e e e e e e all right the notice requirement provided for the open public meeting law has been satisfied notice was properly given said notice Haven been transmitted to news on Tuesday January 16th as well as posting on the city's website clerk may we have a roll call council members Briggs Jones present councilwoman Cherry present councilman McCrae present councilwoman sesum present councilman Wyatt present let the record reflect that councilman is present remotely vice president Graham pres council president hak pres we have all members president and a quum please rise for the pr Allegiance and stand for the invocation I to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liy and justice for all humbly we ask God The Giver of peace and the lover of Charity to give the entire family of Nations true agreement with his will to Grant the light of his Spirit on all those who work for justice and for peace amen amen may I have a motion to approve the minutes of uh the regular meeting of March 11th 2024 so move all in favor say I I I any opposition or abstentions and none uh the minutes are approved uh we're going to initiate the the meetings celebrating our uh men and women uh on the planfield high school basketball team uh we're so proud of their Seasons uh was able to witness many Council people uh Mayors everybody all out as a community watching you young men men and young women play and make us so proud um the season was a great season and it was just uh a a a pride and joy to be from Playfield to see you all perform so admirably and this is just a beginning right we got another year another season where we're looking forward to uh watching you and supporting you through the ups and downs all right so uh it's awesome so I'm going to uh invite we'll do uh ladies first so the the women I'm just going to read a resolution and if uh all any uh members uh of the women's basketball team and their coaches can come up and families if you'd like if you uh and I'll give you the resolution Council people can uh join as well okay so I'm not going to read the entire resolution uh but I will read um The planfield High School boarden uh uh high school girls basketball team promising to start the season highlighted by victories in divisional play to remark record of 11-1 earned in the title of Union County conference Mountain division Champions a feat not accomplished in over 40 years underscoring their historic achievement this is a historic team give a round of applause for this team amazing uh I'll allow if if anyone wants to speak then they can just speak up on be behalf of of the team and you can just say thank you you don't have to give a a whole speech but you know you got supporters out there you see you heard how loud those claps were um hello everyone I just wanted to say thank you and I appreciate everyone that came to our games and supported us do it [Applause] all [Applause] 3 two one thank you all than thank you thank thank you council president good afternoon mayor counsel and all assembled here wow it's a great day I'm assemblywoman Linda Carter and I know that you all just got back up and just sat back down but we're going to ask you to come right on back up here again and all because you are so deserving on behalf of Senate President Nick scari assemblyman Jim Kennedy and myself all of the state legislature we are so proud of you we congratulate you on doing what you do not only on the court but what also what you're doing in the classrooms please keep mindful that these are scholar athletes and they are doing their thing they are more than just you know taking a ball and bouncing a ball around they are strategizing they are coordinating they are working together they are making sure that they use all the tools that they have in their toolbox to move them along on that court and that's not an easy task but it's also what you guys are doing in your classroom because you're also beating the odds congratulations keep up the great work I have citations for each of your team members and all I'm going to give them to the coaches CU I don't want to give them to the wrong individuals but again behalf of Senate President Nick scari assemblyman Jim Kennedy and myself representing legislative district 22 and living right here in planfield you make us proud and you'll continue to make us proud thank [Applause] you 3 two one [Music] we also have our young men as well come up members of the men basketball [Applause] team all right some absolute Ballers again in the classroom and on the court some exciting games we were able to witness uh in the playoffs uh it's it's just a a special feeling when your team is able to be in the playoffs and to see them fight you know for with everything on the line these are gentlemen that have uh so much grit and resilience that they displayed on the court it's just an honor to be here uh today uh so I'm just going to present this this resolution um and what I will say I won't read the whole thing but the team's achievements included victories over four top 20 ranked opponents includ including Elizabeth Lyon arts and Philipsburg as well as being crowned the champions of the Joe Sil Holiday Tournament just a highlight of what these young men have [Applause] done anybody want to give just a quick uh congratul please good evening everyone on behalf of our head coach Mike Gordon we appreciate the acknowledgement and we are elated to bring the city together while making a run the ultimate goal is to bring a championship back to playing field we aren't done yet and we are ecstatic to have the school ministration and the City of planfield support more work is going to be done you will see these young men running throughout the city as we prepare for the next year's run thank [Applause] you I'm going to tell you something when you look around this room we do see Excellence here in city of planfield not only our girls but also our boys what you all are doing not just on the court but in your classrooms in your school and in our community is truly amazing and again on behalf of Senate President Nick scari assemblyman Jim Kennedy myself we want to congratulate you for what you have done because you stayed the course you made sure that you took what you were had in the classroom and you put your knowledge and your thought and all of that learning to the courts and guess what you continue to soar and you're going to continue to sore as you climb through your high school years congratulations [Applause] Council and the mayor uh join us for a picture Miss right guys ready here's someone now okay uh councilman Council vice president Graham will take over uh the resolutions he has for uh planfield police officers and their heroic efforts go right ahead sure yeah so the uh the basketball team you're welcome to stay for the meeting but you're also uh it's okay if you uh have homework to do you're welcome you got homework right I F I figured take care got of work to do said can the rest of the council come join me up here as well please absolutely thank you as our uh council members come up and acknowledge these great officers I'd like you to allow me a few moments just to uh tell their story and I hope I get it right it was an ordinary day in uh planfield and these officers behind me they were um at a uh they were on traffic Duty I'm sorry not traffic Duty traffic jobs at a construction site the pscg work that you see going on around town they were just posted there there was a Chase in North planfield with a minivan North planfield chased them into planfield they aborted their chase the minivan enters our town they um come up on a lady and they shoot at her car lady doesn't realize that her car was shot at didn't know that she just heard gunshots didn't know until later that this gentleman had shot her car as he enters into the town he's driving around at a high rate of speed he sees a man on his bicycle and he deliberately uh runs this man over on his bike kills the man that's the only part that you heard on the news what you didn't hear is all the behind the scenes things that we're going to talk about tonight detective Tyler James who isn't here with us Lieutenant sylvest Christopher Sylvester and Sergeant Brian [Applause] Oliver detective uh Tyler James has the street blocked off Sergeant Brian Oliver is in his car the gentleman Rams his car through the road stop hits I'm sorry detective Tyler James Dives out the way just in time because that man was coming for him and as the van is coming through that roadblock he hits Tyler james' vehicle then he runs into Sergeant Brian Oliver's car making the car spin into the air Sergeant Brian Oliver is unconscious at that time the gentleman fires Two Shots from his gun Brian hears the gunshots comes to because at that point he felt like his life was going to be over if he did not get out of the car in time at that time detective Tyler James orders the man to drop his weapon man drops his weapon then he runs then he comes back to retrieve his weapon and is at that time Sergeant Brian Oliver fires two shots at the man so God was on everyone's side because Brian nor um Lieutenant Christopher Christopher Sylvester did not get shot this man was on some type of drugs some strong drugs where he felt no pain when Lieutenant Christopher Sylvester arrived he tackled the man and it took the fight of his life to bring this man to Justice and you can see how big Lieutenant of these guys are but it took a lot to bring this guy down and so these guys are heroes and I wanted to give them their acknowledgements thank you and so these officers have their resolutions that I won't read out out loud because there's three separate resolutions for these three officers and before we begin to take our pictures I want our PBA president to come up and get in a picture with us all right thank you ladies and gentlemen [Applause] all 3 two one I would like to thank Council mcgraham for bringing this up to us I was kind of a surprise this morning when I got his phone call about this um 21 years of my career I've been here been in a lot of crazy incidents this was probably the worst most crazy incident we've been involved in this guy was out trying to kill everybody and uh luckily I mean fortunately somebody lost his life that day but we had the right guys in the right place at the right time to uh take him down with anybody getting hurt uh we all survived and uh we appreciate this thank you very [Applause] much thank you Council MC Graham thank you planfield city council City administrators and thank you the citizens of planfield for giving us the opportunity to serve [Applause] you good evening for those who you who don't know my name is James Abney I'm the Police director of this great Police Department the planfield police department in the city of planfield these actions are just a few of the actions that are taken by the men and women of the planfield police department on a daily basis to make our city safe is I am thankful that councilman Graham wanted to reach out and acknowledge some of the some of the actions that have uh some of the duties and responsibilities that some of our officers have taken over the years uh this is not a job that we take lightly uh we're doing everything we can to make this city a safer place to live work and play on a daily basis and I'd like to say thank you to the both of [Applause] you all right I'll invite the mayor up uh for a presentation to the tennis Association e good evening good evening everyone hi I'm superintendent of pars Recreation and uh our mayor was gracious enough to give us a proclamation honoring uh national tennis month which is learn to play tennis month which is the month of May we're doing it now so you to come to the courts in for all these wonderful programs that we have and we also want to show you who's recognizing tonight all the entities that coordinate tennis in the city of plan we have a representative from we have the president of the USA representative for the state of New Jersey we have Andreas here they have they have a presentation for you there so I'll let them talk later uh we have Representatives the uh playful public schools here we have our varsity coaches Carl de and uh dve Sean and we have team I have Dr dor who's the coordinator of for tennis for the city of plart recreation I have holl Williams and ingred Floyd representatives from the Netherwood tennis Association I have Curtis Brown young I'm having like AIS young representative from the Don BL tennis Education Association I have you from the USAA so um everyone's here tonight because in Playfield Tenn we've all work together to share all the resources we have quality programs to youth res for the city of planfield and while we're representing tennis tonight next month I'll be bringing you learn to play Pickleball month but we won't confuse the two and in honor of our mayor we're moving uh since uh learn to play tennis month is in May we're moving our our uh signature event PL Place T to Sunday May 19th we know would have posted in June we're moving May 19 and mayor I just want to let you know that Hazel has promised me we're going to have a court devoted to barban road tennis so we can show y that is so we're gonna we're GNA we're going to display that at play for Place tennis this year so we let you know so I let if you would with your uh permission of course the representative from New Jersey state usdaa would like to make a comment and they have a GI for you if that's all right that's perfectly fine but we have our resol yes thank okay so we wanted to hand out these proclamations just honoring you and all of the work that you do in planfield and bringing tennis to our community so I have one for each representative here anyone come up and and say something oh it's a great honor for us representing USA I'm from New Jersey Council director uh president of New Jersey um USA okay thank you for everything thanks everyone because of you guys we are here [Applause] thanks yeah and come very um hi I'm ingred Floyd I'm a board member of the Netherwood Tennis Club um a little known club that a lot of people doesn't know exist we're on coolage street right off of 7th Street uh we are thankful to Veronica to the mayor and to the city for all the Investments that you've made for Community tennis for if people haven't seen it we have the most amazing courts in this area that includes several new facilities and several that have been in uh recently renovated so we thank you for your investment in tennis and continuing to allow Community tennis to be a part of plan feel thank you our varsity coaches hi my name is Dave Chong uh I represent Playfield High School in girls and boys varsity tennis and I just want to let you guys know that they've built a brand new facility for us and also for the city and you all need to come down one day and probably come and play on the courts and hopefully on that day that we have that special so we want to welcome everyone to the tennis court we want more parents to come please to support and in addition to that look at all these young players we have we're going to grow even more each and every year thanks to planfield [Applause] hi Curtis Young from the Donald Van Blake Tennison Education Foundation uh we uh we hold programs throughout the year for the kids in the community because that's what m Mr van Blake uh found this organization for so we we're looking forward to being part of this part of the activities here in planfield and we just hope that everybody comes out and take advantage of the these opportunities that are here in Playing Field as far as tennis and and pickle ball thank [Applause] you good evening everyone I'm inz dorm the uh coordinator for the uh Recreation Department's tennis program I think this is wonderful day to recognize tennis I thank you mayor and I thank you counsel you know it was in 2014 that few of us from planfield I could think of Renee Ralph and relab coat we presented Ronnie with a idea our idea was that more people in planfield should to play tennis on the courts in planfield and we felt that it should be the recreation department to lead that so we wrote a little Grant got some help from USA and we had our first playing field plays tennis in 2014 and since then as they say the rest is history through collaborations with the other tennis uh organizers and with our parents with the wonderful support of the mayor and the council planfield now has some of the greatest tennis facilities in the state and our plane field in the Parks is the Envy of every Community around us I thank you Mr Mayor and the counseling for allowing us to help playing field play tennis so I'd be very brief in my comments there's no coincidence that I took office in 2014 that's not a coincidence but I also want to to commend all of you the coaches and everyone that's involved in tennis in the city of planfield the investment that has been made by our Public School District as well as by the city of planfield is a demonstration of how we feel about tennis our commitment to this port ensuring that the facilities are available so that you could play at your best level and that the facilities will be conducive to you excelling in this Sport and so we commend you we thank you for your involvement I thank Ronnie as the superintendent for recreation for her leadership in this area and rest assured that we will continue to provide the support and the resources with the support of our governing body because we can't do it without them to make sure that tennis continues to thrive in the city of plainy thank you and God bless all of [Applause] you set us up camera come everybody you are you serious okay that was awesome it's always good when we can applaud aspects of our community community that make us better it makes us a more desirable place to work live and play and that's just a highlight of some of the things that we offer here in planfield so I'm looking forward to uh to learning how to play tennis all right pickle ball too okay we have ordinances mc22 2413 through MC 20248 which are scheduled for public hearing second hearing and final passage for the regular meeting as advertised okay uh regarding uh legislative items R 18224 through R 186 through2 24 do we have a consensus to add these items to the voting meeting yes yes okay uh all in favor say I I I any opposition or abstentions okay those items are added to the voting meeting um would the business administrator please present their items council president four items nope okay so we have a resolution recognizing may as national tennis month which we just went over um we have uh the reappointments of two people to the Alcohol Beverage Control Board we have a resolution support in support of converting existing and underutilized railroad tracks to be walking and bike paths for for in New Jersey and this is a resolution of support that we want to send down to the state um so that the state can keep funding doing things like this they just recently uh provided $1.5 million to transfer their raway Valley Line that is no longer in use into a bike and pedestrian path and it's been a great success so we're hoping that they will continue to support initiatives like that and um we could potentially see that in planfield one day and then finally we have our resolution to use Cedarbrook Park uh for $113,000 with the county and that would be for July 4th the fireworks and concert which would actually be on July 5th this year okay uh do we have consensus to add these items to the voting meeting yes yes yes okay all all in favor hi hi any opposition or extensions okay clerky may add those uh the the Department of Finance with the finance director present their items good afternoon all I have five items six items for your approval first one is the introduction of the 2024 um Municipal budget for the current fund for the parking utility for the sore utility and for the solid Bas utility second one is resolution solution authorizing the adoption of the current from temporary Appropriations budget this is um four grants were added to the appro the temporary budget third one is the resolution to reappropriate certain Grant Reserve balances associated with arpa funds fourth one is resolution eliminating the need for taxpayer signature as claimant certification on tax refunds this is where some taxpayers are due a refund and we would send them the PO to sign and they not aware of what they have to do and some POS are still sitting out there so this is to eliminate the signature so we can go ahead and process those and get them off the books and then there's resolution authorizing approval to cancel interest and NSF fees on block 934 lot 31 this taxpayer had made the payment on online and for some reason it was rejected and it's not the taxpayer's fault the payment was made in time and we want to not charge them the NSF fees and to cancel the interest that was charged to their account and the last one is the resolution authorized an approval to issue tax refund on various properties there various properties that are due at tax refund for overpayment and there are quite a few so we just put them all into one resolution okay any questions from council members okay do we have consensus to add this to the voting agenda yes yes any opposition or abstentions yes just for the record um 191 uh for the introduction of the budget has to be voted on separately so report the votes we'll do thank you all right so uh the remaining items are added to the voting meeting uh will the Police director please present his items yeah uh try it again TR try to bring your your mic a little closer I'm not sure if it's uh registering can you hear me now you can hear me now all right let me try let me start again okay sir I have two items for your approval the first one is the U for the city of playfields police department to purchase six uh handheld radios for the uh officers that they use on a daily basis these radios are broken quite often and we need some uh new radios we need new equipment and that's what that's about uh the second one is a professional service contract cont track with lexip pole they are the accreditation manager that we use um as you know the department was uh accredited last year uh this is an expense that we um need to keep everything uh uh in line so that we stay accredited on a daily basis every year we want to make sure that everything we're doing is uh is up to par and it's the best that it can be that's all I have any questions from council members do we have consensus to add these items to the voting meeting yes yes any abstentions or opposition okay we go ahead and add those to the meeting uh fire will the fire director please present his items good evening good evening councel good evening I have one resolution for you tonight that would be for awarding a contract to protective Paving for the improvements at fire station engine 3 which is on Bergen and um uh West Third Street any questions from Council Members okay do we have consensus to add this to the voting meeting yes yes uh any opposition or exensions okay that shall be added okay Department of Public Works proceed good evening Mr council president members of the council Department of Public Works has four resolutions to uh present resolution r224 resol authoriz approval of a contract for traffic signal installation at Central Avenue with Pon Associates resolution 201124 is resolution authorized uh professional service contract pen Associates for routes 28 uh resolution 20224 resolution authorized approval to submit a Grant application to Union County infrastructure mpal aid for parking lot improvements and resolution R2 20324 resolution authorized at clean and lean totaling $683 one61 any questions any questions okay do we have consensus to add this to the voting meeting yes any opposition or abstentions hearing none this is added to the voting meeting okay the Department of Economic Development please present your good evening Council I have resolutions 20 4-24 through resolution 23-24 the first resolution is to authorize a Grant application this is not to exceed $75,000 from the New Jersey historic trust this will allow us to develop a historic preservation plan for the former YMCA building that is intended to become the center of excellence it does require a 25% match so that match will not exceed 8 thou $18,750 the next resolution is to designate a developer VA LLC this is for the address of 1092 to 1098 Arlington a this is going to be a three-story Residential Building including 22 units of which five will be affordable So 20% affordable there will be 22 parking spaces it does also authorize a purchase agreement so this is a purchase from the city for the land which is the address for $400,000 the next resolution is also a designation of a developer Lopez Home Improvement this is for the address 213 to5 Richmond Street this is to construct a two family dwelling the next resolution is to reexamine to South Redevelopment plan the purpose of reexamining the Redevelopment plan this will allow us to have permitted three bedroom units the reason why we need to have three bedroom units this will give us an opportunity to go after more affordable opportun unities with developers the next resolution is to designate a study a Redevelopment area and to move forward with a Redevelopment plan for the West Front Street Properties which are 1502 to 1520 West Front Street as well as a Liberty Street property 118 to 126 the next one is also to designate a Redevelopment area and to prepare a Redevelopment plan this is for 25 Clinton Avenue this will allow for additional parking for development the next one is also to designate a Redevelopment area and to prepare a Redevelopment plan this is for 953 to 9955 West 4th Street then I am on resolution 21-24 this is designating 1123 West 7 Street LLC as the redeveloper this is for the developer to construct a third thre story Residential Building including 46 units five of which will be affordable so five so 10% affordable 46 parking space the next resolution is also to designate a redeveloper this is for 1314 West Front Street LLC this will be a fivestory building 91 units 10 of which will be affordable for 10% affordable and 1,000 square ft of retail space and 100 parking spaces the next resolution is to move forward with the designation of a non-c condemnation Redevelopment area and prepare a plan this is to note what's been added to the Clauses of the resolution it is in aord to work with the church and the property owner to make sure there is adequate shared parking as well as as we move into the Redevelopment plan to consider excluding the uses of residential and cannabis and that concludes question from council members of the economic development director um r205 d24 how many units did you said that was r205 d24 that's a total of 22 units five are affordable any other questions councilwoman uh no and the r 23-14 that's the property with the church is that what the church um St Bernie's Church am I correct yes it is the church parking lot for R 21224 is there a pilot on this so we are not at that stage yet right now we're just at the Redevelopment agreement Council MCG gr question question go go right ahead yes um regarding uh 205- 24 um you mentioned that it's 20% affordable and then 2124 10% affordable and 21224 10% affordable uh given the size of our city and the issue of affordable housing can you talk a little bit about why 10% seems to be our threshold and is there other opportunities where we can actually increase that so 10% isn't our threshold we ask anywhere up to 100% for the threshold it depends on a negotiation with the developer as the mayor mentioned uh I believe it was last September there's a goal of a 100 a excuse me a th000 affordable units over the next 5 years so so far we have a total of about 200 affordable units since he made that statement um one of which was 100% affordable and they vary down so the 10 to 20% does add up then what we have negotiated on the horizon we have about another 400 affordable units that should come online definitely before the end of the calendar year for agreement if not by June so the affordability to get 100% affordable units it requires a different types of financing so we have to work with a developer that's used to working with that business model thank you any other questions regarding I'm sorry regarding 20424 you said that this is to have a plan cre created um regarding historic preservation can you share a little bit more about that sure so this is the former YMCA building that's located at 512 to 524 WatchON Avenue and what this will allow us to do is make sure that we can designate this building as historic including preserving the facade as historic and that will allow us to go after additional funding for the construction of the center of excellence thank you for that regarding uh 21324 I I I know that one of the issues with that was uh the shared parking between uh the owner and St Bernard's church are are you now aware of a a a deed of easement that uh that cements uh the parking Arrangement that's there so in the deed for the current owner first they definitely have to give the church which is the property per um property owner that they purchased it from first right of refusal for the property and they also have to maintain the parking easement for the new owners okay all right thank you and and then we also added uh a a Prohibition against Residential Redevelopment and cannabis use yes we did okay all right and any other questions from Council Members I'm sorry can I just want clarification um regarding I'm sorry the one pertaining to the church property M 213 2113 thank you for that the parking lot is property or belongs to who the actual company that's looking to sell their company so it in Block 5 458 Lot 2 01 that belongs to St Bernard's Church the property owner that's looking to sell their property is block 458 Lot 2 and we've been in communication with the church yes we we've been in communication with the church itself the father as well as the New Jersey dasis and their L use attorneys we've had several Communications at every step including when we notify that we're doing the Redevelopment study and as we move forward the property owner or the developer Andor the developer will also be required to not notify the Church of every step and the church had no concerns thank you okay question go right ahead councilman Wyatt yes on uh the one that we were just speaking about two 13 24 uh we received emails saying that there was no communication with the church but you said that you did communicate with them correct yes we did okay and I know that the Clause is now in the resolution as well um but did they resolved the issues that they brought before us at the last meeting so I believe the issue was the parking so at the last meeting the current property owner was here and did commit to a shared parking agreement that commitment is still in place okay all right thank you okay um do we have consensus to move uh all of these to the voting meeting with the exception of 213 which I'll abstain from I say no on r 23-14 no okay so do we have consensus to all except for uh with the exception of 213 yes okay yes yes any opposition or abstentions all right would the Department of Health and Social Services present their items good evening Council I have one item for presentation that is a professional service agreement with um Lou Environmental Services to do Professional Services for dwip uh the state uh through DCA Department of uh Community Affairs mandates all municipalities to do uh LED um testing for all first for all first for all one apart one two three and four multif Family Apartments um and generally they're pre1 1978 those who are exempt are those who are currently being built of course and those who've already got their certification but we but we need this company to do that work for us uh they will do uh all of it from uh contacting the owners to educating the owners on why this law is in place to scheduling time for them to come out and do the dust wipes if they have to do any kind of postwork or referral work they would do that they are also uh required and mandated uh by the state to keep the records um uh because a dust wipe is valid for 3 years so they are required to keep that information for us and they will be the recorder of Records when it comes to those documents so I do ask for approval for this resolution thank you any questions from council members uh yes uh director um just want to clarify if the property owners have the option to hire their own inspector to do their own inspect their lead inspection they have the option to hire their own certified lead inspector I have to make that clear um but but we still have to go and make sure that it's done there's some certain documentations that they have to present uh saying that it was done and we just have to verify that information okay and um can you explain the difference between lead free and Lead safe sure so so lead free is there's nothing in the house there's no lead um and those usually are houses post 1978 so so those tend not to have any lead lead safest things may have been done to encapsulate that that L for instance uh if the paint is not chipping uh and it's on it's it's clearly on the wall it's not shipping it's safe that's that tends to be less safe thank you director you're welcome any other questions from Council Members question no problem um have we figured out how we will make this information available to the public to let them know that you know this is happening so that they're not caught off guard sure so those uh those individuals or owners of those properties will receive official notification uh outlining what has to be done and why this has to be done done and Lou uh Lou uh the company Lou will also do that for us as well Lou environment you're welcome director Brown if they find lead in the home what are the next steps they will be referred well they have to get a fix and so if it happens that there are children in the building uh they will be referred to a certain agency that may help them do that remediation if it's not child involved child- centered they will just have to unfortunately uh take on that cost okay any other questions the owner of it not the not the land not the tenant the owner okay do we have consensus to add this item to the voting meeting yes okay any opposition or extensions okay it should be added to the voting meeting uh the department of communications and Technology please present your item thank you council president yeah good evening everyone I have one item um for consideration and it's really last month I presented um a resolution asking for permission to accept a grant from the DCA and they um reached back out to us and said that they wanted the verbage amended so I amended the verbiage and they're also awarding us an additional 500,000 so this resolution is just to accept that um Grant with the amended verbiage and the additional amount any questions from Council Members what's the contract period for the grant pardon me the contract period that you have to spend the dollars I'm not sure I can get back to you on that thank you anyone else no questions but I just want to acknowledge um the hard work on obtaining this grant you know half a million dollars is is not a slight chunk of change so again congratulations and you know keep up the good work with looking for Grants to help elfs at Cost thank you okay do we have consensus to add us to the voting meeting yes yes okay uh any opposition or extensions okay that should be added uh the department of sewer and solid waste please present your item hi I'm going to speak for director of um so you may be aware that there was a sewer line collapse at the 1600 block of West front about two weeks ago and at that time um they need the sewer and Solid Waste Department had to find a a vendor to come and fix the collapse it was an obviously an emergency situation so we didn't have time to wait until this meeting um they did hire a vendor it cost $261,400 the nearest council meeting to to seek your approval for that okay any questions from Council Members no we have uh consent to add this to the voting meeting yes okay any opposition or abstentions all right it shall be added okay let's see okay uh would the business administrator present the items on first reading MC 20249 through MC 2024 okay so we have five ordinances for you to consider on first reading this evening the first one is um adopting the East Third Entertainment District Redevelopment plan that was uh brought from the planning board and that is obviously to include entertainment in that District the second one is related to the parking issues that the residents of West and AV have been having on the weekends and this is an ordinance to have no parking from 10: to 8: on both sides of the street on Saturdays and Sundays that runs into the park over there so that's why it's been very congested obviously as it gets nicer out the third one is the one that you see every year the ordinance to exceed the municipal budget appropriation limits to establish the cap bank it's obviously an annual ordinance that we do just in case um then we have an ordinance amending the hours of the um for consumption lounges for our liquor stores sorry our bars and the reason why we're putting this forward is because we are looking to be more competitive with our neighboring municipalities and have similar opening hours to what they have um this would help our bars establish uh this would help them to get axe you know more performers that would be willing to come to planfield rather than a place that's going to allow them to perform for longer it also we recently we now have three new licenses that we can give out liquor licenses and we're looking to find the most reputable establishments that would come to planfield and so we need to be competitive with our neighbors in terms of opening hours so that they can they feel inclined to come here um and then last but not least we have an ordinance related to what director Brown was just talking about this is the ordinance that's going to codify what CCA requires in terms of lead inspections with the new legislation that we've talked about multiple times for um units that are that were constructed after n before 1978 and this will also add a fee schedule for people who violate the and and don't make that appropriate abatement okay any questions from council members uh yes if if you don't mind uh my question has to do with two of the ordinances uh one of them is the uh 2024 D20 uh specifically chapter 16 and uh the 202 24-22 so the proposed hours for the bar um and some of the parking schedules for the streets we're proposing to be uh for the bars to be open after 2:00 but as of 2:00 a.m. there's no parking on certain streets and we don't know where those bars are going to be or those new liquor licenses are going to go so I think that somehow we should amend some of the parking because it's like you get to stay in the bar until 4: but because of the uh parking schedules you have to leave at 2: a.m. because after 2 you're going to get a ticket yeah that's that's something that we're going to talk about internally like you said we don't know the those location of the next three where the next three liquor licenses will go um so we don't know where those establishments may be if they would be in parking you know in places that have restricted parking or not um but in terms of the bars that currently do exist we are going to look at the parking situation there and I would assume that uh when we if the new establishments open they're going to open and places where they're Zone and I see some of these streets like Church Street um that's certainly probably a destination and some of the other uh streets that are in our commercial zone so yeah um I don't know if you want us to vote on this are you going to amend it um well they're two separate issues so the the two or those two those two things wouldn't be combined so we're looking to amend the you're talking about chapter 16a that's only we're only talking about West End AV today okay and then the supplementing the hours um for for the bars is also a separate ordinance so okay if we were coming back about different hours about commercial districts that would be another day sure okay um and I would just make a PSA that if you're going to be at a bar till four please take a uber that MC 2024 s20 um it's I am happy about that because that street particular area it's very very congested and you know people are going to church and they're moving about their day and it the streets are very cluttered as a matter of fact I'm I'm hoping and I'm sure that the cops will be monitoring this and going by and checking to make sure that there's nobody parked there um it has cause problems as a matter of fact there was um a lady also that was down there every now and again in she was on the street selling some items like some ice cream and some other things that she was doing which is um a health issue also as well if she doesn't have a permit so for the Western Avenue I this is Kudos I'm I'm happy about this um because it goes straight into North planfield also as well so hopefully um I'm sure North planfield is going to be enforcing something too okay any other questions comments from Council Members regarding this yeah if I may uh add a few comments regarding um the the hours uh for the bars to be open you know um when I go out to these other places and other municipalities that have these longer hours they're usually patronized by a younger crowd so I don't want to be selfish to say hey I'm 50 I don't drink anymore and I don't hang out late anymore I don't I I don't want to take away from the younger generation it's their turn to enjoy life and you know and if we could you know possibly benefit from having uh those patrons and that crowd especially the mature crowd to you know patronize our businesses in town yeah we don't want to lose those customers because they are working young adults that's all I want to say thanks ba when you when you mentioned to keep in line with the hours of operation for m c 2024 d222 what are their hours are they this are they similar yeah they're similar to what we're proposing so for example um if you went out in raw way Monday through Saturday you'd be at You'd Stay you could stay out till 3:00 a.m. they would be open till 3:00 a.m. um in lynon on the weekend also 3:00 a.m. in Elizabeth also 3:00 a.m. um North planfield is 2:00 a.m. but again we're a little bigger than North planfield and so I would say that the others are more similarly situated to us thank you okay any other okay do we have a consensus to add these items to the voting meeting yes okay any opposition or abstentions abstaining from 20 24-22 okay you want to pull that from the voting meeting and we'll vote on that separately oh they're all res first reading anyway so sounds good all right we'll recess for five minutes and come back to the voting meeting so MO e e e e e e e e e e e e okay we will convene um recording in progress I know she just sat down but uh councilwoman Dr darcella sesum I'm going to invite you up to the front uh to present uh to just discuss a short resolution uh that we have uh on the agenda good evening council president Council colleagues and administration uh two weeks ago we presented a resolution to the family of Miss BB lzo um who passed away and I just want to read a little bit about her and her connection to the city of planfield um her family moved to planfield in the late 1800s her father-in-law was Timothy lozo senior and served as the president of the planfield Board of Education and president of mburg Hospital her husband was the late Timothy lozo Jr and owner of T TR Lazo fuel company from 1926 to the 1980s Miss BB was an active Girl Scout leader who contributed and enriched the lives of many young playing field Girl Scouts she led she was a Brownie troop leader all the way up to a senior Girl Scout leader during her time she exposed the girls to troop traveling camping skiing canoeing cooking sewing and many other activities annual trips for the troop included a Mother's Day Excursion she also took time to love and counsel the girls and young women in her troops she served as a role model and welcomed the girls into her home by providing a safe and welcome environment free from discourse many of these Girl Scouts became her daughter she contributed to the development of independent self-reliant women who to this day hold fond Treasured Memories of this special period of their young lives so we just wanted to take a moment to publicly acknowledge her the family did receive the resolution so that they could read it at her homegoing ceremony thank [Applause] you good evening hi my name is Jacqueline coxen I'm one of the many girl scouts who benefited from The Loving Care attention um that was given to us as Girl Scouts her co-leader was Mrs Hughes which is also a member was a longtime member of the community the correct name is laiso so her and her husband owned the fuel company the wiso fuel some of you who are longtime planfield residents will recognize that name another family member owned the liso lumber company that was on South Avenue so what I found commendable is a woman who could have live led a comfortable life and given nothing back to the community made more than a decade sacrifice to benefit the young women of our community so I stand in her honor and again recognize the council for acknowledging her contributions and I encourage all of us to reach out and touch at least the life of one if not more youth because they are future so thank you thank you so much a total of 30 minutes has been allocated for public comments limited resolutions and ordinances being considered this evening each speaker will be given 3 minutes please speak state your name address and identify the resolution or ordinance that you wish to speak about if you'd like to call in the information is on the website for our calling in go right ahead good evening Mr President uh members of the council ladies and gentlemen uh my name is James turtl T Tel T I'm an attorney here today representing 203 excuse me quick 206 LLC which operates a store at the corner of Arlington and 7th at 202 uh West 7th the purpose why I'm here tonight is on ordinance uh 202 24-18 this ordinance uh seeks to regulate the or actually preclude the sale of products of THC 8 or Delta 8 Delta Delta excuse me Delta 8 Delta 9 and Delta 10 these are products that are already being regulated by the state of New Jersey under the uh under the hemp farming act which is at njsa 4 colon 28-6 in that act the uh idea is to promote the sale and production of uh hemp related products which are being banned by this ordinance this is something the state has taken the jurisdiction over after the uh Federal Farm Act 2018 the state also adopted its own resolution its own statutes to govern this and this includes the promotion and the sale of these products now when I say t uh Delta 9 there is a limitation on Delta 9 which is3 which you recognize in your ordinance and anything over 0.9 that can't be sold that's regulated under the cannabis laws and but with respect to anything that's below that which is ORD it seeks to preclude especially in the case of uh THC excuse me Delta 8 and Delta 10 those products are not deemed to be controlled substances under the under the statute and are not regulated and the state has uh again the farming act the hemp farming act seeks to promote the sale of those products so this ordinance as I see it uh is over seems to assur Authority that the state of New Jersey has stepped in on has taken control of has issued its own laws and regulations on and I believe this uh Council should reconsider this ordinance as it pertains to those substances again anything over3 in THC and Delta 9 that is that would be cannabis and the rules and the laws governing cannabis which is under njsa 24 colon 6 i-2 at SEC you would follow those but as it pertains to anything below that that would be non-regulated and again the state has taking jurisdiction on that and I think this ordinance then steps in on the state's territory in this so again I would ask you to table it to reconsider this ordinance as it pertains to items that the state has taking control on and to allow the the store owners like my client to continue selling these products which are legal not only legal but also encourag to be sold in the State uh and I thank you very much thank you name address and ordinance please good evening my name is Linda Cruz KR s like and Sam E I live in Bedminster but I look forward to moving back to planfield in July or August and having been a resident here for years before I'm here tonight and thank you to the council and to the um members of the city I'm here to talk about resolution 213 regarding St Bernard's church and the renew property on George Street we received the agenda for this meeting tonight Friday evening so unfortunately all the parishioners that I know you love to see uh were not here tonight as well as the pastor and executive director both had previous commitments we know Miss fields that you spoke about the director of renew the executive director of renew saying that he had committed to the parking lot continuing to be used having spoken to him today and to the pastor today I think there's tremendous confusion someone brought up the uh easement the property line has been under discussion there are just so many numerous open issues regarding this property there is no assurance that even from the executive director of renew today that the parking lot and the parking for the community that goes to St Bernard's and to the charter school will be assured so I would just ask that we convene a meeting certainly under your guidance Miss fields to get the parties together to confirm that yes we do have this ability going forward because of this after as of this afternoon it was not clear at all to the main parties involved so I look forward to working together with the council and and with the economic development team to ensure that the not only are the parishioners of St Bernard's cared for but also the community where the park where the streets are completely filled now and do not have the ability to handle more traffic there so in light of the fact that there's tremendous confusion among the parties involved D I would just ask that we table this resolution to give the entire organization a chance to review it to understand what it what was meant and I I know that you've said the concerns have since been resolved um the executive director um has not had any conversations since the city council meeting on March 11th so I think we just have some significant open issues and I know we want to make sure that the parish continues to thrive and that the community around it continues to thrive I appreciate your help I appreciate the opportunity to speak tonight and I'm also grateful that you took the time to listen during the zoning board and the city council to all the parishioners making them feel very much a part of the city thank you Mr President thank you uh Nancy F 1129 M laue I want to concur with what Miss Cruz just said um I and we appreciate that the city council listened in March but there still needs to be more time to review to satisfactory resolve this for all the parties involved um the other issue is that there are two at least two errors and um in the resolution um one you pointed out was uh 14 it should be 24 and there's a property error in in one of the warehouses so for that reason I also asked that um it be tabled until the all the parties can sit down and discuss it um I was in on the conversations this morning as Miss Cruz said and um unfortunately the pastor couldn't be here tonight because of of conflicting uh conflicts and so with the E executive director of renew um it is an issue the church has been in this area since 1915 the property has been owned by the church since 1927 when one of the parishioners um um gave it to the church as a Convent and it's now the parking lot because in the 1960s they were able to build a uh a Convent for the Sisters of Charity so I respectfully request that the city consider it and obviously you bifurcated the other study from West Forth Street um that's a resolution 210 and bifurcated it into 213 so there's two different things from the study so I think Miss Cruz is correct about the confusion and I think it's in the best interest in the city to and the council to uh table it until next month so all the parties can sit down and resolve the issues thank you very much good evening uh name address and resolution that you're speaking regarding all right good uh good evening my name is taji Jackson I reside at 54 Raymond AV Playfield and I'm just wanted to bring up that I just have a concern for the safety on Raymond AV I brought my I brought my house at around like 2021 and I just noticed it was just numerous speeding going up and down on Raymond a and I witness multiple Vehicles either sorry I don't mean to interrupt yes but we we do have a portion where we can allow gen General comment this is just for Resolutions and I noticed that you didn't mention a specific resolution that you're speaking regarding you I I'll invite you up shortly all right thank you you're welcome okay any anyone uh on the phone okay enable that person to uh be heard go right ahead sir name name address and resolution please to be heard you need to turn down where you're listening to the um recording at so you can hear us oh shoot record canar us yeah I don't think it's going to work unfortunately okay anyone else on the virtually all right okay I have a motion to close public comment so move second okay all in favor I any oppositions or abstentions all right let see okay we now move to consideration of public hearing second reading and final passage Madame Deputy please read MC 2024 13 by title and certified that the ordinance has complied with all statutory publication requirements MC 20241 13 is an ordinance amending and supplementing chapter 16 vehicles and traffic Article 5 limiting the use of streets to certain class of vehicles subsection 16 colon 5-2 B parking forbidden on all streets to certain Vehicles it is hereby certified that notice of a public hearing on this ordinance was published in The Courier news on March 12th 2024 okay the floor is open to any member of the public who would like to speak on this ordinance hearing and seeing none in person or virtually may I have a motion to close public hearing on this ordinance so moved second okay and may I have a motion to adopt this ordinance on second reading and final passage and if adopted the ordinance ordinance shall be published as required by law motion please motion okay clerk may have a roll call council members Briggs Jones yes Cherry yes McCrae yes sesum yes councilman Wyatt yes vice president Graham yes council president HCK day yes this ordinance has been adopted on second reading and final passage Madame Deputy please read MC 2024 14 MC 20244 is an ordinance of the city of planfield in the county of Union adopting the to South Redevelopment plan Amendment dated February 1st 2024 it is hereby certified that notice of a public hearing on this ordinance was published in The Courier news on March 12th 2024 floor is now open to any member of the public who'd like to speak on this ordinance seeing none in person and none virtually uh I'll accept a motion to close public hearing on this ordinance so moved okay may I have a motion to adopt this ordinance on second reading F final passage clerk may I have a roll call council members Brigs Jones yes Cherry yes McCrae yes sesum yes councilman Wyatt yes vice president Graham yes council president hak yes that is unanimous this ordance has been adopted on second reading and final passage Madam clerk please please read mc24 202 24-15 by title and certify its compliance MC 20245 is an ordinance to amend chapter 2 economic development of the city of planfield by amending article 10 section 2 Colon 10-6 c Fe schedule update it is hereby certified that notice of a public hearing on this ordinance was published in The Courier news on March 12th 2024 four the floor is now open to any member of the public who would like to speak on this ordinance seeing none in person and hearing none virtually I'll accept a motion in a second to close public hearing so move second okay may I have a motion to adopt this ordinance on second reading and final passage second okay clerk roll call please roll call MC 20245 council members bridet Jones yes Cherry yes McCrae yes sesum yes councilman Wyatt yes vice president Graham yes council president hak yes that's unanimous this ordance been adopted on second reading and final passage thank you Deputy clerk please read mc22 24-16 by title and certify its compliance with the law MC 20246 is an ordinance of the city of planfield in the county of Union amending Chapter 20 The cannabis transfer tax and user tax Article 1 Section 20 colon 1- 1e it is hereby certified that notice of a public hearing on this ordinance was published in The Courier news on March 12th 2024 okay the floor is now open to any member of the public who'd like to speak on this ordinance seeing none in person and hearing none virtually I'll accept a motion in a second to close public hearing so move second and uh may have a motion to adopt his ordinance on second reading and final passage so moved so moov second okay clerk roll call please roll call MC 20246 council members Brigs Jones Cherry yes McCrae sesum yes councilman Wyatt yes vice president Grim yes council president hak yes that is unanimous this ordinance has been adopted on second reading and final passage Madame Deputy please read MC 202 24-17 and certify its compliance with the law MC 20247 is an ordinance of the city of planfield in the county of Union creating chapter 17 article 9 section 49d titled shade tree replacement and removal to establish an application process for the replacement and removal of shade trees it is hereby certified that notice of a public hearing on this ordinance was published in The Courier news on March 12th 2024 okay floor is now open to any member of the public who'd like to speak on this ordinance seeing none in person and hearing none virtually uh I'll take a motion in a second so moved close public comment it is closed may have a motion to adopt this ordinance on second reading and final passage so moved okay second can we have a roll call clerk roll call MC 20247 Council memb Briggs Jones yes Cherry yes McCrae yes sesum yes councilman Wyatt yes vice president Graham yes council president hak yes that is unanimous this ordinance has been adopted on second reading and final passage okay Madame clerk please read MC 2024 d18 by title and certifi is complied with the law MC 20248 is an ordinance of the city of planfield in the county of Union amending and supplementing chapter 17 land use specifically chapter 17 colon 9-24 a prohibiting the Manu manufacture sale advertisement or concealment of any illicit THC product it is hereby certified that notice of a public hearing on this ordinance was published in The Courier news on March 12th 2024 floor is now open to any member of the public who would like to speak on this ordinance welcome back thank you thank you good evening again uh Mr President and uh ladies and gentlemen of the council uh I spoke earlier and I don't need to repeat the the comments and the board the council would like to in this session here um but uh the the ordinance itself speaks to Delta 8 Delta 9 and Delta 10 products which are all governed by the New Jersey hemp farming act and which the state of New Jersey has uh taken the initiative to and enacted laws and regulations to govern the sale of this these products and the production and sale of these products and I believe this ordinance goes beyond uh the ability of this uh Council to override what the state has already taken upon itself to do and it's inconsistent with the state law so for that regard I ask this Council to reconsider this ordinance and are really to decline to adopt this ordinance on the basis that it does uh govern go into areas taken over uh by the state for its jurisdiction I thank you for earlier having listened to me I enjoy Also hearing all the presentations tonight of all the good things happening in the city and I thank you for your time thank you okay uh uh seeing and hearing no others uh I'll close public comment uh on this this motion so moved okay you need a second second okay I'll give an before we uh give a motion in second to pass it I'll allow our our our counselor to chime in on it sure uh thank you council president uh a couple of things uh I disagree with a couple of statements made by Mr Turtle toab uh specifically that the state regulates Delta 8 Delta 9 and Delta 10 THC um specifically these products are being sold I think as previously mentioned under the farm bill Mr Char T said that that is in fact correct but there's a loophole because they have been permissible under the farm bill they are not regulated by the state um I understand that Mr Charles H's here with his client I would venture to Guess that his client does not have any license from the Cannabis Regulatory Commission the CRC um this ordinance does specific Al that it says that if you are regulated by the CRC and you have a license you are able to operate if you don't you cannot so we are not specifically Banning THC Delta 8 Delta 9 Delta 10 uh across the board what we're saying is that you have to be regulated by a state agency if you want to sell a product in the city of planfield and the reason we do that is to make sure that all the products that are sold here are safe uh when it comes to these THC products we do not know what is in them because they are not regulated by a state agency so uh that is what this ordinance attempts to do it attempts to um permit the sale of regulated product but prohibit the sale of unregulated product and that's really what we're attempting to do here so I hope that if there are any specific questions I'm happy to answer does any council members have any questions of uh or our our counselor okay all right uh then maam I have a motion to adopt this ordinance on second reading and final passage and if adopted shall be published as required by law so moved second okay clerk may have a roll call roll call MC 20248 council members Briggs Jones yes Cherry yes McCrae yes sesum yes councilman Wyatt yes vice president Graham yes council president hak yes that is unanimous this ordinance has been adopted on second reading and final passage okay uh clerk would you please announce the consent agenda yes council president those consent agenda items are identified as resolutions 18224 through 19024 19224 through 21224 and 21424 through 21624 not on the consent agenda are resolutions 191 24 and 21324 okay may I have a motion to approve the consent agenda so move second okay clerk may I have a roll call on the consent agenda so roll call on those consent agenda items council members Briggs Jones yes councilman Cherry yes councilman McCrae yes councilwoman sues yes councilman Wyatt yes vice president Graham yes council president hakay yes that is unanimous the consent agenda items have been approved okay uh please announce the non-consent agenda items resolution 19124 authorizing the introduction of the calendar year 2024 planfield Municipal operating budget okay can we have a motion move second okay clerk we have a roll call roll call on the budget council members Briggs Jones yes councilwoman Cherry yes councilman McCrae yes councilwoman cess yes councilman Wyatt yes vice president Graham yes council president hak yes that is unanimous the budget has been introduced and finally have resolution 213 24 designating block 458 Lot 2 block 458 lot 2.01 as a non-c condemnation Redevelopment area okay can we have a motion in a second any mover any other wishes of the council uh you know perhaps to table I don't know I don't hear any motion or a second table it is that a motion to table I I did hear a motion to table you a second on that motion second okay can I have a aot a uh motion to table 213 council members brick Jones yes table it Cherry yes McCrae yes cess yes Wyatt yeah vice president Graham yes council president hak yes that is unanimous 213 for uh two 21324 has been tabled okay we now come to ordinances on first reading uh Madame Deputy would you please read MC 202 24-19 by title MC 20249 is an ordinance of the city of planfield County of Union New Jersey adopting the East thir Street Entertainment District Redevelopment plan dated April 4th 2024 I will now entertain a motion to adopt this ordinance on first reading so moved second okay clerk may have a roll call roll call MC 20249 council members Briggs Jones yes Cherry yes McCrae yes sesum yes councilman Wyatt y vice president gaham yes council president hak yes that is unanimous this ordinance has been introduced on first reading Madame Deputy please read MC 202 24-20 by title MC 20242 is an ordinance to amend and supplement chapter 16a article 16a section 2 schedule 2 no parking certain hours on both sides of Street for entire block of West End Avenue from 10:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday I'll now entertain a motion to adopt this ordinance on first reading so move okay clerk can I have a roll call roll call MC 20242 council members bricks Jones yes Cherry yes McCrae yes sesum yes councilman w yes vice president Grim yes council president hak yes this ord's been introduced on first reading okay uh Madame Deputy please read mc22 24-21 by title MC 2024 21 is an ordinance to exceed the municipal budget appropriation limits and to establish a cap Bank njsa 48 4- 4514 I'll entertain a motion in a second so roll call please roll call MC 2024 21 council members Briggs Jones yes Cherry yes McCrae yes sess yes councilman Wyatt yes vice president Graham yes council president haad yes that is unanimous or been introduced on first reading okay Madam clerk please read mc22 24-22 by title MC 2024 22 is an ordinance to amend and supplement chapter 4 colon 1-6 chapter 4 alcoholic beverages Article 1 Section six hours of opening and sale okay may I have a motion in a second so moved roll call please roll call MC 202 422 council members Briggs Jones yes Cherry no McCrae yes sesum no councilman Wyatt yes vice president Graham yes council president Hockaday yes five in favor two opposed resolution has been adopted on first reading Madame clerk please read mc22 24-23 by title MC 2024 23 is an ordinance to amend title 8 health code of the code of the city of planfield to establish chapter 8 colon 6-1 entitled lead based paint inspections to require the inspection of certain residential rental dwellings for lead based paint hazards I'll entertain a motion in a second so moved second okay can we have a roll call roll call MC 2024 23 council members Briggs Jones yes Cherry yes McCrae yes sesum yes councilman Wyatt yes vice president Graham yes council president hakay yes that is unanimous this ordinance has been adopted on first reading okay Madame clerk please read MC 202 24-8 by title that page is actually a type of word we're okay concluded with the the ordinances okay is that that's the last one correct all right so that's the last one is there's nothing thing for okay all right so we'll now move to General comment a total of 30 minutes has been allocated for all public comments uh each speaker will be given three minutes if any member of the public would like to call in dial 6465588656 that number is also on the website and enter the meeting ID 938 3643 9534 uh name and address for the record the floor is now open thank you again my name is taji Jackson I was out of 54 Rayman a PL field and uh I just have a comment for safety regarding Raymond na it's just been since I've been here I moved in around 2021 and I just witnessed so much speeding it's just ridiculous it's back and forth all the time uh in November my car I used to park in front of my house and it was actually struck and uh almost total out the previous owner informed me actually that his truck was total when he parked in front of the same residence and I just heard about more other accidents that were happening on the street due to just the numerous speeding I did notice that there is a um a radar in the middle of the street that that does help and I did notice more police presence which I would like to thank the director for making that happen however I do believe because I'm a police off officer myself I just believe it'll be better for us to just have some speed bumps on the street so we can just free up the law enforcement they can just help out other civilians in other Arenas and we just just be safer there like a lot of people that's just walking back and forth and I would just hate to see somebody get struck because somebody is just speeding up and down without regard of the uh residents that's all thank you thank you thank you for having me and just again thank you for increasing the police presence have a good day good evening name and address good evening my name is Celeste maimoto I reside on on 809 Kensington Avenue I'm a longtime resident of planfield I grew up here I graduate from high school here um and presently what's going on um that I'm seeing I'm I'm here to talk about congestion with the influx of um multiple um people purchasing homes in my neighborhood um as of the last year there's been three single family homes which within the 800 block that has been converted I welcome the renovations and conversion of and the upkeep of the um homes but presently they were single family homes they are now presently being converted into five to four family homes so presently what's going on is there's congestion in the in the block to where um the parking has been a issue is um where people are pulling and d and um blocking driveways and things like that you don't see it during the day because during that time people are at work in the evening when we're coming home there's cars all the way down the street on both sides of the parking lot so at this point the Integrity of the neighborhood is is basically at um is is no longer what it has been I don't I understand that the properties are multif family they're large homes but to convert a single family home into at least four to five um apartment creates a a environment for transients so because the apartments are smaller and chopped up the homes are traed up you don't have people who want to stay in the neighborhood so you're constantly having rotation in and out of neighborhoods so if I'm coming home at night from work I don't know who my neighbors are anymore I don't see this so my proposal to to the city council is to when renovating homes that from single family to multif family take the square footage into into um consideration those homes are made for single for single parent families not that they're because of the size because they're Victorian homes and they're considered in a historic neighborhood that they're um you have to take in consideration the Integrity of the neighborhood that it has been opposed to it going from a quiet neighborhood to where we have um this summer will be the first summer that we have um this amount of um people in the neighborhood so this will be a telling Point as to what kind of neighborhood is transitioned to um the other issue is you can finish your sentence at the time's right now sorry the other issue is that the um the P the the when um you speak to people they they don't have the same um agenda for for for the living space if you ask them not to park in front of your driveway and things like that it's it's it's becomes an issue so that my my point I wanted is to the other thing is to have the inspectors come to the homes because there was no inspection and no um what is it uh I'm I'm sorry I don't mean to cut you off okay but what I'm saying is there was when properties were being renovated there was no stickers that said that they council president I'm s fortunately the speaker's time is Last sorry but we have some we'd like to speak with you you ma'am after the meeting there's someone who'd like to speak with you regarding your issues okay yes all right uh good evening my name is Robert F Edwards I live at 510 a West Fourth Street planfield New Jersey uh I wanted to raise several issues one is I brought to the city council about electromagnetic radiation flooding my apartment and these are two pictures taken by code enforcement um May 12th this is one this is the meter that you uh president are are familiar with subsequently the Housing Authority has created a gas leag on October 7th 2023 in which um psng had to come in and shut it down uh 19 days later they reinstalled the uh defective uh oven created a fire in October 26 uh which the fire department had to come and put out um then they uh laced a new stove on October 30th with polyurethane which I cannot haven't been able to use since subsequently uh 3 32524 I've been electrocuted by that same phone and had to go to RJ uh uh what am I talking about uh yeah JFK I'm sorry JFK hospital for electrocution uh within 10 let me see what uh oh here on uh 4320 um my exposure to Gast substance in the apartment sent me to JFK again in which they made this diagnosis all of these issues are happening within 510 a was 4 Street here's the paperwork to substantiate that and and most importantly they're releasing some substance in the apartment that sent me to the hospital this is the third time in less than a year I've had to go to JFK based on whatever it is that they're doing or attempting to do it is totally unsafe for me and at this point in time um I'm sick and I have to see doctors to try to figure out how to uh correct what the housing authori is doing to me 24/7 and I come to the city council for help to at least look at the information that I present to determine if in fact all these things have happening thank you for your comments please leave copies of what you have with our clerk's office so we can take a look at it m I'm sorry your copies you can give if you have copies for us you can leave it with the clerk's office okay for our review sure thank you good evening good evening uh my name is danana Chandler I'm here with my husband Patrick Chandler we are the homeowner residents of 31-37 CER Court uh it's a corner property which is across from Cedarbrook Park uh due to the uh increased uh usage of Cedar Park Cedarbrook Park and the people who use it has created ongoing and ridiculous issue of trash and litter that is coming onto our property and that trash and litter includes food uh containers uh bottles that uh contain urine liquor bottles uh everything that's mixed into our leaves and debris uh the city of planfield actually owns that part of the property cuz we're 5T in um I also have caught people multiple times relieving themselves on our property um having to verbally confront them and so on and so forth and it's creating a problem people come in they Park they play their music at all hours of the night besides the park being open we're trying to be understandable because it is a park it is for public use so we expect a certain level of uh peace of of Peace of our peace being um affected however people coming on our property to relieve themselves defecation or uh urination food garbage and everything that I've mentioned before is ridiculous I'm asking that the city of planfield possibly install a sidewalk because there is not a sidewalk it's just uh ground and dirt and bushes um if a sidewalk can be installed along with two trash receptacles and a sign posted or I can buy signs off of Amazon and post it myself but I would appreciate it being that we pay taxes and it's our property that people have some level of respect we don't mind you using the park and everything you have to use a park but be respectful and considerate of the residents who live there and we shouldn't have to clean up behind you we're not janitors now taking care of our property is one thing and making sure that it's you know it looks like it's supposed to look but having to clean up behind people who are just inconsiderate and act like they have no home training is ridiculous my husband and myself we're up in age we have some physical difficulties so we can't continue to do that and I don't think it's fair for us to have to consider selling our home in order to get the peace and respect that we deserve thank you thank you so if someone could point me in the right direction I don't know if it's Union County I don't know if it's the city of planfield or what so I'm just looking for a little help and a Peaceable resolution thank you Nancy p 1129 mtle Avenue I appreciate this uh woman's comments because I live near a park too and I can appreciate what she's saying because there's been issues in uh Greenbrook Park and one of them is going to be solved with the ordinance about the parking I appreciate that city council and City Administration I also want to thank you for understanding and listening to us tonight I do appreciate that and I also want to thank director abne and director um davney um there was an issue that I had to deal with a couple weeks ago and I want to just say that your officers and your employees are Beyond being professional and kind and respectful and I appreciate that um I do have one question um a young lady asked me to ask this at city council um and you may not have the answer to it and um it's about um the mattresses that are around evidently she was under standing and she asked me to ask this question that the transfer station does not allow people to use um U Halls to bring things to the transfer station and and her belief is that might be one of the reasons why people just get fed up and just dump the mattresses if they have them in their cars or if they have them in their SUVs so I we just need a clarification if that is the policy from the city and perhaps that is one of the reasons why we're seeing I mean every street now lately has a mattress that's just there and um the other night when we were I was talking to her she had moved out of the city and she tried to use a U-Haul to bring things to the transfer station and evidently she was told that you can't bring a U-Haul there you have to bring your own private vehicle your own private truck and not every resident has the ability to have their own truck or you know dump thing to break there so if maybe we need to look into that if that's true thank you very much thank you good evening name and address for the record good evening Charley Davis 810 kington Avenue in planfield mayor city council thank you for giving me this opportunity I was thinking of this here last month well what can I say I'm very disappointed in what's going on in my block I've been a taxpayer along with my husband for over 40 years there's no time that you can see any record that we did not pay our tax is important my children came out of the school system and doing extremely well I live in the neighborhood now that they are concerned about their parents because beautiful houses have turned into a three Family House beautiful garages back in early 1800s or now homes I have not gotten one not one permit that it should go on I'm extremely upset my children are upset cuz they're concerned about their parents the neighborhood is gone we don't know who's in the neighborhood houses uh parking it's all over sometimes I can come home and someone is imp parking in my driveway because so much is going on basements in two homes are people living in the basement and I know that's against a law again I like to bring up my children they don't know it's one time they can come home their parents' home have been burnt down because next door neighbors and garage neighbors are unlawful living so I'm saying this it should not be this beautiful block is no longer a beautiful block there are times at nighttime there is home there's a car car s with their lights on well what is that about I'm very upset this beautiful neighborhood as you see I'm a senior citizen as you see I don't want to move out of planfield my children are very successful again I'm repeating school system High School College they did very very well because we had this beautiful neighborhood it has changed I'm afraid I am afraid my husband's afraid and he's a man because it have changed why did the city let something like this happen why did the city not send me my husband a permit that is going on thank you so very much mayor thank you for city council thank you for each and every one of you who's doing a job thank you let's get Playfield back again Donald Trump said he's going to make this city well we can make planing field well also again thank you 800 in between watch on and putam thank you again thank you okay seeing no one else in the audience is there anyone online there is one person online okay please enable them unmute them so they can speak name and address for the record for the individual who is virtual there is one person online yes okay please enable them unmute them so they ma'am if you're on YouTube you need to turn off YouTube and then phone please okay hello can you hear me yes can perfectly now okay good so my name is shiry sth Lewis and I live at 1094 Central Avenue and I'm calling because I have a concern for a question and it is a concern um I want to know who's responsible for the task who who has the task and the responsibility in the event of a crisis or a disaster because last week when 4.8 came to visit us um I called the police department not the emergency line I call the police department and I asked who should I call or what do we do I was told well we don't know what you should do you have to wait because we haven't gotten word yet so who's responsible for putting out the word on um what procedure we should take some people were going outside I learned you're not supposed to go outside they were going in the basement did you go in the basement who is responsible for directing the citizens of claim Fields when it comes to a disaster what is the protocol maybe I been watching too much um what's that the fire department picture on television but in my mind um does the mayor um direct all the activity when it comes to a disaster I mean what happened to the robo calls we never got any Robo calls saying you know we everything is under control or not under control how how is this working that's number one number two I understand exactly what the other two ladies were speaking about because I'm a senior citizen myself and um it is really changing around the city of playing field a car was parked in front of my house and my neighbor's house we called the police it took them 20 minutes to get from the police station or wherever they were to plane field in Parkside so um where can I find the answers to these questions at and is there a response team available to notify the people we do have a lot of seniors handicapped people in the area um even we even have death a death a child sign so you know how does this thing work if you have to evacuate how does it work I'm done for now okay thank you for your question um anyone else virtually okay I'll entertain a motion to close public hearing so moved SEC can I have a second second second all in favor I any extensions or opposition okay public hearing is now closed uh is there any member of the administration uh that wants to address uh the contingency plan or the emergency plan or the announcements um in light of uh any crisis or catastrophe that could happen yes we'll respond um now I know our OEM coordinator is director um childr but I must say that earthquakes are not regular occurrences in the state of New Jersey and this is one that certainly I don't think any of us planned or prepared for that earthquake but the questions that were raised by Miss Lewis are very valid questions and it has given me a lot of food for thought so we will go back and we will address the concerns raised by those questions posed by Mrs Lewis and we will certainly have a plan should this happen again so we would take this as a matter of a priority and make sure that we are ready to respond because I mean a valid point was made we could have put out a rooc call and we didn't there are things that we could have done that we didn't do now I don't know if you have anything to add direct recor children's uh yes a rebble call did go out um on the Nix system um we also put it in Facebook I believe uh on the city's Facebook page and I also sent the article to uh tap into newspaper all that occurred within 15 20 minutes of the earthquake that's the truth yep that's the truth but we will go back to the drawing board and we will put a a full-blown plan in place so that we could you know be more responsive to the concerns raised and the other point that I want to make is about the concerns raised relative to the 800 block and can you remind me of your name again please no B Davis thank you Miss Davis my apologies for not you know catching your name um we are very concerned about those concerns that you rais and I'll make sure that the administration the appropriate Department take a look at the concerns you express relative to the block so there should be some action coming forth from from this Administration and as far as Raymond Avenue is concerned no he left okay um as far as rayan Avenue is concerned um we have as as the young man said placed extra um patrols on riman Avenue and a lot of our residents are aware that based on the New Jersey Department of Transportation in order for Speed humps to be placed on any Street the average daily traffic has to be less than 3,000 if it's 3,000 or more we can't place speed humps on a particular roadway but what we have decided that we will do and we conducted a traffic study on Raymond in 20 2023 and the traffic count was exceeded the 3,000 so we cannot put speed humps there however with stepped up enforcement our goal is to repeat the traffic study sometime in a not to distant future hopefully the Steep up patrols on Raymond would result in a reduction of the arage daily traffic count on that street because the people who now speed through on Raymond to get to 22 would be discouraged from doing so as a result of the number of tickets that director abne will make sure our officers issue to the speed and motorist on Raymond and hopefully that will drive down the aage daily traffic count thus um qualifying Raymond for Speed HPS so we will revisit that in the coming weeks and months those are the items that I can remember if there's anything else yeah the only other thing I want to mention you um had that question about the U-Hauls so it is true that the Department of Environmental Protection has um it does not allow us anymore to have U-Hauls come through at the transfer station and so it's not a rule that planfield made but it was a d Rule and that's because usually it's commercial haulers that are bringing things through a U-Haul and trying to get one over on the system and so that's why that went away there are options though for residents who are looking to get rid of mattresses and so if anybody's in that situation if I would encourage them to call down to the transfer station there's quite a few options that we have for them okay sure go right ahead I'll try to be brief I was given an email in which uh with several questions that uh I was asked to update at this meeting uh so I'll try to be as quickly as possible uh since the March meeting how many animals have been placed on title shots dogs cats and others uh from my anal control services provider there were seven dogs one cat in March all seven dogs were returned to their owners and the cat was given to the resue gr Group after 7even days on hold as of today in April there are four dogs and two cats at the shelter two cats will be transferred to a rescue group for adoption tomorrow three what are the city's attempts to inform the residents of when an animal is in its possession where does Playfield post this for residents to see if the pet is with the city shelter uh and can we have posted on the city's website and social media Pages weekly with photos of animals uh I think that that's something we have discussed but I do think that is a undue burden on the city um I do think that what they can do if individuals lost their animals is to contact the shelter that number is posted on the website so if if you've lost your animal you can call the website um and and not call the website call the shelter that we have contracted with has a representative from the city conducted a site visit of the facility yes has there been any concern regarding the treatment of those there first I want to emphasize that uh the city of planful has no Authority in other towns our health division does not however we did uh make some recommendations in which the uh vendor did uh um do so we're very glad about that are are there any updates that can be shared with finding other locations uh there are no updates despite um the hundreds of people who were concerned about this issue I do have a meeting this week uh other than that no no no one has come forth with any alternatives or options uh does the city have to use one facility or can multiple facilities be under contract with smaller numbers to spread out across the state and reduce the potential for overcrowding yes but it may increase costs and be a logistical challenge just simply uh uh there are approximately I don't know 10 or 12 more cities that are now looking for animal control so while we can spread it out as with anything when there's more uh demand there is Supply the price will go up so because we have one contract with one agency they will maintain that contract uh another agency will add more money to it so it it'll be a significant increase but we are open to that option I hope I've answered All Those Questions council president thank you and Mr President if I can add I still would like all of the people who were here last month and who continue to see this issue is important to contact my Administration with any recommendations or suggestions we are open so if people in the audience if people online know of a place where planing field can contact and try to explore the possibility of entering into negotiations relative to a service a service contract we are open to that idea so we want to hear from you we don't have all the answers we would love to hear from the animal rights community in the city of planfield or within the sound of my voice who might have a solution that playing field can Embrace we are open so bring up the solutions bring us the suggestions okay I have one thing to say as in regards to Cedar Court ma'am I will contact the Union County Police Chief and I will work with the Union County Police Department because they are responsible for the parks and we will work something out to make sure that this does not go on at your house anymore thank you okay I think all concerns have been addressed um I appreciate everybody from coming out and to the council colleagues I'll ask for a motion and a second to adjourn the meeting so move all right meeting adour thank you e