C toer right um I agree with uh counselor lman um you know I read through it I looked at the the demo link that was shared and I just felt like it was doing somebody's job that we have somebody in place that can actually do this as I stated before you know um I personally just want to know where the information is going I was told it's going to stay in the cloud um I also know that if a software whatever software we decide if we decide to use one it's not going to reach every single resident so I also see that as as being a bit of a waste of money because specifically in the fourth ward people aren't on the town Pages they're not going to be clicking on this they're not going to be utilizing so is this going to even give you you know a accurate count of what people are doing and seeing and looking at I don't know um unless we can find something that's going to be a one siiz fit for all or most then I would entertain something like that but um I just feel like this is actually someone's job here personally that's what I feel like after I read through it so I just wanted to share that thank you thank you um any further discussion no okay uh are you it's up to vote for a vote now that's how you have it listed this one yeah these were listed for a vote very briefly Okay resolution authorizing executive session without the public oh yes they were they were up for a vote but at least the uh these were these were listed as new businesses for votes tonight oh that's why well we could I guess we could put them off until the next meeting but that's uh did we discuss them at the conference meeting no no okay well for for as much as I can I'm trying for us to have you know discussion and a chance to come back and with any further questions before we're you know in a position where we have to vote on something anything in here that that you have to have us vote on tonight because if we don't then something's going to not be correct um in terms of the time the yeah the well that The Debt Service we as long as that's voted on before January 1st that should be okay all right um I also think there's some language in that that doesn't make any sense so we can talk about that later um I believe the only one is because the clean Fleet Grant because we have a closer time frame if we can adopt that tonight and that says to allow for the acceptance of the grant but we have a uh that's the one of these things of these that we should have to we should if we can resolution yes um Deputy Mayor just about that one um I that's my understanding too that there is a time crunch um or else we're going to lose you know the benefits resolution r24 269 um can I something I because I was speaking with um Lisa Johnson about that one and um she said that this was supposed to just be about the um the charger at 205 Claremont is that correct no that's a sep those are separate resolutions that will be on at the next meeting for discussion okay okay thank you sorry but do the trucks need to be ordered yeah we have just to be clear uh Mr Ashley do we have limits on how how long they would keep the uh prices open no those are but what's the point I'm waiting till the next look we can vote if you vote you make my life easier yeah we could on the trucks right I was going um so councelor toer oh okay so um resolution R 24269 um I'd like to move that resolution second any further discussion Madam clerk Deputy Mayor Anderson yes Council B inham yes councelor damato yes councelor lochman yes councelor Toller yes councelor Williams yes mayor Baskerville yes okay and then the two truck resolutions are items 25 and 26 yeah no I see that but I'm just trying to find it and so what happens if we don't vote on these tonight if you can vote on those tonight it would be great yeah they they would like us to V on oh so yeah I we can but again you know I think that in terms of our planning and trying to have things discussed at a conference meeting and then have them vote if we could try to get some of this on um so that we're not like crunched for time like if we don't vote on it I'm sure a lot of things we'd like to happen but if we can just be mindful moving forward that maybe some of us I in particular would like to have the discussion and then a period where if we wanted to run back and talk to you or someone else we can do that and not just see it the first time that we have to vote on it well we did have a discussion about these before this is not this was a discussion before so okay CU it says new business and I just assume that meant that it was new business so I guess it didn't discussion agenda and then you had the questions about okay well anyway if you if we have to vote on these tonight then let's let's let's roll it do you want me to resolution r24 271 does anybody want to move that 272 272 I'll move second second Madam clerk Deputy Mayor Anderson yes Council Birmingham yes Council damato yes Council lochman yes councel Toler yes councilor Williams yes mayor Baskerville yes can I yes Okay resolution r- 24- 273 I so move second discussion Adam clerk Deputy mayy Anderson yes councel Birmingham yes councelor damato yes councelor lman yes councelor Toller yes councelor Williams yes mayor Baskerville yes resolution at this point in time authorized in executive session without the public being permitted to attend in accordance with njsa 10 4-12 B so we're going to ask that the um members of the public please U excuse yourselves we're going to go into executive session and at the end of our executive session we will return to the public I'm sorry mayor is there a second yeah second all in favor any opposed okay do we need to take a break okay e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e I know she's holding the good stuff but like she yes I'd like to make a motion that we adjourn come out of EX oh we did that already thank you yeah we can do it again got to pay attention around here motion to adjourn second all in favor opposed Happy Thanksgiving Happy Thanksgiving to you too we oh really we're doing good for the order oh okay okay let's do good for the order yeah we're Mee yes I'm right we did adjourn but huh we did adjourn but so anybody wants to stay and and give you oh that's interesting well go on we can just here while you do that anybody wants to sit here you do it on yeah you can do it on Tuesday I really I really did not think about that I just thought we're going you know and then I looked at the clock and I thought we were going home I wasn't thinking about that we can go back into session if they want to I don't care to tell you the truth I'm unemployed now so I got plenty of time here again A CP days yeah yes hello you want to sing a duet