##VIDEO ID:e53CoUsJrTk## all right good evening everyone in compliance with the open Public's meeting law notification of this meeting has been sent to our official newspapers and other Publications circulated in the burough of ultan and notice posted on the bullet board at B Hall please please be reminded that all of our meetings are videotaped and posted to our website within the next couple of days and please note our fire exits are at the rear of the council chambers and on my left your right of the main council chambers where you entered uh roll call please mayor gallager here Council BAGI here counc Bo here Council here counc Council here Council here please join me as we uh please rise and join me as we salute to the flag I pledge aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all please remain standing as we observe a moment of silence tonight um for really three things that that hit home uh for many of us is that one year ago today we had the um terrorist attack on on Israel and so many innocent lives were lost that day I also want you to uh keep in mind the 230 plus victims of hurricane Helen only about 10 10 days ago and please keep um our Floridians in mind as hurricane Milton looks to really plow through the middle of um of Florida so if we can just have a moment of silence thank you okay our first order of business tonight is a board appointment and that is for council president you thank you Mr Mayor at this time I'm happy to appoint uh Miss Marie ottomanelli for an unexpired 2-year term ending 1231 2025 to a vacant position in the senior advisory committee second any discussion saying none R call please counc yes counc yes yesc yes coun yes coun yes okay next we have a couple of Staff appointments first one for councilman carazza thank you Mr Mayor this is the staff appointment electrical subcode official inspector Joseph D Salvo Jr it's a two-year appointment second any discussion on this appointment is he has he been already is he being reappointed or is this new I recognize that nameing okay got it okay roll call please Council B yes Council Boyce yes counc yes counc yes counc missar yes councilman you yes okay our next staff appointment is for councilman Boyce thank you Mr Mayor I'd like to make a staff appointment to our land use board secretary for Jennifer bone second any discussion on this appointment seeing none roll call please councilman V yes councilman Bo yes councilman car yes coun yes yes yes okay next on the agenda is our consent resolution and that is for council president you thank you Mr Mayor resolution be it resolve that 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 are hereby adopted in their entirety by the mayor and Council of the bur of ult Japan bills and claims release cash bonds and escrow bid advertisement Perry Street Phase 2 bid advertisement D Wolf Road section 7 contract award bulldo carding Inc Oaks Oaks house demolition dumpster contract award JL tools LLC mechanical tools contract award Arrow Tree Service Inc emergency tree removal services contract award Route 23 Auto Mall LLC dump truck with plow emergency contract award Electrical Power Systems Inc Golf Course pump house generator rental confirm electrical subcode official inspector appointment confirm land use board secretary appointment you second on that second any discussion on our consent resolution yes um Perry Street phase two um just just clarification I know we Perry Street phase one is done evidently um did we didn't we decide not to do phase two because it Disturbed too much land or something remember there was a woman here from Perry Street yeah I think we SC I think we scaled it back they she asked us not to touch certain things and it it made it better for us I do believe there's still a phase two there's still work to be done right I don't know if uh Tom's not here T not our engineer but there was work to be done uh just not on her private part easan that she was concerned about and okay so that's going through but in keeping in mind what we agreed with her right okay that's all I don't think this contradicts what we agreed with okay that's all our and um bid advertisement the Wolf Road section 7 that's just Paving right that I'd have to defer to our engineer the drainage is all done yeah it's just finish it's finishing from Ogle Road like to uh Orangeburg yeah think that was one not Lot 200 yards okay fines everything with the pro right okay that's all I got anybody else anything call please yes yes yes yes yes yes okay next we have a couple of items under new business uh first one for its ordinance 1267 d24 and that's for councilman Boyce thank you Mr Mayor this is from the burough clerk's office ordinance number 12 6724 this is a first reading to amend the tree preservation and removal ordinance um the resolution reads whereas an ordinance entitled an ordinance to repeal and replace chapters 234 of the code of the burough of old toan entitled trees was introduced at a meeting of the mayor and Council held on the 7th day of October 2024 now therefore be resolved by the mayor and Council the burough volan County of Bergen state of New Jersey that ordinance number 1267 d24 being and the same is hereby adopted on first reading and be it further resolved that the ordinance number 1267 d24 will further will be further considered for final passage of the meeting of the mayor and Council to be held on the 21st day of October 2024 at 7:30 p.m. in the evening or as soon thereafter as the matter can be reached in the council chambers at Burrow Hall 227 alapan Road alapan New Jersey at which time and place all persons who may be interested will be given an opportunity to be heard regarding ordinance number 20 1267 d24 and be it finally resolved that the burough clerk is hereby authorized and directed to publish the introduction and notice of hearing as required by law for a second on that second any discussion well what changed what is this yeah that was my question so so there wasn't a clear delineation between um whether it was a minor or a major subdivision compared comped to a a standard homeowner in town so now there's uh the language clarifies that that's good also the uh amount of trees that are to be replaced if you cut down a tree um has been a little bit more lenient towards residents because as we were receiving our applications it became extraordinarily honorous um additionally there's a uh a provision to make the ordinance um multi-year so now you can no longer remove four trees per year it's for trees over the course of I believe five years um so that's a win for the trees uh overall it's a much better put together ordinance we've uh brought in more language from the de uh D the New Jersey DP that we were required to um I think those are the most substantive changes if far our attorney has more that I'm missing that's that's that's the Highlight Reel good or yeah good I just last minute addition uh we are also integrating an arborus who will be reviewing applications of five trees or more so so that's thanks for that the application fee pays for that I got a problem with that but let's see what happens I just think it's it's almost the money grabbed from the town to to make the to make the homeowner pay for that to take down a tree that they own that's on their property well correct me if I'm wrong some that some of that came in with this this tree dead this tree alive is this tree diseased is this tree hurting is this tree this so we got into this argument on is is the tree good or not so if someone with a license with the experience can say you know but but also hazardous it does actually protect the homeowner if there's a hazardous tree and they're not aware that it may be hazardous but if a tree is leaning over the house and like for instance my my daughter just recently lives in Washington sound trees leaning over the house insurance companies came by and said you got to take that tree down now she has to pay if she was an ult thean she have to pay an arborus to say yes that head tree has to come down only if she plans on removing she has to remove insurance company is making a remov well if she's just removing one if she's removing one she doesn't need to call what if three more in the next 16 years you know whatever the ordinance is I know I'm being obnoxious about it because we have a waiver process too okay right we have a process somebody can show say hey my insurance I think this tree is beautiful and I don't want to see it go but my insurance company saying it has to go so we can take those as one off okay let's see how it goes and then after a year we'll jump in again if we have a room full of people here we'll know okay fair enough uh we had a motion the second uh Ropo please coun yes counc coun yes yes yesc yes okay next uh uh under new business ordinance 1268 d24 and that is for Council BAGI I don't have that one LIC I know I'm sorry I do have it it's right here thank you Jean this is a first reading uh to amend pet license ing fees whereas the ordinance entitled an ordinance to amend Article 2 of chapter 91 of the code of the burrow to pan titled licensing of dogs and cats was introduced at a meeting of the mayor and Council held on the 7th day of October 2024 now therefore be it resolved by the mayor and Council of VAR volan County of Bergen state of New Jersey at ordinance number 12682 24b and the same is hereby adopted on first reading and to be it further resolved that said ordinance number 1268-1276 considered for final passage at a meeting of the said mayor and Council to be held on the 21st day of October 2024 at 7:30 p.m. in the evening or as soon as the as excuse me as soon thereafter as the matter can be reached in the council chambers at bur Hall 227 alapan Road alapan New Jersey at which time and place all persons who may be in interested will be given an opportunity to be heard regarding ordinance number 12684 and be it finally resolved that the bur clerk is hereby authorized and directed to publish the introduction of the notice of hearing as required by law second on that second any uh conversation on this say none gu went I'm sorry yeah what's what the fees went up put us in line with other municipalities we have been raised our 15 years you're actually still lower than other what did it go from to 12 to 16 okay um we had a motion and a second I think uh roll call please Council yes councilman Boyce yes coun yes yes yes yes do we have any old business for us tonight except for the birthday board at that that time now I'll I'll leave early business okay um right now I'll entertain a uh a motion to open the meeting to the public so moved second all in favor happy birthday again would anyone from the public like to be heard on any item tonight yes [Music] sir py 16 l um I hate coming up here and complaining and bitching honestly but I am just utterly utterly disappointed in your guys decision about 244 and to only get a letter from the town saying these are the options we had and this is what we decided to do and this is I've lived here now 33 years so it hasn't been my whole life but it's been a good part of my life and this is that was the first time I've ever seen the town that involved in something that's going on in this town and I don't understand why you guys would not have some kind of open meeting for the public so you could have discussed with them what was going on the options that you had in front of you I know you couldn't talk about the lawsuit per se because you guys couldn't even talk to me and I'm a part of that lawsuit so I understand that part but I do not understand why you would not you guys complain all the time that nobody is involved nobody wants to get involved and people got involved big time and you just didn't care to ask anybody's opinion about that it's my money as a tax player in Old Japan if I want to spend I don't drink coffee but what a c would cost me a cup of coffee a day to put towards saving that property I think I should have had the choice to make that decision or at least to give you guys the input about how I felt about that then you guys have to make your decision you make your decision but the fact of the matter is you really should have done something publicly so the town could have been involved I see nobody here really to come and say anything to you guys because I think everybody's so upset about this I mean we got nothing out of it so we went through all this nobody took a hint from our appeal and said something that actually worked with the appeal that put forward that maybe could have put you in a more solid footing with your lawsuit maybe a better lawyer would have put you in more better suiting the people that lawyers that we've talked about we talked about for our appeal I mean we didn't do it just off the top of our head we talked to people and what they said about it and what they thought and afterwards we had mentioned about to you guys about you know we had a couple of good really good attorneys out of very Adept with all of this stuff and how they felt about it know no no no no is all we got no no no no no so I just don't know I I think and the last thing I think is that it it's I know you guys are about the finances of the Town that's really what you guys do I understand that but everything is not a financial decision there's a lot of other things that matter much more than Money Matters to a lot of people some people W matter as but for the most part most people have a lot of other things care about and I think that piece of property was one of them and they was shown over a year and a half or whatever it took for that whole thing to happen endless cues of people in here so I just wanted to really really to say I'm really really disappointed with all of you that you couldn't have done better thank you for anybody else from the public like to be heard please sh 56 Old toan Road um I second that emotion um I was not prepared to discuss it um because I really was at a loss of words all of you had the courage well most of you I think everybody here here joined us had the courage to stand up to Developers for the first time in this town we new sheriff in town you became a new sheriff in town how many people were proud of that how many people were proud of how all of you actually stood up and were not bullied which I believe is the first thing you said you were the first councilman to object during the appeal and agree with us besides all the time and energy and I know people like to write it off as passion but look what's going on in the world look what's going on in this town we're just a little place of people trying to live their lives and the town has been destroyed over the past 10 years as far as the beauty of it the charm of it what it was the reason people moved here yes the school systems thank God that hasn't been ruined yet I hope that doesn't happen but you should be ashamed of yourself because none of the reasons you all had a different reason you objected to this development and I was blown away and impressed by the fact that you know Court you were entirely right when you research from a b Financial Capital senior housing they did pull out they didn't have the money and you you were the gentleman that said we don't need an ice or a half developed project of people that don't have money to even buy this thing that didn't change they pulled out he found somebody else we don't even know who that person is Bill you stand up you stand up all the time for trees in the community and Agriculture and the the beauty of of the value you know trees have more value to your property than almost anything else that's on it and it has more value to the town to preserve that Forest forgetting about the history that nobody seems to be respecting on Old jaan's 130th anniversary of our history we're going to welcome a new another possibly hideous building that's completely inappropriate for the site it's being put on and totally disrespectful for the site that it's being put on so don't kid yourself we'll move the house that was someone's idea on the planning board to appease and at the time they were offering 2.1 acres to move the house and build a little thing and we can make a museum blah blah blah I don't know how we got even less so great negotiation I'm sorry 1.7 I'm told we had 2.1 but buddy Reedman can that without any conversation with anybody else on the board and planning board or counsel and everybody was shocked and that was the first month of this hearing so Yin nothing's changed that that land was sacred and mattered to the to the church that was so so spiritual and mindful that nobody talks like that it isn't all about money and you were exactly right it wasn't all about money to the church and it wasn't all about money to the new church or the town you know run the same thing holds true the stress on the fire department the roads the EMT uh all our services the DPW none of the reasons that you overturned the decision changed so how the hell did we end up with this and we're all going to have to look at it forever but again there was no referendum or anything get the community involved nobody shows up well we got people to show up we showed you you met your your constituents for the first time probably you listened to or or the planning board listened to a year of meetings you were all aware of which what people were saying neighboring towns all over but somehow other towns were able to do it and this town wasn't and I just say every day you should look at this stuff and realize maybe it could have been different you know and the point of saying well it would cost people $200 more a year in property taxes for 10 years 15 what do you spend what do you what do these people spend at Starbucks and dunin donuts for a cup of coffee so you're talking less than you know $20 a month in ultan I think at least giving them the choice showing them the respect that we at least want your opinion so maybe that's why people people don't come up because they don't feel they get respected and they don't feel their voice matters and they're not here so thank you I didn't plan on saying it that what I was going to ask um are there any plans that can be shown to the public of what this decision is going to leave us with I mean it's the planning board's approval of the building is is what basically it's going to come down to we have the 1.7 Acres as you mentioned uh that is was really just negotiated out I don't have anything today to say you know it's going to look like this and this is where the pond is going to be or where the pond is uh so I don't have anything further that but it was my intent is to involve our environmental Commission on at least on that 1.7 Acres on what we can control and what we can do with that so I will be talking with councilman Boyce on that but again this is this is Brad knew this is you know well it is weeks AG I mean the original nowhere in the plan did it have 1.7 at any time I don't recall the 2.1 but you could be right 2.1 the original plan the conversation do we keep the barn do we put we put the house in front of the barn easements unfortunately ad nauseum I know too much about all this probably more than many of the people sitting on this Council that made the decision and it might have been nice all the times I reached out to have communication because I too was a plaintiff in the suit and I was not given the respect of discussion so um I'm asking when somebody does put a plan before you there'll be a public hearing because it's all approved but yet you know what is it going to look like is it going to look like Enclave you know no one's happy about that I know everybody's patting themselves on the back it could have been worse but it's it's pretty it's pretty embarrassing is what it is so I hope there's some foresight you know you got River Veil that built someplace and they will manage to do told brothers that development and it isn't offensive to the community or to the environment so um we'll see we'll see what before you before you go Sher you you threw a lot of stones here so hold on first of all riverville took away nine holes of golf took away all that Greenery so yeah so what you just said is not true that they I said I don't play golf but doesn't matter it doesn't matter yeah it was horrible what happened and it 30 seconds ago it was great no compared to Enclave okay now you know and I know you know and I know that it Enclave was built because of COA you know and I you know that we all know on the council why it was built how it was built so our attorney which Brian really didn't wasn't involved in was rep we were represented by our insurance company the GIF The Joint Insurance Fund and they're the ones who met with us met with us came back with different settlement ideas and out of the I think there was three or four different proposals yeah which one would you have us do like the mayor said that last meeting this was a really tough decision it wasn't a really tough decision for me first of all to get them to the table for a settlement we all voted this Council voted against the planning board we reverse the planning board's decision if we didn't do that we wouldn't have got him to the table we wouldn't have got the 7.4 I think it's 7. we everybody voted you for that right so then it comes to us Bergen Swan's going to give us a million dollars nope got apply for it Bergen there was gentleman here at two meetings Peter I can't think of thank you I'm here to I'm representing and you have a check not necessarily true correct bill that's correct I did a little deeper digging into the million dollars that Bergen spawn used to hold but they don't hold that no I have no if spoke to me we could have had a conversation so there's top there's that so we're going to apply for Green Acres funds and I correct me if I'm wrong Green Acres is going to come and say all right we have to appraise this property it's worth they think it's worth 5.6 they're going to say no to worth what 2 million tops tops and they'll give us 80% of that not helping us so the third option was let's by the way they don't need permission to build four houses they don't even need they just need building permits if they want to just build single family homes they don't even need anybody's permission they just need building permits so they could have done that so instead of doing that they're doing this we're getting half the property for me it was an easy decision I don't I don't feel ashamed of myself a even a little bit okay I because out of the out of our options anybody else want to jump in here feel free I I felt it was an easy decision and I can defend it all day long Leon I can only say to that and I appreciate you speaking because it's without we meet twice a month anyone can come and have a conversation with us yeah I know but people don't and I think I told so don't blame this body for not doing that I'm here every month so um I appreciate having if you if you can't have even have a conversation with your folks you can't find anybody's point of view so the whole point is being open-minded and listening and talking about it so what I would say to that that out of these three or more options that were presented was it ever considered a hybrid that may be some of the money funds comes from Grants and others and and some of the money comes from an increase from your residence in tax yes it was so that never got down to on a Grassroots level that anybody knew about I can I can assure you from a financial standpoint right that we did a lot like 10 times as much work this time around than when we overturn the decision we had countless hours I lost sleep we worked all the numbers right yes cup of coffee at the surface of looks like it's not that much money but if you dig deeper into not just a snapshot of what's happening now but long-term effect of the finances of the Town things like if we get to a certain point where we're spending too much money our credit rating could be changed if our credit rating changes when we borrow money to build new buildings Etc will cost us as a town more so it's not just this piece of land for this dollar amount in isolation and yes we looked into grants we looked into all different options and you have to put a certain probability of things happening right so so a grant could happen right it could happen a year from now two years from now so you have to kind of put probabilities on things and as we weighed that we didn't feel there was enough or or high enough probability of us getting that money or having access to that money based on and all of us had had conversations with other sources of funding we'll call them right and none of it was yes we got 100% $5 million in the bank tomorrow it was well maybe 30% chance a year and a half from now right and so you kind of have to put that all in and I'm the finance guy here right and I'm the one that said this is not going to fly right CSH is going to back out Etc Now flip it also now that the the financial environment is much better now right interest rates got cut for the first time in three years or so so now we won't have that half-built building if they're going to build it right the fears of that H being half built are now gone away right so like we had to put all of this funding probabilities of things happening into this decision and having scenarios that are even worse off than here so settlement means we go through all the different options and for us as a town we voted that this was the best op option for all the work that we had done in the past I would say two to three months leading up into this and I can assure you we put in a full effort even though we weren't able to communicate it to everyone we put a full effort into making this decision keep in mind we probably only had a month to come up with a decision we literally sat for two meetings before they were prepared to take us to court for it so given given that month we my bill and I talk number of times talking about funding options we just couldn't come up with the money that quickly we couldn't come up any Financial solution to reasonably purchase a property in that short amount of time and if we lost we would have been on the hook for tens of millions we were told tens of millions of dollars no that I understand and we couldn't put the we couldn't put the burough taxpayers at that risk I appreciate hearing some of this information again plti in the case personally so you know nobody likes to get a lawsuit especially for something like this and when your other plaintiffs in the lawsuit are not communicating at all it definitely creates a different level of stress as well as just being a resident in town so that all makes sense hearing what you have to say um guess just as somebody that had no Authority going back two years ago I called almost every agency and spoke to people from historic committees all over all over the state just recently I spoke to New Jersey tree conservation and I spoke to New Jersey tree inspectors there are more organizations that fall under fish and wildlife I can't tell you the number of people in departments I called over 2 years and the problem I had two years ago which is still problem I didn't own the property and neither did the town so there was only so much information they can give me but they gave me enough that I believed we could do this and there just seemed to be either very late in the game there was no to my knowledge there were no calls made prior to the lawsuit to look into grants or loans even when we hired a grant writer to just look into well if we could possibly do this one day to my knowledge I don't know when and you're saying you had only had a month to look into it of what you could get it more than a month it was more than a month it's like but I went back two years making phone calls and no one from no one from the town that had the authority to make I think Bill authority to get a little further but I got pretty far getting information of me being little nobody sh I looked into a number of Grant sources I looked into the trust for public land I looked into Green Acres I looked into count open space I looked into more Grassroots efforts we talked about multiple financing options Bridge loans we talked about the historic options we talked about historic we talked I spoke personally to private donors so there was a there was a big effort and it wasn't just in the last minute it spanned months so those weren't things that I could talk about well the lawsuit was on for a year so that's why I'm asking because yours are made of mon again you said you know you really kind of had a month to make a decision could you pull this off be able to do it and that's not enough time it was the options were presented it was the law on started D for a long time it was a year ago yeah so I was involved I probably would handled some things differently even if I came to the same conclusion you know I'm not questioning judgment I think I'm questioning more process and the fact that it was discussed with me and I won't disclose who but inside inside people that did say you know disappointed that it was never put before the public for them to just maybe people would have gone yeah we want this thing I want a park it's going to increase my property value it's going to give us a place to walk around you know so I don't want to take more of the evening we've got plenty of things to do but I appreciate at least as I said I didn't plan on talking about I this I planned on just asking what it's going to look like and what kind of process and things about trees and keeping some kind of beauty so the thing with Enclave I don't know how they got away with planting you know 20 trees and 200 Apartments but you know it could it could have been done a little bit more tasteful let's say thank you thank you [Music] would anybody else from the public like to be heard on any item yes sir I actually didn't plan coming tonight for this name and address name and address address Mike Alie s Haring drive you spell that uh a l e SS i a a r i n g uh first I want to applaud you for your decision great idea I don't drink coffee so saving me $200 a year in taxes is great Ron I got those same Stones thrown at me so I know where you're coming from so again I called you for a great decision I actually came up for something else um and hopefully I can say it right I'd like to get together a committee commission something to dedicate street names to volunteer firing and first aid people in town like all the other towns have done it um I know on the way to Mario Pizza you know sasti big sasi's got it so I don't know how about doing that so coming to you guys to look for guidance to dedicate a street to a if they me criteria like the we have a process I believe um we still I'm sorry started process yeah we started a proc we started I still have the notes okay I still have my notes also I have the notes there were one page and then Jen came up with the 24 page it was four pages it it Define different rules for naming it right there there is a process that you'd have to go through you'd have to go through through some kind of committee and pretty much the mayor and Council have to sign off on it in the end and we didn't want a knee-jerk reaction of someone someone's been in the first aid Corp for two years and they passed away suddenly oh name the street you know there was a there was a waiting period for that so you know you don't want to be cold but you also want to be practical you know somebody has to live in town for x amount of Years or or be the head of the Boy Scouts for 10 years or whatever pick your group and you're picking uh First Responders and that's fine um so just to be clear this is not to rename roads or anything that like that it's an honorary name like High Street High High Street High Street in Norwood right by you speak cormax I don't know what what are the Jerry's Place High Street it's the First Street on the way to ultan right there it says s High Street surasi way right and Sashi is a big name in Norwood they they've been involved in a lot of things in Norwood I everybody went to school with sasi I did um so that it's nice and it's not obtrusive just say surasi way a little smaller print them High Street and it's I think it's nice yes I mean I don't want to have 50 of them all over town but well we did I mean you you started this I did two three years AG two three years ago yeah um so we we should I'll get my notes out we'll talk about it yeah we should we did start the process then under old business I guess then other things came about but we will definitely do that why not okay you'll be on the committee just so you know and you you just shut up thank you thank you Mr alessie would anybody else from the public like to be heard on anything please um I don't know if the council is aware of the event that happened this Saturday we are on Birchwood Road I want to know I live to L I have grandsons I people have the right to protest right to Speech but what was in front of that house was sexually offensive I don't know if You' seen the sign I have a picture of the sign of a gentleman holding up the sign with pictures and words did anybody see the sign I didn't see a sign no there was a police officer there I don't know if it was a town police officer it was both Town police and Secret Service yeah I I could respond to you C what happened was there was going to be a I'm going to call it a fundraising event yeah for for Camala on 176 right 176 Birchwood okay so I'm Police Commissioner so police chief called me and said hey the Secret Service was here they're trying to work out security that's going to be this thing at 176 we're trying to keep it on the download if we can good come this this was Thursday come to find out Friday night it's advertised it was I read it in the paper exactly I read in the paper not where it was but that it was going to be somewhere in Old Camp didn't give and this was news to the police chief because the Secret Service who met with him more than once and met with the captain uh Bob W said none of this and they said it was all going to be on the download we got security don't worry about it and you know we might need an officer for traffic here or there well come Saturday it became this other thing and it grew into this thing that our police chief had no knowledge of it all of sudden just happened organically and so we have three three Patrol men on on patrol one of them was there trying to take care of the there was a county I think there was County Police County Sheriff I thought I saw a straight County Sheriff it was more people there and Secret Service was calling our chief was not there and making demands and our chief was like you should have told me this two weeks ago when we met you know not two weeks ago should two days ago yeah two right I'm sorry two days ago when we met and you didn't you said it was all going to be taken care of and it's not so he we had two other officers so now all three of our patrolmen are there taking care of this I'm going to call it a mob scene I'm exaggerating uh instead of patrolling the town and there there will be a letter written there's already a letter written to our Representatives about that from our police chief I didn't have a copy of it yet but it was sort of unannounced and then announced and the issue I take it was terrible is that I mean we have all kinds of signs and I don't have young kids I have grandsons I find them a fencer it's one thing to say who you're voting for uh it's one thing to hold up a sign lower our taxes it's one thing to I don't have that whatever side you're on that's fine but to take it to the depravity that that gentleman took it to and then when um vice president Harris's husband left for screening traitor they're screaming all kinds of stuff which very confusing and frightening to young kids and I think as politics is getting more volatile I think the town should do some sort of ordinance not to take away people's there should be a Deora can't do it it's First Amendment this is a residential area but we all agree but uh let our attorney uh you know try in out you can't take away somebody's right to speak before before they say something well I don't have a problem but the sign was did you see the sign I did not no and read the words I'll show you a picture I'll send it to your email so you can all look at what this gentleman was holding up all of our emails are on the website you can me our emails are on a website you you should send it it was about something that the first U the vice president's husband could do to another man that she dated in performing a sexual act and it had a picture just want to just I I I'm free to no I'm I'm reminding as I as I do in my opening statement everything I all of these these meetings are taped and many of our you're welcome to continue I just want to give you the that's fine I just think for a Suburban town I mean there's I don't care what they say I mean I do but there's got to be some decorum there's not I don't I agree don't trust me yeah you're not going to get an argument I don't we're not arguing that from anybody here it's even our police chief said the the Secret Service one of the Secret Service guy there was a guy getting a little out of hand yelling and he came over and said hey can you and the guy did back down a little bit and then then he got louder after the Secret Service guy left but defenses Secret Service they didn't know what was going to come they didn't know that they were going to get they going to get prot the regulating [Music] author they're better at this than we are their reputation got here first and the Secret Service there they could be yes they could be they could have been better they should be better than than we are that's what they do for our law enforcement in the county was not impressed with how they conducted themselves they were informed could they walk off the street they could they didn't have the author what could they done that was different they had they had a certain section that it's a federal law or something and only because this was the second gentleman because he was but normally you can't even enforce that well I just it's a sad State of Affairs the town is changing in a way and maybe it's the world is changing it's the world well I I hope you can't I know I hope you don't pin what happened there on the town on the B of ultan that's I just think some some City towns I know of have block signs on of people's Lawns we do we have an ordinance that says you can't put a sign in the burrow right away like within 10t of the street a political sign any sign but you could put a sign on your property but you can't put a political sign on your property correct me if I'm wrong at it until 30 days before the election three weeks three weeks three weeks either way but we do have that ordinance in place because if you recall in the past if you recall in the past 1995 to be to be specific uh there was a mayoral race I happened to know the two people who were involved and it was neighbor against neighbor and that's it was there was 500 signs in town and we had to do something and we and I wasn't I wasn't privy at that time to do that but they did the mayor and council did change it at the time lesson the sence I don't know with the offensive sign he isn't seen as threatening or but I wasn't there so I our police were there and and I'm going to answer that question oh yeah yeah the most of them from what I've heard were not residents of town I think our res were walking away from them yes I think if there was a perceived threat or something that both the Secret Service and our police would would take action but again I wasn't there um to see what went went on I didn't want to be there in a way to see what went on and uh um if there was a threat that it would be dealt with ordinance about when your election signs to go up and stuff you can't do a what appropriate signs you know I just think have to profanity was it it was it was only about four years ago in the summer of 2020 that there were various marches going on throughout Bergen County and the state and the country and there were a lot of signs that were marched through this town and and other local towns and you know it it kind of came it went away and that's what we're we're hoping that this will uh self-heal it go away by itself in a way uh we take your comments uh very serious and and I think you get a agreement from everyone in the room really that there's no place in this there's no place for it anywhere especially in Old Jaan um anywhere I said anywhere um so we're going to do everything we can to to protect that uh but these things come up and and uh okay well I have one more thing I want to say or two more things again I was a very big supporter of not having to 44 and I am too disappointed I'm listening to your reason however I think when I voted for the new people to be put on near in Council I thought there would be more transparency and there has been no mention of anything about what was going on with t report to the community and I think that that I wish there would have been more transparency the second thing I want to say I was on the environmental commission and I don't know if it was 96 when we passed the open space random I just got my tax bill $135 $140 so for open space whenever we've asked for accountability of how much money is in the fund where is it going it's always told can't we can't get it I don't I don't agree with that at all I don't that's not true last year when we were going for 244 we tried to get where is the open Bas money where was it allocated you can tell it off the top your head call and get it yeah we were told to get it several times and couldn't get it and I just think for the town it would be nice to know and you know in the future I don't know what kind of land is left in oldan but there are pieces that that we're looking at that that uh uh as as as this settlement came down I put it in my letter is that there are some pieces of property that uh we felt might be a better value for all residents of old dep I you know I understand 244 and the and the passion behind that enviral environmental and Recreation and all sorts of things potential and there are other pieces of property in town that we're looking into so there are things on the list we're in the midst of doing our updating our master plan uh we have a committee doing that our planner is is leading that our our professional planner so we are looking at that at that serious so 244 was just a um um it wasn't a good investment for most of the residents of alapan as this board felt okay I got letters saying I wish you didn't approve it and I got a lot of letters that said great job May councel doesn't matter you're going to get that from both sides I think it would have been better if there was more transpar we don't know what the was an ongoing litigation too I know I just one thing I I'm not sure why everyone's saying they don't know what it's going to look like because the whole application well isn't it a different company now no it's the same plan same it's the same application they cannot change didn't they sell it to some the same plan though but everyone knows about it it's been public I if they were to change they'd have to go through the process again right so if anything changes it's another year process twoe process so they wouldn't there's no incentive for them to do that right they have a plan that's ready to go that's been approved and that's the plan that um the only thing that Chang is that they gave us 1.7 Acres yeah the only thing in flux is how we deal with that 1.7 Acres how we how we now work with it if we make a passive Recreation Area if we where we put the historic home what we do with the barn so all of those things are up for discussion now which as our mayor said we'll be discussing at the forthcoming environmental commission meeting we may have an opening on the environmental commission meeting someone with your past experience I might the one that wrote all the letters to get the open space and that was for the reducing Pro the reducing con you sound like an ideal candidate to help I don't know after happen if I could if I could just address you had said a comment about electing new people and transparency and as one of the new people here I would just like to address the fact that on on the agenda for our last public meeting it said 244 and I didn't see the same people I know we had people at other meetings but that was that was transparent that was part of our regular meeting and I know people have busy schedules and things like that but there was there's certain things that are closed session that were discussed but then there was also a public opportunity to speak and I would just like to say like we I feel that we are transparent and that we all sat up here that night that was two three weeks ago and I didn't see you know people here for that and I understand that at that point it's you know deal well it it was exactly there in put would would still be and is still appreciated and believe me like when they were talking about you know the amount of time put in the Lost sleep and things like that it was not something that came to uh a quick or easy uh agreement and as the newest member you know I I learned a lot from the process and I just want to say that in terms of transparency I do believe that you know we're very good about posting what will be on closed session what will be in regular and 244 was on on both of those and you know it was again tough decision but I believe the mayor spoke well in his letter when he said we've made the best of what our you know our hands were a little tied there with Kaa and and a lot of those things so I just wanted to address that I would been there I've been in the past for nine weeks where I couldn't walk sorry to hear that got the ability to walk last sorry to hear that okay so otherwise I would have no no I'm I'm not judging I'm just saying in general you specifically not you specifically at all saying I and our meetings are recorded and you know all the all the minutes are uploaded so there's that's all there for people to to watch in the future I just hope that we save open space because it's going on I've been here for 35 years and we came for a certain kind of town and my husband and I have talked about moving was just so different in so many ways and you know you're usted in that it's not just our town know that's a thing too it's all towns around here it's all towns well I applaud you for getting into the lawsuit for the um I you know I applaud you for that and hopefully that has a posi thank you thank you thank you would anybody else from the public like to be heard on any item see none motion to close all in favor I I okay motion to adjourn go move second all in favor I okay let's go right into our executive meeting um R please mayor gallager here counc here councilman boy here counc counc here counc here here okay our Council committee reports let's start with Council thank you Mr Mayor uh brief uh report here in a a couple of areas so one is always m i was sent a report um they had a quarterly meeting with the GIF talked about some safety items um last month I think uh Andy also met with the county OEM uh actually he he parti in the county OEM meeting out of that meeting was discussion of the World Cup which we as a nation the us along with Canada and Mexico are hosting in 2026 so as you know metti uh is a venue one of 16 venues across those three countries uh including hosting the final which uh yes the Super Bowl is big but the final in the World Cup a lot larger so uh being very close to our County uh they discussed and and started preparing uh including uh hiring more EMTs Etc uh for that time and again it's 2026 it starts June 11 the final itself is July 19 of 2026 so a lot of preparation has to to go on and so uh that was it started uh at the county OEM meeting uh OEM also uh spoke to the production filming company um also uh preparing uh they're going to have a prep meeting for election day uh and that we need a safety plan uh for election day as you know it uh could become contentious um and then Andy is trying to get more signups for our emergency platform so that's that's the uh the OEM uh report and then for the library the board is meeting uh this Wednesday so I don't have a major update I'll have the September numbers uh on Wednesday uh in general I think there are a couple of board members that will be resigning at the end of the year so they're talking about board Replacements uh as well as continuing to search for a new librarian uh I think the job description may have come out um but they're going to continue to do that search as well that's the end of my report thank you councilman Boyce thank you Mr Mayor um I have a very brief report tonight I'd like to tell you about the golf course year-to date we're up about six to 7% in gross revenue and we've gotten about six new members very recently the year-to DAT rounds is very similar to last year um there has been one extraordinary expense in that the pump uh the brains of the pump and the electric going to the pump haven't been working so we've been renting a generator and that generator is not free so that's uh you know being debited from our from any money that we would have made but we're still you know we're still making money so it's not a loss uh we expect to have that uh new part fabric I think it's in fabrication so should be arriving soon hopefully to give us some relief on that the environmental commission uh we are looking for members so seriously if anybody's interested come to the next environmental commission meeting uh we have a few that I would have suggested prior to tonight but I don't know if they'll still be interested I know that Wendy King is probably interested um but also we thought maybe it would be prudent to have a member of our DPW in town who's in charge of recycling possibly uh join the r ranks of the environmental commission or somebody adjacent to that person who would know about recycling so we can better integrate that into the the meetings and uh with the planning board uh we are going to a two meeting a month uh configuration for the foreseeable future just we have so many applications and um you know we all deserve our time and consideration and then uh if it's okay would you like me to read guys Council committee report guys time okay well you got the floor okay so he gave me some notes regarding our DPW for September happenings um another successful Town Day event was held numerous hours of preparation and cleanup were undertaken the new veterans parking sun was installed at the stonepoint park painting of soccer lines every week tree trimming and removal of hazardous trees continue dropping off container for clean up of Garden at senior center and then that same container will be moved to the uh Central AB Garden soon Leaf machines have been prepped for the upcoming season New Leaf machine was set up and prepped for use all trucks used for leaf season have been checked over and prepped the leaf Compost Facility was prepped for the upcoming season I guess that means cleaned of old leaves removal of old compost okay here you go uh cleaning windows off of the composting pad fixing sink holes disposing of debris accumulated throughout the year and uh so on and so forth drainage and plumbing work was completed at the golf course maintenance garage so that's good for golf um Branch collection has been completed ahead of leaf season so they don't get confused and mess up the leaf sucker uh regarding the sewer one pump uh was converted to high amperage uh they pulled and replaced a backup pump awaiting pricing on a new one due to Mechanical failure one sewer main break caused by a contractor Hing a pipe was repaired by the pipe was repaired by contractor DPW was on site to ensure proper repair was made DPW used sewer camera to check after repair was made to ensure the proper repair was made uh routine routine inspections and checks were completed on that same sewer repair New ballards were installed around the new Brine and calcium tank to protect them I'm sure that was an insurance situation and then set up light towers at the nvot for events uh to in to Aid in safety back to school night marching band competitions were also benefiting from these light towers and they set up and clean the senior housing lunch and learn that concludes my and guys reports thank you for that very very thorough report I'm sorry it took so long I didn't know what I was getting into very brief Mr Mayor yes sir I'm sorry if I could go back to Court's report um The Librarian yes what process do we go through to find a new librarian uh that's not that's the job description comes out and then they would apply through the board so the board hires board hires that's correct libr now you have to have certain qualifications as you know right certain education have no input on whatsoever because it's a self-control self-regulatory by State Statute okay yeah they run it on their own so you don't have a conflict so you're thinking of complying depends how much does it pay okay anything else that's it okay councilwoman masaro thank you Mr Mayor uh old pan Halloween festival will be October 26 at Oaks Park uh the Women's Club will host the rag muffin pray in the morning Halloween festival will be in the afternoon with games activities and snacks um there will be a double feature move night also at the at the end of the evening so it's a big a big day uh one of my favorites in in the town for sure um big thank you to Anna for helping us to bring back the the Maze and the hay rides this year thank you um we're very happy to get the the hay ride back um they're also ultan wreck is uh hosting a guest speaker I spoke about this last time um John O Sullivan is a national coaching and youth sports expert so on October 15th for parents and coaches he's running three different sessions um for for uh really it's open to anyone but we're the recomm missions trying to get coaches and parents to uh to attend uh so far we have very good um showing of support for that um the town Day committee has been debriefing to discuss uh the last Town day and and what we could do uh in the future and and what worked well so that that's been a really great process to be a part of and and see how uh how they debrief and and continue to discuss um the Board of Health the mental health book club will be tomorrow that was in November speaker is on Thursday Tuesday the 8th right that's tomorrow tomorrow not the mental health is in November 12th because they couldn't get the speaker they couldn't get the guy to set it up they have a speaker coming yes the the girl who's speaking at the Eating Disorders is tomorrow no the Eating Disorders on THS a week from week from Thursday or yeah it was a week from Thursday I mean I'll check and I'll check the flyer that I have they might have updated that but that was the date that I had um and I'm sorry okay so Hannah Marcus who's the clinical manager for Center for eating sords we October 17th 7 in the the library that's the one that that I meant to have um and then lastly historical committee um has finished collecting our items for the town Time Capsule for the 130 130th birthday party on Sunday October 20th at the firehouse so please spread the word to your departments and hope to see everyone there um and I know uh Mr Meer writing a a letter for us so that'll be nice we're meeting tomorrow night here so we will be kind of putting that all together can I just tomorrow is open house fire department Fire Department open house tomorrow what 6 to 8 right 6 to 8 depends on what depends on what flyer you read 6 to 7:30 6 to 7:30 sure can you send send an email absolutely I just don't want everyone to come here and not be able to par absolutely so we'll beet at that works um um the time caps will be 50 years correct well the last one that helps my letter so important well I have the picture I picture you know 74 94 was the last one that we did so it's 30 years someone told meth we opened it in 25 because it was still 25 so so now it's 30 or just cuz of last 1994 when are you going to reopen it I don't know it won't be me I won't be no uh so 50 years 50 50 years a long time 2074 I'll sign up for can I open it I I remember put in 30 years be and Ted Williams man they're gonna freeze us okay just anything else that's it thank you Mr Mayor all right thank you Council Vang thank you Mr Mayor uh first report is police um we evidently spoke of at 176 birwood so I guess we don't to talk about that anymore and also we are interviewing Thursday my committee uh JY councilman youu councilman carnazza and myself are interviewing two candidates for patrolman for new patrolman we're doing that Thursday 4M here in the council chambers so next meeting we will have an answer we'll have an answer that Thursday but next meeting we'll have some sort of formal thing for you that's all I have under police uh I did get a really good email from Anna uh thank you about grants uh so if I could bring you up to date on where we areow at Grants you know as you know a couple years ago we hired a new grant writer which has saved us a lot of money and also made us a lot of money so approve for this year so far Senior Center doors 13,500 senior bus trips 5400 local assistance board refrigerator 2100 gallager playground Gallagher field playground equipment 64,000 NJ doot Municipal aid for Perry Street $187,000 pending anxiety and depression initiatives get out and get active grants for Stone Point outdoor Wellness stations $110,000 mayor's Wellness campaign $25,000 otfd Q4 Firehouse Subs 15 sets of turnout gear 34,000 and change old pan Police Department six Rhino tablets and mounts that's a heavy duty uh iPads if you want to call it that 26,900 and there's other things we're waiting on such as lighting for the pickle ball quarts I thought I saw lights there did I see lights there Court yes I went by the other night there were lights okay so I I played there once and felt it's actually d dangerous oh okay so I didn't play there again because the lights are directly in the eye so I couldn't see a ball coming at me right right and that's why I felt it was dangerous I'm G to watch out for this so in the future right actually they're the parking lot lights as well this is a grant for to get professional lights that we should have so let's talk about where they should be like on the sides instead of at the ends Stu yeah okay we're working on that more Grant applications for the out for the outside workout area she says that's an easy one one uh let's see it seems to be quite expensive here and there there was also talk about I don't want to say it again but lighting of Stone Point field um there might be grant money available for that OEM command center right now it's at the police station which made sense when Tom shine was our coordinator uh we would like to move it to the office in the new DPW building when it's built which might also that the grant might also offset part of the Str uh building the building uh three bus trips for next year are in the hopper hand rails and ramp are really bad shape at the senior center and they're going to try to get that through Community Development grants Oaks Park the new new building patio section we might be able to get some funds to offset the cost of the new building there's also also otfd grants fire department grants that are being sent to the fire chief um so these are all good things the only thing I want to just touch on briefly you know lights at Stone Point it was a huge hot button issue back I want to say 20023 I was a brand new councilman at the time and uh there was grant money available then and we decided to not to put not to do it uh so I'm sure it's going to come up again I just wanted you all to be aware that great finest told me that that might be a a Grassroots project coming out us one more time so comes out of the Recreation Commission yeah right we'll think about it you know whether you're in favor or not I'm sure we'll have lengthy discussions about it but just want to make sure you knew it was in the hopper somewhere so that's all I have unless somebody has something for me no just one last comment on the light to Stone Point uh was loud and clear tonight on transparency okay so I will say that if if and when we get into some conversations with lighting at Stone Point Park then we will do a much better job hopefully of of keeping all residents who are in favor of and maybe who are against uh appris of where what direction we're heading so I heard that again loud and clear tonight so thank you yep uh council president you thank you Mr Mayor nothing really new to report from our schools um other than a crew from the fire department will'll be visiting TBD Kinder Care and nvot teens and tots tomorrow to talk to the young students about fire safety in observance of fire safety week this week our senior citizens will be attending a lunch and learn later this month I'll have more to report next meeting and they're tremendously excited to start planning for their upcoming bus trip thanks to the county county grant that came through I've asked the members of the senior advisory committee to come to one of our meetings in the near future to talk about all they've accomplished uh in these years postco they've managed to do a lot and have a lot of new programs for our seniors and um and I'd like them to talk to us about what they have for their future plans what more we could do for them in the future the fire department received 14 calls for service in the month of September including a mutual Aid called to doorwood for a house fire they're currently in male right now for a mutual Aid drill practicing their exerc skills um they would like to thank the guests who attended their inspection dinner uh last week where they honor the service of 50-year Veteran Glenn feifer the first aore received 39 calls of service in the month of September and performed EMS standby details at nvot for home football games I just want to remind everyone that um members from the leadership of the core will be in attendance at our next meeting to give us updates on how the Corp is doing and I'm sure they'll be seeking guidance from us to let them know what um what we have plans for uh for EMS services for our residents in the future it's probably going to be an in-depth conversation so I kindly ask everybody to come prepared at the next meeting and feels feel free to contact me if you have any questions or need further information both the fire department and the first day core will be hosting their annual open houses tomorrow night at 6 o' it's always a great event for kids um young and old alike and just to wrap it up I just want to remind residents election season is coming up this is turning out to be a pretty consequential election all the way from our federal elections to even our local elections we have Council seats we have Board of Education seats um in the running so I'm hoping everybody does their homework and chooses their candidate wisely and that concludes my report thank you councilman couple of uh items I just like to report on tonight uh some of the uh things I've attended over the past three or four weeks or so I uh I did attend uh I think it was last week or 10 days ago Bergen County mayor's luncheon uh was it was um hosted by County Executive Jim tadesco uh and the county executive went over uh certain Grant programs that are available to small businesses in town to to keep uh uh uh keep businesses in Bergen County so there's some funding and programs available for that they also talked about a lot of their shared service agreements from EMS to fiber optics uh and things like that and it's a followup uh myself and bur administrator havill have a meeting on October 23rd to explore the new Bergen County fiber optics program available to uh uh to Bergen County municipalities so could be something good there uh attended to nordon Valley mayor's dinner it's a more of a quarterly dinner and uh we uh a lot of the Mayors had an open Round Table talking about uh affordable housing and other uh other things affecting small municipalities in the northern Valley and uh we were treated with a uh historian at the end talk about the Palisades amusement park and how how that really put its mark on uh on that area um not too far back you know ago so that was that was interesting um I attended as uh councilman pointed out I did attend the uh ultan fire department's annual inspection dinner I had the privilege to address uh our members there and thank them for their service to the residence of ultan and yeah once again uh uh ex-chief Blen Fifer for 50 years of service uh to the uh to the ultan fire department I attended uh a week ago Sunday an event in buelt New York which was uh the sons of Italy event and it was a rededication of the Christopher Columbus statue that was um vandalized burned uh thrown in a river in Richmond Virginia and uh I'm happy to say it it found a new home at the sons of Italy chapter in Blauvelt New York so I was there to to help uh rededicate it and find its final home there some upcoming events um tomorrow morning I'll be attending the Bergen County League of municipalities breakfast meeting um a planner from uh uh from Bergen County will um further update us on our fourth round affordable housing obligations uh we're expecting our number to come out um this month or next month or so what our what our um number should look like um I will be attending tomorrow night uh the Japan fire department and EMS open house looking forward to that as as I always do and on Wednesday night I'll be attending the uh pasak Valley mayor's mayor meting meeting where 10 Mayors from the Pake Valley uh get together and again have some open discussion on many of the items that uh we we share some of the initiatives and some of the challenges we Face uh in this day and age so um quite a busy schedule Mr Mayor yeah you know so but all good all good conversation so anyway that is um oh I have one last thing and it's more of a question I don't need an answer tonight but uh I am a bit of a planner so we should start thinking about Jean reor um I'd like to uh I usually don't put that on until the second meeting in November all just it's it's a weird one this year it's either I have a um you just have to hold it within the first seven days of the new year yeah so we could do it Monday January 6th which would be our normal fifth or sixth sixth yeah that's what I would lean towards but if the council can kind of chew in it over the next two weeks or so and we can maybe it's actually the first Monday of the month so right it'll be an epiphany it would be a normal meeting night because I think some folks might still like I I was thinking of the second uh but some folks might still be away for the holiday weekend or so so I think the sixth might be might be a safer bet if uh but we can we can finalize that maybe next meeting me put on next okay you put on for discussion and we can sure Force us to make a decision I have the schedule for all next year already done up to you if you want to get ahead of it like I said I'm a bit of a planner so I like to put things on my calendar so all right so anyway that's uhan well me too I need not this year anyway uh that's all I have uh thank you again for everyone who who came tonight and I will entertain a motion to we move second all in favor 31 Royals