##VIDEO ID:rOjEbiiY9Jw## e e e e e okay I'd like to call the October 22nd 2024 council meeting the order and start with the flag [Music] salute I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation God indivisible with liy and justice for [Music] all a moment of silence to remember the service and sacrifices of the armed service members who protect our nation and the First Responders who protect our neighborhoods clerk please take the role councilman Freelander here councilwoman noon here councilman Brooks councilman socket here councilwoman Brooks here councilman Quinn here councilman voitovich here Council vice president salberg here council president Marson here adequate notice of this meeting was provided to the Daily Record in the Star Ledger the official newspapers for the township of Rockway notice was posted on the official bulletin boards of Rockway Township Township website and notice was filed in the Office of the Township Clerk approval of the minutes for the October 8th Township Council regular meeting can I have a motion so move second clerk please take the role councilman Freelander abstain councilwoman n yes councilman sacket yes councilwoman Brooks yes councilman Quinn yes councilman V toich yes Council vice president alberg yes council president Morrison yes it's seven yeses one exstension motion passes uh before we get into the meeting mayor Jackson the floor is yours thank you I'll turn my back to apologize so when my Suzanne and I first moved to Rockway over 20 years ago we were told by real estate agent how good the schools are here and all three of our children went through the Rockway Township Schools and and I must say we have we have some of the best schools in the state if not you know definitely in the county but in the state we have some of the best schools and um I'm honored tonight to recognize DWI Elementary School and I'd like to ask Mr McGovern and any of the staff members come on up if you if you if you want to [Applause] so I I I can tell you uh Mr McGovern doesn't want to be up here because he said this about his teachers and it's about his staff but I can tell you from being on the board of ed it starts with the top and the tone and his ability to enable his teachers to achieve great things um is something that I think he's been doing for a long time and I know his staff appreciates that so I'm going to go ahead and read the proclamation whereas the mission of the Katherine ad DWI Elementary school is to nurture a supportive culture embracing individual diversity that will ensure academic social and emot emotional success for all and whereas the kathlyn dwire elementary school is a unique as unique as the population due to its for plan and environment and encompassing its motto what's its motto no walls No Limits and whereas every year the US Department of Education seeks and celebrates Great American schools that demonstrate that all students can achieve high levels the National Blue Ribbon award affirms the hard work of Educators families and communities creating a safe and welcoming environment where students Master challenging and engaging content and whereas based on the hard work of the student staff families and administration the cathine DWI elementary school has been awarded the 2024 National Blue Ribbon award and whereas the National Blue Ribbon award recognition means that Katherine dwire Elementary School is among new jerseys and the nation's highest performing schools now there for I Joe Jackson Mayor of the township of Rockaway hereby commend Katherine DWI Elementary School family for their achievement and recognition as a 2024 National Blue Ribbon recipient congratulations and I I'd like to recognize um uh Dr Corbett couldn't be here tonight he's at the uh con convention down Atlantic City but he wanted to send his regards and uh Board of Ed president Tanya Shield is here tonight and I'm just honored to be up here with all of you so let's get a photo up come [Applause] on okay all right so raise your hand if you want us to take a five minute break so you can leave thank you thank you everybody thank you cute did I remember everything the teachers they know how to leave quietly and now we're to a normal crowd yeah just went down nervous like it's not a proclamation yeah I should warn you all I should warn you stress when you I was stressed I W and I was very stressed hey Mr Mayor I think we should do these proclamations at the end of the meeting from now on okay uh moving on to the open to the public portion nobody filled out the sheet is there anybody in the public either of you that wish to speak okay um as per the ordinance that's up for adoption tonight I I'm going to make a motion to uh pull the ordinance for further consideration at a later time due to feedback that we received from the planning committee yesterday yesterday I'll on that clerk please take the rooll councilman Freelander yes the councilwoman noon yes councilman sacket yes councilwoman Brooks yes councilman Quinn yes councilman voitovich yes Council vice president salberg yes council president Mars yes it's eight yeses motion passes uh consent agenda r24 1880 and R 24 1881 can I have a motion so move second CL please take the rooll councilman Freelander yes councilwoman nun yes councilman sacket yes councilwoman Brooks yes councilman Quinn yes councilman V toic yes Council vice president salber yes council president Maron yes it's a yes as motion passes um before I move on Lisa uh item 11 best practices discussion I didn't catch that what is that oh that's me okay let's do that so um sure so every year um over the past since 2010 we've been uh required to fill out what's called the best practices questionnaire I complete it with the help of my department heads and reported to the division of local government services it's currently on our website now um but it's best practice for paining to ethics Personnel Budget Finance capital projects transparency procurement cyber security lead remediations shared services and this year we had um a new section on affordable housing which we just had a meeting on uh Redevelopment utilities and environment so there was um a total of 46.5 total questions that would have been answered correctly we scored 44.5 which comes to about just under just over 96% that we scored which entitles us to our full allotment of state aid for uh 2025 I'm sorry 2024 and um again if you want to look at the uh question here in detail it's on our website under government transparency ahe uh okay moving on to uh reports as a reminder we'd like to keep it to five minutes or less and welcome back councilman freedlander thank you I know you're do two months worth of reports but you still get the same five minutes now I will do those reports next month all right even though I know what went on I I wasn't there so I'm not going to report yet I do have a question for the administration Lisa Lisa yes question for you down here okay I I'm looking over there I could tell uh I know it affected me but I think it affects the old Council when I was out I called into the clerk and I asked I wanted to attend the meeting from outside the building and I was told we have no way excuse me no way of doing it whether it be phone which I know years past we did by phone or any other way I'd like to address that because if that's true I think it's important not only for myself that had that experience but for the entire Council moving forward that if anyone can miss and still be available to come in into the meeting so I want to know if that's true and what we can do to correct it I'm going to defer to the council president on that yeah so there are rules in place and keep in mind a lot of these were put in place not with the best intentions with the group that was here before all of us right um there we currently don't have any good way to convey if somebody's online like there speech there's no monitors you know it's you can't hold up a phone to the m to the microphone things like that um there is a process in place now where if you're going to be absent you have to inform the council president and then there has to be a vote of the council to approve if somebody's going to attend virtually I spoke to Mr Yano about this because a lot of these rules were kind of adjusted on the Fly for Co my personal opinion is this is not a remote job right this is it's two Tuesdays a month I think you should be in person I understand you it was an extenda obviously obviously you could not but you know to use an example You Know Jack when when you were sick you didn't come to the meetings right I came in a wheelchair right but no no you understand my point no my my concern is that in the future we don't want it to be where you know I I'm on vacation or I just don't feel like coming in tonight so we're going to do it remotely just as just so you know councilman salberg also asked to do it remotely and I told him no also right so it wasn't just you I I feel very strongly this is an in-person job I understanders extenuating circumstances however we do have rules in place protect you in or anybody else in cases like that where if you have a certain amount of unexcused and certainly it would be excused if you have unexcused meetings then you can be removed from the council right if you're sick it's very unfortunate but I understand what you're saying I respectfully disagree but it's something that you know what let's get together and see if there is somewhere in the middle that we can meet well that's that's what I was hoping no I listen there's certainly circumstances yeah so I'm sorry yeah I feel that we have an ordinance in place and that ordinance should have been followed and it and it wasn't so I think the ordinance committee should needs to get together and relook at that ordinance and make some changes if that's necessary and just for clarification the beginning of that ordinance is the person contacting the council president right so but yeah agre I let's send this to the ordinance committee and I certainly think it's worth reviewing that's what we're here for that's listen that's all I ask because it had to you know had you know it happened to me right and I certainly can talk on the F you know I couldn't get here listen those circumstances have not Arisen since Co and I think you shine the light has a good opportunity to revisit it yeah options so yeah okay you know if it can be fine if it can't I understand I agree okay that was my one question on another note because of what happened to me I just want to put a shout out to 911 people and the First Responders because if I didn't have them with my wife calling I wouldn't be talking tonight so first respond I mean I I get choked up when I when I think about it you know I know exactly what EXA exactly so you know that's why I always support the the the group of people because above and beyond and you know you talk about it and you see and happen to other people and you you you know you could reflect on it and say hey that's a good idea but when it happens to yourself it's a whole new ball game you so and as far as I'll make up the reports next month for all the ones I missed three thank you I'm finished Council yeah just three quick things um another excellent job done by the fire departments for the fire fire inspection this past Saturday um they do a excellent job every year and that's just all there is to it uh looking forward to dark Lake which is this coming up Saturday at Park at parks Lake from 5:30 to 8:30 um that's always a fun time I think they're expecting like over 4,000 kids this year um and the other thing I just want to mention I know we talked about it in the beginning of the summer but now that it's getting dark earlier um I almost hit two kids on their bikes today coming here because it was dark and they just went right out in the road didn't even attempt to stop and if it wasn't for their reflectors on their wheels I wouldn't have seen them so just parents teach your kids about bike safety especially in the dark that's it um I have a quite a few things just want you guys to know I did my cyber security and I got 100% so just putting it out there and it's a good point you know if everybody does the cyber security there's a discount uh or a rebate that we get with our insurance so so just so you guys know I'm a model cyber community member I handed my I emailed Lisa my certificate or Alison my certificate um I'd like to say I'm super bummed that I couldn't attend an inspection this year I had a personal commitment that I could not move around um but I was really happy to see I got some text messages about things that I've been asking about over the years um so I was so excited to see that some of those upgrades and things have been been done um I'd also like to thank the fire departments all the volunteers all of our mutual Aid uh New Jersey forestry the administration um with Wildfire out over on the Green Pond Road over there between Jacobs and uh the tower I will ask someone to explain to me what a microwave fire is because when I Google it it just gives me microwaves on fire um but everyone's done an exceptional job in administration with the communication cheap everybody like I just can't thank every enough for keeping the community up to date as much as they can um and let's just hope I've never thought I'd ever say this but please let's hope for some rain um some wells are drying up in words stick I saw that um so unfortunately it's really just a problem I know we can't control it but let's everyone do a little bit of a rain dance um I got the opportunity attend the Hibernia Library open house on yesterday yesterday um super great time it's awesome it's great to talk to some of the board members uh the director Scott uh the Librarians it's just such a great little Library we're very fortunate to have it it's a historical building so um having some conversations with them talking about the facade um I know they have spoken hopefully to the administration soon about in terms of helping them get the grant so that we can paint the building since it's historical building we can't just you know call Sherman Williams or someone and slap a coat of paint on there uh it needs to go through a process so I really look sorry sorry shots fired are they still around that being said unbelievable well Jonathan that being said I really hope that the administration can work with the library trustee board and help them with that Grant so that we can get potentially that money um I know the County Historical um committees and the commission had mentioned even last night they have money they're looking to give it out let's make sure we can uh get that Library painted it's a really great place um secondly I would also like to just comment I reached out to the administration I had a few residents call me about the corner of leave Erikson and whipperwill a really tough Corner the school buses have been having trouble you know making it they get worried about the bad weather I'd mentioned it to the administration I recently was on a walk I noticed there was paint and measurements and all of these things so I'm really hoping that a guard rail can be installed sooner than later um just because you know at the end of the day the uh it's it's a tough corner for a car especially in bad weather to think of a school bus to come around um so I've never been so excited to possibly see a guard rail fingers crossed um and then also last but not least I was just hoping to get a little update could be via email I don't want to anyone to speak out of turn but progress on the telmark park upgrades that's all I have thank you councilman Quint actually I'm part of the dwire family there because my grandkids go there and I'm very proud of that group uh they do a great job and so getting back to the firemen's uh dinner and the inspection you guys do a fantastic job and God bless you guys because you're fighting that fire up north and with the forest department and uh I talked to Jeff this afternoon because I did the security thing too and thank you I have my certificate too so uh and what pain don't hurt nobody Jack and what a pain in the neck but yeah but it's done but yeah so the fire department uh I was talking with Jeff and because the fire is actually burning under the ground because all that leaves and brush and everything is compiled down so basically it's burning up it's the fire's gone down and it's now burning it's like if you had a garbage stump fire that just is going to continue to burn and the only way to do it is rake the hell out of it and spray it down and that's what they've been doing the forest service was going to send some guys up from South Jersey from the Pinelands but of course they got a fire going on down there now I saw that on news before I came here so uh I don't know if they're going to be able to but yeah they're working hard they did a great job I know our Police Department's done a great job on controlling the flow of people in traffic you get people that want to sight see and this is not the time to do it school buses yeah this school bus time and there's some cars still forgetting that when that red stop sign comes out they need to stop um there was a complaint sent to me from somebody on Fleetwood that there a car came around the bus and uh the kid luckily was not in the path this time where the father had to pull them out but you know I I hope all these buses have cameras I asked for them all to have it so that we can prosecute these people and I'd love to get it and make one person a good example because our kids are our life so we got to keep moving all right um planning board last night uh I'm happy to let everybody know that 25 Green Pond Road which was the little learner and there was another little Bill company in there there's a company coming in that basically does donuts for Dunkin Donuts so they are going to get deliveries of these uh tract two tractor trailers of whatever they're going to have for all these Dunkin Donuts and they are going to make the donuts and everything and then disperse them to the Duncan Donuts from here so uh it's a really good operation this is the second one that this guy that was at our meeting uh is owning and uh it it looks like it's going to be very well received I know I'm glad to have a good rable up there so that'll be fun we also had New Jersey natural gas coming in um they didn't have their ducks in a row so they're going to be coming back to us uh for more information that we gave we wanted and hopefully they get their act together let's see Peterson Field I've been spending a lot of time there as everybody knows with the football and cheerleaders now I still can't get over this weather uh you know my grandson's sweating through his uniform every night so it's it's crazy but other than that God bless everybody and let's keep moving forward thank you um two follow-ups one I volunteer for any inspections at the donut factory councilman salberg would like to know if there's going to be an outlet there for the imperfect or no there is no Outlets they said and and they do have locked compactors because the Bears would be up there eating and getting really fat um Council Brooks I just you said two trucks Jack is it two trucks a day and do you know what time they're going to be delivering yeah they're going to be off hours because I brought that up about the school buses and traffic um so what they do is they bring in two trailers uh usually two trailers a week to start um and then they do the production right there and then they have box trucks that go out all this is done early in the morning you know that commercial time to make the donuts well that's what it is it's time to make the donuts they get up early they do it they run two shifts uh usually the first shift is 60 people second shift is 30 and then they have drivers that come in and out load up and go so thank you trucks are just getting that was all bettered out you know Katie went a vat on oh no she wouldn't no the trucks are just getting really bad especially in that part ofou road andan so I was just curious yeah no they uh hopefully they won't add to they put it on the record that they will be off hours so perfect thank is there any truth did a coincidence that it's across the street from the dispensary The Donut Shop well I you know it's like the one over here at the mall at the strip mall all right let's get back on track uh councilman second it's pretty hard to follow donuts and donuts dispensaries and all this crazy stuff going on uh welcome back counsilman freedlander I know uh you pretty much went through hell and back so uh welcome back great to seen you a lot but great to was you went to uh heaven and back heaven and back so welcome back um I was going to go to Crunch Fitness tomorrow but I'm thinking I may go check out Fitness Factory comment so I gotta see um but yeah girls wreck basketball has started and uh I'm happy to report I'm coaching 7th eth grade girls wreck basketball assistant coach so looking forward to uh being back in wreck so good very very fun stuff and last chance to coach my youngest um the fire department inspections I was able to hook up with the in white metal Lake H ber and Marcela and lots of hard work was shown that they pride and uh you the fire department does an outstanding outstanding job I was at the uh Civics Affairs committee last night the canidates night uh White Lake and Pat dnan and just a excellent job and it's um by Pat and them and it's it's not easy to run for a public office to put yourself out there and uh thank you for everyone that came and listened to my Spiel so thank you so much um I wanted to send congratulations to the new white man Lake POA president Lauren biani and all the others that were elected in the election a couple weeks ago same thing it's not hard it's volunteer a lot of hours put in um with that like Mary said dark Lake this Saturday 5:30 8:30 Halloween coming up after that just like you were talking about with the bikes and everything make sure we're safe out there these kids running around um just important to keep our eyes and ears open I'm sure the chief may say something about that safety and also you before our next meeting um there's an election and it's uh I know Rachel likes to mention this a lot and people like to complain but it's it's it's we've earned our right to vote whether you're going to vote early vote by mail or day of go out and vote thank you C M to yeah so this uh past Saturday I also attended the uh fire inspection and like all the other council members said it was great as always the fire department does a great job and uh you know we have rigs that are 25 30 years old and they look like they just rolled off the assembly line so it's you know it shows their commitment uh to the equipment that we purchase with a taxpayers uh funds uh and also you know I hope that we invest in more equipment for the fire department you know they always speak about uh you know new Rigs and I know they're very expensive but I'm I'm sure that the administration is always thinking forward and and uh setting money aside so these guys have some of the best uh equipment available um and one last thing that I have is is you know some of the residents are still reaching out to us and and I've spoken to some uh personally about you know the leaks that we've had in some of the closed sessions you know I know that we voted it down or whatever it is but I want to see if I don't know with the council president or with the uh attorney if there's something that could be done or I don't know I mean I just feel that if we go to a close session uh you know people not might not speak their mind thinking that some information might we leak out so uh I'm open to any suggestions for either the uh council president or the attorney um are you military that's it yeah so you know I I agree with um councilman with toic we did have a serious breach of confidentiality here you know and and we know um we know that it came from the council right so what I would like to do is and I've spoken to Mr Yano about this I I'd like to put out a motion to direct the attorneys to draft a code of ethics we currently do not have a code of ethics for the council uh it would spell out you know the process what needs to be done and you know um other pieces that I'm probably not thinking about um so I'd like to do that I'd like to make a motion to direct our attorneys to uh research and draft a code of ethics so this would be going forward for all future councils also this yes this is going to be drafted to represent would that be a ordinance that we would put in John uh yes councilman it would probably be incorporated in the code okay do I have a second second clerk please take the RO councilman Freelander yes councilwoman noon yes councilman sacket yes councilwoman Brooks yes councilman Quinn yes councilman V toic yes Council vice president salberg yes council president marrison yes that's eight yes as motion passes uh Miss yachan will discuss with you I guess what the next steps are thank you uh Council vice president thank you again uh the fire inspection is always a kind of a privilege to be on um you meet a lot of friends that you know um you know meet new ones uh of course just thank them and and really be ODed by the you know the volunteerism that they uh you know that they've given to our town um you know a writing with Jeff you know talking about the needs of each of the Departments you I'm looking forward to seeing their uh their budget request this year because uh you as councilman voy toich said we really need to equip them with the absolute best they got a hard job and it's amazing how many calls they really go on you don't realize also would like to also thank uh Pat Dean for the meet the candidates last night I think it's a very important part of the democratic process to be able to you know meet them and you know not just see a postcard so look forward to that and I'm glad that that's a ongoing tradition uh again Manny bua glad you're back good to see you great seeing you last night you had quite an entrance everybody stopped what they were doing and applauded even the candidates so that was nice um One Piece uh earlier in the year I think it was prior to the summer I just made a brief mention of it but I haven't heard anything new I haven't heard any updates on the Town Master Plan obviously not looking for anything tonight but I would hope to see in the near future maybe an update uh status and ultimately uh have a presentation on that so I have okay uh I only have two things one uh this Saturday is full cleanup um I know I will be at Mount Hol Pond cleaning up after the brookses I expect I'm sure I'll see some of you guys there uh so this year it's what uh Mount Hope and Lake games okay yeah so I'll be at Mount Hope this year so I hope to see somebody there the other thing is as councilman sacket brought up two weeks from today is is election day um no matter who you vote for get out and vote I believe early voting starts on the 29th 26th um um the two nearest year are Denville and botin uh I usually do early voting it is incredibly easy and you don't have to worry about you know losing time on Tuesday and waiting in line um just get out and vote this is a very important election you know and there there's a lot on the tickets uh this year mindful of the new election spots too yes um okay uh missano thank you council president first of all Manny welcome back thank you it's very very good to see you um with respect to uh the ordinance uh that was tabled tonight uh 02 2414 my recommendation to the council is that view of the planning board action uh I have a copy of the planning board letter to the council uh what I'd like to do with your permission is give you a memo on what the council's Alternatives is are at this point and go from there um we've also been asked by the mayor to develop an ordinance with respect to recreational vehicles uh at our Parks we've had a couple of problems recently and uh hopefully in the next meeting or two uh I'll have some to submit to the ordinance committee and subsequently to the council about that uh I also want to keep you advised of the progress of the code enforcement matter uh pending against Mr Kelly for going on three years now um that matter as I believe I informed the council went to Superior Court on our appeal uh the Superior Court agreed with us in terms of reversing the determinations made by the municipal court judge and admitting evidence which the municipal court judge did not allow or wasn't available at the time uh so we have a status conference coming up on that at the end of November and I'll be able to uh give you some more information after that status conference uh and one cautionary comment with respect to the Duncan Donuts production facility I'd like to remind the council president that following too closely is a motor vehicle ofense officer can we please expel Mr Mayor I hope you weren't counting on getting out of here early so um I I'd like to start just by um commending our police chief I think um it's it's he's only been doing it for a little while but I think we have the best police chief in the state so Saturday um Saturday's the one day year the firefighters have off it's the one day year they're not on call it's the one day year that our entire town is backed up by other towns and so um it was a very unique situation when that fireb out and I'll just give you all insight for transparency so we had one person at the fire that was Chief Shear he was up there uh probably 20 hours on Saturday Sunday he was there he was there today he was there yesterday um but on Saturday in particular he was reporting to us what was going on and um helping you know us try to make decisions about what we should do um Chief Deo um deputy chief Miller um in terms of where we're at and what should be happening and I just want to thank him for his commitment to our Township um and and to our residents because I think having him up there was instrumental and being able to have still have the inspections and do what we did and allow our our volunteers to um celebrate their hard work but as the day went on and the the fire started progressing and things became more serious um and for those of you who were at the banquet I I think you would notice there was a a tone in in the room um that was different and I made some comments and chief Deo made some comments and we made very clear that you know early in the next day fire companies were going to you know be strapping on their gear and getting ready to roll into the woods and uh I will tell you you will not see many people more fired up than Adam power was that night um then you know you look at company um company 3 and you see Robert Park sitting there with his table and nobody's drink they're you you've been to these fire Banquets that nobody's drinking they're talking about tomorrow what they're going to be doing what it means you know these these volunteers all know where these houses are in the woods and um I it it was a different banquet than we've ever had before and immediately you know I think four o'clock in the morning Chief Deo and deputy chief Miller were in the woods and then our guys started rolling in our crew started rolling in about 600 or 5 in the morning and they've pretty much been there since um battling this fire um and and it's just um no house is lost is a miracle and I think it's through the efforts of the you know I thank the New Jersey forest fire service in addition to all the mutual Aid um agencies I think kelan botin there were Butler maybe uh you know just just it's it's it's really a miracle that that no houses were lost um and and I just again can't thank the chief enough for what he did and chief demo I'm I'm trying to get him to go home and rest and he's kind of refusing to and uh it's what you know it's this is what these guys are about these people are about they're they're you know I think he made the comment like I'm not leaving here till I know all of our residents are safe so I want to commend all those people I just spoke about so um that's that we did get a I saw a nice post on Facebook um we had an emergency last night we have the best police department the woman I spoke to the whole time on the other end of the police desk was so kind the police officers were here in minutes we are so lucky we have the best love this community and those are the the types of things that are awesome to read um I did receive an email somebody um I know it's not November yet but November is children's grief awareness month and the third Thursday of each month of no of each November is recognized as children grief awareness day um children grief Awareness Month raises awareness about the impact of grief a child children and provides opportunity to support those who experience loss and there's a nonprofit called good grief um that helps with that in New Jersey so if anybody's interested in the public they can reach out um to my office and we'll give you information on that um I also want to give an update on uh enome field and Norway field uh I've been in extensive negotiations with the uh owners that purchase Norway field and their attorney um we and I've been working closely with the head of our soccer program and we've pretty much are getting close to signing a deal that will basically allow soccer to use the field the same amount they're using it now um and I think the soccer you know my conversations with the head of soccer he's thrilled of the deal we're able to work out um and so the township attorney is going to work on a lease agreement um with the new owners of the field and hopefully we'll have that in the next couple of weeks in the meantime we are still p pursuing um andh home field and what we can do up at that field for the north end of town um and and maybe eventually make that the Hub of soccer um going forward um so we have a call Thursday I believe with the state to discuss uh next steps and possibly um getting that back I I think we have a great Community we have so many great volunteers and people that do thing I want to recognize specifically um Sam Antonelli and the interact Club from Morris um they collected a huge amount of items um for Hurricane Relief uh I believe it was last week or the week before and I didn't want that to get lost in the fire we're having in town um but you know just a high schooler uh organizing with a group of her friends collecting I I I want to say it was like a tractor trailer full of supplies for Hurricane Relief so I want to recognize that um some good things happened um we went to a a KDM PTA meeting there's a lot of good things happening in the schools um we had the ribbon cutting for the Dermatology and Laser Center uh I think May councilman noon went to that it's an incredible facility I went on the corner of Sanders Road and Green Pond Road um really good on the 11th got to give a proclamation to Andy Stewart Andy's a Marcel uh you know grew up in Marcella and he got promoted to colonel in the Air Force so got to go to that ceremony it was unbelievable um had a good time went to the Women's Club meeting of Denville and Rockaway um and they they do uh a lot of work nonprofit work and we're actually their the State president is is going to be getting involved in some of the planning for the community garden um she has experience for that um Copeland PTA meeting we found out from Principal bear I guess they do recess now and they are looking for sports equipment um for students so if you wanted to get some and donate it or if you're the type of person that seems to be able to get people to give free things Howard um you know they're looking for like little soccer nets I believe is what it was right and things like that so um you know that's that's something I want to put out there if anybody's interested um Board of Ed meeting was was good this month we didn't stay long but um they recognized the PTA volunteers and there were a bunch of them there and gave them out Awards I thought it was really good um and candidate's night I thought was well done I think uh councilman sack had did a great great job and you know you talked about Rachel possibly getting more money to do the library from the Commissioners maybe if we had somebody from Rockway on there we'd get that money so um I I did want to also point out I left these for Council Members so these are cards and I'm going to apologize to the clerk now because I'm sure some dewit's goingon to do an OP request but I ordered these cards and paid for them myself um and these are cards that we have on the desk out there for new residents and I'd encourage you to take some of you want if you have new residents in your ward or in your neighborhood but basically with this QR code you you put your camera over and you press the button and it takes you to our new Resident page and you're able to pull up you know where your G who you go for garbage who you pay your electric bill where your kids are going to go to school how to sign up for 911 you know 911 and and the Rave alerts all the things that new residents call or don't know how to do it's in one place and all they got to do is use their smartphone to do it so um I'll keep a pile here um Allison has some in the mayor's office too if you want to get some from there and that's all I got just Mary all that very nice um the uh budget packets were budget packets were distributed to our uh department heads about a week and a half ago they will be due um early November I'll have a chance to review them uh then we're going to hold budget hearings the week of Thanksgiving after everybody every comes back from the league and um we'll be wrapping it up I'll be presenting it to the mayor and ultimately to uh the council like we have in the past probably around mid-February and then hopefully schedule um like the Saturday meeting if that's what you choose to do I think we did that early March last year and and the year before that yeah those Saturday meetings worked out really well the council did a great job last year in vetting out any information they needed ahead of time y uh and we're going to look to do that again so yep so we're on the same track pattern I would say okay that's all I have M fronte and we we appreciate the food Saturday Okay um to councilman salzburg's comment regarding the master plan the last I I believe but I'll have to look it up I believe it was last updated in 2019 um and accordance to Municipal land use law needs to be updated every 10 years so we'll be looking to update that um in 2029 I'll have to confirm the dates but what we are uh required to update is our open space and Recreation plan that will be on the agenda short presentation uh November 12th meeting um discussing the context what is our open space and Recreation plan our updates and what we can look for also on November 12th there'll be a brief uh open to the public on Green Acres notice of the proposed upcoming change of use at Peterson Field changing it from the uh Forest foresty Woodland to a more active and passive Recreation of the B courts the playground equipment Pavilion and what am I forgetting Community guard Community guard that's thank you council president uh and thank you also just a quick update uh thanks for uh reminding everybody about the cleanup day this Saturday from 9: to 11 and it's corrected Mount hopon Lake Ames uh our chief environmental health specialist Caris Lena W birth does uh put that together every year for us so we're grateful for that uh just also a reminder that flu shots will take place November 7th and November 22nd in this room and uh also uh that rabies clinics will take place November 9th and December 7th up at the road garage all of those events from the cleanup to the rabies to the flu uh residents just need to call us at the division of health and we can register them thank you thanks chief good evening council president members of the council uh thank you for those kind words those are one of the things that I often bring up is team Rockaway all right and and standing in the Gap uh for others right so uh as the officers and all those that I serve with do the same thing on a regular basis in in reference to just as a side note as an update to the Jacobs and Tower Road or micel wave uh fire the Tower Road is actually two towers microwave towers that are up off of uh at the intersection of Jacobs Road and and Copper Ridge Road and uh therefore hence the microwave terminology on the on the fire uh for the operational plants uh that being said uh there were just so many uh involved in helping to protect uh our Community all of the mutual Aid departments that responded uh the county uh OEM that help was one of my resources as well uh in terms of the Mars County Sheriff's Department also uh was helping brought up a lot of uh different pieces of equipment that were uh very vital during those initial uh times during that phase of the uh operation the New Jersey firefighters the the forestry service an amazing group of uh people working uh extremely hard uh in again the 77 Acres that's been affected by uh the fire um that being said uh the volunteers in the Rockaway Township Fire Department again what an amazing group of volunteers that have come out uh and again just like we spoke about in the mayor made mention of uh just even at the temperament that they had during uh that event knowing that in fact uh they wanted to be there they want to come out they want to help they want to serve uh they came out and they continue to do so during this operational phase I would remind everybody you can get the updates from the fire service through the links I've sent them via Rave and Facebook uh which will give you the latest information that they have the operational period typically will go from 8:00 a to 8:00 pm at which time any updates would would follow uh via that link uh I believe the last number was between 85 and 90% And the 77 Acres uh just as a followup there are many to protect all of the uh properties up there they have for for argument sake about a mile of Hose running uh through that area uh with sprinklers set up uh to to keep everything down uh they Patrol uh all evening long they'll have a patrol there as well they look for hot spots and to knock everything back down again so uh also obviously it's from Tower Road at the corner of Tower Road coers Road and Jacobs all the way down to just north of the Township dump right so that's the active area and again the containment and they've worked extremely hard uh to protect everybody so I I'd like to thank all of them yes and thank you very much I meant to uh also mention uh Al Noth and Dennis GRS they they've done an amazing job also uh their knowledge uh to help in particular for for all the different ins and outs within that area uh to help the New Jersey forestry service get in there and fight be between uh the Rocks The Ledges the the mine holes all all different things that were in there and just to navigate uh that their their uh knowledge was was uh quite a uh a great thing to have so they did an excellent job providing that and and also came out uh all weekend to help provide information that was needed in vital uh as far as going on to the police department the we continue to have shop with a cop that we forward some information in November uh so detective Brown will we'll get some information out there in reference to when that event going to take place we also have uh 10:26 between 10: a.m. and 2 pm we have the DEA drug takeback uh at the Walmart and the center of the Rockway Town Square Mall school bus safety and the time change is is coming up we talk about that uh nighttime Spooktacular other events that that are starting to go on uh during the evening a as daylight uh disappears early and kids are still out uh please be mindful make sure that we're driving accordingly watch for the school buses again they're getting sometimes let off they're picked up in darkness and they're they're dropped off in in darkness as well as we get that time change so please uh be mindful of uh your children and drive safely okay I'd like to make a motion to adjourn all in favor say I I thank you very much