##VIDEO ID:MYrrg6oiqEs## e e e e e e e [Music] I'd like to call the November 26 2024 meeting to order start with flag salute to the flag of the United States of America and to the repic for it stands one nation under God indivisible liy and justice for all moment of silence to remember the service and sacrifice of the armed service members who protect our nation and the First Responders who protect our neighborhoods if I could add council president we lost you know three members are our extended family family into Township for the past two weeks also clerk please take the rooll councilman Freelander here councilwoman noon here councilman Brooks councilman sacket here councilwoman Brooks here councilman Quinn here councilman V toic here Council vice president salberg here council president Morrison here adequate notice of this meeting was provided to the Daily Record in the store Ledger the official newspapers for the township of Rockaway notice was posted on the official bulletin boards of Rockaway Township the township website and notice was followed in the office of the Township Clerk uh before we get going Mr Mayor thank you council president excuse my back um as we Endeavor to meet the needs of our Recreation programs we've partnered uh through Dave Dyer with Tilcon like call Erin up from Tilcon to present uh Czech and John the president of our soccer organization come up so you want to say anything every oh sure yeah um as we continue to grow and lead in the community we always look for new opportunities to contribute and be a good neighbor wherever possible um we're always you know excited to have these new opportunities to contribute to the community um it was great having members of the community at our uh facility back in June and we look forward to a continued partnership with uh those in our community so thank you John get one side there we go thank you so [Applause] much thank you Howard you want this if it's dry race I'll take it home field for the soccer program [Laughter] like is it true that we're calling at Oakfield no just checking okay moving on John thanks [Music] guys he got his money he's like I'm out of here see you in two months uh moving on to approval of the minutes November 12th Township Council regular meeting can I have a motion I'll make the motion second clerk please take the role councilman Freelander yes councilman noon yes councilman sacket yes councilwoman Brooks yes councilman Quinn abstain Council V toic I'll abstain Council vice president salberg yes council president Morrison yes that is six yeses two extensions motion passes guys making me do math uh okay uh nobody filled up the sheet for open in public is there anybody who did not fill out the sheet that wishes to speak uh I'm just going to read this before please come up um and so before opening the public portion I want to remind everyone of the rules that apply to anyone who wants to adjust the councel any member of the public wishing to adjust the council will have three minutes to do so while an extension of 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 rules 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 are necessary to permit the council to do its business in an orderly and professional manner thank you that being said uh name and address for the record uh my name is is Rock oika Jr I live at 12 duble Lane in Delver okay okay um I'm here back in July we sent a petition signed by everybody on Sho Lane and Meadow about the traffic and speeding on shubble Lane and and I just wanted to come up here and see if if there's any news or what's going on about the uh problem because it's a problem and someone's going to get seriously hurt one of these days okay uh yeah I was going to defer to the chief at the end but if he has a Mr Veron will address it Hi how are you good good yes um we are in the process of retaining an engineer to do the traffic study on shal Lane as we discussed so okay um that's the first step in the process yes and then the analysis has to this you already do a study no so no no no so what that is a traffic analysis done inhouse and I'll let the chief speak on that so the engineering report gathers data incident data uh vehicle data um and then uses engineering traffic engineering to analyze different Alternatives different solutions for the problem that we had discussed my my solution simply is just to put a couple speed humps on it yeah or on the corner where slope runs into scal put a three-way stop so um we're going to gather the data and as we discussed we'll come back together um I heard you you have my contact information yes you all right um could I get yours as well and we'll follow up with you with you okay okay thank you CH any other question no it's just that like I talk when I talked to you a month or so ago aarrow street at the beginning off of M path it runs east to west M path so what I'll do at this point is like I say we you have each other's information she gave you the quick answer okay um you guys can get together for a little bit more in depth at that point all right okay thank you very much thank you thanks for bringing our attention yeah I know okay um can we do this after the meeting oh sorry thanks okay uh so moving on I'm sorry is there anybody else in the public that wishes to speak no okay don't let those two nut jobs talking he's talking about them sir not you um okay uh consent agenda just before we go into the cons consent agenda just two items um one of them is r24 210 regular meeting resolution for 2025 I am adding into that calendar the uh budget meeting we'll be uh handling that on March 15th at 9:00 in the morning that is a Saturday this will now be the third or fourth year that we're doing it like this and it's worked very very well for us last time so that will be the day for that I'll give you the sheet here in case you you don't have that down 9:00 amm can I just say something yeah I did notice on the calendar can we just cancel the summer meetings now like we so again it's a lot easier to cancel it than to add a meeting later so if we don't need it we can cancel it we are not anticipating coming to those meetings however if we do need it for some reason it's easier to have it there and just cancel it like we've been doing okay do we noted I we thought about it both ways but we'll do it the same same thing I think for the last one in December okay yeah so like I think the one this year is one on Christmas Eve so we won't although a couple of us nothing to do that night some of us we will not be having that meeting okay it it went out in the email package yeah um the other uh item in there is uh R 24-27 um after a long road to find the right candidate we we will be appointing a new uh acting municipal clerk uh she is here tonight Miss Wadley we just want to say welcome she came here to see how exciting this is and uh we look forward to uh to a lot of good things in working with you okay so uh consent agenda R 24-204 uh through R2 24-21 can I have a motion so move second second clerk please take the rooll councilman Freelander yes Council Manon yes coun councilman sacket yes councilwoman Brooks councilwoman Brooks yes councilman Quinn yes Council V toic yes Council vice president salberg yes council president Maron yes that's eight yeses motion passes congratulations [Music] [Applause] adopt uh okay we uh there is a uh res solution for a closed session today before we do that I am going to open it up for reports after that we will go into a Clos session uh I anticipate it not being longer than half an hour should it be longer than half an hour I will have somebody come out and address anyone who has left uh starting with reports let's go with councilman Quinton okay thank you um we had a tour of Christ Church and the uh proposed those changes that they're going to be making up there uh that I was very impressed with the way and how clean that facility is and how well it's thought out for um their congregants and the kids that go there for Bible study and everything else but uh I'm really interested in that they're going to be putting in a fullsize regulation basketball court uh for youth out of town also um they're doing a lot of moving around their sport areas so that it accommodates kids playing on the soccer field basketball courts will be put there and they'll be a playground so when their siblings are playing soccer the younger ones can go there and the parents are right there with them so it's a great idea and um I was really impressed uh I sit on the planning board I heard that original um application and now with this modified application it's going to be something to see they got a huge Grant from the state um to run a food pantry and deliver and it's amazing what they're going to be doing thank than they're great neighbors now so very happy to have them um the other thing that I have is dealing with the planning board we just did some minor uh cleanup that we had to do and as far as the rec committee it's been very quiet thank God a lot of sports now basketball is kicking a lot of the older winter sports are going to start uh I know indoor lacrosse is going to be starting soon and the other sports are pretty much done so we will move on I I went to Reverend irel asked him when he was putting in a turf field so that we could actually have a Turf up there but inside because that place is big enough to do it so thank you oh Happy Thanksgiving to everybody stay safe stay healthy councilman second thank you council president uh I attended the uh with councilman movich the league of municipalities last week Tuesday Wednesday Thursday saw a bunch of uh the Rockway Township employees down there a lot of learning uh sat in on uh affordable housing the pilot programs lot it was very overwhelming so much to so much to do in short Tom frame you get down there Tuesday it's non-stop Tuesday Wednesday Thursday you're home um but it was was a great experience my first time going down and uh I recommend if you've never went try to try to try to go um they even you know we went to the uh I know Paul was in there for the mois county League lunch that they had um and they do a nice roll call the towns and uh a lot of towns weren't represented at the lunch in but Rockway Township was represented so it's good to see Happy Thanksgiving thank you Council movich just like to say thank you to tillon again you know for his uh donation to uh our rec department they also funded our banners so I hope we could uh continue work with them and uh you know get their support they're a great neighbor in the township and uh Happy Thanksgiving to everybody as well councilman Freelander okay sorry counc I with counc it's okay ladies first uh Li Library meeting uh there was a discussion on new business with the their strategic plan with the focus groups and uh improving the bathrooms and programs down the line so that that was pretty good uh it was also mentioned in public about that there's a Senate Bill about uh guaranteeing protections for librarians to the issue with ban books to uh move forward on that uh Rockway t sub substance abuse abuse Alliance excuse me uh they started phase one of the four phases with the six sixth graders uh next would be the seventh and starting uh with the eighth graders uh would be in January so uh that's moving along pretty good uh as far as the uh Rockway Township the uh fort f house and the Historical Society uh they're working on in in the the interior had a walk through over this past week and everybody was impressed with what's going on inside uh once it's finished uh you'll be amazed I mean the the just the way it's being done and what's adding adding to it and hopefully uh the county will throw us some more money so we can continue the project because it's never ending and uh again uh as far as Thanksgiving enjoy time with your family because it's very precious and I know that for a fact so take that's it thank councilwoman uh yes I also attended the Christ Church uh walkth through which was very overwhelming I didn't realize how huge that place was but didto to what councilman Quinn said um also I've been on the email thread with the strine situation and I ask to be continued you know continue to keep me informed on that um the other thing is I've had people complain about and I was going to stop by and take a picture but I didn't so Daniel Street going to Art Street that stop sign I guess there's a sign that says no parking 60 feet from corner but I've had residents complain that uh people AR parking where they're not supposed to be parking so if you could look into that and uh Happy Thanksgiving to all thank you Council my Brooks um I as well attended the Christ Church walkthrough and all I can really recommend to any residents who have had concerns I you know there's chatter amongst the Facebook world and all that stuff feel free to call them Pastor Ireland and his team Ry the COO they're they're fantastic the things they explain the Care Center the recreational aspects you know there's a lot of misinformation out there and I think it's really important and I can promise you if you called them or sent them an email they'd be more than happy to walk you through everything I wouldn't be surprised if they invited you down down to see all of it it's really really going to be a phenomenal addition to Rockway Township and um again I can't say how much of Highly I think of them as good neighbors and what they're trying to do for not just our community but all of New Jersey that being said I also was wondering if I could get an update on where we're at with the Whipper whe guard rail I know the last we heard we were St someone may had measured and maybe went out to look to see what we can do there and then last but not least as Manny said Happy Thanksgiving be thankful grateful and blessed that's all I have M Aro other than wishing any everybody Happy Thanksgiving my com session oh I'm sorry I missed you do that sorry either way get short well all that build up for I don't have anything to report Mr Mayor yes so I got a few things uh I want to read uh I'm not going to read the letter but Senator buo on our behalf and every Miss's behalf sent a letter to the governor ask him to restore 150 million in Municipal state aid that they've uh eliminated in FY 25 budget so um appreciate him advocating for all of us want to let everybody know we got a couple grants um one from the Township Road uh from the Department of Transportation for uh Township roadway improvements to Reservoir Road section two in the amount of 196,000 and for uh we got a storm water assistance grant the amount of $50,000 um from the D so um you know money we're going to use to hopefully uh make improvements that aren't isn't going to cost taxpayers anything um this month was been kind of busy uh there's a dinner at Red we ate dinner at Red Hut on the 13th the support the moris hills marching band I think that night also too I think the nolles marching band was doing something at uh Buffalo Wild Wings uh we picked the red Hut I like just more variety and and options to choose and eat um the 14th was a a Harvest Festival at Raymore and Flanigan um that uh Shannon our events person uh helped coordinate um to benefit hope uh house and Veterans so I went and attended that it was very nice went to a Stony book PTA meeting um they got some really good fundraisers coming up it's really good group of PTA um members there um the 15th um there was a celebration for uh Neil sedon uh former Chief I think of hiberia company the swed um and there were a lot of people it was great to see people I haven't seen a while and uh the the sons of American Legion did a nice honor to him they did a prayer um but just uh so many people seem to have a lot of interactions with him um you know he touched a lot of people's lives so it was very meaningful um the 17th project kind held an event um and for those you don't know project kind um so Jenny dep Paul runs it and Kathy Ritz uh helps helps her um it's dedicated to adding uh to aiding less fortunate the journey began by Distributing peanut butter and jelly sandwiches in Newark by incorporating notes of kindness inside each sandwich bag she not only nursed but was able uh but also a tangible reminder of the inherent worthiness of Love restoring long after the sandwiches were savored and so they do a lot to support our community and the communities around us so I just want to acknowledge and and Jenny was going to try and come and speak tonight but she had a conflict um as Jack mentioned at the planning board meeting um the 19th we had dinner at uh Panera to support the Women's Club of Denville and Rockway and for those you don't know the the one of the members there is actually the state president for the Women's Club of New Jersey so it's pretty cool um we had dwire PTA meeting U Mr McGovern asked about the electric sign out front for DW any dwire parents that are watching I believe it's being presented to the planning board in December so hopefully we'll get approval on that um the tour Christ Church uh I think uh you know a lot of the council members have that that came spoke about it I think the thing that's uh meaningful to me that people are going to see this is this is something that's G to affect people across the state um what they're going to do uh for serving food and and auto help and legal help and all the things they're going to do and and there's people in our community in need and you might not realize there I think people turn a blind eye to it but there's a lot of people in need in our community too and all this is going to come out of Rockway Township so um we should all take pride that that facility is being created in the township and we brought um Britney Bernstein our community outreach coordinator and Shannon mccardy our event person and and they were just like out of their mind so you know we're going to definitely figure out ways how the township can leverage them and what they do and how they could work with us to help meet the needs of our community um even further so very excited about what's going on there um last week was was it her last day or Stephanie's or we just had her last day is tomorrow so Stephanie emper who's our our Treasurer um she's our Treasurer um been here 18 years and we had a celebration a retirement party um for her on the 22nd and it's always nice cuz she was one she doesn't like being the center of attention so we Dr dragged her out in front of everybody and she was very uncomfortable so it was great um and then uh last night went to Ora Dunn who's an assembly woman um for our for our uh District uh she does a lot to support us she was really pivotal and getting us to talk to the state about en home field uh she had an event she had a a new uh uh office that she's opening in MO town and uh there I I don't think the manura lighting flyer went out but the tree lighting flyer I believe went out so that's on Facebook and the manora lighting set um and then I think Ramadan is until February this year I know we did seemed like we did all three of those events around the same time last year I think this year hanukkah's a little later right yeah it starts on Christmas right yeah so I think that's not happening till the 30th I don't think I I forget but um you know it's it's all being planned by Shannon so you'll see Flyers coming out on our social media account um and that's all I have m p uh okay so Brian coward and I have been meeting with all the department heads regarding the 2025 budget requests uh tomorrow we're meeting with DPW and that should be wrapping it up and then we'll be assembling it all and getting it ready to present to the mayor for review um today I held a um a note sale in the amount of 12 million 66 930 um we received six uh bids the winning bid went to Jeff with a net interest percentage of 3132 I've been told by our bond Council this is an excellent rate he was very pleased with the rate we've received um compared to neighboring towns and other towns within New Jersey this was at least a half a point under what the others are receiving so we continue to receive excellent rates uming this is for this is for funding um projects that you've already approved from 23 and back just basically um funding those those projects with um borrowing power um other than that Happy Thanksgiving and welcome our new clerk look forward to working with you thank you Miss Ron yes welcome Miss vley looking forward to working with you and Happy Thanksgiving Chief good evening everybody I'm thankful to be part of the Rockway Township family to serve our community I'm thankful for the Rockway Township Police Department and the officers that also serve like Lieutenant tacis and patrol officer Walsh and this is why on 11:25 at 041 hours dispatch received a report of a missing elderly female in her 70s with Alzheimer's disease called in by the missing female's boyfriend the caller stated to dispatch that the elderly female was reportedly missing for over an hour upon hearing the call over the radio officer Walsh responded swiftly to the area and was able to find the elderly female in a disheveled State walking nearby on the road in nearly freezing weather conditions after finding the elderly female officer Walsh was able to return her safely home to her boyfriend and receive Medical Care as well right so I commend officer walls for his uh actions and intervention and helping to keep our community safe also I would like to mention I know that uh I have four recruits that are going to be celebrating and very thankful uh this holiday season uh that they are not going back on Monday for push-ups and sit-ups uh they will be home enjoying uh their family and their Thanksgiving as officers in the Rockway Township Police Department they have finished their last day today and they are graduating tomorrow so congratulations to them everybody have a wonderful Thanksgiving and we'll introduce them at the next council meeting Mr coward Happy Thanksgiving the report Mr Dyer um I just wanted to um thank tillon again um that's a big siiz check it's going to help out our soccer program um they're always a great partner to work with and uh it's going to be a big big help in the fall um I think the mayor had mentioned so Santa Claus is coming Thursday the 5th again at the senior center uh December 5th next th uh two Thursdays next Thursday no next Thursday yep and then we spoke with uh Rabbi uh hbomb today and we're just working at the details with uh monora lighting um Happy Thanksgiving what councilman Brooks would like those dates sent to us yep thank you uh okay at this point uh we're going to go into close session uh like I said I do not expect any action to be taken as a result of that session uh so uh yeah resolution R2 24-26 resolution authorizing an executive close session in accordance with the New Jersey open public meetings act to discuss pending and anticipated litigation can I have a motion so move clerk please take the role councilman Freelander yes councilman noon yes councilman sacket yes councilwoman Brooks yes councilman Quinn yes councilman V toic yes Council vice president salberg yes council president Morrison yes say yes as motion passes I will see you guys in there com e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e for e e e e e e e e e e for e e e e e e e e e e e e e okay IID like to make a motion to return from close session can I have a second second cour please take the role councilman Freelander yes councilwoman noon yes councilman sacket yes councilwoman Brooks yes councilman Quinn yes Council white toic yes Council vice president salber yes council president marrison yes Z yeses motion pass say I'd like to make a motion to authorize Our Town attorney to pursue a resolution of the G what GRC GRC uh complaint as noted in the close session can I have a second second clerk please take the role councilman Freelander yes councilwoman newon yes councilwoman Brooks yes councilman sacket yes councilman Quinn yes Council V yes Council vice president salber yes council president marrison yes it's 8 yes as motion passes I'd like to make a motion to adjourn by consensus all in favor see you next time for