##VIDEO ID:r22lHILOMC8## America to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty Justice for All almighty God we ask you bless this governing body with an abundance of wisdom and understanding so that in fulfilling their public trust every deliberation will result in actions that will promote the common good and general welfare for all the people in Mars PL amen amen notice to members of the governing body and burrow staff any use of electron devices during the shall be used solely for the purpose of her business appro of minutes Miss burer I move that the minutes of conference executive and regular session from October 17 2024 be approved is there a second second all in favor I oppos abstain allain sorry thank you approval of the set challeng reports is first October 2024 we have Municipal Court grant writer building inspector burrow clerk animal licensing Animal Control tax collector and Treasurer resolution 2024 151 entitled resolution authorizing sale of Christmas trees and related items at the BFW post 341 Route 53 resolution 20241 152 itle rary Club of Morris Plains raffle license number 34424 resolution 2024 1553 entitled Gift of Life Inc of New Jersey raffle license number 3452 resolution 202454 entitled resolution referring proposed amendment to the Burrow's zoning ordinance for Block 10.01 lot 2.01 to the buroughs planning board resolution 20241 155 entitled resolution author ing the one-year extension of contract number g222 monthly maintenance and repair of sewage pumping station resolution 20241 156 entitled resolution authorizing the one-year extension of contract number F 2022 Uniform Rental and cleaning services resolution 2024 1557 entitled resolution authorizing the one-year extension of contract number e222 Furnishing and delivery of computer Consulting support and maintenance services resolution 202 24-18 entitled resolution authorizing the one-year extension of contract number 2023a shade tree work resolution 20241 159 entitled resolution requesting approval of items of Revenue and appropriation njsa 40 a487 Municipal Alliance Grant resolution 202 24-16 entitled form of re resolution requesting approval of items of Revenue and appropriation njsa a colon 487 drunk driving enforcement fund resolution 20241 161 entitled resolution requesting approval of items of Revenue and appropriation njsa 4A 487 AAA Northeast New Jersey Division of Highway Safety pedestrian safety enforcement Grant the Mayer be authorized to execute the 2024 Trail construction Grant agreement for the Community Park Trail Phase One Design between the county of Morris and the burrow of Morris Plan burrow Council authorized the release and return of engineering review and inspection fees in the amount of $298 to Tom a three Sanford Court moris plan New Jersey for Road opening number 991 for the bar Engineers correspondence dated October 23rd 2024 having received quotes to replace the boiler at 555 speed from the following Webster plumbing 7980 cullin plumbing 9950 and a grp $1,640 that a purchase order be issued to Webster Plumbing West 8 West Main Street PO Box 529 Brookside New Jersey in the amount of $7,988 the mayor and Council approved the closure of the Speedwell Avenue Extension Merchant block for the annual Christmas tree lighting being held Sunday December 8th at 6m the police department to provide traffic control and the Department of Public Works will provide the necessary barricades the mayor and Council approved the closure of the speed La extension Merchant block for the anual ual manora lighting and the g drop being held Sunday December 29th at 6m the police department to provide traffic control and the Department of Public Works will provide the necessary barricades the barel council approved the membership application of Shane M Kelly 233 M Road Morris Plains as a member of the Morris Plains fire department The Bar Council approved the membership application of Frank nun 17 Sherman AB mors PLS as a member of the mors PLS junior fire auxiliary is there a second second second by Art roll call please M ber yes Mr B yes Mr yes M Kelly yes Mr Wagner yesk at this point I'd like to invite anybody who wishes to speak or comment up the microphone St your name and address and your compliment ready Bill Houston 8 glenberg Road um I just wanted to say uh to all of you thank you for all the hard work that you guys do every single day um I know it's not easy um I know it's not a twice a month job uh I know uh it requires a lot of your um time and expertise and you've all volunteered to be here um so I appreciate everything that you do especially cath um you have provided an valuable service to this community over the many many years that you've been on the council as well as an educator in Morris Plains um you've educated my kids and probably most of the kids in this in this town um and the uh selfless sacrifice that you've made to this town um is uh is is not lost of me uh so thank you very much for everything that you've done um and we'll continue to do um so just from me uh again just just thank you everybody for for everything you guys do thank you for your words and um when I congratulated you on Tuesday night you said some very similar things and I appreciate them I took them to heart thank you very much I have they tell you that the Pay Here is 15 cents an hour 14 cents an hour don't complain I won't it's a raise from one get you're ready good luck thanks Cathy 28 um I'm here tonight to request uh that HW Avenue and rosale Avenue uh be included in Article Five the lighting uh liting use of of streets to certain Vehicles the 22-5 trucks excluded from C certain streets and they have you currently have eight streets different streets listed under that at the moment um I want to see my neighborhood protected also those two streets um they our streets are basically used our streets are used as cut throughs uh to speed well and Mountain Way um and I thought about all the different developments potential developments and current developments in this whole uh County that are going on that would really impact us um not only in the B2 Zone uh there's 120 new homes that are pending at Mason Ridge on Route 10 East and if you just go a short distance East Miller Road is right there and it is a true cut off to continue on the Mountain Way up over the mountain and it dumps right here into Mars Plains um there's new condos pending up on Route 53 which is going to impact us also and then we have Central Park the weekend Sports um all the cars and buses and again I can see a difference on weekend everything coming down Mountain L um so that's why I'm here I'm asking you to please add on Hillview Avenue and rosale to that ordinance that you currently have you the number again can you say the number um it's Article Five and then it says 22- and then uh this the eight streets are Academy Canfield Dayton all of Mountain Way silven Drive Trowbridge Washington and watnong which I know those two also are big cut throughs so if Mountain Way is already restricted rosale probably wouldn't have to be because trucks aren't already allowed on Mountain Way so Rose is only one way going down way well I just I thought it was Pro being proactive in trying to yeah no I'm just include both I'm just St that's but we'll certainly we'll give that to our traffic committee let take it under consideration Okay police chief was on there too so we see where it go okay thank you to K we made an ordinance there was a paper you remember on your street left the paper he left the machine out there for like almost a month contractor contractor yeah and we made an ordinance to stop people from abusing you know the streets and leaving equipment out overnight but it came from I used of course I've cut through your house I know you are you know you know people stop and ask me if this was a new road for my property to get out onto Mountain I I I kid you not your driveway or the actual street I'm sorry your driveway or they thought my driveway was another actual street is it on ways it could be good to see you okay thank you good to see you take care hi everyone how are you good all right so name add name address I'm coming my name is Jessica or I'm at 15 Hillview Avenue uh you got a lot of Hillview tonight so um I'm I'm Jessica or and I've lived in Mars Plains for over 42 years my family has lived in this town for over 100 years I'm here tonight as a concerned parent and citizen over the years my family has watched businesses come and go into this town my father was probably the Plaza's number one customer and I'm guessing that quick check went very low in their money after he passed away so um I love our town I love our farmers markets I love the community I love what you all have built I stayed in Mars plain so that my children could have the best childhood like I did where many of you watch me grow up I also love attending the Mars PL schools I moved from Maple Avenue to Hill Avenue so that my mother who doesn't drive would be able to walk walk through town safely I am open to development and growth but adding a McDonald's two-lane drive-thru on speedball Avenue is not safe and I know that you all have very little to say at this point in the process but I am not allowed to speak during the planning meetings and I want to make sure that you all hear what I have to say I'm not a traffic expert I'm not an engineer I'm a mom who wants to make sure that my town is safe for my children children to be able to explore without a fear of being hit by a distracted driver or a food delivery driver who gets paid by the speed of their delivery I am a mom who wants to be able to drive through my town without having to sit in traffic every time I need to turn on Speedo Avenue I am a mom who lives on a street directly across from the potential tolean drive-thru Hillview Avenue as you heard a second ago is already a busy Street as a oneway street many people cut through to get to Speedwell to go to Simon's Park you mentioned before um Mr Cortez that you had come up with an ordinance for our street well I would love for the um local police to look into it more because there are trucks that still park on the street um now now we can ticket them yeah let's do it don't ticket the black again uh as a oneway street many people cut to get through through to go to Simon's Park from speed they cut through to drive on the back roads instead of waiting in the traffic of speed they exit the Presbyterian Church after dropping off or picking up their children from daycare and nursery school many people don't pay attention to the speed making our road dangerous place for my children and other children to play parking on Hill viw is only allowed on one side there's barely any available parking with the residents already parking on our street when the school school have concerts back to school nights or other events our street becomes crowded with parked cars I can't imagine what will happen with overflow parking from McDonald's you know they will be parking on our street at the planning board meeting on Tuesday November 12th the experts said that there would not be room for bus parking Landscaping truck parking Etc at McDonald's I envisioned those larger Vehicles parking on Hillview Avenue and surrounding side streets they C certainly will not be able to park on Speedwell Avenue outside of McDonald's like the expert said yesterday or Tuesday I've attended the last three planning meetings I'm embarrassed by the behavior of McDonald's lawyers and experts they publicly make bad jokes about the situation they embarrass the residents as they speak and ask questions and they're not listening to our concerns I understand that they're not on our side but I'm equally embarrassed by some of our committee members who represent us most meetings at the committee most meetings the committee will ask five to eight questions with the rest coming from the residents as a committee of town Representatives I expected a warmer reception towards the residents we should all be on the same side working towards the same goals as I said when I started I'm not a traffic expert I'm not an engineer I'm just a mom so whether McDonald's two-lane drive-thru happens or not I have questions for you the town Le leadership and you don't have to answer them tonight but just think on them number one what do you plan to do to keep our children and residents safe cuz when someone gets hit by a car or there is an accident McDonald's isn't going to care what are you as the town going to do about it my mother got hit a few years ago on Crossing um help me Styles and Handover in a crosswalk so it can happen I've seen it number two regardless of the McDonald's outcome this is a question for all of you how are you as a town leadership planning helping to alleviate traffic on speed wall our police are working overtime to help us get through these streets I see them but the traffic expert did his study between 8:00 a.m. and 9:00 a.m. and 4:30 and 5:30 p.m. you live in this town and you know that schools start at 8:00 a.m. and you know that car traffic and pedestrians traffic which is mostly children is heavy between 8:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m. McDonald's two-lane drivethru will only cause more challenges to speed well and getting our kids safely to school and the resident safely to work so regardless of the outcome I hope you all are considering what we're going to do as a town CU I would never want to hear the call That Someone's Child was hit what are you as a town leadership doing to ensure that drivers waiting and line at McDonald's drivethru are not impeding traffic on Speedwell Avenue there will be an overflow of cars waiting to be served recently we received a letter from the town about a rat problem when I spoke to the Board of Health asking what the town was doing to help with the problem they said nothing the town could only send letters out and threaten residents to keep their yards clean the rats only started coming when road work was being done on Town pipes I can imagine with McDonald's being on speed well and a new grease chck being put in that we will see more RS so what is the town doing to make sure that's not the case I'm speaking to you as a Mars Plains resident and a mom please reconsider allowing a twole drive-through restaurant to join community of caring I'm not against McDonald's I'm against the twole drive-through please ask your committee members to really review the information listen listen listen to us listen to the residents and look at our exhausted basis almost 100 people show up at these meetings ranging in life experiences they share their thoughts and their fears with many more at home watching online over 1,000 people have signed the petition against two-lane drive-throughs I implore you to review the information again please review everything with your heart and not just with your mind and your wallets I'm going to be here asking these questions until I until I feel like we're answered because I care about this town too much to let someone get hit by a car it's just not worth the risk to me so thank you so thank you Jessica uh I'm not going to speak to anything about McDonald's and none of us up here can speak to anything about McDonald's application nor will I and we'll take that as as legal advice as well I can tell you about traffic I don't care Donald's is coming in here or not traffic is going to get worse we just got a mandate from the state for 137 affordable units of allgen in moris PLS which equates to 685 additional units that are going to possibly be built here in Morris PLS and the four surrounding towns that touch us it's close to 9,000 units that are going to be going in in the next 10 years yeah if if if things are the way that they go we're fighting it we hope it gets less but traffic is going to get worse there is no more real estate for roads anywhere there's nowhere to Wi them there's nothing else that that we can do to limit traffic it's going to get worse we can possibly manage it better but there's no way we're going to stop it like you like you're asking as far as grease traps go every restaurant has has grease traps whether it's up that end down this end or wherever they are in town route 10 every every every restaurant has that so that's totally fine but I'm saying we're the ones that the know about the rats we're the ones that got the about the rat yeah but grease trap that has forget the grease traps then I'm just asking what are you doing about the rats that are going to have a health department that was very responsive to the entire rat problem working with the neighbors investigating putting out letters but it wasn't our fault I don't go out and put things to get rats to come to my neighborhood but I was told to clean my lawn make sure my garbage plans were clean they were coming from the rat and the holes and you were digging we don't know where they were they suspect that they may have come from some of the construction which may have been here which may have been Mor Township there were piles of wood chips on other properties that that that was taken care of and alleviated some of the problem there was garbage at a construction site that was picked up and taken care of there were issues over at the school that the school wasn't taking care of their problem properly there are residents that were feeding animals there were abandoned homes over there with broken windows where everything was going in there so there was an abundance of problems over there and without any investigation by the town none of that would have been found so don't say that the town wasn't doing anything the town took every step that we could I spoke to [Music] whoever problem there was someone who drove out to check the yards I saw her I spoke with her she's the one who told me I said what is the town doing we got a letter saying we need to do X Y and Z we could be fine great those are they cannot put traps you cannot do traps that's correct those are ordinances that the town put in place so we don't have these problems or that they can be enforced and that's what our health officer was doing your property or whoever else's property they were going out there to enforce those ordinances that the town put in place MH but the ordinances were not let's take care of this it was let me give something else for my town people to do let me give something else for my residents to do you guys didn't put traps you didn't put anything else our local people were putting things well we filed the ordinances that but we should have talked about how we can fix that we followed the ordinances that were in place maybe we could take a look at them maybe they need to be changed maybe not but those are the rules that that the town is following and our health department was doing the same exact thing and working diligently Dany was working on it our health department was working on it there were a lot of people working on that problem yeah and it to me I don't think it was R Construction we do road construction every year here in in mors Plains every summer road construction gets done numerous roads digging all that same kind of stuff forever you've lived here for a long time you know we do it every year after school closing and I've never once rat or I've never gotten a call from my neighbor saying my dog is in the backyard playing with a dead rat we've never had that problem as far as as I could ever remember with with doing Ro construction work so I don't know whether that was the problem or not there were problems that were addressed problems that were fixed issu summons that were issued and now there is no problem or a lot problem so I think combination of all those things it did work you can't snap your fingers at some of these things and have it work right away it takes a little bit of time no and we jumped on the problem as soon as we as we found out about it yeah well I appreciate that thank you I just am wondering what's going to happen when we have another restaurant coming in here that will tell us that and any restaurant could bring it I understand I'm not here to fight against McDonald's I have no problem with McDonald's I have a problem with the two-lane drive-thru I have a problem with the and I know you're saying that traffic is going to get bad anyway but we're just adding more to it so that's what I'm asking well again I'm not going to speak to McDonald you I just wanted to make my my speech known to all of you because I wasn't able to speak anything else all I'm allowed to do is talk about the expert questions there at the end at the end when all the experts are are done testifying you can come up and I will and you can speak at the planning board and I think that's a place you should do that I will absolutely but I want to make sure you will be able to have everybody will have be able to have a chance to speak so we don't shut anybody out kind of do sometimes well we we cut cut off again I'm not going to get into any specifics there but you know we have the meetings we we don't put a time limit or haven't yet on on people I think that that should be done some people keep going on we're letting that happen we're going late to let everybody talk but I mean I think it's it's pretty fair so you will get a chance to to speak I suggest you do that oh I will but I as I said you guys are the leaders in the community and I wanted you to know where I stand and how I feel about it because you all know me so thank you thank you got inspired I don't have speech uh Rachel Reinhardt 40 styles hi guys um it's not a McDonald's question I promise but there are there were um talks about how they're going to improve the crosswalks with McDonald's with the uh Department of Transportation with the state forless of what happens is that still happening I reported at the last meeting I was I no I'm just tell reported at the last meeting that we did receive a PR for that okay a long time ago Chief K has and I think he just got an email this week we're not going to see anything until when December at least sometime in December that they're just planning right they're finishing their plans oh we've working on since earlier this year okay at least so working with the do and nothing is quick of course bureaucracy um but on that same note while we're working on it can we update the flags we do update the flags periodically we did I believe in sometime over the summer they they replaced they did y they replaced them because they were faded they're very faded think you need to be regone yeah I don't know I mean my husband walked with my kids across the street and wait for 16 cars while holding the flag so if there's anything we can do to um Wren them up I know the chief I know the chief has an initiative the American flag the americ those orange ones are really F I thought you the American Sor no no no no so sorry what were you saying Chief has had an initiative about crosswalk since before school uh doing enforcement in different areas and that's and that's continued along s Avenue we don't know that they're there but they're there every day every day oh I know there I'm on I live on Styles so I always see them across house too so they're out there every day and he's taking on that initiative and uh they're doing a great this is not a police complaint this is just a brightening the flag so maybe you were asking can we do something else with the cross well no I just one of the answers to the question no I didn't say can we do something else I said regardless of what happens with the McDonald's proposal are we still going to update the crosswalk and you said yes and I said great and then I asked about the FL I'll make phone call tomorrow thanks than you uh first mayor I want to address something mentioned regard to the rent and with regard to the city or the bar's response you've been remarkably responsive I got you on a text and you were on it very quickly so thank you for that we still have a minor problem we there's seven houses now that are paying out of pocket for rad control on the street and it's costing probably in the well it's cost cost us about four grand so far multiply that s houses that's $28,000 something people on Mark to mitigate the problem it's starting to mitigate so that's that's a good thing but thank you for jumping on it immediately because I know you did um but I did want to talk a little bit about the traffic and I know you you're tired of hearing about this I know the chief and the department are working hard to do it but uh maybe there can be some other things that can be done with regard to having maybe crossing guards or somebody else got a police officer and has a high high rate of actually in the in the traffic areas because the signs block don't block the Box just don't work yeah I I can tell you I I can't get off my street sometimes and get on to get on to speed the boxes are blocked and yes there's going to be more traffic but and yes the volume is going to be ridiculous but if you can't get off your block with 15 or 16 cars in blocking blocking the Box move up in the next gu block thex I've just started walking well it would take you longer to drive to work than it does walk into work see but there there was there was a reason for that see I didn't want the owners of the company that I work were knowing how close I live to the office I knew there was a or Madness and stop putting in for mileage and guys that was on can we take that off no seriously U listen I I I hear what you're saying I mean I've get complaints about people living in old the sacks literally that think cars are speeding I get it it's all over the place it's everywhere it's every street it's and I'm not making an excuse here things are going to get worse it's not going to get any better around here people don't pay attention I know these they do what they can here but they can't be at every block the box at every at every 10 minutes or every Cross or every stop sign but I know that they they try their hardest and they know the trouble spots that that we have in town so maybe they're paying a little bit more attention at one spot not so much in another but so whatever but yeah not arguing that no I understand and that's something that that the chief will have to work on and uh I don't I don't know the regulations of crossing guard writing tickets on a block the box I don't think that that would be permissible but there's other things that they Coulda pi over do but it's not going to get any better but we we'll take a look at it I don't want to be a Debbie Downer but you know I don't know how you stop cars from coming through town and the amount of cars that are coming through town I don't know how you do it like I said we can manage the traffic and you're not going to stop it we'll look at whatever we can manage that the best that they can somebody with 40 Years of EMS experience I've seen people hit by cars I know what they look like I you need to you need to make sure that that doesn't happen especially to health and safety is the number one priority for me here in town I know it is at the chief and that's my number one job seeing no one else I close the public portion moov on to reports of committees and department heads Finance Mr Wagner okay yes thank you mayor um one of the many UH responsibilities of our CFO uh is to when grant money comes in um she has to uh file a 159 and resolutions 159 161 um we received grant money that now has to be put into the budget in real time that's why she F files that form but more importantly I think between these three uh uh grants was like $188,400 received um but I just want to I just want to give a shout out this happens all year long I just want to give a shout out to our grant writer Steve Welsh um and the many people who uh take part in um applying for these applying for these grants um grant money is great when when you get it I think it's such a positive uh for this uh municipality so I just wanted to thank those people involved it happens all year long at Anna for uh doing her due diligence with those uh with that with that filing um the only thing I have is from the uh the uh clerk's office they continue to work on Oprah's Professional Service agreements and contracts um we had election day I know a lot of work goes into the elections I I personally worked uh worked the polls as a as a challenger that day uh I was uh I was there for about 10 hours and I know uh Roseanne herself uh that's about a 16 hour day for Roseanne so I just want to thank her for uh thank her for doing that uh on Election Day uh and then ongoing parking permits and animal licenses as well so thank you to the clerk's office that's all I have that's it thank you sir Public Safety Mr Cortez thank you mayor November for just so we all know is Leukemia and Lymphoma awareness and breast cancer and sadly I've lost family members on all three you whatever anyone can do to help whether you keep your beard and give some money or make a run for some money do it save one life it's a horrible thing to witness um I have some things for the fire department they had 350 calls Chief's not oh Chief is here so I'm going to limit it 350 calls for so far for 2024 are up about 20 calls from last year um and then for police here with me Department they're wearing camouflage patches for the month of November to honor our mil AR veterans department is waving the facial hair Pro prohibition November and December officers can grow a beard with a monetary donation to the men's cancer research for November and Special Olympics for December with the holidays upon us the department in cooperation with prer Cliff Commons property management will be increasing patrols at the plaza I'm sorry if I got a little emotional sorry about that and uh now I'm going to yield to uh Chief Fire Department Kevin you want to come say something and then Mike thank you for good evening all turn it down I know I knowbody look yeah you should Che it okay like councilman C said uh we are at 350 calls today for the year or actually 22 above last year this time how many of those are neut many in a lot I'll I don't know off hand sorry but we're uh we run a lot more in the B uh we did uh all of our testing our pumps H and ladders are all tested everything is good I have to a ladder truck sched for maintenance andest on that that'll go good this year the new turnout gear should be here for the guys supposed to be here soon hopefully the Halloween parade went successful right very nice very I heard an abundance of hot chocolate this year local radio system is not complete so we're up and running with that that's great everything's updated technology so next year we may have to look into replacing one of the on the just because of the age we'll get prices on that problem with the ARP money that we uped yes um thank thank you to the police chief for uh recycling his old vehicle and that's a that's a chief T's vehicle now it's it's been lettered Service uh the only thing we don't have yet is the county radio which I'm waiting for the county installer to reach out to me to find out when they install so other good to go um the other day if everybody doesn't know by now there's a large brush fire up on Green Lake Area hor um we haven't been called there yet so but we're ready to respond at any time needed but a lot had several calls yesterday about the smoke in the area training we did a live burn the 28th fire academy uh sat this Saturday we be we're invited to go down to Maron airport to do a refresher uh training down there for three hours probably going to get busier in the next four years so we get mut group of this section of mar county is called black Meadow which responds to the airport that's why it was called state of the black Meadow because it's land swamp land whatever basically that is the reasoning of the mutually agreement in in this area County was resp the airport if anything happen so uh we haven't had a drill down there in a while so we got this all together and so they friendly enough to weekend satday be 9 couple us uh Fire Marshall is in class right now for arson investigation so he's going to be certified in arson investigation after he completes his class he's currently keeping up on the updates from the forest Service uh he's been putting out multiple uh updates for us every day keeping us posted on the the watch list uh red red flag and all that so he doing his doing his best um we will be ready for the U Santa Claus and the guilt drop I had a request from our neighboring town since they don't have a lad they want to know if we could bring ours over to help them out with their Santa Claus celebration ceds what they usually do is they drive Santa Claus up to the firehouse and then they put them up to the tree out front of the firehouse and thens the tree that's going to be on November 30th asking is it November 30th I have to something may I got to find out what we need first I got to talk whatever we can get yeah you know whatever we can do for us our dve right oh yeah we have mut [Laughter] ready for bud I have a question for you chief on on account of new May car being a celebrity on channel 12 about the siren can you tell the public or us what's going on with the siren what about you you were on TV to that's what I'm saying both both on count of both you being okay think hear something you know they interviewed him for about 45 minutes and they had you for an hour I kept Ching Chanel 124 they had your picture on he did fantastic was great natural the siren um we have pric I'm just waiting for church there was a number I don't know if you got it today or Rosary has a number for else I was talking to I to she has number we don't have an act meeting we have a shop right going through there after that interview everyone's saying hey that 5:00 whistle that's how we knew we had to go home right you know I us hear that an AC we don't have an AC I'm just trying to tell you how how you a lot of people both youit that's how that's how I got home I mean right whist all right good luck got five minutes thank you Chief all right thank you all Chief good evening have to be back with in front all of you again um December 3rd the Department's receiving a AAA award for Traffic Safety in our community related to our uh crash and our um response to traffic controls um three members of the department in May uh one of them being me are riding to Washington DC for the Police Unity Tour it's a 300 mile bike ride from somewhere in the New Jersey region to Washington DC to honor our fallen Law Enforcement Officers some uh training rapidly for that I know I don't look like I need it thank you um as uh councilman Cortez mentioned we're doing increased patrols with the assistance of Brier Cliff's Commons uh they're uh supporting the financial end of uh overtime for uh increased patrols uh around Black Friday the day before Thanksgiving and Uncle jepp causes complete chaos in that Plaza and then uh the weeks preceding uh the Christmas and Hanukkah shopping holidays so uh we'll be down there uh quite a bit uh more frequently in response to the traffic problems in there and then uh unfortunately we've seen quite an increase in in shoplifting out of the Kohl's Plaza 29 shopliftings uh so far uh this year and five just uh within the last 3 weeks most of them thankfully resulting in arrests after in uh on scene arrests or investigations by our detective Bureau so acud those to our staff uh our deer call is uh again in full swing since September uh last report as of uh November 1st is eight female uh deer harvested and four male uh deer harvested uh with that that concludes my report unless there's any comments or questions sounds good thank you Chief Public Works Mr br thank you uh just real quick uh I've been a volunteer firefighter for 28 years and when I first started I worked at marown and our chief of time Mike giri used to bring the retired police car which we were grateful for and I think it was a Chevy Caprice with a bad transmission uh but my brother-in-law and I would respond from moristown to Morris Plains because during the day like it still is now was a lot of challenge for people that were working to respond to calls so we've increased our chief vehicles from one at the time 20 years ago now we have two Uh Kevin Chief Rango has a newer vehicle but the second one as many of you mentioned about traffic in town uh was difficult for say our second assistant chief who might be available to get through the lights and respond to calls so we do appreciate it it has helped make the safety of the community for uh a lot better uh but I just remember the blue Chevy Capri with the bad transmission so we've improved our our vehicle they didn't tell you this one's got do want to touch on that so uh beautification they were waiting on a frost the flowers eventually die unfortunately and then they'll go and clean up the the flowers that are no longer alive and they each have an assigned area so they I think we did get two frosts now so they'll be out there cleaning up their areas and getting ready for the next uh spring season they do a fantastic job and we're very grateful for keeping the flowers so beautiful DPW uh they work on our Our Town Vehicles daily our garbage in the Parks get picked up they're still cut in some grass but mostly leaves uh they collected 2,112 cubic yards of leaves so far this season uh they have cleaned up the leaves on the town uh properties they have started putting up as we call it um Christmas Island over there they're putting up some lights all over the place for Christmas it takes a long time to get them set up so a great job with that uh the pumpkin illumination they help and again thank you uh also part of the Halloween parade and we cooked 500 hot dogs we might have had 15 or 20 left um but all that we did get a little bit of hot chocolate but it was a lot less apple cider and munchkin so uh everything uh was eaten the kids were very happy and it was a beautiful 80° day so thank you for uh Police Department fire department Ladies Auxiliary and Recreation for all that they do that parade the kids are all over not even from Morris Plains Denville Pary they do it's a it's people say how many people come I well at least 500 I hot but there's got to be thousands of people come there um and and the the sewer detail they ran the generators like they always do Mak sure that they're running an operation um and they clean um sewers four times so we appreciate your constant due diligence to keeping the C Town looking beautiful and working properly I'll pass the mic to Bill thank you mayor uh I have four items the first is the update on the tab Road Ro 53 Warehouse project that's moving along very quickly and you probably noticed as you drive by the Route 53 widening and intersection improvements are all done and we're expecting uh Co in early December hopefully they they get there uh next is uh the capital road projects that were competed this summer there's still some minor cleanup and punchless items to take care of and we're working with the contractor to get that done and close that out hopefully before before the end of the year you know those parts of the project always goes slowly um next is you know we have a grant for sidewalk extension on Route 53 um that that Grant was issued in December of three and the project has to start or be bid or commence within a year now that's coming up very quickly so we're applying for a one-ear extension to keep that alive and we expect that just the ministerial process no no problem with getting that extension so that's in the works and lastly we received an announcement yesterday that we received a $174,000 grand for woohoo the North View Drive road construction project so you can having had to take care of that her grand budies that's all I have uh Joan's not with us here tonight uh we have public health sanitation and sewers Miss ber sure so uh for any of you who have high school students you probably already know this at marown high school that tomorrow they're going to be featured on CBS news on a feature called Class Act and they've interviewed a bunch of students uh my daughter being one of them she's real excited about that they also had an assembly to get the kids excited about this because they had to be there at 4:30 a.m. tomorrow for this big pep rally no you going I'll be there I'm up at 4:30 but no I'm not going I wasn't invited still time daughter be on television G be there oh she's gonna be oh I was invited she watch it on TV how'd you get inv I'm just kidding if you're up 5:00 a.m. to 7 a.m. check it out on CBS New York news should be good there watching it's going to be great um the kids are excited under Board of Health we met on Wednesday yesterday October 13th and we celebrated Carol Howell who has uh been serving as our Board of Health secretary part-time for 40 years since the 1980s so they celebrated Carol and had a little cake and I reminisced about how how much has changed since she's started on the board of health they are we talked about the um the rabies clinic is scheduled for Saturday January 4th from 1: to 3 p.m. at the burrow garage so check your your pets uh licenses and see when they're up for their revaccinations theyve ministered 41 flu shots and nine blood pressure screenings and 10 food inspections uh flu shots are still available for homebound individuals call the health officer Municipal Alliance didn't meet in November but they are having a friends giving celebration on 11:22 with the FAST program which is families and students together tomorrow night is the stage fun performance for fourth through eth grade at burough School free to all and it is um I don't what is the show they're doing could you hug a cactus oh yeah sounds adorable I love it is adorable you should all come I can't wait there's so much fun uh okay I think I'm in the teen center now we had a successful Halloween dance uh at the Community Center with a dut eating contest and costume contest couldn't watch that one then they had a sixth grade event with fire pit before they shut that down um and s'mores so they got lucky to to get squeeze that in before the fire warnings and they listened to the Yankees World Series on the radio so old school going back old school there there there's an event coming up for eighth grade a movie night they're going to do either Goonies or Beetle Juice and uh there's going to be a seventh grade coming up for Winter Wonderland theme next month so all the board members are returning they're new this year so they'll all be coming back next year to serve on the board and we rosan and I completed interviews for to hire a second team Center supervisor we have one currently Jake kahill and we have a new coordinator and uh we'll be hiring a second team Center supervisor where she's in Dynamo hopefully that that gets finalized soon and the only is we have uh clean communities cleanups are going on with Community groups right now uh with James barino so that's about it ordinances and Public Utilities yes thank you mayor um Nancy thank you for mentioning Carol Howell's celebration it was very it was small but it was very lovely her husband had invited um mayor Carr and also myself to attend I had been I had been ny's position previously and I've known Carol how for many years many of us have mayor Carr I would like to thank you specifically for the lovely things you said to her the other night she deserves every word she does but you did a great job and I was happy to be there to hear it all with Precision she's done that job with so yes she still knows um how to WR shorthand she learned in high school and it terrific but anyway it was a lovely lovely um evening for her I I think it was a surprise actually um and the bad news is I have to mention what can you hear me okay I'm not talking okay did everybody hear with me that's good she doesn't I hate to even say this but there were only 14 street lights out and they were taken care of by the jcpnl the police department the policemen are the officers who are finding that those police that those lights are out I apologize um and that's on kind of a sore spot I know you've told me before because at one point jcpnl rode around and found out the lights that were out now we have to use our police officers to do that job but it's 14 only 14 this time um and the only other I have two more things to say the Halloween parade I've got to tell you was absolutely terrific it was led by mayor Carr and Cortez and there were I wish we knew how many people were there I know how many hot dogs he said he saw but there were tons of people there so they went from Robert's Garden to to um Simon's Park and it was terrific absolutely terrific and thank you very much for all you're doing um also um the mayor and Council were invited to the Veterans Day celebration at the VFW on on Monday November 11th and they were it was lovely they honored all service people but what was really special there were two special guests Sydney levit was one of them and he had already had a party in the summertime I believe it was U because he turned 100 not bad and then um Anthony Shone was uh there as well and he was 103 and they both had presentations telling what they did from they were in the war before I was born but they had lovely Pres ation um Anthony shobon sister was with two of his sisters were with him and uh it was they were honored for their service and it was lovely to be there and take part in that just see what was going on so that's all I have may good thank you introduction the board oh that's me that's you Wella um I council member Kelly introduced the following ordinance and read the Same by title and move that be on the first reading ordinance number 8- 2024 an ordinance to appropriate $175,000 from the capital Improvement fund for the various improvements in and by the burough of Morris Plains in the county of morris state of New Jersey is there a second second second by Dennis roll call please Mr BR yes Mr Cortez yes M Kelly yes Mr yes I council member Kelly offered the following resolution whereas the above ordinance was introduced and read by title at this meeting on November 14th 2024 and passed on the first reading now therefore be it resolved that at a meeting to be held on December 5th 2024 at 8:30 p.m. prevailing time at the municipal building in the said burrow this Council will further consider for second reading and final passage the said ordinance and be it further resolved that the clerk of the for Furrow is hereby directed to publish and mail the proper notice therefore including the ordinance post the ordinance on the bulletin board in the municipal building and to make copies available to members of the general public is there a second second all in favor I opposed abstained the eyes have it and this just puts the funds in place that we budgeted for for uh uh new mowers zterm mower for the road department along with a new Lea M and some improvements to the Bur pars we have no ordinances on second reading no resolutions no unfinished business no new business but we always have V exactly you ready for this one vouchers dated November 14th 2024 total 4,641 4496 is there a second second second please yes and that's just so big because we have expenditures to the county for our County tax and also to the uh Board of Education we have no need for an executive session do I have a motion toour so mov second by all in favor oain you guys have everybody wish everybody a Happy Thanksgiving thank you for taking your time to come out tonight