e e e okay all right you guys ready this meeting is being held in accordance with the New Jersey open public meetings act and adequate notice this meeting has been published in the Union County local source in the nework Star Ledger said notice is post in the municipal building and a copy is on file with the office of the burrow clerk fires are located in the directions I'm indicating if you are alerted for a fire please move in a calm orderly manner to the nearest smokefree exit proper notice having been given the burough clerk is directed to include this statement in the minutes of the meeting Andrew please call the role councilman Petroski here councilman Johnson here councilman signorella here councilman Rina here councilwoman Lions here councilman Patel here mayor here all present mayor please lead us in the opening prayer followed by the Pledge of Allegiance Eternal God grant us thy help in all our duties and perplexities we ask for thy guidance give us thy protection in our dangers and Sorrows grant us thy peace amen amen toag the United States of America and to the for it stands one nation under God indivisible with liy and justice for all okay there are no Communications for review this evening uh we do have two presentations which um I'm just going to kind of mention uh so first off I want to recognize that this month is mental health awareness month um obviously keep that uh in your thoughts this month um uh I will quickly read this off whereas mental health is part of an overall health that uh that helps to sustain individual's thought process relationships productivity and ability to adapt change and face adversity whereas mental health changes adversely affect those abilities and is often life-threatening and whereas one in four people experience mental health problems in a given year and such problems can contribute to the onset of mental illness and approximately one half of chronic mental illness Begins the age of 14 and three quarters by the age of 24 and whereas early identification of treatment can make a profound difference in the successful management of mental health uh recovery is possible with help and early detection through many local affiliate support groups for teens adults and families whereas it is important to maintain good mental health practices and learn the symptoms of mental health challenges and whereas public education Civic activities can encourage mental health and help improve the lives of individuals and families affected by mental illness uh now therefore I be proclaimed that I mayor Joe sella burough of Rosal Park and the county of Union in the state of New Jersey do you better recognize May 2024 as mental health awareness month in the burough of Rosal Park I'd encourage all citizens to increase their understanding of the importance of mental health and stigma-free treatment of mental health challenges um and then uh councilman orbina has big been a big advocate for biking in town uh so I'm going to let him speak about that a little bit later uh during his update may have a motion to approve meeting mandates pending any corrections so move second all in favor may have a motion that bills and payrolls be not read and pass for payment so move second all in favor I uh I have closed session but I don't think either one of our Clos session attorneys are here yet is that right okay got it so we're going to post postpone that uh may I have a motion to to open the public portion on agenda items only so move second all in favor I I if you'd like to come up and speak on agenda items you may do so now okay fair enough a little early good evening good evening good evening an antonson Bender Avenue I see part of the agenda's report of the construction official um I attended did a development meeting earlier and my understanding is that BOA is proposing a recreation is not on the agenda isight ma'am well for the construction official report about the is is this is this relevant to the agenda about the 20 parking spaces that Rosal Park they were calling for 20 parking spaces none of this is on the agenda to be leased from the Rosal Park Municipal building where boa has zero parking none of this is on the agenda well under the construction officials report would that go under construction and development reports I don't think it's specifically mentioned on the agenda it would have to be in his report which I don't believe it is it's a written report I don't believe we have copies of the written report so you would have to tell me if it's included ma'am if you'd like to come up and talk on the second public portion on this you may do so but this is not on the agenda okay I'll come back to ask the same question absolutely May if anybody would like to come speak on agenda items you may do so now all good I have faith Bill cross at 412 Galloping Hill Road um on the sewer settlement yes um just would like to get some clarification $4 million settlement over 11 years last time I was here four weeks ago a comment was made that our sewer bills for this year at least would double or more yes is that the assessment that goes to each owner and does it last all 11 years uh I will defer to uh Ken the one thing that I can say is so our plan and what's baked in this is a capital project to remove ourselves from the Elizabeth sewer system so that fee would be what we owe to them prior uh which you know we've come to an agreement on and what we owe them in the interim right as being part of their system but theoretically when we're disconnected that we should be paying Elizabeth nothing um to answer your question I don't know if Ken there's anything you need to add to that no as of right now I mean we'll review the rate every year based on Billings and what we need to do but for this year it is doubled unfortunately yep thank you yep okay anybody else want to come up and speak on agenda items only yep how you doing uh George Ramirez East Clay Avenue yep uh let see 20 ordinance 2782 when it comes to the building and construction I see here something about Roofing and sighing guys are charging a a charge for that I thought the uh laws changed where you don't need a permit for roofs or siding on a house I'll defer to Andrew on that so there that is true it's ordinary maintenance for the most part in certain categories of uh work in uh usually more in industrial uses and high density housing uses there still permits required but for regular residents there would be no permit required no fee right but it says here R3 and R5 right so those would be those higher higher density higher intensity uses but R3 would be a multif family or a single family control I couldn't tell you off hand yeah R3 could be a single family house it's just a zoning it's not though it's not so so a permit is not required for ordinary maintenance for single family house siding is ordinary maintenance okay thank you and just to be clear for the for the public the the um the amendments to this ordinance were based on a routine audit provided by the DCA uh on our ordinance we last updated in July of last year these were their recommendations for our current ordinance updates okay would anybody else like to come up and speak on agenda items only Hello Hanah Anon um un Bender I did have a question about the salary ranges some of these salary ranges are pretty broad for instance CFO from 45,000 to 200,000 um assistant Treasurer 40 to 990,000 police chief from 75 to 165,000 sure can you tell me where we are in the range right now and what exactly goes into determining um you know how far up um on the to the maximum salary scale that it will go I mean these are these are very significant differences yep yeah I mean a couple things um so I mean there's a number of factors that go into it right so one is tenure how long you've been doing the job um you know there's obviously year-over-year raises uh off the top of the dome which ones are you asking specifically about CFO 45 between 45,000 and 200,000 where are we now Kenneth how much are you making 16 turn the mic I think 163 okay and where does that land 163,000 yes yes and where does that land on the ranges in terms of averages for Union County uh probably in the middle okay and what about for where are we on the range for the assistant Treasurer between 40 and 990,000 what is off the top of my head she is in the low 60s I believe off the top of my head and for the CFO what was your starting salary in 2006 is that your question in 2006 when he was hired uh we can start from when he was hired I'd like to see where the jumps are where the main jumps are how about four years ago what was your salary so so ma'am I'm just going to I'm just going to stop you for a second so you're going into way way more detail this is a range that is required to be published um it's it's a notification so that if they want to go higher or they want to uh replace someone this is the range they get to pay those with if you have specific questions regarding and Andrew will not like my question or my suggestion you really should open that right to go through a person's history year after year and and so if you have a specific question as to a person's starting salary and how they progressed over the years you are free to submit an Oprah request as to that person's salaries every public official who works for a government their salary public information no one's hiding anything or doing anything but I don't want someone to misstate a number based upon what they thought they might have gotten paid and then you come back and say you said X and I found out it's y that's not fair to anyone up here I'm not trying to to say that that's happening my question is why such a great disparity and say for instance in the last four years what has the increase been so I I can speak to that mayor so so broadly speaking across the board uh we've used a 2% increase as a standard for uh non-contractual employees now that there have been deviations to that and you know if you'd like to if you'd like to know that information it can certainly be provided to you I don't have every number of every employee right now over time there's been jumps and starts depending on you know performance and a variety of other issues economic and otherwise um I I will say this um and it may not be the answer you want or like but it is the truth the ranges the salary ranges for government employees in Rosell Park and Beyond are not as scientific as you think right it's a broad range on purpose so if we were to hire a part-time CFO it would be a much lower number right you'd be closer to the 45,000 if you have a full-time CFO likely do Mr blums paid somewhere north of $160,000 right having been here since 2006 uh he's a full-time employee of the bur of Rosel Park so you have that kind of you know range to work with uh not all the time do we amend the lower end of the range we usually keep the lower end where it is unless there's a reason for example hourly rates we change the lower end when the minimum wage increases right so you'll see every year we do the amendment the lowest number cannot be less than the statutory minimum wage so it's not as uh there's not as much thought that goes into the ranges as uh the actual salaries themselves which can be provided I'm not too concerned about the minimum wage of $15.13 apparently but for instance the construction code official between $50,000 and $170,000 these are huge disparities and these are pretty high salaries but when you say disparities between 50 to 170 and 170 it's a high salary 160,000 is a high salary so so just the the the last thing I'll say is that you you have that disparity right between low and high because you could have a situation where we enter into a shared service agreement or we have a part we change a full-time position to a part-time position so in Li of going back and amending this range constantly which is both costly in time and money to amend ordinances you know we we standardize a very wide range so we have those options uh your time's up thank you would anybody else like to come speak on agenda items only mil mil Milt woodu Rosel Park uh V avue I just want look looking for a little Clarity in reference to the issue we were just talking about how many non-un employees that we actually have any idea few four five no nonunion employees we we have quite we have quite a few I couldn't tell you the number unless Ken could you know know not of the not off not not right now I don't know how many how many Union employees do we have have 3 well 32 cops 30 well no we have 34 police officer but I I couldn't tell you that number accurately right now either now you seem to be suggesting I understand how the range thing works because in my prior career I worked for the state so there was a range the uh the it seemed like you were employing the average increase that people would get would be roughly 2% roughly yes that would be negotiable uh for non-union for non-union year-over-year it would be negotiable for uh Union contracts it's Collective baring but with with the non-union what would it generally be uh our our standard over time and again there's been deviations over the last say five years uh has been roughly 2% okay all um uh other resolution 123 24 we got we are going to receive 19,000 uh that from the national op opian settlement yes uh do we have any plans to use that for some for its designated purpose don't me answer yeah uh we we do we are crafting plans to use that it'll most likely be used through our Municipal Alliance program which targets uh education through uh the school system um so it would be additional programming that's provided through the municipal Alliance so that would that will take care of helpfully with the drug drug drug problem we presently have it's not it's not it's not really it's not really targeting a drug problem it's more the educational component we also I noticed that we have a Redevelopment plan for those property properties on West Westfield AV you what sort of plans do you have for those it's not on the agenda no it is there's there's there's a resolution 13124 is an increase to the contract with uh the Redevelopment which one is this one I'm talking about the residential property questioning the increase I'm talking about what the town plans to do correct and and the answer to that question sir the answer to that question is at this stage it's a study it's not a plan so there is no plan yet it's a request to study to see if that area is qualifies if it makes it past that hurdle um then we would be at the point where plan would be developed but at this point uh the plan is not uh a factor all right F thank you also one of the question other question I have is reference to the marijuana's function on the Breakwater on West West have you is this on the is there anything break water related on the not on the agenda not on the agenda no no all right thank you for you I do have one other item a suggestion anyway if it's not on the agenda you can talk about it in second portion anybody else want to come up and speak on agenda it on agenda items what's it about not on the not on the agenda is it tree or trees or sidewalk specifically wait till the second you can wait till the second there's a second portion where you can talk about anything okay uh okay uh anybody else on agenda items only I'm seeing no one may have motion to close the public portion on agenda items only so move second all in favor I okay uh unfortunately we need to close up for a close session um may I have a motion to move out of regular order for the close session so move second all in favor I uh there are two items for the Clos session Mr clerk please read the closed session resolution into the record M mayor whereas the mayor and Council of the ver Ros Rosel Park wish to discuss matters which are described by the New Jersey open public meetings Act njsa 10 4-12 and whereas the general nature of the subjects to be discussed in Clos session are city of Elizabeth ongoing litigation city of Elizabeth versus the bur of Rosal Park and a matter of attorney client privilege involving affordable housing and whereas the time when and circumstances under which the items discussed in Clos session will be disclosed to the public at a future time now therefore be it resolved that the mayor and Council of the bur Rosel Park in the county of union state of New Jersey do now adjourn the open portion of the meeting and open a closed portion of the meeting to discuss the aforementioned item so just for everybody's record um because this has to do with litigation we're going to have to kick everybody out for a little bit where we'll have the close portion once that's done you'll all be let back in for the remainder of the meeting and then we'll have a second public portion should you guys choose to join that so do I need a motion to adopt do I have a motion to adopt the close session close session resolution so move second all in favor I I okay all right 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 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 e e e e e e e e e e e e police 250 Jesus Christ of the state of New Jersey there's always three people from B on top and and and oh by the way yeah he's old now they retire they retire with like and and when do they retire what age I picked the wrong career let me know when you're ready I picked the wrong career okay yes you P the wrong yes okay uh may I have a motion to return to open session don't move second all in favor uh mayor close session two items were discussed the city of Elizabeth versus the burb Rosal Park and a matter of attorney client privilege involving affordable housing matter of attorney CL privilege uh there's no action to be taken this evening the uh ongoing litigation uh settlement proposal will be considered by the govering body on the consent agenda as part of resolution number 13324 okay uh may I have a motion to accept the reports of departments as submitted so move second all in favor I there are no ordinance for second reading this evening Mr clerk please read ordinance number 2780 by title yes mayor ordinance 2780 is an ordinance for introduction ordinance an ordinance amending chapter 40 section 3005 of the code of the bur Rosell Park entitled driveways may I have a motion to approve ordinance number 2780 for introduction refer the same to the municipal land use board for review and fix the date for second reading and public hearing as June 20th 2024 so move second is there any discussion thank you thank you Mr Clerk I excuse me Andrew thank you I am the clerk please call the rooll good job Council patoski yes councilman Johnson yes councilman signorella yes councilman Robina yes councilwoman Lions yes councilman Patel yes six vs the affirmative mayor the ordinance is introduced please read ordinance number 2781 by title yes mayor ordinance 2781 is an ordinance for introduction an ordinance amending ordinance number 2760 fixing the salary ranges of non-union employees and officials of the bur Rosel Park and the County of union state of New Jersey may have motion to approve ORD sum 2781 uh for introduction fix the date for second reading and public hearing is June 6 2024 so move second is there any discussion please call the role Council patoski yes councilman Johnson yes councilman sella yes councilman Rina yes councilman Lions yes councilman Patel yes six affirmative mayor the ordinance is introduced please read ordinance number 2782 by title yes mayor ordinance 2782 is an ordinance for introduction ordinance amending chapter 16 of the code of the bur Rosell Park entitled building and construction uh uh may have motion to approve ordinance number 2782 for introduction and fix the date for second reading and public hearing is June 6 2024 so move second is there any discussion please call the rooll councilman Petroski yes councilman Johnson yes councilman signorella yes councilman Rina yes councilwoman Lions yes councilman Patel yes 61 the affirmative mayor the ordinance is introduced okay all matters listed with an asteris are considered to be routine and non-controversial by the Council will be approved by one motion there will be no separate discussion of these items unless a member of the governing body shall requests in which case the item will be removed from consent agenda and considered in its normal sequence on the agenda as part of general orders Andrew please read all resolutions on the consent agenda by title yes mayor resolution 1224 is authorizing the hanging of a two-sided Banner in Michael J Moy Park advertising the 2024 Feast of St Anthony and the placement of five lawn signs advertising the 2024 Feast of St Anthony on any burrow property without restriction as it pertains to location to be placed no sooner than 2 weeks prior to the event and to be removed the day after the end of the event resolution 12124 is authorizing the partial closure of William Street at the request of dings Irish pub and restaurant for a grand reopening event where alcoholic beverages may be consumed on public property resolution 12224 is authorizing an amended and restated lease agreement with octagon Edge Towers LLC for certain property upon which a Communications Tower and related improvements are situated resolution 12324 is approving the insertion of a national opioid settlement fund Grant as a special item of Revenue in the the 2024 Municipal budget in the amount of $9,250 40 resolution 12424 is accepting the 2023 Municipal audit report resolution 12524 is approving the corrective action plan for the 2023 Municipal audit resolution 12624 is authorizing an amended and restated employment agreement with Andrew J casayas as municipal clerk resolution 12724 is eliminating the salary of Andrew J Casias as chief administrative officer assessment search officer and Municipal housing liaison resolution 12824 is approving the submission of a Grant application and authorizing the mayor and bur clerk to execute a grant contract with the New Jersey Department of Transportation for improvements to persing Avenue resolution 12924 is approving the submission of a Grant application and authorizing the mayor and bur clerk to execute a grant contract with the New Jersey Department of Transportation for bike path expansion and Improvement resolution 13024 is authorizing the Chief Financial Officer to issue interim payments during July and August 2024 to ensure the continuity of government operation operations resolution 13124 is authorizing a $11,000 increase to the Professional Services contract with McMan and Scotland and Balman LLC for redevelopment Council Services associated with the condemnation Redevelopment study of block 608 Lots 1.01 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 and 24.01 of the municipal tax map of the bosal park commonly known as 107 Filbert Street 110 Chestnut Street 1 West Westfield Avenue 5 to9 West Westfield Avenue 11 to 13 West West Westfield Avenue 15 West Westfield Avenue 21 West Westfield Avenue 33 West Westfield Avenue and 37 to 39 West Westfield Avenue along with all streets and rights of way pertinent there too reflecting a revised contract amount not to exceed $111,000 resolution 13224 is a granting permission to the Rosel Park Soccer Club to operate a social Affair permit granted by the New Jersey Division of Alcoholic Beverage Control in Michael J Mory Park as part of the burough of Rosal Park 2024 juneth celebration resolution 1332 4 is authorizing a settlement agreement between the bur of Rosell Park and the City of Elizabeth and resolution 13424 is memorializing the bur of Rosell Park's requirement to permanently close the existing median opening on New Jersey Route 28 located at the intersection with Filbert Street okay so I'm going to pull 121 and 133 are we pulling anything else yeah you could pull 128 yes sir uh okay may have motion to approve the resolutions remaining on the consent agenda some move second all in favor I may have a motion to adopt resolution 12124 so move second uh is there any discussion yes yep I I I knew it so that's why I pulled it yeah um I specifically I mean number one I definitely um with the grand reopening of dings uh first off we definitely are cheering them on welcome welcoming them to our business downtown um and it's exciting so so definitely go cuz that's going to be happening on Saturday um this was a last minute request so I just want to say that uh last minute things like this and closing a street um I'm concerned for the other businesses I'm concerned for the parking I'm concerned for the homes on the street um so this was something that was a little bit of a shock that that um he requested such with such short notice um so I personally had an issue with it to be honest I'll just be very Frank but then at the same time it is a grand opening so I want to have grace and mercy towards it but I just wanted to to say that yeah thank you councilwoman I think councilman Johnson had a really good idea that I think hopefully can alleviate this I'm GNA I was going to te you up go ahead go ahead no I too I share I share your um your sentiment U Ro um definitely there's logistical issues there's public safety concerns and awareness um I did uh have conversations with Andrew and I I did a little research and uh with Andrew's assistance and since we have the residents since we do block parties and we already have the residents uh the requirements there are already like about um 30 days if I'm correct or a month two weeks two weeks two weeks I just at the minimum I just would like to mirror that at the very least because um just logistically excuse me it makes sense you know staffing issues all type of things um we're a small burrow so we're uh we're not we're not like big like Cranford uh Elizabeth Westfield you know so we don't have an abundant of employees so you know they may be working on other um concerns and that wouldn't just be fair or right just so it just makes sense any further discussion so we we'll draft we'll draft the ordinance and we'll be voting on that probably next week or next councilman or future so further discussion please call the role Council Petroski yes councilman Johnson yes councilman sella yes councilman Rina yes councilwoman Lions yes councilman Patel yes six votes in the affirmative mayy the ORD resolution is adopted okay may have a motion to adopt resolution 128 d24 so move second uh is there any discussion counc Johnson yes I just want to say this is another project that finally you know uh when I first started running um wanted to get a lot of these Street DS but more importantly I just wanted to thank Andrew because none of these uh grants or um streets getting address couldn't be done without the assistance of Andrew uh he's a major component in uh taking care of a lot of matters that we request as Council um and I just wanted to say thank you for that so um the residents on Persian are happy that that'll be coming 2025 and so uh thank you Andrew thank you any further discussion please call the RO councilman patoski yes councilman Johnson yes councilman s yes councilman Rina yes councilwoman Lions councilman Patel yes six the affirmative mayor the resolution is adopted cool may have a motion to adopt resolution 13324 so move second is there any discussion can I'm looking at my lawyers here so we're voting on this tonight can I explain this to the public what's going on here yeah that Now's the Time okay got it cool so this is probably one of the more difficult things that we voted on um as a mayor and Council and it is certainly not a fun thing but I think try and look at the camera and look at everybody here as to what's going on so um on one side of town the Elizabeth side of town um since 1904 when Rosal Park uh was incepted we have had our storm water runoff to the city of Elizabeth uh the burough of Rosal park has a separate sewer system so we have a uh sanitary waste system sanitary waste you guys can Google it if you don't know what that is uh thank you and storm water which is goes into the storm water what do you call the things on the street why why is my uh catch basins thank you goes out storm water rain water okay certain towns and cities have What's called the combine system right which is frowned upon nowadays for obvious reasons right one water is portable and usable again the other water is less usable or takes a lot of processing to use um Our Town half of it runs out into the city of Elizabeth which has a combined sewer system the city of Elizabeth uh is monitored by the DP on this and they get over charges because the DP basically says okay you have 100,000 people your discharge should be this much and that's what you're allowed to have unfortunately the DP doesn't factor in the fact that probably about a thousand houses in Rosal Park also outflow into the city of Elizabeth um since 2015 the city of Elizabeth has looked for two things uh from Rosel Park and you know not to pass the buck but prior administrations including this Administration in the beginning probably didn't move fast enough um didn't act on it uh what they were asking for is two things one is a separation from that system right so our own storm water that goes directly out to whatever River um so we get off their system and to pay them a fee because we go into their system and cause these over charges was it last year the suit suit yes last year the city of Elizabeth brought us to court and said you have to do this um rather than going to court and spending God knows what in legal fees um fighting this in something that candidly we'd probably lose um and potentially being beholden to doing exactly what Elizabeth wanted to do we are looking to enter an agreement uh to uh we've come up with an agreement uh of a payment plan for what we feel like is a reasonable amount that we owe them so uh their initial request was for the burough of Rosell Park to pay them $25 million in fees for past overages uh we obviously thought that was ludicrous um we have negotiated down to a settlement of $4 million paid over 11 years still not fun still not a small chunk of change um and we've also agreed to by 2029 build our own storm water system that flows directly into is it the Elizabeth river I guess the Elizabeth river um all of this is going to be expensive and is going to be reflected in your sewer bill it's terrible um we haven't upped our sewer bill in 10 years we have we're not allowed to legally up your your sewer bill unless there's a good reason for it and there's going to be a significant upcharge in that this is no nobody's favorite thing we all play sewer bills here um H once we're off that sewer bill can be reduced it's a good question by councilwoman Lions before but until then we owe them and we will be paying them for this fee going forward and we'll also have to pay for the disconnection um we feel like this is the best deal we could probably get out of it um based on legal counsel um we obviously haven't been able to talk about this because any pending litigation we can't talk about until it's public knowledge or we've come up with a settlement and now we're here um so I think it's something that you guys should be aware of it's something that we fought tooth and nail to get as low as possible um but we had two choices we either come to a settlement where we win part of it or leave it up to the chance of the judges and pay a ton in legal fees which is something that I think this Council prudently probably doesn't want to do um the last piece of that that I want to mention is if a judge if a judge were to rule on this everything would be up to the judge's discretion which who knows right it instead of $4 million it could have eight could have been 20 um the rate could have been higher but most importantly the judge also could have said this is the exact route that you need to take to get off Elizabeth system um which has cost implications as well we've come to an agreement with Elizabeth where we think we have an affordable way to get off their system and we're going to do that by 2029 so um with your sewer bill there be a letter explaining this obviously it's a big jump um but I thought for anybody who's watching and for everybody who's here probably not a about sewer but about other things um you guys can pay attention to this too uh that's the reason a lot of this is out of our hands so um did I miss anything high level stuff right right so so to our legals uh council's Point um we have an 11-year payment plan with the city of Elizabeth they could could have just said hey you owe $20 million right now we would have had to bond that and would have been miserable or just put it in the sewer bill so uh I don't know if Council has anything to add to this uh I just thought now that kind of it's out in the open it's best to start explaining this okay not the most fun thing to vote on but Andrew please call the role councilman patoski yes councilman Johnson yes councilman sarella yes Council Rina yeah councilman allons unfortunately yes Council Patel yes six CL the affirmative mayor resolution is adopted okay what a fun one uh okay uh reports of burrow Council and committees uh let's start off with uh thank you did I miss anything thank you yeah uh council president you want to start off sure okay okay for for the first time in a long time I have no condolences uh for today so I'm I'm I feel good okay um on uh May 4th I attended the band Car Wash uh which I try to do every uh year they have it I U you know I always try to support uh the organizations um but uh um I was there and you know from what I was told they had a good day um the 15th I attended the ribbon cutting ceremony at Casa del re um there's the new restaurant on West Westfield Avenue uh last night I attended the fireman Memorial um which always brings back a a lot of the people firemen that I knew from past years um are on that list and uh um like I said uh councilman at large thank you for your service to the fire department um very emotional um I know uh one of our firefighters his father was put on for the first time and I know it was very emotional for him so uh but um you know it's a like I said very sad event um uh then I went to the recreation meeting last night uh basically we're winding down the end of the year um they're talking about doing things for uh next fall um and everything but again Tina thank you again a great job uh I always appreciate you know and everything um like that uh today I attended the Joint Sewer meeting uh we uh we approved the insurance renewal um one of the big issues was the PMA that will be um that the uh Joint Sewer is going to hire and this will save a lot of money for during the workman's comp okay um they also approved Verizon um which they're going to have to replace pole and cable relocation I know a couple members were against it they thought Verizon should do it for nothing but unfortunately they they're going to charger so um and if you need to get me you can get me at J Petroski at rosar park.net 908 666 7821 and that's my report mayor thank you thank you councilman councilman Johnson thank you mayor good evening mayor council and uh residents I just want to acknowledge that I enjoyed myself at councilman Jay's Annual Bike clinic and now tour thank you for Lending me a bike um and also letting me know that I'm out of shape because that was a nice little ride also I had a wonderful time joining members of the governing body at CAD De Ray uh ribbon cutting the food uh was excellent and uh I wish them good luck lastly from my uh community events uh that I attended was the Rosal Park fire department Memorial services that event honored The Bravery and sacrifices of past heroic firefighters um who Foster a very strong sense of community that's what I get from that uh it takes you know um a lot of courage to volunte and to put your life on the line for free so I just wanted to say kudos to those gentlemen for my community announcements please be advise that the Rosal Park diversity and inclusion committee will be hosting its second Annual juneth Festival on Saturday June 15th between the hours of 5: to 900 p.m. there will be games karaoke live performances special guests food and more so mark your calendars and hope to see the community there proceeding I would like to mention a special thanks to Rosel Park Hometown Heroes and director Shaw on a job well done posting the banners honoring veterans past and present in Li of Memorial Day and I am truly honored as well to be up there with those Heroes lastly residents I humbly ask you guys for your patience and understanding that some concerns simple uh simply may just take time to resolve but that doesn't mean we or I are not working to try to mitigate those concerns unfortunately there is a process and we are serving multiple concerns at a time in the burrow some protected by due process so unfortunately you know there's there's different uh levels to government and uh some things as a municipal councilman there's only so much you can do uh so please remember your voice matters and as first word council I will always place the concerns of the residents within the burrow of Rosel Park first if you need to get in contact with me please email me at G Johnson Rosel park.net or you can call me at 98 30315 19 and mayor that concludes my report thank you councilman councilwoman Lions thank you mayor uh good evening mayor and Council and Rosal Park residents um I just wanted to uh just say that um yeah this month I can't believe it's May right uh so I did go to the ribbon cutting for casad Del re yesterday and it's great to see uh just businesses coming into rosol park and and they are awesome uh they have such a beautiful um just venue uh definitely support them and go there for if you're having a um an event or just go out for a drink it's it's awesome um I did attend the 85th F uh 85th year of the fire department memorial service um and it just brought me uh really just the quote that I love to um say that greater love has no one than this than to lay down one's life for one's friends and it was just emotional and and knowing that um you know men and women from Rosal Park serve our community uh it was a beautiful service but other than that there's a lot of things going to be happening May 18th like I said grand opening for dings please come out and support them the Memorial Day Service uh parade is on a Monday please come out we'd love to see everybody uh there and also before we know it the summer uh like you you said councilman uh Greg juneteth is coming on Saturday June 15th the Rosel Park walking Club is going to be starting hopefully if we have Sun um the clouds really are are really sticking through uh in New Jersey and also open mic in July we did it last year it's going to be at the Gazebo it's on Wednesdays uh starting after 4th of July um and uh also don't forget Fourth of July it's going to be on July 1st um but other than that I just um I just want to say that it's good to see people come out it's good to see your faces I always say we love to hear your voices I just personally feel um Division and there should not be division we are for you we represent you um we want to hear you I want to be that voice with a heart um but the division and the tension is not good for anybody and it's not good for your hearts so I just wanted to say it because I see it um and house divided against itself cannot stand so I personally um felt that very heavy on my heart this morning and I say that loud because we are family and if we work together we can really continue to have Rosel Park as our hometown I've been here all my life my parents are from Italy so coming here was huge and uh I just want to speak from the heart for that so I just want to tell you I appreciate you guys smile I'm smiling back at you um and that's it and that's my report mayor thank you what that councilwoman councilwoman Patel good evening uh yesterday I attended ribbon cutting at Casa del R for the newly remodeled garden and the kitchen later I attended the Rosa Park VI Department 85th memorial service to honor of our fallen members the environmental commission has one community garden bed left for the rental please contact me or the environmental commission for more info stay tuned for upcoming opportunities for free spring produce from the community garden the Boy Scout will host the second annual p W uh wood derby on June 8th for more details please contact me and finally Dow's Irish pman restaurant Grant reopening is this Saturday May 18th and that concludes my report have a good night cap pel at Rosel park.net thank you thank you councilman councilman rabina thank you mayor good evening Rosa Park getting right into it so it being bike month I'm particularly proud of tonight's resolution number 12924 approving this submission of a Grant application and executing uh executing a grant contract with the NJ do for a bike path expansion and Improvement to be more specific on what that application entails it's for a DOT Grant to expand and improve the Burrow's existing bike and walking path along the Ron Valley Line which presently extends approximately 1 half mile from galing Hill Road bordering Union to Chestnut Street it's the objective of the burrow to improve the greenway and lengthen the path by an additional half mile half mile path through the fifth Warden and I've been advocating for this since joining Council to increase the safe connectivity of the community from east to west improvements along the wouldbe mile long stretch of bike and walkway would include lighting Landscaping wave finding and various other aesthetic improvements jumping into infrastructure in the Fifth Ward in my previous report I had announced roadway improvements as part of the 2024 Capital Road program on Pine between West suer and West Rosel along with large between West suer and West Rosel we recently met with the vendor and work is expected to formally commence on or about Monday May 20th tree work will be conducted first followed by concrete work curbs sidewalk Ada ramps concrete operations will begin on Pine Street and large Street where work will be more extensive once all concrete work is complete the roads will be milled paved and striped weather permitting substantial completion of this work is anticipated in June the NJ transaction conference was earlier this month this event is one of the largest largest Transportation uh largest for transportation Advocates and engineers in the country it covers a wide range of topics including bus rail roads Bridges Goods movement engineering planning pedestrian bicycle power Transit Community Transportation ports and insights from State Regional and federal partners and I'm happy to say Rosell Park was featured Rick schaer the senior VP of capital programs for NJ Transit kicked off his presentation with the rehabilitation of the Rosell Park train station mentioning it'll be fully ADA Compliant new platforms canopies elevator signage and Communications it will be advertised for the first quarter of next year for construction Mr Schaefer also noted that this is a highin project for Transit feels like we've been talking about a new train train station forever but it's finally moving forward so I'd like to thank mayor signarello Senate President scari and all the stakeholders for advocating and get this vital project moving on the 8th we had the County's Transportation Advisory board meeting during the report it was mentioned the Burrow's first ever Bike Tour Bike Helmet giveaway and safety clinics to promote safe riding over 100 attendees joined for the ride in clinics and the age range there were children as young as four and a senior at 76 taking off the training wheels to balance on two wheels it was a great event by all we missed rupin but thank you to all who attended all the partners who took the time to volunteer Easy Ride NJ bike and walk Coalition greater Union YMCA Union County connects Union County Traffic Safety rppd DPW all the groups that worked and helped and councilman Johnson for joining a participating at the tab meeting the raway valley rail trail project was mentioned last year the county was awarded one and a half million in Grants for this project here's the latest from the county engineer Greenman Peterson Inc GPI will be the design consultant and their services will be paid and funded by njtpa and NJ do Greenman Peterson and the dot will formalize the scope of work and they'll send their agreement to the county to proceed so things are moving here too also discussed that the transportation Advisory board meeting was Locust Street it's one of four roads left over from the County's 2023 Paving projects they're waiting the schedule back from Smith and sui the vendor the Smith and sndi rather the vendor however it is projected to be paved this summer from third Avan Rosel down to West subar AV at the union line driving through the Fifth Ward I wish i' had been informed about this ahead of time there's been utility work the last couple of weeks on West Webster a between Locust and Larch PSG has been relocating the existing electrical facilities across the street in order to eliminate the high voltage proximity act violation with the new complex that's currently under construction they're installing 12 new poles on the north side of the street and relocating the electric lines the public affairs manager says their vegetative management department has called in a markout request and plans to grind the stumps from the trees that they removed in the next couple of weeks replacement trees will be planted in the fall I've asked that our Utility Partners increase communication on large projects like these so residents and utility payers are aware and can plan alternate routes especially near our schools County Roads and Transit hubs yesterday I attended the ribbon cutting for CAD Del rake kitchen followed by the fire department's 85th annual memorial service honoring falling members congrats to casad Del R kitchen on the name change the beautiful Renovations and the new menu last night's ribbon cutting was fantastic like most of my colleagues said here and thank you for joining the chamber and regarding the chamber mayor thank you for your kind words and recognition of the chamber Champion award I received earlier this month at Galloping Hill glad to help connect the burrow with the chamber and bring these resource to help strengthen and grow our small businesses going back these last few weeks I supported the rphs band's Car Wash attended the Aldine Arbor Day planning meet the burough event celebrated Trails day with Union County connects mayor Sig Kenworth mayor Carlovich commissioner Mirabella and councilman Johnson I was at the Gordon Street Bridge ribbon cutting the ribbon cutting for K spiss and the PDS Public Safety and listening session mid April on Saturday I attended the grand opening of the community garden in the Fifth Ward if anyone's interested in volunteering they could use a hand Saturday mornings email environmental commission Rosel park.net or contact councilman Patel thanks to the commission and volunteers for getting all the beds in the garden ready for the season Monday May 20 20th will be the municipal L use board meeting for anyone interested on the agenda is an application for D1 zoning variants and site plan approval for piece of cake moving company at 172 and 180 Westfield West Westfield Avenue for furniture storage Thursday May 23rd is a chili cook off at the high school benefiting Project Graduation and the e8th grade graduating class starts at 5:00 p.m. ends at 7:00 p.m it's $10 per adult $5 per student it's rppd versus RP Fire Department any questions reach out to officer Jessica cambero and lastly I wanted to wish my son Isaac a Happy First Birthday birth thank [Applause] you councilman signarello thank you Jay no problem I was going to give my contact information oh sorry no problem J Ros park.net 862 23619 May or that concludes my report there you go Sor about that short one tonight um I I attended the uh Grand Opening yesterday CAD um I'm happy with this um the apron the driveway uh change because a resident on benderev came to me and it just makes sense to change the ruling on how you need to redo your driveway if you do not have an apron um um I'm happy to my street was concrete it up and I have no more construction after the last couple years and I hope the folks on the 600 700 block of Woodland are happy with the change we have and uh I I can't believe it is 85 years of the fire department memorial service and I think I've attended 43 or 44 of them so that's pretty scary so other than that that's the end of my report need to get a hold of me J sarella Rosa park.net have a good evening thank you councilman um so I am sure there's a lot of people for public portion that are going to talk about marijuana so I'm going to dedicate my uh report uh talking about cannabis in Rosell park and if you guys want to talk about it uh the time is yours um but I'm going to try and dispel some of the rumors and you know talk about some of the questions you guys have in advance and I'll keep my comments light if you guys come so last year in November we approved uh three conditional uses up to three licenses for class five retail sale of marijuana um cannabis uh there are been three applicants uh one of them is an existing business Breakwater which is over by the McDonald's uh they are building a new building for anybody who thinks there's going to be two there there's not going to be two they had a temporary house there the new building that they are building is going to accommodate all their new facilities as well as office space up top for those people who are wondering why it's so big it's because there's going to be office space up top which is good for the town um I you know personally I'll talk about all these things I'm especially in favor of that one because we've had them operating since when do we do medical cannabis 2021 they've been fantastic operators without hitch since 2021 so that's one license uh there is a second license uh over on the other side of town on Westfield Avenue that we had a land use board uh on um that is currently being challenged uh after the land use Ford not going to talk much more about that but you know for anybody who has issues with that I understand I hear you I get it there's not much that can be done Beyond what's going on in the land use board now and what's going on with attorneys right now totally up to that right um there's going to be another application in June uh also on Westfield Avenue closer to the center of town uh we made these licenses conditional right and what a conditional license means is you are not awarded a license unless you have land use board approval and the reason why we did that is because nobody's hiding anything nobody has it anything we've talked about this openly we voted on it openly we advertised it like everything else and we did this on purpose because we could have just done normal acceptance uh which potentially didn't need to go to the land use board so people could come to this so if you have an issue with that upcoming Thing feel free use your time speak your mind on this but I would encourage you to come to that I believe I don't know it's the third Thursday in June was June 17th June 17th would be the land use board meeting it's right here board uh I'm one of the members of the board I'm Jay's one of the members of the board uh nobody else is voting on that besides potentially me and Jay and I say potentially because candidly I don't know if we're voting for this as a zoning board or a planning board it's really really legal you know minutia that we don't need to get into right now but uh there's a seven person board or a nine person board I would encourage you to come there video I put it on Facebook um and if those don't get approved they don't get approved there is nothing else that mayor and Council can do at this point aside from in the future reducing uh potential applicants or creating more I could tell you right now I'm not in favor of creating any more if there are applicants that do not pass this year uh when the time is up their conditional license is I believe till the end of the year is that correct Andrew if those if those businesses do not pass I got to be honest with you I'm in favor of reducing the licenses accordingly right thank you yes the other thing I want to add on top of that is this is a yearly license right I say this over and over again there are many concerns about people smoking outside people acting inappropriately outside these license are given yearby year at the behest of this governing body just just like we do with liquor licenses and we haven't had to do this in a long time in town but other towns when there's been bars that have issues liquor licenses have been revoked our licenses for marijuana cannabis are even more stringent right so what I what I want to say is I I this is additional transparency if you guys feel like you didn't have the transparency before you're getting extra right now and part of the way we set this up was so there are a couple bites of the apple right maybe people are upset that enough people weren't notified for the initial application I apologize if you feel that way we did that within the legal uh limits or the legal requirements of 200 ft is 200 feet right right same thing will happen for any further applications and once again there's no other action for Council to take as a matter of fact and I don't want to speak too much out of school I think if Council were to try and take any action right now to potentially limit the licenses I think we might have more adverse effects legally potentially then right because there's people who have invested who have paid for the applic all of a sudden we take that away from them maybe they've invested in it I think there's a legitimate lawsuit they would have against the burrow is that a fair assessment Fair yeah so we need to let these things play out if you're upset about it please come speak your voice right no hiding there come again what I really want to say and where I really get my Italian going is I will take the heat for anything that you guys out there watching on Facebook here cracking a smile there thank you anything that I've actually done I will take the heat for and I will defend my record on any day and I will espouse what I think is right about it what I think is wrong about it what I will not stand for is misinformation out there there have been three licenses up to three licenses issued all conditional subject to approval further approvals there have been no additional licenses approved and there's been nothing even considered this year beyond that right and again I'm repeating if these things don't go through as a matter of fact we'll probably peel it back there's been a run uh there are no growes planned for Valley Road I don't know where somebody got that from uh just like I I guess this is the time of year because there is no there's no Gap in election time last year I heard that I was going to be putting in basketball hoops in in Acro Park uh that came out of nowhere this notion that there's going to be something on Valley Road there's thriving businesses there I don't know of any empty spots there so what I want to say is this is a long process by Design and part of that process is playing out right now if you guys don't like it again let's hear it go for it but the time to really speak your voice is at those land use board meetings where a thumbs up thumbs down will be given the last thing I want to say specifically on the next on the next um one that's on the land use board is yes there's a parking requirement for every class five usage I think we kind of overshot it when we passed the bill but it is what it is uh we required 35 uh parking spots uh as you all know and I'll remind everybody because I grew up here too I grew up in this town too just like everybody else who here is upset and claims you know the rage about our beautiful downtown and beloved downtown being destroyed I watched our beloved downtown get destroyed I sat here you know in my 20s in my 18s watching this fall apart there are there is a proposal on the table to allow for a potential applicant if they pass to rent up to 20 spots there specifically for that use for anybody who is up in Rage about this I'm I I will make this comparison over and over again to liquor stores uh how long up until this year did did the liquor store downtown rent out our our parking spots five years at least 20 years more minut I I I run the meeting you're out of order and I can extend myself as long as I like thank you though just inappropriate there is no decorum here thank you um anyway there is there is there is no giveaways in this town okay how much is the fee for a yearly license for a parking spot I'd have to look it's thousands right so whether you like it whether you like it or you don't these items would be paid for right and the burrow would profit from that so again this is focused on this because I know there's a lot of anxiety about it I understand the fear but I can promise you as a town we've experienced worse okay because what makes me sick every time I drive up and down Westfield Avenue is seeing a Family Dollar okay because Family Dollars are actually detrimental to the town and there wasn't one person who came up and spoke out against that what Family Dollars do everybody wants to talk about having a a restaurant in town or having a coffee shop in town Family Dollars are leeches on this town they underpay their workers they undercut small businesses like Chestnut Hill and run them out of town I've watched our downtown Decay okay and I would not be in support of anything that I think would Decay our building our our downtown any further I watched our downtown sit empty for two-thirds of my life okay I've seen it okay and I don't want to see us go back there so once again discourse is fine discourse is good lies are despicable but this process is set up so and when the land use board comes if you have an issue there you can be there and you could speak your mind just like you could speak your mind tonight when you're called thank you mayor signell at Rosal Park if you have any questions now I will open the public portion may I have a motion to open the public portion on any subject so move second all in favor I If You may wish to speak you may come to do so now speak your name and address hello9 thank you forp I love sarc yep not I I I know when you're being sarcastic when you're not you're all right and I cut my hair for you tonight Frank and it looks thank you thank you I'm getting complimented at the beginning I feel good thank you thank you Frank yes thank you I'll do the political wave thank you Frank Frank a name and address for the record Frank just make sure your just say make sure your mic's on okay the red light is it on it's on is it y you're good okay Frank Tesa 479 Ragland Drive uh I have a couple questions right we are going to spend $150,000 for a statue of a has been basketball player who denies coming from Rosal Park and says he comes from Union is that true please tell me it's not so I I can't comment on not no no yeah we are we have $150,000 planned nothing no check has been cut yet um it would be for a basketball player who why who when I spoke to was very proud to come from Rosal Park but oh police okay look it look I'm going to be honest I went down to Rose rose view very good place by the way go there fantastic have a good fantastic excellent I asked everyone I ran into who they if they knew who Rick bur was no one said yes yep they looked at me like I was nuts yep it's a waste of money okay a total put that money towards the sord nonsense y give us a break okay it's ridiculous you want to put a statue up of somewh from Rosel Park Trooper L Monica that man gave his life in the service of this state he has a Park which is I must say it's disgraceful it's not well-kept okay it isn't all right L mon fire Park yes I drove part of it maybe they just didn't get a chance to clean it up yeah but but noted thank you all right it's it's it does not look good yep yep to say the least Y did you see it you're looking at me I'm listening okay I'll take another look tomorrow Frank no I'm I'm serious I'm not I'm I'm not busting either I'll I'm I'm not joking you're not joking doesn't look but that's a hero you go and then say Oh I'm from Union Elizabeth come on I understand you want to decorate and put things I understand that but for this guy you no okay seriously come on I appreciate the feedback it'll be taken into consideration I I'm not look I'm being honest with you everyone I ran into only one person knew it was and that's because she's involved in town yeah everyone looked at me like who let me ask you do you know who Marone is yeah okay put a statue of him so but if somebody doesn't know who Marone is we shouldn't put a statue of him not if he comes from town he had he had a business I don't want to KCK up your time you have any other questions yes Mr Johnson I'm very very confused by you very confused you just made don't laugh I'm telling the truth go ahead all right you just made a statement that you look out for your constituents did you take a survey of the residents to see who was in favor of this dispensary you work for us you work for us so just going forward all question need to be addressed to the chair councilman johnon Mr Mayor did he do that you may respond if you like councilman Johnson no you didn't you don't have to respond I know you didn't no but turn your mic on I'm sorry me specifically no but the burrow has and I have no no no no I don't represent the bur the burrow did the legal mailing I'm asking you as my councilman did you ask the residents about this and the answer is no I would have what Ward you in you said I'm in your ward oh what Ward you in the first Ward me too okay so why didn't you go and ask the resid never I never spoke to you about this I I see no use in speaking to you I'm asking you a question now you didn't do that all right now I'm going to ask you something and it's going to sound sarcastic and underhand it but it isn't go ahead we have pay to play did you benefit from pay to play Push for that no actually why'd you push for it actually why did I push for it did you watch did do you ever come to any other Council me from what I understand you initiated it so so you tell me I'm wrong unfortunately Frank you can't talk but councilman Johnson can respond so I I'll will respond so no I did not initiate it two what was uh no I want him to ask what was the questions I did you benefit did you benefit did you benefit financially elect you can look it up it's public information that's asking you I'm answering your question we will no hold on hold on a second here want answer this question no just real quick this council is making decisions based on the merits of whether or not they're allowed to be there a referendum passed in the state of New Jersy that allows for the use of cannabis right implication otherwise asking about mayor if I may uh I I don't need that thank you uh because I I mentioned that online already I I said before and I'll say it again had this been prior to the referendum then absolutely those Notions I would absolutely agree with you but after that the community is changing okay and we make you guys you personally may not always agree but guess what 70% of New Jersey residents voted for I'm talking about the first unfortunately Frank I'm sorry you can't speak all right what you do go like this when I can I I'm not being sarc no you're done your three minutes are up I I apologize but he can respond you can all right all right yeah so look are you done no no no no you can't Oh I thought he was done done your three minutes are up though I'm sorry Frank you said respond huh you said I can respond he said I can respond yeah who's the ey huh me oh okay he can respond he doesn't have to respond we know okay no no you don't know because you just all of those were propaganda and this is nothing more than propaganda and political propaganda as well that's not true that I accepted any funds prove that do not make accusations like that that's not an accusation a Frank I'm gonna have to ask you to can you go back to your seat please I'll let I'll let councilman John I I apologize but I got to give everybody four minutes hold on do not make accusations like that I too have family excuse me Frank pleas please not you not not you not you sir someone in the audience said it was true so I'm just debunking that that's not that's not true and in fact that's hurtful because I doo have family in this community and I don't like to be attacked like that okay I'm not no big shot I'm a small uh uh person and I just I'm I'm proud and I I appreciate that people elected me and reelected me and so I have always been transparent I have videos out that said that I'm for the referendum I have personally voted for the referendum I have personally voted yes personally PR and I don't have to and I don't have to tell you my vote but I'm telling you because I'm not hiding anything I'm not hiding Frank really and respectfully I'm I'm not saying that your concerns don't matter but you know what majority of the people reelected me so they must think I'm doing a great job so thank you C councilwoman lies any you wanted to add something please go ahead honestly I just want to say personally I think Councilman Greg is a great man and a council person and he's helped me personally and I the reason I'm saying it is because I just want you to all think how many Council meetings have you been to because I've been coming from since I've been elected and we've had four people come and now like I said we want to hear you but everything was public the reason I'm saying is because I personally voted no I didn't want it but if you guys would have came last year I'm not saying like it's null and void at this point but technically it is so I'm just saying just I and Mr Tres with all due respect I'm saying it calmed down because last year was the time that everybody should have paid attention right I'm just saying I'm just saying but going forward like I said going forward we are a community come because your voice does matter the things that do come but just know even the mayor's heart saying if and can I curse I'd rather not but you can yeah if if a sh sh T hits the fan they're going to do something to shut it down okay but and Rosanna just to just to pigy back on it's it's not done right like there are other opportunities for public input the first one that everybody's so riled up about is currently being challenged who knows if it ever sees the light of day the next one that I'm sure other people are riled up about are going to be it's going to be what was the meeting June 17th come come that's the day that's the day to vote land use board will vote next person please like to come speak name and address yeah sure oh oh Bob you come on up you want to come up next come sit over here you're on Deck you're on the on Deck Circle you're talking about trees not not marijuana trees so it's a nice change of pace oh okay there we go say something nice when you get up then 70% of the population is too got turn the mic's a yeah you gotta there's a there's a yeah you got it okay okay it's on now thank you Mr Mayor and members of council I am here to talk about the problem with the marijuana problem in town here trying to put in Distributors you say we youve told us all about it I've gone to a few meetings uh but I read the newspaper I can't see why one of you could have put an article in the newspaper paper that we could have read that you're planning on putting in three marijuana distributors in town they say it's in the uh the section where they have all of the the ordinances y right I'm 85 years old if I had to read all of that and most of it's garbage I would never get any place I mean I got my sports page and my all the rest of the news which I do and I read The Ledger every day front to back so I would have found out about it but I didn't find out about it for many of you or I found out from a flyer coming in the mail which you could have done too I don't think they cost too much to send out little Flyers like that I mean I don't think it's a million dollars maybe a couple thousand I don't know prob only a couple hundred yep and you could get a lot of distributation in the but that's not the thing I'm just disappointed not only in my myself cuz I don't come to enough meetings but also I'm disappointed in you the people who we elected to represent us and do the best that they you can for us now some of you might think it's a good idea I don't we have to work somehow to get rid of it if we can right way thank you very much and so so thank you for your commentary and there's two things I want to hit on that I I don't want us to be here all night but so first off again you have my commitment if whatever does not pass this year I will not be in support of going forward so if everybody says all three don't pass this year guess what there not gonna be any going forward right fine you got that on the record right got it yeah right so whatever so if the one doesn't happen by in the First Ward got it that license we we'll pair down the licenses next year if one of them Breakwater gets approved and that's the only one then we'll only pair it down to one license unfortunately the D's been cast for this year where you can speak your mind is this year at the land use board meetings right and I think that's fair BET right wrong or indifferent the other thing I'll say and this is I've heard this argument a lot um we do a lot of things in on Council some of them people some people find them controversial some people find them non-controversial I mean look last year our tax increase was $230 a house it's tough tax year right we had insurance going up we had pensions going up miserable nobody wanted to vote it on that bud you know should we have done a special Mailer on that because that impacts a lot of people and some people would get fired up so I don't know where to draw the line I personally uh you know look another thing development is very controversial when we did the hunter project we adverti it just like we hire advertised marijuana right like these are things I I respectfully think it's very where does the line end do I need to do out special meetings when you know we're potentially adding I'm adding curbing on Larch am I supposed to do a special meeting to add curbing on Larch like I I don't know where the line is right so I understand and I appreciate your sentiment I think it's a very very difficult thing to say what do we have special attention to versus not and that's where I stand on it but I appreciate your commentary mayor mayor y so in my three years plus uh the biggest meeting we had was we tried to do the sweeping oh my goodness and there's double the amount of people here the sweeping we I look I'm going to first want to say I don't we tried to do something but we saw there had to be 90 people here to try to come up with a sweeping policy to have this and that look I'm my pet peers we got to S sweep the streets it is for Aesthetics but also when your roads flood it's that stuff going in the sewers so it didn't work out and we pulled the plug and there was people here for the sweeping policy I'm telling you three years and four months the sweeping policy there were there was you couldn't find a a seat in the room so we we try our best to get out and people here y so sorry beat me up on trees now good evening yes uh my name is Janet yasi I'm at 129 Avon Street yep I have a concern that has lasted 10 years since we purchased the home yep uh when we first moved in um let me start over my home is the only house on Avon that has two mature trees yep one tree is destroying the sidewalk it was xed out when we first purchased the property they never cut it down yep they fixed the sidewalk now 10 years later they have to fix a sidewalk again yep okay the tree needs to come down yep the other tree the oak the maple I'm sorry tore up my sewage line yep I had to take a claim against my homeowner's insurance to have it fixed yep they inserted a line after drilling yep and after it cost me a lot of money yep had that replaced unfortunately I had to put in a second claim maybe a year later therefore they dropped me yep so I had to find another homeowner's insurance company yep it's costing me more Yep those trees are costing me money yep my apron has been destroyed because of the problem with the sidewalk yep everything's connected yep so it's not just about patching holes let's take care of the the whole problem so when they that Street Avon Street y I hope my expectation is to have the trees taken care of and removed if they a problem because right now both trees are uprooting themselves so so a couple things and I appreciate your patience on this I appreciate your frustration if you guys think weed is controversial I get I get maybe one call a month on marijuana I get 75 calls on trees right so I promise you there's a lot of inbound we get right um not to mention we change services we privatized it last year um we are Paving Avon is that correct yes right so I just want to let you know by State Statute now we're not allowed to take down healthy trees unless they're an imminent danger to somebody or they're dead right um it's just Statewide Rule now out of our hands a lot of people don't like to hear it it is what it is that being said as part of construction projects especially if it's been marked I'm going to ask Andrew to personally look into this before the the pre-construction meeting if it was already marked there was probably something wrong with it and there wasn't oversight the only thing I'm going to tell you and uh uh look as mayor I've got a reputation for telling people what they don't necessarily love to hear but I'm going to tell you the truth we've gone through this about laterals and Sewer lines over and over again every engineer tells us the same thing and in resp I'm going to say this in the most respectful way a contractor will tell you what you want to hear and the easy thing to punt it over to the town these laterals cannot be broken by branches right they just can't be what happens very often is and I I'm I'm no expert on this but I've learned over a couple of these things if there is a hairline crack that already exists then obviously it's a tree right the roots grow to it and can potentially expand it but it trees do not break those laterals right so very respectfully I'm telling you I I think there's a little bit of I understand what you're saying I did see the video when they drill when they sent the uh the video down into the pipe y I'm not fighting over that y That's not the problem I took care of it yep better not cost me anymore got it so what I can promise you is uh I we have a pre-construction meeting that'll come up when we do that street uh I will make sure that this gets personal attention thank you uh I I beg your patience for that right because we had this month is 10 years that we purchased that property so you had 10 years I I've only been mayor for six I've only been Mar for six I only knew about it tonight so I got it I got it you should have email me quicker uh but but I I hear you now and let us do this if there's something that needs to be rectified it will be rectified as part of that project Andrew will personally look into do it because he's in these meetings I was going to say and I did say earlier when I was speaking with um councilman Johnson uh there's a paper trail there's got to be forward it over to me and I'll make sure that it gets addressed I'll find out okay thank you thank you yep like I said trees are the most stressful thing I deal with you got trees which kind of trees yeah about me how you doing how you doing guys eug mola 226 Sher Avenue yep I have a few things but small things this settlement with Elizabeth yes um is this going to alleviate the flooding that happens on Sheridan Avenue very good question I could I could swim I could take a canoe and go so God I I forgot to say this so one of the benefits is our pipes for the outflows are actually larger than Elizabeth pipes correct so part of the reason why you get that flooding is it goes from I think 8 in pipes to 4 in pipes I know I sat on the commission I know I know so when we go directly to the river we will be doing 8 in flow out fully that's fine so I'm getting the clap back there that feels good nice it's just that you know my wife and I say oh you better move the car it's going to rain tonight I can't tell you exactly how much it's going to help out but but a large part of why that happens is because it goes from this big a pipe to this big a pipe and when we fix it it's going to stay this big a pipe and it's going to alleviate a lot of the issues there okay all right uh that's one thing uh I don't know how to say this um Mr Johnson um being a man who who sat in that chair it's a thankless job sometimes and you could do nothing right sometimes even when you knocked yourself out and I want the public to understand this I I I was at the land you board me I saw Andrew sit in that spot and take it on the chin all night and I was about to say something when he cut the me that's it no more yeah we at a lot and I said I was going to go up there and say respect the chair don't just scream at the man it's tough I when you sit up there it's and you're looking out it's you go home at night with your head spinning I I don't know I don't know how I did it but I just I would like the public to understand that sitting up there is no piece of cake Mr um through the chair yeah please uh Financial Officer Mr Blum I don't know how you do your job I couldn't do it so when people say you get paid too much I don't think you get paid enough this is my personal opinion being being a man being a man who sat in the meetings when you were there with books this big I don't know how you did it as far as the other issues maybe we could have you know um yearly budget meetings and stuff maybe that could be public used to be public upstairs we do we do publicly they're open to the public used to be then it was closed unless it's in committee I mean we do some committee meetings closed yeah okay and you know I just want the public to say I mean this marijuana thing okay it's it's a the whole country is in a marijuana fad I think it's in 10 years from now we're going to say why did we do this but right now we have to deal with it let the wheels of Justice go forward slow it might be like a glacier but it will go it's got to survive respectfully I think it's heading in the other direction but fair enough that that's all I just wanted I wanted to come up here to say about the somehow I feel sorry about some the way that people speak at some of these meetings screaming from the back at the land use board don't don't do this you you know Eugene like I and I appreciate the sentiment and I I I I was 908 and we normally don't go this late we used to go to 11: but you know I know I I yeah you do know like whatever don't cry for the mayor I I signed up for this but like I grew up here too right I I live here too I pay $12,000 a year in taxes right like I'm not doing anything and I have never done anything that I thought was going to be detrimental to my property values to my town I grew up here right and what I see is an opportunity for us to EMP fill some empty buildings and that's where I'm coming from simple as that good enough thank you Eugene thank you Eugene have good night don't forget to go to the feast everyone done I owe a donation to The Feast you go I'll wait L ladies first it's a very nice sweatshirt I have the same one no not that one what do you got Rosal Park soccer seen Hall one I got but I wore tie for you tonight Frank thank you I appreciate that Rosemary nadasi 446 Henry Street we do not need three dispensaries we don't even need one there's one on 22 there's one I'm sure in Elizabeth mhm if not 10 y my grandson was an honor student in Rosel Park High School he got a free ride to Stevens Institute of Technology one try of marijuana started him on a downfall yep it was somebody offering it so that he could calm down well that got him into a whole group of people that did other things yep and other things and other things yep wound up in the hospital y wound up going through three rehabs smart enough to stay away from opioids thank God and also smart enough to pull himself up and get out of it but it happens and it happens to almost every single family yes and if they say it doesn't they're lying so what you're trying to do to make money no it ruins lives because there are kids that will take it and there are medical that's fine that's important yep but recreational no we stop smoking some of us we stopped smoking are we smoking in this building at all well indoors yes never y I hope people that do smoke are smart enough to stay away from other people yep but sometimes they're not plus there are people that live there and they can smell the marijuana and they don't like it yep that is how I feel and I think it's a shame that you did what you did putting it in the legal section of the newspaper and expecting us to find out about it yep I wouldn't holler at you I am just ashamed of you I'm ashamed that you didn't think of the other side there's no money that doesn't help those people when we went to our first Naran meeting with my grandson the parking lot was full of kids going to this meeting and I'm thinking to myself what about the one ones that aren't here they don't need government's permission to go ahead and do it they don't need that and I'm ashamed of you guys [Applause] Jerry valry Ragland Drive uh what this lady said is so true uh this campaign about not having cannabis in town is very close to my heart family member of mine my nephew passed away he didn't start on hard stuff he started on pop and it rolled on and on and there's many that have I feel so sorry for this woman whose nephew went bad or whatever but my nephew passed away from it so this is very close to me anyway I have a couple questions I had no knowledge of this uh one East Westfield Avenue proposed dispensary until the other day um uh when there was no mention of this in previous meetings I remember at the first meeting that I went to one resident Frank trezza voiced his opinion and said put this downtown Wells Fargo Bank put it downtown where it belongs in a commercial area not in a residential area and here we go they apply for an application to be at the old WS Fargo Bank y i don't agree with it okay it's a bad look um other question is would the mayor and Council and councilman Johnson from our Ward be willing to have a meeting at the professional building parking lot with nearby residents and have a conversation about this area being residential or not because it is residential if you come there and see it and look around you can make your own opinion uh the closest dwellings to this site are residential houses can I just real quick I I'm I'll concede right now it's in a residential area yes but what I'm telling you and what I've said before is and and I this is may be a technicality but this is it is surrounding a residential area yes that piece of property is RO can we so so there's no if you want me to have a meeting I'll have a meeting but I've been to Ragin Drive I agree I understand that yeah but even it being an RO I mean we're putting it in the residential area you just agree to it it's not it's it's not good for the Neighbors I mean councilman Johnson if you would have a meeting there and and talk to your con constituents in the First Ward you'll see that is very much opposed J just respectfully I again I I I don't want to go ahead finish your thoughts and then I'll I'll speak because I want it's it's there's nothing that this body can act on right now we could all agree with you up here especially where it is it's up to the lawyers right now and there's a couple things that could happen judge could say yep good to go sorry judge could say goes back to the land use board my guess if it goes back to land use board maybe they're not going to want to apply maybe land use board doesn't feel that way again right so there's nothing we could do immediately right now even if we agree with you do you understand what I'm saying I do okay one thing on the budget uh instead of spending a lot of money on the Rick Barry statue who so many people are opposed to um and fresh banners maybe a new Banner for a better look I don't know they're not beat up or anything when was the last time any member of the council took a walk around the high school the outside walking Center area I'd love for the high school to improve their facilities go to a board of bed meeting that I mean yeah I mean who whose responsibility is this in back turn turn right turn right around and I was gonna say I I'm really not trying to be a wise guy but it's not our property okay so DPW or who who who gets to take care of this they're janitorial staff not us feels good to pass the Buck on this one you know because it's just I used to know people that used to walk we all used to walk up there was an avado Walker for years y nobody goes up there no more you got Stones the sinders there's there's ditches gullies you could break your ankle I mean that's something good for the town I understand I'm trying to be nice to the board of ed so I'm not going to comment but I would be nice to them right down there just that's that's some money we could spend that's good for the town 100% thank you yep yep and while we're talking about oh there's one over there too there's four you guys might have a a legal meeting at this point you might have to notice this breaking a Sunshine Law and just for the record our slice of the budget is so measly we're around 30% these those Board of Ed guys that's like 40 there's a lot of budget discussion here go talk to them about their half 53% 53% woof I'm just yes next one thank you hi Jennifer 415 filbert so um I understand the issue about the sewer yep um I just want to know instead of doubling our bill what other thoughts have been put into place to um either cut expenses from other areas to not put $150,000 statue on apparently some guy who I don't know but um take funds from elsewhere because what you're doing is you're penalizing present and future Rosal Park residents on an issue that happened in the past right so we weren't a part of that and yes I understand we're still kind of quote unquote benefiting from being using Elizabeth but you're penalizing us instead of maybe cutting from other places so just was wondering what else was thought into that instead of doubling the bill yeah so just a couple things there are a lot of things that are out of our control there right and I hate to keep passing the buck but we don't just plug into Elizabeth we plug into a lot we plug into the there's an Essex County Joint Commission that we plug into that you know we're one vote of how many people are on that board Joe 11 right so they set fees that we have to pay right so there's part of that in there also I know this is a technicality but you're talking about two pockets of money right so one is the Burrows money what we do year-over-year with Capital Money the other is um the sewer the sewer utility right so like we spend the stuff we spend on the burrow side is like updating the parks doing the roads right so but potentially taking a cut from all of that to help fund this sewer bill because we all have bills to pay right totally agree but just the the one thing I want to say there is we spend how much money we spending in in capital projects this year ballpark 4 million the total number is 4 million but what we actually issue in debt is 1.8 yeah so I you we may disagree on whether or not $150,000 is right and I'm not trying to say that we shouldn't be I can tell you why I think it's worth it right for notoriety of the town for placemaking for giving people a reason to look and stop and say what's going on here this is interesting we could just we could disagree on that all day but in the grand scheme of things a bulk of what we're spending in that four to5 million look you could say we can cut it but the roads that we're doing those people who are getting the roads done they wouldn't be super happy AER Park is a in desperate need of repair I don't think those people would be super happy who so yeah could we could we tighten the belt elsewhere 100 % and by the way like I don't say this proudly but I don't think there's been a mayor since I've been here in Rosal park that's fired as many people as I have right I mean the first year I got here we cut $500,000 from the budget by Outsourcing our police dispatch right like these are the things that we do to try and tighten the belt I agree with you it's not an insubstantial amount of money but to rectify this we're talking about a 20 to you know $25 million project and even if we were just to say which by the way the Rick Barry p statue is not purchased yet but even if we were say we're to change our mind without sounding callous it is a drop in the bucket understand but it just seems like you're P the the increase in the sewer bill is just passing the buck to the residents and we're we're funding all of the taxes right so instead of just saying why don't we take a portion of some other things to help offset the cost of it you've just doubled our bill I just was wondering if there's any thought into pulling a little bit from each one of the other projects instead of just allowing the taxpayers to take the BR so we have another idea actually that could solve this right um and you it it wouldn't come to fruition till next year so and by the way this is not something we decide right so this goes to a public vote so we own our own sewer system right and uh there are a lot of entities like American water that would like to purchase this right so next year what we could do is sell to the highest your time's up but I think this is an important thing to say right talking to everybody here so we could put our sewer system up for sale right and what that would entail is we do a study mayor and Council decides if we put it to a referendum and then it goes to a public referendum whether or not to sell that now if we were to sell that there's two good things that would come out of that right first off we would receive money for it because American Water says okay we're going to have this for the next 200 years for however long the United States of America and the bur of Rosal Park is going to exist hopefully forever God Bless America but they will pay us could be $10 million could be $20 million so they'll give us an upfront payment we could do whatever we want with it we could buy a thousand Rick Barry statues I'm kidding um uh but also these issues that we're having would get passed over to American water and would be part of your water bill and would be consumed as part of the big American Water Borg versus just Rosal Park and the only reason we didn't do that earlier candidly is because you're not allowed to sell it with a lawsuit looming so we had to settle the lawsuit to do this so I hear your point we have I think better ways to solve it and alleviate the problem wholesale without taking a bit from here taking a bit from here taking a bit from here does that make sense yep it does thank you yep I'm sorry we can talk to me after I'll Stick Around mention marijuana you want to men marijuana please don't tired of talking about it marijuana bill I'm not talking about marijuana thanks Bill uh Bill cross at 412 Galloping Hill Road um back in December I had asked if we could get an update on how the pilot program taxes are working on the apartments that are already open unfortunately I was not able to come here for about three months if I understand correctly once they reach 100% occupancy they pay 100% of whatever the tax bill would be and I was just wondering if we could get an update on that if we know it and the pilot taxes that are being paid y that includes both property taxes and school yep so uh I can answer do you have any other questions otherwise I can go I can go to town on this right so so just to be clear I like to remind everybody so there are three major projects along Westfield Avenue yep one of them was a lawsuit stemming from 2009 the only one that we're collecting revenue from Meridia which I don't love the first one in particular got passed before me that's the only one we're collecting revenue on so we collect land Revenue the existing revenue from all of them right the pilot is in the pilot is applied to the increased value there right so the Improvement right so let's just say am I doing right you're good okay got it so let's just say I think I think the taxes on on Sullivan Chevrolet for example are about $60,000 we keep collecting that whatever the increase is when it opens we'll start collecting the money for so to answer your question in a kind of long-winded way we won't start collecting money on those improvements until the new ones open up issues this till the co issues on the existing one Canen what what are we seeing about a year in in the First Development ballpark on the 240 and 250 uh we'll see this year about 546,000 money yeah which is look we can talk about overdevelopment again I don't love that project the mayor here saying I I would have done something different there you guys wanted a Trader Joe's I would have put a Trader Joe's there right whatever before my time part of the reason why I ran actually uh the fact that we got that much money from them taxes weren't great this year but they weren't miserable the fact that we got that windfall is the reason why we kept it in check you know so that was it just wanted to clarify that taxes were being spread accordingly between town and school cuz you read Facebook you see the comments out the schools do get a lower cut of it right and and I again it's not something philosophically I love but that's the way Pilots are structured Statewide I I think it's like was 7% or something like that school the schools get a their conventional split of the land taxes on the pilot Improvement 95% goes to the municipality 5% goes what 95% goes to the municipality 5% goes to the county however the thing that everyone needs to keep in mind is the burrow collects all taxes right you all come here and you get annoyed when you have to see Ken's face right me too I get annoyed when Ken face but how however the reality is when the school gives us a bill or the county gives us a bill or the library gives us a bill to pay for their tax levy we issue the check whatever is short the municipality is short and we have to make up somehow and we Cobble it together somehow but whatever the school needs to operate in terms terms of the size of their enrollment the capital Improvement whatever they put in their tax levy they get from the bar Rosel Park monthly okay and the LA the first question do you happen to know what their occupancy is are they up to full tax I think they only have like two two apartments open they they vary from 95 to 100% occupancy traditionally traditionally a building like that runs uh a 5% vacancy rate just think about who moves out by the time someone Moves In so there's always some there's some roll over you know less than 5% will be vacant at any given time but it's packed and people are beating down the doors for the other two For Better or Worse cool thank you may got a second win let's go I'm getting laughs out of Frank tonight I'm getting compliments out of Frank tonight it feels good come to every meeting I think I appreciate that fact I might be a fixure of you might be you got to wait a couple years you got to wait a couple years all right mil go to my neighbors you go to wait a couple years to run go mil go go I want to go back to my favorite uh subject for tonight you got to do your name and address one more time for the record oh ravier yep Rell Park mil Milt Woodruff yep uh we've had break water the uh medical room site yep on Westfield have you for what have year about a year and a half uh I think it's been longer than that I think it's been about two but two years whatever round up let's call it two no we licens that facility right no uh what do you mean we do not we do not issue a we do not issue a local license to for medical cannabis we cannot no yeah it's a state it's a state license but they but they handle hazardous drugs I mean if you consider cannabis hazardous then right now right now those are marijuana is considered a hazardous a drug it's getting classified differently federally but sure not yet but for the last year and a half last two years I don't know where you're going with this but it's it's a medical facility and it's it's licensed by the state to we get no reports no why not the the license for that facil the license for that facility is issued directly by the state so that's who they report to and we don't get a copy of that no no the only way we can get a copy for it is if we tax them extra which we don't because it's medical products and I feel like that would be unethical it might it might make sense that we do though but in any event okay I also have an issue with a uh L use for okay and the uh property at one East Westfield Avenue yes sir they're talking about you're talking about wanting some spots I the municial 10 there would be 20 spots up to 20 spots if they like and right now according to the uh regulation yep they would need at least 35 spots yeah the land use board would have the land use board would have to Grant a variance Grant variance happen well that's a minimum not a maximum mil I'm not arguing with you this happens all the time the land use board can vote Yes or no to a variant that's how these things happen well they also there are at least two schools a church and a youth center within the restricted area yep I don't understand how that's going to happen I I I so what happens is that all that information gets provided to the land use board and they in their jurisdiction make a determination as to whether or not within their powers they want to issue an approval by way of variance and they could agree with you they could say it's too close to a school I don't know just F if well I that would that would really be very nice have any idea how many what your hours be not not the just so you understand you can't stop someone from filing the application right so they file the application and the board considers those things and then makes a decision as to whether or not to Grant it but you can't just tell someone hey you're going to lose don't fight mayor can make executive action and say leave it I understand that okay do we know what their hours are going to be no idea that would be part of the application they would have to put in how many employees please I I can't idea all right I do have one other question that pertains to the last budget when you p in wanted to raise $1.6 million in bonds yes despite the fact we already owe roughly 16 million uh already which which we pay down so would would you like us to stop doing road work is that the what would you what would you stop I'm curious what outside of the Rick Barry statue because that's 150k well that's well that's that's certainly would be one okay uh and also the bo Scout part that's down here that's funded mostly Bea grants so call it 40K you cut from the budget still and you're also going to put how much money into uh acur park acur park is played completely by the state oh really yes and does c same to to most of the folks we have 1.5 million we're getting in direct aid from the state on the other thing that strikes strikes a lot of people is that it seems like according to your budget you have a $2 million surplus again Milt your time's up but it is it is it is it is Ken and please we I'll reiterate this till the end of days it is good practice we have a good credit rating because we have a surplus which means when we need to borrow money we borrow it on we borrow it cheaper every town has a surplus every town could I just could I just say I want to make I want to make it but Mr Woodruff I really want to make it clear because I know this is the second time you've come up and said this we are using $2 million in Surplus toward the budget not 2 million sitting in the vault in the finance department there's $2 million dedicated in the budget to offset the tax burden that gets passed on to Residents doesn't make the tax burden non-existent but that's not money we're keeping for a rainy day that's money we're using what is it being invested in it's being used to to to pay for operational budget to pay the cops DBW apparently you do have yeah I'm sorry I you can't comment anymore but but feel free to elaborate CH so what they're saying is at the end of 2024 there was a surplus that Surplus from 2024 gets used in 2025 to offset what's needed the Surplus that you're talking about that get gets created in 2025 gets used in 2026 you always want money in the bank just in case I like have $2 million as a rday fund that but the listen to me but when you don't need it you use it for the next year year thank you sorry mil but that's it anybody else like to come up and speak okay go on up George excuse me so moved just practicing for next year keep on practicing all right real quick Municipal land use board membership terms 40-11 yes number seven states that no member of the municipal land use board shall be permitted to act on any manner in which he or she has either directly or indirectly any personal or financial interest yep any member other than a class one member after a public hearing if requested may be removed by the governing body did you vote at the uh land use board meeting for the dispensary on 41441 WF laugh yes I did well you got a $2,500 donation from one of the owners of that and another $2500 donation in July yep I'm not an attorney but doesn't that go against the uh land use board membership terms no it's personal interest right so if I owned part of that then I'd be conflicted out it says indirectly or directly right so if I was a silent partner and I received 5% of their revenue then I would not be able to vote on it permitted to act in any matter in which here or she has any indirectly or indirectly any personal or financial inur right so campaign campaign finances are not personal finances it says any personal or financial interest sir I understand what you're reading but what you're trying to equate it to is not what it equates to okay what the mayor stated is absolutely correct if he I'm not an attorney but that seems to me like a little conflict I understand but unfortunately the name tag in front says I am no worries well being that you we're speaking last time we spoke you said that there was no evidence that uh Min uh marijuana dispensaries increase crime I've got about five studies here in front of me one done by John J College one done by the school of public affairs showing that uh from Denver from Colorado different cities in Colorado being that they established this in 2014 showing that crime does go up in Colorado and these are studies that have been done for three to 5 years so I can't speak to Colorado but I can give you another study that was done by Ruckers since 2021 one which shows that every municipality uh that has legalized marijuana has increased in property value higher than the median how long has this been study since 2021 I'm looking at a fiveyear study I'm looking at the a New Jersey study a fiveyear study I'm looking at a New Jersey study for how long three years three years three years yeah you're going to tell me that people would rather live next to a dispensary than what I'm telling you the data shows is that property values rise higher than the average and oh by the way I'd like to add that over that time since I've been mayor uh Rosal Park property values have been rising in the top in the in the top in the top 10 but but that's fine but higher than higher than the rest of the state of New Jersey not at all because kennworth has million dollar property selling left and right I will show you I mean you're I know this is your thing but I'll just show you I'll show you the numbers it's fine haven't even touched the million dollars got it okay kind sold about three in last keep going George yep let's go all right we're on the border of Elizabeth y Elizabeth has a crime rate that's higher than 92% of the state cities and towns of all sizes yep so you want to build a wall logically no not a wall logically if we have something on the border sure that's going to invite people from Elizabeth yep of of the Border yep you don't think it's going to increase crime you said we're short cops already as it is right uh no what I said is I think we be prudent to hire cops no we said we need more cops we have 32 and we could definitely need more yeah we could use more yeah whatever it's whatever yeah you said we need more we have 34 yeah yeah I'd like to hire more cops I'd feel better if we had more cops but we're short cops I I mean look dowling's just opened up I mean do you think Elizabeth I know dings is a cop bar we have every day people from Elizabeth go to dings pre and after do you want me to do you want me to shut down dowlings what do you what do you want me to do George dings has had no issues okay all right and second you're out of time sorry George all right Isabella tabaris 47 East Westfield Avenue yes it won't be as intense as that sure unfortunately um so the dispensary one of them is going to be I'm assuming M Fargo yep you guys said that's downtown which it is but there are families that live near there such as mine yep I actually just moved back to Roso Park to live with my mother she's on 47 so that's three houses down yep we spend a lot of our time on our backyard with our two dogs dogs and just laying around in our hammock hanging out y I can't imagine it not smelling like marijuana we get really bad headaches from that so it smells like marijuana on ches Street already I just want to let exactly exactly we have actually I won't say but yes we have a neighbor that does smoke it and when they do we have to come inside but it's not an ongoing thing so if this was open it' probably be I'm assuming 10 hours a day that's open I don't know whatever may be so then we're going to have to deal with that so I understand it is downtown but there are families next to that that you guys should take into consideration this is my first board meeting so I actually feel about being up here cuz I should have been in the previous ones back in good thank you for coming of course and I will continue to come but obviously I wasn't living here in November but I feel like you guys could have done a better job on letting people know what was going on I understand you guys did the the legal part and whatnot but we didn't know until yesterday when we see we received something in the mail sure um so I think for future you guys should have reached out a better a better way and also Rosa Park is small town I don't understand why there's going to be three dispensaries when somebody can just go to Route 22 go somewhere else but such a small town like we can't even fix the the what the the the movie theater I I also grew I also grew up we we don't we don't own the movie theater right that's fine whatever it may be there's so many other things that could be done in Roso Park besides these three and I don't know who voted it doesn't matter it's already done like you said there's nothing much we can do there is you you should come to the land and I will be on June une uh 17th 17th right exactly I'll be here but what I'm saying is that I don't understand why we would or whoever voted why we would vote in such a small town to have three dispensaries yeah so there's a couple things I want to say and I'm going to say this in the nicest way possible right so first off there is no consumption allowed on site there right now but do you think people are going to follow the rules yes I doubt I I I I I I mean if they don't there's going to be problems and they'll get their license revoked right so that's one thing that's you're saying now but I I I hope I really hope that's what happens but regardless regardless this is what I want I want you to be prepared for if it is not marijuana there and I want everybody who lives in that section to understand this the downtown is rightfully going through a massive transformation and that's fine and it could be anything else but something that is not marijuana I don't know what do you said a Trader Joe's whatever it may be but it doesn't have to be something that's gonna that I have to smell like you guys compare it to like liquor liquor if somebody drinks a beer or liquor I don't it's not in my face but it could be loud yes but that does that doesn't mean that I'm smelling something that's going to affect my health because it does Bo it does really bother me and my family so my question would be or my statement would be this could fail on the 17th and if it fails on the 17th so be it guys let me finish people can smoke around you your neighbors can smoke but it's going to increase it what would lead you to believe that be because at least believe there's if there's if there is a if there's dispensary I I'm pretty sure that people are going in there by weed correct what you're telling me is if your neighbor smokes weed now right but that's once in a while right but if there's a dispensary I'm assuming people are going to walk out they're not going to follow the rules crime rate is going to increase I'm like 90% sure of that first of all there's a lot of studies and second of all it just it's you know that that's what's going to happen whatever you guys voted yes it is there are studies and first of all it's not good for People's Health so why are we putting in something in our small Tiny Town that's going to affect our population again I I I disagree with you on most of these fronts and you can and and that's exactly why we're here that's that's fine that's why these are public meetings thank you she's asking if I can translate yeah sure yep good afternoon good afternoon uh she has kids Norma 43 East Westfield Avenue do you have kids yes see sorry is it correct to open is it corre is it correct to open three dispensaries in such a beautiful town and now that they're going to smell that is it just to have to give licenses for that my my view is and you could translate this I I have no issue with it this was just is why I supported it none you you don't have you don't have an issue but we do we don't we have kids we don't want zombies we want we want healthy [Applause] kids we want more programs in schools sports kids healthy kids not kids unhealthy understood I live here 18 years when I first started when I first got here it was a beautiful town when I came to work from work at 2: a.m. we're a wonderful population we work hard family we don't like drugs we don't do drugs we don't we're not from the street we want a town that we had before not the one now where you go outside smell the drugs I got the translation my Spanish isn't that bad I'm struggling it's not that bad yeah no ma'am I I all I would say to that is I can't speak Spanish but I understood what you said I I I understand your fears I think a lot of the same issues and we can disagree on this I think a lot of the same issues that you're talking about we also face with alcohol and we have okay yeah yeah but you're not allowed to buy it unless you're 21 you're not allowed to you are not allowed to buy it unless you're 21 and just like a liquor store if anybody's purchasing it and giving it to kids we can revoke their license I I agree but I I think again a lot of these issues again drugs what good or bad indifferent especially marijuana if kids are going to want drugs they can go to neighboring towns they can buy it off the street it's I agree but a lot of those dangers exist whether we're going to have the store or not and maybe you're right maybe it is easier access but we have rules and regulations that you have to be 21 to buy it and that's why there's people at the front door checking ID [Music] but we offer respectfully we offer all these things we offer after school programs at the Rosal Park youth center sorry sorry I I can just say I can just say we keep investing it in every year we we opened up the Anthony signell Youth Center we have after school programs at the library um we do offer a lot for kids we're redoing the park I'm sorry there's there's no time left I appreciate your input and we're hearing please tell her to come again on the 17th that's when the decision will be made I appreciate I your Fe but thank you for coming thank you for coming I got like 90% of that I'm pretty proud of my Spanish understanding I I was it was easier just to try and figure it out thank you though and again and again I hear you guys come the 17th that's when the decision is going to get made and if it doesn't work out it doesn't work out you won't hear from it again yes pah antonson Bender Avenue y just as you stated on the 17th that's when the decision's going to be made so if they come to be heard that night it's too late will any council member here sponsor a town hall and give notice to the people before the decision is made so they explain about for boa wanting to lease 20 Municipal spaces in lot one yes to a building that has no contiguous con connection yep it's also too close to several schools yep uh a church a park yep and another cannabis location which is Breakwater yep the other thing I'd like to disting is the people of New Jersey passed a referendum to legalize marijuana so people don't suffer criminal penalties that's not the same as saying we want a dispensary on every corner okay will any council member here I I just want to say to have a speaking I just let me councilman please I wherever you guys want to meet I know there's a concerted effort to talk about this I not going to subject the entire land use board there I am a voting member of the land use board you guys tell me what time you want to do it I'll be there tell me where you wanted to be there I'll make it happen will any council member sponsor this to reach out to the public and set a date for for before voting on tell me what date you want to do it I'll be there I'm the mayor I'll be there I'm asking for Council sponsorship I have a question for you where you sent out folks sent out notices right what else more what do you want to do there wait wait let me finish okay where where where are the people tonight well so you wait so you've been Facebook I'm 61 years old I don't do Facebook it's immature and whatever come up and talk keyboard Warriors are immature okay you've been posters you've been doing uh you've been doing this and that I'll take that you don't have the people here tonight why do we want to do another version let them come keep doing your posting and all that stuff councilman I'm happy to the more we may the more the Outreach is done the more people show up I tell you what well let me finish I I'll give you an extra I have not I have gotten more positives and negatives okay 17 more positive and negatives and we could talk all day how many people how many years you've lived in this town I've been here 61 years more positives as for the 20 proposed uh spaces you're not listening let her let let her it's her time it's her time it's her time the the new apartment buildings have not yet opened what about all the other businesses on Chestnut Street just real quick I'd like to so we have a recent count so we have 204 spaces in the downtown and sorry 210 and for the new apartments they have their own parking for their own buildings but not for their guests let me finish they also have required parking for their restaurants and and commercial space and in addition to that they're giving us the town another 50 spaces so if you're doing the math let's just say hypothetically it passes and 20 spaces are dedicated then we're still getting net 30 new spaces in the equation that you're saying leasing 20 Municipal spaces because the the dispensary can't open without them is not a net gain of spaces another thing is I was at the May 8th DRC meeting and uh Mr casayas kept saying I'm a member of the landre board I can't I can't speak to this but do this this this and this to fix your application such as proposing a special zone for them to to uh drop off their uh that's what the DRC meeting is for we do that for every we do that for every I'm not supposed to say anything but do this watch out for this what about this we need to do this he can't speak on whether how he's going to vote on it well that's just it inviting us to wait till the 17th is too late ma'am I'm happy to talk to you after if you want me to show up to a meeting and you can invite whoever you want I will be here I'll let you use a Cassano Center or burrow Hall we'll make it a townwide event I'm happy to defend it and speak my peace to anybody who wants to come there's more notice of of an Easter egg hunt than proposed dispensaries understood unfortunately you're out of time thank you would anybody else like to come up and speak oh almost okay it's all right I'm translate for her sure if you speak slowly I can probably get it yeah but everybody can everybody else can understand so got that one that's an easy one I'm Mar B cantero 206 ches Street the business the business why do you want to accept a dispensary that sells marijuana because the building that is in question has been empty for 12 years and they're willing to invest in it and beautify it why not a movie theater or any business we uh the buildings are available and they're privately owned we do not pick what goes there they people come and apply to what they want to do there and we say yes or no marijuana is more important a marijuana is not more or less important it is something but just let me finish please it is something that is allowed and something that they're requesting to use and is something that the land use board can say yes or no to I I'm not going to make a value judgment whether one's more important than the other you guys have kids others have nephews [Music] grandkids they're third generation I have kids I work from 6:00 a.m. I walk out I open the door I eat an ice cream or bread and many times it smells like weed yep I've never smoked and I teach my kids to respect everyone doesn't matter no matter the color or the race or the nationality it's not good for me my clients or my kids to have that smell one moment oh please y before Chesnut Street had big pots for flowers trees benches people can come sit and enjoy Sunset now nothing now just walk I'm the people that are older yep walk real slow we're all going to get to where they're at yep would you be uh okay with your kids being close to somebody that smokes weed I just like liquor I would teach my kids and I would talk to my kids about the dangers of it just like anything else because whether or not and we could disagree on this whether or not we open up a store for marijuana in the downtown it exists in this world and it exists in this state [Music] okay respect the chair respect the people that are here yep we all come to Rosa Park and if the police says sit down we all sit they say stand We Stand yep clean we clean this we do that Hispanics try to do the best in this town agreed you want respect so do I and if I say that I try to better the neighborhood you guys can do the same I appreciate that and and I just want to let you know again so I understand a lot of the things you're asking for I want these new businesses in town look would I love to have a lovely steak uh steak restaurant there 100% the fact of the matter is do you understand more or less okay perfect it's been empty for many many years and while I agree with you their Chestnut Street has changed it changed for the worst over many many years and we have been trying to improve it I hope you see we spent a million dollars making the sidewalks nice and new we planted new trees we are going to put uh you know new vases again we do that every year we put up the Hometown Heroes we are investing in the downtown but while I understand all of your points what is also bad for a town is empty stores it's not good it looks empty it looks rundown it looks dilapidated and that is what I worry about but again I want to say this once again for the record this is up for a land use board vote on the 17th it is up to them and yes I am one vote there I think you guys probably know which way I feel but it needs a majority there if it does not get approved it's done yep one last question or one last statement why a statue it's a good question um I want to bring attention to the town and and what helps bring attention to the town are are things that represent the town and show the town what we what our heritage is just like in Elizabeth where there's an entire park named after Phil rosuto we want to honor the people who you know come from Rosal Park and our historic people in Rosal Park and also bring attention to the downtown what has that person contributed to Rosal Park uh notoriety so is that it it's a pretty big thing he's a Hall of Famer I'm sorry you're out of time I know okay yes I have a board at the front of my laundry mat y a little sign and it has lights around it yep on one occasion one person from the town you have to turn that off because you're going to distract everyone that's driving I I don't know who said that but oh I mean you are at a time you are at a time the person next door has has the full window I did not know about this till now I'll get it addressed we'll take care of it you can do it can we talk afterwards I understand but we really out of time I want to be respectful I'm happy to talk about your window you need speak Spanish [Applause] okayo okay would anybody else like to come up and speak you may do so now okay I'm seeing no one may I have a motion to close the session on what was it any item public session on any item so move all in favor hi okay no further Clos session items may have a motion to adjourn so move all in favor I I e