##VIDEO ID:5wzEI2ghN_E## thank you everybody for joining us for our regular monthly meeting of the mayor and councel Tuesday November 12 2024 at 6 PM Missy could you please call the role Mary Nado here council president mcowan present councilman beg Roberson here councilman Gman here councilwoman delber con here Council Quon here councilman Copley here thank you if you're willing and able can you please stand for the to the flag I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all thank you missy could you please read the provisions in compliance with the open public meetings Law chapter 231 public laws of 1975 notice of this meeting was transmitted to the record and Herald news and file with the burough clerk on December 26 2023 and November 4 2024 is posted on the bulletin board outside of burrow Hall thank you as far as presentations go we do not have any but at this time before to um cut back on the um Council um uh reviews um I'd like to offer the uh Council the opportunity to uh welcome our new uh Council elect anybody council president thank you mayor uh i' just like to congratulate councilman Ray Guzman and to our councilman elect John ero on their um Victory this past election cycle and I'd also like to thank and acknowledge everyone who put their name on the ballot this year it makes Rutherford a better place representation matters congratulations to you both [Applause] Council thank you mayor um I too want to just congratulate uh councilman Guzman on his reelection and uh very excitedly congratulate councilman elect John ero on um his election as well um for those of you that haven't had a chance yet to meet as soon to be councilman Erico I really encourage you to find time to chat with him about his vision for the burough his vast experience personally and professionally in community building and um I think you'll get equally excited for what uh we all have planned together so congratulations thank you councilman thank you mayor I'd like to uh welcome uh councilman elect ero um I'm excited to see what you're going to do here and I'm excited to work with you and what and uh I know the the public is going to really appreciate your experience of what you bring to the table congratulations sir thank you councilwoman um I'd like to congratulate my friend Ray Guzman for his I don't what number what number for congratulations on your win and congratulations to John ero I'm very excited I'll be watching for from the other side um but I'm excited to see all the wonderful things you do in the burrow you have a wonderful family and they're a great example thank you congratulations Reay that was that was a very fiery speech when you got elected I mean when you got reelected and it was amazing very impressive and congratulations councilman elect I'm very excited to see what you're going to bring to the burrow and and Maria we're going to miss you so so much thank you for all your service thank you councilman thank you sir uh councilman Guzman congratulations once again uh said that several times now over the last four years uh and councilman elect ero welcome to the show uh it's been a pleasure to work with you over the last few months looking forward to doing more great things together thank you uh we'll be done with our presentations the reason I asked to move into that particular position was it'll give you the opportunity to speak at the uh open uh hearing of citizens so that's why I did that um review to the changes Miss see oh wait wait I'm sorry uh Ray congratulations again on your 90th election birthday and John I do want to welcome you to a great team uh and I will miss Maria and I'm still mad at her so we're going to move on now to the changes to the proposed agenda on page one under consent agenda we'll be adding a raffle license to the already existing resolution number 239 it'll be a boost Rutherford music booster on premises 50/50 raffle that's all I have thank you um hearing of citiz uh the engineer I'm sorry I need a motion motion motion by council president M second second second by councilwoman Roberson any questions or comments by the Council see number every roll call council president McAn yes Council B Roberson yes councilman Gman yes Council de con yes councilman quone yes councilman kley yes thank you Engineers report mayor I think the the time changed kind of messed up the engineers calendar um but he did submit a report for the uh government body's review anybody would like to comment on the uh or would you like to State anything before the um it's F by me before the council interjects oh okay uh I'll do my best uh I'll serve as the engineer tonight um the uh burrow is continuing its 2024 Road program work uh silven street is next on the calendar for uh concrete work uh diamonds five and six we had our nice ribbing cutting ceremony to weeks ago that's uh ready for use uh Diamond 4 uh has continued its review with the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection uh getting great feedback and that process is moving along uh we are will be looking to begin as much work as soon as possible that doesn't need D's approval uh I do expect at the next meeting uh we would have a a resolution award and a contract to begin the uh the turfing of the field not turfing but I'm sorry the uh the grass sad uh some of the fencing some of the uh the new dugouts the new Press Box uh as much as possible that we can get done that doesn't need de's review so that should be next meeting and we can start that work this winter um the West pic uh drainage Improvement project uh as many of you probably have seen you know they mobilized they dropped off a lot of the materials start the process last week unfortunately uh there was a an emergency situation in Carney major sewer collapse and the contractor had to pull all its resources including the crew working for us which happened to be their their best crew uh they got redirected to address that emergency uh that situation should have been abated by now and we expect that crew back on site this week to uh continue and hopefully finish by end of the week um also I think next meeting we're going to have a hopefully have a a contract to award to do a rain Garden down walls field that which is Grand funded um it's you know minor Grant but you know funding that that we received from the state a couple years ago that we're looking to act on uh before the end of the year um that's all I got for the engineer thank you anybody have any questions for the um for administrator seeing none okay we're going to move on hearing of John I'm John ero 226 Woodward um I do want to express my thanks to all of you for your support and for your thanks and congratulations particularly to Rey for my running mate oh particularly toay my running mate in the election um I uh I Echo counil woman mwan statements that uh all those who ran in this election I I appreciate that it's difficult to put yourself out there and I think that the election throughout at least locally was run with high integrity and ethics so I appreciate that and I know that there are a lot of opportunities hopefully to say goodbye to Maria but I do want to say thank you so much for your service the past few years it's uh it's an honor to be filling your shoes and I'm looking forward to doing that in the future but thank you all so much thank you John um consent items council president thank you mayor all items authorized to be consent by the council will be enacted by one motion these items are routine in nature motion I have a motion by the council president may have a second second second by councilman Guzman any questions or comments by the council see none mayor roll call council president McAn yes councilman B Roberson yes councilman Guzman yes Council Del con yes councilman Quon yes councilman cley yes thank you council president thank you mayor first is resolution number 237 Award of contract to visual Computer Solutions jobs for blue software for services of the off-duty employment of police officers for police related activities motion I have a motion by the council president may have a second second second by councilman Guzman any questions or comments by the council seeing n Bob thank you mayor just want to quickly explain what this is um as many as we all know the uh the officers do work off duty programs construction jobs um and he gets paid through the burrow and handled by U Barrow staff and it's always a challenge dealing with contractors get established escrow accounts and then getting the information paying the officers uh this contract is a third party administrator that is used by over 300 municipalities in the state of New Jersey they do all the leg work for us and then for doing that they charge an 8% fee that 8% fee is charged to the contractor this fee this this contract has zero cost to the taxpayers of raford it is strictly a a u it is it's a pass through to the contractors um they established escrow they send the money to us to make the payroll they do all the reporting for us so um it'll be very effective and very beneficial to the Barrow to move this forward thank you anybody else seeing n every call council president mcowan yes Council B Roberson yes councilman Gman yes counc Del con yes counc quadron yes councilman kley yes thank you next is resolution number 242 Award of beron County Co-op contract for security cameras for Kip garage tamblin field and wallfield in the amount of $4,440 86 cents motion I have a motion by the council president may have a second second second by councilman Guzman thank you mayor um uh this is an an you know expansion of U our camera system that is monitored by the police department right now uh last meeting we uh we awarded some new cameras systems for burough Hall uh this is an expansion upon that police department will have constant eyes on the uh on on the sites that are listed here um it's just another tool for the police to do their jobs uh and again it's not funded by the taxpayers budget this is funded by uh the funds that the chief referenced at the last meeting through our seized asset funds thank you thank you mayor roll call council president McOwen yes Council big Roberson yes councilman Guzman yes Council D con yes counc Clon yes counc kley yes thank you uh we do have several letters of correspondence from the Department of Transportation October 23rd 2024 letter from the southb municipal joint Insurance Fund October 22nd 2024 a notice from the rord planning board at 51 Union uh October 23rd 2024 and a notice from the buron County Utilities Authority November 6 2024 all available in the clerk's office um Council Le is on assignments council president thank you mayor um again I just want to congratulate my Council colleague and my newest Council colleague um on their election Victory I want to thank the burough of Rutherford and all the residents who um stood in line quite uh quite some time to cast our vote democracy was alive and well in Rutherford we should be very proud of that um and I also want to yet again extend my appreciation and and all of our appreciation to our uh borrow clerk to Missy and to her ex her extraordinary team um that were here to very very late e evening hours on Election Day to ensure that every resident had the opportunity to cast their vote so thank you for your continued support of the burrow um and Bob of course your continued support of all of our offices and work um and last but not least just a gentle reminder that the Kip Center is preparing for their um wreaths and trees um uh if you think that the mayor and Council sponsored tree looks great then I will take all the credit if you think it looks like it was decorated by a 5-year-old it everybody else did it um that was a joke you can laugh uh I'm it uh more importantly it was done with love we're grateful to have the Kip Center in our life and the work that they do for the seniors of this community so I want to encourage all residents who are watching this to please come out um and spend a few dollars and bid on these beautiful trees and wreaths that have been generously donated by members of our community and abound thank you mayor thank you councilwoman Robertson nothing tonight mayor thank you thank you councilwoman still M you uh councilman Guzman thank you very much mayor I have new to report in My Le liaison assignments however I would like to take the opportunity to thank our residents for the opportunity of another three years to serve them it's a pleasure it's an honor and I look forward to uh serving each and every one of our residents thank you very much thank you councilman councilwoman Del KH thank you mayor um I am the liaison for DPW so I just wanted to share a couple of things um I I think it probably goes largely unnoticed that pretty much any time someone comes to me with something for DPW and I share it with Chris seidler um who is who runs that department um it is almost immediately cared for so I just wanted to remind us that the our Department of Public Works are certainly some of our unsung heroes but um even those things that I mention that can't be immediately uh fixed um they remember so one of those things was last year I started to make my pitch for lights along Union Avenue and at the time I was told that while the wire for when there used to be holiday lights on Union Avenue still exists the electric Source no longer existed um and I'm proud proud to report that um Chris Syer in conjunction with his team and our burough administrator had they have gotten the electric electricity Source going again on Union Avenue so we will have lights on Union Avenue this year um this is really um the start of what I think will be a broader effort by the governing body to improve um the look and feel of Union Avenue to make it feel more cohesive with the rest of the burough which not only will help our businesses there but we'll also just um help the folks that live on that side of town to feel more part of um the beautification of our community so um keep an eye out for that but thank you so much to DPW for always keeping an eye out for our requests um I also if you still uh are listening live and have nothing to do this evening or want to support the Civil Rights Commission right after this meeting and the reason we started early today was so that we could attend the Civil Rights commission's 60th anniversary event which is at the library um I'd like to thank my Council colleagues for agreeing to start tonight's meeting earlier so that we can go and support the Civil Rights Commission um I'd also like to thank the mayor for providing a proclamation for for the Civil Rights Commission as it celebrates its 60th anniversary and also a mayor's Commendation for Robin ranra who is um really Our Town historian for all things related to the Civil Rights Commission and really um how this community has evolved um socially and culturally she really knows a ton and we're grateful to have her as a community member and as um the person that runs the metal lands Museum so if you do see Robin out and about please do um congratulate her on being commended by both the mayor and by the Civil Rights Commission as they will honor her tonight and finally with regards to the election um I just wanted to again congratulate John and Ry but also remind folks in town that communication goes a long way um some folks feel very happy about the way the election turned out some folks feel not so happy and um I encourage you to communicate with each other as much as you can in person as opposed to online um some of community members got together earlier this week on Sunday night there were about 30 of us just talking about how the election may impact them personally or not um and it was really quite a good exercise um in understanding and in appreciation of others views so um remember as as the council president always says we are neighbors um and we should treat each other in kindness uh whether we're happy about a result or concerned about it so that's all I have thank you thank you Council councilman de I'm sorry Council qu thank you mayor I just want to thank the leader the leaders of the veterans organizations in town for walking us through a really beautiful moving and very personal ceremony yesterday in honor of Veterans Day it was an absolutely it it was a wonderful walk through history and the history of armus day that became Veterans Day and a perfect reminder of what veterans and current active service members sacrifice and have had to endure in order to ensure the that we have the rights and the Privileges that we do including the right to vote so thank them for that it was it was a wonderful ceremony thank you Council mogley nothing this evening thank you thank you um yeah I I thought that the um election was handled well as far as making sure that the um there was the police handled themselves in a manner to make everybody feel comfortable no matter where they stood um I think this town handled themselves well and I hope that you know as things move forward no matter what where you stand that we can all be human beings and work together um wasn't done the last thing uh Mr gun brought to my attention that the eternal flame that we have by the uh Cannon was out so I I committed to him that we would look into uh making sure that that Eternal Flame is uh taken care of I think that's very important to the veterans and um I'm sure that uh I will be uh I'll meet with Council dely Co and the DPW and the bur administrator to to look into that for him oh and you Brian too now you can speak so the uh can you hear me so with respect to the uh the flame on Top of the World War I Memorial the uh the difficulty is the uh the wire there is slowly degrading over time so uh um I had been just because I am the way I am researching uh LED lights that can go into that fixture but would have a ring of a a solar panel that would discreetly be set so don't have to re rely on the wiring so that's what we we're researching that we'll see if that's feasible for that uh the top fixture because it uh we had a tough time when we restored it and it's been intermittent because it loses contact once in a while and so with respect to that and then and in terms of General engineering uh they're still uh rolling with the concrete work they're going to switch over to silven soon and then uh soon they'll be wrapping up for the season and West Pake uh drainage should be done by uh Friday and uh I apologize for the inconvenience to the residents uh but that long-term solution will really help uh the Basin uh at carneer and Insley and ultimately but so give give us a little U forbearance and we'll be done soon thank you Brian any questions from the council well I think Bob did a better job he's question say it anything I was the acting engineer tonight um we're always hiring moving forward to I have uh one appointment uh Tony dealo appointment to confidential secretary step three effective November 18th 2024 in accordance with the rules and regulations of the New Jersey civil service commission I think Tony would be a great addition to Bob's office and will help alleviate some of his backlog so congratulations uh once they say yes if they say yes motion I didn't get there yet may I have a motion motion motion by council president may I have a second second second by councilman Guzman any questions or comments by the council no jokes nothing okay have a roll call council president mcowan yes Council B Roberson yes counc Gman yes Council Del con yes councilman clone yes councilman kley yes okay we're going to move on ordinances on second read councilman thank you mayor I have have an ordinance on second read establish a handicap spaces on Park Avenue Franklin Place Santiago Avenue and and Raymond Avenue Missy can you please read the ordinance by title only and ordinance to amend and revise chapter 126 vehicles and traffic of the burrow code of the burough of Rutherford I'd like to motion that the ordinance be passed on second reading and advertised according to law I have a motion by councilman who's gone councilman g m have a second second I have a second by uh Council councilwoman um Del Cen any questions or comments by the council yes I have to open up to the public yeah I kind of was gone on that road but I'll open it up now to public for any public comment seeing none I'll close it to the public and I'll Now open up for any Council comment councilwoman thank you mayor I just want to thank councilman Guzman and my Council colleagues for acknowledging the need for handicapped spaces to acknowledge and and assist with our residents and our visitors to our town that um are uh handicapped and or have different abilities that make it a challenge to navigate our streets um and I appreciate the fact and I want to give notice to appreciate the fact that it is not only on Park Avenue but also on the surrounding streets including uh Union Avenue um so that this way it makes it more accessible for everyone so thank you very much this has been a long time coming thank you councilman anybody else from the council wishing to speak Council gine thank you mayor um number one I'd like to thank my Council colleagues for supporting this ordinance um it is important to our to our residents and I really want to give a shout out to um our chief of police chief Russo and our bur administrator for their diligent work on this this was not done by one person there was a whole team working on this and there was a lot of work I had to go into it and um thank you very much for seeing it through and supporting this gentleman much appreciated thank you councilman anybody else see n man roll call council president mcowan yes Council B robertonson yes councilman Guzman yes Council Del con yes Council Krone yes councilman kley yes thank you that being said I'd ask for a motion for an adjournment motion motion by the council president M second second second by councilman Roberson all in favor I I