okay meeting call to order today is February 13th 2024 this is the burough and council meeting for the bur of Oakland uh would the clerk please read the statement of compliance this meeting is being held in accordance with the open public meetings law duly announced advertised and posted in the municipal building the meeting will adjourn no later than 10 p.m. unless the majority of the council members that are present vote to extend the time thank you all rise uh councilman pelli please lead us to the flex please thank you I pledge alance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation un God indivisible with liberty and justice for all please remain standing for a quick moment of silence please rece okay clerk would you please conduct a roll call please councilwoman gofredo here councilman mccan here councilman pelli here council president saliani here councilman slinsky councilman talamini here motion to excuse councilman cinski second all in favor I thank you all right let me do a quick mayor's report here uh let me start off with the water uh the Water pfoa treatment is is currently on schedule uh I don't know if anybody's noticed down at the rec field you got some tanker trucks down there they're currently loading all of the carbon media into the into the vessels right now uh that's going to be followed up by the one down at Spruce Street and the one up by 84 Lumber and we expect to be online by probably 28th right at the end of the month we're running right on Target and we're really making good progress on this with the water uh Patriot Way Bridge uh we had a preconstruction meeting last week myself councilman uh mccan uh councilman and council president Steve San we had members of uh utilities public service we had the water department we had Verizon we had everybody there including our engineer and the contractor uh we are currently setting up a public meeting a community meeting for the people that live up in the reserve so that we could really set expectations for the residents moving forward once this construction starts so stay tuned for that uh Lakeside construction I know it's been a problem for the last couple years I'm happy to report that the water main work is completed they they just have to cut over three more houses and all that work will be completed at the end of the week the sewer project as you know we've been working on the sewer project for the last couple years um I'm happy to announce that the first sewage plant has come offline yesterday and we are now sending Flo to Northwest Bergen that's the one right right up here behind the uh staple shopping center the other two will be coming off in the next couple weeks which means that the burough will be not we will not be maintaining sewer plants anymore uh I want to also thank the D DPW for their snow removal efforts uh you know we really got hit pretty hard this morning and it was hard to keep up but we were down to Black Top about about 1:00 2 o'l in the afternoon and once again Oakland really leads when it comes to snow removal in this County it's you know you look at the other surrounding towns and you know we really got this thing down also I want to talk about the dump real quick the recycling center uh I want to just uh throw it to our bur attorney do we have any updates that you've heard of in the process no movement on the issue okay I did attend the well it's not they're not called freeholders the county commissioner meeting two weeks ago I had an opportunity to Lobby all the County Commissioners one at a time uh I'm I'm inviting him down here to really look at where the plant is located and in relationship to all the houses of the neighborhood so that when it comes to a vote in front of them they're educating they understand how critical it is for Oakland not to have this recycling center here also uh two other pieces of information the mayor's blood drive is this Thursday February 15th from 12:30 to 4:30 p.m. I'll be down there giving blood I we we still have a couple open slots available to anybody that like to give uh all the information is on our social media and also as you know we've been doing a lot of work on the Van Allen house um so we've got an open first open house from the Oakland Historical Society this Sunday February 18th from 1 to 4 p.m. weather permitting uh they're going to be displaying a collection of historic dolls including George and Martha Washington and take really go down there and look at all the work we did on that house for the last two years I mean it was a it was they really did a nice job with the historic uh you know the amount of detail that went into that house to make it back period correct for the house of of it you know statute back in 1600s um that's all I have at this moment do have a motion open to public so moved do have a second second anybody wish to address the councel just need your name and address car 412 Avenue open so just I just want to say very quickly that um removing the open public session the second one I think is a bad idea I don't think that there was enough transparency around it um I think that what you could have done is and I understand that a lot of other towns don't do it um I understand that but I think what could have been done is possibly just saying we're thinking about removing the second session um we will test it out for a couple of months if no one speaks at one of the sessions then we'll consider removing it this way the public knew in advance the public didn't know I think the public is upset about it and I just wanted to say that thank you thank you good anybody else Jim fulz for seminol Avenue yeah I have the same concerns as the prior speaker about the removal of the Open Session I just I don't think it's a great idea either I think it it concerns me with the new I'll just say Administration coming on board that that's one of the initial things they do without any notice to the public take away the right to speak to issues on a realtime basis at a particular meeting I just it concerns me it just seems like it's trying to to me it could be a perception of limiting public opinion and I don't think you know this is what the council and our coun for about so um I would like to ask why would they why what was the reason for doing it thank you Mr Fus there's no okay no response to that I guess we don't do a give and take in this portion okay well there's the opportunity I mean there must be a reason I would it would be beneficial at least to understand it rather than just have something taken away from the public with no no discussion no knowledge no transfer of any information thank you okay anybody else Nat wisler 47 Winding Ridge uh I I didn't quite get all of I'm talking about the Patriots uh patri way Bridge what is what is where are we going here with us you said something about updating uh the residence yeah so so what we're what we're doing is we're working with your board okay and the key to this is going to be the communication with the residents this is going to be a two-year project okay so we are working with your board with our administrator talking to the president of your board to set up a public meeting at the end of the month for all the residents so they can understand what's going to be involved with building the bridge what the timelines are going to be and what the expectations are so there's there's good clean communication to set real set realistic expectations to you the residents and that will be some by the end of this month yes thank you Sheila oing 16 Walnut Street I have two issues I'd like to address to the mayor and councel one is um Community Based deer management I don't know about the rest of you but I have nothing in my yard lower than this um I have deer all the time I chase them I have a horn I can't doesn't work they eat everything even the things that are on the list that they're not supposed to eat thousands of dollars of damage plus uh the only thing that kills them of course is a car on the road and at that point we pick them up and incinerate them uh the state runs a communitybased deer management program where you can have a supervised hunt to eliminate some of some of the deer of course not all of them but some of them and uh I'm also on the Shay tree commission and we're very concerned because they are eating all of the sinks I planted uh red Maples they're gone because it's below their point of whatever the trees are dying in the wooded areas and we can't grow anything because they eat it so I would like to see I have the print out from the state about the deer management program and I know several communities that do it um I don't know if Kim Bower is is on the shade Tre commission as well he is U certified Bow Hunter and he would be more than happy to run the program if the burrow and Council would agree to it because in the past when I've presented presentative they went oh you want to kill Bambi yes yes I and by the way they're quite delicious um I come from a family of hunters so um I can give this information toe I know we have an ordinance that you can't discharge a firearm in town well they do you said oh Council to remind everyone we're not supposed to be going back and forth with the audience have wonderful no no I'm talking to my council members no I mean they bow hunt and he is certified and has the ability to run the program um I have a cousin who's mayor in moris county and they've been doing it for years I know uh Upper Saddle River has a very large Management program but it is approved by the state uh the last dead deer I saw was on the ramp going to 287 and uh when I called the police they said well we can't take that that's State Property four week three weeks later the thing was torn apart torn apart that had to be coyotes I'm talking across from allgreens do we really want to encourage them to come down and take all the dead deer off the road I you know anyway that that's my first concern my second issue is that uh my neighbor came in this summer with backos regranted his property put up a six foot white plastic fence which I didn't move to Oakland to live next to a white plastic fence but that's his uh it now because he raised his property almost a foot higher than mine my yard is now flooded every time it r rains um I have contacted uh Mr Yik he they came out oh he also flooded the poor person on the other side of his yard which ran into her house they did take care of her to some extent me they went oh yep that's a problem he filed reports I've hounded the poor man since October he tells me uh the zoning board says and the planning board they don't have any authority to do anything about it the man did all of this with no permits by the way uh so far I have the report from Boswell nothing nothing I have contacted uh our Barrow administrator I went to a planning board meeting I've gone to zoning board meetings I've in the meantime my value on my property went up 27 ,000 and trust me if it I try to sell my house in a rain I'm not getting it it's not going to happen who wants a backyard that's flooded cuz I don't and I've been there for 43 years and I've never had this issue and I just don't know where to go at this point and who to contact okay uh everybody says I have no Authority they can't enforce it you had no PRS what could you just leave your name and number and I'll reach out to you I have you have it okay somebody reach out to you yeah I I'm just G I mean I know now it's winter and it's frozen and what are they going to do I mean if he wants that in his yard that's fine but he's going to have to provide some kind of drainage for me you can't put more dirt because it'll kill all my trees my that whole side of my yard is all trees and obious obviously on the shade tree commission I like my trees I'm very fond of my trees and I don't want them gone so and and and being underwater they will die so I I I'm just would like to see that's a personal issue that has nothing to do with anything else thank you okay thank you so much I appreciate your time anybody else motion and close you have a second all favor I all right approval of minutes mayor before we move on yes if I may for minute um Miss Borland's issue has been referred to code enforcement I don't know the current status of it but I know that they are aware of it there are issues with soil movement uh and I believe with the fence itself uh I'll be speaking with them tomorrow morning and I'll get you an update thank you Mr C okay thank you you're welcome all approval minutes January 23rd 2024 motion to approve so moved do have a second second roll call councilwoman GAO yes councilman McAn yes councilman Pig matelli yes council president Sani yes councilman talamini yes all right executive sessions minutes January 23rd 2024 do have a motion to approve so moved do have a second second roll call councilwoman gfo yes councilman McAn yes councilman pelli yes councilman president selani yes councilman talamini yes all right we have the following raffle licenses RL 1482 for the Oakland Franklin Lakes rotary for a 5050 we have raffle LIC RL 1483 for the sjg home and School Association on April 19th of bard of bellows we have raffle license RL 1485 for Steven J grari HSA on April 19th at PTO belloo we have raffle license rl1 1486 for the white cof reform church for March 3rd 2024 at Port of Bellos for BSA Troop from 89 we have raffle license RL 1487 for the white cof reform church on March 3rd 2024 Port of Bellos for Boy Scout Troop 89 we have raffle license RL 1488 for 5050 for the hubard school PTO on March 14th 2024 for the hubard school natural playground we have raffle license RL 1489 for a Tricky Tray for the harbard school PTO on March 14th 2024 portabello for the harbard school of natural playground do I have a motion to consent agenda for these following so moved do we have a second second roll call councilwoman gfo yes councilman mccan yes councilman patali yes yes council president Sani yes councilman talamini yes all right we also have there's a conflict with one of our members of the council so we have raffle license rl1 1484 for the sports Association of Oakland on March 9th 2024 to Valley Middle School for the Oakland braid base basketball do have a motion motion to approve I'll move do have a second second roll call councilwoman goo yes councilman mccan yes councilman Pell yes council president Sani abstain councilman talamini yes all right one more we have approved social Affairs permit for the Oakland Elks for March 30th for a comedy night motion to approve move second roll call councilwoman gfo abstained councilman McAn is he funny yes councilman patelli yes council president selani yes councilman tell meting yes all right we have the following appointments for burough professionals risk manager health will be aquasure and for the alternate burrow attorney will be the law office of Christopher kanaine prosecutor prosecutor sorry prosecutor motion to approve so moved second roll call councilwoman goo yes councilman mccan abstain councilman patelli yes council president saliani yes councilman tell yes all right we have the following appointments for committees this I'm going to do the mayor and Council ones first for the Arts committee I have Peter marus for a one-year term for the Board of Health I've got John buio for a three-year term ending in uh 12 3126 that's a balance of the term I got Jeff Klein for balance of the term ending on 33126 and for the environmental commission I have Brian Crowley for alternate for alternate 2 for a two-year ending in 1231 2025 motion to approve so moved do I have a second second all in favor I okay these are mayoral appointments for Access for all I've got Eileen Perry for a one-year unexpired term and a John buio for a one-year unexpired term for shade tree we've got a Harry Harrison for a 5year unexpired term ending in 12 3125 and for the cdbg committee I'm going to be appointing uh uh Mr well actually we'll do this under the resolution we'll hold off on that all right that's off for that let's move right ahead to resolutions sorry did you do the environmental commission Brian did I yeah yeah I did yeah Bri Crowley okay I think you said CH environmental oh yeah I don't think you did envir that environmental was a mayor and councel okay so that' be a Brian Crowley it's going to be alternate to for a two-year position positioning on 12 3125 motion approve moved all in favor okay all right moving right along to resolutions we'll do the following as a consent agenda we're going to pull pull some of these out I know they've all been posted on the website you read them in your packets so we are going to do consent agenda 2469 2470 2471 2472 2473 2474 2477 2478 2480 2481 2484 2485 2486 2488 2489 and 2491 have a motion to approved don't move second second roll call Council woman goo yes councilman mccan stain councilman Pignatelli yes council president Selen yes councilman Talam yes all right 2476 appoint Deputy register um reg registar motion to approve we have one of our Council people has a conflict with that so motion to approve don't moov do have a second second roll call councilwoman gfo yes councilman McAn yes councilman Pignatelli yes councilman Sani abstain councilman talamini yes 2479 annual appointment to the municipal representatives of the Bergen County development Regional committees for year 2023 covering July 1st 23 through June 20th 2024 uh the mayor has two appointments I'll be appointing Ro administrator Mr Coons and our CFO Mr Young and I believe council president is going to appoint two people from the council uh appoint myself and Kevin cinski motion so moved second roll call please councilman woman goo yes councilman mccan yes councilman Pignatelli yes council president saliani yes council president sorry councilman talamini yes all right we've got 2482 W contract for community grants planning and housing for administrative agents and Rehabilitation housing program Administration once again we have a conflict one of our members motion to introduce motion to approve joh moved we have a second second roll call councilwoman goo abstain councilman McAn yes councilman pelli yes council president Sani yes councilman talamini yes all right 2483 award contract to Associated appraisal group 2024 reassessment program the reason I wanted that pulled out is uh we're receiving emails from residents asking why we're being reassessed every year therefore I'd like to have have our bur administrator Mr Coons explain the process sure thanks uh so this is something that we started when we were ordered to do the last reassessment in 2021 coming on the books in 2022 uh the decision was made that rather than do it once every 10 years or so uh that it would be advantageous in the long run uh to go to what's called an annual reassessment program uh where all properties are looked at every single year uh to keep their assess values as close as possible to market rate values that does a couple of things one it spreads your cost out uh of doing that two uh it keeps the assessments Equitable from year to year over time you get these sort of disparities uh and it leads to inequities in terms of the you know we're supposed to be pay everybody supposed to be paying their fair share uh this helps meet that goal of a program it also reduces the amount of disruption year to year if you have a reassessment every 10 years or 12 years uh when the assessed value has dropped greatly relative to market value you can have a large shift in individual Properties or classes of property let's say residential to commercial or industrial uh doing it every year means that those adjustments are much more minor the impacts on individual home owners generally are much less than they would be when you do it every 10 years or so and everybody waits with baited breath uh to see exactly what their assessment is uh another benefit is over time it uh it tends to reduce tax appeals as well uh that reduces in some you know cost reduction potentially for the burrow as well so there's a lot of reasons that we do it uh and you won't see the inspector out at your house every year uh because it's on like a 5year rolling basis where we pick about 20 % or so or 25% a year to inspect but every property is getting looked at by the appraisal company every single year uh and brought up to uh market rate thank you Mr C I just wanted our bro administrator just give a nice explanation to everybody because we do re inquiries every now and then and also receive emails from residents Eric i' like to ask Mr a question sir um Mr Coons when you say look at every year is that actual driveby or we just using comps in the neighborhood using comp comps in the L and not it's not not every house is visually inspected every year so we've been doing this for four years now this I believe is the third year so I know other towns have got to it do you feel do you feel this is a better model has this helped us than what we've done previously does it help does it help run the town run better the whole idea was to save money by doing the cost yeah so you're spreading you're spreading out the cost annually versus you know a 10 year cost which is you know $500,000 or more it certainly helps from that perspective uh again and there's there's a fairness issue at at play that everybody pays their fair share uh and it certainly helps promote that uh and I think that it's beneficial to Residents too where you're not shocked uh once every 10 years where you know may maybe you make out maybe you know your property has dramatically increased in value compared to your neighbors or maybe that uh based on what's just happened there's a shift to residential or shift away from residential uh it's much more incremental I think you know those changes are easier for residents to absorb and has our appeals of appeals increased even in the business sector as well there there were some initial appeals really on the commercial side especially because there was a shift with the last reassessment to the commercial and Industrial base um I don't know the count last year off the top of my head to give you a definitive answer on that to commercial Rich do you I don't know if you know the answer to this at all is it better for the when you say some of the homes are not all visually inspected when they knock on the door if if they miss you I mean is it better to have someone visually inspect the home in internally or is does it matter uh it it does matter because if they aren't able to get into the home there are certain assumptions that they need to make to comply with you know their standards of practice which could result in over assessment so we always advise you know please let them in your home let them do their job it's going to be the most Equitable solution for you as the homeowner uh and certainly if you don't they've been they've proven to be very accommodating with scheduling and coming back out you can even do a virtual inspection uh they they've accommodated that as well what about Security in terms of identification uh good question so every one of their inspectors uh is registered with the police department so they have all the names uh they have to wear ID Badges and if you have a question you want to verify that just call the police department uh and they'll be able to confirm anybody else have any questions okay motion to approve 2483 W contract Associated appraisal group 2024 reassessment program so move have a second second roll call councilwoman goo yes councilman mccan yes councilman Pig matelli yes council president Sani yes councilman telini yes all right I also pulled out 2487 resolution opposing A4 s50 concerning affordable housing uh what I'd like to do is turn this over to our bur attorney for an explanation uh obviously affortable housing is a very Hot Topic in the state U Mr Gilson would you address this with uh yes so mayor there is a new bill it's passed the assembly on a party line vote and it would change the way that affordable housing obligations are calculated going forward to the 2025 round that everyone's talking about it would take it and put it in hands of unelected experts that would decide what Oakland's share of the housing would be and our legislator Senator chapz some been all the assembly Min or all either voted against it the assembly members or Senator Chap's on record is opposing it and they've asked us to issue a resolution of support uh in favor of opposing this legislation that would basically set unelected experts picked by the affordable housing Advocates to decide what Oakland's obligation would be with little to no say from Oakland did this just come out of the assembly yes it has not passed the Senate yet but it has passed the assembly okay anybody have any questions for a bur attorney concerning this not seeing any motion to approve so moved second roll call councilwoman gfo yes councilman mccan yes councilman Pignatelli yes council president Sani yes councilman talamini yes all right I also pulled out 2490 uh resolution authorizing lonard developers agreement uh the reason I want to pull that out is this is the property that's behind Union Hills High School which is where they're putting 200 units in and I just wanted to have our Bureau attorney also address and explain the resolution and what's going on with that property yes so the the resolution that's before you tonight is authorized developers agreement that's been agreed to in principle by myself John y kemik Joe Russo the planning board attorney and lar Holmes for this project there are a few administrative issues need to be worked out as far as some Bond calculations and things so the resolution before you tonight is to approve the agreement and with the stipulation that the mayor is authorized to execute it if the B professionals are okay with the changes that are made uh Mr chel is here if he would come up you come up and kind of talk through some of the things lar is doing for the community to address the issues that been raised um good evening everyone may members of the council um so lar has been working diligent name I'm sorry I thought Jason tual attorney for lenar um we've been working diligently with Mr gillson and Mr Coons and Mr y kimik um regarding the resol the resolution conditions that are required here um the developers agreement just sets forth you know our obligations in terms of construction of the project um we've provided a Bond estimate um to your uh engineer that's s a review I think that's part of the stipulations that we post the bond and in addition the planning board also wanted a tree restoration Bond a separate bond that we're okay with Mr Gilson um has already provided me with the estimate for that which lenar is finds acceptable and we're willing to post um so those would be sort of the the underlying um amendments to the developers agreement that we would that we would work out um we also have to get our Soil Conservation District approval as well to start tree clearing which we're working on diligently um Boswell is also in the loop on that as is Mr Coons and um Mr Gilson and I have been speaking very regularly about this matter in order to move it forward can you just quickly explain the issue with the uh Indiana bat Alabama bat sure so so so to get this project started um if you don't start tree clearing um uh if you don't excuse me complete your tree clearing by March 31st then you have to wait an additional I believe it is 6 months to start again because of the Indiana bat that is in this area of New Jersey so the goal is for us to start our tree clearing complete that by the date that's that's required March 31st and then after that we still have to work on our water and sewer approvals um tww permit stuff like that that we're working on with with the burrow and all the outside agencies that are that are involved how long do you would is anyone know how long so if you're clear these trees by March 31st is what I just heard is that accurate cor that's correct so that means how long would that lot be clearcut before the other permits are received in estimation yeah so that's can I give an estimate because yeah it's always it's that's always the developer question how long things would take um but all the other items have been submitted are tww applications with Northwest Bergen they had some very minor comments um then it goes to the D um so my my guess and subject to my client uh correcting me my guesses would be within 3 months of the clearing we' probably commence commence conr instuction on the project and we're actually working with the burrow having bi-weekly meetings to make sure that everything is in sync I was on the planning board um two years ago okay or a year ago in a process of uh this development I know there was a big concern about the property manager uh who who's going to take care of the uh rental units you're still having the same same property manager or is it a different company now um I believe that lar would be would Steve do you want to speak to that sure I have let Steve just give your name for the dire sure I'm Steve do D AHL I'm with lenar so I think you're referring to Ingram they were the company that was uh that testified in front of the planning board they were going to do the affordable homes lenar follows a different uh business model we we actually construct the homes ourselves then sell them to a someone who would own and manage the affordable homes in this case it's probably going to be Woodland Development Group and they have experience in managing other rental affordable homes in the state I just want to make sure they're going to give the same quality to the to the people as the other manager presented to the board and in fact yes and we're going to be building the same buildings uh that that you saw or that the planning board viewed as part of that approval process um one other question this might seem a little strange for me to even ask it at this point however if the council uh knows we had to go through a um storm water management seminar uh we all had to attend it and I know they commented uh in that program the value of rain Gardens which would help uh recharge our aquifer I don't know if there's any rain Gardens proposed uh on the development uh and if not would it be nice to have so yeah we would have to comply with all the storm order management regulations that govern the property you know at the time the application was filed by kof danan so presumably and and it wouldn't have been approved by the board or the D or by your engineer um if we didn't follow those D guidelines thank you so um I was at uh planning board meeting the last last planning board meeting and uh they were discussing the whole problem with the the Indiana bat and you guys moving forward um sooner than than you you normally would be because you don't have the all the all the okays um and they were talking about uh doing it in a staged uh kind way so so I think so so what we talked about and if I wasn't clear I apologize I'll be what I think when I spoke to Joe Russo and spoke to Mr Gilson the the protection that the burrow wanted or that the board wanted that were that I put on the record here is that that tree restoration Bond so we put that bond in place and it's a significant amount it's about $850,000 and that was calculated by the burough sha tree commission and also confirmed by Boswell so it's not even our number it's your number um to put that in place so that the burrow is protected but I can assure you that lenar is moving Full Speed Ahead with the project to make sure that I understand the the the bond issue but they but really they were there was a a a concern that that if you were gonna clearcut it all and then a uh a storm comes then all that runoff is gonna happen oh so that so so okay so the second item that I mentioned as well that's why we need to get Bergen County Soil Conservation District approval because we're going to have to put in the soil erosion and sediment control measures that are going to have to stabilize the site until actually throughout construction so it'll actually change and phase so there'll be S approval s being Soil Conservation District approval for the tree clearing then when we move to Full Construction those plans that we've developed that have been reviewed by the burrow but also the county will then also be involved for the for the Full Construction and when we move to Full Construction the first items that are built are the are the bases the reasons you just so councilman I I think because there's a little bit of confusion going back and forth the issue with getting moved quickly on the developers agreement was whether or not they needed all their full approvals that they would need to build they've agreed that they need whatever permits they need from the town and from other agencies to remove the trees we're not speeding any process along as far as that the only thing that were not that was a point of contention that got sorted out was whether or not they would need final all their approvals you know that take forever away from from d and it was agreed upon that if they put these Bonds in place that they wouldn't need to have all of those approvals fully in place as long as they were applied for and moving along before they started the tree clearing but all the permits related to tree clearing that they would need from shade tree and from the county and all that those will have to be uh taken care of before any clearing in including the soil erosion that I mentioned okay and there there was just there was a lot of discussion about they they were concerned that that it would be better to move slowly rather than clear cutting the whole thing and I and I I don't you know um the attorney the attorney was there Boswell was there and they were you know the discussion was more about getting it staged than yeah and that's and that's how we basically decided to do it okay anybody else from the council have any questions oh wa so to make sure I heard that clear originally I used the term clearcut and you said yes and I said stage so are you taking down the trees in one clearcut swoop or is it staged no the the what I mean stage is you we'll be clearing the trees first in one swoop to your point and then we'll have to get our all of our final outstanding the agency approvals before actual land disturbance for construction and that goes back to basically it's you clear it and it'll be there'll be a potential 90day delay till you get your other approvals correct okay so it is just just be clear so you are clear cutting that's stage one is what you're saying that's right so it's not staged couple acres here couple acres there a couple acres yeah we intend it'll probably take about a month but we intend to clear the whole site that that's allowed to be disturbed obviously the Wetland areas would not be touched so you don't cut down every tree do you cut down every tree every tree that's within the area that's intended to be disturb yes okay yeah just per per the plans that were approved by the board okay yeah nothing more than approve by Z board for us they they were talking about staging it was it was more of an ask you know and um so so if if you guys have met and and this is what the attorneys and the engineers are all agreeing to then then that's and like I said we're meeting bi-weekly with the Burrows professionals to make sure that everything's done exactly the way that it's intended Rich does this match your understanding yeah yeah basically there were the two conditions regarding the uh the uh bond for the trees and the Burgen County Soil Conservation distu grou and so and we're still waiting on the Bergen County correct which is and it's it's it says Bergen County but it's a state agency right it's the Bergen County District of the exactly conserv it's a state agency that's correct and Boswell's been in touch with them in addition to our professionals as well when do you expect to get that permit that I believe we're hoping to get by the end of this month I believe if if not by next week yes okay and I I know they were looking for a letter of ins of assurance from the from the Burton County uh you know like okay maybe it's not going to be approved tomorrow but the plan is that that that it is going to be approved and we you get a letter saying yeah we have to we have to get a letter from them indicating that we're fully approved for the tree clearing and have the all and that the measures we're going to implement are to their satisfaction that's correct yeah we can't move forward without that all right I just question just for the sake to the residents how long is it going to take for this entire project from start to finish the entire 200 the entire uh project obviously you're going to be opening up roads back on MCO Road you're going to be running water M we have a high school back there this is one entrance for residents to get in and out just just right and we've been in touch with the representatives from the high school or their counsel but mayor I you know a in part it's a function of of the market but I think we estimate it's about a threeyear process from start to finish three years okay anybody else have any other questions so this is a resolution to speed it up so they can start cutting down trees this is a we have to get this developers agreement regardless this is a condition of approval uh the developers agreement was always something that that we needed the only thing that Matt wanted me to explain was that the planning board was okay with us doing the tree clearing subject to us getting those those other itions in place the tree restoration and The Soil Conservation District but the developers agreement that you're voting on was always required by the Bor yeah anybody else not seeing any all right motion introduce resolution a vote on oh yeah we got to vote on yeah we did okay uh roll call I need a motion oh motion yeah that's motion to approve motion second second roll call councilwoman goo yes councilman mccan no councilman Pali yes councilman president Sani no councilman slinsky sorry councilman talamini yes okay moving on thank you y got the following ordinance for introduction 24 Capital 94 40 Capital ordinance to fund it infrastructure improvements Mr C explain that real quick uh this would fund the remainder of the fiber project uh specifically for the installation uh and also refresh of the PD Network um that's it okay do we open a public at this point no no public at the second okay all right do we have a date motion to intr do we have a motion to introduce so moved second roll call councilwoman gfo yes councilman M yes councilman pelli yes council president selani yes councilman talamini yes all right we've got introduction of um open to the public at the next meeting February 27 okay this will be public statement and adoption on a 27 adoption on 27 yes public statement yep and adoption okay uh introduction of ordinance 24 Capital 941 or Capital ordinance to amend ordinance 22885 Mr Co sure uh this is can kind of be considered as a companion to 940 uh 941 actually amends uh the funding sources for a couple of Prior Capital ordinances to free up enough uh Capital fund balance to use in 940 specifically 941 uh takes funding uh out of the open space trust fund to fund our grant matches uh for the uh Truman Field improvements and the bush Plaza Park development okay this will be final adoption will be on February 27th council meeting all right motion motion to approve motion to introduce motion to introduce so still new with this roll call Council GAO yes councilman McAn yes councilman pelli yes council president selani yes councilman meeting yes okay we got one more ordinance for introduction 24 code 942 amend code Recreation Commission Mr Coons sure uh and and may I think that this one will cover the workshop item uh as well wrap that all up in in the sting here okay so uh you're going to see on Workshop it's establish a recreation trust fund this one's actually concerning the Recreation Commission they also go hand inand and I'll tell you why uh so there starting this year's budget development process uh and we were putting together all the budget requests uh it was clear we one we were going to have an issue with the Appropriations cap uh and two uh the Recreation Commission uh for a while has wished for a process where they could use the fees generated in the current year to fund programs in the current year specific to Recreation commissions there statutory language that says that it must be funded uh you know through taxes as a budget so they get a budget like other departments and then the revenue that comes in becomes anticipated Revenue uh so you really you you're not really able to use a trust fund with a recognition a trust fund would be the mechanism where the funds come in in a given Year from fees and they can spend up to that amount uh in that same year gives them a lot more flexibility in terms of standing of programs and and the like moving it to a trust fund uh you know meets their goal uh it also resolves s substantially resolves our appropriation cap issue this year because of the cap base adjustment and the level of increase this year uh that the rec commission was requesting due to the popularity growing popularity of their programs and all of the new programs that they offering as well as some inflationary pressures there uh so in order to have a trust fund you have to have a committee you can't have a commission okay so what these two items would do uh would establish a trust fund and it would basically change the language for a Rec commission to that of a recreation committee thus enabling the trust fund so the ordinance that you have that you have before you establishes a Rec Committee in place of a Recreation Commission uh under the uh the draft that we came up with which I've shared with Mr guadino uh and we spoke about earlier today uh the the terms of office the number of members the length of the terms all of that would remain the same uh there's some clarifications there to reflect current practice uh any language that was referencing the uh underlying state statute for rec commissions was deleted and the like certain things were sort of modernized and brought up to date um but it essentially an acts a Recreation Commission uh or committee rather uh so if you take this action tonight and introduce this could be adopted at the next meeting also at the next meeting we would do is we' have a resolution on the agenda uh to establish the trust fund uh we would adopt the bylaws of the wre committee essentially the same thing that the commission has you know you're changing the name for the most part uh and also then appoint the members uh to the committee as well I have a question Mr cones when we were talking about Redevelopment of the downtown um and our planner was discussing Commission versus committee um doesn't uh one of them not have to have any approvals from the council they could just do it what on their own it that's sort of a generalization uh commissions again sort of generally have some sort of underpinning in State Statute uh think of environmental commission shade Tre commission things like that that's you know generally the the difference but you can also kind of think of it is you know what's in a name I've also seen you know uh agencies that are strictly local called commission like a flood commission uh so it's not it's not an exact science by any means but in this particular case there's specific statutes regarding commissions and specific stuff that a committee can do that a commission can't correct okay and um I thought I heard you use the term Appropriations credit uh cap okay so there is we there is you can't do an Appropriations credit anymore from what I understand is that correct or am I wrong don't know what you're referring to by credit in other words if if I have a program I charge uh $10 and I collect $100 uh that goes into a fund that only I can use and I can use that $100 because I brought that Revenue in that's what we're talking about establishing okay I thought that was an Appropriations credit then no it's a trust fund okay you're establishing the trust fund right correct yeah so so I mean from from what I understand the the the the plan this this is more of a a budgeting it was a budgeting problem and by by doing this we're we're we're basically we're moving the the the rec uh committee is going to have the same the same responsibilities and the same same same Authority as as it did before as the commission um everyone's appointments are exactly are staying the same um so if you have one year left you still have one year left if you if you got just got appointed you're you're you're you're still appointed um it's it's just more of a a numbers thing and we're just trying we're just trying to make things easier on on everyone it's it's help it's it's helping the it's helping the finance committee out and and it's also helping the the rec the rec committee out because because now they can access their fund more more easily um I I think it's a win-win um and it's not something that that we went into um you know willy-nilly uh we had we had the discussion in finance and we're like okay what do we got to do is this something do we think that this is something that the recreation would do I don't know you know we got to let's see what we're doing and then we said okay we'll we'll bring it to to uh to the rec committee and then we went so we went to to uh the chairman of of recre and we discussed it and and and and we saw you know positives and negatives and and we're just um you know this is this is more a financial thing than anything and and and just um um you know the last thing I want to do is is is hurt wreck and it's it's one of the greatest things that that's ever happened to me Oakland Recreation and um uh so this this is really um just about about uh being able to balance our books better so uh uh and and just thank you to the rec committee and thank you to to Rich and Dave and um for for coming up with this solution and um we just want to move forward and and um Oakland has you know I can't think of a better Recreation program in in in in the world I'll say the world they they do a they do a great job and we're not trying to mess anything up this is all about um uh getting our our our our budget in order councilman tell me just quick question so this is youve had an open actually I'd like to have the rec commissioner come up to the podium real quick in regards to this Mr I just want to make sure are you comfortable with this completely comfortable with the way it's being being done we've worked hard because everybody remembers what happened people who are around town who were here 12 years ago this is not that this is completely just taking the commission and taking the same language the same verbiage that was used in the ordinance in creating committee out of it it's just by name our biggest bugo has been as you were our liaison for a lot of years anybody who's been our liaison knows is we need access to our funds we need 100% access to our funds and we could be able to carry our funds over we don't use we can carry them over year to year this this fixes that problem this has been our biggest you can call me Committee Member commission member you can call me the W guy like that doesn't matter taxpayers should have access to their funds and this will take care of this problem and if we have a year we have we don't need that much money we can carry it over and maybe reduce the fees next year or or get some extra equipment or or fix Trum or whatever it is so I just to answer the question I am completely comfortable the commission is completely comfortable at the way this is being handled we we work closely with Rich and and Russ and making sure it's the same language you're basically in fact the commission is working as a committee anyhow we no we weren we weren't working as having independent rights we you were on the commission we ran basically as a committee everything has to be signed off on by Mr Coons and we're continue all that we just changing the name and again this is not what went on 12 years ago 13 years ago this is something completely different it's positive way it's being done is no negatives and I completely and the commission supports this and we look forward to having full access to um dig funds and the one thing you said without touching on it Mike it actually makes the programs better and the people benefit are the kids that's all that matters right so this makes it better for the kids the one you were saying it you didn't say the we know how we know how some some parents have a hard time writing that check they and now we know that check is going all towards supposed to go and this is is phenomenal this is this is this exciting thank youing I just wanted to make sure that you were comfortable with this I I have a general question I don't know if it's for Mike or so is the was the problem with the access to funds you weren't able to pay bills or or or bu yeah we had to use about $6,000 of fundraising money this year and we still had $68,000 in the account we couldn't get to legally couldn't get to okay so this will take care of that problem we won't have to use fundraising money to pay our bills anymore so yes and this year we're going up to $750,000 a budget I mean from I mean it's the program that is grown and not grown I don't know if there's more kids in town now but it's just yeah we have to pay referees we have to buy helmets we have to buy yeah just I just signed all the checks so this is basically a product of your success of your program not my my it's the parents it's the directors program of big program it's a lot of people have been in the past it's just it's really just moving it along okay so but I want but it just need to be answered this is not we're not going to fill this room up like we did like like like 12 years ago this is um this is completely this is um something positive on Recreation something we've look forward to and we're glad we're we take care of it thank you Mr W thank you all right any other discussion not seeing any uh motion uh make a motion to introduce so moved second second second roll call councilwoman gfo yes councilman mccan yes councilman pelli yes council president Sani yes Council talini yes this will be for February 27th for adoption public open public open okay all right moving along to adoption of 24 code 938 and ordinance revising construction fees in the bur of Oakland Mr Coons you want to bring up to speed on that uh right so this was uh brought before you after review of all the uh code enforcement related fees it's not just construction it's construction uh also fire prevention zoning Etc uh to bring them up to really where they should be they haven't really been addressed in about the last 15 years uh and you know we're well behind our fellow communities in terms of uh what we charge and the revenue that we generate uh for these activities and so this is meant to make sure that um you know the fees are appropriate to the expenses in the office um because it's supposed to cover all of those uh so just a general General update to the fees looking at uh you know neighbors kind of facturing inflation thank you Mr we discussed this opening with the council back in January uh do a motion open to public so moved second second anybody from the public wish to speak on this ordinance not seeing any motion to close motion to close second second all in favor I all right uh let's motion to adopt 24 code 938 do have a motion to adopt so moved second second roll call councilwoman gofredo yes councilman mccan yes councilman pelli yes council president Sani yes councilman talamini yes okay moving along to adoption of 24 code 939 ordinance amending Recreation fees I know we talked about this last month Mr Coons just brings bring the public up to speed again uh sure this is just something that we do every year uh the recommission takes great pains to you know we meet with Mike we meet with Neil uh I I think Neil takes Neil great pain uh to you know basically get out his crystal ball and figure out uh how many participants there's going to be in the programs what the fees need to be to be able to support all of that uh and so we adjust them annually to try to make sure that the uh the fees that are collect you're covering the cost of the programs so what you have here is fees that take into account uh enrollment projected enrollment changes uh you know inflationary increases for tournaments for off things like that adding in different programs so basically it's just the annual update that we do to make sure that the fs are where they need to be to support the program okay all right uh do we have a motion open to the public so moved second oh before I I move on also just want to point out uh and although it's something that we did Via resolution at at the last meeting um the fees for wreck uh uh baseball and softball take into account the fact that uh we're partnering now with the Chamber of Commerce on a sponsorship program as well so I know we're looking forward to great things with that think you mention that last okay anything else Mr Co okay uh where were we need a second need a second Y open to public you Mr M second okay anybody wish to from the public wish to talk about adop uh ordinance 24 code 939 is is there a way we could like like get rid of the the basketball and baseball fees I think we should pay the basketball coach all right not seeing anybody from the public did you want did you wish to address the public no okay not seeing anybody from the public motion to close motion to close second roll call Mo sorry moot still new with this it's only meeting number three a motion to adopt 24 code 939 an ordinance amending Recreation fees some move second second roll call Council M Gedo yes councilman mccan yes councilman pelli yes council president Sani yes councilman T yes all right we have two up two two issues uh two work session items Keller Williams grand opening Mr Coons do you want to take that or would the clerk like to take that one rich Mr Co W Little Rich all right uh well Wendy may have some Salient details here but essentially K Williams is doing a grand opening uh later in the spring they've asked to use the Shoppers parking lot that we own uh off of 202 there in downtown uh for their event so they're just asking for approval for that uh we don't really see a downside to doing that I believe it's on a weekend uh when you can May 16 May 16th whatever day May 16th is uh I would I would say it's fine as long as it's not going to at all interfere with uh the construction of bush Plaza uh and probably subject to having the appropriate uh you know liability insurance and hold harmless what kind of what kind of event is it so I can tell you it is um it's a permit to close the parking lot located at 383 Ramapo Valley Road on May 16 2024 for grand opening event the event will be scheduled from 4:30 to 7:30 in the evening so the lot would be need to be shut from the morning of the event till the following morning for the tent company to set up and dismantle the T we are expecting approximately 200 attendees intended to provide light food DJ and entertainment for children a clown possibly an ice cream truck there will also be tours for the public dur the new office just like to make sure that they get their food permit from the from the Board of Health for both things that they're going to be offering food for and police approval any other further discussion from of the council the 16th I think is a a Thursday um you know and they're saying they're saying it's got to be the the the morning is the morning of and the morning after yeah they said they the lot would need to be shut from the morning of the event until the following morning so that the temp company can set up and dismantle so it' be closed on the 16th to the 17th now Keller Williams is a company that is renting the space where Chopper business used to be it's upstairs in the white building in the lot there oh okay so they want to use that lot and what product are they they're real estate agents oh they're real estate agents okay anybody else okay moving on to the second can we um is everybody on board moving forward any objections everybody good to move forward for next we good y okay all right uh next item establish reation trust fund Mr C I know you went over it already great detail anything else you want to add no I think is the uh Council in agreement with the recreation trust fund yes okay very good anybody have any new business old business yeah uh Mr Coons I came up last night at the flood commission meeting what the buyout of the properties um where we with the buyouts of the proper properties that we were going through phase three uh phase three is almost complete uh there's one more property that's going through that process and all five uh phase three properties all have been acquired uh phase one was successful and we acquired all six phase two we've required six out of seven there was one homeowner uh that didn't that changed her mind didn't want to sell uh we will be uh doing a bid to take down homes for phase two and three uh closing out those programs and then moving on to phase four where we do have a uh funding commitment from Burton County uh those are some additional homes on lenpy uh and some uh few homes on lak Shore Drive as well the timing for phase four would be uh probably substantially uh late this year and into next year okay thank you and one thing you need to be aware uh given everything that's happened since Co with that uh and Green Acres rule changes uh we're going to need updated appraisals on all the on all the properties thank you any other old business not seeing any uh committee liaison reports uh start with Miss grao thank you mayor um on February February 5th the shade tree commission met uh they are working on Arbor Day presentations at the local Elementary School probably Dogwood spoke spoke about theer problem um please consider their adopted tree program to learn more about how to receive a free tree please email Shad tree oakland.org um the OCC did not meet in February uh their next meeting is scheduled for March 4th at 7 p.m. uh the access for all committee met on February 7th they spoke about future events their next event will be an Easter egg hunt on March 23rd the rain date will be March 24th and their next meeting is March 7th which is a change on the calendar uh Wendy um at 7:30 p.m. that's it thank you councilman mccan uh two items that we act we took action on tonight uh were from meetings with the uh Administration committee slash also the uh the public health and the first one was with regard to the to the uh ordinance U to to fund for the bond for the it infrastructure spent a lot of time I want to thank Rich uh U for putting together an excellent uh proposal an explanation and as well as IT director um as to why the improvements were needed I want to acknowledge that the mayor attended that meeting and um frankly we we we we tried to see if we there were other ways of doing something like this without having to go out for for $400,000 uh including shared services um and speaking to other towns of what we can do unfortunately um given the nature and the scope of the technology uh and the requirement by Dell that we get our our our response in before the prices went up um we we were we we chose to act going forward with the bond uh the other item that we covered was the health risk manager we met with um um and I believe the gentleman is here tonight I thought I saw I guess he's where's um we had we had a good meeting uh reviewed his program and in comparison we felt uh that he brings the best value uh to the employees and their benefits package uh he he him and his in his partner made a commitment of of uh providing uh spontaneous customer service even on Friday nights uh for our for uh for our employees uh a lot of times employees have issues uh with coverage when they CVS they get denied and uh that kind of service is uh old school and uh much appreciated which is why we recommended to the council that we move forward uh to you mayor that we move forward that that's it thank you Mr Ren uh councilman how are you I know it's only your third meeting we got pleas to meet you so I'll start off with with the simplest one I I want to thank DPW for everything they did today uh mayor to Echo your comment did a great job the storm and uh we can't thank him enough for their dedication to the town from the the next update real quick was the flood commission and uh it was something we approved tonight so uh we met last night and um they're they're very they're very happy with the town approving the river restoration project so we're good to see that going forward so rich appreciate all your work there to help get that done and then I had attended my first public events committee last night as well and very interesting meeting very very fun very uh low-key fun it was a great time uh their first event of the year is going to be the Easter egg hunt which is going to be 24 oh wow 23rd 24th March March 23 23 rain dat 24th rain day 24th and then so just everyone know that that's coming that's all I had thank you coun counil pig tell yes uh unfortunately the environmental commission did not meet we did not have a quorum uh the Board of Health meets on U February the 20th I don't have a report for for seniors uh Council mccan if you don't mind since Mr slazinski is not here tonight and I was at the first aid meeting I'd just like to give just a couple of numbers if you don't mind please go is that okay sure um during the month of uh January the first a squad had 79 calls and this is phenomenal they answered 94% 94.2 or 94.4% of their calls which is which is outstanding um and the other thing is uh if the town didn't know uh first a squad is celebrating their 70 at the aniversary this year there's a display at the library uh shows pictures of uh uh the John Robert Walker uh first aid Squad when it started and pictures throughout the 70 years uh so if you'd like to learn a little bit more about the first aid Squad please visit the uh display at the Oakland Public Library good luck could you tell the residents they're interested how they can join a first aid Squad yes uh as a matter of fact thank you mayor because someone just stopped me at shopright which is which is great um if anybody wants to uh become a member of the first aid Squad um an EMT or a driver uh EMT does go to school uh Bergen County um U I think it's 250 classroom hours so it's pretty extensive um first uh if you want to be your driver uh you attend a 4-Hour program at the county again it's called sio um and uh you commit 12 hours a week and uh let me tell you it's so rewarding when you do help these people especially Shu inss or someone living alone um it's it's just a great way to pay it forward because uh there are people hurting in town and they need the first aid Squad and um it made me have a a greater appreciation of my good health thank you God uh that I see so many people that they really really need help with the first aid Squad they have nobody all they have is the first aid so if you have time and you'd like to pay pay forward you can join the first aid Squad we meet the first uh Monday of every month 7:30 at the first a squad and there's also a website forgive me I don't know it right off the top of my head but I think Oakland first aid squad.com or Robert John Walker first aid Squad but it's a it's a great way to pay back pay forward thank you mayor thank you counc talini okay thank you uh so I had uh uh my first uh wreck meeting and I and I lied to them I told them I wasn't going to change anything I wasn't G to upset the apple cart I'm not trying to reinvent the wheel all those good cliches and then the next day I had a finance meeting and I was told um you have to tell Mike that uh everything's changing uh but but uh other than that um I was very happy to go to the W meeting it's a a great group of people it's um um they're all uh they're all concerned about their individual sports but they're also concerned about the the program it's uh it's great to see how they all work together and uh it's uh it seems like a great group group of people they all seem to like each other and I'm happy to be a part of it um re uh signups are starting for baseball and softball now uh so get out there and and sign up your kids uh the the planning board uh we met uh I we spoke about the the lenar project and um uh that's just going forward I'm I'm sort of getting up to speed on all of that I haven't been on the planning for before so uh I'm sort of new to all of it I'm sure I'll have more to report in the next coming uh meetings and other than Happy Valentine's Day to everyone and uh mayor one more quick note uh sure for all the children who are up watching this meeting we'll be delayed openings tomorrow at bro Indian Hills and K okay um councilman uh I Telly it's Oakland fas.org and there's a hall sign sheet right on the front page of the website thank you mayor okay um bills to be paid council member grao thank you mayor uh total bills to be paid 1,428 7175 so moved do have a second second roll call Council womano yes councilman mccan yes councilman patelli yes council president saniie yes councilman me yes I want to thank everybody the next council meeting will be held Thursday February 27th 2024 at 700 p.m. here in the chambers motion toj motion to adjourn second all [Applause] favor