C I'm talking about Italian food don't worry about my wife appreciated the bag from really was there food in there show you a trip there I used to be a have to Theus I I learned that when I was 18 I used to cut big huge things of P pencils my job should cut the paper good evening everyone in compliance with the open public meetings law notification of this meeting has been sent to our official newspapers and other publication circulated within the burrow and notice posted on the bulletin board at Burrow Hall please note the fire exits which are at the entrance to the council chamber and to the rear roll call please may here here Council Bo Council caraza here Council gallager here Council here Council here Joy to the flag I pled algi 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 remain standing while councilman youu leads us in prayer Heavenly Father we come to you today asking for your guidance wisdom and support as we begin this meeting help us engage in meaningful discussion allow us to grow closer as a group and nurture the bonds of community please free our world from conflict our Unity to trouble Nation bring Unity to trouble Nations let your glorious peace ra in every heart dispel all darkness and evil protect the Dignity of every human life replace hatred with your love give wisdom to our leaders so they we may eliminate all violence and War in your name we pray amen [Music] amen okay our first order our business is to open the meeting to the public for any item which is not listed on on our agenda so I'll open the meeting to the public for any item to be discussed other than the uh ordinance uh with regard to the parking second and once we once uh we complete the uh the opportunity to speak on any other issue we will open and go into that into the parking issue and there will be an opportunity for you to speak so entertain a motion open the meeting to the public so Moon second all would anyone here to be heard um Katherine Anu fre 104 hour drive um I wanted to speak today um and ask a question of the mayor and Council how I would go about um either getting a traffic study or a speed bump or stop sign or something a Howard Drive so while it's not directly related to the parking topic tonight um it it is related um myself and my husband have um an 18-month-old and a 4 and 1/2-year-old uh we moved to ultan about 2 years ago um and we love the neighborhood it's great um the cars coming off of blanch every morning um and every evening are really something um it seems to get worse uh every day especially during the school year summer is better um there are a couple other young families on our block um the triangle of power drive we kind of are arranged in Triangle um and it's just really dangerous um one of our neighbors had a sign there for a while that did show the speed um to be honest I didn't notice it being much of a deterrent um I'm home pretty much all day I work from home um and I didn't notice it to be much of a deterrent um so I'd like to know how it can be rectified whether it's a crosswalk a speed bump I think if someone were to bottom out once they' slow down okay what what I would suggest is that possibly a police commissioner get together with the police chief and conduct a a study with regard to what you're suggesting to see what what we would be able to put into in place okay so does anyone else have any comments yeah Mr Mayor if you if you noticed you know the there's that cut through Street in tapan on the way to 303 where they put three speed B it works I have no problem with what you want to do but we just have to figure out how to um and it works there there's there's three of them addition to the poor condition of the road oh the road's hard but certainly slowed me down I mean not that I speed but I I I go even slower now there which you should especially in your neighborhood yeah I could say that the chief chief we did put a speed uh digital on this this G this gentleman's property that gentleman did called you and complained about it being there is that correct and but in the time it was there some of the other residents who came to the last meeting said it did help because they see how fast they're going that's something I have to take up with the chief and let's see what kind of study uh what we have to do to put either bumps is there anything else we can do there on how we drive besides bumps [Music] Chief you can probably do the rubble St so problema you going to have with the rubble strip def the noise of the residents when the cars hit it you boom boom boom but have to find out there was a town that did him that had them in and they want to taking them out anding them up I don't know why they did that I think it the res okay I'll work on it with the chief and if you give the information to the clerk we can get back to you after after the meeting I presume okay Rob enforcement Chief did we uh ever set up radar details I I will say when we first moved in um there were quite a few stops in front of our house I saw the lights quite frequently I haven't so much noticed that um of late I didn't know if that was like an end of the month thing or a targeted that's all WR targeted thing but um I don't notice it as much crosswalk stop sign y i I am right yeah I am right on the corner of Charles in Howard so um you know there is the stop sign one way but one on Howard I mean it's right in front of my house I wouldn't mind it you know so that's okay thank you very much thank you excuse me my name is Dominic NATO I with 126 Pro Court just to touch on that topic for a moment one of the things we noticed because we're right on that corner is the traffic coming off Blanch Avenue that corner is very rounded so the cars come off blanch and it's gotten better I think cuz they slowed blanch down to 35 but still these cars come around pretty fast I think there's some way you can deter that traffic at some point to slow it down there that might help with how drive because we see I I see it all the time so I just wanted to make let me let me ask a question so a lot of us use Google Maps WS Etc is that a popular cut through with the oh yeah right so there have been deterrence in the past of streets that have complained CL that they're on these apps and this is the quote unquote shortest Etc right one is to lower obviously the speed limit to make it longer so then it with the algorithm would make it go around or you make them oneway streets so that it doesn't come from blanch right it's one way the other way and they have to go around but yes residents would have to go around as well but is that part of the problem is that why we've seen more traffic is because there's more use of the apps which send cars through there to get to by state for example I'm going to say no and I'll tell you why because been living there now for about 30 years so even before that's been a problem before the internet came about so yeah cuz I wonder if if sometimes you can appeal to the apps to if there's another way to do it if that became the problem if it wasn't then that that may contribute possibly but I think the problem like I said I think it's that the car easier to come off Drive is really straight right so I thank you yes sir [Music] good evening Michael kjo 97 Howard Drive I didn't plan on speaking today but I was the one who called ke tracing so with that being said when the digital sound was put up I don't think I called the complaint forgive me I called for some more information I was brand new into the neighborhood I spent XYZ on that beautiful house and I just wanted to know why I was in told they were installing it after do after detective Tracey told me to reasons why and I saw in my own eyes uh the speeding the aggressive speeding and driving I use the word aggressive parking two weeks ago let's go back to more driving and speeding I also have two young kids I agree with him that digital sign made sense he also shed with me at that time that it was donated and it would be rotated I didn't know how quickly it would be rotated so it was really rotated fairly quickly to another neighborhood there's two digital signs on blanch right now I do agree that I did question like why only my corner cuz I believe like my neighbor here with Katie if you put across the street in any angle that little triangle you speeding from both directions but uh I thought it was good in the beginning but it's only a digital sign it's not like getting a speeding ticket it's not like the speed bumps which I also mentioned I maybe be concern with the sanitation and the and the plowing but uh I was okay with that being there you make that for the record and forgiving you were very nice that day we had a nice conversation but uh yeah I wasn't I wasn't against it I just wanted some information and then when they removed it I wasn't notified either DPW just comes in makes a little mess on my lawn and then moves on and that's fine you know that's home ownership I was okay with that but I care about the safety so the safety of the neighborhood that's all thank you thank you thank you anyone else can I have a motion to close to close second all in favor all I um okay going to move on to the uh continuance of the public hearing on ordinance number 12432 three amending the parking ordinance I believe we've introduced that had a motion to open uh to table it it was introduced right and it was at the last meeting it was brought up the public had an opportunity to speak and then it was tabled after that yes so is there necessary motion to untable it it's take it from the table yes okay can I have a motion to take it from so move it second all in favor all okay um so let's have a little discussion among councel as to where we where we stand with this and then we'll open it to the public for their discussion I'll start um loud and clear is there's a parking issue a safety issue and a speeding issue on Howard Drive and I'm sure it spilled out to the other side streets from uh off of Howard in a uh in a school zone in a popular area with uh kids coming in and out uh I'm very discouraged I'll go on the record that we really haven't been able to come to a good agreement with with the high school um I'm frustrated that we have not been able to come to a better agreement with the high school I think we know we know when uh varsity football games are going on we know when the big events are going on and but we have not been communicated our police Department uh have not been properly communicated in regards to the other events I think there was a gentleman here a couple weeks ago said it kind of turned into the new Met Life of old Jaan there's always something going on at that at that field so um you know I'm reluctant to inconvenience our residents in that in that neighborhood but at the same time uh I think safety is the number one concern so um I will um I'll will hold my vote until we get to a vote but I'm just I wanted to just relay my frustration with the school district and that the speeding issue is loud and clear and as we go in go into our budget discussions and everything that that we have to do in early 2024 is that whether it's more signs whether it's speed bumps what whatever dollars can be thrown at the at the speeding situation the uh the council will certainly take that under advisement Okay so with regard to the uh to the ordinance as it stands uh tonight and as it was introduced uh uh at our last meeting it provides for the the parking on one side of the street on the one side of each Street as indicated in that ordinance so I would entertain a motion open the meeting to the public for if I if I could just have a comment before that sure um something that I said uh uh at close session but I and I've said it publicly uh just so the public knows I agree with councilman Gallagher that safety trumps everything else that we're talking about safety trumps inconvenience safety trumps a lot of things I'm up the I drive up that road a lot of every single Saturday night on my power drive and when there's double parked and they are not double parked I mean parking on both sides and the doors open and sometimes there's little kids and moms trying to get the kids in the cars if one of those kids get hit and we didn't let's say we don't change anything school doesn't put up the signs like we wanted them to one of those kids gets hit that Mom has every right to come into this Council and say to us you knew and you did nothing how could you do this and now my child got hit by a car so that's where I'm at I mean I I we have to act because of the reason I just gave also to add to that I too feel badly for the residents who live on that block inconveniencing them like this but this was brought up to us probably about a year and a half ago it being a serious safety uh concern um not only the pedestrians walking by but when cars are both parked on both sides of the road we cannot get a fire truck through that road in case there's an emergency we're not going to be able to get an ambulance through those roads when cars are parked on both sides so for that reason I'll be voting the way I am let me add to that right so definition of safety right so whether it's someone in the road sidewalk crossing the road or at an athletic event right someone having a heart attack football player Etc need to get an ambulance there as quick as we can right that's the most important also if there's a fire in the neighborhood right I mean one of the residents has a fire and and we need to get that fire engine down the street we need to get that through so that's number one um two residents spoke last time right about uh wanting the the gate open being able to use the fields the track Etc well the school is going to leave it open right so at least part of the concerns um have been addressed in terms of the gate the parking yes inconvenience but again safety is the number one issue so little of little of everything here right so you know the school hopefully will leave it open we'll leave the gate open uh and if we revisit this it's some point about them putting the signs out we will do that but right now they refuse to put the signs out so again back to the school in terms of kind of forcing us to make this decision because they won't put the temporary signs no parking out and if you have a if if you have a party or an event they're chising at your house you're not going to get a ticket you could call headquarters and say hey we're having this thing and you could figure that out won't be a big deal also we discussed this could be just trial period we could revisit this later on and if it doesn't work we'll after a year we could always say this was a bad idea and we can do something else oh we got to try something now okay anything further from the council can I have a motion to open it motion to close motion open a meeting to the public motion open public some move favor second okay anyone from the public here to be heard with regard to the parking ordinance [Music] motion Katherine onu FR 104 hour drive um I just wanted to say my piece since I didn't get to attend the last council meeting so I am happy that you guys tabled it um and gave some of us the opportunity to come back the second time or a first time um I like I live at 104 hour drive um so I will be directly affected by the parking ordinance um I will say um I feel like you're all waiting with baited breath um I don't have a problem with it um like I said I work from home all day long um hardly anyone parks on the street ever unless they are going to something at the high school um that being said I did watch the meeting from last week um heard and empathized with my other residents um on the it'll have on them particularly with regards to their holiday celebrations and large parties uh I have a couple of those during the year um so I do find it interesting that you're going to move forward on a vote in its current state um last week there was some talk about changing it to perhaps only one hour parking as that would eliminate the game struggles that you all have um there was also discussion of limiting the time of year um we're going into the holidays and nobody's really playing on the field anymore uh my understanding is the Thanksgiving game is strictly a postseason thing um so I'm wondering why why the current state um and testing that out in kind of a dead season we discussed that all okay and we determined that this was the best way forward we don't want to be doing it last second also we want to get ahead of the curve gotta have signs made we got to get in our budget January Fe feary it's expensive so yeah so so the testing isn't for a season right the test will be for a year Etc and so we will get the busy the busy Seasons um it's not just for like the next month for example and we talked about adjusting the time did we not um Mr Mayor there was some discussion that but it but it's moving forward 365 247 currently one side yes okay um and we definitely can request with headquarters then we have something okay all right well sorry my friend all right that's all for me thank you thanks sir hi uh Blair Harvey 113 Howard Drive so just to kind of pick up on what we talked about two weeks ago as I remember it um there we have the the ordinance the way it was written up and then there was some discussion on timing which I thought was a reasonably good compromise um if you look at what happens on the field it's generally Friday Night Football games uh Saturday night it's the recreation the northern Valley Eagles uh those are sellout crowds that kind of a thing uh Sunday evenings quiet Dead Zone Sunday afternoons there's some some Time stuff going on but um generally the rest of the week is pretty manageable there's always a big soccer game in early November and a big you know track meet in June which you know probably have to be portable signs anyway but um I think from what I see living right there the main events are Friday night and Saturday night in the fall and then some other things going on you know sporadically during the year so what I thought was a good compromise two weeks ago was the Friday and Saturday night 6: to 10 on the west side of Howard Drive as a as a straw man that's what I heard last two weeks ago I thought I don't disagree I thought it was reasonable I think I think that's I think that's reasonable too so during the week everybody in town 90% of the people in town have landscapers the kitchen redone they're siding they're putting new roofs up contractors are in and out lawn services so you know the guys who's there doing a new kitchen for six weeks all right we call the police office and uh make arrangements but for the landscapers that are in and out once a week you know are they always parking on one side of the street now is that is that the way it is it's just this is kind of annoying you know um big box lawn mowers best messes up stuff they don't clean up after themselves so I'm saying is you know it's it's not always wonderful you know it's not Happy Valley anymore it's something else you know maybe Hing Cliff Stadium whatever so I think that's the intent um you know the the chief is in the room uh there there are other parking restrictions throughout town I live over closer to the grammar school area um and there were I think was got to be 20 years ago there was some ordinance enacted back back back then so I think our Police Department is not looking to uh I bet if you didn't call on your holiday party you're not going to have an issue anyway uh so the intent is if your landscaper shows up and parks in front of your house I don't know which side east or west um I know you're not going to you're not going to have an issue our our very small uh very involved police department they they know what's going on uh they they do so they're not have to bust anybody's jobs again it goes back to safety and it'll go back to what I said is I wish that we could have a better working relationship with the school on this on this issue uh and I can say though I've come home from work a lot of times 5 six o'clock at night all all different seasons and there are a lot of cars on Howard at 5 or 6 o'clock at night on a Wednesday so I'm not I I've I've seen it there are practice sessions yes so I I I've seen it clogged up more during the week as more on the weekends I I'll agree but I have I have seen it pretty congested on on weekday so that's it okay thank you thank you thank you anyone else I just have a thought Gan mtio W 126 PE court so what I'm hearing is we're instituting the ordinance as written no parking on one side but as a resident and our company and our existing contractors whoever comes doesn't sound like it'll be an active policing even though obviously we want you to always police but it's really against residence parking for school events is that what I'm he not residence parking I'm nonr anybody parking there for school events so if I have 10 people over on a Wednesday night I shouldn't have a problem is that what I'm hearing yes okay chief is that what she hearing I'm only speaking for myself I'm only one of six I yeah well that's well that's that's what it's making it sound like because to me no parking is no parking but if there's some leeway that with that that it you know for residential purposes for us having whoever is over it's a contractor it's you know whoever is visiting that does not Park in your driveway then it will not be enforced unless possibly it's on a game night or a function at the high school it could it could be questioned that could it could be questioned but I don't think uh it's going to be I don't think the first I don't think a ticket is the first thing coming out the officer's pocket if you will so you might get a knock on the door and say hey say hey I'm having a yeah party here tonight I'm having a gathering Friday night poker I don't know but that's that's how I believe I would say your assessment is accurate okay all right and you know we understand the SA issue obviously you have to get a fir Tru or an emergency vehicle down a street I don't know the street widths I don't know if it's safely can do that with two cars on not now no I'm I'm I'm one of the I'm a driver of the fire truck and um can I physically fit probably yeah not when my adrenaline's going and there Flames or something it's it's you look at it it's tight and all of a sudden somebody swings the door open you ever go down to Main Street of Westwood they just open the door actually they wait for you to come then they open they open the door yes okay so I'm very concerned about that yeah you know personally as a resident you don't want to see all these no parking signs all over the place too and does detract from the neighborhood and I I know it's an expense for the town as well and you know it just it takes away from our little neighborhood would agree that's all thank you thanks anyone else seeing none no motion to close come on come on sorry just uh one more thing do I have to say it again okay um I just also um I know we're all going on a by a word honor System here with the police um as you're doing your budgets and everything is there any room um last meeting you all talked about a residential pass or I mean is that really challenging to put in place a placard for people when they have that they can come and apply for at Burrow Hall I mean hopefully one day he's going to retire we haven't needed it in the past and I and I can tell you I live in one of those neighborhoods that there are restrictions okay uh and I've never heard of someone needing a resident placard uh I've never heard of an incident where something took place by the way once you retires you can no longer call anybody at the police department ever again that's the way this is going to read I'm just saying it's going down in stone on paper you know a chisel and if you call Mrs Mario no problem if he calls Ain't No Way bring up something thank you um and and what is the enactment um how long you said you had to get budgets you're going to have to get signs up so what is the proposed like actual enactment date for this once it's it'll take effect legally it'll take effect immediately okay but it won't be enforcable until there are signs there okay thank you all anyone else come back to it um so I think what I'm hearing is that and I don't know what your current Blair Harvey 113 Howard Drive I don't know what the current thinking is because he didn't say it I so I assume it's the enact the ordinance as proposed which would be 247 on the west side of Howard once again using that as a Baseline and we all know the schools are in session you know Monday through Friday so it would seem to me that we do we really need a 247 or is you know is six o'clock Maybe maybe should be you know five o'clock or four o'clock or something like that so that during the day we can have you know a normal State of Affairs or State of Affairs that you know we had yesterday after we enact this law I mean I'm I'm looking at what is practical for both sides of the equation and then also we talked about the school year you know enacting the ordinance say for example September 1st through June 30th there's really nothing going on uh school-wise during the summer you know it's closed there's some stuff but you know I don't just just once again some ideas thank you you why couldn't we make it six to 6 to 10 Friday Saturday Sunday or something like that Sunday it's all day Saturday it's all day isn't it Saturday I'm just bringing it up I thought that was a good point um during the day there's nothing going on Chief seem to be the lone voice Chief I mean I don't know how big we want to make this sign on all the restrictions but I do have a question chiefly the summertime so let's call it July 1 to um September you know uh July and August okay football practice probably starts up in late August or so before Labor Day AUST uh what are what are we looking at school-wise I'm asking the chief only here um what is they do use the field of football I think it's C practice as they start in the line start a lot earlier now um they the teams do use it for practice soccer same thing soccer sum so see your round almost is yeah okay thank you question oh it's still open to the public yes anyone else hearing none motion to close hold on I'm sorry sorry no it's okay so just so I understand so the gates now are going to be wide open to the high school is that what I that's not up those up at school's choice we have no control over it no I understand that not wide open just unlocked okay so there's traffic going in and out as far as we know okay that that could change tomorrow it could understood because there's a sign no field access it's on that gate there so if there's no access my thought is May if I can I'll I'll I'll try to answer me and the chief I tabled this motion because I wanted to go back to the school with the chief and have another meeting the fourth meeting this year and we wanted to go back to the school and discuss the gate and the park and we had a 45 minute discussion and after that discussion I kept 10 minutes or 15 minutes to bring the council up to date and if we had more help and disclosure and cooperation from the school maybe we could have done this a little differently but let me just say on the record but because of that myself s and the Chief came back to the council and they are going to do whatever they want with that gate the athletic director is going to open it and close it and we have no control of what he's doing I completely understand it we tried to get Varsity gained they're going to open it and close it whenever they want that's the access we have no control over it so we're doing something else based on safety because if something ever happens I want to make sure we did the right thing completely agree I was just curious about this gate because if the gates closed and I read that correctly no field access then it shouldn't be anybody going in and out of there we tried we tried that's the school's the school's sign no I understand and the other best point I want to make if um if the ordinance can be modified I would like to see if Pro Court can be excluded that's I say anyone El scar to be heard motion to close second all in favor we just go over before we vote we just go over it we're clear it's this been I believe there was a motion made and seconded and then it was sted so yeah it's still open for Council question my my my comment would be to somehow adjust the T make the timing better make the timing so most daytime hours it's okay to park there anywhere and how do you how do you suggest I'm I'm wondering that as I say the words uh but uh what Blair said made sense to me and uh it does kind of meet in the middle I'm just wondering how we can do that if someone else can articulate that better than I [Music] can can you say something like no parking during school events no we Brian said we can't do that yeah because people wouldn't necessarily know that so it's not [Music] enforcable is there I mean you said uh uh Council MC gallaga you said there are things that go on on Wednesday nights so I'm thinking of what Blair said like make it Saturdays Friday Saturday and Sunday from 6:00 to 10 or picked you times but then you said there was stuff during the week because I would agree with that those three nights you know Friday Saturday Sunday no no parking whatever it is uh and the rest of the week leave it alone unless councilman Gallagher you had you said there's stuff going on WN personally seen I'm picking a Wednesday it may have been a Tuesday may have been a Thursday but coming home from work Park on both sides no I haven't seen that but I have I'm not usually there weekdays so there there are High School athletic games afternoon and night week days so yes football is a larger crowd but there are soccer games there's track meets there's tennis just things during the weekday from the high school I'd be concerned about just making the sign overly confusing right I agree I agree with that too so my my open-ended question has to do with enforcement um we were talking about you know if you have either a party you know 10 people you call and you say hey I'm having and you know what if it's on a Sunday afternoon should be no problem but I've seen residents host parties during the football game almost like a tail right their hous is right there host a party that's a resident right to host a party but then it's during a school event like how do we enforce kind of that mixture I think that's a that's a police department call that's a game a tailgate party on the on the where you can't park I yes I think that's an issue but I'm not the che the resident right we were saying the residents have a right at any time to say hey I want to host a party happens to be and maybe it's not even affiliated with the football game maybe you you just have a Saturday night party it just happens to be football game how do we there are a lot of wh ifs but I think that's a job our Police Department is uh task to enforce our ordinance and our laws and and they'll take that under advisement so I can't speak for the chief or his officers but and Court after after a year if we have a full house here of angry people saying this is a bad idea we'll revisit it for sure we've done it's rare that it happened if I could make one more comment I encourage you to go to the school board meetings and make your opinions known at the Schoolboard level saying you're really inconvenienced uh as residents and in in this neighborhood so they should they should hear from the folks that it's affecting I think the school board received a lot of resistence of closing that gate though that's why they're keeping it open correct so be careful what you wish for anyway okay any further discussion Jean we had a motion made and seconded on this okay it was to take it from the table so now you need motion a second okay going I have a motion to adopt resolution yes yes well he had read it last time but read it again thank you Mr Mayor ordinance number 1243 d23 second reading and final adoption amend parking ordinance resolution where is an ordinance entitled an ordinance amending chapter 242 of the code of the B of ban titled vehicles and traffic by amending section 242-1229 now therefore be resolved by the May Council B volan County of Bergen state of New Jersey that set ordinance 1243 d23 being the same is hereby adopted on second and final reading and be it finally resolved that the burough clerk is hereby authorized and directed to publish the the notice of adoption as required by law second okay any further discussion hearing no further discussion roll call please yes yesc gallager yes Council Blan yes Council you yes and I'm happy to revisit this again in the future if we need to I don't know okay thank you very much for your participation and input on this matter and let's hope for all that it works out to the best let's move on to the next item that's our consent resolution and that's for council president G thank you Mr Mayor this is the our consent resolution be it resolved at the following resolutions placed on the agenda by consent require no discussion and the same having been previously reviewed by each council person B and B and are hereby adopted in their entirety by the mayor and Council of the burough of Al Japan claims and payroll release cash bonds and escrow transfer of 2023 budget Appropriations cancel 2024 property taxes refund 2023 property tax overpayment and change order number one and final Harring Drive foot path second is there any discussion hearing none rot call please yes yes counc G yes Council Guan yes counc yes okay let's move on to our Council committee reports and uh starting with councilman Ben thank you Mr Mayor um I do have a report tonight about uh grants historical um the council is aware that we we um we are desirous of rep well let me say fixing or replacing the Oaks Park house uh there was a committee myself Bill Boyce Andy brackenberry the mayor uh we looked into getting prices for taking that structure down and putting up a new structure in the meantime our administrator came up with a idea that the Green Acres has grant money available and however their what they allow their parameters of what they allow us to build with their money are different from what we want to build so the question is do we want to follow their parameters and get quote unquote free money or do we want to do what we want to do yes seventh council person I the correct that please no matter what you do there because we use green to buy the property you have to abide by their restriction okay that being said I met with the mayor today on thank you we I met with the mayor today on the property and we looked at the house um the mayor and I differ about what to do with the house but that's okay uh to in my opinion if we're going to fix that house as is leave it as is and fix it now we're GNA have a really nice house that's fixed what are we going to use it for got me so I don't see any use for it besides storage for Gloria storage let's say storage for wreck and Andy tells me he can fit a uh a container at the DPW like a Sealand container something like that to 40t 20t 30t whatever for wreck to store their stuff and if they're on the property of the DPW they'll also have access to Electric so maybe there's lights that want put in this container or something like that I'm of the opinion we should be taking that building down and putting up something new if that would fit within the Green Acre parameter that would be my choice um Bruno uh are a grant writer writing people Bruno Associates has said yes Green Acres has grant opportunities and you can do this but most of the grant opportunities are fixing what we have am I correct Anna they're looking into it um I I the way I understood it was refurbishing and fixing what the park needs right I'm not in favor of fixing what we have because I just still a house and it's just there I'm of the opinion we should have something with a big porch in the front not a necessarily a wooden porch like cement people can go to come out of The Enclave go to Starbucks walk the track sit and have coffee well but there is a porch so maybe that porch can fit like four people it's no but I'm saying you R it and you make it bigger okay so outdoor was allowed okay well this is this is for discussion you know like you know my feelings I want to take it down Bob Rush said yes good idea our building inspector uh but I'm one of six so I'd like to hear from somebody else Ronnie let me ask you I'm a little confused you want to knock the house down but leave the porch extend the porch make it bigger so people can have coffee and tea on the porch no no when I say porch I mean it could be a cement slab okay I agree with you Ron knock it down and build something been useful something that that fits the needs of the current residents as long as nobody drives into it anyway are you taking the place of voice today sitting out there council person the problem I'm hearing is you're saying something that the needs of the public and the park but they limited it to storage bathrooms um uh office for DPW and so it it's very but the porch outside as long as it's open yeah mhm is allow right well why wouldn't we have storage DPW uh a a utility room and a nice big cement porch I'm saying porch it sounds wood but it's not a big long I Picture People Andy and the police chief will tell you people come from The Enclave right now go to Starbucks some of them have strollers go see their grandparents and doing what they do some of them don't and then they walk down the park and they walk around I can just picture people end of the day beginning of the day sitting there enjoying their coffee watching the watching the cars go by I don't know so how do we I'm sorry so how do we um so we're getting late in the year we're going to get into budget season that's why I want to talk about soon um I guess what are our options both aesthetically and financially I understand the uh Grant is coming up due very shortly so we should find before we start we'll probably find out if it works for us we can get it do we need a plan to present I'm trying to find out what they would cover yeah I would think you need something I would think You' need to present something to them architectural sketch if they say we don't cover houses we're out anyway so it so according to Green Acres they they'd rather see that be dilapidated and just fall down maybe on a person and that's okay with them I don't I don't think we know that here we haven't reached that point okay we because you have money already covered in this past year right so you already have that so even if this was a match you still have that but we have to find out what they would actually okay thank you so so we did appropriate $200,000 to accomplish the removal of that house and to uh put a new structure in place we did but have we gotten prices on that no um so we don't know if it's going to be $200,000 or it's going to be three or $400,000 do not okay so that's going to be something that the council is going to have to wrestle with some budget time as to what the actual expense is going to be yep but I leave that yeah I mean Mr Mayor I mean we need to be presented with a plan also right yes we're going to budget the money but we want to see what we're going to get for it so I think you know all of it should be presented kind of right in conjunction with each other so we can see what we're approving and what we're getting let's see what the parameters are from Green Acres first from Anna and then we'll I mean Bill Boyce is probably going to be our Point person on this as far as sketching so I'll have to get him back involved thank you okay do you have more run that's all I have tonight thank you okay Council andan thank you Mr Mayor um my comments will be very brief uh for recreation the soccer season ended yesterday uh they had the end of year tournament um it's been a tough season as you know I think six out of the seven Saturdays were rained out um but it was it ended on a really good note right good weather uh this past weekend ulpan uh teams played in all the different divisions and I think uh it ended really well so we're uh Recreation is happy with that terms of the pickleball program uh now that it's been the pickle ball courts have been in use for a few months now uh Recreation has now uh seen kind of the usage right and and that was the whole idea is to see how many residents um were making reservations Etc and now kind of with that uh they're looking at improving the pickleball program itself are there other programs they can do whether it's open play different skill levels different groups and so I think uh they're going to come up with a plan for next year for that um winter sports are uh coming up that's basketball and indoor soccer uh in terms of the library the only thing I have here is that someone uh tripped on the sidewalk that's in the parking lot of the library no one was hurt um but the sidewalk uh was under you know analysis right it it uh it is not level uh they were going to wait until next year in terms of of budgeting for a new sidewalk um but the safety concern is more important um so they are underway to try to repair that sidewalk as quickly as possible and not wait till next year's uh budget uh and actually that's all I have thank you councilman you thank you Mr Mayor I really don't have much tonight but I want to start off U you know we had an election a couple weeks ago I want to congratulate Ron BAGI on his re-election I want to welcome Christine Massaro our new councilwoman and mayor elect Gallagher I wish you the best of luck and finally mayor gramer who's retiring after 60 years of faithful service to the buau may your best years be ahead of you thank you report of the seniors they enjoyed their 50 theme dance party last week and there's only one more event they're holding their annual holiday party planned for next month and then we'll call the year a rep I'm sure they'll be looking forward to all the activities we have planned for them for next year not much to report for the DPW other than they've been really busy cleaning leaves from our streets and public areas our first aore I want to congratulate the new slate of uh line officers for 2024 Chief Jesse hoper deputy chief Rich R premium Captain Carl wer and Lieutenant summer Thompson and it was decided at one of their meetings to rename the positions uh from Captain first second and third lieutenants this was done to mirror other agencies to avoid confusion especially when they're on a mutual Aid call so the new positions will be named chief deputy chief captain and Lieutenant um I'm going to ask the new Chief in January to send a note to Anna to uh make changes in our ordinance to reflect that and this past Saturday was a salute to First Responders day at West Point and I managed to secure some tickets to the Army football game a total of 28 ultan firemen and EMTs along with some of their family members were in attendance everyone had a great time and I hope to organize this uh as a yearly event to thank everybody for their service to the buau unfortunately though the ultan uh first day cor first responder vehicle remains inoperable in the parking lot at West Point I'm working with one of the lieutenants to get a toad back to town so we can get it back in service and that concludes my report Mr Mayor thank you very much um just to to uh add into your while you're on amulance SC with regard to the U presentation that they made at last uh last month at our last meeting which was an excellent presentation um while at the league uh convention this past week I attended a um Innovative approaches to integrated emergency services and it pretty much dovetailed into what was presented to us last week however um it was it was uh the board that presented it consisted of a mayor of a city a manager of a city fire chief and the acting commi uh commissioner of the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs and they spoke with regard to uh leap grants which are available which will offer the u a study the state to assist us in a study of putting uh paid paid officers or paid amts on the uh on the job along with maintaining the volunteerism that we have so I'm not going to be here next year uh I would suggest that you might take advantage of that and look into that Grant and contact the State with regard to what they have to offer as far as the study is concerned I got up and questioned uh the panel was with the with several questions that I had and uh I was followed up by mayor bronberg from riverville who I didn't know was in the audience as well it was a packed it was a packed meeting so uh he had some similar comments and uh he seemed very interested as well I attended a second meeting similar to what this one was uh on Thursday afternoon and it was not as quite as inform as as this one was but uh this one was very very interesting and uh Department of Community Affairs the commissioner that uh uh group was had a lot of positive comments to make with regard to the plan so I just add that in so I'll be I'll look into I'll look at the DCA website see if I can find a phone number to contact for information on that grant that leap Grant you called it right leap okay it stands for local early already told yes okay stands for local early action planning leap thank you okay councilman Kiser yes Mr Mayor uh police I have a letter here I'd like to read from the superintendent of schools Danielle and um she said good morning Joe and Bob I hope you enjoying your weekend just a quick note to let you know that since last we spoke a number of parents have shared positive feedback about the increased police present at our schools and in particular officer Jay who we had just appointed I wanted you to hear positive news since often all we hear is negative feedback thanks for all your help Danielle a second letter this is from CVS this is the regional manager David lron he's in charge of organized retail crime unit and he wrote a letter to G Chief Tracy on behalf of CVS health I am writing this letter pertaining to detective Sergeant Chuck Di Maria the actions of detective Sergeant Chuck de Maria Merit the highest Commendation and the quality of his work represents the highest standards of excellence Excellence that is long associated with the old toan police department as a matter of introduction I am regional manager of CVS organized retail crime team and currently covered territory of New Jersey eastern Pennsylvania and Delaware I have the district pleasure of working with Detective Sergeant Chuck de Marie on theft by deception Quick Change fraud involving suspects that have been impacting CVS doors on a national level the sus suspects have targeted CVS stores in in States ranging from Maryland the tri-state area to Michigan and detective Sergeant Chuck de Maria has been a great asset in assisting the identification and prosecution of these suspects as original man of CVS organized retail crime team and I keep getting that organized and I want to say organized crime but that's not what they wrote organized retail crime team has retired police officer I've worked with law enforcement professionals across the United States I can confirm that your detective Sergeant de Maria Chuck de Maria is a valuable asset to your agency in closing investigation and intelligence sharing a superb illustration of cooperation between law enforcement and Retail fight against organized retail crime the ultan police department should be proud of detective Sergeant Chuck D Mur very nice very nice and the alteran police activity report um we had 116 persons walk into headquarters for assistance total calls were 272 for the month 236 motor vehicle stops were completed 142 motor vehicle summonses were issued 160 radar details were completed throughout the buau 163 traffic enforcement details were completed 39 security awareness cards were provided to Residents 16 firearm ID cards permits were received 74 74 school safety checks were conducted security deficiencies are noted on offices and conveyed to the school administrative staff three arrests were made for outstanding traffic warrants one arrest was made for driving while the under under the influence one arrest was made for stalking cyber harassment one arrest was made by theft by deception conspiracy to commit theft 10 traffic details were completed for from outside contractors the gross total to municipality was $2,362 the gross total for the year is3 9,242 61 and that's the end of my report Mr Mayor thank you very much council president G thank you Mr Mayor uh I I have no report on finance or construction tonight and uh uh and and environmental but I will defer to Old business and do my best to advise the Council on our latest tree ordinance discussion during old business okay um I I have a few comments uh I had this morning I had the Good Fortune of entertaining um probably nearly 70 students here in the uh council chambers uh third grade uh class from TBD School visited um here this morning I spent about an hour with them telling them about the town about the our local government um and followed by a question and answer period and uh our administrator sat in with me on it and uh helped me when I got stumped on some of the [Laughter] questions but it's it's a was really an enjoyable thing I mean the kids are great they they uh were so eager to get here and uh and uh I've done it every for the past eight years and it's just been one of the highlights of uh of my uh my time here it's really been a great experience uh while at the league I I ran into one of the principles of the uh Enclave Maurice his last name escapes me but uh had a conversation with him with uh regard to the progress that's being made there and I noticed today there are putting the final Paving down on all the all the streets in the uh condo area uh he indicated to me that they expect to have the apartment building finished and ready for occupancy as and the same with the commercial component uh by March 1st they seemed pretty certain on that said they were waiting for some equipment that uh Orange and Rockland had to supply to them and that's been a big hold up on it because it they really haven't seem to been moving along that that fast recently but he said that's the hold up and March 1 is their their target date similarly uh uh Anna and I were invited to U for for an inspection tour of the uh facility that's being built on Grace Avenue tom Toronto from United Way um his building that uh a building that will accommodate four developmentally disabled uh persons and uh one of which I'm happy to report is a resident of alapan has secured a place there so uh it's a it's a lovely place it's it's near in completion uh they expect to be done by January 1st but he said by the time they get their uh approvals from the state and everything is cleared it'll be ready for occupancy probably in March so um that completes my report so we can move on to Old business and as indicated minutes the three minut do the minutes first okay um yeah let's do the council uh Council minutes and that's for council president all right thank you um uh looking for a motion on uh the minutes to be approved for our regular meeting on October 16th 2023 and our regular and executive meetings uh November 6 2023 second second discussion roll call please councilman BAGI yes councilman caraza yes councilman G I'll abstain on the regular meeting on October 16th and yes on the regular and executive meetings November 6th councilman Guan yes councilman you yes okay now on to the onto the tree okay um very long process uh trying to get this tree ordinance uh over the uh over the goal line here so we met tonight uh Brian Giblin our our bur attorney Tom scrael our engineer Dave Keel our chair of the environmental commission uh myself and invited uh Bob Rush our construction official and zoning and councilman Boyce um uh who was really started this process probably well over a year ago U uh bar Russ and and Bill Boyce were not able to make it but they sent some comments in a lot of discussion on Buffer areas um there were some wacky formulas in there for anybody that remembers so uh we kind of discussed a a 10-ft side yard buffer and a 15 foot rear yard buffer we discussed uh what a nuisance tree uh we discussed the definition of a tree um we discussed uh who uh DPW supervisor in environmental commission to look at uh what's called nuisance trees um some of the other things that uh and then some of the fee schedules uh pertain to this as I as I mentioned several months ago the tree ordinance the intent of this ordinance was to um uh prevent some clear cutting that we've seen in in the past and and also uh you know we're trying to meet in the middle between residents that say this is my property these are my trees and I can do whatever I want with it and again and then to the Other Extreme is to just being able to clearcut and and and having no trees on the property um so we we've tweaked it based on a lot of comments over the past couple of um a couple of months here our plan is Brian back me up on this our plan is to get this uh to the council for review by early December correct and then what we will do after that is uh we will introduce it we will send it to the planning board for there uh for their review probably um we'll look at it in in uh mid January we'll send it to the planning board in uh at their at their meeting in mid-February and the intent is to get that back to the mayor and Council probably the second meeting in February to get this finally adopted so I when when uh the the most updated ordinance comes out I ask everyone to read it carefully and uh but I think we've um you know I gave everybody a Snickers bar tonight before we went into the meeting and I said we're not leaving here not this meeting we're not leaving here until we get this resolved and our engineer ate his Snicker bar so he feels pretty good about the uh about the ordinance so that is the uh that's the plan on the on the tree ordinance hey Tom can I ask a question the tree ordinance never I I was one of those people that think this is my property and my trees I could do what I want MH Al I do recognize you know we need trees so tell me the the gist of this ordinance the reason this came about is to save certain trees am I right to preserve trees it is to preserve trees and when trees need to come down it is to replace those trees with other trees okay that's part of the ordinance so if is there a tree in this town that can not be taken down is there a tree in this town yeah besides historic trees which is one on okor Lane and I'm well aware of it if I have a 3 foot diameter Oak Tree in my front yard and I get a permit do I I can get a permit pay a fee yes you can I can take it down is there a tree that I cannot take down I am not aware of a tree that you cannot take down why are we doing property yeah the trees buffer is you can't take that in the bu can't you're not allowed to correct that's having a problem unless it's diseased it's unsafe uh it it creates uh shade or environment to uh to your neighbor but I'd be allowed to take it down if I'm replacing with arbiv or some you'd have to get permission in the buffer area to take it down okay which is spelled out in the ordinance which but I would be able to take it down as long as I replaced it if it's not sick if it's perfectly good tree I want take it down it's in the buffer area we're gonna no you can't take it down even if it's on my property I own the tree you own a tree in 10 feet of the your side neighbor and 15 feet of your back neighbor uh will say no okay I might be saying no then on that I know one six I got to digest you're right yeah you said that before I have yeah all right um not anti- tree um it's probably a good idea the planning board reviews it but is this can they have any do they vote on it no they just review it they com they comment comment and make recommendations yeah and and again it has this is the process and again Brian can touch on this better this is a a zoning law uh change land use change so they have to uh have an opportunity review okay you after it's introduced by the mayor and Council and adopted on first reading by state law the planning board has 35 days to determine whether or not it's consistent with the master plan all right you have to advise us about that thas has has there been any change in uh enforcement so enforcement will will uh end up and with there further discussion needed on that but end up on the uh the building department to enforce and uh we discussed and we discussed some fines um and fees and fines and stuff which will be added into the new one lot of work anything else is it going to be available to the public to review or when will it be available for the public to review introduced for like T anything further anything further under um old business I see we have new business uh that's Jean I put in front of everyone the uh our proposed meeting schedule it pretty much just goes along with what we've done over the past year um I don't know if everyone's okay with doing reorganization on January 2nd Tuesday like we did last year M at 7:00 I don't know if you want it earlier we have an issue this year with juneth it's not I I looked I uh it's not a Monday this year I think it's yeah I think it's like a Wednesday or Thursday this year we did we moved last year's meeting I checked the holidays I compared them all so okay we're good do we need a motion on this no I mean I mean you can it's up to you yeah I think it should be adopted by resolution I don't really yeah I think so oh it does reorg we adopt it by resolution right yeah okay looks good okay anything further I'll letain a motion to open the meeting to the public so move okay would anyone care to be heard oh boy Council woman oh boy Christine masaro 19 hering Drive uh first I just want to commend the DBW they've been doing a tremendous job because the leaves came down so late this year it's been Non-Stop and they keep the streets clear I always think of that safety issue when you talk about parking a car on the leaves or getting a fir truck through so kudos to them because they've been coming through and cleaning up the streets perfectly so that was the first thing and uh second thing I just I wanted clarification on what it said the Herring Drive foot path it said uh change order number one and final this the road close sign is still up and I went down today and it was only half paved so residents can't they can't you know walk up that and they can't certain they can't ride their bikes to school or Oaks Park so just I just wanted an update on that cuz I've been I know I'm driving you guys nuts but I've been asking I know where we at what's the latest and greatest getting this ping company keeps getting delayed again they're delaying so next week they paved like half of it not the other half I don't know why there's only yeah there's only two of I mean you can still walk on it there's like a 4 in gap know I mean I would I will strollers and I'm always like oh I just look away but I just wanted to know if there's update CU they paved half of it and not the other half and are they liable are we you Christine hold on one second I want you to any contract no the the company that was supposed to do the work has done all their work this is extra because the water company had to come in and work on the water M so they had to saw cut part of the other pavment and then they had to I thought theia was going to redo that but obviously they're not and we have mashion who said they were going to do it last week now they said now because of the rain again they say it's going to be next week it's a huge amount but people we're at their Mercy tomorrow into Wednesday as long as Jean can walk by and see my flags on the house that's all that matters all right Chris I'd just like to take this opportunity to congratulate you on the election on getting elected but most of all here it comes you got more votes and the other two guys that's the best reor we we congratulations we don't pay till reor you get paid yet not to reorg certified yet it could be a coup somebody could run in here great job Chris military could take over the whole government can I have a motion to adour no moves second all in favor all right so