##VIDEO ID:pRIHK9YzF7Y## public notice and instructions for this meeting were published in the Herold news and posted on the city of Pake website at www.city of.com Council agendas instructions are also available on the last page of this agenda please be guided accordingly roll call please councilman Schwarz present councilman Garcia presentent Council M monz pres and council president Sher president shall we all please rise Sor bow our heads blessed are you oh Lord King of the universe creator of the heavens and the Earth we thank you for this opportunity that we may come together to do the business of the city of Pake we ask that you would guide us that our approach collectively would be one that would honor you and serve the greater interest of all the residents of this city we thank you for all those who work diligently to provide the services that are needed within the community those who come to visit or those who work here we ask that you would always watch over our city you bless families who have had loss and that you keep us always United as a community watching over our police fire emergency responders Educators and all those in positions of prominence families and children we pray all this in your name amen amen I pledge aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to rep stands members of the council please be advised that the Administration has sent us a massive dated September 17 2024 quote please be advised that the Administration has provided backup for agenda items number 16 entitled ordinance authorizing the private sale of property at 20 for Broadway city of pic New Jersey to be designated redeveloper New Horizon Community Action Corporation pursuant to njsa 40a col 12-13 Sub C sub and njsa 48-12 a-8 subg is there any objection to including this item on tonight's agenda seeing none if we could please turn to our agendas um we're up to R numeral four on our agenda and for those people who are not with us here tonight and following uh through uh Zoom or whatever please know you can uh follow with us in terms of the agenda and all items on the agenda by going to the city's website where you can see and review all the information which has been provided to this Council by the administration um and with which these Council makes its decisions uh minutes run the numeral four minutes of May 21 2024 June 6 2024 are there any additions or corrections to the minutes as presented seeing none is there a motion please to accept the minutes presented by the cler second motion and second roll call please councilman monk yes councilwoman Melo yes councilman Schwarz yes councilman Garcia yes counc monz yes and council president Sher yes thank you we're up to R number five on our agenda mayor's update mayor is so wonderful to see you sir thank you council president members of the city council all those who are present today and those who are watching I'd like to share a few updates regarding the city of Pake first I would like to welcome back all of the students and families to school as school has begun and everyone is officially back to school I want to thank all of our educators and all those working diligently to provide education to all of our young people as well as all faculty staff and our police officers I wanted to share a couple of Public Safety initiatives that we have been working on council president and members of the city council we are exploring with our City attorney the potential for changing a few ordinances including those regarding tractor trailers and those big vehicles we recently have received a few complaints and concerns especially down in the areas of Ninth Street and South Street and 10th Street and PA street because of the turns and the frequency in which the police have noted that they are going in the wrong way we have already set up signs in order to ensure that there is greater visibility of the expectation in terms of the traffic flow as well as had more presence F by police to obviously uh give tickets to violations and ensure that there is a presence but in further exploration I mentioned about the attorney we explored the potential of uh of limiting trailers or big trucks by weight in conversations and considering the challenges that we may face especially in terms of the material that's being transported even if it's a smaller trailer but they may have heavier items and how would we follow up or hold them accountable where we looking to invest in a weight station where we would weigh the trailers I want to give credit to our engineer Yasin who actually suggested that we look into the potential of limiting it by axles by specific axles and I believe that the suggestion was to remain uh between two and three axles or limiting in terms of the number of axles which would better address the issue of the length of these particular vehicles which seems to be the bigger issue as opposed to the weight um seems to be something that is done by other municipalities as it's always our approach see what other municipalities are doing so we're not alone on here and they have taken that approach so we'll have our attorney look at potential ordinances addressing this issue I wanted to share outside of that that we are exploring additional issues of permits we don't typically want to add additional layers of what is often referred to as bureaucracy or government however we've realized that with the changing of times there are many new businesses among the and the council is well aware are vehicles that provide delivery services Uber Eats as many referred to them are transporting food and we've seen that there are stations that have made up that have sort of popped up around the city the challenges that we're facing is many of them are driving around the sidewalk they are utilizing our sidewalk to transport food we realize that none of these uh vehicles are required to register as a business now that's not unique to psake they're not required to register around many of the cities in our County or around the state of New Jersey so we're exploring how we can regulate this or address this better we've had conversations with our chief of police because obviously with children going back to school and I mentioned it earlier we have a lot more pedestrian traffic in terms of people walking taking the kids to school mothers and children or parents and children grandparents Guardians uh whatever and as well as brick pick picking them up from school we've had a number of complaints of people that felt their safety was jeopardized or compromised because some motorized vehicle came flying by on the sidewalk now this is illegal we don't need to create a law to identify that this is illegal however we are identifying that some of these individuals are choosing to stay off the street because they don't wear helmets and they're trying to deliver food they're going to residential areas so we're are in conversations with with our chief we'll include our attorney in order to explore what measures we can take if perhaps regulating and requiring them to uh register for the city and then giving them the expectations and obviously having a list of who's operating and whether or not this is legal outside of that I've had Direct conversations with the chief of stepping up the confiscating uh approach by our police that if these vehicles are found on the sidewalk they pose enough of a danger or create a situation where especially someone who is vulnerable life can be Peril because somebody's driving down the sidewalk and crashes people should have a reasonable expectation that motorized vehicles aren't going to be riding on the sidewalk while you're walking there but again council president members of the city council as always we will include the attorney ensure that we're in stpp and in line with uh state regulations and guidelines I had tried to preface my statements by my statements by explaining these are new situations that we're facing so obviously laws perhaps aren't catching up they're involving and being addressed as situations arise so we'll tread carefully in this area I also wanted to share that our initiative as we've been approaching the uh the fall and going into the winter to identify additional parking spaces we have begun designating parking spaces on public streets not designating them and giving them to others but painting lines parking spaces in order to ensure that we're maximizing spaces available so our last areas that we have painted we're Hudson Street and we're working on Myrtle Avenue where we'll paint actual parking spaces we're exploring additional areas like Monro Street and summer and areas that are high traffic in order to ensure that individuals aren't abusing the uh use of public spaces sometimes inadvertently council president members of the city council someone will park and then will park just enough far away where there's space in between but not enough for another car to get in you know there's three cars on this block and you could probably fit besides me yes that happens to me where you go six cars could have parked here so trying to paint these lines may help assist in that or resolve that also want to share that we were able to swear in three special officers or special threes retired officers that are working in our schools as SRO we're extremely excited about bringing non-retired officers for a number of reasons obviously their experience their ability to uh to be equipped just like any other police officer with the necessary uh support that they have that civilians don't have access to I think everyone knows what I'm speaking about as well as in terms of saving money because they are retired the cost is a little bit less so we uh we stretch out a little bit more of the resources that are made available to us as good stewards of the fundings in the city also wanted to share that our Pake football team had their uh their opening game at uh the city so we were extremely excited to uh see our team play and uh we welcome people to come and check out the games on Fridays Fridays also wanted to share with the community that we had a retirement in the city of P I know Omar wanted me to mention Karma's retirement Karma recently retired after 30 years in finance karma is excited to share that she no longer has to stress about getting the bills list ready um because councilman monk were constantly adamant that he wanted to make sure that bill this was a detailed for every council meeting so no we thank her for her many years of service and we're so appreciative to her I also wanted to share with the community that uh our election is coming up in November and our city clerk would like everybody to know that you can request mailing ballots all the way up to the uh last week before the election up to seven days prior Madam clerk is that correct up to seven days we remind our community that those who were automatically added to the mailin ballot list during covid are no longer oning so please do not wait till the last minute if you wish to participate in the election by mail and ballot please request you can get the application from our city clerk's office you can go toate cityhall.com or city of.com go to the Kirk's website you can download the application or you can come by and we'll assist you to the best of our ability and mail it in for you but if you're interested in voting by mail please fill out the application I wanted to congratulate the Mac the Mac not to be uh confused with Dr councilman Terence love who's known as the Mac in City we're talking about that's a term for someone who's very very cool that's uh long before uh some of our residents time some of those cool terms that come from a long time ago but the Mac the Mexican American Community Center is officially open on 19 Wall Street and uh it is debuting the Freda Art Exhibit it was a wonderful start to Hispanic Heritage Month celebrating Mexican Independence where the council general of New Jersey this year New Jersey received uh its own Council general of Mexico in New Brunswick and she continues to come to Pake she was there present uh there were presentations of History culture and we're extremely excited also we want to share that the Mexican parade will be this Sunday the Mexican parade will be this Sunday it begins at 10 o'clock on Sunday and ends on Monday at 6 no it uh begins some of us who have walked in do they understand who we're referring to no there will be uh the parade that begins uh with the flag raising at 10: then we should initiate the actual parade portion at 12:00 p.m. and then there will be a festival to follow at palaski Park we're excited about all the activities that will take place on September 14th 20124 there was the annual prayer walk and Rally from revive up we thank all those that participated and especially their willingness to be inclusive I know that Council Melo has been instrumental in the development over the years and the participation of so many groups wishing the very best for all residents and those who visit or come through pay as they come together uh with greater desire for all to work in unity praying and sharing well wishes for all community members I also wanted to share that on September 14th the P youth Council was recognized along with our Administration by the P Board of County Commissioners and director John Bartlett for exemplary service and dedication to the community and residents of Pake County for our ongoing commitment to address the complex issue of addiction mental health and leveraging Community Partners ships grants and targeted programs to support those in need we also want to highlight Miss L Burma peral who is a staff member here she's president of Columbia University getting her graduates degree but she began an organization called opiate free opiate free to address opiate addiction through their organization working with mega ever College they provide free Nar cams to individuals as well as fentol strips for free and they go around educating young people families throughout the state of New Jersey she went on behalf of the city in order to represent p and receive this award so we want to thank her we also want to recognize uh Council mariss colom montz and all those who worked with her including myself and so many others to recognize uh alysia's place on the corner of third am Virginia Miss Alicia who was known as mother Alicia Alisia troch Kavu was a longtime paake resident business owner who owned Alicia's bar and supported various recreational leagues such as softball pool Domino darts bowling and so much more so many family members came together for this street naming she had such long history and deep roots and we want to thank councilwoman Marissa colom montz for her leadership and vision in doing this naming I also want to share that September 14th in collaboration with Kane University with President Lamont rolet the john s Watson Institute for urban policy and the New Jersey Urban mayor's associate ation uh I had received in my role as vice president of the urban Mayors over 90 tickets to the HBCU historic black colleges and University football challenge with morouse versus Howard I took those tickets and provided them for free to our Pake football team our veterans and some of our community members we were at metti the band off or the uh the battle of the bands was extremely exciting the game was wonderful to watch and it was covered by the news so we were extremely excited for our youth we were able to engage with some of the historic black colleges as well as uh share opportunities for scholarships and we look forward to additional opportunities coming up on Thursday September 19th 2024 the Pake silver seniors Community Theater for the golden years will be at Ellen Ooa School 22 Dayton Avenue at 6 pm and we invite everyone to come out and support our talented silver seniors as they bring the community together with a heartwarming performance of their play the golden years for this Thursday night the golden years um we wanted to share new job opportunities that we are providing for our youth in the city in this season starting right now we have our photomy training which as the city was awarded a grant from the Department of Housing and Urban Development or as we refer to them as HUD through this Community Development block grant or City dbg we're offering photomy technician training at pccc arate County Community College as well as new CDL training we're beginning in-house and I think this is an extremely exciting initiative council president members of the city council obviously we have some challenges that we face and individuals who wish to make more so what we did is we actively sought out grants to provide in-house training and education for individuals who began working here let's say either as DMC cleaning the sidewalks DPW or otherwise and any other department that if you get your CDL you can be promoted into a position driving some of our bigger trucks and that increases the opportunities for employment as well it encourages advancement within our city we have some ongoing construction projects approximately one week remaining to finish off the project installing stormline within Oak Street between Myrle and Maine Avenue our New Jersey Department of Transportation Safe Streets to Transit with zukaro construction installing Ada ramps at the Grove Street Pake app Prospect Street Jefferson Street Hoover AB Summer Street Park View Place ball AB Donald AB orth AB Third Street reand ab and we recently just completed Pake Avenue and a GG Avenue I wanted to also share that we had a very solemn and uh well attended 911 ceremony in the city of p i want to thank obviously Council president Sher for his words all those that came and participated our council members who were present our fire department our police our ambulance emergency responders all department heads and all of the community that came present obviously to remember this date and always show our support for police fire emergency responders and all of our communities council president members of the city council those present that is the conclusion of my report thank you for the opportunity to update our community very good May thank you so very much a short statement if you'll allow me I listen of course as we all do to to your words um and I was reflecting while you were speaking your initial comments in terms of parking and length of trucks um which was exactly what was presented about two weeks to us in these Chambers um and I I mean such responsiveness is amazing and I just wanted to compliment you the police and who ever else was involved um this exactly what we should have what we need and and to see it being implemented um with proper uh time to to evaluate of course um I think it's just an incredible statement of of government in this city are there any questions for the mayor this support no I just wanna I just want to say that I went on to the website Pake City website today and I was like wait a minute am I on the right website they did update the website thank you for REM council president we have updated modernized the website and we want to thank uh council president sh who did all of the code writing I don't know why I I don't know how to turn on computer we want to thank Renee obviously uh Chris host it all those that worked so hard but it is state-of-the-art we receiving many compliments thank you Council woman Mar club monz for noticing and giving us an opportunity to highlight those who work behind the scenes they looked at websites all over the nation they took feedback from residents from community members from officials and they Incorporated so much and it's it's not an easy task council president because the goal is to make it as simple and plain as possible but try to make it userfriendly as intuitive as possible for people to get to the department and get the information and I think they did a stellar job thank you so very much councilwoman thank you m'am anyone else with the council's permission we're up to hearing of citizens R numeral six on our agenda in accordance with the open public meetings act njsa 104-1 at SEC the council opens every public meeting for comments of the public however in accordance with njsa 10 col 4-12 nothing in this act shall be construed to limit the discretion of a public body to permit prohibit or regulate the active participation at any meeting therefore please be advised that the council will not entertain any comments from persons who communicate OB scene material make statements which are considered bias intimidation in which a person intends to intimidate any individual or group because of race color religion gender handicap sexual orientation or ethnicity or makes comments intending to harass or speak any offensive language the person who makes these statements will will relinquish their allowed five minutes for public discussion if you would like to address the council we ask you to please share with us your name not your home address and everyone is limited to 5 minutes and 5 minutes only after 4 minutes the clerk's buzzer will ring signifying that you have one minute with which to conclude your remarks is there anyone who would like to address the council please yes ma'am if you could just move the microphone a little bit closer to yes that's great thank you now okay I'm put my timer on good evening my name is Susan white um I do reside in Pake New Jersey my whole life and I'm basically here to address three a 7 Day range starting with August 25th and August 25th when I got home from work there was a man in that backyard in a private parking lot I saw him checking three cars and somebody I asked one of my neighbors who just finished parking I said please wait till I get out of my car and when they parked my car he just stood in front of my car that's one incident then a week later on August 31st right here at one of the banks in the corner on a Saturday around 7:30 p.m. it was still light a Sunset and a man came by them and I put my card in an ATM machine and I he was he would leave me alone and I just yiled at a guy and he came over that's one incident they could see it on the camera in the bank if they have access to that and the third incident was at a restaurant right around the corner where female Homeless was belligerent and under the influence of something and she was B to read the owner for money he gave her money she come by my table ask me for money and I told her I would buy her food and she had chemical in her hand a bottle and she threw it in my face I took a over here because I do feel comfortable when I leave here tonight to D go here to my to walk to my car I'm not here to complain I'm just here for a solution I know the police do a great job but today it's me how you know is that going to be you or the people sitting behind me or people watching the zoom in closing I just want to see if you guys could see how we can rectify the safety for all that's in this room and everybody in town I know there's a lot happening everywhere it's not a city Pake issue but and I've had other incidents through the years that it Let It Go but three incidents in the 7 day period is kind of scary I'm complete have you been in touch with the police on any of these yes I just filed three police reports okay um in terms of these kinds of complaints sus that is what person's hands are really tied in terms of what they can do and can't do and reporting to the police is that's correct I mean what you need to do is you filled out your police reports and let them do their investigation yeah I was just hoping maybe we can see I don't know if we could see more police pres I know the police are around I see them but I don't know if we don't want to become like a skid Road in California or other areas right I just want to share that I'm not here to complaint I want to be clear I'm just here at a solution based and um that's all I want to say what kind of sus what well there's really from a council's perspective there's not that much they can do these are three seate incidents which um require investigation but as we sit here tonight um I I don't think that there's a lot that the council has a body um can do to and that being the case the police department the administration the government that's correct council president me through the council president I know there's an approach that we discussed and we've been able to implement we've had targeted Approach at uh obviously addressing any panhandling um not specifically the act of requesting funds but having people in the middle of the street or disturbing individuals and I believe that uh uh what Mrs Weiss was sharing was that as she was eating a homeless individual had attempted to request funds and was adamant about it and I believe our attorney is correct there are certain things that were limited but we are taking a general approach another approach that the police and R DPW have been working on is any abandoned item on the street whether shopping cart or otherwise with items have been confiscated and thrown out obviously we want to take a compassionate approach to those who are in need but we have a responsibility to the residents of this city to maintain order and though we we cannot arrest the homeless and it's just not an approach that's taken or supported in any level of government we have been taking more General and uh and pragmatic approaches to ensure that we also are an enabling or supporting behavior that compromises the quality of life of our residents on top of this we have been going around the city we have been Vigilant in terms of tents or any items that would be left out overnight or in areas outside there's an appropriate approach to that you can put in an application to the clerk for approval if you would like to camp out but you cannot simply choose to set up a tent and set up anywhere you want in the city I know that it does not directly address the concerns of the resident that has shared these unfortunate incidents however at the direction of the council I wanted to share along with our Administration we're looking at it from an overall perspective of how to address the issue because as you mentioned it's all over it's around the state of New Jersey it's in our neighboring states we've seen an increase of individuals that are on the street and they're approaching uh residents and family members we we encourage our residents to please not give money do not bring food to these areas because there only enables the conduct and encourages individuals to stay we have been working extremely hard over the years to invest invest in departments like human services where we facilitate applications direct people to appropriate shelters programs addictions Services mental health and wraparound Services we want to direct people to come get these Services sometimes well-intentioned individuals who have great Hearts they believe if I go to this location where I see people in need and bring them food and money I'm helping out and I wanted to share as a mayor it does not assist we are working extreme ex hard to ensure that we can maintain a quality of life that all residents deserve but we need everyone's cooperation and as to the resident Mrs Weiss on behalf of my Administration in the city though we're not responsible for that specific act I want to extend my uh I apologize to you for having to experience that not as a declaration of blame or taking responsibility for the exact act but because as mayor and along with my colleagues we don't want to see any Resident feel like they're not safe you deserve to feel safe in your city you deserve to go to a restaurant and eat at peace you deserve to walk around and though incidents can occur anywhere we will continue to work within the law taking direction from our attorney and in collaborative efforts with our police chief our DPW our human services and all departments that can assist to try to minimize these incidents we can't guarantee that they'll never happen but we will have greater Patrol especially during our commercial areas and high visible areas and continue the efforts that we've already started to try to reduce these or number of incidents I just want to be heard and I wanted you guys to be aware it's not locks away it's just few footsteps away thank you for listening thank you thank you mayor and thank you city council president Chief and everyone in here thank you anyone else like to address the council please hello hi my name is Alma Muhammad I reside in pic um my partner and I recently closing a home in 22 and 21 sorry the ending of 21 just speak a little bit louder please man um my partner and I recently closing a home our first home we purchased and was in pic and um the I could go on and on and on but we totally regret it um and at this point um I just wanted to address a certain issue that we having on our street which is Fourth Street between Monroe and Virginia we have homes on the street which um has basically um five or six or seven cars in one home and they pick up two parking spot three parking spot I have multiple videos called police multiple time they said that they can't do anything it's not illegal and I was just coming here to request if we could have the lines because if we could have the lines and you know somebody hold up two parking spot everyone pays taxes nobody wants to come home and has to drive around 10 times and someone holds up three parking spots you know so we just want to make sure that everything is equally served if we can have like lines where we all know hey it's one parking spot per car you know y you cannot you should not be allowed to take we have three cars in our home and never one day I hold up to parking spot and I just really want this to be addressed especially on Fourth Street because it has a lot of conflict with the neighbors a lot of conflict I had to call the cops one time before they wanted to jle me and you know come out and I am a person I don't back down I say no you cannot hold a three parking spot and he said to me well I want all my cars park on the same and there's a one one house 27 is just it just does it a lot even when I was leaving today I told one of the neighbors he was videoing him and he was I told him I said come down to the to the um city hall and say what what what needs to be done because we sh we just should not have you know cuz hey we all pay our taxes and we should not have one household picking up 10 parking spot for everyone saving parking spot it's unfair to all the rest of the neighbors that goes out to work and come in and we want to just park we just you know my house did not come with a park in and you know I'm fine with that and I just want us to have it equally shared I called the engineering they said to come down here at this meeting and I just wanted to move for just to ask please if we could just have it equal where we could have lines on the street where everyone know you get one spot you don't get two spots thank you thank you thank you ma'am Mar any thoughts M Muhammad thank you for coming here and sharing your thoughts I know you came I'm right here I know that um you came a little bit after in the initial report and the update to the council and sharing I think you'll be very pleased to hear we have just finished painting parking lines on Hudson Street we're moving on to Myrle in the next street that we have on the list would be mro street so it it was actually coincidental that you came I don't know uh that was definitely not arranged but we we've already started the process of painting parking lines though this this may not address the issue of how many cars people park on the street it will definitely reduce the incidents of individuals parking such a distance away that prevents an additional car to get in the middle and then they steal parking that's what is often referred to but we've already started the initiative and we're expanding it throughout the city the next spots that we will be looking at after Myrtle Avenue will be Monroe Street we actually had a meeting on it this morning so I had just up if you go to the video right before you came when we did the public portion I had just shared with the council that we will be doing Monro street so I know that's specifically what you requested I know that we've also just paved Third Street by Virginia all of Monro Street and uh we're going to continue the work on the road area over there and uh it is our desire that all new homeowners and residents in the city would be happy to be here we understand that we're not perfect but we're working hard to bring progress and improvements and we will be addressing your specific concern over the next few weeks but I thank you very much for sharing and behalf of my colleagues on the council who have been pushing for this initiative we are moving forward with the parking and the uh identifying parking spaces and painting them yeah on forth street thank you yes Noam we're getting there but do me a favor please come back once the striping is put in and see if it's it's successful of course every other Tuesday you'll be seeing me um one thing to to keep in mind and you yourself said it and that is that pic like other cities was not designed for families to have one car never mind two three or four cars my family frankly have five cars my wife and I what are we doing with three cars thank God we have a driveway not everyone does right um I mean New Jersey is a driving State yeah but urban areas were developed before people had so many cars or even had cars at all um I the mayor's initiative so far have proven to be absolutely precient um let's hope that um the striping in terms of those streets that that he shared with us will alleviate some of the pressure um um obviously the question becomes How about if all your neighbors have five cars and right it's just a conflict that you know we just want to get you know because I don't want to live bad with my neighbors you know I want to really good with my neighbors none of us do and we all want to live freely and peaceably and cooperatively with with our neighbors and Friends it goes without saying let's see if this will if this will have the desired effect it won't be perfect but if we can get closer um that that'll help us understand and and hopefully plan accordingly sounds great thank you good deal thank you man' council president to the council I just want to make sure that we temperary expectations we have a limited time obviously once we get into the winter the painting stops this just for practical reasons the season is in conducive we're going to try to get as many streets as 58 linear miles of roads in the city and as the council president shared there was a time when there was limited Vehicles years ago one vehicle per home now for $99 down no credit you can walk off the dealership so you end up getting those are what the commercials literally read in the signs you know with five or 10 cars but again we will paint as many lines as possible throughout this season but once we enter into the winter season it's just not conducive to paint with the Cod obviously with the school there's limited opportunities to close the roads to paint but we will try to get to as many roads because we want to do as many in the city as we can so again the list will be Myrtle Avenue and then after that we'll be Monroe and then we will explore the additional streets that we can Fourth Street Third Street in these areas thank you very good thank you mayor anyone else like to address the council please seeing no hands is EXC I'm sorry Mr K I didn't see you so Joe kenti thanks for the lights nice and bright in here my first question here is Gregory Avenue and Myrtle Avenue today they put the new signs I want to thank whoever was involved the police chief DPW the mayor whoever that my next question council president parking issues all the double parking number one number two at control is bus stops the bus has got to be almost in the middle of the street to pick up people let people off it's a shame that they have to do that um number three crosswalks and Corners all being blocked I don't know where the parking authority is I don't see any around Broadway uh paison Avenue all in that area there's nobody there need to enforce that or maybe come back and start Towing these cars send them a send them a message want the place to Myrtle Avenue I know recent there was a there was a shooting there um there's a lot of people hanging around there and we do have police that go up and down once in a while there they got that Sher of uh light whatever I don't even know if that's a camera working or what it is but they don't care there's a lot of people my point is there's a lot of people that don't live in that area and just hanging around drinking and causing trouble in that area allowed to do it I don't know at what time the uh that police station closes but they know that there's nobody there they can do whatever they feel like it and the liquor is hiding underneath the car wheels up inside the cars by the time the cop comes by they don't know if they're drinking or not drunk whatever it is something needs to be done over there my next question that I have is we need dog dog signs I notice in the area even on PA down by me they got like maybe two three dogs they walk the dogs nobody picks anything up let everything layser in the street the sidewalks you know it's pretty bad in fact other areas too has the same problem Broadway up on bake Avenue it's all over um I was talking to psng this week the fellow that does the lights so I offered I'm going to let you know that um as of this weekend I'm going to start listing all the lights that don't work um label them and and listing and them but we do have an issue I don't know if you guys know about it we have an underground issue there's one on Broadway that has an underground issue we have several on Main Avenue that has an underground issue and I don't know you guys can go to the higher up or somebody let them investigate and hopefully we can get that strained out before you do well in the middle of your new project on Main Avenue they could put new uh wiring my last uh thing here is these ebikes are out of control they're all over the sidewalk I know the officers are doing the best they can to cheat everybody I don't know if they need more equipment to do this project let them do what they got to do because now you got these businesses making deliveries and these bikes are all over the sidewalk they're pushing people out of the way with these bikes you know all over the street they're everywhere um like to see something down these are my questions tonight so bit of a disadvantage Mr kissan because I heard a lot of statements um many appreciated um many of which I think we all agree with but I don't really didn't really get questions um you mentioned the issue with dogs um sh not person your time is up sir I'm I'm not personally familiar with it although my daughter has a dog which she walks in the dog uh area right um it's something which all of us as members of the society have got to deal with these things your initiative in terms of uh psng lights um is appreciated it's a good initiative um I I pray that it works um your comment about bus stops or have to double park because people are parking where they shouldn't be parking all these are excellent points um and we can certainly you know alert our Police Department that you know in terms of these kinds of problems which are really quality of life issues um that more be done as can be done um obviously there are a constant uh conflict with with other kinds of criminal activities that um are more highly visible and and recognizable condition um so I hear your statements I think that we all do um you know what uh at this point councilman love has his light on Council why you continue if few Minds yeah just um some of the comments and and they go along with um some of Mrs Muhammad's comments um we struggle with this and I'm going tell you what we struggle with we struggle with um having laws and trying to balance what we can't regulate and that that's citizens who have compassion for their neighbors and and and have respect that that's it's so tough for us um the painting out of lines and I sure hope it works I'm not going to be a naysayer and say it doesn't and it it may help alleviate but then you're going to run into other problems when people are nasty um including double parking and doing those things they're going to do it regardless when people are nasty tickets and tickets have been you can you can check with the chief and go in to records because we do get reports about tickets being um for dogs um people letting their dogs go for double parking quite often I'll let you use my cell phone and you'll see you'll get calls with people complaining they got um double parking tickets so there's tickets being written Council we were number two in the county the recent article forgive me the interruption that came out identified the City of Pacific as number two in the county for issuing the most tickets in terms of violations traffic and otherwise I believe it was just over 60,000 and we were number two which was evidence that our police have been consistent doing their job and as Mr kenti shared at the direction Council men love and the council the signs were put up on Myrtle and how and they gave numerous tickets if you drove by today you would have seen many cars are no longer parking there rather it was empty with the exception of one and they handled it in the morning so that is evidence that at the council's direction to the police chief and through the administration there has been a greater response and we thank those who share but I wanted to support your statement because I said you got the report the news also covered it we were the number two City we're not the second largest city but we issued as in terms of traffic violations and other tickets to we were number two on the list for most tickets issued so want to support what you stated thank you so much mayor for that for those comments um you and Mr condescend you have firsthand and see we we're very proactive and reactive to many of this well all of our citizens concerns um but there's I just want to point out there's just some things that no matter how many ordinances how many laws we cannot walk up and and demand people to be courteous and respectful in certain areas we're going do our best in terms of um again we're going to continue to pass ordinances and laws that help um alleviate some of that but I I can't be clear enough that that's one of our struggles each one of my colleagues as well as the mayor of trying to find that balance and that happy medium with having our police um patrol and enforce laws and um deal with citizens who are unruly and and a lot of it is not breaking laws they just not nice individuals but we will continue to do the best we can with that thank you Council thank you Mr anyone else like to address the council please good evening I'm here for the situation we have on Ninth Street we have your your name sir please name is Eric C the situation we have on nin Street with the mattresses being outside still happening a police officer came by the the people that work there told them no we're gonna put them away we're gonna put them away the the officer left they never put it back they never put it away um sometime last week there were four four box trucks two on this side and do on that side taking off the parking space which we don't have another thing is that they work 7 days a week at 7 o'clock you hear the the um the gate going up every day 7 o'clock before that the trucks already coming in so you hear the be be be Saturday Sunday the whole week the entire week it's always the same thing another thing the ID the idling the trucks they not turning them off and they got music on and they screaming and talking profanity and Spanish so basically I think I hit all my points I think I did and my neighbors didn't know it was today I remembered that's why I came but yeah that's about it um everything I said though yeah the trucks are still there they were the Pi there with a 18 wheeler there the other day I I I don't I don't yes please please go on forgive me for interrupting you what what was that I was going to say I don't know sir if you were here at the beginning of public uh session uh but the mayor in in fact during the mayor's remarks um he mentioned uh the police department and in consultation with other groups uh that were looking at restricting the length and the number of axles on the I'm right with that mayor to explore legally how we can create an ordinance that will restrict the uh length of the trailers and by axles and not by weight so that should reduce it the police have been there we also involved our fire because of the mattresses posing potential public safety concerns as they are extremely flammable so they've been receiving tickets we are on top of it this may not be a great consolation sorry the mic was off very quickly yes the council president is correct we're exploring legal measures in order to restrict the length of the vehicles through the axles rather than weight which we feel would be much more productive and successful we had fire safety go as well because the mattresses propos public safety concerns as they are flammable this may not be of great consolation but they will be moving and they have an expectation that they will be leaving the area in a year into an area where there is less uh residential presence the police have been consistently there the chief can speak more to that they continue to give them tickets all I can say is give us a little bit of time we're not going to resolve it overnight but we at the council's direction at the last meeting the police have been going almost every day to address the issue we've also involved the health department in order to ensure that if there are any concerns in the area they receive the appropriate violations and potentially can be shut down the hours of operation are of concern that obviously creates issues of quality of life the disturbance is not permitted after a certain time so there's a reason expectation during the day that they're going to have operations going on but not after the sun goes down so we will address that additionally but know that the council did follow up on it addressed it with our chief with our department heads and again we're looking through fire safety to try to be more I don't want to say heavy-handed but appropriate and making sure they adhere to the regulations and guidelines that they're supposed to I think I think the matter is brought it out magnificently we're working on it but seriously working on it um they they've spent hours checking into different things to do um making shorter trucks would certainly achieve some of that uh obviously the police are more active there um so that the streets are are passable um so I think we're moving hopefully we can get something um to discuss in terms of an ordinance change within the immediate future um but I'll tell you I as I complimented the mayor before you know you were accompanied by a number of of other people from the area uh two weeks ago and U my gosh I don't know how you whipped it out so quickly mayor uh but you know to your credit so so hopefully God willing at our next meeting you can come and tell us that we need to do more but you're seeing evidence that things are getting better okay and thank you for coming by tonight no problem thank you thank you guys thank you anyone else like to address the council please would like to close there's a motion to close public potion and there is a second roll call to close please councilman monk councilman love yes counc yes I'm sorry I was muted yes yes Council M yes councilman Schwarz yes councilman Garcia yes councilman goz yes and council president sh yes thank you very much we're up to ran numeral 7 ordinances for second and final reading a hearing is required number one proposed ordinance 2460 d24 and ordance amending the designation of restricted parking for disabled persons by New Jersey license plate number is there anyone who would like to address the Council on this item and this item only close second there's a motion there's a second to close public hearing roll call councilman monk yes yes councilman love yes councilman Melo yes councilman Schwarz yes councilman Garcia yes Council yes council president yes that was to close is there a motion I'm sorry that was to open okay I thought we had you know what you're younger than I am so I'm going to take your good advice here and that is that we're going to say that that was is to open public hearing is there anyone who would like to address the Council on this item and this item only say no hands I move to close to public portion there's a motion to close public portion roll call councilman monk yes councilman love yes councilwoman Melo yes councilman councilman Garcia Council yes and council president sh yes thank you is this on the ordinance now on the ordinance is there a motion to accept the ordinance please motion and second rooll call please councilman monk yes councilman love yes councilwoman Melo yes councilman Schwarz yes councilman Garcia yes councilwoman colz yes coun president yes thank you uh items two three and four under Communications remanu on our agenda are there any questions please on 2 three 4 seeing no lights at this time is there a motion please to accept 2 three and four motion second and second roll call please on two three and four councilman monk yes councilman love yes councilwoman Melo yes councilman Schwarz yes councilman Garcia yes councilwoman KZ yes and council president sh yes thank you all matters listed here under considered to be routine in nature items 5 through nine are there any questions please on 5 through nine seeing no lights is there motion please to accept items 5 through nine so move motion and second roll call please on five through nine councilman monk yes councilman love yes councilman Melo yes councilman Schwarz yes councilman Garcia yes councilman goz yes and council president sh yes thank you we're up to resolutions R numeral nine on our agenda number 10 a resolution authorizing closed executive session of the city of De Susie do we need close session no council president thank you Mr Mayor sir none at this time council members of the council very good if we could look then please at items 11 through 15 are there any questions please on 11 through 15 just um if I can councilman love please I'm sorry counc just 14 and and uh 16 this just a explanation of what's I I see we're selling but what uh why Administration going this route why is it best for the city sure um councilman this was a property that has been blighted and abandoned for quite a number of years we received numerous complaints on Broadway um that's where garbage was being dumped homeless individuals were staying there we were receiving numerous complaints of vermin um we had given numerous opportunities for the individual who was the owner of the property who was receiving funds from the city to develop the property to to move forward with the project after about two years of constant violations and pushing they didn't respond so unfortunately because these funds come from HUD there was a requirement to return the funds and it was designated to be a project that would provide affordable housing as as well as uh commercial opportunities in this area Broadway again we had a challenge having individuals pick it up because they basically stopped the development halfway it became a real challenge within the city so working with our uh Community Development we were able to put it back out and try to get individuals who would be willing to take up the project and we were looking for what is often referred to as a chto or a community based organization that would ensure that it would remain a non for-profit project be a viable project as well as be eligible for the funding that comes from the federal government which is extremely closely scrutinized I mean it is hyp scrutinized considering things that go on throughout the nation we were able to have an applicant that met all of those requirements it was a recommendation of the Redevelopment board but to ensure that obviously all things are done correct the resolution comes with a series of con encies or conditions that must be met that we're approving to try to expedite the process because it would be to the benefit of the community the city and the immediate area to have that cleaned up we cannot leave it like that and we cannot touch it as long as it belongs to the city we've been trying to clean it but we we're not in the development business we're not in the real estate business we need to get this off of our hands so you'll see that there are numerous conditions for this individual and they must this Corporation must meet every single one of them so this vote is They will receive the funds that will be scrutinized by the federal government they will be accountable directly to the federal government they meet all of the criteria to be eligible for it but if at any time they do not meet any of these conditions set forth by the council and the recommendation of the Redevelopment board they will not be able to move forward and then it will go to obviously anyone else that can be eligible but this has been on our books if I may tab our finance officer how many years have we had this that hasn't moved forward Omar since 2016 with no movement on it and I mean this is garbage verman homeless so we are hoping that obviously as this move forward these developers are able to and again it's not for profit alization within the city they are able to move it forward provide the afford housing clean the area up and finally get this cleaned up it's unfair to the businesses and the residents in the area to uh to continue to have to endure this and these funds I know that uh Mrs hunt who was over Community Development has mentioned that we have an obligation to utilize These funds if we do not from the federal government they go back to the federal government just two followup questions do we have any experience with this agency that's in terms of development yes they've done developments but this project will be their official uh Community organization uh project what that means is every chto what is referred to as a chto must have a community affordable housing project in the city if they complete this one they are eligible in the future if they do not complete this one meeting all of the conditions that are listed they will not be eligible for any future project so as we've done these chals in the past they all have to complete one successfully and it must be obviously affordable housing and must pass all code and meet all the criteria of Hud if they do not they are not eligible this is the only one present that is actually within the city we've worked with chos outside of the city this is the first one and obviously we commend the city council and the boards in Community Development because we want to encourage these organizations within the city but the truth is we just want responsible ones so that we wish this one the best if they can't do it we'll take one from California if they can get the project done ethically and responsibly and that's what we're really looking for thank you thank you any other questions please on 11 through 15 Senor lights at this time is there a motion please to accept 11 through 15 motion and second Ro call please councilman monk yes councilman love yes councilwoman Melo yes councilman Schwarz yes councilman Garcia yes Council monz and council president Sher yes thank you up to REM numeral 10 on our agenda ordinances for introduction and first reading 16 an ordinance authorizing the private sale of property at 24 Broadway city of pic New Jersey to be designated redeveloper New Horizon Community Action Corporation pursuant to njsa 40 a Col 12-13 C and njsa 40a col 12a d8g is there a motion please to set down for second and final reading at our meeting of October the 1 motion and second roll call thank you councilman monk yes yes councilman love yes councilwoman Melo yes councilman Schwarz yes councilman Garcia yes Council mon monz yes and council president sh yes thank you payment of bills are there any questions on the bills seeing none at this time is no motion please to accept the bills move it second and second roll call councilman monk yes councilman love yes councilman Melo yes councilman Schwarz yes councilman Garcia yes Council MZ yes and council president Sher yes thank you we're up to R 12 which is administrator's report we understand that our administrator is fra looking in Miami Fring and yes um we miss him terribly we hope he comes back in one piece the mayor's report remember 13 Mr Mayor very briefly we want to thank Doris I know it was mentioned at the beginning of the meeting but at the council's request we have new lights the lights are bright they're working be light but also uh we we've invested in extremely bright spotlights around City Hall they will be on all night and spotlights sometimes become very uncomfortable for people to sleep or stay in that area uh as many of you know when you go to bed you want to turn off the light it is approached that we are taking throughout uh many areas of concern putting extremely bright light so I want to thank Doris for her efforts in ensuring that we can find the uh least expensive approach to addressing some of the concerns while uh improving uh function within our city hall so council members she did respond and as you can see the the speaker that came up acknowledged it as well brand new lights inside so is that in terms of of dealing to some extent with the housing with people yes we find that there are certain areas that are more conducive or incentivizing for individuals and of course they are very unfortunate and sometimes hard to describe um issues that arise when people are are staying in public areas sometimes when they wake up like everyone else they have certain biological functions that must take place and we don't want that occurring um on the streets especially with so much traffic kids going to school elderly and individuals coming for City Hall for service we're putting up fences we're putting up lights we're taking every approach to ensure that we can responsibly address these concerns and that's one of the measures so you'll see those at night time extremely bright lights it improves visibility for the police and ensures that no one is hitting it also serves for the protection of individuals if you're in the dark by yourself and no one can see you something could happen you you could be hurt you could have a health issue and the police won't know now with greater visibility it helps us to address concerns all the way around ensure the safety of residents and perhaps those that are often in vulnerable States temporary or long term thank you thank you sir councilman M thank you council president um mayor since you're mentioning the lights so that area by the bus stop on Main Avenue I think that would be a great place because you know that section where you have um the bushes sometimes you may see homeless people sleep in there yes and I want to thank the Council on their work in partnership with the administration as you know we're going to get a brand new bus stop a $6 million bus stop that's going to be removed that bus stop um we're working to push that along but that's going to become perhaps a passive Recreation maybe seating for the businesses the many eateries in the area we're also looking at a potential layouts where we remove the areas where people can sit or lay and just leave open flat spaces in fact the council president the Segways into a report one of the new approaches that we're taking for new business to discuss and the council will obviously be instrumental in this is to change the entire Courtyard of City Hall and just leave a flat open space as we've seen or a level ground as we've seen in other municipalities which become extremely conducive for activities but not so much for sitting or sleeping or laying or staying around in nowhere that you can necessarily be out of sight I don't want to say hidden but out of sight wouldn't take the same approach with that area once the new bus stop comes and this is just our approach to try to be responsible and address things through appropriate and creative architecture and looking at other municipalities and saying this has worked there sometimes aesthetically it's really nice to have all these benches in the big bushes the pr is they're also extremely conducive and with the increase of rain we saw an increase of vermin with the work that has occurred on gas lines and water lines which sometimes are means of transportation for Vermin or for rats they've come out well as we recently learned and I think we've we've all become experts on rats during our meetings every week I know that's not their favorite topic something that we learned is they can't survive more than 24 hours without water and because water gets absorbed by the roots of trees and plants they tend to burrow into those areas because because they survive off the water of the roots so we're not arbitrarily removing some of these bushes and trees and plants because we're anti- green because we planted as a body working with the council and administration over 700 trees in the city alone over the last couple years but we will be strategically removing some of these bushes and small trees out of areas where we've seen increase of verment looking to ask for it or pave it and have flat ground remove a lot of the uh seating it will serve for greater space for activities as well as to reduce instances of verment or individuals thinking it's a great place to hide and sleep and stay Thank you thank you may councilman love just um really quick um we have one of our very involved citizens talk about lights in public service um Can can you just go over the the difference between city lights that that we have and and um the public service lights um and and how it should be reported that is a great question thank you councilman and I'll be uh I'll try to be succinct so we pay for the lights but we do not repair them that is psng and we have to reach out to them because though we pay for the service it is their responsibility much like electricity in your home a little bit it's Florida now that you may change the bowl but you don't touch the gas lines you don't touch the meters or you're not supposed to the city doesn't touch them we call them for repairs each of the polls have numbers on them or should have visible numbers we've encouraged residents for years that when you see the number PSG right on the website and we appreciate any Resident that wants to share it to the city council but I want to empower our residents to know you can report it directly you can go right online all you have to do is submit the numbers so let's just say for I pick arbitrary numbers 9801 is on the poll you go on the website you type in 9801 poll light is out PS will put it on the schedule you can actually read on the website when they will take care of it and when it is done so we encourage all residents but if you report it to our PS if you report these to psng it probably is a lot easier but if you send it to DPW you send it to City Hall will report it to psng obviously more residents more eyes you may see something that we miss if we're all working together we can have lights put up but your question to distinguish is so important or rather your request to distinguish some people say why don't we put up more lights and we have to sh it is a service so the more polls that we request the more we have to pay for electricity so we try to be extremely strategic and ensuring that we're lighting up areas that are needed and being able to report these save us money because sometimes simply changing the bulb to a different kind of bulb LED or otherwise May create more lighting and reduce the need to create new poles thank thank you pres thank you sir any other uh questions seeing none at this time is there a motion to adjourn please so Move Motion motion and second to to aour councilman monk councilman love yes councilwoman Melo yes councilman Schwarz yes councilman Garcia yes councilman goong monz yes and council president Sher yes thank you this meeting is adjourned thank you ladies and gentlemen members of the council and administration thank you