##VIDEO ID:lZ9RHb_NJ0w## I I don't good evening ladies and gentlemen welcome to the public meeting of Milford May council at this time I would ask everyone to please rise for a moment of Silent prayer and reflection as unfortunately we think about the people of Madison Wisconsin who had to endure another school shooting please salute the flag I pledge Al to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for it stands one nation God indivisible with liy and justice for all thank you please know the fire right is behind you into the uh main parking lot or to my left your right into the main hallway of the bar Hall the New Jersey open public meetings law was enacted to ensure the right of the public to have advanced notice of and attend any meeting of public bodies at which any business affecting their interest is discussed or acted upon in accordance with this act the mayor and Council of the burough of New Milford have caused notice of this meeting to be published by having the date time and place thereof posted in the burough Hall and notices have been sent to the record in the Ridgewood news the mission of this governing body is to provide essential Services through the establishment and implementation of public policy that will safeguard the infrastructure provide Fair honest courtious and Professional Services establish a sense of trust and accomplishment between all residents and through research improv and planning seek to minimize risk while improving our services we are sensitive to needs and satisfaction of our taxpayers while realizing that this governing body cannot be all things to all people within the revenue constraints imposed by state mandates economic conditions and prevailing attitudes about taxation at this time I would ask the clerk to please call the rooll councilwoman San H here councilwoman saraki Hurley president councilwoman Duffy here councilman grotsky here councilman Seymour here Council President Grant here mayor patrino here okay the first item on our agenda tonight is a presentation for the student pole workers in the 2024 general election uh we just wanted to acknowledge and thank them this was a partnership between us the county and the New Milford school district which allowed Juniors and seniors to be involved in the pole workking process and hopefully keep them moving forward because it was a great experience so I think there's a couple of them here so if I call your name you're here please come up here your name Us aboss Sarah Grace a [Music] charotte and Bader Marine Cabrera Jonah Chaka Moses dece Isis Felix Gabrielle Fernandez searia Lex Gomez Alex ARA Danielle Lugo Liam malari y Mendes H malaro Noah neoo Elisa Noles lean Osman Cynthia Pilla leani San Pedro Matteo C Maria taros Jasmine TTI Sophia Vera Amilia Zas and Alejandra zasa once again thank you very much and we hope you continued and it's it's great for you know our democracy [Music] okay may I get a motion to appoint rul Bloom to Fire Company number two so move second all in favor I any opposed thank you very much Ru and be safe may get a motion to approve resolution 2024 col 250 promote Sergeant Brian moon to rank of Lieutenant second make it a roll call please councilman sanen yes councilman saki Hurley yes councilman Duffy yes councilman gry yes councilman Seymour yes Council President Grant yes okay may get a motion to approve resolution 2024 colon 251 which is promote police officer Adam Convoy to the rank of Sergeant second make it a roll call please yes councilman sanen yes councilman saki Hurley yes councilman Duffy yes councilman grotsky yes councilman Seymour yes Council President Grant yes congratulations and gentlemen at this time I'm going to ask for Brian Moon and his family to come forward please [Music] je do you want to say something yeah I did thank you kind of be to it but that's all right sorry about that uh just a little bit about a little background on uh soon to be Lieutenant Mo he started he started his career in the Milford Police Department in October of 2012 after working with the New Jersey Transit Police Department he was promoted to Sergeant in January of 2020 has done an outstanding job as a patrol supervisor as a lieutenant you will run a patrol squad be an internal affairs investigator and take over as the accreditation manager Brian has a great attitude gets along with everyone well and sets a great example to All Sports I invite Sergeant Mo and his family to be sored as a liant I speak name hi Brion you solemnly swear you solemnly swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States I will support the Constitution of the United States the Constitution of the state of New Jersey the constitution of state of New Jersey and the rules and regulations of the New Milford Police Department and the rules and regulations of the Milford Police Department and that I will bear true faith and Allegiance and I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same to the same and to the government established in the United States the governments established in the United States and in the state and in the state under the authority of the people under the authority of the people and I do solemnly swear I you solemly swear that I will Faithfully I will faithfully and partially impartially and justly perform and justly perform all of the duties all the duties of the office of police department Lieutenant of the office of police department Lieutenant according to the best of my ability according to the best of my ability so help me God to help me gu congratulations you Choice congratulations next we'll be promoting officer Convoy to sge Convoy officer Convoy started his career with the New Milford Police Department on January 1st 2014 he's done a great job as a patrol officer and most recently has become certified to train the department in defensive tactics Adam is a great fit for that role because he has a black belt in Brazilian jiujitsu which is now incorporated into police tactics in 2 all police departments are now mandated to do at least 8 hours of defensive defensive tactics training and Sergeant Convoy will be taking care of us for this certification so I invite Sergeant comboy up to be sworn in with his family i s your name I Adam Convoy do solemnly swear do solemly swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States that I will support the Constitution of the United States the Constitution of the state of New Jersey constitution of the state of New Jersey and the rules and regulations of the New Milford Police Department and the rules and regulations of the New Milford Police Department and I will bear true faith and allegiance to the Saint and that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the Saint and to the governments established in the United States and to the governments established in the United States and in this state and in this state under the authority of the people under the authority of the people and I do solemnly swear and I do solemly swear that I will Faithfully that I will faithfully impartially impartially and justly perform and justly performed all the duties of the office all the duties of the office of police department sergeant of police department Sergeant according to the best of my ability according to the best so help me both of these promotions take effect January 1st 2025 and uh again I want to publicly thank the uh mayor and Council for the support and approving these promotions I with black belt Ando and the Boost match so uh we're also going to give out a couple of departmental awards tonight um for a couple of calls that were above and beyond and I asked uh Captain van seders and too to help me out with this um so I think the first award Captain van seders is going to read who's a shoplifting crew uh major shoplifting crew thank you Police Department received two reports of shoplifting at the same newford CBS Store on September 12th 2023 and October 5th 2023 at the total loss of $3,000 in cosmetics at the time it appeared the same shop fter in both cages would may have been part of a more organized criminal crew case was assigned to at the time detective jice who spent many hours trying to identify the actor going through numerous bulletins and reports from other agencies in the area detective Jas was able to link in the Milford incidents to other CVS shop Lings in other towns the assistants of Sergeant Mich detective kesy and detective Shalia using numerous intelligence Le policing tools the suspect was identified as a 28-year-old male from closer New Jersey once the actor was confirmed as a CVS shoplifter newer detectives were able to locate this party in custody at the Hudson County jail for other crimes as a result of detective jury's investigation the actor was linked to numerous unsolved cosmetic shop Bings at various CVS stores in River Edis tly and fair viiew with an additional loss value of $113,000 the work of these detectives was also recognized by the CVS Corporation for their efforts which is not often seen I would ask Sergeant duras Sergeant Mich detective kesi and detective chalia chalia to the podium to receive a meritorious service award picture the next award is a uh Burg arrest C is going to give you some details on this can read it on Tuesday October 28th at 2319 hours an MPD received a report of activated burd alarm at in the Milford Public Library Sergeant War Pini were dispatched and upon an arrival found a broken rear window of the building with a sign being against the building under the broken window Lieutenant Petri P Cad and P Schell arrived as backup as well as uncalled detective pey being advised of the situation who remotely accessed the library surveillance cameras detective T advised officers that upon riew of the video he saw a possible suspect in the building carrying a sign as well as looking at the live view of the surveillance C he observed an individual still inside the building mutually a was requested from surrounding and the perimeter was a sky officers requested a keyh holder and entered the building and cl suspect to surrender liutenant Petri Sant Bo casts and F enter the building and search the structure ultimately finding the suspect hiding under hallway B the suspect was taken into custody in charge of burglary criminal misi Criminal Trespass and transport to B jail it should be noted that the defendant was previously previously arrested weeks earlier for arson as he set fire to two Bergen County old vehicles in the Bergen Academy's parking lot by breaking the window of one of the vehicles and using accelerant to set fire which then spread to the other Park vehicle there's no doubt that not officer quick intervention the situation could have been devastating I would like to call up the responding officers pation s boy p cator pells and p f as well as detective KES for investigative skills and po comboy who was Man the desk and coordinate all aspects of the respon down a little take [Music] Qui thank you our last departmental award is for a a gun arrest um on September 23rd 2024 10:45 a.m. officer calcione was flagged down by a motorist reporting an erratic driver officer located the vehicle in the parking lot of New Milford Liquors on the corner of river in Madison officer RIT and Lieutenant Carino arrived on the scene to assist during their investigation officers saw a large rifle case on the back seat in plain view a consent search was performed in Lieutenant Carino located a loaded Ruger AR style rifle set to fire with a round in the chamber the rifle had modifications that classified it as an assault weapon the ammo containers contained over 200 223 rounds as well as Hollow Point 9mm rounds and three high-capacity 9mm handgun magazines all of which are legal detective Shalia also assisted in this investigation by applying for and writing a search warrant for the vehicle which also turned up drug paraphenalia the driver was charged with M multiple weapon and ammunition offenses as well as the drug paraphernalia and ultimately lodged in the Burton County Jail I commend all officers involved in this for taking IL an illegal assault weapon off the streets God only know what he had planned he was near school he was near a lot of things and uh I I call all the officers involved up for their work um that concludes our departmental Awards but I think mayor patrino would like to acknowledge somebody in the audience [Music] also at 6 PM Saturday September 21st Bergen County Sheriff Sergeant Walter Hutchinson was traveling with his family when he saw a vehicle parked on the shoulder of Route 4 West near Route 17 Southbound on ran he noticed there was an emergency so Sergeant Hutchinson immediately pulled over to help and found a 5-year-old child unresponsive and not breathing her parents visiting from Kentucky were already attempting life-saving measures Sergeant Hutchinson helped the child's father who was performing mouth-to-mouth resuscitation and assisted in chest compressions a doctor also stopped to visit and assist they were able to revive the 5-year-old child Sergeant Hutchinson was in the right place at the right time had the right training and did the right thing by stopping to offer assistance he received the Commendation award from Bergen County Sheriff Anthony Kieran on Thursday December 12th and this morning received a HomeTown hero award from Congressman gimer tonight the New Milford governing body would also like to recognize New Milford resident Sergeant Hutchinson for his life-saving actions come on up w [Applause] B of the Milford certificate of recognition honoring Sergeant Walter Hutchinson for providing critical care and alerting Emergency Services resulting in the saving of a life of an unresponsive 5-year-old girl governing body thanks you for your outstanding service as a Burton County sheriff's officer and is proud to have you as a resident of our community thank you thank you thank and uh on behalf of the governing body we want to thank all of our officers that are recognized tonight and we want to thank our department this department is awesome it is the reason why the Milford is ranked as one of the safest towns in the state and in the county and that starts from the top all the way down and all the new recruits we bring in we're bringing in the right people and we're doing the right thing so thank you very much thank all the family members who put up with our officers and uh at this time we're going to take a five minute recess so whoever wants to leave can leave but if you want to stay you're more than welcome thank you you you can send that back to just waai for time congratulations that's so cute for got this if you wouldn't mind Chang as you're like even that way I'm like I don't have to be hyper Vigilant like what's going on behind me no that's fine is m is M announce thank thank you have a good day oh did I miss one which one that oh I missed that way another way I'm like come down to me I'm like f i only sign one this time yeah I know never I need I do I I should have done like boys have baseball cards and stuff like that to see [Music] you have a good night okay under unfinished business fix my microphone make get approval of the minutes for the November 18th 2024 public and Clos session meetings motion second all in favor any oppos and one exstension okay we have one ordinance of her adoption tonight and that would be 2024 call 29 and when the clerk has the opportunity I would ask her please read the ordinance an ordinance authorizing the acquisition of an easement upon a portion of block 123 lot 17 as shown on the tax map of the BB Milford located at 267 Madison Avenue in the purpose of this ordinance is to authorize the acquisition of the easement of the undeveloped portion of the BFW property located at 267 madon Avenue to be maintained as open space this is that property which is behind their parking lot may get a motion to adopt this ordinance making a motion to open to the public for a public hearing on this audience motion to adop motion to open the public all in favor I any opposed ladies and gentlemen the public if anyone has any questions or comments regarding this ordinance now is the opportunity seeing that no member of the public wishes to comment on this ordinance may get a motion to close to the public motion second all in favor I any opposed may get a motion to adopt this ordinance on the final reading second yes councilman Sam yes councilman yes Council Duffy yes councilman gry yes councilman Seymour yes Council President Grant yes thank you under new business go to schedule updates which are a lot less than last month okay so through December 24th uh Santa's mailbox is ongoing it's sponsored by the New Milford Police Department and is the mailbox which is in the side of the bar Hall on a Raywood drive on Thursday uh December 19th is a ribbon cutting at the Burger King location it's for the renovation it'll take place at 5:30 p.m. and is sponsored by the north Jersey Chamber of Commerce and on Thursday December 26th is the milford's annual manura lighting it is sponsored by the New Milford public events committee it'll take place at 6 p.m. on the burall lawn and this will be one of the our our food collection events so anyone in attendance all we ask is we you bring a non-p perishable item of food and we will donate it to our local food pantry were there any other events that I missed that I need to mention correct item number two is the administrator's report yes thank you mayor you wel relatively short report a couple of engineering updates we received bids on December 10th for the njdca LG fiscal year 2024 sand volleyball court project and there's a resolution on tonight's agenda to award the project we're currently working on Grant applications for a few things uh including the buron County Community Development block grant for roadway improvements a New Jersey Green Acres Grant for lights at williamsfield for which there'll be a public hearing on January 2 7th of 2025 and a congressional appropriation for EPA funding for a sanitary sewer project in addition we received notice of Award of a Bergen County open space Grant in the amount of $41,600 on Tuesday December 24th and Tuesday December 31st and will be closed Wednesday December 25th for Christmas and Wednesday January 1st for New Year's Day and then the next meeting of the mayor and council is our annual reorganization meeting which is scheduled for Monday January 6th at 700 p.m. that's it for me thank you thank you any questions for the administra okay has everyone had a chance to look at the resolutions are there any that need to be pulled for further discussion Andor vote okay move on to council committee reports may get a motion to file committee reports with the B clerk to be spread and full upon the minute motion second okay if this time when we go around give a few highlights and we can start with council president gr I'll come back okay you want to go last or like second or last let's start with councilwoman St well thank you mayor so I'd like to begin by extending my heartfelt appreciation to all the volunteers serving on committees and commissions for their dedication and hard work throughout the throughout the year New Milford has truly demonstrated the power of collaboration with impressive achievements that reflect our shared commitment to progress and sustainability the environmental and energy commission completed the environmental resource inventory providing valuable suggestions to the planning board for the preparation of the master plan the planning board in turn did an exemplary job of engaging the community and the eec and green team deeply appreciate the collaborative spirit that made this project a success the green team had another productive year achieving sustainable Jersey certification with New Milford once again earning bronze level recognition the txx community project continues to grow and we're excited to share that the Ascension food pantry has joined the effort by partnering with the green team to recycle film Plastics Additionally the new Mill for DPW is collaborating with the green team to repurpose an unused metal clothing container into a TX drop location at the DPW for public use expected to be ready this spring we will keep everyone updated as this initiative progresses looking ahead the eec is preparing for the community energy plan Grant and we'll begin working on Transportation Planning is the first phase of this important project the team is currently identifying and planning stakeholder meetings to ensure a thoughtful and inclusive process 2025 is shaping up to be an action-packed year building on the incredible efforts and successes of the past year this work is a testament to the dedication vision and collaborative Spirit of our volunteers it is democracy in Action a shining example of what we can achieve together for the betterment of our community and thank you all for your unwavering commitment J milord and all of that can cannot get done without the collaboration and partnership with the buau as well and I have something fun a personal uh uh celebration to share I'm honored to uh be part of a team that won second place in the prosperity po policy proposal challenge a little tongue twister there try to say that one three times right this uh event was hosted by elected officials to protect America in partnership with prosperity of the commons International as part of their policy writing certification training for elected officials and Veterans uh the team I was able to participate with water is life focused on remediating P contamination on and near US military bases and incentivizing Technology development for past remediation sponsored by the one Earth Foundation our second place prise of $2,500 recognizes the Strategic positioning of our proposal which Builds on collaboration with over 20 local community organizations and this initiative holds the potential to deliver significant e economic and health benefits while serving as a model for addressing this globally relevant Challenge and I want to extend my congratulations to the first place winners exclusive energy who were awarded $5,000 by prosperity of Commons International for their groundbreaking proposal to accelerate Dem Mining and incentivize wind energy production in Ukraine I'm proud to have participated in this transformative program and contribute to meaningful solutions for our communities and Beyond yeah excellent thank you and I want to extend a a little personal thank you to council President Grant uh because it was a phone call from her in 2022 that I was able to connect with the elected officials to protect America she uh had signed up to attend uh a conference in Washington DC and at the last minute gave me two days to figure out he said would you like my ticket to go and I went and it was a really transformative experience and I've um been able to train and really Network and learn a lot and uh collaborate with uh elected officials and Veterans from around the country so it's been a really great experience so thank you very much you've done a really good job with it and it didn't it lead you into uh starting a master's program as well get credit for that too yeah thank you very much yeah I'm complete thank you very much Council s rocki h thank you mayor um I'd like to thank some people uh we had a I I think we had a great Christmas um tree lighting ceremony and we had Santa and Mrs Claus and it was with the efforts of our chairperson um darling minko from events and Mr heinan who work diligently with all this and put everything together and it's also the Committees that put it I mean that's why new MILF is so great because people get involved and this is what you get a fabulous town a fabulous place to Department fire department I mean you know it's not by the shoot of the DI everybody the role of the day thank you um it's the residents in the town that pull it together and and get involved and that's the best way to keep the Milford as fabulous as it is it's been a lot of years um that we've been number one among ourselves and with other towns you hear always good things about the milk other people out of town so keep up the good work guys thank you thank you councilwoman well I don't know if I can PR all those I enjoyed both of your comments this evening so um I just also want to Echo um Thea's comments about the tree lighting event it it was such a collaborative event with the high school band The Girl Scouts singing um DPW scurrying around acting like practical elves doing their thing helping lighting up the place troop 78 uh tro 78 was I Coco yes and of course uh the fire department delivering Santa and Mrs Claus here too so it it really was a very very nice event so thank you to all uh that participated I'll do a quick overview of the month of November from the fire department um five Mutual Aid calls um accidental fire alarms for uh o natural gas odors to and other rescues total of 19 man hours included uh all of the above 238 hours for the month so that's pretty great yeah C wether uh from the Board of Health uh just a couple of highlights I do want to mention from our uh board of health nurse our public health nurse um she has really been making some wonderful inroads with the Board of Education and the schools uh making sure that all of their audits are done and that they have rules and compliance according to all the state uh regulation so um they are really enjoying a wonderful um communication and again when two departments or two bodies are communicating and help each other this is exactly uh what I think we've all been talking about um and I think that's my report for now but again thank you and congratulations Lisa thank you thank you thank you Council moski thank you mayor I like my hat at the tree lighting you're welcome [Music] [Laughter] report uh somewhat on our Solid Waste tonnage uh average through October is about $44,000 a month uh average through the end of the year last year was $37,000 uh this is due to an increase in June we're going from 86.3 4 uh dollar per ton to 92.2 per T and we also have an increase of about 45 tons on that so we will be going over this year uh total to date is uh to actually total for October is $440,000 74 on the mixed paper and called mingled uh side we're doing much better through November the average cost per month is $2,254 versus 4,605 in 2023 and the total in November uh through November actually is $ 4,798 and uh we'll be doing better than uh will be less than last year which was you didn't memorize that no 5,263 I have thank you that's my thank you kelon C well and congratulations C great welld deserved accomplishment um I in the theme of tonight I I just wanted to just thank our First Responders particular our police and our and our fire and our and our and our gpw I think a lot of the work that they do goes unseen in a community and I could specifically tell everyone here at this governing body that on an almost daily basis that I bring my daughter to school a resident and and a parent will uh comment favorably on the very visible presence of our Police Department not only in the schools but patrolling at every pickup every drop off supplementing our in school officers and I and I think it it underscores how well our department prioritizes school safety and keeping our entire Community safe and that tremendous work stems from T tremendous leadership so I thank our chief and his administration for their great leadership and the great work that our police department does on a daily basis thank you and to that end I also have to compliment our fire department the number of calls that I got in the last uh day or so on the smiles that our fire department put on the faces of so many children in our community uh bringing gifts to them with Santa Claus and everything else that our fire department does underscores how committed they are to serving our public and serving our community they go beyond just providing safety they're active integral parts of our community and our family so I thank them as well and I also just want to again just EO I think everybody feels the same way that all of the holiday events we've had have been tremendous very well attended and have put a lot of smiles on a lot of people's faces thank you thank you yeah very well attended this year so extremely excellent both lighting actually lighting as well yes so we're we're last year's manora lighting was very well attended and we're we're hoping for the same thing so we're hoping it's not 20° and and raining [Music] so you're up Council President Grant thank you I want to say that I filed my Council le as on report a couple of days ago in anticipation of tonight's meeting and that for further details or complete details on my activities with respect to maraon uh they can be found in that report which will be attended appended to the minutes of tonight's meeting a highlight is that the search committee for a new library de director has been successful we started the process in the summer and we have hired a new director she will start on January 1st and she spent the afternoon today familiarizing herself at the library and meeting the staff so we were very excited about um starting a new era our wonderful current librarian Carrie McCall has been with us for 19 years and is looking forward to a well-deserved retirement um we're going to miss her oh much there much yes um we amended the bylaws not too long ago and we will be reev reviewing and revising the uh policies and procedures uh starting early in 2025 the planning board as you know uh uh passed a resolution declaring old shop right property and area in need of Redevelopment and that has come before the May Council which and was approved the rent leveling board everything is status quo there so um we are very grateful for the action of the police dealing with the breaking of the library it was really quite shocking to hear about it and I'm glad it was resolved quickly and without damage for more than just that one window I still am not quite sure how we managed to get through that window this is a pretty small window nonetheless thank you Chief and Kevin Captain uh that's my report tonight and I wish everybody a wonderful holiday season and a great new excellent thank you um I have a couple quick things first I just want to mention that today we had about an hour's notice I was invited to a White House Office of um intergovernmental Affairs briefing it was a webinar briefing on the Drone situation um representatives were from the Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Aviation Administration uh basically the biggest thing they reiterated was that it's not a national security threat um they do recognize this is a matter of public concern the FBI has been investigating over 5,000 sightings uh most of it they've included where airplanes lawful uas hobbyists helicopters law enforcement drones stars and stars um they said that there will be legislation coming down that will provide additional resources state and local governments for future drone events and they've been using geospatial models uh to cover critical infrastructure assets and they continue to maintain you know airspace against anything or any threats against any of our resources so basically the big thing is it's not a natural threat they are looking into it and as more information becomes available it will be funneled down so all agencies are talking and are involved so that's all I got from that um I wanted to thank the DPW I think they've done a tremendous job job with our leaves uh leaves were difficult this year because of the drought right because there was no rain it wasn't pushing the leaves down as early so it took a long time for all the leaves to come down they've been doing a great job going through town I want to thank the police and the DPW and everyone for um the helicopter Santa Landing that happened on Saturday uh huge crowd it was freezing and we still had a huge crowd everyone had a good time Santa was safe came down he went to his breakfast so it all worked out I want do the thing this Council for everything they've done this year um you guys make the hard decisions and you guys provide the tools and resources that our Police use our fire department uses our DBW our OEM so you are a big part of all of our organizations and making everything run so they're doing a great job you're doing a great job and I wanted just to quickly thank theia for giving us her last Council leaz on report so we will we will do more we'll make a big deal of you in on January 6 so a little deal we'll a little deal okay no so at this time I'm going to ask for a motion to go Motion to open up to public comment motion second all in favor I anyos ladies and gentlemen the public if anyone has any questions or comments regarding good welfare Milford all we ask that you come up to the podium give us your name and let us know what's on your mind no okay you have any complaining to do Now's the Time to do it orever all right here we go got one just give us your name you add I've spoken to you several times my name is Kendra Moore um hi um I've lived in the Milford from 2001 I'm a registered nurse um I'm concerned about the way the schools operate here I have a child at Berkeley and um I think there's some work that needs to be done and I I know art and I would like to get more involved in how my child has special needs how decisions are made around these types of children um how parents are seen and um heard and respected um I'm going through a very difficult time with them right now I did speak to um Mr Peter galasso he was phenomenal he's I spoke to him multiple times today I emailed him at 5:45 and said please I have another question he called me um and he has been a little bit of a Sav and Grace in this process so um I have two children um two young children four and six and like I said I've lived here for 2001 and I would like to know or be a part of making things better for children with special needs um and um just respecting and hearing the parents so if anyone could share with me how and what I need to do to get more involved um in that aspect I would greatly appreciate that otherwise I love the police officers they come to my house all the time on Boulevard to look at my high-tech um camera system detective cesio and I forgot the other one short other guy they frequent my house and I always say tell the mayor I need my taxes to go down if you're using my camera system they come and they copy the stuff from the Tech dunin Donut gift cards for camera use I don't I don't drink Dunkin Donuts but my husband does but I I I appreciate um the police officers and they're very kind and respectful um and you know they call me I text them they ask me if they can come and they come and anything I can do to help cuz I have young children um you know it I got chills when I heard that story about the guy close to the school and look at what's happening on the news today in Wisconsin so I do find it um concerning um when I Dro my daughter to school because it's it's um it's it's rough and there is police presence um in the morning and the afternoon which is appreciated my mom is 79 and she walks to pick up my daughter and I always get anxiety when the bell brings at 3:10 like making sure I'm like hold her hand Walk This Way so people can see you cuz I'm like what if somebody grabs my like I just I never have never been as paranoid as I am now until I have have had um children I've worked and taken care of patients with open heart surgery I've been in healthc care for 25 years I've seen a lot from that perspective but it's very different when it's your family and your child so I will end there but I I do think we have a problem with how we manage children um with special needs and I um would like to be more involved are you having an ongoing conversation with superintendent colos today is the first day because I respect the process I followed the chain of command um I believe in that um so he was unaware of all of the details and I said yes because I followed the process so um I found him and I hope he remains that way very helpful very respectful you confident that he will and listened um and so um that assured reassured me um a little bit um I I that the principal Dr Chris amales is is I she's very helpful as well but it's just the process it's it's I felt very overwhelmed and stressed out for the last two weeks um going through this process and my husband said well that's because you talk to much and you talk to everybody that's why you're where you are so um and it's unfortunate because I like to be transparent um so so um it it's it hurts when you're transparent and then at the end of the day you know you don't get the results you want but my mom always says there's a light at the end of the tunnel and you just continue doing what you think is best for your child even though there'll be Ro blocks um along the way but yes I I did speak to him EXC so but art this is why I'm here so you can help me you car tonight yes um um you know get involved from that perspective m is the Le onto the Board of Education he'll make sure he touches base with Mr gaso and just make sure that the conversation is ongoing and I just wanted to because you asked the question how to get more involved um I would invite you of course even though it's not my place to extend the invitation to come to the Board of Education meetings as well uh they're extremely accessible extremely responsive and I think that you'll find getting to know not just the superintendent who's outstanding and does an excellent job but the board members who are also very dedicated will uh put your mind at ease and put you in Greater contact and greater connectivity with that with with the school district okay and and and and I and I thank you as well for your feedback about our police as I said before we have prioritized and our police department has prioritized school safety at all times from Beyond everything else which is why they are as visible as they are so how do you get to attend those meetings come when are they uh they are posted on the school district's um the school district website as well and they are held at the New Milford High School in the media room uh usually at 7:00 p.m. okay the work session and the regular sessions okay it's like this it's open to the public and a a part at the end or in the Middle where the public can com okay it's also available live stream but I think you you would uh possibly benefit more from coming in person yes where you speak directly MERS after okay so I'll do that but can I speak with you after this meeting absolutely okay thank you very much for listening anyone else seeing that no member of the public wishes to come forward I ask for a motion to close to the public motion second all in favor I any opposed okay I get a motion to adopt resolutions 2024 col 252 2024 call 270 second second all in favor I any opposed okay ladies and gentlemen we are going to go into Clos session and when we come out of Clos session we will take no action we will immediately adjourn this meeting before we go into close I just want to say thank you very much hope everyone has a happy and healthy holidays and a very Happy New Year I'm sure everyone Echoes that right abely stay healthy stay safe at this time may you get a motion to move into Clos session all in favor any good