##VIDEO ID:pNVM9SawPkA## ask for a moment of Silent reflection uh for all those people in our country who are preparing to celebrate different holidays and uh and their commitment to a pluralistic society please stand councilwoman coffin would you please lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance 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 statement of compliance with the open public meeting act this meeting complies with the open public meeting act by notification on January 11 2024 this location date and time through the town news the record and by posting the same on the mpal bull board the world B website and following notice of the same with municipal clerk Madam Deputy clerk roll call please here here here Council here mayor Pap here I apologize that we were a few minutes late there was some um personal committee uh uh activity that required our attention so please pardon our late beginning but I have a motion and second to approve the minutes of the mayor and Council regular meeting and Clos session of November 14 2024 so moved all in favor please say I I any abstentions any names hearing none it is unanimous presentations burough Hall entrance design Mr Costa it's good to see you and Associates Jason evening shall we just dive in yeah all right rob you have the here's the good news I all of this remote stuff is great watch this mayor this is a management decision Greg you're up can everybody see the screen yes but we need for you to speak up oh sorry uh good evening mayor council members any one second I'm not sure what's going on but it's coming through the computer not through the speakers so it's not going to our speaker system um go to the audio up carrot change to ah gotcha this one I believe so Echo cancelling okay Greg could we have a sound check Greg could someone speak Greg Greg that's Rob that's Rob he's connecting again I think he have an issue okay Greg can you try speaking with see if we can hear you your mute button's on right now Greg you're muted no because I think they have to keep I apologize our Zoom crashed as well okay we got good sound now please begin again and thank you all right yep uh good evening mayor council members uh Lizette John we're here to present the again the burall entrance design just give us one second okay can everybody see the screen yes we can see it okay um so for the most part this design hasn't really changed that much since you saw it last time uh main things to note we added a robust Landscaping plan uh designed by a landscape architect it includes uh nine trees over 150 uh shrubs of different uh types and then some perennials um aside from that we uh we reconfigure this area so we have uh uh wheel drive aisles and parking spaces before it was pretty narrow between uh the edge of the parking space and the sidewalk those both have been expanded to the West here um increasing the aisle width so people can back out easier uh 16 sparking spaces are here we've kept this one space uh to the north that we added um just to avoid this tree we had additional ones in a concept Plan before but to avoid taking down the large shade trees here uh we opted to go with a single space bringing uh a total to 11 spaces here and total we're taking down six trees uh there's four in the front here and two in the back just to accommodate the design that we have um and besides that we have I think during the last meeting there was some notes about the benches and uh the flag poles those have been added as an alternate to the bid um and we reconfigured the numbers a little bit so so this is this is the revised estimate as you can see it's no it's too small you need to zoom in sorry I'll just I'll go to the the main numbers so without the alternate bid uh items which include the flag poles of Benes Stone monuments which can be done after the fact uh the base bid number is just North of 460,000 and that's including all the Landscaping um the expanded parking lot uh Extra Spaces all concrete work streetcape um everything and then as this is noted here the tree removal of the six trees uh if Jas wouldn't be so kind the DPW can uh take care of those Tre removal prior to the start of work and then flag PS benches and the stone monuments can be uh done through either I know some of the benches are done through the wreck in the Parks uh flag PES can be added on at sometime after the fact as an additional aesthetic um but this base bit number was everything that you saw on this plan here where would the um flag go based on the current drawing if it was done by uh as an alternate or if it was done by DPW uh so yeah so on the original uh let me just go to one second I me just it's if you could see the right there in those two front pillars that's the original location that we had for them they were 30 foot tall flag poles um we had them shown on the rendering um show the give us a minute we can show the resing but those two front pillars were the locations that we had it those can be uh switched around if we if need be but those were the locations that we had at at originally okay it's just my concern is if they're going to be right at the outskirt of the uh of the the branches then um then you know you have the tree growing and all of a sudden the branches are you know swallowing up the poles also I'm wondering if we're doing this as an alternate how much of the original work could be damaged or compromised if we were doing it later on if this is what the council wants to put to mount these on top of the peers we could build the peers obviously at this point stronger and then just Mount the flag pole after the fact um you leave sleeves in there so it wouldn't damage anything in in if that's the location that everybody wants it at um but again it's it can be put in any location that the you know the council desires or your desire depending on what you do it doesn't have to be that tall it it it really depends on on the look you're you're going for um yeah I guess where I'm confused is this second landscape drawing which we're looking at right now only has five trees built into it to what looks like uh red Maples in the back and two are in the sidewalk area but if you switch back to would you switch back to the concept drawing then I see there are two other trees right next uh in that uh Garden area this was the original this was the original lever and then this is the the plan view is the modified but we didn't get it rendered again I mean we certainly can if it need be but this it doesn't need to be my my concern then is the flag poles you got two trees in the uh garden and you got the flag poles sitting right next to the trees and as the trees grow won't those branches begin to uh swallow up the flag poles it could create a problem yes so we'd have to put them in a different local either the trees wouldn't go there we go back to the original design or the flag poles have to be moved to another location or flag pole depending on what the count coun wants to do all right um I'm not going to open up the council quite yet I don't know if Greg's done presenting before uh that just jumped out of me immediately no that was uh I H all the points really for the revised design but that was a good point you brought up mayor thank you all right well then I have a couple more questions uh it looks like we say what's in the gray Checker is the uh it's I I think it says what exactly it's a Concrete uh sidewalk with uh with some sort of texturizing what would that be S yeah so those lines were just to represent the joint pattern that we were thinking of going with on the concrete that's obviously if the council wishes to go with something else or eliminated we can redesign that that was just a kind of box pattern we had um at least for that inside portion and then along the street we kept the same uh joint pattern that we have for the rest of the streets Edge along with but that's obviously all up to uh that can all be changed all right um the uh banisters for the uh stairwells what kind of material would be used for that uh that would all be all concrete and then uh aluminum ham rails similar to what we did around the conest stand at the swim club if you're familiar with that no I'm not that's okay um so that would be um is it plain or is it ornate you know what uh is it does it does it look commercial or does it look a little bit nicer than that no no not commercial look the the design that we had or whatever um it it wasn't just like completely solid or straight it had some texturing to it to make it look a little more aesthetic okay um so the handicap is going to approach from the left from the parking space and then it's going to slope up to the police department and then slope up again to the entrance of burrow hall or U and I I know you guys are good with that but uh is that is is that walkway going to be texturized in any way so that uh someone in a wheelchair wouldn't uh on on a on a wet day slide backwards or is that just Standard Concrete and we don't need to worry about that yeah that'd be that'd be Standard Concrete so that whole walkway from the 88 parking space all around the front of the building there is going to be 2% ada8 compliant and when they do the brush finish it's typical to a normal concrete sidewalk so the brush finish will be perpendicular uh the way of tra so it'll eliminate any risk of flipping all right I'm gonna open to the council in a minute uh what I want to say to the council is maybe we want to put in the flag poles and get rid of the two extra trees that are in the in in the in the garden and maybe we don't uh so uh any member of council would like to ask a question or make a comment this would be your time I I agree we should lose those trees Dave just speak up a little bit so you can hear can you hear me okay um can you just go over what would the traffic flow pattern be if I was entering the parking area from Tenny can you show me and I wanted to go to one of the spaces on the north side of the building could you show me the traffic flow pattern and then how would I get out of that space by exit I believe those spaces would be police only yes corre that's how they're designated right now so only police have uh to those spaces in and out from that uh driveway on Kinder kak Road and along the north side of the building where the yellow hatching is that's well it's technically designated as a oneway but there's a do not enter sign so that all those spaces in the back are uh strictly for police and they regularly only pull in and out of uh Kinder KEH anything Council all of those spaces are for the police and then the sally port that we just fixed recently that's the gray the Shaded gray is the sally port where they would bring prisoners in so that whole area back there is for police only so let me just say sallyport for those of you who didn't know because I didn't know until this came up is is a garage the police call their garage to sort what's the yellow striping represent or what's that intended to yeah that was just uh that's existing hatching right now so we're just going to be keeping that in the proposed conditions it's just to uh indicate no parking just in case anybody does get back there do you envision travel by any vehicle through there where that y besides police who I'm the only one aware that uses that kind that back portion we don't anticipate it uh additionally all those parking spaces uh to the West are normally used by the police as well the par per Vehicles so most of the time they Park all the way to the um so those space are mostly free for anyone who wants to pull in and out do the people uses okay just on another topic so right now we have brick pavers throughout the area where you're showing that concrete with the pattern so all those pavers are going to be ripped up right and we're going to replace that with concrete um what is there an opportunity to potentially reuse any of those papers are they just going to go to demo uh I believe I think those are I think they're bricks yeah regular bricks and if you if you see it's pretty nice brick cers now right they are so um if if you talk to Jason the superintendent you will see that there are spots within that area that has already been replaced and they couldn't get the same brick again so you will find there some areas they have a different color than the the actual original papers there uh actually bricks I'm sorry uh so yeah so the idea of trying to demolish uh save them and and try to reuse them uh is it's very it's going to be very hard and challenging and if we lose any brick papers then trying to find them is going to be impossible as as right now super like for if you ask again Mr Milo they will see that they not able to find the same kind of bricks anymore that's why they're just using any other close match to it I just want to repeat in case you didn't hear me at the beginning I I'm in favor of what I believe the mayor was leaning for fors which was losing those two trees that would potentially obstruct the flag Falls okay just to go back very quickly the as as far as the brick papers we're actually doing a couple private jobs right now where one particular is in Edgewater and it's it was part of a law suit it's actually the prices we got it was cheaper to pick the pavers up and discard them than to use the same ones because by the time you pick them up palti them put them in and then put them back and if you do break some or do something happens you'll never match the original the original color also we don't have enough brick pavers or or bricks that are there to then do the rest of the sidewalk and all of that so it's the idea is and again I don't want to speak for Jason but Jason said this will be much easier to maintain in the future but again that's certainly up to the I'm a brick paper guy if anybody knows me um but again there's some bricks that are going back it just seems I mean we have these beautiful brick pays now we keep telling everyone in our town in our burrow that we want to minimize our our our impermeable coverage and we're ripping up these brick pavers and we're putting down concrete so just a thought we can we can certainly what we can do um everything where you see concrete we could actually do a darker pattern with with brick pav we just did we literally we just finished up a job in Wayne for Wayne Mazda and if you go out there the entire parking lot is environmental papers we used a very dark color gray um in my opinion it came out out great we can certainly spec something like that a dark gray which would kind of resemble uh the concrete and we could do it as an alternate and you guys could then make a decision you know how you want to proceed in the future it's an alternate if you want to pick the alternate The Price is Right perfect and then you guys can make at that point anything else C no thank you councilman question councilwoman um I agree with removing those two trees by the Fleck bows U one question I is how come we decide we needed two Fleck bows is it athetic or just location it was just athetic we tried to keep the uh the symmetry so kind of down the middle you mirror things on both sides of that pathway um so that was really the only idea there for the two flag poles just to kind of keep that symmetry I think it might be good for us because we put up a River Edge flag and United States flag but if you're against it that's okay no I'm not against it just with would it be the state New Jersey flag and the US well that would be three flags and that's and that's workable [Laughter] too anything else no okay councilwoman um no not at this time any comments no not at this time okay questions comments sure I I do have a question uh Rob what are we what the six trees that are disappearing or they're gone what are we getting in return what where are they right now if you can walk me through it the the six trees um a few of them are locust trees with the small very small leaves in the front um and again in order to make basically we want to create symmetry to the front to the front of the building and then don't use uh we don't want to use like Keystone walls like mortalis walls we want to use the brick to try to match everything and make it more of a courtyard setting so as far as the trees we're proposing hang on because I don't remember off the top of my head Greg can you put up the um the landscape the schedule you had it there two seconds ago yeah and you just had it I just saw the yeah honey locust and the uh Chinese Dogwood there you go just move that down a little bit all right so Dogwood which is basically a decorative tree um where's the other and the Honey Locust which I believe is what's I don't know if it's the same the same common name the same uh botanical name but there's Locus in the front right now if like I said they're very small leaves easy you know easier to maintain um but again we can change any of this around whatever the whatever the council so you know so to speak wants we could do no I'm just asking where they are right now because you're saying that we're remove can you put a a Google map up yeah well you could show it on the demo plan right now AG I don't want to make it more difficult Rob I think that last time we met it was the conversation was that we were removing trees to make more space for parking so I'm trying to reconcile what we were discussing so that was in the back okay and they were moving trees in the back back I'm sorry M I apologize no no no I'm just trying to help you guys out the the originally the police wanted more parking as you come off the driveway in the back and again going back to the councilman's question question there's actually two signs that are up right at the driveway entry that says for police only um next to that if we can go around the cor that I believe is the locust tree right there can we go around the corner um Greg or Jay yeah originally they wanted us to to basically make that whole area parking and I think we would have picked up originally I think I'm going to say four spaces four spaces um but again all of those trees would be gone then they wanted to put a sidewalk so now you're dealing with you got to get a sidewalk in there we got to regrade the that entire side in order to get this in obviously the generator is where it is so you're not going to move that so then ultimately you can sneak one space in between there and then you're not going to touch any of these trees so they all remain now I don't know why there's X's marked on them I have no idea oh we don't have X's there in that photo there's X's marked on that tree on the trees and again do not enter NOA I don't know who did that so I don't know why they're marked that wasn't us when is this photo from oh probably might have been the original concept design maybe Jason or somebody marked yeah sure not but these trees are going to remain they're they're not coming out they're okay that okay okay that answer that answer my question thanks you're welcome so Rob uh the trees that we're talking about removing from the plant the two trees in the two gardens um what kind of trees are they from my recollection May or they're locust trees so Jay can we go around to the front of the burall yep y yeah they look loc those are locuses yeah so that's why we're thinking that we remove those trees councilwoman I'm sorry council president I interrupted you did was there more that you want that no no no I understand now exactly what what the concept is is showing us thank you councilwoman um I agree with you mayor better idea to have bushes near the flags rather than trees and I agree with councilman glass that we should be trying to prevent too much impermeable space from entering this design so be good if do we have any idea how much it would cost for the papers compared to the concrete that you have in the budget right now papers right now I don't know what I I don't know the budget off the top of my head I know it's 460 I don't know what the unit price is but pavers right now we're going for I'm going to say you probably buy a paver somewhere around three four $5 a p so by the time you're done it's probably around 20 to 30 $30 a square foot so we we could give you that number but again I think the best thing to do is do it as an alternate you can certainly put it in and then we don't have to specify a specific paver we can put a p down and then just say in the spec that color to be determined you know during construction so then you guys can pick the actual p and the color so would it would it change the budget much compared to the concrete you have in there now well that's why he wants to do it as an alternate so that we can see what the change would be once they can price it out it will be another based on this price another 35% more but you're looking at you're looking at pavers roughly uh 125 130 per square yard well we're even more you got 160 on this on this estimate uh yeah cor but this one is only for the red thing correct so you're looking at that price that's why we bump it up for right 160 yeah you looking similar to the price it's right now I think it's going to be a little bit more than that but again it all depends on the on the payer you're picking um if there's not going to be any traffic loading on this which there really shouldn't be I don't think the DPW is going to go in there anymore so you don't have to use a heavy duty pver so it's probably going to be somewhere around that number all right and if you can also maybe Um send a uh cop a sample of the P so we could see what it looks like um so if uh if the council has more of the comments then I think what we to sum up we like the plan we want the two the two trees next to the flag post to be removed we want the peers for the flag posts to be reinforced so that if we decide to do it later we we know that uh they can handle it and uh we want an alternate uh for uh the pavers versus the concrete sorry the fence you guys are justy new chaining fence what would the fabric be would it just be it be black we don't have chaining fence it shows on your plan okay I just wonder what the the vinyl fence in the back here or were you talking about another one no you you're not showing any new fencing is that what you're saying okay you're showing new vinyl fencing yeah this is new V that's behind the school okay thank you that's fine thank you a quick question sure councilman um yeah so the the papers that we might get did you said that they were you you did a job in Wayne for some auto dealership Wayne Mazda on Route 23 yes you be able to send us a picture of what that looks like hang on one second sure right now yeah we could do it that's gonna be ni question we're not saving any of the car plants that are there yeah you really don't want they're old not first of all they're not going to they're going to be they're not going to survive the shock of being removed and you know put aside so it's like using the old papers it just you just had itage okay so go into [Music] the so this is the just an aerial photo of the parking lot that's environmental favors these are all environmental favors the the charcoal charcoal black color so that's what they look like yeah it's actually it looks there's a couple of drone photos that look actually better better than this one second that was during construction like like a darker gray [Music] have did we talk abouton I can't remember no that's that's one construction oh there you go can you see that that's all environmental favors I I find it very industrial and I thought that it was concrete honestly um and and again that makes sense for a car dealership where you're going to have cars over and over what we're talking about is food traffic so the pavers shouldn't be Apples to Apples here should be something for walking right well I'm saying these were environmental so to make a long story short these it's in a flood plane environmental concerns on this job and originally the owner wanted to put in Porous asphalt which in my opinion horrible so we went with the a p the original P that um they tried to use another paper they came in they started putting it down horrible color didn't match my suggestions to them was you come in with the darkest paper because other environmental pavers we did in parking lots they were light colored and what happens over time between oil dirt they look terrible this color they made specifically for this for this job and it's a very dark PA almost looks like asphal and again but again it's a high traffic area the what I'm saying is this whole parking lot is environmental pavers and if you go out there it it it does look it it actually looks a about a lot better than this photo and if you saw the the finished product it would look a lot better um but again you don't need that in the courtyard because you're not going to have high traffic totally different thing this p is about almost 4 and a half Ines thick concrete there's uh 20 in of stone underneath it to allow it to do it there's Fabrics you're not going to need that in this application for the courtyard so you can use literally a backyard p for what you're doing and you can get we can do designs whatever if you want to go that this is all lot nicer what's that this is a lot nicer this this view yeah I'm saying you don't need that but again that parking lot believe it or not was was actually set mechanically so when it came out of I think I'm trying to think which P we used it was palletized and the Machine actually picked it up and set 4x4s so when they put this yeah when they put it in it actually literally took it off the truck put the pallet down and then the machine on site lifted and put 4x4s in in place so that wasn't hand done it was all mechanically done but if well let's get a price for it let's get a price and uh maybe send that image to the council to M over um but we should probably move on unless the council I mean yeah I don't think I think we get the idea I think it's very good so if we could modify remove the two trees make sure that the the um the plan has the strong footing for the flag poles which we're probably going to go with if it comes in at a good price and let's see an alternate for these beautiful gray pavers okay very good yes color can change uh only because it's now uh we've been we've been doing this for about 30 minutes and I think uh understood mayor we we your wishes our Command and uh that's we we shall go from there and we'll revise the plan accordingly and get it back to everybody and then we're looking to about to bid um if it's okay sometime in January mid January and when would we um think that construction might begin um I would say as soon as the Winter's over figure I would say if it depending on how mild it is either mid-march end of March early April that would be the goal okay because you really don't you don't want to pave I mean you can pave technically you can pave middle of March the state allows you to when you you're off a winter mix but obviously if the weather's warmer the job get is better so my suggestion would be start April 1 shoot for that and then let's see how the bids come in if they're good award the job and we we get this done quickly is everyone good any further questions Rob is always a wonderful wonderful job Jason Greg doing a great job for us we really appreciate it thank you mayor thanks Council uh Mr Shany if you have a minute tomorrow can that we could speak just on a the other matter anytime Mr CA thank you my friend all right night everybody rob just something came to my mind um when you are revising the M the design again just make sure that you know since DPW is going to be maintening the maintenance of this please make sure you talk to Jason also do I have to you actually absolutely all right thank you m good night everybody bye re ordinance fee amendment I think uh Joe you're here for that right yes Joe take it away hello how's everyone good Joe can you turn your counter down a little bit because right now you're like loed overhead good there we go all right yeah so basically this is just um we on our last uh Rec commission meeting uh in November um all these uh increases were approved by the commission um the only real fee increases are for Cam and that's due to uh all cam prices went up by $50 t-shirts went up by uh $2 um for shipping and that's basically because of the 36% increase for minimum wage coming in 2025 um with the minimum wage going up that has uh the unit leaders are going to have to get um a dollar increase as well because there's a a a difference right there um other than that the only other fee increase was men's softball and the men's softball liaison requested the $10 increase um keeping the the $10 uh discount if they register for fall and spring at the same time um and then just um added the uh all of our programs our youth programs and adult programs um that are run by instructors and as you can see there those are just instructor fees um so depending on just like with uh all all of the classes whatever the the instructor charges us um per participant we charge the participants plus $20 that's the direct uh contribution fee um does anyone have any specific questions because that's just about everything that was increased Council no member of council has a question any member of counc have a comment um just to say I'll just make a comment thank you Joe for that um during our rec meeting it was a tough decision for Joe and the rec commission to make given that um prices were raised for um the uh summer program but in order to even break even in the summer program this had to be done because Joe went through all of the numbers and all of the scenarios that he could possibly keep the price the same and it just was not feasible so thank you Joe for just going through all of the the um possible scenarios yeah no problem all right uh so if there's no further well done Joe and we'll move on to our third item and thank you for being here Joe okay you guys have a good night thank you preservation commission QR code project yes please pull a chair Eric you have to state your name and because you're not representing yourself but the bur yes yes so just stated for the record Jim hook straight historic commission R historic commission Eric Modell from R historic commission good so gentlemen welcome continue so about a year ago we were before you and we presented the idea of doing the street signs and since that a lot has happened um as well as stuff that we've put together on our YouTube channel that if you'd like us to present we can show you what it looks like a brief presentation would be welcome okay let's see if I can get on how do I present let's Michelle would you give them presentation rights uh can we present oh are you Jim and Laura hook straight is okay one second join as panelist yes and then you can share click allow to talk no that you don't have to look at that okay so now I can I'm presenting yes please if I come over here so just click on share uh where do I click on share should be a little green button bottom the Green Arrow I see it okay there all right so there's our YouTube channel can I um following up and this is basically it's not just the street signs but we have a lot of stuff on here that doesn't get a ton of attention uh as an example what's right here is a uh something that we produced for the Newbridge Gala that they had promoting the museum that they're trying to build um down in here you're not going to see any of the street signs listed yet because they are all um posted unlisted that way we are getting an exact count of the number of people who have clicked on them using the QR code uh but what else before I show you that but what's here as well we're starting to take the um the archives and put them into little presentations so there's little thing call Postcards From the Past if you click on that that shows a bunch of old postcards from the turn of the century last century um put just put to music so people can see you know we have the archives we were thinking I think people would like to see the archives more than just hearing about it um whenever the cultural center does something we go over there and take you know just pictures of what's at the cultural center and just throw it up there as a video so people can see it the Revolutionary War at Newbridge Landing um Mary Donahue who's approaching her 100th birthday we had her read her book and put that to a video so if you click on that you'll hear Mary at 99 years old uh reading through that we even have like some you know one of the boyy Scout Troops Eagle Scout projects and there's another um cultural exhibit there so here it shows you if we can go into analytics on our thing uh with absolutely no promotion that's telling you how many people have watched these videos in the last 28 days so bogert Road uh that's gotten 27 views in the last 28 days since they put it up and Eric's going to explain in a minute how he did that fifth Avenue's gotten 20 so with absolutely no promotion just people kind of going what's that that's how many people have watching it so we're hoping maybe after the presentation and if you have any questions maybe the website uh the Riveredge website can put more information and you know a link to what we're what we're doing on this uh Channel and uh Eric and Mike ginch were uh instrumental one Saturday morning I believe it was putting the stickers up and I'll let you explain how you did that there's some 60 or so stickers on four streets that's the initial Bogard Fifth zisy and toland and but we've taped I'd like to have other voices but uh We've taped maybe another 10 or so yeah we have about a dozen or so streets that are ready to go but we figured we'd put the two out there just as a pilot to see how it work so for the Public's benefit Eric just said other voices you're talking about other speakers who would bring a different tone in right now it's all Eric right from from my perspective it's not history but we're telling stories and this idea for the street signs was again Mary donu and the commission was kicking it about for all too long a long time and finally Jim and Mike said hey rather than just having it static and stored away somewhere this QR code is an idea so they took Mary's idea and they made it accessible to people or you just take your phone and put on the poll and there's the history about you know the street name great so I'm hoping within the storytelling context I hope to see you on another occasion about 2026 the 250th anniversary and activities and all we're talking and I've been going to the schools and other stakeholders the idea that these stories are not just coming from the top down or from the historic commission but they're everybody's stories I made a presentation to the uh River Edge Board of Education went to Riverdale Board of Education and there's interest there I'm an advocate of a local history curriculum starting with Mary's book to kindergarten kids and we have a high School intern on the commission so every stage along the way you don't want to jeopardize the AP History American history but to the extent that when people graduate they have a sense of who they are and a sense of place what it means to be from River Edge as opposed to pamis new mord or Long Island it's not just a suburb near New York but what it means to River Edge and and it's we're history but we're more than just new Brig landing and eventually you you can take a tour of the town like you can walk around with your phone and we're Hing to get not just street names but put a QR code by the schools when were they you know built in the history of when they were built or any other monuments around town like the the soldier that's in Memorial Park so like you could take go for a walk all around town and learn about the history of the Town we're talking about history trails and one of my pet project back from New Bridge Landing is that this Old Bridge you know at the train station and there's a whole history there and we're sort of embracing that as a burrow history as opposed to you know New Bridge Landing which is county and State and that's the big bridge that saved the you know the with the revolution but we've got history up and down from the riv hotel to the houses along kinder kak to the cobblestones and you know and telling those stories and the sense of who we are my parents generation 1951 they moved in just didn't exhibit on that that's part of our history too and we'd love to just get the town aware of what we what's what's here so that they can visit it and they can you know appreciate what's up there so I think uh right off the bat we can put something on the website right and we can make that happen soon um what other can what asks are are you interested in making at this time we just wanted to make ourselves more aware visible to the community because we kind of feel like this is really not been well not many people know that it even exists there that we have what's you know everything that's there so just more visibility on the website I guess and you know we had discussed the last time we were here like you guys had say well come back and report to us once you put it up so here we are you know it so far seems without promotions somewhat of a success so you know the more people that watch it the better so I might recommend that you have conversations uh with the library board and darra darra are our admin director of the library uh maybe you can do uh maybe some sort of presentation of some of the videos here at the library if they're interested in doing that you know certainly the schools might be interested in of video presentation a short brief video presentation on River Edge so um we I think I can speak for the council that we think what you've done is phenomenal and let us know if we can assist in the future okay appreciate it all right thank you thank you question are you are you looking for more voices to you're the only one that's doing all absolutely I was kidding him he's going to go around town become a celebrity and and that there are different stories to be told I start started with the set stories you know conventional histories but when I went to the riv Board of Education meeting it's the idea that were more than Revolutionary War were more than post World War II there all these from Mayors but but but there are recent the last history book was written two history books 1965 and 76 there's nothing written since then so we're starting to tell those stories people that grew up with it now my parents you know they they passed away so I've got their stuff in storage but how about all the people who've been here who are becoming empty nesters before they leave let's record the artifacts the stories the July 4th programs and everything and the new people coming in also as my parents came in from the old neighborhood in the city people are coming in now with their dreams and vision what do you like about River Edge what caused you to be here and what can you pass on to the next people all right so um good luck with that let us know and we're if you don't mind we we'll move on thanks for having us all right um next thing we have a proclamation word without objection we're going to move that to uh to the end of the meeting so that we have a more of an organic flow okay uh could I have a motion and second to Mo open to any item on the agenda move second all in favor please say I I any opposed any extension hearing none is unanimous we see two people on the panelist and one person in uh in in live is there anyone who wishes to ask a question question make a comment or um just raise your hand I think it's just Neil actually I think it's just Neil too G Laura and Jim were there for presentation I don't think there is Steve anything okay okay can I have a motion second to close to the public on any item on the agenda all in favor please say I I okay could I have a motion in second from any M of the finance committee to approve the promotion of Benjamin Mullen Department of Public Works from a laborer step six salary $ 64,65 to tree trimmer step four $72,800 second all in favor please say I all right uh monthly reports there is a report from the Health Board of Health and the tax collector from November second reading and hearings on ordinances the following ordinances publ here here in was first read by title only on November 14th 2024 and posted on the bulletin board outside the clerk's office um in a moment could I have uh councilwoman Kaufman and uh move and Council and council president uh molari second uh ordinance 24-24 ordinance amending and supplementing the revised General ordinance of the B of Reds chapter 400 vehicles and traffic second all in favor please say I all right is there any member of the public who would like to ask a question make a comment on ordinance 24-24 could I have council president mon Cohen and uh Council um canella second to close to the public so move second all in favor please say I could I have councilman uh glass move and um councilman Benson second uh adoption of ordinance 2420 so move second all I'm sorry it's been moved in seconded it is open for debate is there debate hearing none Madame clerk roll call councilwoman kman yes council president monen yes councilwoman canella yes councilwoman Val yes Council uh councilman Benson yes councilman glass yes okay I I was moving a little bit too quickly uh Miss appella if you could please for the Public's benefit explain what we were doing uh with ordinance 2424 absolutely uh what this ordinance does it um it implements recommendations brought forth by the traffic division of the police department it updates the hours of prohibition of overnight parking of trucks on any burel streets it prohibits overnight parking of vehicles that are registered as taxi limo Omnibus Medallion or dealer it updates the distances of prohibited parking on bogert road it updates the distances of No Stopping or standing on bogert road and it adds stop signs on Mercer Avenue and Lafayette Avenue great and could you do the same for what we're about to do with ordinance 2425 yes this is a bond ordinance to finance the replacement of sanitary sewers on a Kinder KAC Road um the sewers are under the sidewalk we're not ripping up the road and this is being funded through the federal Community Development block grant program it's a reimbursable uh grant program so this funding would Finance the construction as well as the engineering cost and the traffic Duty costs but the Grant reimburses Construction only and the reason why this is being done at this juncture rather than with a regular budget is because the federal program changed the deadline to complete the project from December 31st to June 30th all right very good questions comments all right could I have a motion and second from uh councilman glass and a second from councilwoman canella after I read it into the record to open to the public uh ordinance 2425 Von ordinance to authorize phase one of the replacement of sanitary sewers at KAC Road from Reservoir Avenue to Rucker's place in and by and for the bur of bridge in the county of Bergen state of New Jersey to appropriate the sum of 188,000 to pay the the cost thereof and to make a down payment to authorize issuance of bonds to finance such appropriation and to provide for an issuance of bond anticipation notes in anticipation of the issuance of such bonds so second all in favor I is there any member of the public who would like to ask a question hearing none could I have actually I'm just going to let you guys choose yourselves I have Mo uh uh I have a motion and second to close the public moved second all in favor please say I I could I have a motion in second to adopt ordinance 24-25 so move it is now open for debate is there debate hearing none Madame Deputy clerk councilwoman cofman yes council president monen yes councilwoman canella yes yes councilman Benson yes councilman GL yes all right uh we have resolutions 24- 347 through 24- 355 is there any member of council who wishes to ask a question uh before we move this as a block I do go ahead uh just for the benefit of uh the uh the public uh if uh the B the B administrator could speak about 24354 yes um in Bergenfield the court administrator had retired so um the county of vinage asked our uh Court Administrator to cover the um the court sessions only for the month of December as they did a uh Bergenfield did a solicitation for the position and the county was conducting interviews earlier um last week so um but in order to uh facilitate this we do have to adopt a shared services agreement in which the our court administrator estimated that six hours of her regular work week would be used um answering any calls or emails regarding Bergen Field's um Court inquiries so with that being the case the burrow of Bergenfield will reimburse the burough of River Edge for that time and then um for any Court sessions or any after hours then they have to enter an arrangement with the administrator directly excellent thank you that's very informative for the public anything else from any member of council could I have any could I have a motion and second to move 24- 347 through 24- 355 all in favor please say I okay um last time Michelle very sad so uh for the Public's benefit Council Michelle Kaufman has been our finance chair for for pretty much six years and uh budget chair also and she's done a phenomenal job and so for the last time councilwoman cman would you please read 24j 356 into the record at a regular meeting of the mayor and council at the buau of River Edge County of Bergen state of New Jersey held on December 9 2024 be it resolved that the mayor and Council of the B Riveredge approved the following expenditures current fund $223,500 $489 188 Grant fund $1,440 Animal Control $226.1 trust other $410 developers escrow $3,725 Recreation trust $694 51 so moved done it has been moved in second all in favor please say I I any opposed any exstension all right we come to new business um uh one of the things uh under new business I'd like to do even though there's nothing on the agenda and thank you council president for reminding me is that our meetings will be moving to Thursday so our meetings will be moving to 7 o'clock on Thursday for most of next year we have I think a conflict um well the s d reor is January 6 that's Monday and um Thanksgiving Thanksgiving the main conflict so there are two conflicts for the public to be aware of one is we will be having our last Monday meeting on January 6th as our bur administrator said then we will move to Thursdays uh from that point on what are we second and fourth yes second and fourth except for Thanksgiving where will move to the Monday the Monday back to Monday prior Monday prior so um is there uh is there any other new business is there any old business I I did have one quick item for old business I just wanted to update the public on what's happening with the Cannabis retailer Sweet Spot which which has already moved through land use and they have begun demolition a week or two ago and expect to be open in April hopefully after final approval from the state and the burrow excellent all right uh before we get to a very sad but joyous uh moment uh something can be bitter and sweet at the same time we have to open to the public one last time could I have a motion second to open to the public for any comments second all in favor please say I all right Neil this is your chance Laur J St anything all right uh I'm going to if if we need to we'll go back and open again but I'm going assume that we're okay could I have a motion second to close the public second uh all in favor please say I I could I have the council or the councilman cofman please stand so we have uh a Bittersweet moment we have our beloved councilman mman has served two terms six years and has provided the town with a Herculean effort um there is nothing that we've ever asked her to do or that she's volunteered to do that she didn't do at a th% and so we are so very grateful so we have a proclamation and then we have uh a PL okay so Proclamation whereas Michelle kman has served on the Council of the burough of River Edge between 2019 and 2024 and whereas during her tenure councilwoman called man has served as liaison to the Fire Department fire prevention revas which is a River Edge voluntary ambulance um service historic commission building department and Board of Education whereas Council kman has also served in the following governing bodies committees technology Finance as chair um farmers market and personnel and and others these are highlights whereas Council Coffman served as council president from in 2022 and 2023 and whereas councilwoman Koffman helped design a new burrow website Revitalize the farmers market and facilitate the mayor and council's meeting via Zoom during covid pandemic and the burough Hall construction project now therefore let it be proclaimed that on behalf of myself the mayor and the council present here today burrow employees and residents of River Edge we extend our deepest appreciation to Michelle for her time efforts and dedication so signed mayor Thomas Pap thank you everybody I I really I really appreciate it and do feel a little bit overwhelmed uh it's been an honor to serve the residents at the Bureau of Riveredge for the last six years and I want to thank first of all Marie papalo who asked me if I wanted to run for office in 2018 I want to thank all the people who elected me in 2018 and 2021 um it's been my privilege to work with the mayors that have served with me from mayor Monon to Mayor papalo mayor papalo I have watched your extraordinary ability to calm down in an agitated room many times uh I've enjoyed working with all my co-counsel people from Mary Davis to Joe godier Ellen busty Dario kigo as well as my current co-counsel people Barry b David glass andera canella clana malari and Lisa Montano Cohen I've watched many ways you have all worked hard for this town helping your committees and commissions flourish and helping to control the budget as much as possible while also serving the community's needs Riveredge has a fantastic team of employees from our ba leet appella to our burrow Clerk and DOD to our DPW superintendent Jason molo the whole DPW our police chief chief Walker and The Police Department our attorneys our CFO Chris battalia and the finance department led by G burn bound the building department and to anyone I did not mention I'm confident this town will continue to thrive with the great people we have working to make certain it does I also want to thank all of the volunteers that make River Edge a great place to live the fire department the ambulance service the Environmental Protection committee Green Team Recreation committee his St commission alliance against substance abuse the traffic and Safety Committee shade tree and the Farmers Market Committee I'm looking forward to continue to enjoy living in River Edge and having more time to enjoy working on my art and I feel great knowing that we have a terrific team in place to deal with the business of keeping our bur of river running smoothly this is a black wow presented to Michelle cofin councilwoman 2019 2024 appreciation for her dedicated and valuable contribution to serve the best um interests of the burough residents mayor Thomas Papo and Council 2024 thank thank you thank youbody not anywhere I'm not going anywhere I'm going nowhere we know to find you right let's be seated really nice so um couple of things uh we have C comments I'm gonna offer some comments right off the bat uh we're not losing councilwoman caufman completely she will continue to um lead and uh and and make uh and create contributions to the town and she's beginning with the Farmers Market and she's also promised that if we have problems with the website that she's available by phone and um so uh from a personal um from for me um Michelle you you have made my life a whole lot easy on so many occasions um you know I know if I called you and asked you for advice you'd give me you know Sage wisdom and you would also um you would also if something needed to be done I didn't need to check on it because I knew Not only would it be done immediately but it would be done perfectly thank you and so um in so many ways we will miss you but I will miss you um and U I thank you thank you any other Council comments I go I have to I had I had to write it down because last time I just butchered it so not so um Michelle I can't believe it's been four years since we met when I joined the council I have met many people from the town that I would not have otherwise met in my everyday existence as a resident this by far is the best perk of being on the council is having met you as well as the former and present council members and the mayor and uh you've been a great colleague um in working to keep River Edge a great place your guidance these last few years has been invaluable and your dedication knowledge and drive have been an inspiring example I'm sorry I'm getting thank you I will truly not seeing you at our meetings however I consider you a friend and no beers at hackin Tech Brewery is in our country thank you Council L are there any others yes Michelle was an honor running with you the first time when I met you at the river Ed diner with Marie trying to get a feel have if I was cut for this or not and then you accepted and embraced me and it was an honor running with you the first time and I really appreciate it I learned a lot from you we're going to miss you on the budget meetings but um I know you're here to ask to answer all our questions and help us to continue doing a great job uh during the budget season which for me is like the most important thing for the and our job to do for the residents thank you very much thank you any other I'll go um Michelle well first I hate you leaving um I have to say that out of the bat but I think um we all learn and have learned so much from you and you have a a driving force and an energy that um cannot be match don't have it certainly I appreciate your efforts to bring back the farmers market and everything that is done behind the scenes that the public doesn't get to to see to make this uh this team run and uh all the collaborations that we do in the back um you are always there asking the right questions answering the right questions and a help to all of us um especially when I joined your R were in the Council and I lean on you because I was the newest member back then um I wish you all the best thank you I see that you art is already flourishing so I can't wait to see that even better um and on a very personal know I will definitely miss uh sitting next to you in the meeting thank you you just Michelle that I met you when you were my campaign manager you were tough campaign manager you scared me at times but but you were terrific and we got through it and thank you for that you have been a wise Sage on this on this Council and and you know I've looked to you often with advice and and and so forth and as far as the the Cannabis uh shop that you're talking about I mean you I mean you really drove a lot of that I mean you know and you really helped with a lot of that get that done and I don't know if everyone appreciate what went on behind the scenes so so thank you for that you're welcome it was you too you also were pushing okay but you put the pieces together so so thank you and and I'll leave it I know David wants to say one thing but I do want to share and I don't know mayor if you shared this about Niche magazine but there's a magazine online called Niche magazine my wife told me that people are going there more more to find out what are the schools are instead of going to grade schools they go to Niche to find out the schools that anyhow Nish came out with the top um 20 towns to live in in New Jersey and we are number six yeah so um and and that's a testament to you Michelle and others on on the council and the mayor and the residents and everyone who works for the town uh to get us to number six on this list out of I think like how many towns are there like 564 yes exactly 564 so pretty amazing and so so thank you for that as well thank you sh really sad to see you go gonna miss you thank you for everything you've done for this body and for the burrow it's really incredible and I think several people have said already thank you for driving things thank you for driving me in the rain you for getting me out there to walk G to miss you like I said Thank you thank you guys all so much I'm going to miss you all too but I'm sure I will see you all all right so we come to the end of an eror and we come to the end of our meeting could I have a motion and second to adjourn the meeting second all in favor please say I I we are adjourned happy Holidays happy holiday H you