##VIDEO ID:sLeyw8VVnfM## It Go all right oh these are the good evening everyone and happy New Year compliance with the open public meetings law notification of this meeting has been sent to our official newspapers and other publication publication circulated at the burough of all Japan and notice posted on the bulletin board at bur Hall please be reminded that all of our meetings are videotaped and posted to our website within the next day or two please note the fire exits are the doors that you came in on my left your right and at the rear of the council chambers roll call please mayor here here counc here here here here here you please rise and join me salute to the flag I pledge Alle to the flag of the United States of America and to the repic for which stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all would you please remain stand as councilman BCE 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 nurtur the bonds of community help us to clearly and unbiasedly evaluate the issues at hand and provide help in thoughtfully addressing them as best to the best of our ability I offer this prayer and and hopes that my mom Joan and Boyce who passed away on December 16th is looking down on us and sees our work and time as valuable contributions to our community and will this will be the first meeting she's attending and may she rest in peace amen amen amen thank [Applause] you thank you let to take a motion to open a meeting to the public so move second second all in favor I will anybody from the public like to be heard on a non-agenda item tonight please good evening Mr mayor council members good evening happy New Year happy New Year John my name is John Kramer 9j Street Old tapan New Jersey I thought I recognized you so uh through the chair I I would like to uh make my comments with regard to councilman Kaz uhoh guy guy has guy has been uh friend of mine for 25 years he's been a uh through through eight campaigns with me worked hard and they they often say that be behind every successful man is a great woman in guy's case there are three his lovely wife Denise and his two daughters Kirsten and Alysa and we thank them for allowing you to serve people of Al band for those 25 years the many things that you've done the many events that you've missed at home that you could have been there for but you're out serving to again so uh there a few things that guy may be known for somewhat of a booming voice you might say and U they just call for language but uh he's best known for his dedication to the burrow served on the recommission board of help often times people would call call in and say please put guy back on the committee we need him here Town day he was at every town day that that uh I've ever been involved in did a great job the kids will walk will remember him for for years to come for his fire fireworks celebration after Town day and uh the handing out of the glow sticks to the kids as they came by is uh Towing that the the hay ride around Oaks Park uh during this Halloween celebrations and who could ever forget his uh his Santa visits so as far as sky is concerned he was always very frugal annual budgets were very critical to him he would uh he would Bel labor points on on things being too expensive and monthly expenditures the same way he often spoke and voted his mind not always popular sometimes underappreciated but he was usually right outside cin he was a owner of Cinema car very successful business member of his church St pas kns of Columbus his Italian Club his Valley chair ities which he he's a founding member of and the 200 Club so guy to you and Denise I wish you all the best in your retirement God bless you thank you John thank what anybody else from the public like to be heard Mr pson hello everybody hello hello name and address for the record please Victor py 30 upper righty Street permont New York 10968 is no question why I'm here this evening I mean it's great to see all you guys but you know having uh been blessed to serve with councilman carnaza for 16 years of my Administration uh we're some of the best times that I have ever had and I have to tell you you know as I sit here and and I see councilman caraza and councilman BAGI and you know former councilwoman havilla and former councilman and former mayor John Kramer I kind of look at those people and view those people for the 16 years that we were together as the Golden Age of leadership in ultan there were so many things that were done so well during that time period that it really was the foundation for where you guys are today and a lot of that has to do with a man who you're going to miss in a tremendous capacity because of all he did for this town whether was the rec commission and you know I used to get criticized for uh for putting guy on the rec commission was told that you know he could do other things and he did but that was his bread and butter and you know what his heart was always in the right place because guy always thought about how he could help the kids of this community work with the leadership of the various Sports programs attend all those tireless meetings and he always made a strategic impact now you know it's always difficult to follow uh former mayor Kramer but he said it very well when he said that uh you know guy just did a lot and he was involved in so many different things and that kind of leadership will be miss moving forward and when I needed to get something done I would turn to guy and guy would say I'll get it done for you the amount of money that he saved on purchases of police vehicles and the the police contracts that he worked on with whether it was councilman Kramer at that time or councilman BAGI and myself they were hard forth but at the end of the day he always worked to try to find an effective balance between making sure that the police officers were compensated fairly and equitably and that the residents were provided safety and you know we always talked about every challenge had an opportunity and every problem had a solution that's how guy approach life and he never confronted anything that he couldn't handle so guy I love you you've done a great job it's going to be interesting to see uh the economic development program which will uh occur across the street at by State Plaza I think everyone in alapan will be anxiously awaiting that um but at the end of the day you've left your mark over the past 20 5 years and I was very blessed to be able to serve with you so thank you thank [Applause] you anybody else like to be heard from the public tonight motion to close second all in favor we have [Music] another mayor and councel uh uh name is Steve wilinsky Tuda Wolf Road I've known guy for many years uh been I've been on the member of the Board of Health for many years now and guy was liaison to the Board of Health and uh always brought a measure of humor and information for us as to the going on in the town and um I got to say he's got a great voice and he looks great in a in a blue robe at church when we go so but but seriously uh guy thank you for your service to the town um I can't speak as deeply and eloquently as some of the members that served with you but I just want you to know truly appreciate uh all that you've done for the town and and uh see you around see you around St p and elsewhere thank [Applause] you anyone else from the public like to be heard motion to close second all in favor I uh next order of business tonight is our consent resolution and that is for council president you thank you Mr Mayor resolution be it resolved 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 Vol to pan bills and claims cancel 2024 budget appropriation DPW collective bargaining agreement police chief agreement contract award cleaning services request for proposals real property assessment Services second any discuss discussion onor consent resolution I would like uh two items removed from this consent okay which would they be the DPW collective bargaining agreement and the police chief agreement the DPW yes agreement by practice I want to I don't want these on our consent you want discuss it clarication get the conent over with yep okay with those two items removed um we had a motion in a second did we have roll call yes councilman Bo yes Council caraza yes councilman Guan yes counc yes Council yes okay uh which one would you like to revisit we let's revisit our DPW collective bargaining agreement again okay so I understand uh councilman caraza took care of that agreement he did it very well I just want the members of the public to know that um it was handled appropriately and we are all in consensus and agreement that it was done so gu who was else on your committee Ron and uh Bill Boyce right Bill Boyce Bill okay we had three council members review it uh I had a chance my s to review it after it was completed I believe it was agreed agreed upon by our our DPW uh um Team um anything else or you have any questions about the information that's in it nope okay so let's move forward with this no further discussion on the DPW agreement let's have a uh motion the police motion to accept that make a motion we accept the police uh the DPW collect the bargaining agreement and a second on that second okay roll call please Council yes councilman Boyce yes Council yes yes Council yes Council yes okay let's uh let's go to the police chief agreement um you got a question on that yes I I mean um I haven't received too much information until I reached out today to um Council and BAGI about this I was wondering if he could clarify this for the rest of the council I don't know if any other council members know um about this agreement which part is not clear what was discussed hold on I have paperwork that I can I want to hand out everybody gets one thing of um Chris you should go I'll wait till they go down the end this might make it easier for you uh Alan Bel care of this our previous attorney in April of 2020 to start off with um so the first page which says page 11 on the top you look at the bottom term and renewal um April 2020 it's it goes through it will go from April 20 and she remain in effect until December 31st 2024 now at that time and maybe Anna you could help me on this one at that time we thought it was it normally Allen makes those contracts that it just automatically re-ups for the next year he didn't actually put specific language in there that said it wasn't um up for the next year we realized that at the last hour and if you go to the resolution next page um it goes on the bottom one through five uh numbers one through five on the bottom of that sheet it says what the police chief's salary will be right through 3.6% right through January 1st uh 2024 to December 20 December 31st 2024 so we contacted our borrower and by the way uh those items in that resolution were passed if you look at the next page I introduced it seconded by councilman you and then the vote there were three people absent that day I don't know why okay to to carry on with this number one through five lists each year and the salary of our police chief we are the new contract calls for this year and continuation correct me if I'm wrong an continuation into 2026 unless we say no so it's really if you want to call it an option it's our option so at the end of this year we can say goodbye and good luck or it will automatically reup for 2026 um the raises as we agreed to were uh I don't want to say commensurate they are the same as the rank and file of the Police contract currently that's how we came to where we came to Ron let me ask you a question please so I think you touched on it there that the the chief Falls outside the uh the the that's correct contract collective bargaining agreement yes um so his own contract this agreement that just just expired I guess on on December 31st 202 correct4 uh am I to assume that um I we have a chief and in my opinion the chief is doing a I'll say a great job but we'll say for this conversation doing a good job uh running the department we got our accreditation done is a lot of things that have happened under his tenure as Chief and he is he's got a lot more left in the tank uh I'm saying and he'd like to stay on a year two years perhaps and this contract really just stipulates that it will say will extend it we're just really extending this for for two years so that he can continue to serve as our chief of our Police Department that's correct I capture that somewh accurately Stellar management I might add thank you so if I may so this is a two-year contract technically and we can terminate after a year as opposed to it being a one-year contract with an option to extend to make it a I guess you say that yes what is the difference for cause for cause terminate for cause for cause it says for CA in the contract it says you know list your causes you know those causes are in it's very different right so for cause means like at at work you know in my in my job it would have to be something very serious right sure uh in order for me to be terminated I don't I don't want to terminate Chief right I mean that's not what we want to do here whether we have a contract or not we can terminate him for cause yeah yeah yeah I'm not going to even speculate on what right you know I mean if you have some Grievous incident it would be in our purview to consult our our our legal and say you don't work here anymore I highly doubt that but you brought it up now on the other side does the the chief can leave at any time of course during the contract right yeah yeah my my point I don't want to point any fingers or anything it's my fault too if something important like this came up I would have felt more comfortable if we discussed at our previous meeting before it came up on consent today I could I could take partial blame for that because at the end Joe didn't recognize it I didn't recognize it I just thought it was for the next year annah thought it was for the next year legal thought it was for the next year and it wasn't until I think Joe brought it to my attention and said hey we we're running out of time and we all realized the last minute so nothing's really changed we just extended it and I mean if there was some believe me you know me if there was some issue I would have brought it up way back and we said hey we got to we got to make a change here but I have no desire to do that from a from a finance standpoint right when we did the Police contract we made sure it would fit budget right the next few years have you taken that into account for the budget season that we're about to undertake in the next month and then as you know that we saw a preview of the budget and it's it's pretty tight right um we taken that into account in the budget discussion with the auditor make sure that I'm good with that make a motion we um pass the police chief agreement that that any further discussion on the matter roll call please councilman yes Council bu yes counc yesc yes counc yes Council yes okay our next order of business is action on the minutes and then for council president you as well thank you Mr Mayor at this time I want to make a motion for the following minutes to be approved close meeting on November 18th 2024 regular meeting on November 18 2024 closed meeting on December 2nd 2024 regular and executive meetings December 2nd 2024 and our special meeting on December 19th 2024 second second any discussion on the minutes saying none roll call please counc yes counc Bo yes coun I abstain on the um the 16th meeting but yes to everything else counc yesc yes yes all right moving right along to our Council committee reports we'll start with councilman ju thank you Mr Mayor um as you remember last year my committee report at this time was fairly short um unfortunately this year it is going to be long I'm going to take my time from last year um use it this year and then maybe even next year's um I have a you know obviously updates for the library Etc but I do have two special thank yous and you'll you'll recognize why it's a little bit longer um than most reports terms of last year um the library uh very exciting time at the library we had a lot of new things going on a lot of new programs um uh in fact a new carpet uh we did things like fix the men's bathroom uh we fixed roof leaks um we opened on Sundays uh and in fact the library got some new board members this year um but most importantly well actually and then uh as you remember last year uh the door count and circulation was up about 20% I think uh the previous year in 2023 in 2024 door count was up another 4% circulation up another 12% so um obviously the library is doing very well with its programs as well as its books ebooks Etc uh but most importantly uh the our librarian has retired um and she's been with the library for 31 years years um the search for the new librarian took many months 3 to four months uh we have found a new librarian Kimberly Benjamin is her name from Palisades uh Park Library hopefully everyone will everyone will get to meet her at some point uh in the next month or two uh OE uh OEM uh nothing to report is very good uh it's a good thing um obviously thank Andy for all his hard work uh his very thorough reports preparations prepar for uh Town day we had election right that could have been uh could have been crazy things happening during that election day but preparations went well we're preparing for the World Cup uh which is up and coming and if we're going to be hosting at MetLife a couple of pretty big games there uh but in general right very good communication uh I feel that uh we're better prepared for any incidents than we have in the past and as you know even just recently in New Orleans uh there was some craziness going on there so OEM in good shape uh in terms of Finance obviously thank you to Jesse congratulations as well uh for her hard work uh much guidance during the year uh there were very little um hiccups no emergency funding needs Etc that we've seen in the past uh budget season is coming um so you know we've had a preview of what's going on for next year and I assume it's going to be a lot of work in the next month in terms of budget season uh onto my thank yous thank you to all the council men and women for helping me in my second year appreciate all of the help uh during the year congrats to new Council uh elect Marty uh looking forward to working with you next year in the next couple of years hopefully um and then two special thanks right so the first special thanks uh is to Susan mesy right and that would be our libr for the past 31 years uh I've been lucky enough to have uh intimately worked with her for the past um couple of years as the library liaison uh she's been the head librarian since 1993 uh 31 years of dedication to the library and service to the community is unrivaled she has overseen the transformation from a traditional small town library into a modern Community Center which is used and loved by all residents of all ages while I have lived here for more than 25 years I've only been the L on to the library for only the past two so instead of sharing my positive interactions with Susan which wouldn't do it justice um I'd like to share some exerpts of great things written about Susan as she was nominated for uh the I Love My Librarian national award and the 2011 magazine's best small Library category of the best Bergen Awards here's one of them our town has a special population and our librarian has single-handedly created a library experience that exceeds the boundaries of Simply supplying books for readers ours is a community center complete with all types of media community service classes and clubs to attract members of all ages m meski is truly deserving of special recognition here's another one I've been in town for 11 years and Susan has been consistently friendly genuinely sweet sweet patient and in general just a peaceful calm and kind woman in the way you would think someone in her position should be Susan is so sweet and approachable she will handle anything needed whether it is a big or small request with a smile she truly likes what she does and it shows in the way she delivers help here's another one Susan welcomes Community groups to meet at our library such as Girl Scouts the PTA and many more when I started interviewing High School seniors who are applying to the college I went to I knew the library would be a great place to do the interviews when the library put on an addition a few years ago the community room was added to provide more space for community group meetings also Susan puts together a great program of public events throughout the year for people of all ages I definitely feel the ultan public library is one of the main assets of living in ultan it's one of the reasons why this town is a great town to live in it serves as a center for the community where children and adults can find many things they need whether it is for computer use free ESL lessons free space for a meeting or a place to get a great book notice get a great book is at the end and the last one over the years I've lived in the Burrows of New York City Westchester and another town in Bergen County early in my life I'm 60 the role of the library was defined in more traditional sense and libraries were places to go to do research and take out a book for entertainment by the late ' 80s and early 90s the role of the library was beginning to change nowhere else have I seen a library Embrace its new role as a community center and a focal point for the residents than in Old Japan and under the leadership of Susan meski she has helped redefine the purpose of a library Susan has enriched My Life by providing me with the stateof art library that has served me well over the years and has been a terrific asset our library has strengthened our town and helped create a sense of community among its residents how has the library and the nominee improved the quality of your life our library Embraces 21st century it is modern up toate late model computers and are available to the public our Buckle system allows for the sharing of books between member libraries and I believe the ultar library under Miss mk's directions has done more to encourage the use of this great service than have other libraries there are a multitude of service that Library offers to people of all ages Community groups make great use of the library for meeting tutoring and yes even socializing this was Susan's vision and under her guidance it has come to fruition we moved to ultan 16 years ago because it's because of its school system little did I know that our Public Library was going to be such an important part of our lives were it not for Susan and her vision for the library this might not have come together the way it did her contribution to the community via the library is immeasurable we as a community have been rewarded by her efforts and I imagine we will be reaping the fruits of those efforts for some time to come so for me Susan from the mayor and she's not here Unfortunately today but uh from the mayor and the Council of alapan the residents of alapan the residents of Northern Valley and myself I thank you for many years of dedication to our town and residents and thank you for leaving the library and its Association ready for its next phase of growth thank thank you thank you Council and then my second thank you oh you're okay sorry shorter one shorter one I moved to this town 26 years ago and immediately found a home in my family my kids have known no other home and we developed roots in this town along with the great school system we gravitated towards sports and recreation in town I volunteered to coach I was director of a couple of age groups and eventually head of soccer this led to the Recreation Commission where I met councilman guy carnos we immediately hit it off although I'm not sure why guy brashness and loud volume is completely opposite of my pensive lowkey analytic way of communicating very true but I do understand why Opposites Attract exactly he and I worked well together if there was a problem to solve he would ask me to help and if I needed something pushed out to the public I used his voice to do it he encouraged me to take position of head of recreation whereas a team he and I tackled many important issues in town uh dealing with things like physical fighting between parents uh and even gender issues if you remember that one guy uh which have made all their way to the state level seems like a disjointed sports program but through his efforts and dealing with these types of issues our Sports programs are the best in northern New Jersey state championships at the high school level come from strong youth programs think about our football team think about volleyball soft all of our successful sports teams they come from the recreation level and of course guy was instrumental and convincing me to join the council to volunteer even more of my time to help out all the residents of town and not just those interested in sports I remember saying to him as he was thinking of retiring I said I will only join the council if you stay on so I have a chance to work with the legend himself and so guy thank you for all your years of service to the town and thank you so much for guiding me in my own civic duty Call only thank you guys thank you Mr Mayor [Applause] you Elman boys wow you set the bar pretty high there Court um so so much has happened in 2024 personally that I'm really ready for 2025 to begin in Earnest and I look forward to this new year with closure of some personal challenges as noted earlier in my prayer um appreciation for what I've learned along the way and anxious to contribute more profoundly and looking to complete the many projects that I have started and ongoing within the municipality I'd like to thank my family and my beautiful wife Kristen a lifelong Town resident for her support and many dinnertime conversations including both our children's valuable insight into the welfare and betterment of old Japan I'd like to thank mayor Gallagher for continually in trusting me with the various commissions and committees he's assigned me to I know his watch word is transparency as I've heard it on this day many times since he started and I couldn't agree with this leadership philosophy more I look forward to discussing important town topics here on the Das and around town um that affect the fabric quality and trajectory of ulten in years to come I take pride in my rounding out my second term as Olden councilman where I've embraced the role of environmental Steward among other things that being said I know some of ultap Pan's residents are reeling from the recent construction that's impacted the town and the demise of some of our green spaces along the way I also recognize that there are some planning board approvals out there that will likely result in future construction the new Enclave Town Homes retail buildings along ultan Road changed our Town's fabric forever and character on a brighter side people will soon start to use these spaces and they will grow to become part of our daily routines environmentally and aesthetically they will also begin to have a more established presence as their Landscapes begin to surround them as they grow all depan and our neighboring towns face incredible pressure and requirements from Trenton to approve applications that include an additional affordable component I feel like this is a good time to segue into our commissions and committees that I represent and express how our town tries to protect itself the first one is our um our bapan Planning and Zoning Board some towns have independent planning and zoning boards whereas ours has a shared Planning and Zoning Board so we hear applications ranging from commercial developments residential site plan amendments site PL uh subdivisions and also have the added responsibility of granting variance variances or denying variances during our 2024 season we welcomed a new planning board chairman Charles magio A practicing architect with over 30 years of experience he I personally feel he's doing an excellent job and he runs a very uh thorough meeting he provides every everybody an opportunity and a fair uh expression of their concerns and um that being said he does know when to draw the line as this is a quasi judicial board as I've been coach to understand from Bob ran uh this year there were so many applications that we started seeing um hearing application two times per month generally the meetings are held on the second Wednesday of each month as a reminder to all planning board members uh we are open to the public um for comment directly to the professionals who are making the plans and or the planning board itself this realtime feedback does influence the designs and ultimately the approvals or denial of the applications I wanted to reassure residents that that is true uh ultan is currently updating our master plan which happens every 10 years a committee led by our Municipal planner John Zeo planning board chairman chairman the residents including yours truly are carefully Master mining strategies to protect the town's remaining open space while those Open Spaces are seen as up for grabs by trans affordable housing mandates I'd like to thank all those who volunteer on this committee furthermore I'd like to thank our dpws Sean pospisil I think I said that properly I did not who is preparing an open space inventory map with our o in-house GIS system so we can PRI prioritize the preservation of our remaining Open Spaces that should inform land use for years to come also I'd like to acknowledge all of the years of outstanding service that Diane pring has provided our town as land use secretary she served the town in this capacity I believe since 2019 yes um and with that I'd also like to transition our thanks to Jennifer Bam from our building department who stepped into Diane shoes earlier this year sadly uh Dan Eller is moving out of town and resigned from the planning board he served for 12 years I think a cake is in order uh also I'd like to thank councilwoman Christine msar for her contribution in this past year as planning on the planning board as the mayor's Design Within one year she left an indelible mark on applications by always reviewing each by consistent and consistently championing the small charm feeling and vibe that ultan FS so dearly on to our veterans committee the oldan veterans Comm committee has been very productive in the year and a half since our initial meeting on 9:12 2023 the following list of accomplishments from Fred ug's email our intrepret veteran committee chairman was sent out in October we were able to get a tribute Banner program up and running we assisted with the planning and redesign of the Oak Park um bner is Memorial post to acknowledge Vietnam veterans and historic revolutionary war Civil War monuments and other veterans specific designs we installed service Flags in the Zeebo we were able to assist several residents with applying for veterans benefits we provided a student scholarship to nbot our members attended the many local and Community uh oh County Veteran uh events including helping to run our own Memorial Day of town event and attend the northern Valley old Japan High School uh High School Veteran Day service we set up a table at the OT Town day we sent a letter to the OT Time Capsule we obtained OT veteran committee logo shirts and we put up a burrow we put up a burough Hall ultan library and stonepoint park veteran only parking sign we obtained a flag retirement mailbox um to be reconditioned to allow residents to respectfully dispose of their retired American flags on that note I'd like to thank veteran chairman Fred Pugi Frankton Diddy Doc Johnson Steve petracelli and others the entire committee for their dedication and cons consistent attendance to the meetings they are the best attended meetings about nine veterans come every um I think it's the first um no I'm sorry it's the second Thursday of each month okay you with me everybody so our our Garf course serves as a huge recreational open space for residents and is getting better and better under its Professional Care given by keer Sports the course is continually being updated and will have an allnew uh water conservation irrigation system and a redesigned U bunk series of new bunkers this will enhance the quality of play and the best part is that we didn't have to pay for it most of it because grants are covering um at least 50% we also hit a a revenue Milestone with over $1 million in 2024 so instead of Los money on our course as cash flow we are now cash flow positive um ever since Co actually which is how our Council four fathers and four mothers had intended um the required rebidding process undertaken this past fall concluded with keer sports being awarded another three-year management term I'd like to thank Sam Joe volani um the pro pro shop crew um and the entire maintenance staff including the Kitchen and Bar staff um and of course the course Rangers our environmental commission this was taken from the website the environmental commission is dedicated to the preservation conservation protection and appearance of our local environment including open space Wetlands Water Resources air soil landscape flora and fauna this past year we finally completed writing and re reviewing the alapan tree ordinance we've learned that writing and introducing adopting a tree ordinance isn't without its challenges this seems counterintuitive because despite being somewhat biased I think most people do appreciate trees however these challenges are NE also necessary because of the njd requiring that every town have a municipal tree ordinance as a component of their storm order management plan but uh this ordinance is not one siiz fits all every Community is different um I'm sure this will continue to be perfected over the 25 season and as every new application for tree removal comes to the building for the to the burough Hall we will be considering them seriously the environmental commission has also shown progress at the community gardens and has provided guidance to the planning board on sensitive applications we look to deepen our bench with additional residents who are passionate about out passionate and knowledgeable about oldan old depan environment we are fortunate to have Dave Keel as our chairman and welcome everyone to our next meeting on January 21st at 7:30 p.m. in council chambers at our next meeting we'll be reviewing the aforementioned open space inventory map as well as brainstorming elements we'd like to see included in our public um assets portion of the two access portion of the 244 oldan Road Project our is to create an approximate 2 acre Park along ultan Road including the much discussed Vernal pool the gar Herring H historic home the road Frontage and what that will look like from old Jaan Road and additional native plantings to be reintroduced into the space we anticipate that pedestrians will have access in and around um the Vernal pool from the sidewalk that runs along the west side of ultan road our Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts our Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts uh well our boy scouts are led by Ryan Weaver who has undertaken countless week weekly meetings and has seen explosive growth in the last few years many of the boys will be looking to apply for their Eagle Scout projects as soon as they complete the necessary Merit pades I believe some are almost there our Girl Scout program is still strong having had four Girl Scouts achieve their Gold Award dedicating themselves to addressing projects ranging from social Challen is first encountered during the co era to Timeless to the Timeless challenge of hearing the hearing impaired these young men and women get their first glimpse of civic duty um as Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts which I believe personally um is a necessary Catalyst for future Public Service it's just the beginning for them this concludes my report I hope everyone noticed that I used and even overemphasize the word hour before most of the commissions committees and groups I work with with because it is really up to all of us and our Collective efforts to make these most beneficial make these most beneficial and agents for positive change in our town lastly I can't conclude my report actually without a heartfelt acknowledging acknowledgement of guy carnaza who has forever had his ear to the old toan grb listening intently for I believe 23 24 25 years he served as an advocate for the many individuals whatever it definitely and he has definitely served as their voice in council chambers if the if a town resident feels as comfortable coming to me as they have goinging to guy carnaza I'll know I'm doing a good job thank you forever guy let's have a great year go team thank you Council voice uh let's switch sides of the room uh councilman BAGI yes Mr Mayor sure but you're going to go to councilman Kaz I'm not yet all right I get it you should go no no you're right you're right so good evening thanks for everyone who coming out to our last meeting of 2024 as well as our first meeting of 2025 I recently read that most New Year's resolutions are abandoned during the first or second week of January I'm not sure how you all did but I for sure I'm safe because I didn't make any resolutions I'm still working on the year's past ones this year I start my 26th year on the council that's a lot of budgets a lot of meetings a lot of decisions and compromising I really enjoy my time here and I look forward to continued service with whoever on my days this year my area of main concern was the police department we are fortunate here in ultap pan to have such a professional group from the newest patrol officer all the way to the chief thank you to Joe TR and Bob wton are sitting right back there for providing good trusted leadership our job as a governing body here is to spend tax dollars wisely our department heads present a budget to us we deliberate and we make sure every department has enough money to make it to December our police chief has consistently kept within budget most notably reducing overtime costs by a large amount which has saved the taxpayers a lot of money hiring when needed to get the staff to a proper level to serve the growing population that we have during my tenure here we have hired many new Patrol officers in hopes of creating the right mix of new and Veteran staff you need both to have a vibrant police uh force one of the main things completed over the last couple years is becoming accredited this is quite a process to get there but now as we move forward all policies and procedures are codified and online which would lead to a more uniform operation of the department it's worked very well accreditation brings our department to the next level of professionalism and creates a more streamline operation while at the same time managing risk in all aspects of modern policing while the patrol officers continue to keep the street safe we're having more and more cyber crime as hackers continue to find ways to steal from unsuspecting people our detective Bureau led by uh Sergeant Chuck Di Maria has an increasing workload and has solved many crimes over this last year this past year I have received many notes from residents thanking individual officers for their assistance I could be here for another hour just reading them all so I just wanted the residents to know what a great job our whole department is doing our officers are efficient in their duties and more importantly approachable which makes for every contact with residents to be less stressful The Human Side of policing is sometimes overlooked but it is so important in a time when we spend more and more time behind the screen of a phone here are some of the highlights from our police from from 2024 excuse me believe it or not we had 18,154 calls for service in alapan in 2024 that's a lot we had over 1,82 motor vehicle summonses that were issued they're out there keeping the street safe 446 School walkthrough safety checks were conducted a school walk through safety check is when an officer or maybe on the advice of a sleo officer an officer in the school walks around and maybe point out something that may or may not be safe for the kids and it's addressed with the administration it's done quite a bit 96 foot patrols were done within borrow parks in by State Plaza getting out of the car and walking around is really important officers investigated 104 motor vehicle crash crashes within the burrow six accidents occurred within the intersection of ultan Road and Orangeburg Road three of which were caused by Northbound drivers just so you know years ago I mean at least when I was a kid there was an accident there twice a week now since we have the stop sign and the I guess it's serrated roadway whatever you want to call it uh We've cut them down to the county has cut it down to not a lot and most of the almost all the accents are from people coming like from colon man or from Norwood going north going through looking at their phone and just crashing to someone so that's something to be worked on we're wishing the county would put a a red light there but hasn't happened yet despite our complete our constant asking for it officers completed 101 requested welfare checks for burrow residents these are usually elderly residents that are living by themselves or houses that are empty off officers arrested 10 subjects for driving while under the influence we did have a a robbery on on our um jewelry store uh Gang of Five uh guys who there it's a crew that goes around doing that robbed our jewelry store and uh so far I believe two or three are now in custody thanks for our work here as well as other departments we only had one high-end Auto stolen this year which is good to know uh constant vigilance by not only officers but also residents uh package theft it's become a big thing as you all know everyone watches the news everybody's stealing a package all the time but mostly Apple Apple products and iPhones and I and cell phones there's a whole gamut of how they do it but please be aware that these things happen and try to find a better way to get your packages delivered um there's also a Microsoft computer scam we had a residence that was scammed out of a serious amount of money uh from that and three weeks later the suspects reached out to the victim asking for more money at which our our Patrol and our Sergeant um sort of staked out the place caught them and they were arrested thanks to our bail reform laws in New Jersey they were out before the end of the night back on the street and these are not residents of our country so be careful who you vote for wherever that's Federal local or state it makes a difference there's also wire transfer fraud that's going on everything most of all of it is cyber there's a the patrol Patrol officers had a senior scam seminar that they gave for our seniors a lot of seniors are being scammed because they're being called and said you know your grandson just got an accident or we you need to send us money to win this contest and stuff so they're very proactive on that one specific thing I wanted to bring up there was a thank you from 14-year-old resident who was in need of assistance when she was suffering as she quoted a mental breakdown um officer Weaver Sergeant Weaver and officer Kim got a note from them from this person who said hi Mr police officer and Mrs police officer officer I am I don't want to leave I don't want to say her name I remember that you saved my life it's hard to read for you saved my life from myself so I want to say thank you thank you thank you you saved my life from your kid so very nice note and it's just it's not all pulling people over when they don't have their headlights on it's it's about the personal aspect that our police bring to everything that goes on in this town and I'm very appreciative and our resident should know that so as you can see our police has been have been very busy over the year and it's been a great experience for me to work with this group thank you chief chief Tracy our main job here as the governing body is making sure your tax dollars work and prevent waste during January through March we scrutinize every dollar spent which leads to a budget that fits the needs of the town I am blessed to work with my colleagues here on the deis we all come from different walks of life which brings about different perspectives and ideas we don't always agree and I mean that in a good way having disagreements followed by debate is a great way to get differing opin opinions vetted and to come to consensus just to give you an example our newest councilwoman Christine mazaro sitting over here who I have known forever she has called me a mentor and always asked my advice about things that go on in the council we usually vote the same for some reason a few months ago the council had a debate about something really important when it came time to vote I voted yes she voted no I like what but it was then I knew that she understood how we do things here everyone has a voice everyone votes as they feel every opinion is heard and we have respect for each other's opinions soon we will be swearing in a new councilman Juan Marty over here thank you one and it's my hope that he too will come to see how we make decisions void of politics and void of personalities I offer you a I offer a thank you to all the volunteers in this community alapan is great because of our volunteers I won't be naming them all but I do want to recognize a couple of groups who make a difference the fire department which has been here since 1932 is a 247 group with an emergency any emergency that arises they're there I have been a member of this group I have been a member of this group for a long time and whether that's structure fires or rescues or false alarms I know what it takes to make it all work members perform many hours of training to make make everything work and and maintain their Professional Standards we have a new Chief coming in so good luck to Shaz Anders and thank you to Brian Morgan for his steady leadership over the last two years another vital group is our first state Corp still 100% volunteer and going strong this group has gone through some significant changes this year but thanks to strong leadership again and a steady hand on the wheel especially from pres president Sue Gallagher they never missed a call and continue to respond to any medical emergency you never really understand what the first aid core does until you need them and in the last couple years I've had that issue of making that 911 call and by the time they get there you think it's two hours but it's not it's really 10 minutes and when they get there and how professional they are and how they take charge of the scene is such a relief to know that I live where I live it's really important when everyone is running away from emergencies these two groups of people are running towards it who' have thought thank you all this year one other thing we did we demoed The Oaks house The Oaks house which is at Oaks Park to make way for another building that's going to be great Bill Boyce is involved in that design too and I'm I'm waiting for good things I was fortunate enough to be on the council with our current our previous mayor uh Victor py and the audience when we purchased Oaks Park with grant money and 2002 I believe 2003 and know was a long time ago and I'm so glad to see this house go and I'm so glad to see a new one going to be coming in and it's going to be ni finally I want to thank our outgoing councilman guy carnaza in the past 25 years on this dayas we have been through three Mayors many Council people every people come and go but there's always one constant person who we could not get rid of was guy but with guy you always know where you stand there's no hidden agenda over the years I've truly enjoyed our time together even when we debated and got loud he was unwavering in his his desire to save the town money and get things done whatever the project was whatever truck we needed whatever part we needed you know you always say hey I got a guy well we actually had a guy we had a literal guy remember remember when people here have said guys loud well he is like his normal dial doesn't go left it only goes louder it never goes lower you can't make it lowers One Tone or louder and I appreciated that I didn't at first but now I do you believe I'm loud you are loud guys's couple areas of Interest were Recreation and vehicle purchase anything involving Sports young old male female you could find Guy arguing for better Fields better basketball courts improve and improved facilities the one thing you never heard guy say was asking for a bigger budget for sports he would look and find grants there were so many I can't even remember but the most recent Grant was when he created three pickle ball courts in Ula with a grant it was amazing his other expert expertise is vehicle procurement whether it's three police cars fir trucks DPW seax if it had Wheels guy was our expert Wei we relied on to give us guidance on how to buy where to buy as well as yelling at different car dealers for better pricing I will miss this aspect of guy the most his crowning Jewel however was Tay starting in the spring actually probably next week he would start talking about it getting donations shaking down specific council members for money and asking about fireworks when the day approached we had more meetings phone calls Etc to make sure everything went off without a hitch then on Town day it would rain so we'd have to change and do something or it thought it was going to rain with town the town Day committee was always changing but the one thing we could always count on was guy being there with it when his precious fireworks got next he turned the activity into movies in the park to sum it up guy is a let's do everything we can for the kids and always save the Town Money kind of guy his great voice can still be heard singing with my daughter actually at St P Pas every week I could go on and on but I think I'll stop here as his performance as a councilman speaks for itself thank you thank you guys thank you councilman councilwoman Miss Arrow thank you Mr Mayor um mine will be significantly shorter because as the youngest and newest ranking member I haven't earned no stri yet so I'll be I'll be brief um so after my first year as council member I've had some time over the holidays to reflect particularly on Christmas my birthday when I turned 40 plus one to reflect on this past year and I'm proud of the work that you do as a group for this great town There's a tremendous amount of work that goes on behind the scenes to provide the very best for our residents and I'm humbled to work with this mayor and councel and our Bureau officials and volunteers on various commissions committees and Boards so please allow me to highlight their work this year historical committee Karen GED reports this past year Sam prer Sally continues to repaint the historic blue signs we were finally able to get a plaque erected for the Heritage tree and the committee put together the Time Capsule event at this year's birthday party it was a lot of work to plan and put up the time picture boards Karen states that she would like to personally thank Anna and Christine for helping with the heavy lifting that Sunday to set up the boards the historical committee put together historical facts in conjunction with uh Council en boices veterans committee on soldiers from the Revolutionary War and Civil War which I think Ron served in um it is it is war you're good to that's all right it is that it is that kind of interdepartmental work that will continue to grow both of our groups and everyone up here in the stus we are also at Town day with the posters from the 125th anniversary and we're looking forward to form a larger committee for the nation's 250th birthday party in 2026 looking forward to next year the historical committee would like to have a large uh would like to have larger posters and continue to update the posters for the 12 birthday they would also like to have a local Lenny leny tribe come to our town to speak um and that's all karen Goddard and her planning um they would also like to expand the historical landmarks in town and put on our town website so on a personal note I would like to extend a thanks to Karen Goddard for her passion and dedication and Anna Havel for keeping us organized uh next Recreation Commission this is reports from Rec director Gloria Weisner um she said all of our sport programs have been doing well we have increased our focus on coaching and parent training and behavior and look forward to continued work in this area for 2025 recently we invited John O solivan an internationally known speaker for Youth Sports organizations to speak to our parents and coaches on this topic we will be working on developing bylaws and a mission statement for recreation programs as a whole to set standards across all of our programs we currently do have bylaws for each of our Sports individually but we would like to more clearly Define what our mission goals and philosophy is for our rec Recreation programs as a whole um under events and activities for recreation our activities have been well attended throughout the year our new movie Nights have had varying degrees of suc success but we will continue to try and figure out ways to increase awareness to Residents to advertise and select dates and times that work work best for our families given constraints of darkness in the summer months um personally I would like to thank uh Rec director Gloria for her tireless efforts to provide fun recreational activities and family friendly events for residents of all ages the perfect antidote to encapsulate Gloria's dedication is the night before the Halloween festival I was driving home from a football game at the high school and I saw Gloria's distinctive red Jeep Wrangler at Oaks Park it was well past dark and I was half joking when I texted Gloria are you lost in the Maze she actually was indeed in the maze but not lost she was just adding finishing touches to it so thank you Gloria and I look forward to another productive year working for you as your liaison I absolutely loved the Easter egg hunt Town day the Halloween festival and the Christmas tree lighting thank you also to Michelle Lor our tireless Town Day committee uh chairperson thank you to Andy and Dan and DPW for all the work you do for recreation personally um to keep our fields and park the gem with the northern Valley even Joe Tory would approve of your field conditions and then lastly Board of Health uh from Dr Ruby nabaa uh we have been working on mayor's Wellness campaign We are continuing with mental health book club meetings every month at the library and healthy talk speaker series monthly as well so thank you Dr rabina btia for your continued work to make ultan a healthy Town physically and mentally I know their board will be looking into adding exercise equipment in the Parks so we look forward to seeing their continued work uh the youth Council I did not receive a year yearly report from this group because they've had a change in leadership recently as kids have graduated and new leadership came in but I know that they met uh twice in December and I look forward to working with them particularly in getting their involvement as volunteers with the seniors and at town events there's a great opportunity there for them to volunteer and show their civic uh involvement thank you planning board for your guidance and mentorship in my one year on your board as mayor Gallagher's appointee I've thoroughly thoroughly enjoyed working with councilman Boyce on his golf committee as his vice chair and I look forward to our continued work this year councilman BAGI My Mentor in many roles politically and spiritually uh councilman Guan our steady Financial Guru councilman carnaza my coach and this past year my go-to guy the guy councilman you thank you for always being my sounding board Anna Jesse Jean thank you all for your work behind the scenes and during our meetings thank you to our First Responders I'm so thankful to our police fire and first aid you keep our town safe and functional I both live and work in town and I can say confidently that I feel safe at all times in this town so my sinc serious thank you to all of our First Responders and I look forward to working as the fire commissioner this upcoming year thank you for including me in the ride along with Santa and finally mayor Galer thank you for your leadership and your common sense approach to doing what is best for our town and its residents I learned a great deal in my time working with you so far as you can hopefully tell from my remarks I give credit where credit is due to all the groups and all the people who do the work behind the scenes uh thank you for your appointments to the various groups and committees this year my only small request as we start off 2025 or three-fold one that we continue to look and re into reestablishing a community park on Wilbur Road two that we look into working with the county for a crosswalk across central AV for our high school students and residents alike and three that we continue to work together and take a moment tonight to count our blessings that we have the mental and physical capacities to serve our great town in closing I would like to personally thank you all for your mentorship in my first year and I know that I will and know that I will continue to work hard and ask questions as a resident of ultan my whole life I've had the blessing of living in the jewel of North Jersey a hidden G gem so to speak but clearly the word is out on our great town it's no longer the Hidden Gem as shown by the recent housing boom as an environmentalist myself I hope we continue to balance our quote unquote unfair Fair Housing State mandated numbers along with the open space and small town F that we've all grown to love and appreciate I also have a new appre appreciation for mayor and Council and burrow employees I grew up in the best town because of what previous administrations did I attended the best high school in New Jersey played in the best Recreation programs in North Jersey with coaches like councilman carnaza councilman BAGI mayor pulsy as my coaches I am beyond humbled to have the god-given blessing to give back to this great town of bapan and finally on a last personal not note I would like to thank you all for your understanding last January when I had emergency spinal surgery my sixth spinal surgery that really slowed me down your patience and prayers were more helpful than you realize as I was so nervous to miss a meeting having just been sworn in a week a week prior as I lay there in the hospital bed all the while not realizing what I had been suffering through is a cerebral spinal fluid leak although I'm still unfortunately dealing with that condition in some ways I've been able to handle my responsibilities because of you because of your understanding and patience while my co-workers at school were begging me when are you returning to take back these kids in these classes my co-workers here at the Town were asking me things like how are you doing what can I do to help this is what makes you my family and this is what makes our town great my promise is that I will continue to PRI prioritize both my health and my duties to this great town thank you and and here's to a 2020 working together Council we gon to switch back this way and go to council president you thank you Mr Mayor and thank you all for joining us here today as we close out the Affairs of uh the burough for 2024 this past year I had the pleasure to work with the fire department the first aid core senior advisory committee and worked as Le onto our schools um please bear with me as I provide you the final year and report for each 2024 saw increases in enrollment at both our local school and our Regional High School but the figures still don't match those that we reached in 2010 when we saw Peak enrollment when my kids attended school here as our town grows however I'm certain that enrollment May once again reach our 2010 numbers for the same reason why I moved to oldan over 20 years ago parents of young children are moving to ultan mostly due to the quality of our education system recently US News and world and US News and World reports ranked TBD and CDW in the top 3% of all the grade schools in New Jersey niche.com recently ranked the northern Valley High School District number one out of almost 400 uh public high schools in New Jersey and to top that all off whether it's football baseball softball soccer track volleyball marching band our school teams are pretty unbeatable and thank you to all the school administrators teachers ERS staff and board members for caring so much about our young students at events at our at events for our senior citizens in town I'm often thanked for organizing all their lunch and learns trips parties exercise classes and other social events designed to keep them engaged and healthy but to be perfectly honest I deserve very little credit for it thanks to all the hours and hard work put in by the senior advisory committee we have seen participation in our programs the strongest that it's ever been most of these seniors have been in town a long time even sending their uh children to schools long time ago and yes paying their share of taxes all those years and continue today what keeps them around it's the friends they've made over the years and knowing that their beloved town still wants them hanging around it's my ention to make sure that that feeling of appreciation never falters as long as I'm around as Le on to both the fire department and first aid Squad I had the unique perspective of serving as a volunteer of both organizations this year the fire department responded to about 228 calls and the ambulance Corps responded to about 400 but the actual numbers really don't matter the tally doesn't say much about the thousands of manpower hours that goes into the training maintenance and pres preparation to respond to any residents's call for help so please next time you see an EMT or a fireman at Santa detail or town day or maybe at 3:00 a.m. at your home for a smoke alarm or medical episode be sure to thank them for their service and realize all the time and dedication it took for them to step up to the challenge and volunteer I just like like to mention that this year uh one of our volunteer organizations our 855e strong ambulance Corps was faced with a serious challenge that seemingly rocked the agency to its core but thanks to the steady leadership many who served for 10 25 even 50 years I'm proud to announce that today our first aid Squad is as strong as ever it just goes to show you that organizations like these with so much history or so so much bigger than just a few members I personally thank all who stepped up to fulfill their oath to a mission to serve those in our community finally a big thank you to the entire burle staff the DPW and the police department and all the Town volunteers for helping us serve our residents and that includes everybody here up on this day is today councilman carnazza I know over the years we didn't see ey to on numerous occasions and we even broke down into shouting matches up here on stage mostly came this way um nevertheless we'll miss your presence up here and thank you for all the decade all the Decades of your service to the Bur of ultan and best of luck on your retirement thank [Applause] you you so break protocol I have a few very brief comments and then I'm going to turn the floor over to councilman carnazza so as I'm about to wrap up my rookie year as your mayor I want to stress that being your mayor is a very rewarding experience for me many people have asked me over the past year how is it being mayor and isn't it really a pain in the butt my answer is that no I love the job and I love all the interaction I get to have with our residents and our business owners in town trust me every conversation or meeting isn't about rainbows and butterflies as alapan has faced some tough decisions just in this past year alone not sure the statement would be true without the support of my family a very experienced and dedicated burall staff and many dep department heads who are here tonight outstanding professionals from our burough attorney our bur engineer our burough planner our burough auditor uh and many many others I am blessed with terrific residents who work tireless ly as coaches board members and volunteers seeing old depan remains a great town to live and raise our families in my biggest shout out goes to the six council members who share this day us with me for their tireless work on behalf of the residents I get to do the fun stuff I get to welcome Santa Claus to town throughout the first pitch at opening day chat with 100 third graders marry several young couples welcome everyone to town Day concerts in the Parks movies in the Park and host a 130y old birthday party in town just past fall thank you all members of the council for doing all the heavy lifting and making me do let me do the fun stuff as we head into 2025 many challenges lie ahead for our growing Community we will start with a responsible Municipal budget we will be working on over the next six weeks or so addressing the needs of our community we will navigate through our mandated affordable housing obligations while looking to protect precious open space for all to enjoy we'll also continue our conversations with viate Plaza with the hopes that we'll have a new vision for our downtown that can be realized sooner than later I also looking forward to 2025 I also want to welcome incoming councilman Juan Marty and welcome back jinu I look forward to working with both throughout the [Music] year this past fall ultap pan and I personally lost a true ultap pan friend Mark feedler current ppw employee and Fire Company president and former fire chief passed away suddenly he is missed by all that knew him or had the opportunity to work alongside him on a happier note we say goodbye and thank you to our longtime Library director Susan mesy on her retirement best wishes as you open your next chapter get it thank you also to retiring councilman guy kazza as you step away from Public public life in ultan after 24 years your spirit and enthusiasm will certainly be missed I can honestly say without laughing maybe I'll laugh a little bit okay I will miss our passionate debates differences of opinion on several matters and our friendship and the fact that after going toe-to-toe at times we can fist bump each other on the way out the side door at the conclusion of of a council meeting never a grudge and now you get your Monday nights back but you will always be known as my fleet manager in closing thank you again for all the staff our professionals volunteers residents and the council for allowing me this very rewarding experience over the past year here to a happy and healthy 2025 thank you corazza the floor is yours G to sing sing it sing it in a minute all right I I had prepared a four-page letter tonight to thank everybody in fact my daughters both of them helped me write it because you know how good I am at words but I decided not to bring it tonight because I really appreciate all the the good stuff everybody has said tonight and I want to thank the fire department the first aid the police department Jesse Anna and all the burough employees everybody who makes this town what it is now I have a construction report tonight I'm not going to I'm not going to read it I also have DPW report these guys are the best and and you know how I feel about you so I'm going to try to end tonight on a good note because I want to make it as time is going by and uh I'm going to do exactly what I've always done and now the end is near and so I face the final curtain my friends I'll say it clear I'll State my case of which I'm certain to live a life that's full I've traveled each and every highway but more much more than this I Did It My Way thank [Applause] you second collection be for do we have any old business or new business to come before the council guys got old old all right hearing none I have some it new business I have a proclamation honoring guy J corazza here we go whereas guy J cornez was first appointed on January 1st 2000 to serve an unexpired Council term and whereas guy has served on every committee using business gu and compassion along with a heavy dose of New York Street smarts on every assignment and whereas guy has worked ardly with Recreation building a strong and vibrant program improving Town day and building a community wrapped around family because he has always says it's all about the kids and whereas guy's knowledge and expertise with cars and trucks has helped save the burrow thousands of dollars over the years in purchases and repairs and whereas guy has a resounding voice which we just heard is strong-minded opinionated and forceful all traits that pale when measured up to his enor up to his enormous heart and whereas his love of community is never so apparent as when he sings at events all year long delighting all in attendance whereas guy's greatest satisfaction has been his partnership with his lovely wife Denise and his loving daughters Alyssa and Kristen whereas councilman carnaza has been confident loyal and trusted by the entire governing body during his 24 years on the council now therefore I Thomas Gallagher mayor of the burough volan County of Bergen state of New Jersey on behalf of the mayor and Council and all our residents to hereby honor guy J carazza for his exceptional service to the borough of ultan and his lifetime commitment to serving others [Applause] can you get up here or you want to down front want to know where to take the picture with the lemonade in it good congratulations at this time I'll entertain a motion to open the meeting to the public if anyone wants to be heard second anyone from the public like to be heard on any non-agenda item seeing none motion to close second all in favor okay make a motion to adjourn sign adjourn second we're going to break for about 20 minutes G 15 20 minutes and then we'll Recon here for second half of uh the second half of our meeting 10 I hear 10 I heard 10 minutes get 10 10 minutes come on all right we got to go to bed mo to a journ so moved second second all favor we gentlemen thank you for if I didn't say Happy New Year in the first part of the meetings we weren't in the room happy New Year um uh and welcome to the second part of the meeting the uh my first course of action I get uh the privilege and the honor uh to swear in our outgoing council president and reelected councilman Jin Yu Jin if you would join me here with Sue please hear you raise your right hand left hand on the Bible mhm I Jin you I Jin you do solemnly swear to solemnly swear I will support the Constitution of the United States I will support the Constitution of the United States and the constitution of the state of New Jersey and the constitution of the state of New Jersey and that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same I will bear bear true true faith and allegiance to the same and to the government established in the United States and to the governments established in the United States and in this state and in this state under the authority of the people under the authority of the people I further solemnly swear I further solemnly swear that I will Faithfully that I will faithfully impartially impartially and justly and justly perform all the duties of the office of councilman perform all the duties of the office of councilman according to the best of my ability according to the best of my ability so help me God so help me God congratulations [Applause] um incoming councilman Marty has uh has asked uh assemblyman off to administer his o of all before we start just wanted to mention one thing to you um last week they scho [Music] the House of Representatives leader and uh it was uh very very interesting event but something that took place prior to that was when Harold Rogers a congressman think hockey District 5 was getting ready to swear Mike Johnson in he read this to him as a an ad mission in a sense of a charge for you and I thought it was so good I thought it was worth reading it to you before we start since this is a new when our founding fathers chose a new bold and uh uh Initiative for self-rule it was met by Deep skepticism by the world's monarchs they said self-rule was only a dream our founder said they're right it's the American dream now it's our dream we're in charge local council is crucial to The Outpost and the well-being of the people's government the keeper if you would The Keeper of the dream are you prepared take a j raise your right hand and please repeat afterno Ian Marty Ian Marty do Solly swear to Solly swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States that I will support the Conti of the United States and the constitution of the state of New Jersey and the constitution of the state of New Jersey that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the Saint and I will bear true faith and allegiance to the Saint and to the governments established in the United States and to the governments established by the United States and in this state and in this state under the authority of the people under the authority of the people I further solemnly swear I further solemnly swear that I will Faithfully that I will faithfully impartially impartially and justly perform and justly perform all the duties all the duties of the office of counsilman of the office of counsilman according to the best of my ability according to the best of my ability so help me God so help me God congratulations sir [Applause] I believe he joins us up [Music] yes in compliance with the open public 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 Bulet board at bur Hall please be reminded that all of our meetings are video recorded and posted to our website and our fire exits are the doors to my left where you walked in tonight and in the rear of the council chambers um roll call please mayor here counc here counc here here here counc here counc here at this time I would like to invite up father Kevin Kilgore from St P's Church to uh lead us in the [Music] [Applause] invocation in the name of the father and of the son and of the holy spirit amen blessed are you Lord God of Mercy through your son gave us a marvelous example of Charity the great commandment of love for one another send down your blessings on these your servants who so generously devote themselves to helping others when they are called on in times of need let them Faithfully serve you in their neighbor we ask this through Christ Our Lorden amen father thank you Father okay at this time uh again it's my honor and privilege to uh administer the oath of office to our emergency service service officers we'll start with the fire department and fire chief Charles Anders the 9th [Music] wow she said she didn't know to go oh I text I was giv up years yeah he got to play please raise your right hand put your left hand on the Bible I Charles Anders tonight I Charles Anders tonight who solemnly swear you solemnly swear that I support the Constitution of the United States that I will support the Constitution of the United States and the constitution of the state of New Jersey and the constitution of the state of New Jersey and I will bear true faith and allegiance to the Saint and I will bear true faith and allegiance to the Saint to the governments established in the United States and to the governments established in the United States and in this state and in this state under the authority of the people under the authority of the people I further solemnly swear I further solemnly swear I will Faithfully that I will faithfully impartially impartially and justly and justly perform all the duties of the office of fire chief perform all the duties of the office of fire chief according to the best of my ability according to the best of my ability so help me guide so help me guide congratulations [Applause] [Applause] we are third Father and Son chief his dad was Chief okay my dad was chief you got to be able to multitask here okay right hand up left and I Christopher riy Christopher this where will support the Constitution of the United States and the constitution of the state of New Jersey and that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same know there true faith and allegiance to the same and to the Govern is established in the United States the government's established in the United States and in the state and in the state under the authority of the people under the authority of the people I further solemnly swear I further solemnly swear that I will Faithfully I will faithfully impartially impartially and justly and justly from all the duties of the office of Deputy Fire Chief from all the duties of the office of Deputy fire chief according to the best of my ability [Applause] [Music] can I get our fire captain and Lieutenant to Jo me in the front [Music] maybe you could touch each other atound dirty okay all right state your name lookit of the state of New Jersey will bear true faith and allegiance to the same I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same and to the governments established in the United States to the governments established in the United States and in the state and in the state under the authority of the people under the authority of the people I further Solomon swear I fur swear I will Faithfully will faithfully impartially impartially and justly and justly perform all the duties of the office of according to the best of my ability ability [Applause] yeah they weren't they were D help me I said time you will help me [Music] yeah student going to be Christine hold [Music] on head over there what a goodl looking [Applause] bunch he was also Chief yeah we've only had three in our since 1932 Father and Son yeah my dad was cheap I was cheap Doug used to be a Doug used to be a cop that uh Jersey City was AIC for of years oh really yeah I didn't know [Music] that I st your name United States United States and the constitution of the state of New Jersey and the constition of the state of New Jersy and I will bear true faith and allegiance to the Saint United States United States and in this state and in this state under the authority of the people the authority of the people I further I will Faithfully I will faithfully impartially impartially and justly and justly perform all the duties of the office per all the duties the office okay according to the best of my ability to the best my ability so help me go so help me go [Applause] coming back good I know working on my password I [Music] said we'll give it 30 seconds this is the exciting part of the meeting coming up though this is it checks you're missing it all what does this say about our don't know what we do Bing the fire dep are you going to Firehouse there we'll chat friend yeah you too Betty friendly friendly that's it so you're the name of the network OT and then just type friendly passw thank you you're done yeah congrats okay thank you appreciate it congratulations [Music] jary I thought you someone in particular birthday s yeah dedications the two Su I just hired my Dash Okay can somebody close that door thank you more over time thank you okay our next order of business I will uh entertain a nomination for council president for 2025 Mr Mayor is my honor and privilege to nominate councilman Bill Boyce for the position of council president for 2025 I'm sure we will all Excel under his leadership we have a second second second have any uh comments hearing none roll call please councilman B yes yesc yes that was very tentative yes councilwoman Miss yes councilman you yes okay I will also entertain a nomination for Council representative to the planning board yes Mr Mayor uh is my honor to to nominate Bill Boyce as Council representative the planning board board the boy busy second second we have any comments conversation on serving on the planning board continuing his legacy on the planning board I was told I was a lifer recently by the board Council so roll call please Council yes Council Bo yes counc yes such enthusiasm counc M yes councilman you yes okay some of my uh mayor's appointments Mr Mr Mayor yes if I may please um how long are are appointments usually for on these commissions and committees well planning board is it's a one-ear okay if you're a class four it's a four-year um got any more trick questions for me no I think I going on to environmental and Recreation appointments I could when I get I don't know off top of my head but um recation is five Recreation is five I think environmental is one and three can I ask why we have a recreation employment for 5 years you can ask why and and we can it sounds like a lot not tonight but we can certainly discuss we should discuss later just we take that under discussion cuz you're going to be appointing somebody tonight I am I mean that outlasts any any mayoral term or Council people's terms again it's it's per it's per per ordinance so I I don't think we can change that tonight we need to app point tonight it'll take two three months to change an ordinance so not that we couldn't yeah the person will be appointed tonight for 5 years yeah yes they will they could also if they're not you know after a couple years they're not happy they could resign so in my experience on the Recreation Commission you know the the the longer term people do stay longer but you know usually they don't say well I'm going to finish out the term you know there's a time when during a term they'll just say I'm going to resign at some point the ones that last only two or three years they would resign so there's no like effort to get to those five-year increments right it they serve for the period of time that they either want to serve or I'm sure there was some rationale behind it way yeah way before I've been on that recommission for 20 years so that that's a at least 20 years old I'm also sure that um umor you know our representative to um um to recission last year has worked with this person or people I'm not sure who you're referring to and um kind of vetted them to move forward yeah I don't think it's anyone in particular questioning I think it's more of if you look across the commissions and Boards that's the longest term that that as as uh he said that Outlast the mayor's term in my in my opinion I don't think any position should out Outlast the mayor that's just my opinion something we should look at no one in particular just this is the my first time looking at you know the the rec commission and reappointing people it's no one in particular just when that turn when five years came up as the amount I said maybe that's something we could take a look at if okay maybe next meeting we could put that on okay let me get back to my appointments but very valid question uh first is the Environmental commission uh for a full member for 2025 Dave Keel with a term ending uh uh 12312 7 uh full member Patrick Amboy uh 12312 Wendy King alternate number one 12 3126 and Barbara drolo alternate number two 12312 another recommission uh we have a full member and Rob wet term ending 12 3129 and alternate number one is Karen re uh 12 3127 our planning board uh mayor's representative class one will be councilman Marty with a term ending 12312 Class 2 member uh Thomas Jung 12312 councilor liaison class three councilman Boyce 12312 class 4 member Nick mamari 12312 class 4 member Robert scaa 123 12312 alternate 1 Vick ban 12312 alternate number two Michael aarian 12312 alternate number three John Kramer 12312 and alterate number four S Petrelli 1231 25 uh next on the agenda are the um are my appointments the standing Council committees and I'll start uh I'll go with the lead person here uh councilman Ron BAGI uh will oversee our police our Administration and our grants uh technology Falls underneath that as well the municipal courts he will be assisted with councilman Boyce and and councilman Guan uh councilman Boyce will oversee our golf our planning board and our environmental commission along with veterans Scouts and I think I mentioned environmental already assisted with uh councilwoman Christine Massaro and counc Rob BAGI Jr councilman Court Guan will oversee our finance our library OEM and our Safety Committee assisted with councilman Juan Marty and councilman Bill Boyce uh councilman Juan Marty will oversee our first aid core open space Our Community Development Board of Health and be our Laya on to the schools assisted with councilman Jin Yu and councilwoman Christine masaro councilwoman Christine masaro will oversee fire department Recreation historical committee our youth Council arts and entertainment and our welcome to Old depan committee she will be assisted with councilman cor Juan and councilman Jin Yu and our last but not least councilman Jin Yu will oversee our DPW our recycling our utilities engineering construction our seniors and our local assistance board I don't think we need any uh all in favor all right our staff up okay this could be a bit so bear with me here our staff appointments for 2025 911 coordinator Joe Tracy accounting clerk Diane Frolic administrator assistant Mara desanti administrator bird Min Anna havilla alternate municipal prosecutor car Carter Carston alternate public defender William Fenwick assistant DPW superintendent Daniel Hartman assistant tax collector Joan for salotti Board of Health secretary Marta desanti clear communities coordinator Thomas Jung code enforcement officer Ronald sakola construction technical assistant Jennifer bom DPW Forman Robert McQuade DPW Foreman chor who are do better pass nopil close fire department engineer Thomas Jung uh fire department engineer Daniel Hartman fire inspector Raphael marcier land use board secretary Jennifer bom minicipal prosecutor Jeffrey Mueller payroll accounting clerk Laura Bano police secretary Karen Turner public defender John Coy Recreation Commission secretary stie Murphy Recreation director Gloria weasner recycling coordinator Thomas Jung School Marshal lenel Navaro School Marshal Gary Garen School Marshal Lorraine heuk School Marshal Rosanne DEA School Marshall Adra Evans School Marshal Robert Van Pelt School Marshall substitute Lynn Rosen CR Morgan School Marshall substitute Robert scafa School Marshall substitute Adrian mayor social service director Diane besserer tax search officer Kelly Lombardi and Zoning officer Robert Rush boards and committees arts and entertainment committee Janet Manning and she's all by herself because the rest of the four positions are vacant so we'll need uh Christine some help on arts and entertainment yeah uh um Board of Health Steven wilinsky Board of Health alternate one sarit Singh Board of Health alternate three Andrew berini I'm sorry bad Arina Board of Health alternate four Rachel Park Golf Course committee Richard fno Golf Course committee Kurt Linder we have a couple of vacancies on the golf course committee bill you aware of that I am okay historical committee John Kramer historical committee Karen Goddard historical committee Sam Petrelli historical committee Katherine fandan uh historical committee Anna havilla historical committee Matthew Moren historical committee Aon Zen Zazu that's how I know her historical committee Brian Davidson and we have uh four more vacancies on our historical committee local assistant boord Ram local assistance board Nora man local assistance board alterate 2 Chrissy Rosenblum depan Municipal Alliance uh I'll name them all here uh Anna havilla Michael Murphy Katie Weaver James farino Henry Fardo and then we have some vacancies on our old to pan Municipal Alliance senior citizens advisory committee we have Joan Bor Marlene Northrup Gloria capria Nan dona Judy Keith CLA Lenard Lucille Bishop Clara failo Sylvia Pella carold Hartman and looks like we have one vacancy beyond that our shade tree committee is vacant at this time and our technology committee Thomas lard Douglas n Meer Karen wiing Brett cooner Jean Kosar Anna havill our telecommunications committee Christian siosi and and Anna havill and our veterans committee Fred PGI Doc Johnson Frank radetti Phil vogus Bill pudney Steven pet pet relli and we have one vacancy on our veterans committee okay and they all show up they all show up awesome moving to our consent resolution tonight is for council president voice oh thank you Mr Mayor from the buau clerk's office the consent resolution uh be it resolved that the following resolution placed on the agenda by consent requires 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 volan Professional Services agreement auditor Professional Service agreement Bond Council professional service agreement buau attorney professional service agreement buau engineer professional service agreement planner professional service agreement property appraisal expert professional service agreement risk manager Grant Consultants agreement animal control services agreement interlocal shared services agreement uh mechanic Services approval by of bylaws established 2025 temporary budget appropriation cash management plan official Bank depositories official bank accounts official signatures interest on delinquent taxes sewer utility and special assessment installations installments my apologies uh tax appeals authorizing service charges for return checks official meeting dates official newspapers Insurance Commissioners recycling funds appoint Emergency Management councel appoint public agency compliance officer appoint qualified purchasing agent appoint designated employer Representatives establish bid and quote thresholds um vendor certification policy and procedures authorize certain statutory payments of claims and other claims required in nature Mutual Aid plan and Rapid deployment Force volunteer tuition credit program filing notice of tort claims form uh 10:30 Leo liso program enrollment second any questions or comments on the consent resolution tonight the only thing I've seen is the Professional Service agreements I haven't seen anything else yeah so they were um um they were sent in at the end of uh December or mid December to the end of December uh our finance committee I think they were mainly reviewed by councilman Guan and his committee uh to make sure they're all in order they're they're pretty much they're all they're all in the Jean they're all in the laser fees right yeah so they're all there and it's basically our agreements with our F attorney our tax auditor it's it's all the things that that we do so if you want to review each and every one of them but basically they send them in we look at it sometimes it's a minimal um service cost that goes up and um so these are all for our professionals again attorney auditor uh etc etc etc so they they're available for review in in the uh laser Fe thank you any other uh questions comments on the consent resolution none roll call please coun yes counc yes yes I'm going to abstain until I see him counc yes you yes okay uh let's move on to council committee reports and um let's start uh tonight again uh councilman Guan thank you Mr Mayor uh just briefly because obviously we had our year- end um reports uh for finance obviously looking forward to a productive budget season that begins very shortly uh I would say based on the preview uh leads me to think that uh we will be busy uh please a lot a little bit more time than last year in discussing our budgets so uh and the budget uh schedule is out terms of OEM a lot more uh preparation uh for the World Cup uh I think in 2025 uh Andy's going to reach out to Sunrise um to coordinate with their emergency plans as well as coordinating with the new first aid officers and fire chief that uh you just swore in uh today terms of liary obviously a lot of work here with a new uh director Kim Kimberly Benjamin uh the board meets once a month but I feel like in the next few months I'm probably have to have few more touch points to make sure that uh she's onboarded uh fairly quickly uh we have a new a lot of new board members as well so have to be uh involved there as well uh looking forward to their implementation of some fresh new ideas for 202 and then also uh the building right the building that's getting older it's more than 25 years old a lot of repairs have been happening over the past uh two years uh they uh looking forward to their budget because I know a lot more things have to be fixed such as uh new parking lot you know new Paving of the parking lot uh Etc so there's a lot of work to do there as well um so that would be the end of my report thank you uh just a quick question question Library do they have an event week from Sunday yes as far as I know it's the 12th from 1: to 4: and that would be U meet and greet okay that's the latest date I'll confirm it but that's the latest date that I have on my calendar okay all right thank you y um let's go to say boy say uh let's go to councilman Marty uh well not much to report today I can tell you that the schools had their reorganization uh meetings today the high school did 11 and um the probably done by now but the lower schools um had the reorg meeting tonight um with the Board of Health meetings coming up later in the month and I'll report more on the uh in the next meeting once I get involved with them as well as first dat awesome thank you uh Council BAGI uh thank you Mr Mayor I really don't have a report except the police we are um in the midst of hiring hopefully swearing in a new man next in the Fe February meeting first week in February he's jumped through all the Hoops that needed to be jumped through and uh fingers crossed we're going to get him here to swear them in in the meantime our list is exhausted and we're going to hire if you recall we were hiring two it didn't work out uh we're going to be on the testing again or re reinstituting the ad to hire another patrolman ASAP but hopefully by mid year that's the the plan they don't always go that way lately but that's the plan um that's all I have okay thank you uh councilwoman maso thank you Mr Mayor um fire um just congratulations to Chief Charles Anders I 9th and Deputy fire chief Chris Riley I met with them uh last week at the firehouse to uh you know get on board what we're looking to do and continue the great work I'm pre uh fire Commissioners so I'm excited to be uh working with them um and uh Recreation continuing you know the great things that Gloria does I I can take no credit for that she she runs a great program as the rec director and I I really uh enjoy working with her um historical as I said we're looking forward to uh planning uh maybe some big things for the uh upcoming 250th birthday uh not just historical other groups involved but I think we'll be kind of spearheading spearheading that and uh other than that um Board of Health I'm had a great time with them and I'm I'm happy to pass that off to uh councilman Marty I think he'll do a great job and planning board I learned a lot in a year and really got to know the inner workings of a lot of the things in the town so that's all I have thank you awesome thank you councilman you thank you Mr Mayor this year I'll be working with the DPW construction and continue working with the seniors but um Christine and Juan I'll be happy to meet with you and the heads of your departments to um tie up any Loose Ends we have with the fire department and Corp I already SCH scheduled meetings with all the department heads to talk about their budgets um a couple of loose ends that I'd like to tie up with the fire department there's a proposed oia change coming in um I'm probably I know it's still under discussion maybe a year or two from now but what it's going to do it's going to it's going to cost a lot more for us to run our volunteer fire department unfortunately um they're going to want us to update our gear more often than we do and that gear is not cheap they're going to want us to buy new fire trucks newer fire trucks um they're going to want us to do more training so it's kind of like they're trying to push volunteers out so that's something that we still need to work on just Mak OSHA it's on the federal all their wisdom yeah uh the ambulance core um we still have a kind of a shortage of volunteers during the daytime I know we've discussed in prev uh last year all last year about maybe going to a paid per DM program during the day to help them out um what I've learned in the seminars that I attended a lot more towns are going that route so I think it it would behoove us to at least look into it uh further and maybe finding a partner for that um and the big elephant in the room obviously is affordable housing that's something all our municipalities are going to have to deal with and um I mean we're going to talk about it a lot we'll probably argue and might get some push back from the state but we are still committed to to challenging them as much as we can um I'd like to congrat councilman Juan Marty uh on sitting this new position with us um best of luck to you as we serve our community um and I look forward to working the rest of you in 2025 under the leadership of Mayor Gallagher thank you thank you councilman council president Boyce oh thank you Mr Mayor I'd like to express my gratitude to the entire Council for my promotion I will do my best to fill jyn's large shoes I'm hoping that he bequeaths unto me his giant iPad so I can keep notes that is that a perk it's gigantic um I'm going to keep this very brief tonight all I will speak about is the golf course um I've received my year in summary from Sam um the old pan Golf Course has increased rounds year-over-year since 2022 this last year 24 We we played 27,600 rounds of golf at our Golf Course seems like a lot to me sounds like people aren't working from home anymore yeah well interestingly uh the member rounds decreased by 2% and the uh total rounds stayed pretty much flat within just a couple um the introduction of public players is increased the course's exposure has led to new memberships 17 new members incre uh signed on in October of this year um and we're hoping this to can see to see this trend continue in 2025 the new pump and panel that you've been hearing about for a year uh is complete and it will be installed as soon as we can get a crew out there to do it before spring for sure and there were two new pumps installed in close proximity to the pond to help fill the pond so that we can continue to water the course uh as required that concludes my report okay thank you um there some very brief comments tonight I look forward to uh our biggest task at hand over the next uh five or six weeks is preparing our Municipal budget uh for town so uh we have a number of Thursday nights put aside we'll go line by line Department by department and come up with a responsible budget that'll uh uh fit the needs of our residents and our in our growing Community um a lot of important work to do some of you touched on stuff already from affordable housing and and other things we will work with our professionals our attorney uh we will come up with a responsible plan um we're not going to get to the number they gave us there there's no way we get to that number so we will uh we will counter that we'll have uh facts and figures to back our counter and we we'll present a uh a responsible plan to the state and we do we can and and again uh I think I speak for most of the councils that we're not against affordable housing I think the formula is broken I think um uh they they don't really look at it too well you've heard mention before about our First Responders know we every time we can't afford to have someone stay in town and they're part of our fire department or amance courp we lose them so I just think the uh I think the formula is is broken it has to be uh it has to be looked at um again but um otherwise again look forward to 2025 and rolling up our sleeves and and uh doing what we need to do for the residents so that's my comments uh any old business to come before us tonight I have something Mr Mayor sure um in our last meeting we approved an RFP for a townwide reassessment correct Anna I just want the residents to know that the county has ordered all municipalities or some municipalities in New Jersey to do a re-evaluation of all their it's property stag okay so that's going to come in please I just want to say I SP to the mayor and one of the other towns actually did do a webinar that went out to the um to the residence which um we agree would be a nice thing to do we put that in the RF uh did we put that in the RFP now uh the RFP is is mimicking the one that angle wood sent out are are um assessor gave it had everything in it but I don't think that's be problem yeah I think it's a great idea so that uh you know everybody gets scared you know oh we're going to be re my taxes are going to go up and all this stuff but if you you know educate the folks and say no you know yeah some will go up and some will go down we're going to just you know reassess it just spreads it out more you know where we stand new housing so where weire to do that in 2026 that's what it's supposed to be done by done by okay May well happen this year yeah and can you go over again it's they go door by door knock on everybody's door go into your house look around just you know not opening your door and letting them come in doesn't really make a difference you know if you don't do that you don't let them in they're going toest the way they think you can't put that Barking Dog tape on in the basement if you have a finished basement I have a finished basement okay basement the bathroom in it okay thank you anything else no anybody else have anything old business saying none uh new business uh councilman new ordinance 12695 or DPW salary ordinance thank you Mr Mayor resolution whereas an ordinance entitled an ordinance to fix the salaries wage and compensation of the officers and employees of the burough of ultan county of state of New Jersey for the DPW years 2025 to 2027 was introduced at a meeting of the mayor and Council held on the 6th day of January 2025 now therefore be it resolved by the mayor and Council of the buo of ultan County of Bergen state of New Jersey that ordinance number 1269 d25 B and the same hereby adopted on first reading and be it further resolved that said ordinance number 1269 d25 will be further considered for final passage at a meeting of the said mayor and Council to be held on a 21st day of January 2025 at 7:30 p.m. in the evening or as soon thereafter as a matter can be reached in the council chambers at Burrow Hall 227 ultan Road ultan New Jersey at which time and place all persons who may be interested will be given an opportunity to be heard regarding ordin ordinance number 12692 5 and be it further resolved that the burough clerk is hereby authorized and directed to publish the introduction and notice of hearing as required by law second second down there yeah okay any discussion on ordinance 1269 25 I was on that committee um I just want to let the council know and current DPW that's sitting here what a professional group I I've I've worked on this contract probably three or four times in my time on the council from way back and they're fair and we're fair and they're professional and we're professional and it's a pleasure to work with whoever is on the other side of the table it's not like us and Them thing it's uh come to the meeting of the minds and Andy who and and Dan whoever you're your committee that you sent is very just you know knowledgeable they know the contract they know what's going on we try to be as Fair as we can and it was just a pleasure to it wasn't adversarial let's put it that it was just it right it was just nice to go back and forth and see what we can do to make things right and I was H I was just thrilled to death it was good good good feeling thank you for contributing that okay uh roll call please counc yes counc Bo yes counc yes counc yes councilwoman Sarah yes Council yes okay our next order of business is ordinance 1270 d25 amend Golf Course fees for council president voice thank you Mr Mayor from the bur Clerk's Office ordinance number 12 70-25 this is the first reading to amend the DOL course fees um whereas an ordinance entitled an ordinance um supplementing chapter 119 fees of the B of the code of the buau of alapan to amend the fees charge for use of the epan golf course was introduced at a meeting of the mayor and Council held on the sixth day of January 2025 now therefore be resolved by the mayor and Council of the burough of alapan County of Bergen state of New Jersey that ordinance number 1270 d25 being the same is hereby adopted on first reading and be it further resolve the said ordinance number 12725 will be further considered for final passage at a meeting of the said mayoring Council to be held on the 21st day of January 2025 at 7:30 p.m. in the evening or as soon thereafter as the matter can be reached in the council chambers at the burough Hall 227 oldan Road oldan Jersey at which time and place all persons who may be interested will be given an opportunity to be heard regarding ordinance number 1270 25 and be a further resolve that the bureau clerk is hereby authorized and directed to publish the introduction and notice of hearing as required by law second any discussion on 1270 d25 I can contribute a little to that discussion please do um I spoke to our golf pro and he said that the increase is about 4 and a half% on average it is not um so that you know addresses the cost increase for seniors for regulars for in town for out of town Etc 4 and a half% on average seems reasonable thank you roll call please coun yes counc Bo yes counc yes counc Marty yes counc yes yes okay I'll entertain a motion to open the meeting to the public I'll move second from the public like to be heard on any item seeing none close second all in favor I a motion to adjourn we move second all in favor happy New Year we're adjourn Happy New Year conrat