##VIDEO ID:GVOwViCjOs4## e e e e e [Music] yeah look sharp thank you good evening I'm calling the January 7th 2025 reorganization meeting to order please rise for the flag salute 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 Li and justice for all thank you moment of silence to remember the services and sacrifices of the armed service members who protect our nation and the First Responders who protect our neighborhoods thank you this meeting was advertised in the Daily Record and the official newspapers for the township of Rockway notice was posted on the official bulletin board of Rockway Township the township website and notice was filed in the office of the Township Clerk I'd like to call Rabbi hon from the kabad center to present the invocation good evening mayor members of council Township officials and staff and fellow residents of Rockway Township a happy and healthy New Year to you all Almighty Creator maker of heaven and Earth we live in tumultuous times with challenging Global and domestic issues as well as individuals who face the same in their personal lives we humbly lift our eyes and ask how can we effectively eliminate the darkness which surrounds us and then we recall your biblical verse which states a little light dispels a lot of Darkness as always your Bible gives direction for every circumstance we may face how do we dispel Darkness by emanating light and lots of it as the biblical verse States further a candle of God is the soul of man why is the soul of man compared to a candle to teach you that the sole purpose of a Soul's descent into this physical world is to illuminate it and every Godly Soul has this Mission and the power to do just that every Divine Act of loving kindness and all other spiritual activities are called conduits of light and they affect the world in a very real way you have indeed bestowed a robust inner flame within every person sometimes referred to as the soul you have also taught us that when you spark that inner Flame a bonfire of Luminosity spreads forth in all directions in your great wisdom you have designated each and every individual with the duty and capability to be a Lamplighter one who uplifts and illuminates others and to the benefit of all Humanity as the great spiritual leader Raben the great lover of all mankind once shared I studied electrical engineering at the sbon but I prefer to turn on the lights in people's Souls may you our heavenly father bless and guide the elected officials administrators and staff of a remarkable Township with the wisdom and insight to lead Inspire guide and illuminate all of our residents so that we can dedicate ourselves wholly to enhancing life in our Township ship through fulfilling our Civic and godly duties in a luminous manner whether be embracing a neighbor unconditionally and certainly never passing judgment on another giving charity daily regardless of the amount and taking personal responsibility for people in need and through working together as one United entity living with the Divine Design with which you created us all God Almighty please bless this sacred assembly and the reorganization of our Township's government may God bless rway Township and may God bless the United States of America amen and thank you thank you roll call councilman Freelander here councilwoman noon here councilman Brooks councilman sacket here councilwoman Brooks here councilman Quinn here councilman vobic here councilman salberg here councilman Mar Morrison here moving on to the election of the council president I'd like to make a motion to nominate a council president I'd like to make a motion to nominate councilman Morrison I'll second that and close nominations roll call councilman Freelander no councilwoman noon yes councilman Brooks yes Council sacket no councilwoman Brooks yes councilman Quinn yes councilman voitovich yes councilman salberg yes councilman Morrison yes congratulations I'm now turning the meeting over to council president Morrison thank you thank you um mayor we'll do the swearing in together over okay so um I'd like to make a motion uh to elect um Rachel Brooks as Council vice president I'll second that motion and close nominations clerk please take the rolec councilman Freelander yes councilwoman noon yes councilman Brooks yes councilman sacket yes councilman salberg abstain councilman Quinn yes councilman voitovich yes councilwoman Brooks yes council president Morrison yes that's eight yeses one abstention congratulations Brooks uh I don't want to Ste I Howard I Rachel Brook SAR will faithfully and partially and justly perform the duties of the office of council president Council vice president ability the best of my ability I rep the constitution of the state of New Jersey the constition of the United States bear true faith and aliance to the same the governments established the United States and in this state and the authority of the people helping [Applause] okay I'd like to turn the meeting over to the mayor for his address thank you you council president um I'd like to start by recognizing um some key people that are here tonight or couldn't be here T Night senator bugo was here earlier um he's at a reorg meeting in in uh roxburry so he couldn't attend this meeting but he wanted to give his regards like to recognize Sheriff ganon's here tonight thank you for coming Sheriff County Commissioner Master Angelo is in the back thank you for coming I think Aura was supposed to send somebody from her office I have my glass on from assemblywoman dun's office um and and all these people are big supporters of Rockway Township so um I'd like to you know not necessarily give an address but I I what I want to do is talk about you know some of the people are sitting out here and all these people over here and some of the great things they've done for the township this year um in their role so I like to start with public works right so people always wondering you know where do my tax dollars go what are people doing so um DPW they repaired and rebuilt 996 catch basins they cleaned and inspected 176 catch basins they repaired 10 foot of pipe on Split Rock due to collapse they installed 1,200 feet of pipe and five basins on charlottesburg road they installed two basins and 300 ft of pipe they installed 50 ft of pipe on Reservoir Road um they've micr surfaced 64,000 square yards of roadway which equals basically 4.8 miles of resurfacing um they're continuously repairing potholes and BMS throughout the town they clear rain and maintain safe roadways for 14 winter storm events work with multiple state and federal agencies during two major forest fires um and and Al and Dennis did an incredible job helping with the um with the forest fires and and they really helped the fire department prevent them from spreading too much um trying to think uh major earthquake responded any issues in roadways um June tornado with multiple down trees and power outages they help with that um tropical storm Debbie they trim a lot of trees right they do uh almost 350 trees they trimmed and maintained within the township just getting started the recreation division um I'll get into that when I go through parks and wreck with uh with Dave Dyer um there's a lot of things we've done to improve Recreations in town and I'm going to go through that um I think a lot of that's going to be in Dave's report so I'm going to Pivot over to engineering and construction Alison fante theart that was Al noth's Department Alison fante's Department um they issued 246 zoning permits 44 driveway permits 13 Board of adjustment permits eight planning board permits and 1618 construction permits they broke ground on our new water building that's going up on old Middletown Road this year year um site improvements are also planned for existing vehicle equipment and material storage adjacent to Old middlestown Salome um Queens Road project that was a huge project that was completed this year on time and and went didn't B and they did a great job and I think we got a lot of great reviews from residents on it um there's a lot of upcoming roadway improvements this year improvements to Reservoir Road um which the township received 1 $2 million safe routes to the school infrastructure Grant from ngot and uh New Jersey Department of Transportation that's the project we're going to be working on for the schools by Copeland Middle School in Stony Brook that was awarded to them through some of the great work Allison did in the application and through the support of the Board of Education um mechanical and utilities including Water and Sewer were installed at the historic Ford F house that was a big moment in the township uh it's probably our most historic site and to get to that point is is awesome and I know Manny you appreciate that more than anybody um designed uh new Mount Hope Palm Dan Rehabilitation um and it made it in accordance with NJ DP Dam safety uh weather permitting uh we're going to do some work around the path around Eggbert Lake will be improved um we're also we took a survey on Peterson Field and that'll be included in some of our initiatives for next year um there's there's a lot right um I'm going to now pivot to Department of Health so department of health during the year was awarded $168,000 in sustaining local public health infrastructure Grant and $75,000 for strengthening local public health capacities Grant um in and that's uh in 2025 in addition division Health commit work on 495,000 strengthening local public health um capacities in 2024 Grant and continued managing the three-year 646 th000 enhancing Public Health infrastructure Grant so it's a lot of the community outreach Britney Bernstein's doing and gets involved with and we're really expanding that program um they've the they we've been able to the first salaries for certain people in the health department because of these grants and really add value to our community um we have contracts with Butler burough Jefferson Township booten and the burough Victory Gardens that are generating um 18 8,000 in offsetting Revenue um and we received $72,000 New Jersey clean communities Grant and you know that's what we use for clean communities cleanup it's what we use to put the sign up outside um and so the phrase cost for taxpayers you know we have inspectors in the health department so they do a lot so they did 351 food inspections investigated 141 environmental and public health nuisance complaints and conducted 52 additional inspections at recreational bathing places body art and Tanning establishments day camps and other facilities additionally 135 septic inspections 10 well inspections and they took samples for laboratory on 12 on 32 different sampling dates Animal Control had a very busy year they did 228 site visits involving 392 animals over the course of the year I attending uh 3 312 attending to 312 Wildlife issues they vaccinated 438 dogs and cats in the rabies clinic renewed over 1600 of the townships 3600 dog and cat licenses and issued 354 enforcement letters um we conducted 25 clinics that's pretty remarkable um in our Township providing vaccination and screenings to 218 adults and 15 children 55 children we investigate 126 cases of communal diseases and blood Le the nurse staff also provided Wellness checks to numerous residents so um you know there's a lot of community outreach we have a total of 200 2,293 residents participating in different programs um offered by the health department I am going to go on to Recreation so Recreation runs a lot of events and you'll hear about more events we're going to next year um we did the Easter Festival um the Historic Society Rockway Township uh participated in the blue tour where we uh showcase the fort FAS house National Day of Prayer Historic Society of Rockway Township um catalog houses presented by eileene at the senior center um 2024 Memorial Day Parade Rotary Club 5K run which we're going to do again next year first time we did National Night Out um 11th annual Rockway Township Unico Charo motorcycle run that we support with our DPW and our police force I think this is a big one and you're going to see news I I think we published some about a new a new one coming this year but June 13th and 14th and September 23rd and 27th we did the Mobile DMV we got great reviews on that people seem to love it it's really convenient um we did the annual senior picnic which was a huge success we had a ton of uh seniors attendant we had our inaugural 911 ceremony which we plan to make bigger next year um we did six sessions of low impact aerobics and chair yoga and we launched the hometown hero Banner program um we'll be putting up those banners soon hopefully I know we ordered some um we had the Gazebo concert series a Memorial Day tournament hosted by the Rampage um the Rockets dedication and memory of Fred rest we helped coordinate um the first ja sitting volleyball clinic at white metal Lake field day that uh Mr Titus ran which was a great event dark lak spacular groups andly holiday lunch in at the metalwood um Christmas tree lighting and the manora lighting um some of the facilities improvements we did we put new fencing um at Mount Hope Pond a pavilion's been repainted there's a new volleyball set um new community Message Board um we've updated the building signage at the uh Municipal Building as you saw there's new benches in the lobby in the municipal building and we updated some of the signage at the uh if you didn't notice you'll see there's new signage at the Senior Center so a lot going on in Recreation go now to fire guys aren't getting tired yet are you let to go it's pretty remarkable um over total number of inspections different types of inspections um done over 3,000 inspections were done generated the fire department inspections uh done by uh Mr heightman and the people with him generate over 180,00 000 in Revenue to the township um he did six fire origin and cause investigations we have two new inspectors um for the fire companies we ran 649 calls this year two structured fires and as you know we had two wildfires that they um combed and put out um we're going to be getting a new ladder truck uh you know there's there's a bunch of continued educations we applied for a couple of Grants this year we got one for $50,000 and American relief um fund we are also waiting for decision on a FEMA grant that we applied for for communications equipment valued at $900,000 so there's a lot out there that the fire department's been doing and I appreciate that tax assessors so we started our rateable base at the beginning of 2024 we're up 326 million from last year um we brought in 30 million in additional taxable value in September County appeals are at an all-time low with only 20 appeals filed by May 1st which means they're doing a good job they're properly assessing the properties in the town um nine appeals were settled with the majority of them being withdrawals reducing our tax exposure $1 million two more left police it's a big one so the police attended 33,000 calls this year 33,000 calls um 919 motor vehicle crashes 30 600 motor vehicle encounters 111 domestic violence incidences 2100 fire medical or 911 calls 130 adult arrests 28 DUIs 995 alarm responses uh 97 community policing events which is Big right our cops are out there interacting with the community um making themselves seen um 1700 residential commercial property checks um they assisted other agencies 184 times and 1500 times they issued 1500 motor vehicle tickets from a staffing standpoint we graduated seven recruits this year out of uh three out of pay County and four out of Morris County we had two officers assigned to detective Bureau we promoted three officers to the rank of Sergeant we promoted one Sergeant to the rank of Lieutenant we we promoted one Lieutenant to the rank of Captain and uh I'll talk about the other one um community policing programs we continue to work with the rtb OE the Board of Ed and promote the lead program um we Pro the officers promoted safety training and public train relations events and our first annual National Night Out that they helped run was a great job couple of Shop with a cop events did a c coffee with a cop event um it's just been overall a very busy year for a police department and I did want to talk finally about the mayor's department so some of the things we've done um to help the township uh we're able to combine the ba and CFO roles this year um that move alone first of all getting somebody at least as quality in that position is saving the township roughly $20,000 a year by combining those two roles um the marriage ordinance we put in when I became mayor based on the number of weddings I've done this year have generated $4,000 in revenue for the township bottom line revenue for the weddings I'm doing I'm marrying a lot of people it's like all the time um we submitted a zero Municipal tax rate increase budget to the council in 2024 we appointed a new chief police chief Shear um who's just done a phenomenal job and you could you could see a change in the police force happening um we hired a new water superintendent we hired a vet planner Shannon who's going to do a great job next year and is already started with running on the ground um we onboarded over 30 new people on our our our uh our team on team Rockaway um we had a couple of uh Eagle Scout projects and Girl Scout silver projects we put a new if you haven't been by the senior center you should drive by there's a new flag pole a new Landscaping done by an eagle scout there's a take a book leave a book at Park Lake that we helped a Girl Scout do for her silver project so we we we did a lot I think to help the community and you know as we head into next year you're going to see some new events coming out I don't want to spoil any surprises there's going to be a senior prom for seniors um there's going to be uh a scavenger hunt at the mall family scavenger hunt I'm spoiling it spoil alert no pressure Shannon um you'll see some next stages in the development of Peterson Field and uh some next stages on what we're looking at up at enome field um we're going to evaluate all senior services and determine how to get more involvement I think we have some great senior programs but when I look at the participation rate it's pretty low so we need to figure out how to better reach out to seniors and get them involved in exercise get them involved in dial ride get them involved in everything so we can increase those participation rates and we're also going to continue to look for ways to fund um you know some of these activities from the from Grants and from outreaching to local uh companies we just uh talked to PNC and they're going to be uh helping us sponsor the senior prom so you know having to be able to do these events and not have it affect taxpayers is something we're really you know working hard at so I'd like to thank all the people at this table for the great job you did this year and you do every day and I just want I was a small token of my appreciation so thank you all for what you [Applause] do okay moving on to mayor's appointments Mondo should I read each of these each name yes okay clean communities coordinator onee term ending 12325 Caris eleno recycling coordinator one-year term ending 12312 no Community Development Revenue sharing committee onee term ending 12 3125 Peter Tabit as the regular member Allison fronte is the alternate member and this is going to be changed uh to Mary new for the council committee rep planning board class three oneyear term ending 12312 Jack Quinn class four member four-year term ending 12312 William Simpkins an alternate twoyear term ending 12 3126 Jennifer Meers shry commission onee term ending 12312 Kevin Casco environmental advisory committee one-year term ending 12312 Gerald Apple bound Judith Brown Mark hiler Douglas Bratton yoginder Gupta Erin Dort and Neil Weiss Municipal Alliance committee oneyear term ending 12 3125 frienda bud and Sue gab Emergency Management oneyear term expiring 12312 coordinator chief sheriff first Deputy Captain Michael derson first Deputy Bert Parks Library board trustee 5-year term expiring 12 3128 Ray Ferman and Joanne claps can I have a motion so move second clerk please take the role yes councilwoman noon yes councilman Brooks yes councilman sacket yes councilman salberg yes councilman Quinn yes councilman boyovich yes Council vice president Brooks yes council president Morrison yes that's nine yeses motion carries council president appointments all of these are one-year terms ending 12312 council president yes uh I have a question on one of them do I do you want to say first do you want me to read it first you can do it last I mean it doesn't matter all right I'll read them off and then I'll I'll give you the time okay okay be quick uh Council liaison uh Board of Education Regional councilman Doug Brooks Board of Education local Council vice president Brooks citizens Recreation committee committee councilman Quinn citizens Rec committee alternate councilman salber County Commissioners councilman salberg County Commissioners alternate councilwoman noon Historical Society councilman freedlander Library Board of Trustees councilman freedlander Library Board of Trustees alternate vice president Brooks Mars Council on older persons councilwoman noon councilman wovi Municipal Alliance committee councilman friedlander senior citizens councilman sacket councilman Quinn and councilwoman noon local emergency planning Council councilman sacket councilman wovi and councilman Brooks vehicle Review Committee councilman sacket councilwoman noon councilman Quinn and the ordinance committee councilman Brooks councilwoman noon councilman Quin uh Mr Freelander yes thank you council president uh I have a question probably uh you'll have to do a little history this is for the attorney and the administration uh number number 15 the ordinance committee going back a long time that was established that the ordinance committee was the bi the only bipartisan committee established by the town I'd like to go back to the oldways and make sure that that committee is bipartisan so we'd have to add and subtract if you want to check uh I was involved with it back when uh when joh uh dorsy Senator dorsy was the town attorney and that's when uh it was corrected and set back in place at that time and we're going back almost 30 years Council no I would just suggest that we take that away and and do some research I would hope that we wouldn't politicize ordinances along iCal affiliations you know I mean we all live in work or you know we all live in Rockaway you know I don't I I don't remember yeah if if I may council president the as presently structured in our code the language concerning the ordinance committee uh contains no reference to the constituency of the committee it's obviously members of the council but it makes no reference to the political affiliation of any member that's what the president ordinance says okay I didn't write it it's been there okay I don't know how long it's been there uh but that's that's what it says presently so if the council as a whole wants me to look into that issue that that's what's going to be required for me to do that if the council as a whole uh votes for me to look at that issue I'll be happy to look at it and provide you with some followup by the next meeting yeah I mean again I don't ever remember Nance being voted on along political lines but if well it happen if you want to make the motion well I'd like to make a motion because it happened to me personally just I was on just to clarify if I may councel I think what you're saying tell tell please tell me if I'm wrong I think what you're saying is you want the section the administrative code that deals with the constituency of the ordinance committee to specifically reference that the committee be equally represented by members of both parties yes now if and I accept what you're telling me about it once being that way okay uh it's before my time oh well that's what I'm saying it happened when that goes back and listen guys we can go about what what we think it was and what it wasn't was um if you want to make the motion by all means i' I'd like to make a motion to look into it to see if it was established back back when to be reinstated that way and that was the only ordinance that that's okay is there a second I'll second sorry hang on yeah it's going to be uh pretty involved research and I will tell you that the problem with putting language like that in a municipality like this in an ordinance is what happens if you don't have sufficient members of both political parties to enable what the ordinance says right so maybe what we could do and again this is up to the councilman if we want to at least before we vote on it maybe if he wants to recall the motion you can just do a little initial initial thoughts if you still want to pursue it by all means instead of spending time I also don't see how it could be equal representation when there's three members of the committee that's another problem right so that's another problem so it's up to you if you want to continue yeah I do because whether it's three or four bipartisan councilman it's okay the motion is out there seconded so could I just ask a question yeah so he's just asking for research to be done to see if it was that way we not asking to change it correct that's what you're asking no no I'm looking to reinforce my question because it happened to me personally back then I was on it taken off and put back because of that situation so I would like to bring it back whether you know three people it's going to be odd even anyway well let me suggest something that I think will make the most sense and if you like what I'm going to say then you might want to consider amending your motion the research into what was that is to say how the ordinance was phrased previously is going to be all up to the clerks that won't be my work product I tell you what Mr Yano and councilman uh and this may serve to bypass all of that um we did not take a motion on my Council appointments on the council president appointments so let me amend the ordinance committee because again I I have I think anybody in the council would serve it fine so let's change the ordinance committee uh Mr Brooks I will remove you if that's okay and I'll add councilman freelan can I make a Sugg hang on one second I'm sorry yes just give me one second so would that satisfy okay be me or another you know Council I think you're a long tenure respectable council member and I thank you I respect your opinion so if we're going to change it let's change it councilman Brook served for a year and we'll just put councilman freedlander now would I just procedurally councilwoman noon ask your question and then you he will need to re pull back his motion or or amend it amend it okay sorry go ahead it's were you just asking to be on it or were you just asking a question no I wasn't asking second I was asking personally I didn't say my name or he wasn't asking to be on it but at Council vice president it was her idea and it's it's fine with me I that's up to the council president after if he was I don't assign committees along political party I just assign it to whoever I think will do the best job and I think you'll do a fine job thank you it's just uh I'd like certain things to go back the way they were and that was one of them that's it so if you could first you need to amend your motion to instead of doing the research maybe just send out your thoughts via email and then my motion to pass this as stated okay I make the motion to re resend my motion okay excellent okay now can I have a motion for the new restated appointments so [Laughter] moved uh clerk please take the RO councilman Freelander yes councilwoman noon yes councilman Brooks no councilman socket yes councilman salberg yes councilman Quinn yes councilman boyovich yes Council vice president Brooks yes council president Morrison yes it's eight yeses one NOS motion passes okay moving on to Township Council appointment uh auditor one-year term ending 1231 125 n aachi and Company LLP planning board class three one-year term ending 12312 count Jack Quinn councilman development and revenue sharing committee one-year term ending 12312 uh Administration represented by Alison fronte Council representative Mary noon as liaison can I have a motion so moved second clerk please take the role councilman Freelander yes councilman uh councilwoman noon yes councilman Brooks yes councilman sacket yes councilman salberg yes councilman Quinn yes councilman voich yes Council vice president Brooks yes council president Morrison yes that's nine yeses motion carries okay uh approval of the minutes from the December 10th 2024 Council regular meeting so moved second cler please take the role councilman Freelander yes councilwoman noon yes councilman Brooks councilman sacket yes councilman salberg yes councilman Quinn yes councilman boyovich yes Council vice president Brooks yes council president Morrison abstain that's eight yes is one abstention motion passes consent agenda it's going to be r251 and then r2504 through R 2530 can I have a motion so move second clerk please take the role councilman Freelander yes councilwoman noon yes councilman Brooks councilman sacket yes councilman salberg yes councilman Quinn yes councilman boyovich yes Council vice president Brooks yes council president Morrison yes that's nine yeses motion carries uh moving on to appointments uh Cole Brennan Fire Company 3 transitioning from Junior to full membership can I have a motion so move second clerk please take the rooll councilman Freelander yes councilwoman noon yes councilman Brooks yes councilman sacket yes councilman salberg yes councilman Quinn yes councilman voitovich yes Council vice president Brooks yes council president Morrison yes that's nine yes's motion carried cares okay moving on to the open to the public um before opening the public portion of this meeting I I want to remind everybody of the rules that apply to anyone who wants to address the council any member of the public wishing to address the council will have three minutes to do so while an extension of the time may be requested it should not be assumed that an extension of time will be granted while addressing the council members of the public may not address or question any individual council member if anyone addressing the council violates these or conducts themselves inappropriately their speaking opportunity will be terminated and they will be instructed to return to their seat a refusal to comply will result in removal from the room members of the public in attendance may not make comments from the audience without recognition by the chair persons doing so will be subject to removal from the room as council president I have tremendous respect for my fellow council members and the public who take the time and effort to attend Council meetings these rules these rules are necessary to permit the council to do its business in an orderly and professional manner Michael lardi melard 19 North bookside Drive Rockaway happy New Year everyone I know did you miss me I've been gone for a while yes um few things this several dead trees that like overhang the roads I told the previous business administrator about it they're still there uh it just seems to be a pretty big Hazard that they're leaning right into into the street on um between Lake Shore and hurnia is one as one a 23 North Brookside Drive that one piece broke off last year pieces keep dropping into the street but bigger piece can't come down on a car um the storm drains I heard the mayor mention how many storm drains have been repaired um I don't know if something could be said to the employees of the township there's trucks driving around all over the place to keep their eyes out for these kinds of things I mean if I see them I would think some of them could see them just the same dead trees storm drains other hazards at you know intersections and stuff like that trees that or bushes that encroach the sight lines from a stop sign we got a ton of employees out there maybe something could be said that we can use their eyes out there to help take care of some of these safety issues um Mount H Avenue the trucks coming more going to the Quarry because they're empty and they're racing to get another load Sometimes They Come flying off the highway down past Fox Hills and where Richard Mine Road is it's kind of a blind Corner as it is we did get the um dot to cut those bushes back some but it's still even if the bushes weren't there it's still a blind curve and those trucks fly you look left you look right and the time you look left again they're there because they're going more than 30 mil an hour 35 miles an hour then when they're loaded they're dumping rocks and I I know they sweep but they don't sweep onto the entrance ramps on Route 80 they don't sweep when you make the left to get on 80 east and they dump rocks if you're there the rocks are spilled as they make their left turn so when cars are going through the green light they're spitting rocks up at the cars behind them I mean it's chronic it's not once in a while it's always you can you need to do a mailbox go over there and sweep up some rocks you don't have to go to Home Depot um lawn signs I know you can put them on your own lawn but people put them on the right of ways and they stay there forever one it's one thing when there's an event you know white men Lake does it for our events and then we pick them up after the event people running for elections do it they pick them up but you got people advertising their business they should be paying for that they shouldn't be putting them on the corner of Sanders and green pond and at the end of fleetw and they just sit there forever they get knocked over they become litter they're all over the place now so I mean I don't know if you need an ordinance for that but there should be something done where it doesn't just pollute the neighborhood which is really what it's becoming um lastly on voting if we could do something with the parking here because there's a lot of old people that come to vote and there was a ton of employee vehicles and Rockaway Township Vehicles parked close to the building I know it's limited parking but maybe you know when we expect a large turnout for an election we could maybe open up some of the spaces closer to the building when there's a election or something major going on here thank you thank you is there anybody from the public that did not fill out the sheet that wishes to speak just uh name and address for the record good evening everyone I'm Jeffrey wood I'm actually live in West wer Township I'm here to represent assembly woman oraon just want to extend my best wishes and the regrets for the Assembly women being unable to attend tonight she sent her congratulations and her well wishes for the year ahead just want to submit a formal letter of record a letter of regrets for the record and that's you can give that to the clerk thank you hi I'm here on behalf of assembly member Eno again he um sends his regrets that he couldn't be here in person he congratulates all the newly elected people and looks forward to working with you uh this year thank you okay anybody else going going going at this point I'd like to hand a meeting back over to Rabbi harson Almighty Father in heaven and on Earth you created this world and each Divine Soul within it in such a curious manner at the outset you created massive amounts of animals Birds fish vegetations stars and planetary bodies but only one man and one woman this seems so odd one man and one woman to inhabit the entire Earth why not masses of human beings to inhabit the planet just like any other creation but the lesson here is all powerful the remarkable design of creation is to teach us that every person is an entire world and that the entire world revolves around every person every single person is charged with a unique and critical Mission which directly affects the world and those who reside in it and that is why every human being is so precious in your eyes and hopefully in the eyes of each and every one of us as well through acts of loving kindness and reaching out to those in need materially emotionally or spiritually each of us especially as we work together as one can without doubt transform this material world into a caring gentle and godly place and this is the purpose of all creation it is so important to connect any point of inspiration with action one such action which is easy and consistent but whose impact is a measurable is that Godly commandment to give charity every day regardless of quantity regardless of who it goes to but to help others in need and to think about others need every single day it could be a formal charity box that can be obtains from many organizations or a person can use any container or cup and disperse the contents at their convenience but what's most important is that every day and hopefully even at the day's outset we think about the needs of others in the physical charity makes a huge impact on the recipients but the impact upon the giver is even greater this was not does not require a lifestyle change but it does change lives in a most dramatic way giving charity daily is a Godly act but it also reminds us that we have not only an obligation to ourselves and our families but also to our neighbors and Society in general and last but not least on every whether it be paper or coinage you'll see engraved the national model of the United States of America which itself when we do the ACT send a tremendous and Powerful message what it says there is in God we trust and this is our one and only national motto regardless of the circumstances at hand to always remember remember when we do our best to make this world into a gentle loving and godly place we have a the ultimate backer and we have not only faith in such but trust which is much deeper help us there God to absorb this message of love and caring for all people in our Township and Beyond and with trust in you God Almighty please bless this sacred assembly and reorganization of our town ship's government and guide our Township's leaders so that they can heighten the material and moral fiber of our blessed Township thank you good night a happy and healthy New Year and may God bless you all Rabbi thank you for your continued time and support okay uh moving on to reports uh first I wanna I'm gonna go first so I want to thank the council for their uh again for their vote of confidence in electing me council president again I think we complished a lot of really really good things last year um and I think we grew as a council uh so I I certainly appreciate the time and effort that everybody puts in um and again for those that don't know there is there's a lot of time that's put in besides what what everybody sees and that is appreciated um I want to bring up the uh a lot of times there's comments made about you know the the township not doing enough uh to bring businesses into Rockaway and all I've been reading about in the papers lately is you know the D the new uh dut facility that's going in actually a couple of the papers are calling Rocka now the doughnut capital of the country we will actually be producing more doughnuts per day than anywhere else in the country is there on a serious note have we put in funding I know uh the captain wants a police substation put in chief chief the chief that's the chief wants to I'm sorry I had to go that was low hanging fruit I had to do it I'm really sorry um but that is just that's great news you know yeah I know I might hit a low hanging Branch but uh just to you know it's like that that's big you know we talk about like you know vacancies at the mall and you know a store here and there is great but a major facility like that taking over a very large empty building where Party City used to be is just really really good I'm looking forward to how good the township is going to smell when that goes in uh we will start with councilman Brooks thank you Council um just have two things uh one I the administration about uh about cars on the road when it's swing so I know they're they're going to look into that over by Circle Drive area and then also I just want to bring out to the chief at some point I'd like to sit down and go over some of the options for uh Circle Drive for maybe Chang some of the maybe go one way or something some of the some of the uh residents have reached out to me so I speak to that but not why I'm councilman Quinn yes thank you first happy New Year have a healthy and safe one to everybody I'd like to congratulate our council president and vice president and looking forward to working together in the new year and the new budget and moving that forward also I want to thank Administration for uh dial ride had a Christmas party and uh that turned out to be very good they enjoyed it um they look forward to that and um hoping that dial ride can get back to uh having its uh either a breakfast and or a lunch once a month so that they can finish building Community you know it's it's a great process that we go through with dial ride and it's been a phenomenal thing to have here in Rockaway township and lastly Peterson Field and Lisa I hope you have some updates for me because I keep asking about it and I was told tonight you were given updates so I will hold off and wait on that I'm just gonna interrupt and say Allison we'll be reporting Alison all right something good better have something good to say all right well I'll take you either one I'm happy with updates all right thank you everybody stay safe and healthy councilman second thank you council president um just looking when we went over to consent agenda the the the grant the recreation Improvement Grant I I don't know if that was the one I had sent in but I'm hoping it was but if it wasn't glad to see it anyway so that's uh that's always good when we get grants and uh can do a lot of stuff for for the town it's good to see um we had the manura lighting uh way back in 2024 and um appreciate that the mayor recommended me to leave the prayers we appreciate that it's an honor to do so um the fire department swearing in on the first uh was very nice uh to see um all the officers uh being sworn in um just got to say this real quick I want to wish my wife a happy birthday it is a birthday tonight I'm still at the council meeting so uh luckily she's got some good friends that took her out for some dinner while I'm here and looking forward to a great year with the council thank you so much councilman Movic I have nothing to report just i' like to wish everybody Happy New Year councilman sber thank you council president uh nothing to report on the uh County Commissioners uh but again congratulations council president vice president and I do want to thank uh Rabbi balart for leading in the manora lighting is wonderful and my family expresses its uh condolences Rabbi hon for your loss um I just want to um again wish all the residents Administration and Council of Rockway Township a productive uh healthy and safe new year thank you councilman Freeland believe it or not there's really nothing to say about the my committees all right somebody please take a note of that I I figured that's my present thank you I'm going to make up for it in 2025 the the end of the year was a little shaky on on my end but I uh came through it and uh looking forward to 2025 with everybody on the council and the administration and everybody stay nice and healthy this year please thanks thank councilwoman noon just want to wish every congratulations to the council president vice president uh I want to wish everyone a happy and healthy New Year and also o to the chief um just like M councilman Brook said he has a issue with Circle Drive I have an issue with Mount Prospect so with the maybe snow coming up uh if you can keep your eye on Mount prospects with the cars parking thank you Council vice president thank you um I will ditto that just in general maybe we can send out a nixel just reminding people when bad weather's coming um up in w six we have some of those tiny streets as well and the uh cars in the road I know can be a challenge for our guys so um secondly the Board of Ed has their annual reor tomorrow at Copeland middle school at 7:30 um I'm going to steal Manny's Thunder on this one because when I saw it I got really excited so Friends of the library is hosting a fundraiser called Name That Tune it's on Friday January 24th the doors open at 6:30 tickets are $10 I think don't hold me to that um if you follow them on social media you can get the information um and then last but not least I'm just looking for an update on my guard rail at whipper will in Le Ericson other than that thank you so much um for voting me in and as well as happy New Year Mr yach chaana thank you council president first of all happy New Year to everyone uh in particular congratulations to Howard and Rachel for their elections uh my best wishes for a happy and healthy New Year uh like to thank the mayor uh for his appointment for our firm uh Lisa and I keep trying to figure this out but this I think marks the start of uh our 23rd year with the township either as special counsel or as Township attorneys uh I also of course thank the council for approving the mayor's appointment um over the course of the year we work closely with many of you and just about everyone seated to my right uh we couldn't do our job for the township without everyone's help uh Lisa and I uh have we engage with each other multiple times a day and she has made our job so much easier and better than it ever has been in all the years we've been with the township uh so I thank police in particular but everybody to my right as always as helpful and Cooperative as they could possibly be I also want to thank the two ladies sitting up there uh whose names I won't mention because they annoy me every day uh but they do a wonderful job and they're appreciated and finally I want to let everybody in the council know that uh we're going to start a tuition fund collection uh tomorrow uh for the council president to attend the Don rickle School of Comedy I'd like to note that I got a I got a scholarship um and actually just you bring up a good point I'd be remiss if I didn't thank uh Lisa Caruso for uh for you know captaining the ship uh in between uh clerk she did an excellent excellent job and you know very very happy that she's staying as our Deputy clerk um between um Adele and Lisa we are we are certainly well taken care of so thank you bu Mr Mayor I'm sure you're tired to hear me speak um I do want to I have a couple of important things so I want to make everybody aware um this month is human traffing awareness month and January 11th is human trafficking awareness day um we have the World Cup coming to New Jersey in June 12th and June 9 through July 19th and there's definitely you know a lot of concerns around that there's some free seminars given um Fran did you bring flyers or no okay so I'll well yeah we'll have some stuff we could post on our Facebook page and on our website um there's free classes people can take um but it happens it happens everywhere and you need to keep your eyes open and you need to pay attention to what's going on around you um with that said even though it's for holidays kind of busy month in December we had the uh tre's Marketplace at Stony book school if you didn't get to go you should go they uh it's all the student get together and they uh create uh something they're going to sell I guess is basically what it is and you go there and the gym was packed uh with people um it's good that Jeff wasn't there there probably would have been some violations um but it was incredible they had the kids did some really creative Innovative stuff um we had the Rockets Varsity dinner in December uh substance of Alliance abuse had a meeting um we and and as uh we mentioned the the tree lighting and the manur lighting and rabbi bargon did do a very good good job it was it was a fun evening he doesn't dance as good as youo Rabbi heon he doesn't he doesn't get out there he doesn't you know he's not as uh energetic in my opinion but it was very nice event and uh it was well attended to which was nice I did want to read some things um first of all uh for those of you that are like me and I like to go to recycling I went to recycling uh the day after Christmas and I reached out the AL because there were there were you know it's a mad house the day after Christmas everything's full even though we empty it the week before um and there were four of his guys up there working and it's just they had everything neat and orderly people were coming up they were very friendly I could you know I know they didn't see me when I was in line they were very friendly with everybody people were laughing so just commendable job um that time year at the recycling center but uh Dr Corbett the superintendent of schools um sent an email saying um you're very surprised by this morning's weather I'm grateful and this was to vow that you were focused on the conditions and called him at 4:30 this morning in addition with one of our trucks not working having all our schools ready for opening would have been difficult if not impossible thank you for having your men plow KDM for us we could not have done it without you so kudos to Al um and his team for what they do we also got a nice compliment on our um on our Animal control officer Dan McDonald um a resident's uh uh son was bitten by a dog um and uh I don't know why I laughed at that it's not funny um and they had no information on where the dog had been properly um inoculated um contact Animal Control Dan immediately dropped everything to assist and uh got the information about the dog and the fact that the client is going to need additional inoculations um so in an age of constant criticism for the public he's indeed a credit to your municipality and they wanted to thank him for outstanding efforts um so great job by Dan um and again I know I read a lot tonight but I I would put you know this staff and and all the workers in the township up against any municipality um they care about the township they care about the residents and they work really hard and uh it's evident by some of the things you see going on there's a a lot of excitement going on in the building with some of the things we're going to be doing and some of the things we are doing and uh I'm pleased to be working with all them so that's all I have tonight Miss pomier I just want to wish everyone a happy and healthy New Year I look forward to working with the council mayor Administration um especially with the 2025 budget and that is my report Allison's going to give an extensive report on Peterson I was gonna joke and say no report uh in regards to Peterson we've done a lot of back office um research and design uh visiting other municipalities talking with other engineers and other parks and wreck other um Recreation directors about the proposed amenities that we're going to have at Peterson um we're going to use 2025 to design them um working with the uh parks and wreck Rec director DPW basically everybody um so the proposed amenities are bot Court did a survey too yes you healing my thunder yeah I I Oh I thought you would have cover so sorry working with uh Shannon as well as Britney and Dave we worked on a community survey to get some input from the proposed users um so the proposed improvements are not being designed in a vacuum it's a collaborative effort and um we're hoping to get it out to bid in the fall of 2025 with a construction start in uh 2026 uh so that is the update on Peterson Field and um also reached out to New Jersey natural gas today um and unfortunately they're not slided to finish the Reservoir Road Lakeshore uh improvements until the end of February beginning of March so stay patient but we'll push them along well no no no it's just going in front of copelan Oh you mean the detour yes yes that's why I wanted to give an update on that right Chief no I was hour yes um okay where where we at are you done Chief's G oh she handed off to Chief no problem yes we make a note of that too I know nothing about the guardrail uh congratulations President Marson vice president Brooks I was sensing sarcasm in reference to Donuts is this correct you're very defensive I'd like to just point out that that's what you're opening with but go ahead I'd like to point out the license plate of his card uh again so I I will uh follow up with Circle Drive and Mount Prospect and also with the ray for snow removal which we typically do and now informs us as as that takes place each year so we can get those timely messages out to everybody uh as far as uh the police department I would just like to again recognize the entire police department as the mayor read quite an extensive list of the activities that the police officers do on a regular basis to serve our community all right it's it's an amazing team uh in the police department as well as here serving in Rockway Township and I'm proud to be part of that uh for 2024 I would however like to recognize three indiv idual officers uh officer atua officer Ren and officer Jackson on three different occasions for three different reasons uh life saving uh negotiation and again uh uh some other uh life-saving mental health uh situations that they were dealing with and they did an outstanding job proud of them proud of the whole department proud of Steve har stand that over there y all right so again excellent Department proud to be part of the team have a an excellent 2025 look forward to it yes you're not um this year we only have a a few storms under our belt for this season um we're expecting more salt delivery either tomorrow or Thursday um I'm officially the oldest living member of the Rockway Township Department of Public Works we had our last uh yeah we had our last uh uh uh a retiree uh effective January 1 so that that that just leaves me so um but uh we have a a fully uh new crew very proud of my guys and their work and they're doing they're coming along uh well um so I just ask for for a little bit of a uh um a break uh it is a new crew they do need to learn um so we're we're we're chugging through I look forward for working for it with everybody and uh Happy New Year terer Mr Dyer happy 2025 uh like Allison had said that uh Peterson Field telor Park Mount hoo Pond um we have some great projects coming along um but I also just want to Simply say that you know I don't think there's a better time to be a Rockaway Township resident um this table up here um mayor Joe always gives us Kudos but um I'm not here to Brown those but mayor Joe we appreciate you uh that that's coming from the heart um Lisa the place is running smooth it's it's a great place to be and uh we're we're looking forward to 2025 Mr hman thank you council president I'd like to take a moment and recognize Chief Deo of the fire department and deputy chief Miller on their appointment in 2025 and the assistant Chiefs in the five companies that lead the 100 volunteers that we have uh that have done an outstanding job in 20 24 and look forward to answering the call in 2025 thank you Mr coward happy New Year okay um our next meeting will be January 28th uh we generally have the this 28 21st yeah 21st that's February 28 is okay January 21st because normally we either we are the second and fourth Tuesdays but this month we are the the 1 and third okay uh I just wanted to point that out other than that I make a motion to adjourn by consensus all in favor meeting adjourn thank you Cor