everybody today is January 23rd 2024 this is the bur of Oakland uh council meeting uh meeting call to order uh clerk please read the uh this meeting is being held in accordance with the open public meetings law duly announced advertised and hosted 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 I'll stand for the Pledge of Allegiance please Council Pig matelli please guide us through the Pledge of Allegiance I to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all please stay standing for a quick moment of silence be seated all right next order of business we have uh Jody graffo she's going to be sworn in as our new councilwoman and I think if we can ask Jody to stand up and we're going to swear her in with her family members wow you going to hold the Bible I want you guys face this way okay is it heavy you got it let's help you out there you go what you guys faor Jonathan turn around turn around there you go put your hand in yeah want you come right over here all right Jody you ready yes all right raise your right hand I jod grafo I jod gfo do solemnly swear do solemnly swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States that I will support the Constitution of the United States and the constitution of the state of New Jersey and the constitution of the state of New Jersey and that I will bear true faith and that I will bear true faith and Allegiance and allegiance to the same to the same and the governments established in the United States and in the government established in the United States and in and in this state and in this state under the authority of the people under the authority of the people and that I will faithfully and that I will faithfully and partially and partially and justly and justly perform all the duties and perform all the duties of the office of councilwoman of the office of councilwoman according to the best of my ability according to the best of my ability so help me God so help me God welcome J welcome Jody and uh do you have a few words you want to share I do thank you mayor good evening it is such an honor to be here in front of you all having the ability and opportunity to take on this position as Council woman first and foremost I would like to thank God and I would like to thank my husband John as well as my two beautiful daughters Madison and car Mia they are my motivation and have inspired me to pursue helping as many people as I can I'd also like to thank my friends and family both here tonight and watching at home especially my father and my aunt and uncle they've always been incredibly supportive of me and I'm honor they continue to be as I take this next step in my life thank you to Mayor Camala and the council for trusting me to take on this responsibility for the Year and thank you to the mayor schagger for her past 12 years of service to the town finally I would like to thank the borrow employees the First Responders of the B and all the other volunteers in the burrow for their Public Service it is incredibly important to me that we continue to support Oakland and its growth as a town to benefit each and every family I also look forward to serving on the Communications Commission the shade tree commission and the aess for all committee as the council leison I promise that I will always put people with disabilities and special needs before politics thank you again for this opportunity let's get to [Music] work thank you councilman gfo uh please call the role please mayor Camala present council president Sani present councilwoman goo here presid councilman mccan here councilman pelli here councilman cinski here councilman talamini here all right I'm going to go through the mayor's report real quickly here uh obviously uh as I two meetings ago we had a couple Milestones that we really want to meet uh first for first for the people in The Reserve um we are looking to have a town hall meeting at the end of February to really set up the expectations for the new bridge um timelines and everything else that goes along with it and we're really here to have a really good open line of communication as I've stated in the past all commun official communication from the burough will go through bur administrator to the chairman of the Reserve board and vice versa so we have so there's only one voice one message going forward I ask the rest of the council for all concerns to put it right through the bur administrator also at the reserve I've been up there a couple times uh receiv received a couple emails from people uh we are aware of the condition of the Glen Gray Road so we are going to be making improvements once the weather gets warmer to both entrances coming in and out of the reserve uh since you're going to since you're going to be you know basically we have to deal with 24 months of building you know Bridge construction so we want to make it easier for all the residents to get in and out uh the Water Treatment the water treatment is still on track for the end of February uh the buau professionals and our contractors are really coming in right under the wire we're doing really good on that also for the sewers uh the sewer startup and testing we expect to be sending flow in early February to the bcua so that you're going to see that testing starting and also for the people who live up on Lakeside uh we expect to see the work site demobilization taking place in the spring and that entire property up by the lake will be restored back to actually better condition than we got there so that that's good news so stay tuned and be patient and then the ra Road will be paved after that and also for the people that live down in Lake V terce and Jerome we're going to be starting a storm water sewer project down there probably mid to late February so just be on to lookout for that uh that concludes my May report uh now we have a very interesting presentation we have a wrestler in our midst and let me come up front and we'll introduce you to her I would like to ask Quinn canini of Oakland to come forward she weighs in at 52 PBS she's 6 years old the hardest wrestling tournament hardest wrestling tournament in the country in Tulsa it's the Tulsa National Championship she is six years old 52 pounds is in a student at hikes Elementary School you want to show everybody your trophy oh wow wow hold that up you can pick that back up there so on behalf of the burough of Oakland Bergen County New Jersey this is a certificate of achievement for Quinn Cassini for the Tulsa national championship wrestling champion the mayor council of the burough of Oakland congratulate you on your winning the Tulsa National wrestling tournament the mayor and Council of the burough of Oakland send their congratulations to you signed mayor Kamala and we've also included a nice commemorative coin in here for you as well as a Keepsake okay congratulations Eric someone get their hand up turn around no turn around someone has their hand up you want to grab TR wow congratulations all right make a motion to open to public almost second second anybody wish to address the council hi oh we got to turn that around just spin it around there you go okay the right um and can you just push it forward a little bit that's the speaker right over there here perfect thank you okay and Winding Ridge um quick question uh about the bridge has the contract been signed and is that moving forward on on that and I know we're having the the meeting in February but want to know if that part okay okay and then I wanted to know um why the Town Council hasn't said anything about the um the swasa that was drawn at Ramapo High School in the bathroom um whiteoff Town Council issued statement I understand it's a board of education issue which they have handled poorly but this is also a town issue because your residents go to that school and are experiencing an increase in anti-Semitism now so especially in this climate everyone needs to be strong and clear uh in their messaging so um I just want to be clear that anti-Semitism is everyone's uh problem and it and it doesn't take much to issue aate statement condemning it thank you anybody else motion close second all in favor I okay approval of minutes January 7th 2024 you have motion to approve so moved second second roll call councilwoman Goa ohain abstain councilman mccan yes councilman patelli yes councilman Sally Annie yes you was the old oh no sorry abize okay councilman linski yes and Council M talamini yes approval of minutes executive session January 12 2024 motion to approve if there's any change it has to be done in executive session do have a mve do have a second second roll call councilwoman gfo yes you abstain oh abstain I'm sorry councilman McAn yes councilman pelli yes councilman Sally Annie yes councilman linski yes Council mamini yes approval of minutes January 12th 2024 to a motion to approve some move second roll callor okay councilman goo abin councilman mccan yes councilman pelli yes councilman Sally Annie yes councilman cinski yes councilman salamini yes okay thank you at this time I'd like we have a special presentation from Community solar and I'd like to welcome John Ren up to the podium and uh walk us through the community solar program good evening mayor and members of the council my name is Rafael Lano I'm an attorney with the law firm Archer and Diner uh I'm here with my clients equals energy LLC Oakland 12 solar LLC and Oakland 16 solar LLC on behalf of my clients we'd like to thank you for the opportunity to present on the Oakland 12 and Oakland 16 solar projects uh and with that I will leave you in the hands of the capable experts John Rens and Steven Boler thank you sure good evening mayor council and administration I do uh U I'm Steve vulker V as and Victor o l k RT for the record um and uh as I'm director of Solar Development for equals energy and with me is President John Rens renz as a longtime elected official in a small South Jersey burrow I we truly appreciate uh you taking the time to hear us in this uh I've been on the other side and I and congrats I've been sworn in enough times and I still felt that that that that joy that exuberance of being in and congratulations and good luck I'm only 29 that's why I got this hair 10 years on Counsel but equals energy is and I'm sure it was it was in your packets what okay so what I'll do was well I'll brush over that is that the community solo program which is in his third third year um as part of the uh cons Community solar energy program that U we had applied through the B to the BPU the the um various projects throughout the state and in that application included our plans our our preliminary schematic plans um and as far as other things in the application and what the community solar program does energy program does is it it it affords towards folks that are not um able to have solar energy whether it's the cost or the benefits the to reap the benefits of solar energy whether it be their their home is too shaded the cost all the all those all those things not in the right direction if you have a you know you need Southern facing you know um physics Junior High physics about when it comes to that so what this does this program does is a a reduction in a credit to the uh uh to the citizens of of this immediate area um whether it's for for the low and moderate income and that could that could include um you know veterans um folks on on disability as well that that they get a discount or credit to their to their electric bill so what we do is we as developers we look for um brownfields landfills historic fields and in this case we uh we identified throughout the state looked at every Warehouse in the state of New Jersey it's not exciting is that U we have two two two projects in um in the Barrow at 12 and 16 right way um and these these rooftops meet the criteria uh for what we anticipate on on doing we're not asking for an approval that all comes of course with with the uh uccc trade applications that those permitting but part of that part of that that of the application was a um and if you need need to have a a question please raise your hand but I'm just kind of summarizing what you had already read that brings this to here there's a letter of of U uh recommendation or a letter of support or acknowledgement of this um rooftop um solar panels on these two locations hopefully there'll be more um as part of the approval package and in mid November we had we had a twoe window put these applications in and then we started getting feedback and some we're accepted some run ran out of capacity other power companies their regions were Tapped Out capped filled up we have we have some some room here in in the RICO territory um that um we were rejected because we didn't have and I understand it came November at the end of the year and you have you know leue of municipalities League municipalities an election and then you know leading up towards reorganization a few weeks ago so U we we hadn't we hadn't received that letter like I said understand what the timing wasn't the best um that's why we're we're glad to present this in front of you that that we need uh in order we got a rejection based on not having that letter of support it's a letter it it really translates into a letter of support or a letter of acknowledgement that we've came before the board or we've approached the town the Barrow that your support of our letter draft letter is that you support Community solar and your support the Comm the energy master plan it's not really that it's not that you support the project there's still a lot of requirements we have to meet the uniform constructure because all the other you know it's ironic you should say that I see members of our Green Team over here um and they had been working on community solar exploring the options for a better part of a year two years and I believe one of the biggest hurdles was the fact that there wasn't a real solar plant here in Oakland orange Rockland really wasn't coming up to speed with the program so it's just your timing is I think perfect when it comes to what the green team has been doing you guys getting involved with this as as mentioned this is year three or really the permanent year the permanent program program was initiated this in the end of August of 2023 so it it's had a couple of years to to work out the The Kinks and that's you locally call it orange and Rockin but the state calls it Rockland electric electric yeah yeah so in your portion is very small and the first in Pilot year 1 and two was only 75 megawatt so I believe that was one megawatt was yours so it's only 4% 5% of the entire state so it's a very small area there's not a lot of land thank God there's not a lot of landfills and contaminated properties up here there's only very few places to put it okay so you're asking us for a letter of support uh sir any questions from the council okay yeah sure so so you said this is uh your first project you're hoping more every time do you have to come and ask for a letter of support or it's different throughout the state in the the way uh municipalities address it because there's no regulation or there's nothing in the code that says you have to give us a letter of support so some municipalities would just go in the clerk literally copies it puts her letterhead and signs it and sends us wants to get rid of us right because PS and G territory is most of the state and they're get bombarded with you know there's a line of doors line out the door people look for letter support and they say all right Uncle we're going to give you the letter of support so it's it's different some municipalities is to come every time so we we would be happy to come here every time and show you our projects and support so how do we get this out to the public that who would be eligible I mean do you Green Team me me me Green Team sure yeah we would work with with green teams and sustainable Jersey organizations but it is already set uh the the percentage of where of where it goes to and how much based on the amount that we're going to put back into the Grid it's a virtual uh credit you know that it's done like I said this isn't being hooked up to someone else's house it's going to go these these two projects total almost a megawatt so generally speaking that somewhere between 150 that two in our homes that could be service I'm just going to ask that question yeah uh and then the state requires us to do 51% low moderate income residence which doesn't mean the typical like Co you know the coor definition means that people that have 80% of the medium income in in in the metropolitan area could mean something on Social Security it's a real you know liberal interpretation of what that word you're required to have 50 you said 51% 51% so it's it's senior citizens so it's it's equitably distributed they want us to not go to the largest houses in the state five houses to sign up so it's met this to spread out for everyone so this this would serve potentially 150 to 200 somewhere in that range and we've uh indicated in our applications to the BPU that we would offer residents a 25% discount that a bill credit uh that it Bill credit is make everything more confusing uh Bill credit is not the tax is not the regional Grand greenhouse gas initiative it's not the societal benefits charges it's just the power and delivery element of your electric bill so uh it would it would still be a decent discount to people and that's for 20 years once they sign up automatically getting it for 20 years oh so it does require them to sign up for it yes they subscribe so it's it's a we are also a solar subscription organization uh or company Community solver Circle the name of that company uh we do subscribe customers we're not sure we're going to do it here because we're geographically next to Philadelphia 120 miles south uh so we're not sure we're going to do it but uh it's only some customers so we may do it I have a question Mr um so load to moderate income families and correct me if I'm wrong um they're already receiving utility assistance MH so are you knocking them off of that utility assistance no actually they they would automatically qualify for the for the as low and modern getting Li Heap or some of the other or USF or yes any any of the programs that are on or if they're getting uh uh the house or the food allowances and things like that they automatically qualify as low and moderate income but that definition of low and moderate income is really broad it could mean literally a someone that's on Social Security which would by definition make 80 almost 80% of the median income of of the geographical area so there's it it's a broad spectrum what is defined as low monor income are you are you using the same qualifications that Li Heap and USF uses for they the state and the Federal the federal government HUD came out with a ruling that said uh it that wasn't won't affect their rent calculation because it's based on their rent the rent is based on their other bills so in the HUD they ignore it so there is mechanisms for anybody that signed up that's on it any kind of Public Assistance they automatically qualify and is there a way just one other question is there a way if we were to do this is there a way that we could prioritize veterans service connected veterans um we're we're not we're not to the point where we can subscribe anybody because we have to get in we we at a couple steps away okay so we'd have to get an award we we would have to get an award from the BPU because the BPU looks at all our requirements our technical information our plans and everything else again they've done that for these for these two projects they've done that the only thing that they said we're lacking is that letter of support and then if we get an award we to go through all the engineering and everything else and then uh then we'll be ready to so that would be another discussion well we we're open to doing that certainly we want to we want to keep in the community u in in the first couple years it was mandated we keep it in the actual Community that's in MA but now they they relax that because they want it throughout the territory it h us s to much we we have to but we'll look to serve every clarify it's first come first serve but it is reserved for low and moderate 51% 51% of it correct we not low and moderate can apply to once that 49 is used up it has to be someone low and moderate but if you wait two months and it's filled up you lose you know it's a first come first serve of the low and moderate income to get that 51% you can't hold okay you I get it vets you got you know we can't hold that just for vets or something like that it has to they have to apply yeah I'm a bet from myself so I I would serve the veterans I was thinking of a way that we can entice you know our First Responders more Volunteers in the town by giving them the priority to sign up we would love to do that yes absolutely if you were to get approval how quick how what's the time frame from approval to potentially the state actually gives us one year to have the system operational uh which is pretty aggressive so we we we can't grass girl on under our feet where are the solar panels made uh the ones we're specifying are or Japanese pa uh we do we do pick ones off of the uh Bloomberg tier one level so they're the best of the the panels that are that are recommended uh good yeah I'm happy about that there's not many made in America I thank God I'm made China sure yeah China Korea a lot of them in Asia yeah uh as you had mentioned as you had mentioned earlier about when about the timeline you know what was in our our report was mentioned that there's not there's a there's a lot of power reserved within the program for this territory so there's not a lot yeah I mean there's yeah there's not there's not a lot of applications but so the we'll say the pot is bigger okay and so that the deadline for that I mentioned that that mid October to end October of November excuse me um that that that deadline has been extended for the RICO territory because uh because so we can we can still get this in under the previous one the one that the one that just ended a month and a half ago yeah soon as the ink dry was presuming we will get a letter of support as soon as the ink dry will we submit electronically it's a portal that we submit everything and everything's been pretty much reviewed and approved by recal and the state anybody else anybody else down here not seeing any yeah and the land owner the other B the other win here is the land owner gets a r r check which is really good for your businesses too okay uh just uh all in favor I I everybody okay I guess we'll get your letter of support only thing I ask is if you just reach out to the members of our green team with the card I know they've been very actively involved in this and I think it be great to have that hook abut I have one more I'm sorry before we close on that good Mr um you're you're on the fire department wasn't isn't there a a a local ordinance about spacing of it and access so that in case there's a roof fire M yes yeah there was correct me if wrong but it came from the planning board there's a hall Fe meets UCC building code right electrical code R yeah that was a while ago we've had that on the books I think some of that since maybe have been superseded by code changes many but you know you see you know the code enforcement staff is aware of that and we the current regulations yeah our our design we keep an alley all the way around that we have in a row spacing so this is actually a metal building which makes it perfect and this is a a membrane roof excuse me Vinnie have you have you seen this I have not no I V is our fire chief okay how are you I will look at the packet uh I'll talk to Rich I make sure it's safe for the fireman oh sure yeah like I said we still once we get the the the thumbs up from from the BPU you know we'll electric design electrical design and all that and we'll come in with the full package that uh granted will will need building electrical and and and fire absolutely yes thank you all right that's it that's it well I want to thank you for coming Mr and the presentation thank you Council drive safe all right special announcements we have authorized raffle license RL 1481 for the valley middle school PTO raffle March 15 2024 at Valley Middle School 71 Oak Street for resources and tools for the Valley Middle School staff and students do have motion motion move second all favor all right uh I'm going to send this over to president Sani do you have uh some new Council Leons yes we're going to update some of the counc leaz on appointments um for our boards and committees jie uh Pat pantelli will be the second to DCW Jody gilo will be the primary chair on finance at Russ Min second land use committee um we a couple changes we haven't had a second on the land use committee for a while but Mr Kamal inform me mayor Kamal inform me this morning that we need to have a second I will sit in that second chair and for water and sore Jody gfred will be the second chair and Pat Remain the primary chair and then and then miss G councilwoman gofredo will also be on Communications Commission access for all committee and shade tree commission and Kevin zinsky will be on Green Team can I see that that's it okay thank you council president uh next order business appointments for board professionals we have one new one we' like to bring forward for the affordable housing attorney will be Brian Giblin from Giblin andano LLC we need V that yeah that's what council can Council can all in favor all we got a roll okay I still new with this council president saliani yes councilwoman goo yes councilman Kam McAn yes pelli yes plinski yes talamini yes all right next order of business I have is appointments for some more committees for 2024 the first I'm going to do is the mayor's appointment for the green team we have a Terry Buck barar for one-ear appointment and a Liz Brody for one-ear appointment uh for the Arts committee this is mar appointment with Council approval uh for the Arts committee we have April Mansfield for for a yearly appointment and madav daa for a yearly appointment do we have a motion so moved second all in favor I okay for for the flood commission Miss Kathleen Gibbons has put in her uh citizenship leadership form for a three-year term do I have a motion so moved second second all favor all for environmental commission Lee hman has put his name in for a three-year term do we have a motion so moved second second second all favor I for the board of adjustments I have uh Kevin Bremer for a four-year term cyony wayo for a four-year term uh Caesar Arondo alternate one and Daniel lilienthal for alternate two do I have a motion do roll call so move so move roll call I need a second second who is the who is the move me I'm sorry thank you okay uh councilwoman gofredo yes Council miman yes Pig matelli yes council president Sally Annie yes linski yes talamini yes and for the OCC last one uh Ben good will be a junior commissioner he's put his name in do have a motion so moved second all in favor I all right next moving on to resolutions uh we're going to do a consent agenda 2451 through 24 67 we're going to pull 2468 out uh I know it's been published on the website you've all had an opportunity to read it uh do I have a motion to approve so move second roll call Council goo yes McAn yes pelli yes San yes yes tellini yes all right 2468 uh Mr Coons I'm going to just kind of uh put this to you maybe you can walk us through the W contract for bosel engineering for the construction and Engineering inspections for the replacement of the pat way Bridge sure uh thank you mayor given the scope of this project and the importance of this project uh what we' asked Boswell to do is uh provide somebody on a full-time basis that had some particular expertise in Bridge construction uh so the proposal reflects that reflects full-time uh coverage for the duration of the project as well as additional oversight and administrative support for processing things like rfis and Shop drawings uh and the like there's an allowance in there for material testing uh and so it's a rather comprehensive set of services beyond what you would normally see for uh you know something like a a routine Road Project something like that to make sure that uh we're working closely with the contractor and and keeping the project on track so um with that uh if you have additional questions regarding uh you know technical aspects of this uh Kevin's probably in a better position to answer them does anybody have any questions for our burough engineer concerning this contract the only thing I would jump in with uh to what uh Rich had just said was that the project is set up on a on a 700 day calendar uh period and the the ma the majority the significant majority of that project is set up around a 24mth Manning of the project so if the project finishes earlier then the cost of that Resident to be on site is commensurately reduced so what we've done is we show effectively the the construction project engineer uh just by by the hourly basis and projected out over that 24mth period so as you can imagine if it goes six months earlier than that and we're hoping it does it'll be significantly less uh the the the variable here is knowing uh how long it's going to take to get the utility relocations uh uh that's the that's the difficult to predict thing there are two moves there's a temporary move of of all of the utilities and then there's a permanent uh move of the utilities back into the new bridge if you had to ask us how long this project will take uh we could give you with certainty uh uh a very simple answer except for the involvement of those utility companies so that's the variable and that's what has been built around so it it's a long way of saying We Believe it'll be this number or less is there an interruption for the utility when it's in moved no the utilities cannot be uh ceased there has to be a temporary uh active utility for all of the uh there's water there's gas there's electric there's telephone there's fiber uh and I know I'm missing another one uh but there it's it's all of those utilities must remain in service okay the the variable that really does help the job uh enormously in cost is the fact that we can close the bridge if you didn't close the bridge the cost of this project would be significantly higher than than what the overall contract is I I know there's usually a delay with the power company I guess it's Char in Rockland yeah I mean I'm sure we notify them way in advance that what's going to happen when it's going to happen we notified him two years ago and we notified him again a year ago we notified him again six months ago so it's a it's a constant process because I know they many times they're the ones that hold up hold up a a project owr and public service are the big variables uh Verizon can sometimes you know that every there's there's a story about on Route 17 uh down by farview Avenue there was a telephone pole out in the middle of Route 17 for a year because Verizon wouldn't move the pole until somebody hit the pole and then it was moved the next day oh my God so you know it's it's a it's a variable that we can't we try to do whatever we can to control it we bring it to your attention it's a variable that we can't control no I what we did do is we protected the burrow against a a delay claim from the contractor in the event that these Bays pushed the project out as long as we said then you're covered because the contractor can say I can do it in a year when the delays in the in the utilities push it out to two years so you're covered against that additional cost good thank you one other thing to point out uh is there there fee uh is going to be covered under the dot grants that we have as well it's as part of that God bless you thank you anybody else all right I'm going to just read the resolution out loud this resolution 2468 title to award contract clal engineering for construction engineering and inspection service for replacement of Patriots way Bridge whereas there is a need for construction engineering and inspection service for the replacement of patri way bridge and whereas Bible engineering is submitted proposal dated January 18th 2024 for services required at a total not to exceed 1.15 $1,150,000 and whereas the Chief Financial Officer of certified funds are available in account c045 68121 in the amount of $928,000 in account c456 81201 and in the amount of 220,000 and whereas the award of the contract is for Professional Services which no public bidding is required now therefore it is resolved the mayor and burough councel Bergen County state New Jersey hereby authorizes BOS engineering to perform the construction engineering and inspection services for the replacement of the Patriots way bridge at a cost not to exceed $1,150,000 do I have a motion to approve so moved do I have a second second roll call councilwoman goo yes councilman McAn yes councilman Pig melli yes council president San yes councilman cinski yes councilman talamini yes and while I have the burough engineer here uh as I have stated uh at my I guess the state of the Town address uh now that we've moved this along you'll be having your pre-con meetings and you feel comfortable that we'll have the townwide meeting at the end of February yes we're scheduling the precon meeting uh now and we're at the precon meeting we've we've already asked the contractor to prepare a schedule a project schedule and that will be the basis of us presenting what the what the contract schedule's going to be uh so we're confident we'll have that in time for the end of February and we'll make that presentation and you'll have the shop drawings there uh shop drawings may not be there at that time uh it depends on how quickly they're submitted by the contractor there's no rendering uh of the bridge yeah we can we can make a rendering of the bridge so we we know we designed the bridge so we can get a rendering put together with the Bri for that meaning yeah please thank you it's going to look very similar to what's there correct it's a it's uh the the this we're replacing the superstructure on the existing abutment right so it's the same type of bridge because it uses the identical the same we're reusing the abutments so it'll look very similar but we'll get a we'll get a rendering thank youin anybody else okay moving right along uh ordinance says we had two ordinances on the agenda unfortunately because our meeting was cancelled uh two weeks ago and we had to move it to a Friday there was not enough time to notice it so we will be carrying that till the February 13th meeting uh work session we have four items amend planning contracts for affordable housing Mr Coons would you like to walk us through that uh sure mayor if I could if Council would indulge uh we can take the last item first since uhin here y okay uh so Capital ordinance for IT projects uh as you know normally you see these sorts of things as part of the budget process uh kind of in the spring it's tail end of of budget adoption we go through all the capital work um in this case because of a 15% pending price increase we thought it uh in everyone's best interest to get this before you now to seek the funding for the project uh so we can avoid that increase that's coming down the road so the capital ordinance would really focus on two uh two items one is an upgrade to the police department computer network uh which is reaching 5 years old and well Vinnie and I talk about this often you know to me that's brand new uh to in the world of computers that's reaching the end of its lifespan uh because these things run 247 uh and Licensing is running out as well uh in addition the world of cyber security moved so quickly that the hardware itself present vulnerabilities over time uh that are harder and harder to uh keep protected so this project as envisioned uh would include new data and application servers uh with new Thin Client machines to interact in a virtualized environment uh as opposed to regular PCS uh and it would replace all of that it would also include a brand new firewall licensing for the network Hardware Windows 10 and Office 365 uh one of the nice things about the these network servers uh is they include something called encryption at rest uh which is a security feature that's needed for siis compliance sies is an organization that sets standards for cyber security in the realm of law enforcement uh Mr D could talk to you till your eyes Blaze over probably about what those are um but it is very important uh the total cost of that before the 15% price increase that's coming down the pipe uh is about $300,000 uh and that's all quoted out based on state contract pricing from Mostly most of the products are from Dell the second uh part of the request would enable us to complete the fiber ring project uh this would take it from burrow Hall uh to DPW down Oak Street uh and into the R complex where it'll connect to the DPW building from grounds building Thea building uh provide access points for the potential installation of C in the future at the W complex Sor that's okay it's probably more interesting than what I'm talking about all right uh from there it's going to run up to the senior center over to the police department uh to the library and back to burrow Hall uh this will provide redundancy for us uh and it's going to save us an operating cost because we're reducing a number of internet connections that we're currently paying for at individual facilities all right uh and it also sort of future proofs our data needs there it's a large pipe it's going to be able to handle a lot of data all right so all of the underground conduit work has been completed uh and the fiber optic cable itself has been purchased uh and we've secured approval from the utilities to run the line so uh what we need funding for now is the actual work to run all of that uh as well as to install uh a total of five different switches uh to connect them into the various buildings uh that and that's also mostly state contct contract pricing uh is $140,000 okay so the total Capital ordinance would be $440,000 we're not proposing any uh incurring any debt for this it will require us to amend a couple of existing Capital ordinances and talking with the CFO today we can do that concurrently starting at the next meeting uh so that everything can get wrapped up uh by the end of February and that's it so if anybody has any questions on any of the technical aspects of this I refer you to Mr D does anybody have any questions this side of days all right Mr cin thank you I guess you'll have some ready for next meeting we will have uh Capital so you'll probably see actually a couple of capital ordinances ones that will be amended as well as uh this one going forward thank you Mr C uh thank you Mr dice for attending today all right let's go back to the top uh planning contract for affordable housing okay uh we hope 2024 will through the year where we finally got our compliance hearing and get the current uh litigation wrapped up uh of course there's more on the horizon and the state remains active in terms of considering legislation that would once again change the affordable housing landscape uh but the current effort has been ongoing in one way or another since 2015 uh and we've engaged our planners Burg just Associates uh along the way to provide assistance as needed to the attorneys with uh compliance reports uh assessments attending hearings attending meetings uh and redoing our fair share uh plan and housing element uh so as that work is progressed and kept Ono uh the contract needs to be amended to sort of keep Pace with that so this is a contract Amendment for $30,000 uh that should get us to the Finish Line based on what the planner knows of uh the existing work remaining and funding would be from the affordable housing trust fund anybody have any questions for the bur administrator concerning this item no all right going to uh next item uh design engineering 2024 Road pram okay uh you know what maybe I'll just take the next two together go ahead if that's okay they both engineering related items it's just so everybody knows the third one is design engineering for the Len lane bridge yep uh so the first one uh 2024 Road program uh we intend this year to undertake our program the main part of our program uh in the spring uh so we need to get going on the design work for that to be able to get that out to bid on time uh so this contract would be for design and at the same time just to save a step down the road we would also authorize the construction inspection that we come with that uh we're looking at approximately a program of about 1.45 million this year uh which is which is rather robust uh and all of the roads are still being elected but there are some that we know will be included uh and that includes all of the roads with the exception of yappo which is a separate project coming later uh that were disturbed by the sewer project will be repaved so that's everything from Franklin a on uh Lakeside Boulevard up Ramapo Hills Boulevard monagan hawaa uh that whole stretch as well as East Oak Street uh and then there'll be other roads that we're uh finalizing now that would be included in that okay so this again cover design and uh construction inspection so we hope to have the program started around when uh sometime in this spring yeah Rich isn't the goal to do this now so we can pay during when school's not in session so we can set to the contractors correctly well actually we'd we'd like to get at least part of it done even before then uh you know the commitment we had made to the residents who have been deal dealing with this construction for almost 2 years was to repave it soon as possible uh after we came behind the sewer project and did further construction with replacing the water M uh that project's on track and going on right now so we're looking to get out even before school ends this year okay anybody else on the road program no l lane bridge Len lane bridge so I know all the focus has been on Patriots way Bridge uh but we own another Bridge it also needs some Rehabilitation work uh lenpy lane bridge was built in 1979 uh and while it does not need a whole deck replacement or a peer up replacement like Patriots way Bridge does uh there are there are uh certain amount of Rehabilitation that's needed to the deck Mr Kun I just want to just want to interrupt you just to make it perfectly clear it's not going to happen at the same time this is after the patri brid is done I was going to get to that get to that it's the first question I asked no the uh so this is a a rehabilitation of the lenp lane bridge uh it's we're looking to start the design work now so we're in a position to do it upon the conclusion of the Patriots way Bridge Project okay uh and the questions been asked uh about whether or not we could use uh dot funding if there if there's any remaining at the conclusion of the Patriot to project we don't have an answer to that yet but we will be having that discussion with the dot so uh case this is another uh Capital project that uh hopefully will not cost our taxpayers money but this certainly puts us in a better position having all the engineering work done so it's a shovel ready project so if we have to go to the state it makes our case that much stronger correct Mr Co it should okay anybody else have any questions on the bridge no not seeing any all right moving right along anybody have any new business not seeing any old business um so some small business just um how how are we uh moving along with um uh the sponsorship for the for the church and the rec department do we need language are we are we so you did the resolution this okay okay yeah all right so I I I forgot that uh we we moved pretty quickly all right but anyway so thank you thank you for that and uh uh all right we'll move forward thank you anybody else uh old business I would just like to on youre have our burough attorney give us an update on what's going on with the dump on West Oak thank you mayor so at this time the uh the it's going to wind up in the hands of the Commissioners once the bcua gives its report they don't have to act upon it I've been monitoring their agenda it has not been on there uh if and when it becomes an issue that they take up we will uh appear at the appear at the meeting put our objection on the record which we've already put in in the record multiple times to the council for the free older board for the bcua and will appr address any appropriate legal action should the county look favorably upon the change to the waste management plan but at this time there's nothing for us to do because no action has been taken but it's important to point out the fact that your firm is watching this yes I'm regularly monitoring the agendas of that of the meetings and I've been in contact with the attorneys for both boards to make sure that we're notified of any action that's taken okay so we still don't know whether or not they'll have to come back to the board of adjustment well it is our position that they will have to whe whether or not that is a position that will ultimately be taken by the state and the county I I think that's a question that's up in the air at this point thank you I want to raise a point on that um uh new council person sent over an article um regarding uh Michigan you want to talk about that you want to bring that instead of me doing it sure I mean dear so Dearborn Michigan had um similar issues issues I don't I don't recall but they they came up with a creative solution um a dust ordinance so trucks going in and out that might not be covered um residents can call in and they the T the trucks would get fined um if they woke up in the morning and there was dust on the cars you know the residents could call into the police and the plant would get fined um it's you know it's more of a control for the residents to have some say about their neighborhood um I think it's a good move in preparation of if it happens that we have that in place so I looked into what she sent to me and Michigan's setup not all that is similar from us where uh environmental regulations are regulated by the state in the various state agencies but there are certain parts of the law uh Mr attorney uh that are ambiguous where um it's the position of their born that things that are not covered under state law is the purview of the of the of the local community so it might be something um you want to actively take a look at um and something we should prepare to put on the books sooner rather than later if it makes sense I can't hear I'm happy to discuss that with everyone and look anything else anybody else have any old business all right I know it's a new year does anybody have any liaison reports or has anybody had any meetings by show hands yeah so uh just wanted to report that I I met with the uh chairman of the rec commit committee and uh commission and uh we went over a bunch of stuff and we we discussed some issues and and and look I got the I got the the things the uniforms my taxpayer dollars I work and uh it was a great meeting uh great meeting with uh Mike guadino he's he does a great job for the for the rest Commissioners nice meeting thanks Mike C P tell no I don't have anything thank you m uh Mr s uh real quick DPW asked me to put a couple quick notes out one Christmas trees they'll be collecting Christmas trees Monday through Friday to the end of January as scheduling allows residents are asked to put trees curbside for collection no scheduling will be necessary um key key distinction they pick up Christmas tree separate from wreath so please put them out separately because the wreath can cause can cause issues to date they've collected 842 discard trees they anticipate collecting 1300 wow uh potholes recent weather uh with plowing there's um potholes in the streets they're asking to report all potholes to 201 337 8103 um there you'll get the the spot will be taken please be patient there is a there's several PS that need to be addressed but please report PES think we fix as we go forward that's all I have tonight mayor council M McAn uh yes um as you know mayor the administration committee met with regard to some of the appointments we made tonight uh and uh the Public Safety Committee uh met with the uh with uh you were present with regard to uh the IT projects that were proposed uh tonight and I want to thank uh M Vince d uh he did a great job we took a look at uh the proposal to see if there's any potential uh shared services and we reached out to the county as you know and uh uh essentially this project is a is a have to for us and uh there's really no alternatives at this time uh as it relates to shared services and uh that's it Mr cinski thank you mayor uh from the library I got a bit since it's the first meeting uh the Oakland Public Library will have its first series of yoga with instructor Sonia on Tuesday nights due to overwhelming response each individual class must be registered for as a reminder all registrations can be made on the website uh by clicking on the events Tab and then clicking on the individual individual events Tech Tuesdays uh continues uh they'll uh have appointment slots on Tuesdays uh people can register for to get help with tech issues as well as personal instruction on how to use Library resources this is ongoing the anime club uh for teens meets once a month and this Thursday at 6 p.m. uh they'll have College admission seminar with dream Seekers Academy about preparing for college admissions uh this Thursday at 6 p.m. they'll also have a crafting class with Miss Marisol intro to sewing uh participants will need to bring a sewing machine with them uh they also have uh drop in maker space crafting session this Friday beginning at 2 p.m no registration is required uh patrons can come in and learn how to use the cry cut uh craft machine or the new poster printer uh that they have aail ailable for public use on Monday January 29th they'll have the Iceland Land Of Ice And Fire program at 6:30 uh the uh the event is full however people can still be added to the waiting list uh preschool story times are back on Tuesdays at 11:00 a.m. no registration is required uh tots Library Club on Thursdays at 10:30 a.m. no registration required and terrific twos and threes are back on Fridays at 11: no registration required uh they'll also have a special musical programs on Fridays uh next up is jiggly Wiggly on Friday February 9th uh through the 11th um you do need to register for that as well uh and lastly uh just a reminder that the rooms um at the opl are available to Residents and nonprofit organizations in Oakland for free um need a space for a meeting uh call the library uh from the uh Public Safety Committee uh for the month of December officers conducted 330 motor vehicle stops and issued 410 motor vehicle summonses also officers made one arrest for drunk uh driving while intoxicated um and from the Oakland Green Team um they uh have a meeting schedule for tomorrow night at uh 10:30 at the Senior Center uh so I'll have an update for that at our next meeting that's it Council grao thank you uh the Communications Commission they met on January 22nd they reviewed and improved their bylaws uh the TV committee spoke about the need for a new video server the old one is not supported by the manufacturer any longer uh they are looking forward to fiber optics which will hopefully be connected this year to the senior center in anticipation of cameras being approved and installed uh the communications committees always need volunteers uh especially the newsletter committee um and the shade tree commission will meet on February 5th and I look forward to meeting with them and access for all will meet on February 7th and I always look forward to them okay motion open to public oh mo second second all favor anybody wish to speak not seeing anybody motion to close they moved second second all in favor I I um who wants to take bills to pay Mr Talam or no Miss Alfredo well bill pay pay the bills oh oh I'm sorry this is a big number so the total bills to be paid 1,748 874 23 do I have a second God bless her so moved any discussion not seeing any roll call Council M goo yes councilman McAn yes Council pelli yes council president Sani yes Council M linski yes Council T yes okay I just want to once again thank you Mr Fredo for joining us on the council the next bro council meeting will be held on Tuesday February 13th 2024 at 7:00 p.m. in the council chers yes just going back to the public safety Comm one second go ahead yes um so the question was raised tonight with regard to the swas sticker that appeared um it was suggested that we didn't make a public statement which is which is not accurate this is the first meeting we had since that incident occurred the incident occurred at another town that's being ined investigated by a police department uh this Council has taken very strong position pro-israel Israel position if you recall back in October right after uh October 7th occurred we passed the resolution and I know that you why don't you read it more appropriate I think if you read it you were on the council at the time was your idea all right so the resolution was our resolution 23304 uh resolution condemning Hamas and support of Israel whereas on October October 7th 2023 during the sacred Jewish holiday of ashimi aert Hamas terrorist had launched a coordinated unprovoked attack on Israel from the Gaza Strip and whereas Hamas has fired thousands of rockets towards Israel's major population centers breached Israel's borders infiltrated Israeli communities and kidnapped civilians killed more than 300 Israelis and wounded hundreds more and whereas this is the most significant attack on Israel since the yam kaper War which was launched almost 50 years ago one day today let me read that again launched 50 years ago one day to the day ago whereas isra Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared that Israel was at War to defend itself and the citizens and gave the order to commence the operation swords of iron now therefore that be resolved by the mayor and Council of the burough of Oakland that the bur of Oakland unequivocally condemns homerus deplorable unprovoked attacks on Israel and this was passed October 11th 2023 and also it is not appropriate I mean my experience in law enforcement as a law we can't comment on ongoing investigations and of course to the extent we required to work with law enforcement we always do for any crime whether it's hate crime or any other type of crime that's committed and uh it's it's a deplorable thing uh the swastika is not uh representation of uh of civilization and uh I hope they get to the bottom of it and find out who did it whether they did it as a prank or not it's a very serious thing they did especially in light of what's occurred after October 7th that's all I to say thank you councel do I have motion to adjourn some move some moov all in favor I meeting adjourn thank you [Applause] everybody simper yeah oh