##VIDEO ID:gNSRFBorRms## e e e e good evening I like to call the meeting to order Welcome to our annual Saddle Brook Township council reorganization meeting we wish everyone very happy and healthy 25 please stand to rise for the salute to the flag and please remain standing as we do a moment of silence and memory of former President Jimmy Carter and a blessing from father Bruce from St Philip the Apostle Church reg to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible liy and justice for all father Bruce good evening as we remember Jimmy Carter we remember all those who uh who dedicate their lives to service of the people of uh our country and of the world as you know President Carter had tremendous impact uh after his presidency particularly in his work with the the homeless with uh Habitat for Humanity and working almost till the end with that but we gathered tonight for a reorganizational meeting and we're reminded that in the Book of Genesis the author tells us that God made the heavens and the Earth and he set the St stars in their place uh to order things and then he put humans here uh to tend the planet which he's given to us and we pray tonight for God's blessings upon our mayor and upon the councel upon the work that they do that they may always be open uh to see the presence of God and of God's handiwork in the world around us and in the people we encounter bless them Lord and bless the work that they do give them Open Hearts and willing hands to to hear what is expressed by the citizens of this town and to do what is best not just for themselves but for the the common good as we strive to work together for a sense of of unity and Reconciliation in a world that is so touched by violence we ask all these things in your holy name amen thank you very much thank you Father adequate notice of this meeting has been sent to All council members and to all legal newspapers in accordance with the provisions of the open public meetings act chapter 231 Public Law 1975 the public is hereby advised that any statements made during the meeting of the township Council of the township of SBR may not be privileged or protected and have persons or entities who take issue with such comments May in having in the pass or illegal redress through the courts any member of the public who addresses the council speaks for themselves and not for the council at this time we'll be administering the oath of office to our three newly elected council members uh first is Florence Maser and I have the honor of swearing councilwoman Maser in and holding the Bible my daughter okay please repeat after me put your right hand right hand left hand on the Bible right hand is it I knew that i Florence Maser i Florence merer do Solly swear do SW solemly swear that I will support the Constitution that I will support the Constitution of the United States of the United States and the Constitution and the constitution of the state of New Jersey of the state of New Jersey and that I will bear true faith and that I will bear true faith and Allegiance and allegiance to the same to the same and to the government and to the government established in the United States established in the United States and in the state and in this state under the authority of the people under the authority of the people and will perform my duties and will perform my duties as councilwoman as councilwoman Township of Saddlebrook Township of Saddlebrook Faithfully faithfully impartially impartially and justly and justly to the best of my ability to the best of my ability so help me God so help me God congratulations con just got a sign thank you okay next we have councilman Andrew M simuka and given the oath of office is former mayor Lewis darino you know I just want to say that before I uh administer the oath of offer it's certainly an honor and privilege for me to do so Andrew and I go back 1996 and pretty much he's almost responsible for us being elected office here in Saddlebrook when our opposition didn't want us to run and didn't want us to put up Law lawn signs it was Andrew samuca who we went to to take the matter to court and we prevailed and I'm proud to be here tonight and when Andrew asked me I was certainly honored to say yes to administer the oath Andrew the Bible this this way you guys GNA hold the Bible hold ready repeat after me I Andrew M simuka i Andrew M simala do Solly swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States you Solly swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States and the constitution of the state of New Jersey and the constitution of the state of New Jersey and that I will bear true faith and Allegiance and I will bear truth faith and allegiance to the same and to the government to the same to the government established in the United States and in this state established in the United States and this state under the authority of the people under the authority of the people and will perform my duties as councilman and will perform my duties as councilman for the township of Saddlebrook for the township of Saddlebrook Faithfully faithfully impartially impartially justly justly and to the best of my ability so help me God best of my ability so help me God congratulations Andrew and thank you how about want sign you reach you reach is it good next we have councilman David Garrick councilman Garrick is being sworn in by our district 38 assemblyman Chris Tully okay repeat after me I David Garrick I David Garrick do solemnly swear do solemnly swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States that I will support the Constitution of the United States and the constitution of the state of New Jersey and the constitution of the state of New Jersey and that I will bear true faith and Allegiance and that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same to the same and to the government established and to the government established in the United States of the United States and in this state and in this state under the authority of the people under the authority of the people and will perform my duties and will perform my duties as Council as council president councilman I think we had the wrong okay councilman that comes later as councilman of the township of Saddlebrook of the township of Saddlebrook Faithfully faithfully and partially and partially and justly and justly to the best of my ability to the best of my ability so help me God so help me God congratulations Council thank you appreciate it thank you thank you something wonderful David just uh stay right here I just wanted to first of all thank you so much for the honor of swearing you in tonight and uh we actually have H proclamations from myself uh assemblywoman Lisa Swain and Senator Joel L goner for you uh Andrew and Flo if you could both come back up here and uh really it's just such an honor for us to be here tonight uh the fact that the township of Saddlebrook returned you to this uh esteemed governing body we're so thankful to have you as partners here in Saddlebrook you do an amazing job for the community and really just to see your families coming out tonight the community coming out tonight really shows your dedication to this town because after all the amount of time that you take and sacrifice you make for this burrow moving the burrow forward and we see that through your return here tonight we are so proud of you we're so happy to continue the work for you and with that we'll present uh proclamations for all three of you congratulations we're so honored to be here tonight thank you thank everybody yes please absolutely we go awesome congratulations everybody thank [Applause] you again congratulations to our three returning council members at this time I will call the role of the 2025 Township Council Council samuca here Council mamando here councilwoman Sanchez here councilwoman Maser here councilman Garrick here first order of business is the uh election of a council president I will now ask for nominations for council president nominate Dave Garrick i' second that all in favor I I I'll Now read the resolution of appointment be resolved by the township Council of the township of sber County of Bergen state of New Jersey that David Garrett is hereby appointed council president effective January 2nd 2025 for a term to expire December 31st 2025 council president is to serve without additional compensation is there a motion motion second councilman samuka yes councilman alamando yes councilman Sanchez yes councilman mea yes councilman Garrick yes congratulations council president over to you thank you uh we have a first of all I just want to thank everybody here uh this evening uh all the people that came out to support us um all the residents in town who supported us in November thank you very much uh I was council president in 2023 it's a job that I take extremely seriously and I'm more than thrilled to be able to represent the council in 2025 um we're going to have some Council comments in a little bit but before we do do that that I have a presentation for uh council president uh Tarak amand yes uh this is for council president Tarak amundo I just want to commend you on your leadership skills it's never easy being council president but especially during an election year year it even compounds things makes it a little bit more difficult and Todd really did an outstanding job he showed true true leadership ability um he represented us so well throughout the entire year and I just want to say thank you thank you okay this say this says presented to council president Todd J akamondo 2024 in recognition of your leadership and service Township of Saddlebrook congratulations budy thank you council president just stay there and mayor white will swear you in okay for council president raise your right hand left hand on the Bible this is the O of office Township of Saddlebrook County of Bergen state of New Jersey for council president I David Garrick I David Garrick do solemnly swear do solemnly swear that I will support the Constitution that I will support the Constitution of the United States of the United States and the Constitution and the constitution of the state of New Jersey of the state of New Jersey and that I will will bear true faith and Allegiance and I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same to the same and to the government established and to the government established in the united states in the United States and in this state and in this state under the authority of the people under the authority of the people and will perform my duties and will perform my duties as council president for the township of Saddlebrook as council president for the township of Saddlebrook Faithfully faithfully impartially impartially and justly and justly to the best of my ability to the best of my ability so help me God so help me God congratulations council president thank you thank you well deserved thank you very much mayor white picture pict here think got my if Chris has this one too thank you sign this next resolution is the planning board representative be resolved by the township Council of the township of sad Brook that councilwoman Florence merer is hereby appointed Council planning board rep for a one-year term no additional compensation no additional compensation motion motion sorry second all in all in favor where you going have my grandsons come sure come on up grandsons hand up left hand on the Bible got it I Florence Maser i Florence Maser do solemnly swear do solemnly swear that I will support the Constitution that I will support the Constitution of the United States of the United States and the Constitution and the constitution of the state of New Jersey state of New Jersey and that I will bear true faith and that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same and Al and allegiance to the same and to the government established and to the government established in the United States United States and in this state and and State under the authority of the people under the authority of the people and will perform my duties I will perform my duties as Council representative to the planning board as Council representative to the planning board Faithfully faithfully and partially and partially and justly and justly to the best of my ability to the best of my ability so help me God so help me God congratulations thank you Just A Sign see that Cath school she's got a nice signature congratulations thank you next resolution is the U appointment of a registered Municipal accountant will Cox and company motion second motion all in favor I hi I resolution four resolution for Bond counsel appointment of Rogan McCarthy motion second motion Dave are you making the motion or asking for a motion I'm asking for a motion motion all in favor I I designating the legal newspapers for the township the record and our town motion second all in favor I I I official depositories for the township ass Columbia Bank Spencer Bank motion motion second all in favor I I approv signatures on checks motion motion second all in favor I I a resolution U as permitted by State Statute to fix the U rate of interest interest for delinquent taxes for the year 2025 motion motion second all in favor I I resolution stating the delinquent water charges and charging interests as provided by state statute for the water account motion motion second all in favor I I establishing the regular meeting dates of the township Council for the year 2025 motion motion second all in favor I I Bo zon board member for four-year term Joseph schul from sadle Brook motion motion second all in favor I I appointment zon board member for assonate to your ter motion motion second all in favor I I appointment of third alternate to your term motion motion second all in favor all right I appointment of Zoning Board member fourth alterate unexpired term motion all in favor I I public ageny compliance officer Peter loo for the year 2025 motion motion second second all in favor I I adoption of the U continuing adoption of resolutions for the 2024 calendar year motion motion second all in favor hi by authorization of offline checks for the month of January until the next council meeting as midex will be converting the system motion motion second all in favor I I resolution adopting the temporary budget for the year 2025 motion motion second all in favor I I resolution authorizing to cancellation of any property tax uh or delinquency or interest under $10 motion motion second all in favor I I uh resolution establishing petty cash for year motion motion second all in favor I I resolution supporting to Bergen County Chiefs Association Mutual Aid plan and Rapid uh deployment Force motion motion second all in favor I I resolution authorizing participation in the defense Logistics agency law enforcement Support Office 1033 program motion second all in favor I I resolution reappointing Triad advisory services for the affordable housing motion motion second all in favor I I we have the mayor's appointments the first appointment requires advice cons Senator council is for the appointment of a judge for the three-year term motion motion second just clarification the name of the judge Mar gisler yes councilman Commando yes Council councilwoman Sanchez yes Council Maser yes council president Gary yes next is advice and consent of the council is the appointment of a library trustee Andrea montabano motion second motion motion second roll call councilman samuka yes Council mamando yes councilwoman Sanchez yes councilwoman Maser yes counc gck yes next are to receive and file they are as follows public defender John [Music] Bruno these are all mayor appointments uh registration regist Vital Statistics Tracy nafash appointment of Fire subcode official Mike sites appointment of plumbing subcode inspector Frank gardano appointment of licensed sewer operator Jesse Dore appointment of Township physician Dr Michael weiner appointment of Municipal housing lison Jimmy hamy appointment of Township historian Peter Lodo appointment of Emergency Management coordinator Thomas Stickman appointment of Deputy Emergency Management C coordinators councilman T Commando John J Tui Chris [Music] slma appointment of tax appeal attorney John bang appointment of Township labor attorney clar Jobe alfery Jacobs appointment of Township health benefits risk manager Trinity benefits appointment of Township Grant grant writer Bruno Associates appointment of Township planner kers engineer and design appointment of Township Insurance Consultant risk manager Alamo insurance appointment of Board of Education leison councilman David Garrick appointment of community projects and Activities Committee chairperson Shannon aam Christine januario appointment of mayor's youth group ladies on Thomas van winkl appointment of special law enforcement office officers class three appointment of the school crossing guards and appointment of special law enforcement officer class one motion to receive and file motion second roll call councilman samuka yes Council mamando yes councilman Sanchez yes Council Maser yes council president Garrick yes motion to open the meeting to the public motion second all in favor I I anyone wishing to address the council please come up state your name and address for the record good evening everyone happy New Year um Thomas vanwinkle 128 Lincoln Avenue Saddlebrook um I want to first begin by congratulating councilman s Luca council president Garrick and Council Maser on their re-election to the council congratulations thank you I also want to say it's an honor to once again be appointed as the mayor's youth group liaison and with that being said I'm going to give a little report on the mayor's youth group um I do want to thank the mayor's youth group for um everything they've done throughout the year 2024 it was another great year with been participating and get in their all the activities in town um more recently they they helped judge the houses for the holiday decorating contest that was held in December I apologize I wasn't I wasn't able to be in attendance for the judging but I did go out and take all the photos take all the videos of the houses it was posted on the saddle BG Township and mayor's youth group Facebook pages and also the video was put on the uh sber TV station so hope everybody got to see that for the holiday decorating contest I do want to acknowledge the winners for the holiday decorating contest and congratulate them and thank everyone who entered as well we had 13 houses so third place was 206 Colonial Avenue second place was 518 Saddle River Road and first place with 67 Spindler terrce for the holiday decorating contest so congratulations to all the winners we're looking forward to another great year ahead for the mayor's youth group as a reminder it's always open to anybody in any SBG resident in grades 4 through 12 um we they they get service hours participate in all the community activities and events throughout the year and just be a part of our community because that's really what we're about just just community service and helping and serving others and with that being said I wish you all a happy and prosperous 2025 thank you thank you [Applause] Thomas thank you council president I just want to say that the township of Saddlebrook is so well served here with the reelection of Flo Andrew and Dave Garrick uh who have worked extremely hard in elections and for those of you who haven't been in the political game each year in politics is a dog year I had black hair when I started but in any event I want to congratulate the mayor uh TD Amando uh and uh got a Sarah Sanchez Sarah Sarah I'm sorry Sarah uh for all your hard work over the U over the years it's a tough job to govern it's easy to sit up here or stand up here and throw arrows and and criticize but it's very hard to govern and under mayor White and the rest of the council all working as a team uh is certainly remarkable I've been in politics 55 years going back to hackin sack politics and this is the first Council in my lifetime that I've seen that have gotten along over their term and I want to congratulate them and SLE Brook is well served uh mayor congratulations on keeping everybody together God bless you all and have a great new year thank you thank you mayor I I see some people here in the front row you have some beautiful FL hours would you like to present those to Mom Grandma come on up thank you they are beautiful thank you we we did miss our comment section mayor so do you want to start off if you have any comments I do I'd rather let the council go first I I have some comments but all right councilman samuca that that wasn't me very briefly uh I want to thank uh the residents of Saddlebrook for appreciating what we do and how we do it and electing us again uh fifth time for me I think it's the seventh time for Flo and the third time for Dave so uh I think we all enjoy what we do we do it for a reason because uh we love Saddlebrook we want to make it better and that's why I decided to run again and I've indicated this is going to be my last term and uh so I there's things that need to be done that I'd like to see uh that we're starting that we've talked about and I I want to see it to its fruition so thanks to everyone out there who uh put their faith in us uh it's a privilege and honor to represent you up here thank you councilwoman Sanchez um I just wanted to congratulate FL Dave and Andrew on their reelection um congratulations Dave for becoming counc president this year um Todd you did a great job last year thank you um I look forward to working with all of you again this year and I look forward to what the new year brings and has in store for us uh with that being said I hope everyone has a healthy and safe new year thank you councilwoman Maser thank you council president first and foremost I'd like to thank the residents of Saddlebrook for their faith in me and reelecting me to another term uh it's certainly a responsibility I take very seriously and I and I enjoy my job up here that's for sure um just a little bit for brief uh info I started way back when with mayor Lou uh Lou and uh Joey said a case we ran for the first time and then 96 is it that was track and I lost um we had we had issues with the machines that day and stuff and whenever and I lost but uh I did recount and I came a little closer but not quite and then two years later I ran as an independent and I was again but the third time I ran was two years after that and I I did win and so the third time was a charm as I as I enter my 25th year um I am I am just so so proud to to be your council person and to serve for you guys um my family has been here my children have been here my grandchildren are here and I'm happy to say that I'm going to have a great grandchild be here Al so in 2025 so I'm looking forward to that um I also would like to congratulate my running mates uh he always making interesting and fun um the campaigns are never easy on our families but we thank our support for our each and every one of you and um look forward to working with the entire Council our our new appointees thank you our old appointees thank you for staying on and uh we look forward to to moving Saddlebrook forward and uh your best interest is always at our mayor we thank you for being at our help and our professionals like I said we look forward to a great year and Pete couldn't do it without you and I appreciate you being on our side happy pleasure happy healthy prosperous 2025 everyone thank you thank you Council councilman aam right just want to congratulate you three again and reelected um it was a a tough election it was probably the dirtiest election we've had since we started on not on our on our part of course but it was uh definitely U very professional on our end uh everybody stuck together you guys pulled it off uh it was a little scary uh that night until the official numbers came out but great job by everyone look forward to working with you for another uh another term uh thank you for everyone's opportunity to be your council president last year it that wasn't an easy year uh I felt like the punching bag for the uh for the township last year but um listen I've been hit before I've been hit by worse um we bounced back we've we've prevailed we were professional um and it wasn't easy but I do appreciate the opportunity of being your representative for the uh the prior year um Dave good luck this year um Good Luck your uh year an election Andrew it's gonna be a fun few years because I'm going to miss you when you do go um he's like my little my uh I don't want to say like good-look Uncle yeah my good-look uncle he's got to stop working out too he's getting a little too big but um and Bob thank you for uh all you do for us thank you for the appointment I appreciate it and uh happy healthy and wonderful new year thank you thank you [Applause] counselor uh good evening everyone I just want to start off by just thanking my wife and my daughter they're here here today um you know they're the ones that sacrificed when I met me meetings and doing what I need to do for the township so I just want to say thank you and just recognize them I also want to recognize assemblyman Chris Tully he's a very good friend of Saddlebrook along with Senator Joel Lagana and assembly woman Lisa Swain whenever we need something we can count on them um to help us here in Saddlebrook whether it's something with the parks or something with one of the overpasses um in the township they're always there answering the phone for the mayor and any of us that call and need some something um I want to just congratulate uh councilwoman Maser councilman simuka on their reelection uh it was a very interesting campaign um some people just go in they don't really pay too much attention in you vote um we're looking at all the intricacies of everything that's going on and things worked out in our favor I'm glad that the residents of Saddlebrook and I just want to thank the residents of Saddlebrook for coming out and supporting us um because without you we can't continue to serve so thank thank you very much um I also want to thank the mayor for his support um we work great as a team and we're going to continue to do that to best serve the residents of Saddlebrook and make this Township the best that it can be um we all know what's happened with property values throughout Bergen County they've especially happened here people are dying and really want to move into Saddlebrook it's a great town during the campaign I walked door too I knocked on literally hundreds of house doors and I asked the residents what could we do better and most of those residents were very happy with what we were doing here and it showed when it came to voting so uh we're doing a lot of good things we're here to serve you uh we're looking to continue to improve and make the township the best that it could be so uh finally uh Happy New Year happy prosperous healthy new year uh to all of the residents thank you very much [Applause] thank you Dave uh I too want to congratulate uh Flo Andrew and Dave for their victories uh they worked hard uh they deserve to win uh like Todd said it was this was a difficult election there was a lot of mudslinging but uh we prevailed I want to thank Todd for being council president as it was was a tough year uh to be council president but you did a fantastic job you really did um you held your composure and you were you you you you were hard when you had to be and and you know but you you also thank you allowed them to say their peace uh when when when they did um Dave congratulations on council president um Dave you're one of the hardest working people I know this campaign uh I know Flo and Andrew and I have spoke uh your all your hard work you were out there really every day walking knocking on doors and uh and doing what needed to be done so I appreciate that thank you and uh it was important for me because this you know I we as a team couldn't do everything that we do which is a lot we have a lot of accomplishments and I'll get into that in a minute but we couldn't do it without each other and uh we're we're an excellent team um we don't always agree you know but we're willing to listen to opposing views and we always seem to come up with what's best for Saddlebrook and that's our slogan Saddlebrook first we always do what's right for S even if sometimes we might not agree we're not compromising our integrity but we're we're compromising sometimes our view on on a certain issue here and there um so uh I also want to thank Father Bruce before I forget for the opening prayer thank you for coming out taking time out of your busy schedule I just want to go through some of our accomplishments that we did in 2024 I'm going to try to be quick um but uh I think it needs to be said we need to look back at the year and then look at into the future what we want to what we're hoping our goals are going to be and what we want to accomplish in 2025 anyway Road program uh we continue with our current road resurfacing we did that in 2024 and over the last since 2015 we've paved over 60 roads in in Saddlebrook which is uh which is a big accomplishment we've committed to putting money out of our capital budget about a million dollar or so a year uh to improve uh our roads and we're really we're uh we're doing it a great job and most of the roads are um they weren't done in a long time and now they look good um we do get New Jersey Department of Transportation and Community Development funds we get that with supplements uh us you know Paving these roads um again we do have to allocate funds to get all the roads done in the year I also want to mention that Public Service Gas and Electric is doing gas main replacement projects uh throughout the town um I know sometimes it seems like they're out there and they're they're digging up a road that might have been repaved not too long ago but I just want to let everybody know that it's important that they do this because they're upgrading the gas in in town and what it does is by them upgrading it we don't have nearly as many gas leaks um and the the service they put in is high pressure and it could handle pretty much all the new appliances that are out there and most importantly they're responsible if the if the road was paved within the last five years they have to repave the whole road if not they paid the half that they dig a trench in so we get a lot of money back from public service Paving the roads um additional Grant funds that we received uh State funds for Saddle River County park for the pond restoration uh which is a million dollars uh which is a start because that needs to be uh dredged and looked at and Des snagged uh federal funds for sewer and storm waterer drainage projects $1 million in federal funds will be used to upgrade the municipal complex generator to power the entire building we took took a lot of heat for that because it's a brand new building but we do have a generator but it only Powers certain sections of the building but with this new generator it the whole building will be will be powered when there's an outage so and that was a million dollar Federal money uh the late uh great bill pascrell was able to uh secure that that million dollars for us um Bergen County open space and Community Development funds for Park Improvement we receed uh more funding for that our Recreation which is uh is improved vastly we now do a summer concert series I got to thank uh Mr samuca because he pushed that very hard but they were very successful we had four concerts throughout the summer um we also did a month-long summer camp for the children the first time we've had like a week long but we did the whole month of July which was a big success uh there's more Civic activities at the rec Center uh we've been collaborating with the library to do arts and crafts yoga Etc I want to put in the plug for the library because it has improved they're now offering uh various programs especially for uh preschool children um this was big this was really happened in 2023 and 2024 but we converted uh we actually it was the Sor Junior wrestling program with our help but they converted uh a garage space at Veterans Field into into a wrestling room for their for their program I want to thank former commissioner Joe Paretti uh who was instrumental really took the B by the horns and got it done along with other coaches that volunteered their time and labor also businesses who donated Building Supplies uh it was a great example of what can be done when we all work together and uh that was a big success uh I'm not going to mention all these I got them written down but we we continue to sponsor numerous Township events uh a couple of new ones uh Ramadan Crescent lighting uh we did that last year we're going to do it again this year in February um for our Muslim uh friends out there uh we also did uh thanks to Flo we did not only W two uh townwide garage sales which many of the residents really like um a shredding event we've been doing the holiday and Christmas decorating contest um the fireworks which uh you know it used to be that we got help paying for that now we pay for it all ourselves but uh one year we didn't do it with covid and I tell you what there was more complaints from people about the fireworks not doing the fireworks so uh we're not going to make that mistake again but we really couldn't couldn't gather at the time with Co um so anyway goals for 2025 continue with Capital Improvements use Grand funds for sewer and storm water drainage improvements we want to complete at least one Park project uh we're leaning towards the spray park which we have we have uh about $800,000 in Grant funds for that um I just want to make sure people understand that we we have Grant funds available we apply for these grants we get them but the grant money that we get does it's not enough to complete the project so we do have to use funds from our capital budget in order to do it so there's only so many things we can do we have grant money and and we have a certain amount of time to use it and we try to get everything in but we do have to allocate funds which uh and last year was a difficult budget and this year is not going to be much better so but we're going to try to do everything we can um want to encourage involvement and participation in our committees our flood mitigation committee which is headed by uh council president Garrick we continue to make progress and we build are building our membership up we got uh a few residents that come to most of the meetings Our Community Partnership and access for all committees we combine them uh that's a a fantastic committee we we get a large turnout there um we lost um our uh our leader there Chris Chris wolf Pastor wolf moved moved away but now our new leader is going to be Thomas van winkl who uh will uh do a great job like he does in everything so um we want to start a new committee focusing on planting trees and ways of reducing pollution and waste like a green team we already have a handful of residents that are supporting this cause and are willing to uh provide assistance this is big redeveloping 73 and 93 Market Street the Old Town Hall the old police station in court um we're going to sell the property and redevelop it into a ridable property much like what was done by Ed's Tavern uh property which was turned into commercial businesses down on the first floor and the second floor or his Apartments so that's what we're looking to do um we have we've done a Redevelopment study we're going to put that out to developers to see if we can get anybody interested I'm sure we will because I I I know myself I've received a lot of even before this Redevelopment study we've had a lot of interest in in uh in developers purchasing the property Public Safety the police department will be fully staffed in 2015 so we now have enough officers to patrol the streets that's our main priority is patrolling the streets we want to implement more community policing projects uh programs like coffee with a cop National Night Out uh things of that nature where we want to get the the police more involved directly with the community uh we want to get the police department accredited again we we were once we let it lapse unfortunately we have a new Chief and a Command Staff now uh and we received Grant funds to do the accreditation uh we're also uh allowed to use forfeiture funds which between the two we probably could cover the entire cost of uh getting accredited um want to in explore installing a townwide video camera system which is very expensive but uh that's something that we're looking into uh we want to help the fire department and the ambulance Corps recruit more volunteers provide necessary equipment and continue applying for grant money I want to comend both the fire department and the ambulance Corps and their personnel for the service that they they give our community the ambulance Corps is one of the only free uh squads that are left in Bergen County I also want to thank the Bergen County ambulance service which supplements our team and together they make all most of the the majority of the calls and and really uh they fulfill the EMS Mission here in Saddlebrook uh which wasn't looking so good back in 2020 at the beginning of 2023 and really the end of 2023 I didn't know where it was going to go but they banded together and with assistant again from the county uh they're they're making the majority of calls which is which is a huge savings for the town as well um want to continue working with the school district improving communication and keeping each other informed collaborating in areas of concern especially school safety maint maintaining buildings and ground grounds and maintaining a safe environment for the students and the staff utilize shared services wherever feasible uh lastly um it's something that's uh may take some people by surprise but we are uh going to move the senior center to this Municipal complex um there's plenty of room on the recreation Civic Center side of the complex uh if we stay at a Coldwell Avenue where the current uh Senior Center is we're going to have to put a lot of money out for building Renovations and upgrades um we may be able to use that property at a calwell for more affordable housing for our seniors which is something that uh would be a good thing because we will work towards our our COA obligation which we need to have provide a certain amount of affordable housing and uh we're in round number four I believe and we are allowed to build more affordable senior housing which is which is something that uh we we really do need I can't tell you how many res residents and seniors tell me they would love to move into the current uh the the current U uh building there which is only 30 units so uh I want I want also want to provide my give my sympathies to the kriat family uh Larry their the patriarch of the family passed away last uh last week uh we also want to wish everybody a happy and healthy New Year thank you thank you mayor [Applause] motion to adjourn second all in favor hi hi thank you for coming out this evening appreciate it thank you Happy New Year everyone happy New Year [Applause]