##VIDEO ID:Rm7s4hoy6JE## e e e ready good evening this is The Village council reorganization meeting the date is January 6th 2025 time is 7:32 p.m. adequate notice of this meeting has been provided by a posting on the bulletin board in Village Hall by mail to the Ridgewood news the record and by submission to all persons entitled the same as provided by law of a schedule including the date and time of this meeting roll call Deputy Mayor parin here council member Reynolds here council member whites here council member Winograd is absent and mayor vaganos here will you all please join us in a salute to our flag I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all and will you will you all please join us in a moment of silence at the loss of our 39th President Jimmy Carter who served this country both while he was president and before and after thank you all so much and now I will call Reverend Dr Arturo Lewis up to the well so that he may preside over this gathering with an invocation good good evening let us pray together with gratitude in our hearts thankfulness on our minds we are privileged to come together this evening in this Gathering space to give thanks for the many men and women who have served and those who are about to begin this new Journey for some of us we have no more hair to [Music] lose and refuse to tailor our clothes so we ask for as little stress as possible and all the people peace that is needed to serve this community with Integrity with devotion and with love for all of its residents and for the many who enter in and exit each day it is an honor to serve and we ask that you will Empower those who are in positions of leadership to do their absolute best we ask for your blessings upon them and their families keep them well and provide for them so that they may serve well and for all the many who serve this community those who are absent from this meeting help them as they strive to help others we give thanks amen amen amen thank you so much Reverend Lewis and now we will go to public comment surpris he wasn't waiting number OFW police officing thank you kind of kept our our neighbors on their toes at first they wondered are we okay number two teaching our three boys who are now men that public service is truly honorable and Noble and number one you know what it's going to be your your stint on the council provided me with a public forum to wish you a happy anniversary every year because renting out the movie theater Marquee was getting a little too expensive but seriously your time on the council was clearly appreciated by many residents and you should be proud thank you thank you Jim I will note for the record that there were no flowers tonight just saying good evening Ann loving Ridgewood resident I'm a little confused why we're not facing you guys uh can I turn can I turn it or you can turn it somebody turned it and we were not expecting that there you go okay thank you councilwoman Lorraine Reynolds you have my heartfelt gratitude for four and a half years of Stellar service on the Village Council you have been honest and pleasant and diligent about finances and attentive to details and you never stopped smiling even now you're smiling even when there was good reason not to smile your laughter from the de will echo through the the courtroom for years to come but long before you were an elected official you were an activist and an advocate for all manner of important matters in Ridgewood and in fact that's how you and I became friends and uh wound up in court together once your service goes way back beyond your time on the council Ridgewood is grateful for all that you have done enjoy your much deserved free time now but I do hope you'll reclaim your seat here on the other side of the day as with the unelected officials thank you thank you an anyone else seeing no one else I will close public comment and I now move that the council minutes of March 6th March 13th December 4th and December 11th 2024 having been reviewed by the council and now available in the village clerk's office be approved as submitted second pin uh before I vote I just wanted to note that with these minutes we are fully up to date with our minutes which is a big achievement considering the problems we had this year um this was no easy lift for the clerk's office and so I just wanted to thank the clerk's office for all this work I can't remember when we've been fully up to date in the past so I vote Yes Reynolds yes whites yes lrat is absent and vas yes and now we will all have a few remarks some things to say about our colleague and friend Lorraine Evan you want to kick it off I I would you know what I would say I'd love to but I'm actually really sad you're leaving but I'm I'm I'm I'm happy to lead off and and say some nice things about my friend Lorraine um I do also want to um thank hungu um you know I don't think I have another chance to speak tonight um but you know as I've said before democracy doesn't work if good people don't show up and hungu showed up and for that she deserves um our thanks and our appreciation um I am not going to miss Jim because Jim makes all the other husbands look terrible um so Jim um in all serious it was a every year I looked forward to your anniversary maybe just as much as you did because I knew you were going to do something cool and I just like being a part of being able to watch that um but as I said you know well I'm really happy to be rank to be welcoming Frank in tonight I am really sad learning to see you go um you know in the two years that um I've here um I've come to truly respect the work you've done and the contribution that you've made um to the Village as a whole um you know two years ago let's kind of say the thing out loud we're not supposed to say out loud right you were a little bit the odd person out now you could have stayed quiet you could have retreated into the background you could have maybe just become a little passive you made very clear early on you had zero intentions of doing any of that you doubled down You Came Out Swinging you did what democracy requires you to do and you did what the people voted who voted for you expected you to do you were a voice of descent at times you were a voice of support at the other at other times but you always approached it without malice and simply advocated for what you thought was right now from time to the time that meant that you and I were at odds and I'll be honest with you I didn't like that a lot but I always respected it and please know that as you leave here you leave here with my respect for the work you've done now since we're talking about the thing out out loud that we're not to say out loud I'm going to share my favorite Lorraine story so as many of you who come to the meetings maybe frequently know the public part of the meeting where we actually vote it can be a little proformer at times right like we everything that goes onto that agenda there's basically consensus that we're going to pass sometimes there's a little bit of drama usually there isn't because we've already talked about it in the work session um if you come to the pre meetings you'll see super boring we just sit down and figure out who's going to move who's going to Second just so that we're not talking over each other and the meeting kind of goes over without hitch now I will admit to occasionally during those meetings uh you know while we're up here voting uh maybe being distracted perhaps I've lost my attention every now and then um and what I will miss most is for those of you who watch us quite frequently you will notice uh and I by the way it's not just me every now and then a very polite handshake or you know the forearm grab um occasionally a kick under the table um which is basically Loren's polite way of saying DB you're up now she doesn't say it that way but I know she's thinking it and she's right to think it um so I'm really going to miss that I'm really GNA miss you just keeping us on top of our on top of our agenda you're gonna have to do it for Paul now I know I'm going to be the guy with be busy but Lorraine more importantly I'm going to miss you um as you leave the day please know you have the respect thanks to the entire Village you worked diligently in these past four and a half years you did a lot of good you know I wish you nothing but the best as you leave tonight I hope you're never a stranger to these these uh to this courtroom and I hope to see you again we see thank you thanks F Pam Lorraine um I really appreciate your service here on the council you were always well prepared and you've served Faithfully as Evan said for four and a half years and they've been long years um and although you were were often in the minority you defended your position staunchly and well um and speaking of being in the minority I particularly appreciated your opposition to the public health threat and environmental Scourge that is artificial turf your company on that issue meant a lot to me um en en your free time I will be thinking of you while you're relaxing in the country I'm envious and uh we will remember your service to our community we're all thankful thank you Lorraine my colleague and friend first of all you have to really train Evan on the on the light touch of you know letting us I will not be as subtle as she is right well yeah well just so you know my my my my right leg is black and blue from when she's kicked me so many times and by the way that was when you and I were not getting as long along as well as we weren't as we are now and yet you still couldn't let me look foolish up here which is by the way a full-time job as most people will tell you but I really appreciated that um but you have always epitomized my mother-in-law's Mantra of many hands make light work um I don't know if you remember when we first got to know one another um there was a parking garage that was going up and um you wanted the smaller garage and I wanted the larger garage and you worked very hard and effectively and fairly and got the support you needed for that smaller garage um little did I realize that you and I would be serving on the Village Council many years later um which by the way is not something that everyone is willing to do but you were willing to do it and for a couple years you served in the majority and then a couple years you served in the minority and the truth is really couldn't tell the difference by the way you conducted yourself it didn't matter um you championed the need for safer sidewalks and streets through the CI through the citizen safety Advisory Board which I still have trouble saying that um and the beautification of our Village um through project Pride I personally Al learned from you the value of sidewalks to pedestrian safety and just recently we worked together to build a sidewalk on a route to school for elementary school students and that was you and I leading the charge on that together um our mutual support on that project was a sign of how far our relationship has come and as Evan said while we didn't always agree on everything along the way I always admired the way you stuck to your guns um on everyone of the issues we disagreed on which there was more than one or two um I can't thank you enough for your service to our community which this most recent election where not that many people came out to run shows there's not a lot of people who are willing to do this to sacrifice with their family and their time um it it it was really really important work that you did most importantly my mother-in law would be very proud of the work that you've done so thank you so much really appreciate your being here thank you mayor may we chime in down at this by all means I'll go first uh just I'll be brief um Lorraine me and and the village owe you a great thanks for your commitment your Insight your cander and your compassion and I'll be brief and one of the things I greatly appreciated about uh your time on this was the fact that you brought your family and your loved ones into the de and made that a part of what we did and what we saw and I think everybody always needs to know that everybody on the deas people have their families have their loved ones that they need to spend time with they're not just up here acting robotically and and thinking robotically and you brought that personal aspect of it into the day into your job as a council member and it's greatly appreciated I want to thank you thank you council member so um when I arrived here in July of 2023 I wasn't sure how this was going to go but um Lorraine you gave me uh the benefit of the doubt and you allowed allowed us to forge a professional relationship that I truly appreciate we worked a lot on seesack issues pedestrian safety sidewalk safety um and I think we've been able to accomplish a lot in this last year and a half but I think what I'll walk away uh from tonight's meeting uh knowing the most about you is the personal relationship that we forged um we when we recently moved lorine called me up she Saidi have a garage full of boxes and I think I made about four trips to to her house and gym shop uh to take those boxes so that we could move from one house to another and most recently last month I think most of the people on the day of snow uh my family had a a health scare and um you checked in every day and those are the things that I will remember and thank you for your service to Ridgewood I know the residents here appreciate it thank you let me just say a couple words so Lorraine when we first met you were actually the person bringing me petition upon petition upon petition about the garage not once but twice and you know what it was always done professionally it was always done nicely it was just this is what you wanted and this is what the people you were with wanted and I understood that when you got on to the council I was very happy to become a friend of yours and I just truly appreciate you being that voice for some people who um didn't have a voice and I appreciate that you as others have said stuck by your guns and contined to um believe in what you believed in and let everyone know that you weren't going to back down and so um I know I'm going to miss you and uh but I wish you the very best and enjoying relaxing on Wednesday nights thank you now I get to say something all you all right I wrote it out because I won't remember all this but first and foremost I want to thank my husband Jim for his continued love and unwavering support during the last four and a half years when I was on the Village Council um as somebody said he spent many a night coming home to an empty house and fending for himself looking in the refrigerator what's for dinner while I was at a council meeting or a committee meeting he ALS also watched almost every council meeting as when I came home and he was asleep and the TV had the lines on it I knew he had been watching the meeting so he should get a special award for that because I can't imagine watching every meeting um council members need a really good support system behind them to be successful and I'm very blessed to have the best so thank you honey all right I want to thank all the residents who've had my back during my tenure on the Village Council I really appreciate your support and confidence that you had in me I tried to do my best and hopefully I was successful thank you to all of my committees and all of the members I truly enjoyed each and every one of them I'm going to miss you I feel that we accomplished a lot and we made a difference in each of these committees I also want to have a big thank you to all the employees of the village of Ridgewood I really never realized how many employees there are it's a lot and Ridgewood the residents are very blessed to have such a wonderful hardworking um community in every single dep Department Ridgewood truly is the best town to live in no matter what your age there's something for everyone I want to thank all my current Council colleagues I'm sorry that Siobhan is not here here um while we may have had our differences on things as you have heard I believe that we all came together in a very respectful manner I also want to thank my previous Council colleagues Michael sedan and Susan nson and bernardet Walsh whose guidance in my first two years on the council was very much appreciated now I'm going to go to my Lorraine Reynolds stuff so I'm going to bring something up totally out of respect I don't want it to be contentious but it's bothered me for the last few elections that there have been unint unintended consequences of moving the Municipal elections from May to November I happen to be the last council person along with Pam that was voted in in when our Municipal elections were in May it was May of 2020 back then I was afraid that moving the Municipal elections to November would make our nonpartisan elections partisan and I hate to say that I feel that that is the case um and I think that it has prevented the average Ridgewood resident who's interested in becoming involved in our town Castle Almost an impossible task when I ran in 2020 I think my campaign cost cost something like5 to $10,000 I granted it was during covid and I decided not to do lawn signs because I felt it was you know improper I wanted all the lawn signs to say thank you First Responders not vote for Lorraine Reynolds um so I saved money on that but um all of my campaign contributions were from Ridgewood residents nobody outside fast forward to this past November campaign approximately $77,000 was raised by one candidate and the Lion's Share of the contributions came from outside of Richwood came from all across the state of New Jersey some political entities other affiliations across the state and into New York then that candidate contributed money to the other two candidates running as a team and there's nothing wrong with that it's totally legit totally legal but I don't believe that would happen if we still had the council elections in May so I just want to put it you know in your mind do we really want things to go forward this way to have somebody I have no idea what HJ Spen but you know and I believe she's you know has money but it's not I believe it's not fair to the average Ridgewood resident who would like to run who would like to be up here speak their peace make some changes but they don't have $50,000 to run I really think we need to think about this going forward I know that the council could decide to move it back to may I don't think this Council would but in the future it is a possibility and I just want to put it out there cuz I I really think it's unfair um also if we moved it back then we would be able to vote on the school budget this past November the Board of Education Election there were three slots available and three people running so it was completely uncontested Council it was three spots available four people running so almost uncontested and as you know I've been involved in Village politics for 2025 years and I always remember three seats open six candidates running two seats open four candidates running it really upsets me that elections are becoming uncontested and I do think it's a financial decision for many people who would like to be here so just a thought um as I step down from Council there's a few things that I would have liked to see finish but the new Council will be tasked in finishing it and I have every hope and every belief that they will uh in no particular order number one Kingsbridge Lane Footbridge the repair is underway I'm very confident it will be completed in the spring to be used by all it's been a long long road and I can't wait to see it completed number two West Glen Avenue sidewalks plans are being made um residents are being talked to hopefully Agreements are being discussed for the residents that'll be impacted by the sidewalks on the southbound side that's if an agreement with the de is not reached to continue sidewalks on the Northbound side I'm confident that one way or another West Glenn will have a continuous sidewalk from Monroe to Maple on one side please stand by it's really important we need that sidewalk number three the Town garage area the building was supposed to be raised today but due to the snowstorm south of us it was postponed I do hope that the incoming Council will make this some sort of green space and not anything else certainly not a parking lot I hope that we as a village are all coming to the realization that green spaces are so important to our physical as well as our mental well-being so it would be such a great addition to the downtown to have a green space on Franklin Avenue and I hope that comes to fruition last but not least shedler we knew it was coming up this has been going on for a very long time but regardless of how long it needs to be done right and not fast the house is finally finished and I hope that we will have a purpose for it soon as far as the land and what to do with it I urge this Council to reexamine the facts and the science before resubmitting a plan to shipo sometimes it's really hard to do the right thing and not the popular thing please please do the right thing for our health our environment and all all of our future remember that mature trees soak up a tremendous amount of rainwater this helps prevent flooding most of us will be long gone before any replacement trees grow to the maturity of the trees that are present at shedler please read the science on the turf talk to The Experts make the right decision not the easy decision talk to Pam she's one of our experts she knows her stuff and lastly Frank congratulations once again and I wish each and every one of you a successful term on the council and in the future and I'm happy to sign off yay and Lorraine as with most game shows and this is definitely a game show we have some lovely parting gifts for you thank thank you everyone thank you thank you thank you good luck show everybody this is the train station isn't that beautiful I'm going to put this in a bag for thank you all right be good or I'll be back don't laugh she's not kidding let's give her another Round of [Applause] Applause by the way I don't know if you know noticed but for anybody who's attended other Town's Council meetings it's not always like this when a council member retires um this is this is really a sign of the way Lorraine conducted herself and again we didn't agree on a lot of stuff but she was always terrific to work with so I know I personally grateful to have served with her and with that we have an empty chair and we have to fill it so Heather will you read the certificate of elections of Francis Frank Mortimer Jr I'm moving up in the world I hereby certify that Francis Frank mmer Jr was elected to the Village Council as the municipal election held on November 5th 2024 for a four-year ter beginning on January 1st 2025 and ending on December 31st 2028 at this time the O of office will be administered to Frank mmer Jr by Bergen County Executive James J tadesco II Frank will you come join us in the well and bring your beautiful family is the microphone on wait wait we we have no microphone gentlemen thank you and there are two so you each get one let's do that again I don't know if my joke will work twice yeah it's okay it wasn't funny the first time welcome to the [Laughter] council I I state your name I Francis Frank Mortimer Jr do solemnly swear do solemnly swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States that I will support the Constitution of the United States and the constitution of the state of New Jersey and the constitution of the state of New Jersey and that I will Faithfully and I will faithfully impartially impartially and justly and justly perform all the duties perform all the duties of the office of council member as the office of council member of the village of Ridgewood of the village of Ridgewood according to the best of my abilities according to the best of my abilities congratulations councilman thank you sir thank you Frank won't you please join us on the Des just make sure you sign the oath thank absolutely it's get some pictures and forgive me forgive me for not introducing the honorable James J tadesco who is our County Executive who came here on on one of his rare nights off to swear Franken Jim thank you so much for being here it meant so much to all of us May thank you so much Frank welcome thank you hello Ridgewood it's uh wonderful to be here um kind of kind of wild as well so uh I just wanted to say first thanks to my family as you saw there's a lot of them but um no it it I liked what Lorraine said when she said Council people need a lot of support and I have that sorry to sound like a goofball but my family is everything to me and as I've campaigned um over the past six seven eight months seven years whatever it was that I got to know more and more people in this Great Village of ours and I consider this to be my extended family and one of the things that I feel really empowered was by meeting all those people is we always talk about what a great town it is but the more people you meet you're like holy cow there's a lot of great people that live here and I'm honored to be able to serve them for the next four years it's it's really been a pleasure to hear what people want and so often we're in school you hear about the the silent majority and I feel that's really true in our village because as I was out talking to people who aren't regularly here in in front of the council but just stay at home and want to live a good life that to hear what they want is really invigorating to me and um it just it makes me proud to be able to serve all of you and I pledge to do the best job that I can over the next four years and um finally as the man I do have to leave with a be story that uh cuz I I started um I guess in politics or whatever you call this stuff we do interest in the village is that by um making Ridgewood the first B City USA in the state and to do that I had to go around I had to talk to all these different committees and groups and that's when I first started meeting people and then that led to me to being on the parks and W board um with Nancy Bigos and just I've done that for 5 and A2 years and you know the parks and wreck in of all the Departments interacts interacts with our village members more than anything else and so that was really empowering to be there and to hear how committed the parks and wck department is um to this Village so in a in with bees worker bees that depending on their age they take on different jobs and there's multiple jobs that they go through everything from being nurse bees which is taking care of the babies to house bees which is taking care of uh The Hive and one of the last jobs they do is to go out and Forge and that's when we see them so it depends on their age why they have different jobs so now that I've aged I'm glad and excited for my new job thank you welcome aboard Frank and now Heather will you read the certificate of ction of Pam parin I hereby certify that Pamela rarin was elected to the Village Council as a municipal election held on November 5th 2024 for a four-year term beginning on January 1st 2025 and ending on December 31st 2028 I now have the honor of swearing in our council member Pamela rarin right do you want to use the other microphone just repeat after me there you go I state your name I Pamela perin do solemnly affirm do do solemnly affirm that I will support the Constitution of the United States that I will support the Constitution of the United States and the constitution of the state of New Jersey and the constitution of the state of New Jersey and that I will faithfully and that I will faithfully impartially and justly impartially and justly perform all of the duties perform all of the duties of the office of council member of the office of council member of the village of Ridgewood of the village of Ridgewood according to the best of my ability according to the best of my ability [Applause] congratulations just see you know we're going to be doing this a couple of times tonight it is an honor to serve as a council person few people wake up and say oh I want to be a council person in fact most of them probably say why would I ever want to do that um no way I'm not um somebody else can do it um but what people people do wake up thinking is I want to help somebody else I want to help my neighbors I want to accomplish something good in my community and that's when people like Frank join the parks and wreck board or volunteer to serve on the zoning board or um or start planting for project Pride and that's how you get engaged in your community and before you know it you get sucked into um spending hours and hours helping people hearing people getting ideas from them and I urge all of you who are interested in what goes on in this Village to volunteer on the Committees that's where you learn what goes on behind the curtain that's where you meet the people who are working so hard both employees in the village and other volunteers I grew up in Ridgewood I was born in Ridgewood I thought I had all my friends I thought I knew most people here boy was I wrong there are so many engaged people um and once you are sitting here on the day is the listening is so important learning from other people we don't have all the good ideas the residents and the business owners are very creative this is where the creativity comes in this is what's exciting so if you are interested in helping the people around you get involved um um as Frank has done and uh I really look forward to serving With You Frank thanks thank you thanks Pam let's give her a round of applause and Heather we got one more guy certificate of election I hereby certify that Paul vagianos was elected to the Village Council at the municipal election held on November 5th 2024 for a 4-year term beginning on January 1st 2025 and ending on DEC December 31st 2028 at this time we will have United States Congressman Josh gimer come up to swear in Paul vagan as's council member please use a microphone I Paul Vos I Paul vagianos doly affirm do solemnly affirm that I will support the constition of the United States that I will support the Constitution of the United States and the contition of the state of New Jersy and the constitution of the state of New Jersey and I will faithfully and that I will faithfully impartially impartially and justly and justly perform all of the duties perform all of the duties of the office of council member of the office of council member of the village of rwood of the village of Ridgewood according to the best of my ability according to the best of my ability congratulations thank you so [Applause] much thanks at this time I will do the Roll Call of the new Village Council council member Mortimer here council member perin here council member vaganos here council member whites here and council member winegrad is absent at this time I would like to call for the nominations for the title of Mayor of the village of Ridgewood I move the nomination of council member Paul vagianos as mayor of the village of Ridgewood for a 2-year term commencing January 6th 2025 I second the motion Mortimer yes parin yes Banos yes whites why mess up a good thing yes I'm going to gr it's absent any other nominations I need someone to move the nominations I move the nominations for mayor be closed I second the motion this is to close nominations Mortimer yes perin yes vagianos yes whites yes there will now be a roll call vote on the nomination of Paul Banos as mayor of the village of Ridgewood for a two-year term commencing January 6 2025 Mortimer yes perin yes vaganos yes and whites yes carry at this time we'll have uh United States Congressman Josh goder and ad Minister the US of office to Mayor Paul vaganos yeah we do this this way it's it is what it is round two long time no see you look great yeah you too okay let's take the O here would you guys join us family should come you want to bring if you could raise your right hand I Paul vaganos I Paul vaganos do solemnly affirm do solemnly affirm that I will support the Constitution that I will support the Constitution of the United States of the United States and the Constitution and the constitution of the state of New Jersey of the state of New Jersey and that I will Faithfully that I will faithfully impartially impartially and justly and justly perform all of the duties to perform all of the duties of the office of Mayor of the office of Mayor of the village of Ridgewood of the village of Ridgewood according to the best of my ability according to the best of my congratulations Mr Mayor thank [Laughter] you're that's great did you sign the oath both of you is it okay if I speak for one minute about does this thing work over here that's far thanks I just wanted to say a couple words first of all happy New Year to everybody thank you so much for welcoming me I love being in the village it's always great it's great to be here uh with the mayor and councel uh and congratulations to Lorraine uh and uh Frank congratulations as well it's a big day for you um and Pam and uh Evan and uh councilwoman w I know everybody who's going to make up this Council and serve the village well as they have forever in such a great Community I love this place uh I do also want to recognize we have you saw the county executive who does really an unbelievable job for Bergen County the largest county in the state of New Jersey a million people strong and Jim tadesco wakes up every day worrying about us there was almost a big snowstorm today Jim he would normally be out on the street with a plow himself um but it was just a dusting gym I'm sorry to let you down today um but I I Senator Cado is here here and assembly men uh baros is here and assembly men to Phillips it's great to see you as well thank you for your leadership in the community as well very grateful um and so I'm very honored to be here you know Ridgewood is a very very special place uh I think anybody who spends time here knows that um it's a place where many of us don't just hang out downtown um but have a lot of friends and it's a wonderful place for the schools to do business um to raise a family and uh it really is a very special Community with hardworking people and really a hardworking Council uh and Leadership and I want to congratulate them and I really want to thank all of their family members for putting up with what they have to do every day and all the time and the hours not just getting elected but governing so to all the family members here Round of Applause to [Applause] you now what I love about Ridgewood is the history right as you know old pamis Reformed Church was a hospital the barracks of the for American troops and headquarters for General Washington during the Revolutionary War um and so it has a long history of Public Service in the community um and the community stood up and elected a great Council this year and a great mayor uh and I know that the mayor will continue to do a phenomenal job he's been an amazing friend to me um and to the fifth district the last years he has been committed to serving as mayor with a passion that drives him every day I'm in this community a lot working together and whether the council or the town or anybody calls me we try to work together immediately Paul's been a resident here for 28 years married for for 41 years that's impressive not a single fight in 41 years that's what Paul said um they have two uh uh beautiful children he Alana and two grandchildren Becket who's going to be 5 years old on Wednesday right uh and Tatum who is one and a half Paul is serve not just our community here in Ridgewood but our entire great state he's held too many honors to list them all but I'll just tell you he's trustee for the Fort Le Board of Education president of the Ridgewood Chamber of Commerce that's actually when I first got to know him and the owner of several business is right here in Ridgewood uh and ones that I went to a lot um as mayor Paul has had a huge impact on the Village um working very closely with the council helping to keep taxes down while increasing the economic surplus all for affordability and lower taxes he invested back in our communities resurfacing more than 32 miles of roads in just a year upgrading our parks and sidewalks with the village working closely with the council adding Zoom access to Village Council meetings to ensure that everybody gets a chance to be heard during the pandemic he helped claw back nearly 5 million in Grants for the local restaurants and stores to stay open um secured 500,000 meals for those facing food insecurity in Bergen County working very closely with the county executive on that and with councilwoman Zur I mean commissioner Zur in 2023 working with Paul we claw we helped claw back more $3 million for Ridgewood water for new water treatment facilities which I know continues to be a huge issue to make sure we have clean drinking water in this community we've got a lot back to invest and it's really helped not just Ridgewood but all the communities that uh use that water free of lead and posos forever chemicals it's done a lot working with the Council on dealing with all the Overflow rivers and Brooks and streams we just worked together recently with the Army Corps um to help address some of those issues you've done a lot with veterans in recognizing uh the the Fallen um with the gold star families with with the new Memorial which is really beautiful and I know many of us were at um so it's just it's issue after issue after issue Paul has stood up raised his hand and said send me I'll do it I'll handle it and and and he and he just steps up in fact when the seat first opened up I know you didn't want it and said no thanks no thanks I really appreciate it many of us called you and said come on man you got to run uh and you said finally fine I'll do it and then look what you've done you've done so much and I'm so glad that you're going to be here for another uh round helping uh in the town and in the village and with an unbelievable counsil by your side helping run this great village with great elected officials so anyway I just want to say thank you happy New Year to all of you we live in this the greatest country in the world we're very blessed to live here and don't ever forget that these things are not running a town is not about democrat or republican issues it's just about fixing the roads and filling the potholes and getting things done for everybody right these are not partisan issues these are just about good American issues and we got to work together and we got to do more of that and and I think Ridgewood is a place that is a great example of how we can come together there's so much we can get done so thank you God bless you congratulations [Applause] thank you so much Josh um um I have to thank the public officials that are in the room um not just for being here tonight but because they're always here for us um Josh Congressman Josh gimer has helped us our village in so many ways for those of you who who know that the Army Corps of Engineers is here to help with our flooding problems that are too big for our town to handle Josh brought him in um County Executive Jim tadesco uh he is always a phone call away when we need him and um and that that money that we brought in for um the food insecure community and to save our downtown thank Jim tadesco um and and I will tell you our our legislative teammates Senator Kristen curado assemblyman Christ Phillips and assemblyman Al baras are always there for anything we need um we we I we called them up recently and said listen we have a problem with our bus station we need money can you get it back from um Department of Transit here's a check for $100,000 um by the way for those of you who think anybody thinks that this is political there is just about an equal number of Democrats and Republicans amongst those five people that I just talked about nobody cares whether you're a Democrat or Republican as Josh said we just want to get things done we want to fix things and this is this is a team sport I will talk about the rest of this team in just a moment but I want everybody to give these people a big round of applause because you don't realize all that they do for every member of our community thank you all so much I also want to take a moment as Evan did to thank hju quac for throwing her hat in the ring to run this is in case you didn't know this is not an easy thing thing it's not an easy thing to run it is not an easy thing to serve but let me tell you something it is the most rewarding thing that I have done in a very long time and I am so grateful and honored that she ran um and I will always be grateful that she ran but I can't begin to tell you how honored I am to be sitting here tonight first that this community that I love with all my heart and soul looked at the work and achievements of this Council and honored Pam and I by reelecting us this past November it it meant so much to us um but if that weren't enough when the four people sitting on this de including Siobhan who's not here tonight asked me to serve as mayor again it meant more to me than you can possibly know they are among the hardest working most self-sacrificing dedicated to their Community most intelligent ready to go the extra forget mile the extra 100 miles people I have ever had the Good Fortune to work with and I am so looking forward to working with them this next term I can tell you from discussions I have had with colleagues who serve in other towns that account Council like this is as rare as a community like ours and then to be sworn in by the person who I believe should and will be serving as our next governor and all of this with my family in the room that what can I say I love them you know we all have families let's just say it can't get any better than this for a guy like me I will make you one promise that I will continue to give it my all every single day that I will serve thank you all so much [Applause] Heather um we now have to call for the nomination of Deputy Mayor then at this time I would like to oh excuse me I would like to call for the nominations for the title of deputy mayor of the village of Ridgewood and I will follow it up with that I move the nomination of council member Pamela perin as deputy mayor of the village of Ridgewood for a 2-year term commencing this evening January 6th 2025 I second the motion Mortimer yes pin yes whites proudly yes and V yes I now move the nominations for Deputy Mayor be closed I second the motion Mortimer yes parin yes whites yes and vaganos yes there will now be a roll call vote on the nomination of Pamela perin as deputy mayor of the village of Ridgewood for a two-year term commencing January 6 2025 Mortimer yes parin yes whites yes and vaganas yes I will now have the honor of swearing in my very good friend and colleague pamaron as deputy mayor than ready yes repeat after me I Pamela parin I Pamela parin do solemnly affirm do solemnly affirm that I will support the Constitution of the United States that I will support the Constitution of the United States and the constitution of the state of New Jersey and the constitution of the state of New Jersey and that I will faithfully and that I will faithfully impartially impartially and justly and justly perform all of the duties perform all of the duties of the office of deputy mayor of the office of deputy mayor of the village of Bridgewood of the village of Ridgewood according to the best of my ability according to the best of my ability congratulations [Applause] that I think I've already said most of what I want to say about what an honor it is to serve the people of Ridgewood um so I'll I'll just leave it at that thanks Pam and now we will move on to the office of president proor and so I will open the nominations for that office hold it I got to figure out where we are okay I move the nomination of council member Evan whites as president prot temporary of the village of Ridgewood for a two-year term commencing January 6th 2025 I second the motion Mortimer yes parin yes whites yes vaganos yes I move the nomination for president the nominations for president prot temporary of the village of Ridgewood be closed I second the motion Mortimer yes pin yes whites yes vaganos yes there will now be a roll call vote on the nomination of Evan White as president prot temporary of the Village Council for a two-year term commencing January 6 2025 Mortimer yes parin yes whites yes and vaganas yes and now Pam will swear in Evan as president prot tempor we're almost home guys is it working I think it is good enough Fair yeah um I do want to say this is not evans's first go round he ran before and didn't get the seat but I said to him you know you got to run again and I'm glad he did thank you for taking my advice that was bad thank you for reminding me of losing back in 2016 I appreciate that I came in there and as we talked about tonight the six people ran and I came in Sixth and it wasn't a close sixth either but I appreciate the support and I did much better two years ago okay um I Evan whites I Evan whites do solemnly swear or affirm do solemly affirm that I will support the Constitution of the United States that I will support supp the Constitution of the United States and the constitution of the state of New Jersey and the constitution of the state of New Jersey and that I will faithfully and that I will faithfully impartially impartially and justly and justly perform all the duties perform all the duties of the office of president prot tempor of the office of president protemp of the village of Ridgewood of the village of Ridgewood according to the best of my ability according to the best of my abilities Thank you Pam I can attest the fact that I saw his wife here earlier you want to say something good good okay Jim Tesco I know that you have some stuff to do here tonight so come on up and thank you so much for waiting good night to our legislative team thank you all for being here we really appreciate it and we appreciate your support yeah just for those of you who don't know these four people are kind of a big deal and they came and spent the whole night with us and um like I said and and they are um they are working all the time so Jim thank you so much for being here thank you may it's to here can I just have you use the microphone please usually don't need it's it's for the it's for the TV audience at home thank you for having me here this evening um on behalf of the million people of Bergen County I wanted to be here to um recognize and congratulate the mayor the deputy mayor and the prot tempor um on there obtaining the those positions but also the election of Frank and Paul and Pamela and to say that the this is what is um so good about our democracy and this is what makes Bergen County the place that it is towns like Ridgewood towns all over 70 of them more than most counties in the United States we're a million people larger than five states in a nation in the district of Colombia and yet we're a combination of small and large communities and this is what makes Bergen County the place where people want to come and want to raise a family want to live here want to do business here Bergen County continues to thrive and grow but it's only because of the success of the 70 communities each Community as they're successful Bergen County becomes successful and so it's my privilege to represent all 70 communities and the almost a million people that call Bergen County home but I also need to thank all of the elected officials for doing the work in their local communities I know what it's like to sit up there I was a councilman I was a mayor I was a Freeholder and now the county executive so I know what it takes I know the commitment and I know the time that they give up and they spend on doing the work that they do I'm committed to making sure that Bergen County is a partner with the town of Ridgewood it's been will continue and to all of you I say thank you thank you for what you do every day to make this community this Village and this County and this state the best that there is thank you so much thank you thank you so much Jim I I have certificates for each one of the council members that were sworn in and I also have um challenge coin uh the county executive has a challenge coin and I will present that to each member of the C uh each member that was elected and also a pin that represents the county seal and uh I ask them when they have the time to wear it as proudly as I wear mine so thank you all and have a wonderful evening and a great happy New [Applause] Year thank you I'll save it for next time thank youim it's a lot of stuff you got us thanks pal my coin Jim thank you so much okay I promise one last piece of business it is our first piece of business as a new Council it will not take long Heather the following resolutions number 25-1 through 25-3 6 will be adopted by a consent agenda with one vote by The Village Council they will be read by title only approved 2025 temporary budgets appoint Village attorney appoint Village Bond attorney appoint Village labor attorney appoint Village auditor appoint professional planner appoint professional planning consultant for affordable housing and related matters appoint Village prosecutor appoint public defender appoint alternate public defender or Professional Services contract special counsel tax exemption ma matters for properties owned by Valley Hospital in the village of Ridgewood award Professional Services contract Risk Management Consultant award Professional Services contract retainer for professional land surveyor Services award Professional Services contract social worker award contract grant writer appoint joint Insurance Fund commissioner appoint public agency compliance officer appoint disability coordinator authorize Bergen County Police Chiefs Association Mutual Aid plan and Rapid deployment Force adopt form for notice of Tor claims certify compliance with federal civil rights requirements appoint members to the planning board appoint members to the Zoning Board of adjustment appoint member to library Board of Trustees appoint members to Citizen safety advisory committee appoint members to the open space committee appoint members to the central business district advisory committee appoint members to Green Team advisory committee appoint members to Green Ridgewood appoint members to the shade tree commission appoint members to the parks recreation and conservation board appoint member to Historic preservation commission appoint members to Pride Day committee appoint members to residential flood advisory committee appoint members to project pride and appoint Village Council Members as Liaisons to various boards and committees may I have a motion I make a motion second second Mortimer so since this is my first official vote I'd like to say that it's it's great that it's to appoint so many people to positions in the village as well as in all the Committees that serve our village and make it as wonderful it is and with that my first vote I say yes parin yes whites yes and vagianos and I Echo what Frank said these are the people who they we probably appointed 70 or 80 people tonight to committees who help everyone run this town they're volunteers and they give up their time and I urge everyone listening if you are not volunteering Get Off the Bench and get in the game and with that a resounding yes and with that we will go to comments from the public seeing none do you have one oh well I don't see him on my screen but by all means put him through we have one on hybrid access Ruck if you could unmute there you go sorry about that uh anyway congratulations to the five five of you please identify yourself yeah roric halbe Village president for 55 years and I can tell you that in the 55 years I've lived here I've never felt as comfortable with the Village Council as I am right now you are people of Integrity you are people who put rid first you are smart and you're effective and uh I really feel feel very very thankful and I think I can speak for Cynthia too thank you very much for serving thank you R anyone else seeing no one I'm going to close public comment and entertain a motion to adjourn the meeting I'll make a motion second all in favor I I anyone oppose thank you thank you all for being here tonight start