right down meeting call to order today's January 9th 2024 uh meeting is being held at 5:00 pm uh 12 12 I'm sorry uh this meeting this meeting is held in accordance with the open public meetings law duly announced advertised and posted in the municipal building the meeting will adjourn at 10 p.m. unless otherwise the majority of the council members are present and vote to extend the time please stand for pledge of allegiance and moment of silence Council pelly would you lead us in a flag salute yes thank you I Al to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all I'm just going to give a very brief uh mayor's report oh I'm sorry roll call a littlee of okay mayor Cala present council president Sani present councilman McAn here councilman Pig matelli here councilman cinski here councilman T me uh I'm here and just let me apologize for my appearance I just came right from work um sorry well some of us have to work here we accept that I just want to just say something the mayor's report real quick I just want to uh just uh mention the the work that went into preparing for the storm this past week um you know we had a we thankfully working with the Bergen County Mosquito commission they were able to clear out the debris from underneath two Bridges to keep the water flowing we also had a meeting the day of the store 2:00 2:00 and we had o am Administration DPW all our Emergency Services present and you know we had a plan moving forward in in case things went sideways and I'm just happy to announce that uh everything worked well we had our flood we had the police providing flood updates on the hour which went to the police desk after hit a certain level it was then OEM was notified OEM got involved and we had I think three or four trees that came down with the DPW standby crew they had the roads open within a half hour so I just want to commend everybody for the fine job and we were ready and and we will continue to uh you know be prepared for these big weather events which seem to be happening on a regular basis that's all I have uh normally we have an Engineers report uh but uh I don't think it's appropriate this time so our engineer is not present right now I'd like to turn the uh meeting over to council president Sani so he can present us with his Council Liaisons and committees thank you mayor Camala um what I will do at this point is appoint the boards and committee names of where I where they are finalized for the DPW committee the primary chair will be Steven salani the second chair is open for the finance committee the primary chair will be Steven salani and the second chair will be Russ talamini for intergovermental relations Administration the chair will be John mccan and second will be Kevin slazinski for the land use committee Russell talamini for the Public Safety Committee Kevin sininsky will be the chair and John mccan will be the second for water and sore Pat picelli will be the primary chair and the second position is open currently uh for the council liaison assignments for minicipal Alliance John mccan for the historical preservation Kevin slazinski Library Kevin slazinski the Communications Commission the Green Team the access for all committee are going to remain open till the next meeting for the Board of Health Pat patelli for the environmental commission Pat patelli and for the senior citizens Pat patelli for the local and Regional Schools it's going to be Steven salani for the flood commission Steven salani uh for the office Emergency Management will be John mccan for the bush Plaza committee will be Steven salani uh for public events it's going to be Steven salani shade tree will be Kevin cinski and the Recreation Commission will be Russ talamini I don't think I missed anything is that it that's it actually uh just a question for the attorney aren't we supposed to first point somebody needs to put down Council president's name into to uh a motion for him to be council president with a second I believe did that they oh we did okay good I'm sorry did very good thank you uh motion open the public move second all in favor I anybody from the public wish to speak need your name and address hi uh Frank Raco 51 Lakeshore Drive uh so first of all I want to say uh thank you to uh mayor Kamala and to the the members of the council for already beginning to open a dialogue with uh folks on Lakeshore Drive uh Lakefront homeowners on Crystal Lake and Mirror Lake so as most people know there's been sort of an ongoing issue with uh the the lakefront homeowners and especially with with rml and trying to figure out ways to um actually you know raise enough money to to take care of the Lakes the way that they need to be taken care of and there's been there's been lawsuits back and forth there's been a lot of a lot of emotions on both sides but right now I I I come here because I think we're at a really important point a very very promising time uh we have had you know seems like we might be at an end of some of the the lawsuits and and arguing between the two sides we've had folks that are late from homeowners from Crystal Lake and miror Lake sitting down with our ml leadership and really trying to come up with some very thoughtful paths forward and we've got we've got an opportunity here to really come up with a way that you know we can keep the lake in the hands of the people that that live on it that love it that really want to take care of it um and I think we're really moving in a in a very very good direction um what what I'm here really to to talk to the mayor and Council about is just um the need that we have for support and and probably some assistance from the town in doing this one of the bigger issues that we face um is the dam needs to be repaired the Crystal Lake Dam in particular needs to be repaired um at a cost that is going to be be difficult to Bear for the lakefront homeowners alone without the you know larger rml organization that they're that there used to be um and as I've I've stated in this room before um you know the lake the lake is a beautiful asset to the town it's it's important environmentally ecologically recreationally it's it's it's a it's a wonderful Lake um it also serves a very very important utility for the town as hopefully all of you know a large percentage of the town's storm drain enter into the or empty into the into the lake either directly or via Alman Brook and the lake is repeatedly impacted by uh storms right and and it it just hits the dam we have we have two dams two pipes uh that are Outlets into the river both of them are damaged to some degree um and you know it first of all it exacerbates flooding on the lake and for Lake from homeowners um and and it's a problem like the state of New Jersey requires us to maintain the dam um so having that that burden hanging over our head financially is one of the challenges that we face in order to try to maybe craft a smaller Association a smaller rml um that can manage the lake allow folks that live in other parts of the town to De Annex and and and not have that that responsibility associated with them but rml needs to be financially liquid in order to do so um we feel as Lakefront homeowners that the town could really help us out in some way uh by helping us try to find Solutions on how to fix the dam um and I'm really not here tonight to ask for anything specific other than um you know a dialogue with with the mayor and with the council um uh I'm I'm part of the organization of homeowners that's that's uh hoping to meet with mayor Cala soon um and I'm really thankful that you've already been reaching out and and talking to us and we hope to schedule a meeting with you uh within the next couple weeks to to start that dialogue I'm really excited and hopeful um and I just really came here to say thank you you and and uh let everyone on the council here know yes and just so you know we we now that we've got this year going keeping my word and we are going to meet as we discussed the other day so you will be hearing from us for set up a meeting with the public as you said all three groups sitting at the table so yes that will happen thank you thank you very much mayor and thank you Council for the time I really appreciate it thank you thank you anybody else any topic any topic okay Kathleen Gibbons 87 West Oakland AV um in the name of new blood and partnership and advocating for the citizens of Oakland we have a massive problem of flooding um our whole complex on West Oakland AV from before Ida till this week is really suffering um we've inspected where the water's coming from it's coming from under 287 and an open pipe that wants to travel to its natural destination down to the river um this is a whole booklet on guidelines of how the dot is supposed to maintain a proper um retention detention flow of water so it's not um causing D problems causing homeowner flooding and I've been in touch with the commissioner for the D the ngj Bergen County engineering the list goes on um I would like to know if in the past or if it's being planned to advocate for our neighborhood with do to see if somebody can come out and inspect us thank you because it is it is not a solely a rainfall issue it is run off from 287 and it'll fill a football field and where we're living before this this development was put in a burm was put in it makes us a swimming pool we've had to put a burm up in the back with inground pumping systems and the last two storms it's a 10t deep burm 20 ft wide and Acres Long and it's to the top confidence coming over the edge it's it's a disaster you know we can look at accountability going back you know who wants to get into lawsuits with land owners and townships and Engineers let's just get the dot in here and Route the PT I would like someone to advocate for us and um you know partner with us to try and resolve it I have an opening on the flood commission are you interested I'll take it okay I'll take it all right what I'd like you to do is get a citizenship leadership form submit it and we'll reappoint at the next meeting good okay thank you anybody else I'm sorry you're dealing with this thank you motion close second all in favor I I okay approval of minutes December 20th 2023 some move second all favor I I okay now we're going to appoint our burough professionals uh the administration committee has reviewed these and I'm putting the following uh I'd like to put the following professionals forward for burrow attorney Matt Gilson from Murphy Schiller and wils for labor attorney Kathy Alon from Kathy Alon Associates LLC for burrow auditor Lurch Vincy Bliss LLC primary cont be Larry Vincy for burrow engineer Kevin Boswell for Boswell engineering for water and sewer engineer Kevin Boswell from Boswell engineering for Bond counsel Steve rogot roget McCarthy LLC for Burl P planner K and Ritter tnm Associates we're going to skip to M risk manager for now for risk manager property liability OST Insurance Agency Kim e casano will be the primary for burough prose William R Fenwick Esquire and for alternate Pro alternate prosecutor will be Diane alesandro Esquire for the uh let's see what is it the the public defender Greg Hoffman and we don't we have an open slot for the assistant uh public defender at this point and I'd like to bring all those names forward you have a motion so moved second mayor if I may uh I think maybe you misspoke on the alternate foral prosecutor I think Miss D Sandra been for public defender public defender your absolutely I'm sorry first meeting we're still working out the ks thank you Mr C roll call who who did the second I didn't hear was that you Kevin oh councilman mccan yes pelli yes s Annie yes slinsky yes Kell yes okay the following are going to be appointments to committees the for with Council consent okay for the Arts committee we have uh received the following people that were interested Natasha Navid Owen Allison Fon Amy iser Andrea Levy Sky Hopkins Shai Hopkins Noah Gus gussen Joyce dandro these are all onee appointments we'll do this as a consent uh for the environmental commission we have Jerry Angel for a three-year position and Eric cam for a three-year position for the flood commission we have Michael Pritchard for a three-year commission for public events we have Andrea leevy for three years Dan deia for three years and Deb buter for one year for the Board of Health we have Steven tiffer for three years Jody graffo for three years and for the Communications Commission we have Ryan Schwarz fer for a three-year position Amy iser for three-year position and Steve penon panosian for alternate two for a three-year position do I have a motion so move second all in favor I moving right along for the mayoral appointments for Access for all I've received the uh Audrey sold for a three-year position Joan cheze for a two-year position Gwen calers for a two-year position I'm going to leave hold OEM for last the library board and S Russo for a Oney year mayl uh designate for the recommission we have Dan Del Legato for a fiveyear position and Robert scalini for fiveyear position for the trade shade Street there's no action required for the Green Team We Have Allison Fon for five years Andrea Levy for a fiveyear position William iser for a four-year position and ronal pbridge for a four-year position that's that's with the Maro appointments uh moving right along Raffles authorized raffle license RL 1479 for PTO high school for raffle on January 20th 24 at Holiday Bowl at 29 Spruce Street Oakland New Jersey for the benefit enhancing the improving campus for students come move go to second second all in favor I second one is authorized La raffle license rl1 1480 for the Sports Association of Oakland for raffle on February 10th 2024 for the Sao at 24 Lawler Drive Oakland New Jersey to benefit the 12 view Ripken Myrtle Beach tournament do I have a motion some move second second all favor all okay the following resolution we're going to do this as a consent agenda and if anybody wishes to pull out at the end please let me know uh we're going to do 243 to 20 2403 to 36 at 2437 through 2449 anybody wish to call anything out not seeing any do have a motion to approve so move second second all in favor I okay uh we're introduce the following ordinance uh 23 code 938 ordinance amending the C code enforcement fees do I have a motion a move second final adoption will be January 20 January 23rd second ordinance is uh 2 3 code 939 ordinance amending Recreation fees so move do have a second second second all in favor I final adoption will be January 23rd uh is this a roll call or just get um you could you could do it though we're good yeah okay everybody's agreeing so we have one work session topic Mr Coons you going to walk us through the proposal for Professional Services for the rample river restoration sure uh some of you may be familiar with this project uh which at its heart's meant to restore the health of the river remove obstructions such as Shing in various areas uh and stabilize various areas of embankment uh that have suffered degradation over the years due to various storms and sort of the natural action uh with with rivers project area would be between the railroad Trestle up to the Mawa border sort of an of an adjunct to projects that were done years ago uh on the lower part of the round for so we undertook previous efforts uh that either met with not being able to secure the required permit at that time uh then we had an engineer that we engaged in uh that basically discontinued work on the project so the flood commission has been searching for a way forward with this project uh they uh contacted a company with some expertise in this area named drner Robin uh who partnered with trout Scapes and a couple of other companies to prepare a proposal for us uh that would include preliminary Engineering Services uh such as land surveying a condition assessment Ary restoration plan a new freshwater muscle study because there are endangered species in the river uh and a pre-application meeting with the njde uh so you have that in your packet the question is whether or not you want to proceed uh so that we can reactivate work on this prod to all my fellow council members uh I've been Le on the FL commission about four months I will say they've been trying to push this forward for for years at this point and there's been delays as rich said uh I am 100% behind the recommendation to move forward with this and um it just helps our community so I mean we can the package has all details but I think it's imperative we do this as for an open residance anybody else comments I just want to Echo councilman San's uh what he just said this has been really in the works for better part of what six years Mr administrator it's been a while at least at least and it's something that's really as Steve said is kicking around and I I think it's certainly be beneficial to especially with the uh the way we're seeing the water running every 3 weeks now so I think it's something need to get done okay uh I just went out of order here I apologize I need to just circle back real quick uh I skipped over the OEM appointments I'm this is going to be a little lengthy so let me just read these out real quick for appointments for OEM uh Roy bauberger OEM coordinator Tim Ryan Deputy OEM coordinator Ed Trion emergency Operation Center coordinator Police Chief Keith sanzer is the police liaison Sergeant Keith daa will be the police liaison fire chief Vinnie D fire liaison assistant fire chief Don Johnson fire leaon assistant fire chief Vincent inra fire leaon first a chief M Jeff mar mar marzo first a Lis on Mt Goodridge Co coordinator uh mayor myself uh Richard Coons B administrator Don Brock shelter coordinator Darius pojo construction code official Jason Duncan DPW operator principal Shan Bo for the local Board of Education Joe tra for the local Board of Education Tony smid animal rescue coordinator Charles wolf Regional Board of Education Doug Brown Sarah 3 representative Dave podes local resources Aaron balberg technology resources Steve tiffer Board of Health liaison Scott sarella DPW Municipal damage assessment Danny Del assistant drill and cleanup coordinator Judy Ryan Community response and Steve Farm Le for Community response just want to make sure was that would Council consent not sure which one this was it's under mayor May ER you can make one slight change that uh the construction official is Vincent Pelini Vincent Pelini yeah okay that's that's it for that okay uh new business anybody have new business yes goad no I was going to talk about uh the um the bylaws committee Mr Mayor just briefly what that the bylaws committee oh yes okay so like to get a meeting yes so so what I'd like to yes Mr mccan certainly we're into a new year we have a new mayor we have a lot of new people in Council here I think it's imperative that the B committee have a meeting and see what we can do to just uh take a look at our normal order of business business and so we can be ready to adopt the bylaws of next meeting something we can u m let's see if we can call that meeting for next week so we'll be prepared for the following week okay anybody else Mr Mayor sir yes I'd like uh to uh make a nomination uh to the burrow Council we had a vacancy due to uh Eric Calo being elected as mayor um we've uh received the recommendations of of three people from the county committee and I would like to move for forward and nominate jod Garo gfo right gfo to the burrow Council before we have a second uh just want to check with our attorney have we met all the criteria for uh the timelines and everything else yes so the criteria under the title 19 statute is that upon the seat becoming vacant which was uh mayor kamala's assuming office the bur clerk was to was instructed to inform the Republican Municipal chairman seeing as it is a republican seat it was vacated Michael best that the Republican County comme has 14 days to supply the burrow council with three names of registered Republicans in the burrow of Oakland who meet the criteria to be Council which is that they live in Oakland and are registered to vote as Republicans and it is my understanding that those three names were supplied to the clerk and that is the council's decision now within the next 30 days to make such an appointment or it will be returned to the county committee for them to choose any one member of they're choosing so it's imperative that we act within the time frames thank you Mr Gilson so we have a we have a motion do we have a second second roll call councilman mccan yes councilman pantelli yes council president Sani yes councilman sulinski yes councilman talamini yes do we have any old business anybody nope seeing none uh let's do our borrow Council committee the aison reports since the were just assigned are there reports what's that since we just assigned the aison are there reports I believe Mr pelli wanted to say something that's reason Bring It Forward yes I have a uh report for the uh first aid squad for the month of December um they had 77 calls uh the two uh rigs 803 and 802 uh put on approximately uh 1,00 uh plus 1,00 plus miles I believe the Chief um uh reported to the members that uh last year we responded to 90% of our calls um I believe it's in my own opinion that the remaining 10% uh we we did a lot of calls to Mutual aid but uh we responded to 90% of our calls and that's it mayor does anybody else have any liais on report I did attend the flood commission but we've covered everything over very pushed what we do with the proposal now we're moving forward we'll be very happy okay anybody else not seeing any uh open to public motion so move second all favor I anybody from the public wish to speak Jody gfo 442 Avenue uh I just want to thank you for your confidence in me and um I uh hope to serve open as best as I can thank you thank you thank you thank you anybody else seeing n motion close so moved second second all in favor I uh bills to be paid Mr Talam uh bills to be paid $252,300 council president Sani yes councilman linski yes councilman T yes very good I want to thank everybody congratulations Jody uh me Med adjourn now next a motion to a little ahead of myself we should thank everyone for being flexible right between why we had to do it 5: with yes goad Mr coun so uh I'm going to mess this up so someone please please help me so I want to apologize to the citizens on behalf of the council for having to at 5:00 um obviously Tuesday was not a good night in the state emergency things were canceled we had to Wendy helped me we had to wait 48 hours to post and then the holiday Monday we M until Tuesday or Wednesday of next week based on schedules so we tried so we put the meeting Friday and uh we understand it was tough for some people to make so I do do thank everyone for their patience and uh flexibility to deal with this anything else that's it motion to close motion motion to close motion second roll call Jour in favor all right next meeting is uh Tuesday January 23rd 2024 7 p.m. meeting ad Jour thank you everybody you