##VIDEO ID:Uj1RQpyENbY## e e P the meeting to order councilman Simca here councilman Garrick here councilwoman Sanchez Council maor council president Aram here please rise for the slew of the flages adequate notice of this meeting has been sent to All council members and to all legal newspapers in accordance with provisions of the open public meetings act chapter 231 Public Law 197 the public is hereby advised that any statements made during the meeting of the township Council of the township of sandlebrook may not be privileged or protected and have persons or entities who take issue with such comments or are offended by same uh offended by saying may inh have a passo legal redress through the courts any member of the public who addresses the council speaks for themselves and not the councel all in favor the meeting is now open to the public uh this is the last meeting before the election and I will give five minutes Tim liit to the meeting tonight because I know people get stuff off their chest and get things said um if we could just be professional about it and respectful that would be fantastic meeting is now open to the public good evening Andrew jits uh Saddlebrook Council candidate on November 5th uh I urge everyone to vote column one all the way down for a change not only at the town but also the county level uh and just to recap what we've been coming up here for many months including over a year uh what the total cost of the municipal complex was why that was never put through on a referendum for homeowners and taxpayers and residents to decide uh was something I think that should have been done and disclosed and voted on uh hiring of a business administrator uh for Saddlebrook when that position uh was for someone at a much lower salary than the $300,000 business administrator uh that we just hired uh in town this year uh at a ridiculous cost of $300,000 a year uh also uh if reelected one councilman uh the potential cost for his health care benefits to cover him and his family over the course of 25 or 30 years could be potentially a million 1.1 or 1.2 million that's not budgeted for uh that we would have to pay uh additionally uh with the passing of nine marijuana licenses in town being the only town in in city in Saddlebrook where we have uh three different types for retail manufacturing and cultivation uh and the the back and forth of not really understanding the hours of operations the rules the regulations uh the quick transfer of ownership of the marijuana license where if somebody opens the business in 3060 90 days that they could immediately transfer that license and we don't have a say about it in town uh is a big cause for concern uh and the location uh having them all on the same district or in the same Highway and the amount of potential issues which which could cause uh the hiring of many more police officers uh in town with uh not knowing the rules regulations or hours of operation uh for these facilities uh and last but not least uh the special Council work session we had in September uh regarding the townwide rat infestation which is in seven out of 11 districts uh and the only solutions provided was for you the homeowner and Resident to spend money on exterminators which is going to cost hundreds of dollars as well as now imposing a new ordinance for the homeowner to spend hundreds of dollars on new garbage cans so really the only long-term solution for a problem that has been known for a very long time in this town is for the homeowner to spend hundreds if not thousands on exterminators and garbage cans uh I hope and urge everybody to vote column one all the way on November 5th thank you chair Mr can you go back up here I'm not taking questions okay the name is the you guys haven't taken our questions for over a year when people come here one month if you're not taking questions have a seat thank you I'm just gonna say that I don't know I guess I can't pronounce his name Andrew Andrew d I don't know where you get your information from about a townwide rat infestation and you know all the districts I don't know how the heck you know that you're not an expert okay and you're wrong you have no idea we've been tracking we know what's going on the other stuff I have no problem with that's your opinion but don't say there's something that doesn't exist you don't know that you absolutely do not know that you're not an expert and you have no knowledge or information to back up what you're saying I thought you didn't want to you didn't want to answer the question no you you had your time thank you anybody else Sy zelli 236 L A the broken record is back Walmart I know there's a meeting Monday night unfortunately I can't be there I drove back behind there today before I came tonight you talk about problems with rats on the other side of town the garbage back there is disgusting the dumpsters they're not covered they're all over the place there's all kinds of um storage units it's a disaster and there's still racing going on at night now they want to add additional stuff to Walmart they can't control what's there now and US residents that live there are suffering the consequences of it something's got to be done I don't know what I know if you put speed bumps back there put the things that um come up when your tires got I don't know but something has got to be done I come back this is I started before the summer because I knew it was going to be an issue and here we are going into November and it's still an issue and and again Walmart wants to add more back there that they postponed it again so oh thank you okay thank you syia good evening Council mayor um I was here over a year ago in March and basically um as the woman here before has stated that pigar Walmart back there it's not just the Walmart problem I go back there periodically my property is very wellmaintained and it's adjacent to the back of Walmart where the easeman is and I actually took my wife today on a field trip again and I am just shocked by what she said there are open dumpsters there are open grease pits it is disgusting and part of the problem is if you want to maintain property in Saddlebrook whether you're a homeowner or a business or an Institutional organization it should be the same for everyone the problem with Walmart is it's not all Walmart now in 1988 we had a rat infestation in this town back there before Walmart was there and Mr Leo was mayor then and he could very well attest that my wife actually brought the news media down here to put it on national TV and the problem is was with aosta who owns that property cutting the grass is not just maintaining your property that place is overgrown with brush there is no water in that easement and all it is is a breeding ground for rodents the other problem back there which is Walmart is noise pollution I went through this at the zoning board meeting the planning board meeting a year ago and they were knocked down part of the problem is the zoning law is clearly state that trucks should not be idling within 150 ft of people's property they violate this every single day I cannot tell you how many times I have to call the police department to go there and tell them to shut the engines off I hear trucks come in at 12: 1 o'clock in the morning okay it's wrong they know what the noise pollution is and nobody does anything about it your own statute say that you need a property management guy and a noise control individual you have neither of which I call the police up oh we'll go check it out that's the end of it if you don't put Walmart to task and summons them when they break the laws they will just keep doing it they have no regard for the people that live back there and I'm going to tell you a couple other things I am amazed that when I walk outside this building and if I was to look at the commercial property next door here it is pristine compared to Walmart why is that cuz you people work here and you have to look at it well we have to look at that crap hole all the time and enough is enough and a few people don't get a hold of the situation you've had over a year I got lip service here a year ago nothing is done I ask for signs to be posted about trucks idling that they can't be idling back there they continuously do it if they want to park a refrigeration truck there overnight till 6:00 in the morning when load dock open opens up let him Park on Route 46 by McDonald's where it's away from people's houses this is ridiculous you know and and I hate to say it I'm not trying to single anybody out but I mean you know I I read I have a lot of respect for me white but I read his platform you know and and one of the campaign things was he was going to put people to test to maintain properties commercial properties and I don't see that happening you guys are getting like a D minus on my report card for the way that place is there's no excuse for it I appreciate you giving me the time to express myself but I not only speak for me believe me plenty of my neighbors have fed up I had a neighbor that had a rat in his yard a couple weeks ago and I don't want to see another rat infestation that's the last thing we need thank you sir just one thing I didn't get your name I'm sorry I'm sorry your name I didn't get your name Alan manini right thank you thank you anyone else good evening Omar Rodriguez S Brook Council candidate on November 5th column 1 and first and foremost I would like to bring a few subjects it's been said for so many months that we are not pointing to the truth I want to challenge anyone of you with documents tonight that any of the things that we've been saying is not true we've been saying that the this building cost us most likely $32 million in excess maybe of $32 million until I don't see the paperwork there nothing that I can do and if you ask me where where I'm getting my fats I asked an Oprah eight months ago and still I don't get it because they haven't compiled the total numbers yet so I have a right to say $32 million unless I'm proven wrong the voters haven't even been asked whether it's good or not for the town you just did it at least you should release the numbers then we also being accused or exaggerating numbers when it comes to a business administrator we hire a $300,000 a year business administrator the highest pay in the state of New Jersey and then we have volunteers right here as our fire department they do this job from their heart and we don't give them what they're asking for what it cost to just give them some extra money 20 $30,000 when actually and you council president with do all respect when you speak I don't laugh and I'm speaking with the truth and I'm going to prove it to you if any of you challenge me I got all the documents right here and I can pass it on to you the $300,000 a year that's an embarrassment for a town like our so small and with 13,000 people when actually P which is 10 times 10 times higher in business and people actually just pay $130,000 we are not Alpine or franking lace last time I checked paperwork here someone want to challenge me just $300,000 with pay another Point none of you has questioned me if I'm wrong if elected councilman simuka once again it will cost the taxpayers and the kids of your kids a million dollars in medical benefits or close to a million dollars in medical benefits and I can prove it because every single year the benefits go up and up and up and especially in a tongue like hours that you don't have to pay nothing when you have medical benefits that is not right the hardworking people in sbook have to make a lot of efforts to pay the taxes and every year the taxes go up it have to come down so then again if anyone want to tell me something I can tell you how to do the numbers and it's not 5 cents per person it's close to a million dollars because anytime councilman can get Remar and can have other kids and also the town will have to cover just multiply 20 000 is very simple to do it on his 4300 homes how much is it but anyway uh $40,000 just 20 years but then again uh the Parks look at the county parks it's a shame all of you know and have been complaining here that the county doesn't do nothing to you that the county do not respond to you that the state do not listen to you but when it's time for election like tonight I just saw one of the candidates right here it's kind it's time for you guys to save V for that person but when it's time to help Sal nobody from the county nobody has come the mayor and Council has expressed it right here that nobody listen or pick up the phones for you then why you pushing for people that don't even pick up the phone call to you and you tell the residents to go and complain to the county why do we elect you you have to show me that you're the leader so don't blame other people we have to take we elect you we don't elect elect the county to go over there we elect you then also um when we talk about just not just the water rates there is an Ordnance I'm going to speak up later but the water rate shouldn't go up we got a surplus of $600,000 we should pay garbage can out of that $600,000 we keep an increase in the budget once an if elected on November 5th with the support of all the the residents in sbook as a financial controller I promise you on my first year one of my first things that I will do it will not be water rate increases or no property increases and I can put you and I will teach them how to do it because I know what I'm doing when it comes to finances and enough is enough if we going to have to TI out our ve our our belt they will have to do the same thank you very much for your time anyone else wishing to speak sure good evening everyone mayor council council president uh I stand before you as your Bergen County sheriff and with that being said Anthony Kuran uh I'm here for a public service announcement first and foremost but this is my first time coming in this facility and it's great to see that the directions uh saddle Saddlebrook is going forgive me and it's quite obvious when I pulled up I was like where am I but it was great to see I see we are uh representing domestic violence with the colors out front looks great but I just wanted to let everybody know I've been going town to town and there's been something going on in the sheriff's office or relating to the Sheriff's Office about scams and the scams seem to be focused at uh seniors unfortunately but if you haven't um we've been getting residents have been getting calls where people have been representing themselves as the Sheriff's Office and or Sheriff's officers uh to date we had about $770,000 that were uh taken from residents um phone calls they go out on a regular you may you'll hear um sheriff's officer Duffy and he's been claiming himself you know of course part of the Sheriff's Office and you to meet at a certain location or come to the court for a court for a warrant or jury duty or something to that effect and they ask you to bring x amount of dollars we don't ask for money when it's time to arrest somebody we don't ask for uh we don't tell you if there's a warrant we tell you to come down and see us and it's the message you want to get out to it because a lot of the seniors like I said who've uh unfortunately been victimized by this even to the point folks have asked for Bitcoins uh we had an incident where in tck they met at the local um supermarket and the person gave $1,700 50750 to round it off in this Bitcoin exchange which I'm not overly familiar with but it's a continue practice we just got a phone call earlier this week same thing someone professing himself to be from the Bergen County Sheriff's Office just bear in mind in the state of New Jersey we don't have Deputy sheriffs and this person that's calling Dell Dell Reinhardt I think he say his name is same consistent person he always present himself as deputy sheriff state of New Jersey we don't have any recognition as deputy sheriff so in going out through the county various uh senior centers it's been um welcom information and of course we want to make sure everybody hear about this because uh no one should be victimized for that type of money especially when you have individuals that say my grandson my nephew and we know we all as people when it comes to our families we we embraced it so that's the challenge we uh we're experiencing right now again uh if you go to our website wwwb cd. us you'll get a sample call or actual call of the individual who's been calling these various residents and of course trying to solicit money but and another note read in the paper recently you've having a new chief of police and um it's great to see that you know forward progression like I said if you look at the building it shows that next step you're doing and I offer myself to the new Chief as far as any directions he's going in law enforcement um I appla the members of the sh of the shadb police department that I know all had a great working relationship with them working relationship with them and um going forth I think we're going to do even better as far as relationship between the Sheriff's Office and the Saddlebrook uh police department one good thing about Bergen County we're ranked ninth in the nation as far as the safest County that's not only by the doing of the sheriff's offices but the whole County bur County Law Enforcement community and I proudly sh proudly share that with everybody but that being said m town so anything I can do for you please give me a call um I see the work you're doing and uh though I'm not a sbook resident I'm appreciative of the work you are doing especially as a county official who have some have some sort of interaction with you on a regular a daily basis thank you for the time thank you thank you sherff thank you anyone else seeing none motion yeah you spoke you spoke you spoke you spoke already excuse me you spoke you said you're going yeah you're going to talk through the attorney through the attorney through the attorney uh Mrs attorney through the chair I already have the discussion that before with the main attorney with the principal everybody already spoke we allow and I need an extra minute and the I gave you two extra minutes current the current resolution just excuse me legally I got that resolution okay you could do what your next you next say that is not according to this unless anyone else wants to speak up I can come back for a minute excuse me sir no no you excuse me you told me last time I'm the C president and I run this meeting so have a seat and you can speak at the end of the meeting we have to move on with the meeting I know that but listen no I don't have to listen just like your partner said we don't take questions I don't have to listen to you that's not come up here and run the meeting this is not a law this is not an ordinance it's a resolution what you did and it doesn't prohibit someone from speaking up a second time please read educate a little bit more edate yourself you said okay have a seat you can speak am I going to be arrested like the last time that was going to be arrested nobody said you're going to be arrested yes sir no they didn't it's on September 5th you can watch it on YouTube you he it didn't say about being arrested the mayor already apologize listen am I going to be arrested for speaking on my mind seat please have a seat am I gonna be arrested sir have a seat for speaking up can we continue the meeting yes for it speaking up I was just asking through the chair to the Miss attorney I just want a legal opinion that's it I'm not saying nothing I just want a legal opinion Mr Rodriguez unfortunately I can't provide you with a legal opinion my legal opinion we represent the township of Saddlebrook if you do have questions about something I can see if I can address them after the meeting but you've had your five minutes to speak and the house rules as explained by the council president right now was five minutes he actually granted everyone an extra two minutes for the purpose of this meeting it's three minutes and the council president has said that's it so I'm going to sit down but I will just suggest you please read the resolution and it doesn't have say that okay so everybody should read at at least a resolution once a year thank you thank you motion to close the meeting to the public second all in favor I sorry mayor yes U thank you council president I have two proclamations that I want to read to start off um the first Proclamation is October is Italian Heritage and culture month so whereas the township of Saddlebrook wishes to join Saddlebrook chapter of Unico National in celebrating October as Italian Heritage and culture month Saddlebrook hosts an active local chapter of Unico National the largest Italian American Service organization in the United States who operate and live by the motto service above self unico's mission is to promote and enhance the image of Italian Americans for their members to be of service to the community and lit literary projects to promotee interests in public welfare and to cooperate with others in Civic social and cultural development so the township of saur celebrates the culture traditions and history of Italian Americans so now therefore be it resolved that I Robert D white the mayor of the township of Saddlebrook do hereby Proclaim October as Italian Heritage and culture month in the township of Saddlebrook the next Proclamation is in in observance of Breast Cancer Awareness Month whereas October is National Breast Cancer Awareness this month and is a platform for educating women about the importance of early detection through research advocacy and early detection significant advances have been made in the fight against breast cancer a variety of public and private organizations and agencies provide care support and services to anyone in any capacity is affected by breast cancer breast cancer survivors are a testament to resilience to the promotion of awareness and to following the recommended screening guidelines so now therefore be it resolved that I Robert D white the mayor the township of Satur to hereby Proclaim to recognize the month of October as breast cancer awareness month and encourage our residents to become educated and informed about programs and services that offer early detection and to also celebrate the survivors and memorialize those who have lost their battle thank you I want to start uh my comments by I'm going to start by just mentioning Omar's some of Omar's comments um he's he says that the building cost $3 32 million uh I don't know why that he hasn't gotten the Oprah I don't know maybe our clerk can weigh in on that but uh if if it's been eight months it's too long so that's that's unacceptable but uh our numbers are more like 28 million so that's a $4 million difference now the ba is a little bit more of a of Omar twisting the facts he is right that uh the one year last year um I'm sorry two years ago we did pay $300,000 to a business administrator we were pretty much we were in we were in dire shape because we had uh we had some uh problems um we had uh our ba was was sick and was in the hospital and uh for almost a month and uh we had a lot of things that were going on and we needed somebody to fill in so that person did fill in we hired a Consulting service on an emergency basis so yes that's true 300,000 for one year Jimmy holmesy our current businessman administrator he makes $160,000 that's what he makes okay so I don't know where you know you're you're you're saying that we that he's he's getting paid more money than he is he's not getting paid 300,000 he's getting paid 160,000 you may think that's too much I don't know but that's the truth of the matter is yes you're right about the one year so and we feel that we felt it was necessary we were pretty much in the emergency situation and we had to hire somebody we had to hire somebody that was seasoned and good and that could help us out help us through a very difficult time so I want to talk a little bit about the budget tax bills went out for the fourth quarter um the tax rate is uh 2306 so the municiple side increase is $242 128 on a residential property valued at 4625 um this is more than we wanted to to raise taxes but unfortunately none of this is none of this is uh all the raise is non-discretionary it's all funds that we have to that we that we need we need to operate run and operate the town most of it is is salaries and wages um you know we have a police department to run we have uh uh you know a town hall to run we have a DBW w we and and they do it they all do a great job but you know we don't we don't want to cut Services that's something we don't want to do uh and one of the biggest reasons that the you know the taxes did go up is property values have increased I was talking to the tax assessor 20 to 25% in the last four years the TA the values of properties have gone up and and you you have to you have to raise taxes if you know if the if the values are going up and and our our tax rate is pretty low uh inflation everybody's suffering from inflation so that's a big deal uh you know it costs us more for for the services it costs us more for uh vendors that we hire um it seems like the larger increases were multif family h Homes um and income producing homes rental properties they seem to go up a lot and in this certain area of town uh the mostly the South End uh of town they went up but the values went up so much and know look the the the people that have homes that they have a tenant they're going to pass that on to the tenant it's unfortunate for the tenant I feel bad for the tenant but that's what usually happens a homeowner um Omar you own a two family home you you know you have a renter so uh you know you may pass it on to the to that renter I don't know what you're going to do but um you know you seem to feel sorry for the residents and what they have to pay and so maybe you'll maybe you'll take it easy on your tenant and we're still one of we're still 12th lowest in the county that's where we stand 12th lowest out of 70 municipalities um next year in 2025 we're anticipating additional revenues coming in one one of the biggest things is we're going to sell and we're very close to a Redevelopment plan we're going to sell 73 and 93 Market Street 93 Market Street sat there for uh and Mr Rodriguez you were on a council back then 2002 in 2006 we built the the new police station so you had four years to do something with that property and and really it sat a long time I had 10 years but you know I'm embarrassed by it we need to do something with that property it's just sitting there so that's what we're going to do we're going to we're going to sell it and we're going to have it redeveloped so that's something that we uh that's going to happen very soon within this year we're going to have an ordinance to uh to sell that and it's going to go before the planning board and also the Andrew D I'm sorry I don't know how to pronounce that name but uh you mentioned the Cannabis businesses those cannabis businesses are going to bring us in revenue and they're going to open up two of them are going to open up before the end of the year so that's something that we all voted on here we're going to get 2% of the sales and and it's going to it's going to be a lot of money it's going to help the residents that extra revenue is going to help residents um many res residents received water bills late due to a problem with the post office so interest has been waved until October 21st because some people got the the bills late not everyone a portion of uh the town so let's go over uh the rodent update rat update rodent rodent sightings rat sightings and activity appear to be lessening okay still not nothing we're still getting reports but we're receiving less complaints tracking we're tracking the activity which still seems to be confined to infiltration okay I must say there could be a rat here and there okay we have that that's going to happen but the infiltration of rat seems to be in the north end of town at a half mile section and their pockets there are people that are in that area that never see a rat but there are nest and we're working on it and the town what we've done is we baited Avon Park um with there's 30 uh traps there but they call bait traps and they're the type of traps because we didn't want to put poison down the kids play in that field and also there's some concern for you know other animals that eat the animals that that eat the the poison so um we put these special kind of traps at the recommendation of of our uh exterminator our Pest Control expert and they're the type of trap where there's the the bait is regular food and the road goes inside and gets trapped in it there and then once every 3 or 4 days they get checked and if there's any bodies in there they're disposed of humanly I don't know what that means but that's what they're what I'm told now we've been getting more mice but we've getting some rats too so so far it's been about two three weeks we got four rats and about 10 mice couple of chipmunks too so um the school district is working on and helping out with us uh because we got some complaints on jamrose Terrace so they're cleaning up the Smith Field along the fence that's adjacent to the backyards on jamrose Terrace and uh I don't know whether they're going to uh you know they have their own exterminator I don't know if they're going to put bait traps there but uh they are there's a lot of overgrowth there so they are working on that they also put new garbage pales on the field that have lids on them so because there was a complaint about that that they were that they were uh there was no Lids on on on the uh on the garbage cans that are that are on the field uh we're cracking down on property maintenance violators uh that's been you know they've been getting uh they've been getting red stickered we try to talk to them try to get them to improve and uh and clean up um they have a second reading tonight on an ordinance which requires residents to use garbage pales with lids the ordinance will take effect November 13th if uh it passes um violators right now are receiving notices in the mail from the health department because the ordinance doesn't they're not violating the ordinance but we're letting them know that we have rat problem and that they need to cooperate and get a pale and stop putting out plastic bags at the curb and more people than you think do it it's a lot so once the ordinance is passed then at that point we'll we'll start putting red stickers on the doors and and they they'll get warning notices and if they don't uh comply they'll get summonses but residents have been taking the matter seriously and hiring professionals and I feel pretty positive about it that we're working together to eradicate the problem uh Township Road restoration program right now in town um Bob the engineer correct me if I'm wrong but I think there's there's three locations Lincoln a Sterling Place and Samson Street uh the concrete work has been done uh on the first two Lincoln and Sterling and Samson I think they started it this week so then within the next couple of weeks they'll be Paving uh Public Service Gas and Electric uh they're replacing gas Mains around town and it's uh they're doing a lot of work in town and uh so there's H you may get delays at times uh Westminister Place they've been there uh working over there uh in the area too Boulevard Adriana South Street now they're on Wilson Street Ash and Elm and president in Third Street they did some work but they're going back to do more work over there there events that took place uh over the last month the shredding event was Saturday September 28th I want to thank Bergen County for sponsoring it and also uh Joan Ramsey of the DPW Perry Festa and my secretary Christine januario the Unico street fair was Sunday September 29th the weather wasn't ideal but uh but it ended up that it was well attended considering and uh thank you to everyone that came out participated that's uh an annual event that we kind of join together with Unico we it's a joint event that we do with them uh fire prevention week was October 6th to the 10th uh I know that the fire department is out on their calendar Drive I know they were out this past weekend I think they're going to be out again this weekend uh so please be generous to our volunteer fire department during this calendar Drive Washington school's 100th anniversary was held on October 10th School District did a fantastic job it was very well done uh I can't believe how many people came out uh former students uh teachers uh to uh to celebrate that and also uh we had the dedication of Arturo babe Liberty field on Sunday October 13th this past Sunday it was a it was a wonderful event um I don't know a lot of people in town new baby he passed away at 90 93 back in June but uh welld deserved honor the field is named after him now nedick field is now uh Arturo babe Liberty field upcoming events we got the Halloween decorating contest we're ready we got about 10 I believe regist registrants the last day of registers October 25th trunk Retreat is Saturday October 26th but from 12:00 noon to 2 p.m in the municipal complex parking lot if there's incl weather we'll bring it inside in the gym the senior Halloween party is October 29th I don't I don't think that's a Tuesday I'm not sure but it's October 29th at 6 pm. at the sbook VFW 44 Market Street uh if you're interested any seniors call Senior Center to make a reservation to attend 201845 4594 201845 4594 and election day is November F 5th Tuesday November 5th polls open at 6:00 a.m. and close at 8:00 pm and good luck to uh column one and good luck to column two too good luck to everybody that's on the ballot Council mcer uh good evening everyone uh I just have a couple of things not as much as mayor white uh the flood committee meeting we're going to be meeting in October on October 22nd that's a Tuesday at 6:30 here at the municipal complex uh anyone interested in getting involved you're more than welcome to come to the flood committee meeting um we do have a number of people coming so uh please make every effort to to be there um I just want to talk a little bit about the taxes I received my tax bill like everybody else within the last two weeks and being a middle school math teacher for 14 years uh I broke down the the tax bill um and I mentioned it at the work session two weeks ago um the school tax is 55.3% of the of your tax bill okay um the municipal is 32.9% the county is 99.9% your library is 1.5% of your tax bill and then about a half a percent goes for open space so schools are extremely important not going to say we're not we want great schools and we've got to fund Great Schools if we want a great Community we're dealing here with 32.9% of the money okay obviously of that 32.9% roughly a third most of its salary and benefits so there's not a lot that can be done with that three qus of of our budget three4 of onethird is salary and benefits now do we want armed security in the schools we instituted that program it's a great program is that something we cut do we cut fireworks do we cut newsletters what do we cut and how much is that going to save our taxpayers every little bit helps so that's something that we have to consider taxes have gone up my taxes in 2003 were about $3,600 now they're $8,100 I bought my house for $292,000 houses on my block are selling for for5 $600,000 so there's a lot of math to be done here we have a wonderful Community it costs money to run the community and when somebody says oh it's Town Hall that means it's our residents we're all Town Hall so if we want to buy garbage pills for the residents because we have a Vermin problem or a rat issue who's going to pay for that the residents are going to pay for it whether they go to Home Depot and buy the pale or whether they the town supplies it for them because we would have to raise taxes to buy everybody garbage pales okay so it all comes from a pot of money the Board of Ed contributes to that the county contributes to that because we live in the county and we have a great Park okay so there's things that we have to pay for if we want a good Community now I know when the house goes up for sale on Ash Avenue in two days it's gone I know when I talk to that neighbor that moves in and welcomes them to my lock they tell me one of the reasons I came here is because of the low taxes so it may sound funny but if you're coming from Queens or Brooklyn and you see what you're getting there for what it is people want to come to New Jersey and they want to come to Bergen County my dad was recently in the hospital at Memorial Sloan spoke to the nurse there I just bought a house in Hillsdale thrilled loves Bergen County grew up in Rockland County great schools safe communities we have a wonderful town we have a wonderful County okay unfortunately it does cost a little bit of money and for people that are on a fixed income senior citizens I was at the AARP meeting they they're able to freeze their taxes and that's very important that the neighbors know you're 65 years old your property taxes can be Frozen and we're trying to get that work out to people okay question isn't that dep on your income yeah I think the income is like 150,000 yeah it's a lot of money I mean if you're making over 160,000 in retirement okay okay um but in any regard I just wanted to speak to the taxes a little bit and some of the candidates we're running against well one of the candidates we're running against was on the council for eight years and I remember candidly my when I got my tax bill it's funny everything went up now he can get elected and not raise taxes that's a miracle he should have done that for the eight years he was on the council maybe it'd still be there I don't know but in any regard taxes went up every one of those eight years I remember him being there and it was total chaos but that's a story for another day but I I appreciate you listening to me um happy Halloween safe Halloween be well thank you thank you councilman Council councilman meer good evening everyone and for those of you who do not know who I am my name is Florence Maser I I am also a candidate for uh Council I've had the uh opportunity and the U pleasure actually because has been for the past 24 years to serve as your Council woman um they call this the Silly Season I find nothing funny about it when we have people coming up here and exaggerating and throwing in your windows around uh I've been a resident in this town for over 40 years and um I've seen the progress and I'm so very proud to be living here raising my children my grandchildren in business here and uh I only see a bright future for the for the for our Township and um you know uh I wish everyone luck um on on there but um let's remember what we're here for and uh I also want to congratulate um the Liberty Family for uh the red the dedication of the nli field um it's a great man babe um and um well deserved and also everyone involved with the 100e celebration of Washington School my children went through that school and a lot of great memories there and um did a great job and look forward to many more years of uh fun at at that location but but um I hope to see everyone at the trunk or treat thank you thank you councilman councilman Sanchez through the chair this just I just want to before good I'm sorry Sor I just I just want to thank the sheriff for coming tonight and doing that public service announcement and uh I'm going to get in touch with them hopefully we can have the sheriff's department come to our senior center they have in the past come and and done uh similar type of uh scam alerts and uh educational type seminars so uh but thank you sheriff for coming tonight SZ okay so just briefly um I believe in the past we have sent somebody out to go look at Walmart and follow up with Walmart if I'm not mistaken um I don't know if we can do that again just to see if they can continue to address these issues because clearly the issues haven't stopped um now um I also just want to apologize for not being able to attend the last meeting because I had personal matters to attend to um and I wasn't here to congratulate chief cougler on his retirement so I just wanted to take a second to do that um congratulate him and wish him well in his retirement and good luck to all the candidates in this upcoming election Council M couple of things that came across um babe Liberty great guy great family um unfortunately I was unable to attend I had a my daughter's baby shower so congratulations to her uh but it's a well-deserved uh honor uh if he seemed like a Gruff guy but he was a sweetheart and uh once you got to know him and talk to him it was a good experience he was always at the uh fence for football games too uh you know he was he's a fixture in Saddlebrook and icon so U it was great that we were able to or that little league was able to do that um even though it's not in our town uh the uh Elwood Park is going to be dedicated to Vietnam V veteran uh Memorial it's a it's a statue of three soldiers that's going to be this Saturday at 11 o'clock corner of van rer and Mulla Boulevard so even though that's not a town it's it's our neighboring community and uh it is uh for you know it honors our veterans and speaking of that November 11th we won't have a meeting until after that we won't have a public meeting televised public meeting so November 11th at 11:00 a.m. uh at VFW Circle there will be the annual VFW Veterans Day Memorial so we ask that people come out to uh honor our vets now I'm going to address some comments that were made by column one uh they haven't been coming here for a year Mr Rodriguez has he's been coming for decades but um I believe it was May when we first saw column one candidates come here certainly not a year it talked about the business administrator and I'm going to repeat some of the things uh that the mayor and other Council people have said but again it was uh it was an emerging situation we did not pay a person $300,000 we paid a company 300 Grand 75 a quarter to help us with this emergent situation the person that was doing our business administrator work also served for some time as the clerk she ran an election during that period of time so did we want that to happen no thank God the health has returned uh and uh we have hired Mr homy who is well qualified and talking about paramis uh the information about the salary of pamis first of all pis is not 10 times larger than us in terms of people at least uh but the salary is more than our current business administrator is making so again misinformation I'll go over it again even though it's it's said over and over again this ridiculous notion that my health benefits are going to cost the taxpayers a million if God forbid my wife passes away or uh we get divorced and I remarry somebody with young kids and those kids get benefits to 26 come on I mean you're really you're really stretching things it's just ridiculous there's a lot of ifs you know if the queen had ball she'd be the king so you know it's just anyone who listens to that and takes any kind of of of credence and thinks that that's a real thing is nuts and if that's the case and you believe that don't vote for the municipal complex I mean just look around we are now the Envy of of many towns in this area what people don't understand or column one doesn't seem to understand at least is that we needed this place we had concerts this summer outside we've got a big parking lot we had 10 parking spaces at our parking at our old Municipal complex 10 I mean that's crazy for a municipal complex if you ever went to court there the entire Community the entire area around there was just inundated with cars parking every which way because they had a 100 people going to court they had 10 spaces our Hook and Ladder uh fire Squad uh was there and the building that was was moldy they were cramped they've got a new space the ambulance Corps cramped outdated they've got a new space we never had a recreation center we now have a recreation center our Fire official was in one building the tax assessor in another building the building department in another building uh Rec director in a in another building they were all over now we're all in one place so the one issue that they seem to hark on is that there was no referendum now in our former government we don't need to have a referendum and I I'll point this out the fire department we have many of our members there we're going to pass a bond ordinance for a new fir TR but there are some people out there that don't think we need a new firet truck they see firet trucks they see them nice and they keep them in nice shape they're nice and shiny and red why do we need a fir truck well they don't realize that the fire trucks expire you know they have a shelf life 20 years or so and we try and uh do a uh revolving purchase we don't purchase one every year but when we need to we do they have to be replenished so if you go out to a refere random what are 51% of the people actually 50% plus one says nah we don't need a fir Tru we don't get a firet truck what if we're going to do a road program and people say you know what I went on sheep isav that seems okay we don't need to we don't need to pave that I'm going to vote against it if everything is put to a referendum government wouldn't function that's not our type of government we are elected to make hard decisions and that's part of it and your response is if you like what we're doing you keep us here if you don't we'll be out next year this time somebody else will be sitting up here if you don't like what we're doing I think we're doing a good job obviously I'm biased but the town is being we've got Road programs we've got police we don't we're not doing what what had been done where police vehicles were replaced basically when they were riding on the rims the equipment was outdated people had guns that were that were older than them sometimes uh in the police department that's not happening now we're trying to do what we have to do to make this town run properly and does it come at a cost yes what Mr Garrick had mentioned I I was you know knocking on doors doing campaigning and somebody said an older gentleman and he said do you um you know are you going to lower my taxes I said I'm not going to lie to you no I don't know of of a way to do that we try and hold the line on it as much as humanly possible but we don't then I said you know I'm going to be 65 you're you know no offense you're older than I am you're he was in his 80s I said you have a tax freeze he goes ah like that just like that ah I said what does AH mean he goes I don't believe in that you don't believe in you don't believe in tax R why not and he had no answer for it I said you you know that if you're 65 the gentleman asked a question if any one of your family if there a husband and wife and one of them is 65 once that person turns 65 even if the other one is not 65 you're eligible for this tax free and it and the what happens is you pay your your taxes if they go up let's say you had you there were 10,000 they go up to 10,500 you pay pay the $10,500 the state will reimburse you that $500 but you've got to apply and a lot of people surprisingly um I was at that same ARP meeting and I said that to some of the members and one guy who's you know I thought was pretty astute says oh I didn't know he's 80 years old he's for 15 years he's been paying more than he should um and the I believe the uh income uh level is60 or $165,000 a year combined income so uh in terms of they mentioned about marijuana the reason that the marijuana facilities the Cannabis facilities are in one location is because that's the way we wanted it we have a cannabis overlay District we didn't want it all over the place if you're going to have it have it in one District now some people may know about the huge problem that they have in rochell park because of their cannabis facility does anyone know about that well you don't because there is none it's fear-mongering from people that are not knowledgeable about it these places have security they they make you seem they make it seem as if these are like uh you know methadone clinics or or a Grateful Dead concert or something that people are just going to be stoned walking in driving in and driving out that's just not what it's about so again lack of knowledge leads to uh misinformation um in terms of the rats and they said we haven't done anything and this well apparently this gentleman said that in the 80s there was a rat problem so uh I don't recall that but he lives in a in a different area and I there's a creek there and there's uh you know stores and you know uh facilities that have a lot of uh garbage generated over there so I I can easily see that there there would be a rat issue over there but the mayor laid it out at that that rat hearing 10 or 11 steps now column one came in and said you know this is my proposal these are things I'm going to fix this problem well we already did two of the three things that he said and then the third thing was to spread poison which believe it or not is not is frowned upon around in saten Brook and throughout the state we don't want to poison our kids um in terms of Walmart uh Sylvia had come up and said something about speed bumps unfortunately it's a private Enterprise so I don't think the town can require them at this point to install speed bumps the gentleman no the gentleman had mentioned something about idling trucks there is a statue I think it's 39453 or so top of my head uh that says you can't idle besides a local ordinance that says you can't idle so again the crap in the back the idling trucks that's enforcement issues and you know personally I personally apologize to the people who have to put up with that U you shouldn't do any pardon me why don't enforcement well that's it's an Enforcement issue and we have to get on the the different ities that are required by part of their job well sir can't just BL out stuff this is well I mean I'm not in charge of of grabbing these guys by the throat and telling them that they got to do their job but they got to do their job I brought it up to a year ago so nothing's really changed right well I I don't know I mean it's it's an on it's it's it's I'm just going to remind everybody that the public portion is over right now let the councilman give his report thank you it's an ongoing issue and sometimes enforcement uh is more laxed than we would like so I agree and I you know I somebody said I feel your pain but uh we're going to go at it again the mayor is certainly aware of this uh we all are aware of this and you've brought it to our attention once again so we've got to get to the powers that be uh in order to do enforcement one is Property Maintenance the other one is police there's two different entities that are in charge of each of those type of things they got to do their job and if they don't do their job there should be some accountability that's the main thing on here if there's if there's no accountability then you know why have laws why you know why are we up here these people who are hired to do certain things have to do those things and do it well um the um and the last thing I I got a call from someone about the Columbus Day and it says hey you know Saddlebrook you're not celebrating Columbus Day because on the Facebook it said indigenous people's day it also had Columbus Day so it is a federal it's not known F federally uh comus day and Indigenous people's day uh that the town did what they should have if we can't ignore that it is a Federal holiday and it's comus day and and Indigenous people's day um I want to say there's one gentleman in the audience and he comes here and he uh specializes in lighting and you know things like that and light pollution and I appreciate him coming here because rather than just coming here and being angry uh constantly and just saying you know you guys suck basically uh he comes up here and he has actual ideas and he actually uh you know has some proposals that we take into account so I I appreciate you you sir for for what you do again thank you to the sheriff for coming here and spreading that PSA to us and I that's all I got for now thanks through the chair I just sure I just want to Mr manene and and Sylvia after the meeting it shouldn't be too much longer if you want to stay myself and and and our business administrator will'll talk to you so I am certainly not going to be as long as anyone else because uh I'm sure a lot of people want to go home U Want I do want to congratulate the Liberty family that's such a great honor if you didn't have ever meet babe he was a quiet guy but he was a very nice guy so it's good honor for that family trunker treat is 26 12-2 um I moved here 23 years ago and I met Pastor wolf Pastor wolf has been a wonderful guy a great asset to the town a great asset to the community and he just got his what I like to say Walking Papers he got transferred to another church Parish so I just wanted to wish him and his family all the best and just let WHUR know that they're getting a great man when they get Pastor wolf so uh good luck to Pastor wolf um like councilman Garrick said when I moved here my taxes were $3,800 a year 23 years later they 13,500 and I have no problem paying that because you know why because if I go to fairon my house is over 18,000 if I go to Loi my house is over 20,000 and they don't offer the community that we offer so I also knew what I was getting myself into when I bought here and put the addition on my house so I could raise a family and enjoy my hopefully long life here in Saddlebrook so the amount of taxes my taxes went up over the 23 years in numbers it sounds like a lot but in reality compared to other towns and I know this is Saddlebrook we live here we shouldn't worry about other towns but that's how they base your taxes so I'm happy paying 13,500 knowing that I could get almost $900,000 for a house that I pay $250,000 for so if that's a problem for anybody maybe you should reconsider living in Saddlebrook because stock market won't make money like that um and on a on a good note I just would like to thank the sherff for coming here taking time out to educate the residents of Saddlebrook and I'd like to wish all the candidates all the best in this upcoming election thank you we have ordinances F final reading ordinance 1757 d24 an ordinance authorizing a special emergency appropriation njsa 48 coling 4-53 for the purpose of tax maps for a second reading motion second all in favor I an ordinance authorizing a special emergency appropriation njsa 48 colon 4-53 for the purpose of tax maps uned public hearing motion for to open to the public all in favor I this ORD is now open to the public public comment this ordinance only anyone wishing to speak no motion to close second in favor I I be resigned by the township Council of the township of sanbrook that the ordinance entitled an ordinance authorizing a special emergency appropriation JSA 48 col 4-53 for the purpose of tax maps does now pass on second and final reading at the Township Clerk be directed to advertise set ordinance or title thereof in the Press together with the notice of the date of passage of set ordinance according to law motion motion second all in favor I next ordinance ordinance 1758 d24 a bond ordinance to authorize the making of various public improvements and the acquisition of new additional or replacement equipment and Machinery new communication and Signal systems equipment and new Automotive vehicles and a new fire engine including original apparatus and equipment in by en fored Township of SBR in the county of Bergen state of New Jersey to appropriate the sum of 2 million $545,500 pay the cost thereof to make a down payment to authorize the issuance of bonds to finance such appropriation and to provide for the issuance of bond anticipation notes anticipation of the issuance of such bonds for second reading motion roll call councilman simuka yes councilman Garrick yes councilman Sanchez yes counciler yes council president Aram yes a bond ordinance to authorize the making of various public improvements and the acquisition of new additional or replacement equipment and Machinery new communication and Signal systems equipment and new Automotive vehicles and a new fire engine including original apparatus equipment in by fora Township of selbrook in the county of Bergen state of New Jersey to appropriate the sum of 2 million 545 ,300 pay the cost thereof to make a down payment to authorize the issuance of bonds to finance such appropriation and to provide for the issuance of bond anticipation notes and anticipation of the issuance of such bonds motion second motion to open to the public on this ordinance and this ordinance only motion second second all in favor I me now open it to this ordinance and this ordinance only anyone wishing to speak through the chair I just wanted to see I know it's a little out of the ordinary but is is the assistant chief here or does anyone in the fire department want to just ADV oh the chief's here yeah I didn't see you um to just talk about the equipment and what this Bond a lot of this bond is going for sure my name is Dave Miki I'm the uh fire chief of the salber fire department what this uh what we're getting from the um mayor and council is a new engine that's replacing one of our oldest pieces right now uh we're also getting a a new Chief's truck that the current vehicle that we're using now was on its very last legs we are also getting for the first time in a very long time pagers right now our members are very dependent on using their cell phones to get dispatched for calls if some of you know that if you live in an area where you don't get such great cell service you may not be going for that uh you may not be aware that there's an emergency that we need to respond to um so that's another huge uh thing that we were able to get this year the other thing that we're getting too is our gem tour belts our gem tour belts are basically the equivalent of a bulletproof vest for the police department the gem tour belts um in the event of an emergency while we're inside a building if we have to bail out of the window our bailout system is attached to that g Tor belt and that will save our lives if we have to bail out of the building building um also when we're doing aerial operations we can lock into the ladder with the gem tour belt preventing anybody from falling um so that's what um the items that the fire department is receiving and I'd like to thank the mayor and Council for doing this for us this mayor and Council has always had our fire departments back anytime that we've needed anything they've always done whatever they can to make sure that we have the best equipment available to do the jobs that we do and for that I thank you thanks Chief thank you through the chair Chief I just wanted to thank you for your service and all your members the ones that are here and the ones that are that are at home thank you for all you do for the town thank you guys thank you through the chair um there was one item that's not in the capital that the fire department will be receiving this year it's a turnout gear through a grant so some of the items um that had to be financed through the operating budget um through a grant $43,000 worth of turnout gear through Grant and then a couple of other items so some of these items were were uh able to be purchased through State and County grants thank you motion close motion to close motion second all in favor I be resolve by the township Council of the township of Saddlebrook at the ordinance entitled a bond ordinance to authorize the making of various public improvements and the acquisition of new additional or replacement equipment and Machinery new communication and Signal systems equipment and new Automotive vehicles and a new fire engine including original apparatus and equipment and by for a Township of SBR in the county of Bergen state of New Jersey to appropriate de sum of 25453 to pay the course thereof make a down payment to authorize the issuance of bonds to finance such appropriation and to provide for the issuance of bond anticipation notes and anticipation of the issuance of such bonds does now pass on second and final reading at the Township Clerk be directed to advertise set ordinance or title thereof an oppress together with the notice of the date of passage of set ordinance according to law motion motion to approve all second all in favor I I is that oh sorry roll call councilman simuka yes councilman Garrick yes councilwoman Sanchez yes councilwoman Maser council president aaman yes ordinance 1759 d24 an ordinance to amend chapter 100 entitled garbage collection of the Township Code of the township of sandbrook state of New Jersey for second motion motion second all in favor I an ordinance to amend chapter 100 entitled garbage collection of the Township Code of the township of sbook state of New Jersey motion open to the public second all in favor I meetings now open to the public on this ordinance and this ordinance only anyone wishing to speak same none motion to close motion close second all in favor I may resoled by the township Council of the township of sanbrook that the ordinance entitled an ordinance to amend chapter 100 entitled garbage collection of the Township Code of the township of sandbrook state of New Jersey does now pass on second and final reading at the Township Clerk be directed to adverage set ordinance or title thereof in the Press together with the notice of the date of passage of set ordinance according to motion motion second second all in favor I I I Mr chair I just wanted to say one thing and and that's one of the things that the the council and the mayor uh have done is to introduce this ordinance we do believe that this will assist in in helping the situation involving uh the rad issue in town it's one of many things that we are implementing but it's it's a first step all items listed with an aster are considered routine and non-controversial by the township Council and will be approved by one motion there will be no separate discussion on these items unless a council member or memb so request it in which case the item or items will be removed from the consent agenda and considered in its normal sequence on the agenda the one motion signifies adoption of all resolutions receive and file letters correspondents reports approval of minutes and applications motion motion second all in favor I I new business old business any mayor I think I think I'm good thanks Council you have anything yeah thank you for mentioning Pastor wolf oh no problem good good man very good losing a a very good person Dave Council I just want to mention the Liberty Family I was there uh by the little Le field welld deserved honor congratulations to the Liberty family thank you yeah I would just like to um to mention the uh two grants we received one for over a little over 13 38,000 138,000 um for the Improvement of some of our parks and also um another one we received from our County EXA also and our commissioners there um a million dollars for um the dredging of the pond at AO Pell um park hopefully it's the beginning of uh some help of the the flooding there uh like to thank them for it Council councilman yeah the it's not only dredging but I believe that they're going to put in another Air Raider in there currently we have one there might be one that's kind of buried but and hasn't worked for years but they're going to do that and they're also at least they've told us they're committed to uh working with different divisions within the park to dnag and and get rid of a lot of the uh the dead trees there and potentially open up some of the uh the areas so this way you could see the lake right now as you walk around um or ride your bike uh you can see it at the North End and south end but the rest is all covered with foliage some people say that that's the way they want it to avoid people going into the lake I personally think that the lake is a beautiful thing and should be seen and I'm hoping that uh we can get a lot of that or some of at least some of that was I don't want to be too greedy uh some of that foliage taken out so this way we can see what we have there thank you Bob anything nothing James i' like to open the meeting for agenda items only motion second all in favor I meeting is now open for agenda items only anyone wishing to speak good evening Omar Rodriguez s I I believe that it becomes an agenda only when actually my name has been left on on on on right the new garbage can should be paid out of the uh water account they got $600,000 why the taxpayers have to be increased taxes again paying $120 $140,000 I mean 120 $140 per can and it's just a 26 Ines but anyway uh that's a wrong call that's desperation there is other solutions that is not going to resolve that rat issue and a lot of attacks today but then again it's election season and I guess it's time for change in November 5th all those that are happy just continue the government but if it's time for change column one and I can prove a lot of things but uh I believe that uh like the VA one year the mayor hasn't said that I've been battling right here for more than 10 months to get rid of the highest pay business administrator in the state of New Jersey and that person was let go from Edison that same company that the mayor's mentioning was hired in Edison within 20 days they found the replacement for the business administrator and by the way the business administrator was here so in 20 days and it took one year right here or they were just covering or doing a favor do you have a com do you have a comment for agenda items am I going to be arrested again no stop being ridiculous you're like a child yes you're like child so listen the the the the you're going to try to dictate me this is s United States of America for the agenda items only but you're acting like a child really yes I I wonder if you got some education sure do you have it yeah you just went six months to high school you have kids you have kids anyway so then again let me just speak up all right and by the way so you can educate yourself the resolution can you please pass it on what I just said before I'm good do say how many minutes so you can educate it that the attorney can also look at it and educate themselves so it doesn't say nothing the resolution and it's not an ordinance an ordinance That's the Law that's just a resolution please read it again and again until you understand no good thank so then again 600 units were going to be built by councilman simuka and some others in this Council Mr rodrigue and park and we deny we built a park and I'm going to close with that a lot of lies has been said tonight and I have the freedom of speech to speak up thank you very much have a wonderful night and hopefully it's time for change on November 5th voting colum one thank you have a good night you too mtion close motion to close on need G items second all in favor I to motion to adjourn I got one to say I got one thing to say it's time for a change that means vote column two so we don't get a retread like this coming in every single month thank you you wi it's open I got to say something he sat up there and said how we could help the fire department if we weren't paying $300,000 for a ba that's the same man councilman council president when he was a councilman who neglected to do anything for the fire department and tabled everything they wanted until it cost a significant amount and then approved it so if he cost a anybody cost a taxpayer's money it was Omar Rodriguez not this Council so he should just speak before he talks too thank you motion to adjourn motion to adjourn all in favor I I thank you everyone