all the role councilman Schwarz here councilman Belcher here councilman Goldberg here councilman organ here Deputy Mayor Catz here Deputy Mayor G I saw her come on mayor Pagan here adequate notice of this meeting has been provided by resolution number 299 d223 sending a copy to the newspapers official designated for 2024 by way of resolution number 2224 PL a copy in the township clerk's office and posting on the municipal building bulleon board in the here by direct that this statement be included in the minutes thank you Mr clerk good evening and welcome everyone to tonight's council meeting Township Administration president at tonight's meeting are Dean kazinski our Township manager Doug ruon our Township Clerk Michael Ash filling in for Scott salmon our Township attorney Kristen denor our Deputy Township Clerk Thomas row our Deputy Township manager and Ron Goodman our volunteer cablecaster for The public's information we are currently holding a hybrid format meeting we have people in person and on Zoom if our Wi-Fi at the municipal building has an issue where the zoom meeting drops we will aim to retrieve the connection and recontinue the meeting the next televised regular council meeting will take place on June 18th at 6:30 p.m. with the public portion of that meeting beginning at 8:00 pm there will be a Memorial Day ceremony on the municipal green at 11:00 a.m. on May 27th and it will be followed by our annual Cedar Lane Memorial Day Street Fair Council met in Clos session to discuss the following earlier this evening town ship manager interviews a most referendum our cell tower the policy manual legal issues and opinions regarding items on the Open Session agenda litigation updates and Oprah our first order of business tonight is presentations and we have a young man who will be chief for the day Mr kazinski will you be leading us on that sir sure just a a brief um comment on that I Know Chief mgur could not make it tonight but just a little bit about this program uh chief for the day and I don't believe the recipient is here Ethan Rober Robertson today but he will be on hand so Chief the day again T Police Department is going to participate in this program and it's run uh with the beron County Sheriff's Office and it will be on Thursday June 133 and the chief for the day program is run by Sheriff puran and participating agency police Chiefs and it offers children with uh chronic health condition i s the opportunity to receive a unique law enforcement experience uh so this year's T Police Department chief of the day is Ethan is going to be honored with a ceremony on uh June 13th uh at both Police Headquarters and the Bergen County Courthouse in the morning and then a celebration uh during lunch in the afternoon so council is certainly welcome to participate as well as the public when Ethan makes his way to the Teek Police Department on Thursday J June 13 so I will forward this uh certificate or proclamation to Chief mcer and we will present it to Ethan on June 13 thank you Mr manager and thank you Ethan and congratulations to Ethan next order business is a certificate of recognition for Hilda Ventimiglia yes so I'm goingon to come down for that come on up Lenny so come on up come up here come on up you okay so our next uh recipient for recognition is someone I've known for many many years along with her husband I went to high school with Lenny and just a little bit about Hill de vent migia she's been a EK resident since 1974 and a proud graduate of EK High School's 50th class I'm correct and I'm not sure if you wanted me to say that or not but um so you know this is um a great accomplishment that hild is receiving tonight and what we have is a certificate of recognition from the town C Council but a little bit before I get into that um Hilda runs the H A Medical Center Mobile education lab and that brings health information to the community and encourages individuals to take simple steps to live healthier lives and the Mel also offers blood tests flu shots educational information on how to stop the spread of covid-19 blood pressure screenings diabetes counseling and much more they also sponsor many programs for blood pressure control weight loss and diabetes management um and many other health related issues I know the Mel is here in the township several times a year you may see their mobile unit parked uh parked outside it's open to the public we try to advertise it when we can uh but Hilda received a an incredible uh recognition and just a little bit of a bio for Hilda uh she's an MSN RN and has over two decades of experience as a registered nurse and uh just something quickly on a personal note my my family has gone through uh some recent health issues and I can tell you with my my folks in in the hospital uh nurses do God's work and you really don't appreciate everything they do until you're in that situation what they have to put up with uh what they have to deal with day in and day out and they truly are the doctors that do the care day in and day out so I I am very appreciative of what nurses do and my sister's a retired nurse but you really have a much better appreciation for what the nurses do day in and day out so in 1998 Miss vent migy left a corporate career 15 years and pursued the path of nursing she earned her RN degree from Holy Name sister Claire pance School of Nursing where she was elected class president and was inducted to the National League of nursing for leadership she earned her BSN and MSN degrees from Felician University uh Hilda began her career as an oncology nurse and later expanded her specialty areas to Cardiology Health Care Home Care clinical education and Public Health in her current role at ho Name Medical Center as the Director of Community Health her responsibilities include providing quality health education and screening programs for patients in diverse communities where her fluency in English Spanish and Italian allow her to foster a strong connection with her patients she is a steering committee member for the community health Improvement Partnership of Burton County a collaborative of Burton County hospitals and the public health department as a representative of Hool Name Medical Center Miss vent miglia provides guidance and insight when the groups collaborate to inform the community health needs assessment uh the assessment conducted every three years evaluates the health needs of individuals living within a service area Miss vent migle and her team use this information to develop strategies and Implement programs that address many of the communities to demands and their health concerns uh she's also affiliated with numerous academic and professional organizations including Sigma Theta po International nursing Honor Society American Nurses Association the preventive cardiovascular Nurses Association New Jersey Nurses Association and holy names professional uh practice Council Miss F migle often serves as a clinical receptor for William Patterson University's Department of Nursing and is frequently sought after to present for seminars and workshops on issues concerning health and wellness not to put you on the spot but I'm going to ask you just to explain the award that you received recently received so uh good evening everybody for the New Jersey Nurse Association they usually have an award for nursing excellence and there were 19 people honored this year for the state of New Jersey and I humbly happen to be one of them it's called the diva nursing award Diva and D nursing award for people who excel in nursing and PR the nursing career to the best of their ability so on be on behalf of council we have a certificate of recognition to hild Dent migia the te T Council and manager thanks you for your service and dedication to our residents through the Holy Name Medical Center Community Health program we also congratulate you on being recognized by the New Jersey state nurse nursing association for all of your exemplary work in tenek and Beyond and this is signed by all the members of council and myself again uh I I I am truly thankful for the work you do the other nurses do uh I'm indebted to them for the rest of my life as certain things that they've helped my family out with and I I thank you I congratulate you and again the the nurses really do God's work so thank you so much Mr Mayor Hilda um Miss organ just wanted to thank you for all the hours that you've put in um helping people what Dean said when our when our families are sick um and we need help it's nurses who help us but it's also so wonderful to see somebody with the skills and compassion of a nurse take that and um use it to really broaden public health for us and um bring everything to a higher level so we really do appreciate you Mr Mayor wait Hilda we have a couple more people that want to say something councilwoman belshire yeah I just want to say Hilda thank you thank you so much for what you do um you know we all all appreciate nurses I mean any anyone that goes in and has you know children and and and goes in the hospital for any reason I nurses are like your your best friend they become your sisters and and I so appreciate what you're doing and another level that you teach that you are you're actually instructing so you know you're you're committed to the profession by not only serving but also teaching others so thank you for all that you do wait Hilda we got a couple more um councilwoman Goldberg hi hi I just wanted to also say thank you it's it's nursing is such a important profession I have a nurse in my family and and I've unfortunately spent a lot of times with nurses lately um so I just wanted to say thank you oh Mark do you want to say anything I I I mean Dean's kiss to her says it all obviously you're very important and did a great job and we love you thank you very much H Hilda first and foremost congratulations on receiving your award uh nurses help save lives and I can't thank you enough for everything that you've done for the township and everybody in the township I remember during the pandemic you helped us organize a covid-19 bilingual Forum so that we can help convince people to get the vaccine shots so on behalf of the 42,000 residents of cola home thank you so so very much and congratulations we appreciate you so much Mr Mayor hello Mr Mayor are you raising your handy mayor cats yes so I was in the hospital during nurses week and one of my first uh goals is to extend that to nurses month because I do not understand how any human being can care so much and give so much to people that they don't know and they don't love and uh I have utmost respect that I think uh Dean said it the best uh for what the nurses do so congratulations and thank you for letting us recognize you tonight thank you Deputy Mayor Katherine thank you so much Hilda we appreciate you okay moving on to our next order of business which is work session items miscellaneous does anyone on Council have anything under miscellaneous anyone no next order of business is old business does anyone have anything under old business no moving along our next order of business is new business does anyone have anything under new business continuing to move along our next order of business is Communications and we have a propos resolution to designate may as ALS month I think this is you correct Miss organ did anybody else get the email from laori Foreman jacobe bad ALS month so um May is a very busy month we have nurses month nures week and teachers week and police officers week and uh National EMS uh week and um I felt it was very important to include this about 10 years ago as she says in her letter we all did the Ice Bucket Challenge and raised money for ALS but uh we haven't heard a lot about it uh it's lugar's disease every 90 minutes someone is diagnosed with ALS and someone passes away from it patients who are diagnosed only survive two to five years on average there is no cure and people who have served in the military are more likely to develop ALS um so I would love to move this resolution to the consent agenda motion that was a first from councilwoman Oregon and a second from mayor Pagan for the resolution language included in the packet councilman Schwarz councilwoman beler councilwoman Goldberg yes councilwoman Oregon yes deputy mayor yes Deputy Mayor G yes mayor Pagan yes it is added to consent agenda as resolution number please hold apologies 170224 thank you Mr CLK does anyone have anything else under Communications no moving along next order of business committee reports by Council Le Miss Bel oh I'm sorry go ahead the floor is yours ma'am the recognizing Asian-American yeah that's okay okay no problem okay um does anyone have anything though for committee reports oh I'm sorry go ahead Miss Bel uh yeah I just wanted to um read in we we had an affordable housing subcommittee meeting I just wanted to um recognize a couple key points because um affordable housing uh legislation the new legislation is really a foot and that uh we are we have reviewed as a subcommittee to uh the actual dates of the requirements that each municipality is mandated to uh to address um we've re uh we've actually met specifically with um with our CFO uh CFO and also our affordable housing Zar which is um Frank Piaza and the essentially the next few dates or the first few dates are specific to accounting to reporting and reporting to DCA and so essentially uh we are in good good uh good position as a Township in terms of reporting the data because it's mostly like uh developmental uh developers fees and so forth so uh our CFO has has indicated that uh we're uh definitely able for the the June 18th date to meet that requirement and also for the September 16th date to to meet the requirement in terms of the uh all residential development fees to be reported to DCA um we're also uh working with Frank pza to come up with the the actual demographics or the numbers as are uh it pertains to our affordable housing numbers where we drill down to housing type affordability levels the number of bedrooms and so forth this is this here again is just data that we're giving to uh to the um the Department of Community Affairs DCA um by October 20th we have a mandate by then that we would receive from DCA uh an accounting from them or determination from them what is our Township numbers what what is our Township's uh requirements for the fourth round of affordable housing uh we are expected to challenge that and how we challenge that is data that we receive uh we actually extract from the master plan that has to do with vacant land and so the push back is that uh every Town's going going through this every town is going to get a determination from DCA uh we just want to make sure that it's reflective of what we uh we are as a Township our goals that we've established in our master plan and so forth so I just want the community to know as well as my colleagues that uh we are we have this under control our subject matter experts are um very engaged in the process and what's required and that's my report thank you thank you Miss belch Mr Schwarz uh yes uh Cene um had their their um monthly meeting keep in mind that this coming Monday will be their Memorial Day first the the ceremony which I'm sure Mr manager will talk about but then we'll have a um the Cedar Lane Street Fair which starts a little bit later this year I believe you pushed it to 12:30 so people can go to both events um additionally I our we have a sub zoning committee this coming Friday so I'll report on that thereafter and lastly our budget um committee we keep um we will not be passing the budget for a little while as we keep on work working to reduce the potential increase uh tonight on the resolutions we'll have a council as report last time a cell phone tower Consulting being hired so we could uh work on selling the cell phone tower and utilizing those funds to reduce the budget which will be passed a little bit later on this summer thank you very much thank you Mr Schwarz Miss Oregon so the library was going to partner with Leonia uh during construction we are now going to partner with New Milford uh there'll be more information coming uh with that the renderings for the um construction are beautiful um I don't have them with me but they are probably in the library and there will be there's a meeting scheduled on June 23rd uh Sunday at 2:00 with the architect for anybody who's interested in seeing what will be done um it will be worth the wait um once the construction is completed uh Municipal alliance against substance abuse we have um an ordinance tonight that we're introducing to lower the number of uh vape shops that will be allowed the licenses that will be given out in the township right now we have more than 10 those will be grandfathered in but if this passes we will limit the number of vape shop or those selling Vape products to 10 and finally patriotic observance Advisory Board I hope everybody will join us Monday on the municipal green at 11 o'clock as we honor um those who have fallen and um um meet with our veterans there thank you thank you m Deputy Mayor do I see your hand up Mr Mayor oh I'm sorry is that you Ellie yeah go first sorry go ahead sir oh no no um I just had a question for Council Morgan do we have to limit it to 10 or could we put grandfather in the 10 and limit it to eight or seven so if one or two Clos they can't reopen so right now the number is is well above 10 so we've we've taken 10 for right now and we'll see what happens seems like um they were popping up everywhere so U we're raining things in okay thank you Deputy Mayor G is your hand up ma'am Deputy Mayor G sorry about that yes UM multitask um in I'm in transit so it's s to hard to um turn off and on but okay two uh committee reports first the senior citizen Advisory Board met they um had some concerns they wanted to share with Council first um there were some concerns about Street safety and specifically they'd like to see a uniform 25 mph speed limit across town they were um cognizant of the fact that not all of our some of the roads are County Roads and so um to the extent that we could advocate for 25 miles per hour they would like to do that um there were questions about Cedar Lane double parking is there a way to get some more visibility there in terms of having more police officers um um uh either be visible or um Circle that area to ensure that there isn't double parking um and then they'd like to see some police training about driving possible um let's see what else came up oh yeah some uh they'd like to see additional Lighting in the northeast corner of vot Park where that construction is currently happening um and there was a suggestion for the outdoor gyms to cover them at all of the parks to allow for use during inclement weather um and also to protect the equipment from wear and tear from the weather from Sun Etc um there was also a specific concern about trees on beverage Street going north on by tck Road it's blocking traffic and people can't see oncoming traffic and then finally just in general there were concerns about uh Township trees not being trimmed regularly so that was senior citizens Advisory Board um second um The Advisory Board and community relations n and they first um sorry I'm just pulling up the notes on that one um they discussed possible dates for empy training in either August or September they're really uh eager to get that going um there was a discussion about the development of a calendar with suggested religious and cultural observances we've been talking about this for a while um we talked about logistics for being president at the Fourth of July parade and are you there are still being taken for both adults and youth so you know yes can you hear me yeah sorry you cut for just a split second my bad oh sorry about that um so yes the Matthew Felman Awards nominations are still being taken for both the adult and youth category um so uh please submit all nominations to our abcr chair Cheryl Hall at C Hall that's c h l at TX nj.gov um and then wanted to announce that TX second annual race Amon day is taking place on Sunday June 9th from 1:30 to 3M it will be at vot Park Bandshell um and then after that it will be followed by the T neck um potluck pic and support of T Neck Public Schools so it'll be a great opportunity for folks to get to know their neighbors um enjoy some music food and fellowship I hope many of our town presidents will attend thank you thank you Deputy Mayor does anyone else on Council have any committee reports I do another committee report just to add to what I was just mentioning oh okay go ahead yeah I just wanted to mention that this was something that that we we uh began to think about talking about in closed session but I uh we all agree that it has to be brought out into Open Session and that is um the whole um uh emphasis on codee enforcement um as our Township we're we're looking to add as we grow into different ordinances that that speak to different things from vape shops to uh chickens chicken ordinances and so forth so one of the things that I've reached out to our Township attorney to to look into is uh what would it take to do a uh ordinance for code enforcement um representative that oversees all of the uh ordinances to ensure that we're in compliance so essentially he's doing an analysis of other towns that are similar to ours uh what that would mean in terms of either a part-time or full-time employee that would be responsible for code enforcement so I just wanted to put this out here so everyone is aware that we are looking um at exploring what a code enforcement would mean for our Township to ensure our our health and our safety of course but also our quality of life as we grow as a Township so there's more to come as pertains to code enforcement thank you thank you m Bel Miss Oregan I I think we need four nodding heads to move ahead with that I I don't think it's something the attorney can just present or one council person and I know we've had discussion um before but I while I understand why you're asking for it I have a big problem with a code enforcement officer in town so I don't know if that's something you want to discuss now um but usually when we bring this up it's um for nodding heads moves It Forward I I remember uh if I could respond to that when it comes to a analysis of asking our Township attorney to look into what it would mean we're not um we're not needing to vote on this that as as if we're moving forward uh with it but we are in a need of at least knowing what we should be um aware of what we should be prepared for what are other towns similar to ours doing and that's all our our our uh attorney is doing so I don't think we necessarily need nodding heads for that no ordinance Miss Goldberg I just have a question I'm so what are what is the ask of the attorney because I thought wait I'm just what I'm not fair what the ask is what we're exploring the ask of the attorney is to come back to see what other townships have that we can um potentially look at from a policy perspective as it pertains to code enforcement we're growing as a Township we're adding ordinances left and right so we need enforcement we need a comprehensive code enforcement policy so essentially uh what he's doing he's task with doing is looking at policy and procedure and how it would look for our Township Miss G is that your hand up I see sorry that's an old hand but I'll chime in since since you called on me um so I think it would be helpful if we um also talked to our health officer because I think her office is probably overwhelmed with trying to manage issues that a code enforcement officer might be able to help out with so in terms of doing our due diligence um I think it would be helpful also to to hear from her to see what this new role might be able to do in terms of supporting or um sharing the burden of that work thank you Deputy Mayor is there anyone else that want to comment on this Goldberg I'm I'm sorry so I just want to understand so the ask is to have him look at or this person in theory would be looking at the code not necessarily residents properties like that's what I was thinking but then that's not what you said so I'm just want to understand no no what a code enforcement officer does is enforce the code enforce ordinances so essentially what we're looking at is we're looking at for our attorney to come back to us with with a a potential policy and uh that we can look at potentially to um when it comes to adopting um uh and hiring a a uh code enforcement officer and I do agree that with uh Deputy Mayor is saying is that it certainly would help to get some insight from our a health official because there is a default um to our health officials when it comes to um you know managing the code from a health perspective perspective but keep in mind there is also the building department I mean there there you know the building department has a a certain uh certainly a voice in this so this is an exploratory opportunity for us to uh engage our attorney to find out what is the best practice for us moving forward as it pertains to code enforcement Mr Mayor Bel yes Deputy Mayor Catz I'm absolutely against this on many reason first of all when T NE residents are facing a 7% increase just on the municipal budget not to mention the fact that the Board of Ed is going to be giving an increase and the count is going to be giving an increase and many residents in Tina got their increase during the revaluation adding additional expenses is not something I'm looking to do and adding additional burden and hardship to our residents that now are going to be fighting against each other and calling a a harassment officer on each other when the neighbors got a broken window or broken uh door knob or broken whatever it is just to cause additional Strife is not something that I want to do and when residents are having a hardship listen I I love the fact that tenek has one of the highest amount of permits pulled for our building department because what that says is and obviously there's residents that do work without permits but what it says that Teck residents take pride in their properties but taking pride in their properties and keeping up to make sure that you got the most perfect property are two different things and to me it just turns into a harassment situation and people that are unable to fix the little shingle on their roof that might have Twisted a little bit during the storm uh and and now has the harassment officer coming after them is not something I'm looking to do and I will tell you this every single month I will send a letter to every single resident that gets an harassment letter of all the council members and their phone numbers of who voted for this because if they feel comfortable sitting here and trying to hire an harassment officer they should feel comfortable Fielding the phone calls from the residents yes miss miss miss beler miss beler miss Oregon then i' really like to move on possible so I I would respond to that by saying that we are growing as a Township we are looking at not only a uh chickens ordinance but an Adu ordinance we have a number of vape shops where we've had um some extraordinary things happened that in terms of us trying to manage I think it's this is not policing necessarily residents only this is looking at our uh stores looking at our storefronts looking at the condition of our retail spaces this is looking at a a host of different things so it's not policing our residents I I would I would beg to differ with you Deputy Mayor I believe that this is an overall enforcement of ordinances not just for uh burden by the residents but also um by by businesses as well listen I'm not looking to harass anybody I think um the most vulner vulnerable among us are going to be the most affected by an ordinance like this my thought has always been that it will turn pit neighbor against neighbor so instead of knocking on your neighbor's door you're now going to pick up the phone and call somebody and send them to your neighbor um to get them in trouble I I understand the sentiment I know that the health department is busy but they're prepared to take on a chicken ordinance I know the building department is busy but they're prepared to take on adus um this is their job I know the police department is busy but they're handling the vape shops the leadership of our town is strong our department heads are strong and they're handling what they're doing but to to give a neighbor a way to get another neighbor that they don't like um into trouble is the last thing a Township like this needs thank you Miss Oregon we're GNA move on to the next order of business which is sorry Mr Mayor I had my hand up oh sorry Deputy Mayor G sorry go ahead really quickly I just wanted to add and you know Ellie I I certainly understand where you're coming from and and and understand the concerns about we don't want this to turn into harassment but I just wanted to add that these the reporting neighbor Neighbors reporting on each other is already happening I don't think it would I think it's I think what Denise is proposing is how do we address what's already happening in a way that's more efficient and effective and to lower the burden on the existing infrastructure that we have because as we introduce new things like the chicken ordinance Etc there may be more complaining not because there's a new code enforcement officer but just because we're growing as a Township and there are more there and you know there are more codes to enforce in general so I guess what what I would say we should sort of consider is does hiring a code enforcement officer do we really truly believe that will create more um complaints or are there really just already complaints that are not being handled in a way that's um efficient just because there isn't enough support to handle them so I just I just think we should be um just consider that going forward thank you Miss G Miss Goldberg and then hopefully we can move on to next order of business I just wanted to say two things so I think all of our department heads are responsible and and um enforcing the codes within their purview in the code and yes I agree with Deputy Mayor G that neighbors are already calling neighbors but having someone drive around looking for violations is just going to hurt the poorest of the poor in our town and as as we heard from the last pprb meeting there are some real issues in this town regarding poverty and food insecurity that we need to address and and putting that burden on on those on on people that are already suffering is not right I think as a community we need to look at how we can help our neighbors instead of reporting reporting them and and giving more fines with a ordinance thank you Miss Goldberg the next order of businesses Council listed items and first up is a proposed resolution recognizing may as Asian-American Pacific Islander Heritage Month councilwoman beler okay so the month of May um we simply want to recognize as Asian-American Pacific island or Heritage Month um and just U recognizing uh believe we did this um um our uh Doug you kind of helped me with this in terms of um coming up with I think something that really reflects our sentiment so whereas the people of the US and the township of tinck join together uh each May to pay tribute to the contributions of generations of asian-americans and Pacific Islanders who may have enriched the history of the US and whereas the the history of the asian-americans and Pacific Islanders in the US is a uh is a tied to a very important story of the United States and whereas the Asian-American and Pacific island or Community is inherently diverse population and is a um composed of more than 45 distinct ethnicities and more than 100 language dialects and the last two reads uh whereas um celebrating asian-pacific uh American Heritage Munch provides the people of tenk and of the US with an opportunity to recognize the achievements contributions and history of and to understand the challenges faced by asian-americans now therefore be it resolved by the township Council of the township of EK and the township recognizes that this may as uh aapi month and highlights the significance that asian-pacific American heritage month is uh as an important time to celebrate the significant contributions of asian-americans and Pacific Islanders in the history of the US and recognizes that asian-americans and Pacific Islanders communities enhance the rich diversity and strength of the US the township Council encourages all residents to join um the community in this recognition thank you Miss cure do you want to make a motion to add that to the consent agenda I make a motion I'll second that thank you I make a motion and thanks for your second thank you Council thank you mayor there was a first from councilwoman beler and a second from mayor Pagan on this proposed resolution language in the packet councilman Schwarz councilman belter yes councilman Goldberg yes councilman Oregon yes Debbie mayor C yes Debbie mayor G yes mayor Pagan yes resolution 171224 added to the consent agenda thank you Mr Clerk and next up is the township manager report Mr kazinski I still can't believe we only have you for one more meeting after this we're going to miss you we love you floor is yours sir all right uh go over some announcements first uh we recently had the new vehicle dedication we added 16 new vehicles to the DPW and police Fleet uh thank you to the public that came out during the dedication ceremony as councilman Mark schwar said Memorial Day ceremony starts at 11:00 a.m on the municipal green that's going to be followed by the Ste Lane Street Fair which begins at 12:30 uh the key speaker for Memorial Day is Cindy Jeb she's a retired army Brigadier General and also the president of Ramapo College she will be the keynote speaker on the municipal green at 11 o'clock on Memorial Day and again that's followed by the CED Lane Street Fair and this year they will be honoring my Deputy manager Tom row uh who also will be departing us uh soon um we're going to be posting the hometown hero banners and these are uh military banners you may see the and other municipalities uh hopefully we'll have all of them up before Memorial Day and they'll be posted on our uh various areas of town from May until November and it honors our teenek residents who are military veterans uh Splash Pad opens on the weekend starting May 25th and it will be open for Memorial day as well so this weekend it does open Saturday Sunday and Monday and then beginning June 15th the splash pad and the V Park Pool are open full-time 7 days a week the Fourth of July parade is coming up that begins at 9:30 the parade route is along queenanne Road and that's going to be followed by our 34th annual community celebration at bti Park we have the juneth silent walk that starts at 800 am at the Tek FPU campus at the MLK monument and that will go from River Road to Commander walk again that's juneth uh silent walk 8: a.m. uh the pride parade the flag race in is on June 2nd at 1:30 that takes place at bti Park Sportsplex and that will be followed by a family fun day uh as as we do every year we reach out to Bergen County Mosquito Control they're going to treat various areas in bti park we have a lot of uh functions in the park so we want to make sure everything is safe there we'll keep everyone posted when the treatments begin and we were also notified uh by tar airport that they're going to be hosting actually three US Navy sh 60 Seahawk helicopters and they're going to be taking part in the fleet week uh this week and over the weekend and on Monday so if you do see these large helicopters flying in Tek they're going to be using the the flight path that the planes and helicopters use and the flight path is part of of TX so don't be alarmed if you do see them and that's uh yesterday and that continues through May 27 uh some of the project updates I know Miss Baker was here the last gu meeting uh we reached out to NJ do about the intersection again at Alfred indicator as everyone recalls we made some theot did uh some improvements based on our recommendations however there was an issue with the stop sign uh they created a work order and they're going to relocate the stop sign just north of the utility pole and it'll also add the word stop to the pavement so hopefully that will help as well the police department will continue to do uh enforcement they did education there now they're going to be doing enforcement violators I also sent a letter to the county of Bergen asking them to consider increasing the hourly rate of compensation for snow removal right now it's at $115 I'm waiting to hear back from the county of Bergen uh TX Southern Little League the update on that project I spoke to the contractor today uh they're on schedule and they will have the baseball field playable and ready to go by June 1st uh the only item that may not be available mayor by June 1st is a scoreboard uh it should be uh delivered sometime that week so once we get it uh it will be installed but the field Turf is being delivered tomorrow but the field should be up and running as promised by June 1st uh construction on the new Andreas Park pickable courts is going to be awarded this evening uh we're going to add four new uh brand new individual courts it's going to be resurface going to be a nice facility once it's done should take about a month to a month to complete uh um we had the um we have a pre-construction meeting uh set up and that's for the new lighting at the vot Park tennis courts that may help out with some of the deficiencies in the North End of V Park we'll see how that goes if there's a need to increase Lighting in that Northern end of bti Park we will do so uh the contractor is currently working on the New Foundation for the shad and shelter that's just north of the splash pad uh that project should be done soon uh we're also working with be Green Acres on compensation for the minor diversion that we have to do for the detention tank at sagore Park so we have to make a decision are we giving D Green Acres cash or are we giving them uh property which again I just have a problem with that um the grant procedure was completed for the BIOS swes along Bell Avenue engineering is moving forward with the design and the and the bid proposal so that's moving along nicely uh the pal Avenue pedestrian bridge plan is under design uh that we also need to secure a permit mayor from CSX for us to do this work so we anticipate the essential work will begin on this project this summer uh that will allow the bridge to open again this is essential work only uh we have the monies for that um we're going to need the budget for the additional permanent Bridge repairs in 2025 so the monies that we have now will allow us to open the bridge with the essential repairs uh the 2023 roadway resurfacing project is going to also be awarded this evening we have 17 streets and some alternates we will do we'll post the list on the website the engineer will post the list on the website tomorrow uh there was also another precon meeting today we're going to be Paving spoon marker neldon hurlman Road and orgon Court very shortly uh these projects are funded through the county development block grant program uh engineering is also working on the new design plan for Tennis Courts at argon Park there'll be a new facility there that's covered by Grant and capital as well uh engineering is also working on the the Phelps park splash pad and this is going to be a scaled down version of what's at currently at vot Park and this is funded through matching grants this project though will likely start in the fall or early spring for a completion date the summer of 2025 um some of our EMS police and fire are participating in a CS ex responder incident training There's an actual training rail car uh that's located in Little Ferry that they're going to be training on uh very shortly um if anyone pass Beverly Road Municipal lot the Eastern lot was milled it's going to be paved tomorrow uh and then it will be striped this will allow the farmers market to move from the Western end of Bev Park lot to the the newer that will be mil or that's already mil will be paved tomorrow and striped so it'll be a nice facility when it's done for them uh DPW continues to perform improvements on cedal Lane that includes the power washing tree straightening and garbage collection we do have a seasonal assigned to cedal Lane to make sure everything is neat and clean um with the grant money our DPW and our health department uh they're making arrangements for the eradication of these spidered Lantern flies there's going to be several different methods used in including the foler spray method and injection uh in the meantime if you see them we tell people just to stomp them out um also you'll see on the on the agenda tonight we're going to be settling uh four uh collective bargaining agreements one will settle until the end of 2028 and the other three will settle until uh the end of 2030 this puts all of our collective bargaining units uh settled for for many years as a total of eight uh the remaining four and the end of 26 but all the others either the end of 28 or the end of of 2030 so we're we're in good shape with that and that concludes my report thank you Mr manager our next order of business is the township attorney's report Mr Ash thank you Mr Mayor uh tonight um I'm just going to summarize a couple of the ordinances that we have on for introduction and adoption uh there's been mention of of some of these so I'm just going to quickly recap tonight for adoption option is ordinance number 7 2024 this is the Cannabis ordinance which primarily delineates an application process for those wishing to obtain local licenses applicants are required to fill out a standard form and provide evidence of their lease or ownership of an appropriate property business plans and other requirements after the township receives these documents the council will evaluate the applications and issue a resolution of support or a rejection of the approval this was drafted by our cannabis Council Ron mandelo and is in use in many other municipalities scheduled for introduction tonight ordinance number 13 2024 this is the cell tower ordinance which authorizes the township to put out an RFP to sell the cell tower by the Rota Center we are required by State Statute to do this through an ordinance that sets out the terms what the sale would look like and includes requirements that we would impose on any prospective buyer for example it would require the buyer to allow the township to place at no cost to the Township municipal and emergency antennas and next for introduction ordinance number 11 2024 this is the chickens ordinance which is an ordinance has been discussed for a very long time it allows for up to six chicken hens to be kept on a single family residential property in chicken CPS or runs applicants have to obtain by anyal permits and complete an application that requires certain information about how many chickens they intend to keep and wear as well as maintenance plans among other things applicants are required to uh building the coups and runs no less than 25 ft from any dwelling or occupied structure as well as comply with all other setback requirements there are other specifications for the Chicken cops and runs like ventilation space per chicken adequate flooring and metal containers for feed finally for introduction ordinance number 12 2024 this is the retail electronic smoking or vaping establishment ordinance which limits the number of vape shops to 10 establishments this was recommended by our health officer currently there is no limit and there are approximately 15 vape shops in the township the existing vape shops would be grandfathered uh as license holders even though we're over the limit currently in this ordinance as the licenses expire or are not renewed the license would disappear it would not be available for new applicants until we get back under the 10 license limit threshold in the proposed ordinance Mr attorney I have a quick question um I know we have a a handicap parking ordinance for tonight I I know we've kind of discussed this as a whole but is there a sunset clause in here so if somebody moves and they don't need it anymore do we have to redo the ordinance like do we know okay I just okay I'd have to review your code to see what the the application process is no they go in the code I just don't know if we can Sunset it in general I think it's a okay so we'll review it yeah sometimes um a space is actually assigned to a particular license plate number or or vehicle so depends how that is handled in town which is a something that the town attorney can look into okay thank you thank you goldber Miss Bel Mr attorney um you didn't mention ordinance number 45 2023 the Adu the Adu or ordinance you didn't mention that one ordinance number 45 2023 yes also on for adoption tonight uh is 45 2023 amending Township Code for uh the township ofac to enact a new section establishing regulating accessory dwelling unit thank you Mr Ash our next order of business is formal meeting items and under that is the public hearing and Adoption of ordinances Mr clerk can you please read the title of the three ordinances into the record yeah yes sir as eloquently stated just before me by Township attorney Michael Ash we have three ordinances up for second reading Council this evening first up ordinance number 45-22 3 amending the township code for the township of te to enact a new section establishing and regulating accessory dwelling units adus we have ordinance number 7 d224 amending ordinance number 57221 permitting cannabis establishments as a conditional use within the Light Industry District in the township last but not least Council we have ordinance 92024 amending section 36- 111.2 of chapter 36 and Township Code for Township tck adding restricted on street parking space for handicap at 46 Warner Place Mr clerk before we open up the public hearing does anyone on counil want to say anything yeah Mr Mayor I want to make a motion to table 45 2023 for 60 days p master plan you said for 60 days yeah I'll second that okay I have a um I'd like Bel yes yeah I'd like to pull I'd like to pull um seven 2023 um I'd like to pull that for uh 60 days and um preparation for um master plan M Mr attorney we had a a first and a second to table a motion we have to do the to table an ordinance then and then you can no take your time Mr CL take your time Council when Goldberg would that be for July 16th or August 20th did you say 60 days 60 days okay and that was a first from councilwoman Goldberg was at a second from councilwoman Oregon to table for 60 days or orance 45-22 councilman Schwarz yeah we can comment afterwards before the hearing correct yeah yes on the poll yes on the table that's councilman beler no on the table Council yes councilman Oregon yes that Catz yes that may G no May Pagan yes because I really want to see this past even if it takes another 60 days so that's going to be the August meeting Council uh miss beler you I think we're making a motion about a different yeah I would like yeah I'd like to make a a similar uh motion for 7 2023 the Cannabis um uh ordinance to table that for 60 days in preparation for the master plan so that's for ordinance 7 um just confirming we did table 45- 2023 and now we have a first from councilwoman beler to table 60 days again which is going to be August 20th that we would see it again there was a first from Council woman beler I need a second second that's a second from can I ask a question on the motion is that is that you Mr cats yeah can you can you this or doesn't change any of the locations where it's permitted it's just changing some of the fees and other uh other other issues correct correct correct there's no zoning change whatsoever got it okay Mr cler there's a first and a second to table it councilman Schwarz oh no councilwoman beler yes councilwoman Goldberg no councilwoman Oregon no Deputy Mayor Catz no Deputy Mayor G yes mayor Pagan no did anyone on Council want to comment before we open up the public hearing um yeah yes oh I can defer okay um I just want to comment on 45 with the adus I think it's very important that we allow adus I think that you know this Council and I was out voted quite some time ago did not want to see any new development till the master plan is finished I agree with that um there some there were some comments that um this only this this is um this affects everyone this is a putting a uh an apartment in the Attic next door to your house uh putting in garage an apartment in garage I think we need to do it I don't think there will be that many built um but I do think this should be done parallel to the master plan or right after the master plan is is complete we're only one step away along with all the other development that's being held off which again I didn't agree with but I went ahead with the council council's wishes and said we're not approving anything new until that master plan is done so I would also like if we do have an update when we get a chance on what that Master Plan status is but again I am in favor of the ultimate passing in ordance number 45 thank you Mr Schwarz Miss Belcher uh yeah I just want to comment on the adus we've been talking about adus um for quite some time uh this is not a development um initiative this is a private property right this is this is not something that um that the the the planning board has approved they have found it consistent with the current master plan uh it is no no no need for us to even wait for a new master plan it speaks to affordability and housing within our community it speaks to intergenerational living within our community and if we can't we have to wait for an Adu ordinance I suggest we wait for a cannabis ordinance we need to push cannabis back because I think people in in our Township are more concerned concern with housing right now than they are with um I think those are I think those are very very very valid claims I mean they um I can't really comment on cannabis I don't really know much about cannabis and I've never really waited on the matter other than studying it in on the location um but at the end of the day um affordability is key affordability is clutch building buildings like 329 Alfred Avenue have have given us 40 units of affordable housing um there's a lot we should develop and adus absolutely one of them and I look forward to it if passage thank you Mr Schwarz Miss beler anyone else Miss Oregon just on uh 7224 there is no zoning change to cannabis here um there there if anything this ordinance is stricter in regard to opening a can cannabis establishment so for that um I am in favor of it um if we were rezoning another area I would have a big problem with it but this really just codifies things and um should should be stricter Miss Goldberg and I just want to you know before we open it up to the public so just so we're all clear so it increases the annual license fees for micro businesses from $1,000 to $5,000 increasing the annual fees for standard businesses from $1,000 to $10,000 the creation and formal establishment of an application process for any person wishing to obtain any license within the township of tenek to be heard only in the public by the full Council and in order to have that it's a $5,000 application fee the council will be hearing all applications my own opinion on it I don't think the subcommittee needs to continue um establishing the requirement for any business to enter into host agreements with the township which allows for things like asking businesses to pay for a police officer or extra security or something like that um and capping the limit on retail licenses within the township to three right now it's unlimited and as councilwoman Oregon said and and Deputy Mayor cat said this does not touch zoning at all thank you Miss Goldberg Miss G is your hand up it is um I just want to make the observation that I feel like when certain colleagues make motions um just because those colleagues are the ones who made the motion I feel like this um council is not really considering them um I find it strange that we have council members who are saying they support ordinances but for um these what I believe to be somewhat insignificant reasons are not going to you know support um the ordinance or they support the content of the ordinance but they don't want to support it now um I just I've been observing this for the last couple of Council meetings I hope that I'm wrong and I hope that these are really valid read reasons but I I hope that we will all consider um the um the content that we all bring to the table understanding that all seven of us represent the entire community and what we bring to this table should be considered and should be held valid um I I'm I am saddened by what I the pattern that I've been seeing these last couple of meetings and I I really truly hope that we are we reflect on that and we really hold ourselves account accountable to the positions that we were elected into and really consider everything that we all bring to the table anybody else want to comment I do yes Miss Oregon I I do actually I'm I'm curious if that's the case um the reason your reason for tabling um the Cannabis ordinance when it's just administrative can I can I anybody want to comment can I I just comment on that we we are just keep in mind that that the um master plan is not just brick and mortar it's not just development it's the values that we hold that we want to follow within our Township so when we speak about cannabis we we we when we speak about play placing a priority on what's important to us we have to ask ourselves do we want to put cannabis even if it doesn't touch zoning in front of housing so so I think I I'm not saying that I'm not for this but just like you guys are tabling something for 60 days I can table it for 60 days my request is let's table it and let's comprehensively wait for the master plan to ensure that is reflective of the values that we hold dear within this community so just just one more comment so so my question was actually for Deputy Mayor G I was gonna respond but that that just strengthened um what she said um because to table one thing because something else was tabled then we're not actually doing what we think is best for the residents we're we're being petty Miss G we're not being no so so I saw it slightly different I think I think what um and councilwoman beler please correct me if I'm wrong I think councilwoman beler was pressure testing this concept of we're not going to make any changes that impact the town until the master plan is settled right so if that's really what we're all if that's the reason behind the delay then certainly we wouldn't want to proceed with any changes to a cannabis um uh resolution until the master plan is is complete so that I think that's what she was trying to say and I I was supporting her in that like let's be consistent well I appreciate all your comments but when it comes to me it comes down to simple math and whether you have four votes or not to pass something so we're going to move on and to the public hearing and the public hearing on these two ordinances and these two ordinances alone are now open any member of the public wishing to be heard on these two ordinances will be called on to come forward and will state their names and whether they live in Teck for the record comments or questions shall be limited to three minutes per person does anyone want to talk about these two ordinances Mr vaty we're talking about cats cannabis I stand I'll Stand Down thank you m vasy uh someone on Zoom Doug is there a hand up yes real quickly just for our folks on Zoom I'm lowering all the hands just to reaffirm very quickly that the public hearing taking place right now is strictly for the ordinances that we call on you and we're doing someone on Zoom first it's ordinance 72024 and ordinance 92024 that we are talking about right now General good and Welfare will be just there in a couple minutes so please sit tight again this public hearing is just for the ordinances and with that being said I'm going to be bringing in Muhammad please state your name for the record nice and clear please state which ordinance you're talking about and again please state your name for the record hi my name is muhamad baser I'm from tac here for 17 years and I support the Cil woman who mention that the above most priority is a housing than a cannabis cannabis should be the lowest one right now it's not not going to bring anything to the township except certain things which are not um public wants so I'm with and I would like to do the housing first before we step on anything else that's it thank you sir just a friendly reminder this is only about these two bills these two ordinances Mr Berliner absolutely Miss it's ordinance seven ordinance 72024 which is amending ordinance 57221 permitting cannabis establishments as a conditional use within the Light Industry D District as uh councilwoman Goldberg mentioned we're not messing with any zoning with this ordinance it's establishing an administrative application procedure and last but not least for our members in the public we have ordinance 9-22 24 which is a handicap parking space for 46 wner Place Mr Berliner uh AI Berliner resident it really doesn't make a difference what we do with these ordinances right you're not coming to the voters anyway to say do I as a resident want adus not want adus do I want cannabis do I not want cannabis I can tell you that I had been uh to the public forums that were out there but I think the bigger problem at the root of this is that we're still waiting uh for the master plan to be put out it is weeks late it is months late there are no uh updates that have been put out there we still don't know why I think the cwan who's in charge that we continue to wait wait wait I know that there have been stories regarding the rosi regarding other surveys whatever it may be but the fact of the matter is that we as the township are still waiting for a master plan and we still don't have a good story as to why we are waiting for that as well as some of some of the other items as for folks who are sitting on that who have other interests in the town that are potentially forcing certain pieces onto the master plan and I think that that should be a broader discussion around the Master Plan before we change zoning and whatnot cannabis and my for it or not I'm probably not but it's not changing any of the zoning it does not impact the master plan anything being impacted by the master plan should be waited on until we have a much better story and some more accountability and transparency around that thank you thank you Mr Berliner someone on Zoom Doug about these two ordinances we have Gail Gordon online please unmute whenever you're [Music] ready hi Gail Gordon uh teic resident I'm speaking about the cannabis and opposing that and I'm for the adus and I don't if I'm a I'm a private citizen I have my house and if I want to build an Adu I think there should be some regulation of it but I think the choice of that is for me and I don't see the relationship to the master plan and I know that it's going to as councilman Schwarz said he would he would support it so let's support it and we've been this has been brought up time and again and I think it's so so important and I think that this issue of pettiness there there is pettiness but I think that the other side needs to look at themselves when they look at pettiness thank you thank you maam Miss lurn was your hand up Sir go ahead come ahead yeah Rick Wilby Inglewood New Jersey is this on yes sir I want to talk about this Canabis issue uh we all know that the black community was affected disproportionately by not just cannabis but crack cocaine and this city needs to be very careful about what it's doing uh that dispens is going down there on uh Alfred Avenue correct that's the location Alfred Avenue the industrial district now you guys built that monstrosity over there that blocks out the sun okay when you have drug deal and is drug dealing in certain neighborhoods it's going to bring certain elements of crime now even though I'm Jamaican I understand that people have the right to smoke their pot but the city's now engaged in a business that black folks were criminalized fraud and these licenses that you're issuing is not going to affect black folks no revenue is going to go to improve the lives of black people the rich is just going to keep getting richer and people are just going to be exploited through this marijuana state stuff now I believe that affordable housing which is a racket a gimmick nonetheless should be looked into we need lowincome housing and I want to know if ten has met their affordable housing threshold and all these units that were buil on Alfred is how many units were built over there looks like 300 units how many units were built there there's no back and forth during this part we answer you after okay but I need to know how many units was built and I need to know why the set aside is only 40 units and I want to know what is TX obligation for so-called affordable hous which is unaffordable to black folks this seems like generification all over again and I agree with the caller it's very Petty here at this council meeting it's like we got the Karens versus the Kims and I really don't appreciate sitting in this audience and listening to what I've been listening to the divide in this town has brought me here and the marijuana or whatever you guys think you're going to do is not going to fix the problems in this Town neither is your chicken ordinances or all these other things that you do to deflect from the real problems if you want to deal with the real problems deal with the real problems and stop you know just blowing smoke and just telling people what they want to hear tell people the Inconvenient Truth of the matter and that's how you solve problems someone on Zoom Doug I have Margaret Baker please unmute whenever you're ready can you hear me go what one second Miss Baker please quiet in Chambers so we can hear our caller please quiet down in Chambers so we can hear our caller Miss Baker whenever you're ready okay I'm calling um I'm here on De cater very near Alfred Avenue with the monster building and I'm aware that you have zoned an area for cannabis are you out of your mind with the traffic that we have here now and Aid is a oneway go down and come up and you're thinking about leaving that as the location for cannabis well the gentleman that spoke before me yes you are are correct it seems as though you're putting everything in the neighborhood where the majority of the residents are black it's just too much for this area and you need to be very careful with what you're doing those who are making these decisions you have no idea of the surroundings and the area you have blocked us out completely and you want to put more well you need to come out here and spend the day and see what it's like nobody no other zone or area in t was suitable if you're going to put cannabis in a building you have a lot of empty shops on CED the lane go there spread it out here you have people speeding I can't even get the uh yellow line and the crosswalk oh by the way that's another thing you haven't done anything for the traffic you made it worse and now you're talking about this is the only zone for cannabis wake up I see the light I see what you're doing and it's not right and it's not going to work so spread out your new projects all over T neck don't just come to this area we can't get the basic service out here but you can put everything else out here here and it's not right the light is on and I personally see what you're doing thank you Miss Baker thank you Miss Baker Mr Kaplan Keith Kaplan tck resident regarding the Cannabis ordinance and when I was on Council I said the same thing I mean put them all over the place if you want put them on C Lane put them on uh you know the corner by river and Cedar where uh the 7-Eleven is it would be a good spot and you'd get the hackin sack traffic um I actually agree with a lot of what Rick Wilby said I mean other than the fact that I don't believe we're actually selling crack but the bigger problem that he didn't mention is that the taxes while high are prohibitively high because the only way that it actually makes a dent in the black market is if you can underscore the price that people are selling for if you want to put the guy that's selling to kids and uh you know uh getting uh people incarcerated out of business what you got to do is underscore and undercut his prices and let capitalism do its thing so I I see no reason why we can't put it in uh Alfred Avenue it's a perfectly uh fine thing for that area in fact it's much better than the chemicals and solvents and crap that's there now and you know don't think anybody could possibly argue otherwise the answer is that we do need to have it in other places and we see it all over the place I mean my God walk over to fdu You'll smell it tonight probably right now uh regarding uh number nine I just wanted to mention because the question came up before uh we do actually have I recalled when I was on Council we updated the ordinance This was um uh 11.2 that they do expire 5 years for any residential and two years for any renters uh after the date that they're created the problem is somebody's got to monitor that so I would suggest if the clerk or the uh building department or whoever police or whoever is handling this doesn't have it on a uh set schedule you pick one day per year and you know whatever was approved five years prior for residential send out a letter you know do you need this extended the idea behind it was that five years for residential um on average people might be moving out you know if they need it renewed so be it and that could easily be done and uh renters have a more iant uh period in between um regarding the uh whether or not we should table these things uh I just want to uh refresh the memories of people that councilwoman beler there is an Ethics complaint currently pending with the state regarding the uh attorney uh people that sell real estate in the municipality making a master plan within the municipality and making land use ordinances within the municipality especially those that were created those ordinances that were created to keep blacks and Jews out like the ones that were used to keep a school out of the Northeast if we want to discuss these things openly and honestly we really need to do so and I'd welcome you to do that with me anytime and thank you Doug someone on Zoom I have RK please state your name for the record hey good evening Doug this is rishma Khan uh Council the hypocrisy is very very apparent you don't even have to hide behind any agendas now thank you Miss Baker for your words of wisdom and your brutal honesty in pointing out the injustices that have been mitted out to This Town by this Council not only are you all on the council uh the cartle that's being formed and you are taking advantage of your position but you have also forgotten that some people who are in this cartle ran on the election promise that you will do right by Miss Baker and here is Miss Baker asking you and reminding you and still you continue down this path and also council members let me remind you cannabis is the one topic that actually brought together several communities against having cannabis in town what have you done to make it more transparent where is the where are the town halls you promised we had one which was a beautiful showcase for how cannabis industry must thrive in any town going forward well cannabis is available in prise people who want from tin can go over there and tonight you're rushing through the Cannabis ordinance but at the same time you are trying to U you know deter Miss Denise beler from um from what she had to say not only is your pettiness so apparent it has become vitally clear that since it is election season some people will Sway With the Wind other people who are not up for reelection will take it easy and uh really relax and not have anything to say and be complicit with everything else their council members are doing I if I sound angry I'm not I'm extremely outraged I am passionate about our town I'm passionate about transparency and promoting Dem ocracy here so please give us the right answers every time forming a cartle and trying to subdue the voices of those who are speaking out just words words of wisdom words of justice and honesty is not going to work thank you Mr Rose I think I saw your hand up thank you Howard Rose tinck resident 45 years uh I'm I'm I guess I'm not surprised just disappointed this cannabis uh situation I don't understand why it's desirable to have and I'm not for or against it I guess I'm probably more for it than against it but relatively neutral I don't understand though why it's sequestered into one area of the township you're adding insulter injury you put a mega structure in one area and then you put a dope manufacturing center there as well and then you're going to put outlets for sales there as well I was under the understanding three years ago that there was some discussion why it took three years this is beyond me that there was some discussion that there would be multiple places for purchase uh I look across the street from where I have a store and I'm on one of the busiest business streets in the township and across the street from me there are four empty stores should one of them be for cannabis I don't know should there be four stores limited to Township put a number on it but get it diffused from one specific area that's inundated and put a little bit here a little bit there a little bit in the other place sprinkle it around uh that seems to be a much more Equitable situation than what you're proposing right now so in terms of deferring this ordinance for 60 days or 30 days or until the master plan is done and a master plan does set the tone for the town don't underestimate it I say Oro it for now and re-evaluate it completely and let the Township know what you're doing when you're re-evaluated it's been a secret process for about three years why isn't there transparency why aren't people understanding what's going on why it's going on what you're trying to achieve how you're trying to achieve it and what the impact is going to be I hear all these 5,000 here $10,000 there as fees what income is it really generating for EK what income and what amount of sales does a a retail outlet have to earn to pay those kind of fees and make a profit are we talking about needs 100 sales a day 500 sales a day what's going on here what are the statistics what's the information that you're not giving to us perhaps because you don't know find out let us know thank you thank you Mr Rose Doug someone on Zoom I have Jesse Leon Jesse Leon tck resident um I'm actually calling in about the 46 Warner ordinance that's my neighbor it's my block I fully support their ability to have some reserved on street parking for handicapped use uh we have a block that doesn't have parking allowed at all except for Sundays and holidays maybe that's something you guys want to reconsider in the near future on the issues of adus and cannabis to me they're a little bit linked um their questions of how much regulation you guys really need to interpose on any of our Lives the voters of uh New Jersey the voters of the United States come to the two-thirds conclusion that legal cannabis is a good thing um sequestering it in one tiny little corner that's far from everything it's far from the police it's far from the highway I guess it's not far from the highway it's far from it's far from the main business district of town if you want cannabis to succeed in TK it should succeed on Cedar Lane it should succeed on t Road it should succeed on Queen an Road or degra it's just see wherever it happens to be there are a dozen uh vape shops selling Delta eight which is essentially marijuana um those might be great locations for a legal pot shop so maybe we should think about liberalizing that ordinance to to let the market decide just exactly where the thing that people want to buy is actually getting sold instead of sticking it in a little corner and and leaving the externalities with a precious few people who you know obviously are very frustrated with that um but otherwise obviously you know if if it makes it easier to bring it to town make it easier to bring it to town if it makes it easier for people to to live in their homes and to to make them accessible for for a renter to offset the cost of living in t or for you know a family members so that they can live a little bit more frugally together or have an intergenerational household do that 100% make it easier and cheaper and Freer for us to live in this town thank you thank you Mr Leon Miss Angel hi good evening can you hear me hi Maxine angel I live in tinac um so the Cannabis issue I think brought us together right it's been a couple of years but we spent a lot of hours together talking about this anything you can do to um to make it look M total respect to Mr Leon and I fully support the chickens I'm sorry that's not up right now um cannabis just because people want it legalized doesn't mean that we want it in our neighborhoods and we've discussed this a few times that tck maybe just isn't the place so if the goal of the ordinance is to make it more difficult for retailers to open then I'm all in favor of that and Miss Khan had a great point that our discussions about cannabis really brought a lot of communities together because so many of us said we don't want it around our kids we don't want it near the playgrounds we don't want it near our houses of worship and we agreed on that and we had some great conversations and so it's back up for discussion and um so the it's good to have it discuss we should have it out in the open but I don't think that cannabis should be kiled anywhere in Tac and we can learn from other municipalities mistakes over the past couple of years that we've seen places walk back their cannabis uh legalization so while it's fine for people to choose how um what they want to do in the privacy of their own homes having this as a retail option just tx's not the place so we have to look for other options to bring Revenue to town and I'm sure that we can come up with something creative that um that will work for all of us but cannabis just doesn't belong in tinac na very retail or cultivation or any of the other um the other engagements with that so thanks so much thank you Miss Angel someone on Zoom Doug I have Sandy hi Sandy silverberg EK I want to uh speak about the Cannabis location I've been lobbying for quite a while about safety in that area exiting from from Route four and I even went with councilwoman Oregon to go look at it and I'm very happy that there was at least an an initial step toward making those streets a little safer and exiting the highway a little safer but locating a cannabis store in that area does not does not enhance the safety that that's not a small business area so people who are come us I know there could be a cafe there could be a this there could be a that in the meantime there isn't anything except the monstrosity that's there and the traffic of people getting on and getting off easily in the world will spread that there's a cannabis place there if they come off and on the highway I shudder to think and how much more traffic there's going to be there and how much more horrible the situation is going to be if it were up to me there would be no cannabis sales at all in t neck I think it's Preposterous it's ridiculous to my way of thinking you want to smoke cannabis fine that that's your own business but to have it in a non-commercial District seems absurd and excuse me blatantly obvious about oh well you know we we're GNA have it but we're going to stick it over here because uh uh that neighborhood is it's it's blatant and and it bothers me uh if I were a little more creative I would have lots of signs bouncing back and forth behind me saying no chickens no this no that yes this yes that but the catbus thing you hear how much resistance there is to having it there what's the harm in putting it off for a little bit while a little longer figuring out a little bit better what to do if you make if you straggle hold it you know my my local Dope Dealer is going to undercut you so I don't know it just see it seems so unfair and so obviously wrong I hope you'll change your minds thank you thank you miss silverberg the gentleman in the middle yes sir evening Ariz gillad 22-year resident of tenek it's tied to my anniversary so if I get that wrong I'm in big trouble it's my first time addressing city council I have to admit I hadn't come to meetings until non- TEEG matters began to fill the agenda I was curious so I started coming to the meetings um and I found something very interesting as the meeting discussions were filled with so many matters that didn't relate to tck per se people that would come to the podium with specific requests for repair everybody was like fantastic you have something to talk about that is specific to the town so I'm going to take advantage of that and I'm going to point out that we could really use some Street Lighting on Jefferson yeah this is for the two ordinances oh this is not public comment no no but it's coming up soon so I'm covered I got you uh a Unity Initiative for tenk okay you feed cannabis to the legalized chickens and you kill two birds with one stone have a great day thank you sir Doug someone on [Music] Zoom I have sharuk aala give us one second shuk's coming in should whenever you're ready you're free to unmute hi good evening sh resident I wanted to speak to the Cannabis ordinance opening cannabis dispensaries in our community poses significant risk including increased access to a substance that can and will impair our children's cognitive function leading to dependency and contribute to public safety concerns moreover the presence of the dispensaries are going to negatively impact our community's character and youth it's going to encourage normalization and misuse we should prioritize the well-being and safety of our residents by not allowing these establishments to operate locally please don't sell out our children for a revenue listen to your constituents and vote no to this ordinance thank you thank you Miss Miss lurn was that your hand up for the last I don't know how long now but you we all have brought this up over and over again about not putting first we didn't want the big building then y'all told us y'all weren't going to put the Cannabis in there if yall remember correctly I don't know what happened but that area is a black and Latino Community we're getting hit there's a church Church community churches down there we shouldn't even think about putting in there it reminds me of the old days but they did to Harlem where you had a church on every corner and then a um a liquor store on the next Corner uh there is a also a park there I thought you can't have these places by um where the children play Not only that you have a besides the traffic for U Miss Baker which I feel so sorry for that lady you'll really need to build a fence for her protection because of what you did to her property but um there's nothing but seniors over there I don't know y'all don't know what's over in the area but there is nothing but seniors that is going to get hurt you're going to have the New York traffic coming in get high it's dark over there and nothing's changing yall really need to think about putting in on Cedar Lane where it should go in a business Community give them a break they already have that big building the too many people population over there just on a Sunday um the blocks are complaining they're already complaining because there's so many cars coming from all over the community to go to that church and I'm surprised Community which I'm going to drop a dime tomorrow I don't understand why Community haven't come at yall yet Community Baptist Church if yall don't know I don't have that many more things to say other than you really need to reconsider and I don't understand why is it he's right yall are putting everything in the black all the buildings are being built in the black community all the um the the these Cannabis stores in just on the northeast don't we have three already we have three what's happening I don't see anything happening on the other side of town when I drive I don't see anything happening on the south side of town when I'm driving what is happening do we need to organize and really come out here at y'all to get because y'all are not listening to us and I am so tired Karen of you screwing up your lip and not respond mayor name if you can address the council your attitude is nasty I don't even bother to come anymore we've been saying the same thing over and over and over and what do y'all do y'all keep on building thank you Miss lightburn thank you Miss lightburn Doug someone on Zoom I have Darren Chandler Darren shandler please unmute say your name for H can you hear me clear yeah my name is Darren Chandler Jr I am a resident of tenek I think for the past seven years uh I grew up my whole entire life in hackin act um don't judge me for that um but also my profession I actually own a cannabis dispensary um it's been open for a month in Keyport New Jersey down the shore um I've I'm also a commercial real estate broker for the past 12 years and all I do is cannabis real estate sales I've been recognized by the governor uh Phil Murphy at 2003's uh 2023 State of the Union for my efforts in the Cannabis space I have spoken to some of the Town Council previously um to lend my expertise and I want to do that as well um you know I've listened to a lot of these Council meetings the town hall and I think uh a lot of people may be intellectually lazy when it comes to cannabis they only really read articles versus actually going to dispensary like I said I'm running a dispensary the store just closed maybe a half an hour ago there's no crime there's not people smoking outside there's not vagrance um we really have to look at this as a a traditional business and not something that is nefarious um I relayed the information I think that Alfred AB was all always a terrible location to put a cannabis dispensary because it's just a retail store you wouldn't put a ice cream shop down on that block so you shouldn't put a cannabis shop down on that block um it should be on one of the main roads Teck Road Cedar Lane De gr um with a lot of people Echo today um but again I live here I live right across the street from fdu I would love to continue to educate the community and lend my expertise um because this is a business that's not going away and the town could really benefit from the tax revenue from it thank you thank you sir Miss Horwitz hi good evening Emma harowitz Teek resident uh I think that I first became uh comfortable speaking at Council meetings on the topic of cannabis and it's a little surreal to be back here in front of you talking about it again um but here we are so I just wanted to reiterate my long-standing opinion that I hear so much frustration in the voices of people who live near Alfred Avenue and I would feel the same way if cannabis was coming to my neighborhood I wouldn't want it either and one thing that I think brings so many of us in town together is that most people really just who I speak to do not seem to want it in their neighborhood and if no one wants it in their neighborhood then maybe we're just not the right town to have it and you know we don't have a tremendous amount of business districts that are totally separate from residential districts I'm sure there are towns that are like that but our business businesses and our residences are very close together and I share the concerns that others have mentioned about normalization I think it's not something we want to normalize for our kids I I don't think it's the same drug that it was 20 30 years ago um and that doesn't mean that I don't read articles I have probably read dozens and dozens and dozens of them and I think that there's been a change in culture across a lot of towns and a lot of municipalities and even internationally seeing that this has not been the a Panacea that people thought it would be financially nor has it been good for children and families and people and addiction so I understand that a lot of the what's going on in this ordinance is probably actually quite helpful in terms of limiting the number of licenses and I applaud that but I still think the number of licenses should be zero thank you thank you Miss with someone on Zoom Doug I have yha on please feel free to unmute state your name for the record hi my name is jfa I'm a longtime resident of tenek um first time speaking at a town council meeting even though I've attended many via Zoom I when I received the agenda and I saw the cannabis bill I thought oh my gosh I have to speak up I first of all was shocked when I saw the CBD stores start to pop up on Queen Anne and State Street two on Cedar Lane one on Teck Road and now we're bringing cannabis here the CBD stores all have these bright lights attracting I don't know who they're attracting but it's certainly you know Bright Lights attract the moths so please I I hear the I hear the concern of the residences of Alfred street but really I this is more about bringing CBD stores and cannabis retail stores into tck you know as as the other individuals have said let's start building up Cedar Lane again to drive down Cedar Lane it's so sad to see the number of stores that are vacant I'm sure we can all put our heads together and come up with some very profitable stores on Cedar Lane that will bring the teet Community back together and you know Street traffic on Cedar Lane let's start thinking that way I don't think cannabis has any his place in our precious Town Tac thanks thank you ma'am miss Mr Mayor yes M well I know this is hearing everyone must speak would it be the great time to remind people and clarify the is actually not about approving cannabis but it's actually a fee based ordinance would that be sub an application yeah this is actually this is all been improved this is literally a fee base maybe if the uh if the clerk can read what we're actually discussing and these are very concerns but this was approved a while ago it's literally about the fees being charged no thank you for that reminder because we have said it a couple times Mr clerk would you mind repeating that just reading it again so this way everybody knows that this is just about increasing the fees yeah absolutely just give me one second here take your time sir to bring up some accompany information to our clear and concise title so again this is amending an ordinance previously approved back in 2021 for cannabis establishments as a conditional use within the Light Industry District what ordinance 57221 did mayor council public was uh establish the permittance of such operations in that area what ordinance 7 is doing specifically um ordinance 72024 as we've mentioned in passing a few times this evening it is merely establishing a formalized process to the application for someone to try and open up a cannabis establishment in the township it's setting fees it's setting licensing caps it's set out an application procedure we've been working on an application with our cannabis Council um that's not my timer um and uh it's um also establishing definitions around some of our licenses it has different caps for different kinds of licenses it also lays out a suspension and civil penalty if someone's not abiding by uh this uh application procedure it gives um Power to council to revoke a license after a public hearing should they deem that necessary um it it's really clarifying A process that had yet to be clarified from a couple years ago thank you Mr Clin thank you Mr Schwarz ma'am did you still want to speak on this sure W Boda resident um so I've been watching this um cannabis ordinance for a while now um it's been three years there's been no clarification up until recently about pricing as far as I'm aware with the licenses today was the first time I've heard about it and the reaction of the crowd was kind of like oh my God who's going to afford these prices and it's going to be the big um you know Cannabis stores who while they are regulated a little bit better it's killing the small business Market um I think from that perspective I was against that I was against the location um I think it's a terrible area um there are three dispensaries that are within a 15minute driving distance from P um the uh vape shops can sell Delta I believe it's Delta 8 and Delta 10 legally they are classified as hemp products um CBD is not considered cannabis I feel like a lot of people are just unaware of these different things it's in tck already people are smoking in Te neck as somebody who grew up in the area I've been smoking cannabis I'm sorry Mom since I was in high school um it's not going to go away and if we're afraid of what the kids and um our families and our children are seeing that is education that is coming from the family and how we're raising our kids and it's not because an adult is smoking cannabis it's like Banning steak because a baby can't eat it because they don't have tee it's a little absurd to me um but yeah the pricing I'm absolutely kind of shocked to hear that we're going from a th000 to 5,000 um and 10,000 it seems a little excessive and it's barring the small businesses from being able to thrive in EK so I would want to uh the council to at least reconsider that thank you thank you ma'am Doug anybody on Zoom I have Dwayne Harley good afternoon Dwayne Harley uh Boger Street ten resident um I was calling tonight or calling in tonight to support or talk about the adus that the ordinance should um go through today because there's really no sense of um putting it to the side or delaying it because the Adu ordinance already complies with the master plan so so denying the uh going with going through with the audience tonight the audience tonight is of no consequence because the reality is it would make more sense to know once we actually going through the master plan that the Adu would be an option because the reality is our our residents you know um there's there's a quality of life um issue dealing with property value um rates of rent and things like that they need to know and that is an immediate need to help our residents have affordable living so I just think that saying anything different by not uh going through with this ordinance you are being petty I mean the reality is you're being petty if you're going to vote against it for whatever reason um y'all look really ridiculous sitting on on your hands not letting this go saying it's going to affect the master plan when the master plan the planning board already approved the adus that it complies with the master plan so your excuses of not going forward with this Adu initiative is just simply ridiculous and childish Mr Harley I'm sorry to interrupt but are no longer one of the resolutions that are being considered so if you could just talk to the two res ordinances I thought it was I thought we talked about the adus it but it got tabled sir and so we're only talking about the two other ordinances talk during good and Welfare about adus that's okay okay well well I said what I had to say because um that's what I thought we was on so I apologize no it's okay thank you Mr Harley thank you yeah anyone else in Chambers want to talk about these two ordinances Mr vaty I I don't know that much about cannabis anymore um but I have to confess that you're making it harder for the people of tck to understand what's going on if you can talk about this the ordinances by number we're not that quick if you want to tell us where places are I'm looking at the map where's the map I've been asking you for months please put some maps here so people have a point of reference okay I've asked for this before and it would really help us I think out here to keep things straight well our heads are spinning you can talk about numbers you can't talk about names and uh even you could put on a little FL flag up here to say we're talking about this ordinance so we all know and that's that's that's what I think we get we need that Improvement spend a thousand bucks put up a couple of maps get a a laser pointer and let us move forward on this thank you thank you Mr VY someone on Zoom Doug I think you said there were two more I miss miss lightburn I'm sorry but there's no back and forth until after everybody testifies we're talking about the two ordinances which you actually spoke on and we're gonna I think we have two more people on zoom and then hopefully Council can talk about it yes thank you mayor I have sandre young and yes as a reminder we are still talking about ordinance 7 and ordinance 92024 Miss Young whenever you are ready you are free to unmute hi this is Shandra young teac New Jersey Irvington Road I want to take the time to say that um it's unfortunate that um the meeting seems to be going uh a different direction I I I I believe we're here to get the work done for the residents of the people of Teck and there's a strong sense of miseducation going here I'm wondering um if we as residents are actually reading the agendas and reading the ordinances or are we just being called to speak on things because it's it's really a disservice to call and be so um as you say not angry but passionate about things and you're giving misinformation the [Music] ordinance to allow cannabis in the town of ten was approved by the prior Council in 2021 that is not what we are discussing if your master plan will reverse that if you can tell the residents that your master plan is going to reverse that 2021 ordinance so that there is no cannabis and tinac then yes I would agree table it but if you cannot do that with the master plan then this ordinance tonight is regulating it is a fact that the prior Council approved the ordinance of Council of the Cannabis it is a fact that there is an ordinance already on the books to allow cannabis it is a fact that this ordinance is tightening those regulations I do want to um concur with another Resident that said you know make sure that you have consulted with our small businesses um our local owners that are trying to get applications so that we don't price them out um we do want to allow for small businesses I'm not saying I'm for or against cannabis what I'm saying is there's a process and if we're going to be adamantly talking about something let's make sure we educate the residents so again this ordinance is regulating tightening from what I'm understanding from what I read tightening the regulation of the ordinance that was approved in 2021 this ordinance is not allowing cannabis on Alfred Avenue or Cedar Lane or State Street or queen and Road what it is doing is tightening regulations something that I'm sure your Cod enforcement officer that you speak of would love to have a a tight regulation thank thank you thank you Miss Young Doug I don't see any other hands in Chambers I think you said there was another person on Zoom bringing in Joe Spiegel Joe Spiegel please unmute not your timer sir please bear with our friend Joe he's coming in right now heyel whenever you're ready all right good evening uh Joe Spiegel here former t resident 30 years uh in full transparency I am an aspiring cannabis business owner with two of my partners who are also from tenek uh we are not rich we are not wealthy we're not a multi-state operation we are small business and we have been getting killed uh with the the non-action uh by tenek over the past two years uh and you know I'm I'm speaking about the Cannabis ordinance I'm just I'm very confused why anybody would oppose a more robust licensing framework uh to go forward I I don't see why we would table it uh what it what this ordinance has to do with the master plan I would love to know uh it just it doesn't make sense to me um but just hearing everybody chime in about this topic uh I really think people have the wrong idea about cannabis and I understand why the stigma runs deep it goes back decades H but as a reminder it's legal in the state of New Jersey both both medicinally and recreationally and people have to remember that this is medicine for a lot of people um the federal government has acknowledged it it's why you know in process now it's being moved from a schedule one substance to schedule three on the same level as a prescription you'd get at the local CVS you know that it's not more harmful than alcohol and we have liquor stores in T and and no one is lobbying to get those shut down at least I'm not hearing about it you know I grew up in ten and I hear people's concerns about you know if a dispensary is in town it's easier for my kids to get you know I'm going to have to agree with the young woman who spoke earlier you know being someone who grew up in Tina cannabis is already in town the kids can get it if they want not having a dispensary leaves an open market for the black market for the drug dealers to have a a place in Bergen County to to sell their drugs it doesn't add more crime it reduces it tck needs the tax revenue it's it's perplexing some of the arguments I'm hearing and it's perplexing that this ordinance which doesn't touch zoning it doesn't change the fact that cannabis is already legal and allowed in town uh it just regulates it more it's just perplexing that we're it's being argued as if we're going to go back and and deliberate what cannabis should be in town Mr thank you Mr spel Doug you said there's one more on Zoom Mahajan please feel free to unmute and state your name for the record can you hear me it's Mahin katala loud and clear you have three minutes yes so my question is you know there we we've been hearing that it's going to bring some Revenue to the town so how much is of the revenue is it bringing to the town number one number two is that to the last person not the last second last person who spoke who said that you know the ordinance is already approved in 2020 yes it was approved but people were against it and people are still against it and that's the point that you all elected members were elected to represent the people of the town and if majority of the Town people are not approving this cannabis then shouldn't take place you are you not here to enforce your opinion and matters on people you're here to listen to public and their opinions and if we don't want it then it shouldn't take place thank you thank you Miss is that it Doug seeing no further hands the public hearing is closed anyone on Council want to comment Mr Schwarz yeah I'll try to make it brief and I thank everyone for um you know speaking I'm just going to stick to the comments as it relates to the real estate aspect something I know near and dear in development um to the question of what's being built on Alfred Avenue 329 Alfred Avenue is approximately 245 rental units of which 15% which is TX law is the set aside for affable housing um as it relates to Margaret Baker and spreading it out I fully agree with her we cannot put all development in one area to that end um we have quite a bit of conversation about the future of American Legion Drive and Cedar in the development pose there um Avalon and wind at 1775 Windsor Road 240 units there um we had put additional units Down River Road at Newbridge additional units South and EK Road um and additional units and the bota border on Palisade Avenue so we really have a nice spreading out and we have quite a bit of units proposed for the future of DPW on River Road which I look forward to speaking about in future meetings um Mr Rose the four vacancies that you stay at I don't um there's actually two two of them are long-term leases paying rent one's an expansion of the Bridge Restaurant and one is a a t- shop not sure why they're not open for business but they are leased up and paying rents um as it relates to the um Alfred Avenue someone mentioned a comment about it's not fair to the residents of Alfred Avenue there are no residents of Alfred Avenue Alfred Avenue is a light industrial area that is completely isolated on its own and it has does not have any residence down there keep in mind the the area that is approved for cannabis is approximately quarter mile away from 329 Avenue Alfred Avenue down the block um lastly very important miss lightburn about the church that's a very valid comment and and it troubled me I looked it up 445 Alfred Avenue is actually 08 of a miles away from the Community Baptist Church uh in a 13-minute walk so that is not a danger in any way if that can be deemed a danger again thank everyone uh thank you everyone for their comments and I look forward to our vote anyone else Miss Belcher yeah just a couple things um I just want to mention um uh Mrs Gordon uh there there is no connection between adus and and and the and the U master plan other than uh the fact that planning board has already approved that adus are consistent with the existing master plan uh they found that adus are consistent um I want to mention to um Mr Berliner that uh the steering committee um had uh the the uh the master plan for 6 months the planning board received the master plan six weeks ago uh they are actively U beginning the engagement they just had to um hire a uh planning board attorney so um you can know that essentially uh it's going to be um reviewed and we're actively looking at um approving um the master plan plan in in the short um short distance of time um just I want to mention here again master plan is a reflection of who we are and what we want development to be in our town um I want to mention that the uh the the adus can be actually looked toward um uh uh being uh affordable housing credits as we um approach that ordinance there are many townships that are doing that uh I want to mention that Mrs Baker and miss lightburn that I am so sorry for that monstrosity that Miss Mrs baker has to live next to that was approved by a prior planning board in a prior Council it should never have happened um I understand that you're outraged about um certain things that seem to to end up in certain communities and that's why it's so important not to rush through a master plan is to get it right because there are many many components that we want to look at to ensure that things are done right and lastly Mr Kaplan uh Realtors have had tremendous help in shaping Master plans throughout our state and they will continue to do so uh I'd be happy however to review any kind of rules or regulations with you thank you Miss beler Miss Oregan so thank you to everybody who read the ordinance who then stood up and spoke uh I just want to review it one more time for those of you who didn't read it um what this ordinance does is it increases licensing fees it creates a formal application process for anybody who wishes to obtain a license and that license they would have to be heard by the entire Council not by a subcommittee so there's your transparency it's actually increasing transparency um it will require any business that opens here to enter into a host agreement with the township giving back to the township it puts a cap on the number of retail licenses and it does not affect zoning at all there are no changes for that here there has always been a social Equity component to cannabis for minorities so that's already put in place by the state um there there is no change in zoning or where cannabis will be located this only tightens the regulations and gives the town more control over what who comes here and what opens here miss lightburn threats are beneath you that was not okay okay um and who else said [Music] something I forgot I forgot what my last point was is it all Miss organ you were talking you were talking about ordinance seven know what it's about it was just to answer somebody who spoke I'm sorry it'll come to me later I'll bring it up thank you Miss organ Miss Goldberg thanks Mr Mayor so um thank you everyone for speaking it's It's oddly refreshing and normal to be talking about cannabis in this room uh to see Miss Hartz talking about cannabis really feels like old times um I remember the public hearing on cannabis it was in August of 2021 cannabis is already legal antina it's already zoned on Alfred in the light industrial Zone this changes nothing in regard to zoning this is strictly administrative um to the voices who called about transparency thank you for addressing this this updated ordinance makes this process more transparent the applications will be heard by the full Council in open session for everyone to hear there will be an application that you can Oprah and in order to have that application and to be heard it will cost $5,000 this ordinance did not address zoning because as you can hear and see it is a discussion and a contested issue that needs further exploration we are listening and we do hear you that being said that does not mean that we should not address the lack of process and fees that need to be addressed which is what this ordinance is doing Alfred Avenue is and has been zoned for cannabis since 2022 this has been discussed publicly for over a year and the overview of this ordinance was read and put in the agenda packet on April 16th and we even had the first ever subcommittee meeting on cannabis this ordinance makes this process transparent and put in the open and gives fees for our building department for the clerk's office so that we can handle this properly there has been a cannabis subcommittee report in every single agenda when a meeting has taken place since January of 23 as you can hear a location is a more complex discussion but we need to address the administrative process which is exactly what we're doing we do not put work on hold while waiting for other things to happen happen we can do more than one thing at once thank you Miss Goldberg Miss G or Mr cats I can't see you guys but did you want to say something yes I have my hand raised um so I just want to on the record um share with um residents that I am in support of cannabis my problem with this ordinance is the fact that again it's you know we and I I know this is an administrative ordinance but the fact that the the only zoned area um in TK is in a largely black and brown community and when there was um an attempt to rezone um an area near near Cedar Lane it was quickly shot down when other community members complained about it and so my real issue is um I'm concerned that this Council isn't equitably addressing the concerns and requests of all residents we see children come in and request pickle ball courts it gets fast-tracked we see children come in and talk about the chicken ordinance all of all of a sudden people's minds are are changed um but when other community members come in and beg for compliance officers it gets denied when other community members say please do not build a massive uh building in a largely single family residential um area it gets pushed through anyway and so my concern is that I don't believe this Council understands the Optics of the decisions that we're making it does not feel like we've been equitably listening to our residents and that is a problem and we need to be do better going forward thank you thank you Miss G I don't see Ellie's hand up I just want to say thank you to everyone for speaking up and I make a motion to approve both ordinances second that is a first from mayor Pagan for ordinance 7 and -224 and a second from councilwoman Goldberg councilman Schwarz yes I'm both councilwoman beler no I'm both I'm both councilwoman received received councilwoman Goldberg yes councilwoman Oregon yes Deputy Mayor cats yes Deputy Mayor G yes mayor Pagan yes all adopted thank you Mr clerk our next order of business is good and Welfare any member of the public wishing to be heard will be called on and will state their names and whether they live in tin for the record comments shall be limited to 3 minutes per person and if you are on Zoom please list your first name and your last name so that our clerk can call on you and please turn on your camera when speaking let's start with someone on this side Mr roin Michael Rockin um first I want to say um that I'm excited to see my name on the agenda tonight um and I hope that I will get to serve uh in a slightly more formal capacity as well I'm disappointed to see that we're uh tbling the Adu ordinance um I think that it would be great I just moved in with my parents uh for about a year uh hopefully and uh so far it's going amazingly it's really something special to see a multigenerational household to live in a multigenerational household um I also think it would be great if there was like just a little bit more space between us um and I think that adus really really will enable that to get done um on the topic of Safe Streets we heard a lot tonight already um even just on the topic of uh cannabis on Alfred Avenue on development in general we always hear about this from the manager as well uh that we are improving our streets on a regular basis we even uh just adopted an ordinance uh an ordinance to approve a special uh Reserve parking for somebody who has distinct needs uh because they are handicapped now many handicapped people need cars to get around the town uh many people that have handicaps uh cannot drive um but they can do other things they can potentially walk uh they can roll they can get around town if the town is designed for them that's why uh just a few meetings ago um Safe Streets Teck uh you know pushed you guys forward a little bit I I hope and complete streets Burgen County to adopt a complete streets ordinance uh just as a reminder for those who don't remember a complete streets ordinance is about making sure that our streets are designed for people no matter how they get around whether that's driving which is very important or if they take public transit or if they bike or if they walk or if they're rolling uh in some other you know Contraption uh whether that's a chair or something else scooter and as we repave our streets as we improve our streets uh that is really critical that we're thinking about that um as we go along uh in the process there one thing that I've noticed uh in recent weeks is queenan Road um queenan road is a place where there are a lot of places for people to cross the road um it's also a road where we have two retail districts it's also a road where we have a bus it's also a road that we control uh which is nice for a change um and I really hope that there are some projects that we can do to improve the ability of whether it's school children people who want to get to synagogue people who want to get to Tac High School people who want to get on or off the bus um to be able to cross that road because that is a really great opportunity for us to demonstrate what roads can be designed to do um which is to make it easier to get around whether it's walking or driving now Deputy Mayor G uh mentioned that the senior citizens uh Advisory Board said 25 miles an hour on all streets that would be amazing but our streets need to be designed for those speeds um and I hope we thank you thank you sir Doug someone on Zoom bringing in Leila please unmute and state your name for the record Leila please unmute state your name for the record hello hi yes you have three minutes yeah hi my name is Leila tinic resident in the name of God the most comp compassionate the most merciful friends and family ask me why I insist on attending these meetings and speaking up for Palestine when I know that our council is vehemently anti-arab anti- Palestinian and anti-muslim they asked me why I insist on staying up late in order to read a statement when it disregulated my entire nervous system to be in the presence of such cold callous uncaring politicians and now especially since what transpired last council meeting left me deeply traumatized bruised and shaken my family and friends wonder why I insist on speaking on Palestine at these meetings even more now they wonder why I insist on attending these meetings despite being a disabled visibly Muslim woman who was who is never received warmly in Council or anywhere in my hometown and I tell them that number one I am documenting history these statements and the statements of my fellow Pro Palestinian friends in this town will forever be on the record and as we bear witness to the onslaught of violence in Palestine in front of a council that openly and unapologetically condones this genocide this is my duty as a the human number two I am addressing my town the place I was born and grew up in the place my family established roots in and the place I hope one day we as allies of the Palestinian people can be safe to express our support and solidarity without being harassed doxed attacked and threatened for doing so I will not stop talking about Palestine in every place that hopes to be free from tyranny and oppressive systems there are several tinic residents who run public social media accounts who have made it their mission to mention my name and slander me every single day their objective is clear I want to say on the record that I am not in any way suicidal I have no please don't interrupt myself I if any harm comes to me or my children I want it on the record and for everyone in Chambers and online to be witnessed that I am being threatened and that any harm that comes to me that from that results from this will not be an accident there are three current council members who know and are complicit in the violence my family and I have faced bed here in this town for decades simply for being supporters of Palestine you will face your Reckoning I will not be silenced I refuse for my children and other black and brown children who advocate for Palestine to be harmed just because you dehumanize anyone who stands up for Palestine in this town this town does not belong to just one type of person it belongs to everyone I will not be silenced free Palestine Paula Paula Roven Paula Roven we be careful Paula uh Paula Roven tin resident I'm speaking on behalf of one toown one vote one toown one vote calls on the tenek township Council to protect democracy by placing no limitation on the duration of good and Welfare in order to assure that everyone who wants to speak gets a chance to speak whether in person or on Zoom our second statement from one toown one vote when Town one vote continues to believe that subcommittees are designed to avoid public scrutiny and we again recommend that they be replaced with open work sessions thank you thank you Mr Goen Doug someone on Zoom bless you I am bringing in Michelle Michelle please unmute whenever you are ready state your name for the record Michelle whenever you're ready I'll give it one second here hang on Michelle whenever you're ready please unmute maybe we should go on to the next person on Zoom Michelle bringing in Adam Westman Michelle please raise your hand again we'll try to get you in bringing in Adam Westman please hold as he becomes a panelist Adam whenever you're ready please unmute hey can you hear me loud and clear sir three minutes okay Adam Weissman tck resident uh first regarding the truncated good and Welfare it's absurd to expect community members to sign into Zoom at 6:30 p.m. to avoid being locked out of an overcapacity Zoom room wait an hour and a half for for the meeting to start raise their hand at start of good and Welfare only to then be denied the ability to address their elected officials and fellow community members because our council members can't be bothered to listen to the views of the people they represent I've attempted to participate in good and Welfare at every meeting for months by zoom and I've only been able to on the occasions when good and Welfare wasn't cut off with people still waiting to speak at the last meeting I came down to council to speak in person after watching on Zoom concerned that I would be prevented from speaking yet again and now I have the distinction of being the first person cut up from speaking with good and Welfare while in the room given one council member snide comment about solving World Peace it is part not to interpret this as a decision made on the basis of the expected content of my speech rather than timing concerns if the meetings are running late hold your closed sessions on Monday and then invite in community participation at a reasonable hour on Tuesday or maybe council members could leave more time for commun community members to speak rather than wasting our time by reciting pre-written islamophobic anti-arab racist screeds off their laptops that we can read a few days later as opinion pieces in the Jewish link or on their Instagram stories anyway also if we going to privilege attendees in the room over remote attendees we should Institute measures to increase accessibility like requiring masking to protect imuno compromised community members and having ASL interpreters and members of the de Community won't have to read captions off their phone for the entire meeting we allow religious leaders both in person and remote to speak at the beginning of good and Welfare we can extend the same consideration to people with disabilities that make in-person attendance difficult or impossible we should also make the list of people whose hands are raised public so we can monitor for bias in the order in which people are chosen to speak and we should also give privileged speaking spots to people who are caught off from speaking at previous meetings to ensure that people aren't prevented from speaking month after month second I want to address the absurdity of our town passing an Arab Heritage Month resolution while we are on record supporting Israel's genocidal assult on Kaza having raised not a single word of formal objection to a to months of war crimes to the targeted destruction of mosques churches and universities a campaign of cultural destruction conducting a tandem with the slaughter of thousands of children the deliberate destruction of gaza's Health Care system and an engineered famine Israel has now made it clear that it is uninterested in negotiations and fully committed to enacting its final solution for Gaza in Rafa if the council truly means what it said me what it said when it resolved that we look forward to a peaceful resolution ensuring the security and safety of all those residing in Israel and Gaza and the West Bank it should pass a resolution today calling on Israel to Halt a defensive NE negotiate a lasting peace and call on calling on President Biden to cancel all weapon sales to drive home the point that we need peace now cease fire now finally as the descendant of a holocaust victim I suggest we scrap the for of a Holocaust Memorial when our school board cons is considering limiting our genocide curriculum to only address the Holocaust and not other genocides when we consider our high school student when we senture our high school students from echoing the views of the UN special repor on Kaza that agenda stud is taking place woman and woman is violently dragged out of our Council building for alerting us to the ongoing mass murder of children it is clear that we are only interested in a Holocaust Memorial to Pander to one Community but reject the notion that the only appropriate response to genocide of any people is never again Adam thank you someone on this side who hasn't spoken yet anyone if not Mr Rose Howard Rose still Liv in cenic uh the person who spoke before me uh there were some good points that were made I wish I could have followed it better because he squeezed five minutes of uh time into three uh and I couldn't quite follow all of it decorum uh I've spoken about this over the I was going to say years over the last few decades in Council uh I'm very appreciative that the person who was sitting in front of me had a sign held up block my vision and when I said please don't block my vision they lowered it that's appropriate I see a number of people here who are very passionate about their concerns and I respect that and I understand that uh but I am concerned that part of the right for freedom of speech is to not interrupt a meeting nor disallow someone else from being at a meeting and when a sign is raised above your head you're blocking the people behind you and that's that's inappropriate and discourteous uh we're becoming a world Forum here and I've spoken about that before also uh Council really bestowed that upon themselves and uh I I don't know that you can undo resolutions that are of concern to people uh or or or improve upon them at certain times but I think you have to give more thought into what's going on look at this audience behind me uh there's people with very valid concerns that are expressing them here that I'd like to see them Express them outside of this room instead but that's a hard thing to sway people into doing and and I recognize the difficulty uh where do we go from here how do we get it together how do we get people who are holding the signs together with the people who are not holding the signs to start discussing how we can improve the situation I don't know if we have the power to increase the World situation but damn it I I I hope we have the power to increase TX situation that's where my concern is it's immediate I I I follow world news to a certain degree but you know what I I I follow tenek to a much greater degree I go to a lot of meetings I speak at a lot of meetings I'm concerned about meetings I I speak to people not at meetings uh discussing what their thoughts are what with what's going on and it's a good vantage point to have speaking with people which gets us back to good and Welfare how can you possibly exclude residents from good and Welfare who have been waiting that's been mentioned by several people already uh it's not just inappropriate it's just downright Discord that you're sewing people are angry about it they're concerned about it they express their concerns about it yet it's approaching 12:00 and we'll close a meeting I understand that's a concern to certain council members and I appreciate their need for time at home and with family nevertheless they've taken on a position of importance than someone on Zoom I have Amanda please feel free to unmute and state your name for the record Amanda hi yes I am a tck resident a longtime tck resident and I just kind of wanted to speak about um and Echo the recognition of uh Nurses Appreciation week and Teachers Appreciation Week week but as I'm thinking about that I'm specifically thinking about how over 150 nurses in hza have been murdered by the Israeli soldiers since October as they are uh uh doing their due diligence and caring for their people many of which are their actual family members as they come in as patients how hospitals have been massed Graves and schools have become centers for refugees and are still attacked and destroyed by the Israeli government I want to also speak about aapi month since that was also mentioned as its recognition and celebration is up for discussion yes it's AI month so we must recognize that the gendered and racialized field that nursing is with many of our nurses being Filipino are coerced into diaspora through US imperialism that Filipino diaspora can see their families amongst the Palestinian families because it's a us-backed government and Israeli weapons that are murdering their beloved communities it's aapi month which makes it a very appropriate um that as Asians and uh and as Asian diaspora um we see our history and our families mirror mirrored in the images of Palestinian families violated and obliterated it's the aapi months so we must reckon with the ways that Vietnamese and Korean diaspora carried the mangled Memories of Us backs Wars on their soil as America carved up their countries and set arbitrary borders that tore families apart it's a API month so we we must reckon with the ways that Indian Muslims in diaspora have heard the same hinded styled anti-muslim bigotry being pared by zionists In This Very Town time and time again and laying be the connections between both fascist nationalist ideologies it's AI month and so it would be a failure to history sleeve out that Asian diasporic history is rooted in Anti-Imperialist struggle and that struggle is very much alive and well uh today in EK thank you sir good evening uh council members mayor my name is Muhammad dud Imam Muhammad dud I'm a Imam yes and I'm also a New York City chaplain also a author of the book we fundamentalists I in my book I talk about Judaism Christianity and Islam in my in my uh lessons from my teachers about 35 years ago and when they was teach me about monotheism one of the key lessons to learn from shap and bass the grand Muti of Saudi Arabia IIA he taught me on my first day 35 years ago Justice is the best evidence of Faith Justice I also teach and counsel and talk to many of my Muslim brothers and sisters here in tck New York New Jersey in the mosque dla usla and many of them have said basically we disagree we do not wish to have this Holocaust Memorial War built on public grounds and that is true they have a right no one ethnic group has a monopoly over everybody else especially if it be talking about public grounds no they have told me that basically if this Holocaust Memorial wall is built they will destroy this wall it will lead to big problems like the Berlin Wall it be brought down just recently the prime minister of Israel has been indicted for war crimes he's a war criminal why because he had denied people food water food food water and Medicine just like as the Nazis have denied the food and water and medicines to other people their own Jewish neighbors these Jewish Neighbors in Palestine have denied the Palestinian people the food water and Medicine yes he is a war criminal and just as the Nazis were war criminals now the Palestinians it's amazing two generations two generations i s and they have forgotten that lesson of humanity human rights equal rights Justice and due process of law they have forgotten that and for that reason I agree with many of my Muslim brothers and sisters there shall be no Holocaust Memorial war time is up sir thank you someone on Zoom we have Michelle trying again please unmute whenever you are ready Michelle I see you're unmuted Maybe there's an issue with your microphone Michelle I will come back to you I am bringing in Sher Anne hi can you hear me yes s and clear three minutes all right uh my name is Sher Han Eed I'm a lifelong tneck resident um I just want to recognize Miss vilia I don't know you but I'm a sister in nursing um so I thank you for your service to our community and I don't think that we can overstate it enough the passion intelligence hard work sweat tears everything holding in your urine for hours uh caring for others and putting their needs before yours every day we're on the floor so I thank you for everything you've done and I only hope to be half the nurse that you are um at the same time I'd also like to acknowledge that nurses in this country work within a flawed system medical staff work within a flawed system and as flawed as that system is at least we have one it only makes me think of the nurses around the world in my motherland of Egypt who don't have a system in Palestine who don't have a system to work within who go every day to do their job to put others livelihood before their own and yet we're vilifying them and yet we don't recognize them and yet we don't put them on a pedestal as they need to be so I want to take my time right now and acknowledge them for doing as our Township manager said God's work um I also want to thank the council member for bringing forth the ALS resolution and I want to ask if it will just be a pretty resolution just for words or if we're actually going to do some fundraising on this because I have had personal loss by ALS and it is awful to watch someone who is full of life slowly and painfully become a shell of a person that they are and then eventually you are almost glad that mercifully they're able to go because they were s uing in their body so I want to know if there's anything that's going to be done to raise funds for ALS within the town because I'd love to help with that again because of the personal um loss that I had that I had endured um lastly I just want to support councilwoman Belcher for the compliance officer the idea of a compliance officer I don't know that it will bring about more policing but I want to say I don't think that it would be called about priv frivolous things um back into 2014 I was 6 months pregnant we had a lot of snow my neighbors helped me shovel they didn't call the police on me they didn't do anything like that to me so I think neighborliness if that's a word is still around and and is still alive and well um and I would hope that us neighbors wouldn't be doing this on frivolous things but more of a sanitation and more of um an actual need uh for things and I would hope that the compliance officer would take that into consideration time is up ma'am someone on this side who hasn't spoken yet sir yes you sir in the blue shirt oh sorry I was calling on I didn't see your hand go I'm sorry sorry Sean herar T resident Council and fellow residents I'd like to discuss something very thoughtful and interesting that one of our Council people said at the end of last meeting I think all of us should really take it to heart at the last council meeting the tree ordinance was discussed please please if you can not interrupt so that we can hear we're not going to interrupt you so please ladies and Gentlemen please if we can just focus on what he's saying sorry about that at the last council meeting the tree ordinance was discussed and eventually approved by all council members there were approximately 10 to 12 people who spoke out with concerns on the tree ordinance not one of whom advocated to vote no on the ordinance the majority of whom asked for more dialogue with residents that the ordinance be postponed for further discussions and clarifications the reason I myself asked for a postponement on the ordinance so conversations could take place details could be ironed out did the mic come oh so that the ordinance can be written and passed with the best interest of residents and town for example the ordinance includes application fees ranging from $50 per tree to $200 per tree with penalties and fines applicable do any of you have a clear understanding of how that works there are requirements to plant replacement trees the types of replacement trees though are not listed in the ordinance there was no study listed on the ordinance or mentioned at the meeting that discussed expected turnaround time for permits or inspections there's also a strange Clause that reads and I quote the Department of Public Works will maintain on file a list of non-acceptable trees that may be used when determining the species type and diversity of replacement trees to be used have you seen such a list it wasn't in the ordinance does it even exist the ordinance was voted on and passed unanimously by council at the end of good and well for at the meeting the council person talked about how residents feel the council is not listening called out other members of the council for not listening I'd like to point out the council person statements and actions did not practice what they preached rules for thee and not for me the council person in a span of a few hours blatantly ignored residents concerns voted for the unclear and strangely worded ordinance and then had the audacity to criticize other counil people for not listening to Residents I'm talking about a T-Neck issue a T-Neck tree ordinance not something out of town the problem is not whether you listening or not the problem is whether you and your actions are uniting or untying T neck the difference of United and untied is where you put the eye where you put yourself to that council person I ask you are you and your coun are you in your actions actually uniting or untying T neck I am running for tdmc in District 19 on the June 4th primary please go out to vote I believe that tck as a whole needs to get back to being united and I intend to try to do that within my community and my district I ask residents of District 19 to vote for hershorn and werman for tdmc and urge all of us to be conscious and aware of our actions and statements thank you sir someone on Zoom Doug Michelle please unmute hello can you hear me loud and clear Michelle we got you in you got three minutes okay I am here today as a tin resident and I would like to read out names of Palestinians that have been killed some might say that this is not a EK issue some might say let's only talk about things that happen in EK well for everyone who wants to know this is a Teek issue when tenek decided to pass a resolution saying I stand with Israel it became a tinac issue for anyone who wants to say this started October 7 let me read some names of Palestinians that were murdered before October 7th Muhammad Salam 15 years old shot in the back Muhammad Al Tamimi June 5th three years old shot in the head while riding in the car with his father maram two years old body pulled from Rubble aam age 15 sha aan age 23 sha AI badman July 2023 816 body pulled from Rubble Hamza July 2023 86 killed while playing in the sand at the beach n man raur July 2023 18 months old yes mean matuk 4 years old these are some of the names of Palestinians that were murdered before October 7 for anyone whoever wants to question the numbers for anyone whoever wants to say we're reading out the names of alleged Palestinians that were killed they're not animals they're not numbers they're actual people who had dreams and had families since October 7th Israel has killed one child every 10 minutes remember that number and I would like to end by asking everyone in Chambers to raise their hand if they are against this genocide are you done ma'am yes thank you rob Quan Good To Go sir three minutes good evening Council my name is Roberto Quan I'm a lifelong Teck resident over 40 years mic's not working okay I'm also an an attorney in town I have my practice here in town and I'm going to speak about a slightly more mundane matter but uh matter that's important to the residents on Cranford place this Council will be considering a measure uh later on this evening uh for a parking restriction on the south side of Cranford place and I just wanted to you to hear it from me and I know that I speak for my uh fellow residents on Cranford place this uh measure uh we signed a petition and uh that was uh supported uh overwhelmingly by the uh affected residents if not unanimously and the reason why it is needed is because currently we have a situation where there's parking on both sides of Cranford both on the North side and on the South Side South Side being the resident side and when you have parking on both sides of the street there are events that are happening at the Teck High School football field that are generating an immense amount of traffic and now the traffic is unable to flow in both directions because Cranford place is a one-way street but only during school hours I believe until 400 p.m. so uh on many week nights it's creating a traffic situation where the traffic just simply simply stops can't flow and we SE we have several elderly um residents on the Block and if anybody needs an emergency vehicle during these hours the emergency vehicles will not be able to get there so if we have a fire we're not going to be able to get a fir Tru there we have anybody that needs an ambulance they won't be able to get there and this situation has been going on now for several years and it has been um has not been addressed and it's only getting worse so I urge the council to support that ordinance that you will be hearing later on and real briefly on a matter that is uh related not the same but related there are I urge the council to start looking into the use of the T High School uh football field because there are events group events that are taking place there that I believe are not sanctioned by the town uh not approved by the town uh there's no permits for them um and I know that when I have had to take out permits for V Park there's an a very strict process for that I don't believe the same holds true for the track and I also feel that there are residents from outside of tenek that are using that track it's uh uh adding to the wear and tear of that track uh without proper Revenue coming in so I would urge you guys to look into that please thank you Mr qu someone on Zoom du I have Chuck powers please unmute whenever you're ready yes Chuck Powers um good evening Council there are so many things to talk about tonight that I'm gonna limit myself to a two specific examples of transparency in terms of what you are actually going to be voting about tonight you have a resolution 166 2024 that is the Personnel manual for the Township's employees I don't know where this new version came from I know that the 2010 one passed by then council did not realize that they were at the same time authorizing a 4-day work week which is you know we've long since gotten rid of but this particular new manual was put on the agenda sometime I believe after 3:00 yesterday afternoon we know it was only put there yesterday and it is 203 pages long it's a very complex document I don't believe that any member of this Council has actually read it I'm absolutely certain that not more than two or three members of the public have read it it should not be passed tonight there is no necessity that a resolution which will does not need the two the two Council process of an ordinance there's no justification for it being passed tonight we need to know where it came from we need to know what the public thinks about what it is that you are proposing there it is not any good to put an agenda item due on the previous Thursday on the agenda 203 pages long not until the day before you also have a an ordinance that went on your agenda just today I looked for it earlier today it must have come along sometime late afternoon this is the one where we are are approving a process for setting up a 75-year lease for somebody to whom we're going to be effectively selling our Bell Tower to try to work ourselves out of our our our budget problem if we were going to get rid of the bell tower we should have begun this at least 10 months ago and which should not be making us very late with our agenda and our and our budget this year but most of all we should not be seeing an ordinance to be introduced that does not get on the agenda of this Council until the day of the of the day of the meeting that's your own rule you need to follow it thank you Dr po the gentleman in the front row who got up earlier sir right there in a blue shirt thank you David mky uh T resident um so I do want to say I no it's very short but um Mr kazinski Mr row you guys will be sorely missed and with that I'm going to jump into uh my request for more stop signs um so I know that um with um Miss Baker um that is going to be a very big traffic concern already is and it's going to be a larger traffic concern with more cars that are going to be visiting it for um various possible different reasons um so I do want to talk about the corner of uh Webster and Alfred where there is that still very hard to make a left turn from Alfred to web it's very hard to see around the overpass there and I know that NJ do looked into putting a mirror there they said no um if there is any Town property where we could do something where we're still able to see around the corner to make it a lot easier inching forward into oncoming traffic to see around the corner it's still not um so great so if we could look into finding ways to help mitigate some of the traffic there speaking about um traffic so moving on to Bennett um where Bennett intersects with alpine weren't intersects with Club um I know Mr kazinski we were talking a little bit about um looking to get stop signs there um I have seen now multiple times people drive straight from Al straight from Alpine into uh into Bennett um because it does feel like a direct path even though it is a perpendicular street so I think specifically there as well as on Club I have seen cars just roll right through even though it is supposed to be a yield by Nature people are not yielding so want to make sure that we're avoiding any accidents there um additionally thank you Mr kazinsky for following up with me with regards to the details on the traffic that is coming through on Club Road 500 cars a day is a lot so even though a stop sign or something but if we can do maybe a speed bump or some other way to disincentivize traffic from cutting through there that' be uh very helpful there is a light there for a reason if people could use it that'd be most appreciated um additionally I do want to uh make mention um and it has been mentioned a few times here about keeping the quum within the council chambers and for Council um I have attended other board meetings where the members there were um very I say rude and uh patronizing and I do appreciate all of the council members who who are here both in person and on Zoom for your decorum through the matters and and keeping keeping us moving forward and keeping focus on Town business that is why we are here that is why we don't want to stay late we want to talk about town business so I do want to thank you all for that again let's try to slow down traffic on those residential streets as mentioned before some of them are very thin there can be traffic ingestion with parking on both sides of the street um and maintaining decor and keeping to town matters which is why we're all here which is why we have all elected and you all are here to work with so thank you all for that and appreciate responses in Tangent with those thank you thank you Mr Mery Doug someone on Zoom bringing in Betty Jacobson thei hi it's Ari Jacobson thank you I'm a 22-year resident last time I thank the entire Council for your equinity in the face of criticisms and insults and tonight I must commend you for your bravery threats by jihadis and their supporters have finally hit home first in London A Member of Parliament was knifed to death so another Dawn and knife proofed vest and then resigned in Terror last month in the US is ham Hamas support to threaten the Town Council that we will murder you and right here in this very chamber another illegally brought in a weapon along with disrupting the meeting it takes extra bravery to protect our town citizens in light of threats to your person we need increased security for the council furthermore such threats are another reason to advance the Holocaust and slavery memorials to teach people the danger of hatred of a group gone out of control meanwhile while waiting it was GR in to see members of all different groups speak up collectively against the addition of more marijuana to the town we saw an Arab Muslim Jewish Orthodox women black women in the Northeast all speak up for the effects of these ordinance on the town that's what our town should be about once again thank you for the efforts you take to keep us safe thank you sir Jasmine R I think you I saw your hand go up ma'am yes thank you before I get started since we're already talking about the chorum and expectations that we have for everyone in this Council I want to also extend our expectations as constituents if your meeting starts at 6:30 the doors open people should be allowed in at 6:30 if the meeting starts at 7:00 it should start at 7:00 not at 8: not at 8:15 not 8:30 and then do not complain about public comment going until midnight when you are the ones that started the meeting late to disuade people from speaking so let's clear that up additionally why are some people allowed to interrupt and others are not I know I'm not the only one that heard when the Imam was speaking people were responding but no shushing was happening to them but if a voice similar to mine were to speak we immediately are shushed or worse police brutality is put upon them now let me get into my statement genuine question do you think that public comment is a personal attack session for you guys because the way that you behave makes it seem that you are only interested in protecting your own egos let me be very clear I do not know any of you personally just as you do not know me what I do know is who you are as Leaders you're are my elected official and I engage with you as such I state that you are racist and misogynistic based on the tone you adopt and put on full display at every meeting y'all turned me into your enemy the day that you enabled violence and hate speech against our children in EK when in reality this was an opportunity to be called into Community with me and my comrades by applying restorative justice Solutions learn how to separate business and personal enough of your egotistical Tantrums stop closing your ears at the first critique and instead apply suggestions you have quickly adopted fascist ideology in the interest of Saving Face and covering your tushes you make resolutions not to restoratively adhere to the wishes of your constitues but because you think it'll either a pacify us or was b a result of your own pity parties cut the alligator tear and get to work or leave us with no other option than to deconstruct the institution of Council hood No More illegal land theft events in t Township no more abuse hurled at activists especially student activists and Tac Public Schools no more utilizing police brutality to assault and arrest our brave community members or attempt to bloody us into silence we will only get louder and no more racists no violent fearmongers on to Town Council that means your time is up councilwoman Hillary Goldberg councilwoman councilman Mark please address as a whole or do me time to resign thank you thank you for your conel Miss R someone on Zoom Doug please Margaret Baker bringing in Margaret Baker whenever you are ready to unmute Miss Baker can you hear me dog loud and clear Miss Baker you have three minutes okay I'm calling again in regards to the traffic on dictator Avenue I think Dean mentioned something about a stop sign being painted on the pavement well when you bring the paint for the stop sign do you think you could bring the yellow paint for the lines I don't understand why they can't be put on the pavement they are needed I also have been mentioning the increase in foot traffic well let me tell you what the stop signs accomplished you put up a sign directly in the front of my house warning about a new stop sign then where we had a crosswalk sign a blinking crosswalk sign you took it out and you put the stop sign in its place Well normally I don't speak to the workers but I had my field I went out and asked them what they were doing where were they going to put the cross walk sign and I was told in the back of the truck so here we are on decater Avenue that only had one crosswalk now we don't have any you have taken that away there's no crosswalk lines nor signs on decer Avenue so you've created another problem where or should I say how long it takes someone to cross the cater if help is needed I'm available I live out here and I know my surroundings so please please feel free to ring my doorbell I'll give you a few ideas I live in it every day you come out and see it 15 minutes it doesn't work so don't be shy ask for help thank you Miss Baker Mr Addison oh actually Mr Addison before you speak Mr clerk I make a motion to extend the meeting to 11:30 second all those in favor please say I I sorry about that Mr Addison no problem Ray Addison T I commend you all for taking all of the insults that's hled against you but I also am concerned about the insult that you heard against us because it seems as though that sometimes you don't listen or you listen you hear us but you don't listen and you don't respond it seem as though that some of Washington DC has crept into the little town of Tink where you have a council person would would threaten the other council members if you vote for a certain ordinance that they will he will put your names and telephone numbers on mail outs that's a strong arm tactic that's not good yes I'm up here every time talking about a compliance officer a compliance officer is not a nuisance or cop a compliance officer is here to help the township of EK and the residents of tenek to keep their properties their commercial properties up to par we continually talk about CED Lane I continue to say that CED Lane is a place that is discovered if you make the wrong turn but when you make a turn on tck road from Bergenfield to Route four is where you see tck the Northeast section of tck has been uh not taken care of the way it has it should be because you can find garbage on the streets you can find that the grass are not are not cut you can find signs are not taken care of the stores are not as well taken care of because there's no compliance officer to make sure that these things are done you go to other towns and you see compliance offic they're not necessarily full-time employees but they're there to make sure that someone wants to move to their town because of what they see so we could sit back with our heads buried in the say but tck would be an afterthought no one would want to move to T and I know because I repres I I do business in T and they're not wanting to move the tck because the Tek is not living up to his reputation by doing the things that that they were supposed to be doing we have to invest into tck turn the dollars over in tck make sure that our town all section of T is representative you all were were voed into office to represent tneck not a neck not BT neck but tneck I realize this is campaign season Silly Season we understand that so we know what's going on but you did something tonight that's not right you allow a political 30 second commercial so just be prepared when other people come up to to to make their announcement your time is up sir thank you thank you Mr Addison Doug bring Miss Young sandre Young Shandra young Irvington Road T um just want to say as elected officials of TAC we we elect you to uh govern and and part of your job is to educate the residents because you're making decisions on behalf of the the residents and you want to be their voice but you have to educate residents and it's very important and I'm really trying to figure out why we don't have workshops um uh therefore we can understand what exactly does a a code enforcement a compliance officer does some people are saying code enforcement some people are saying compliance officer people are speculating what this person does who decides on a description of this job not us the residents is this a state regulated job these things in the workshop that you can educate us on so that we're not just coming to the mic saying things to be somewhat divisive we have to come together and make these decisions and move forward and actually get work done um another thing if we had workshops we would understand why our budget is late I'm very very concerned about the budget that is something that um you know I'm spending time trying to understand I think we should have start the process earlier I think we should change our budget process actually um so that we can uh be ahead of the game instead of behind and if we had a workshop we can we can talk about this cell tower or whatever we're trying to sell so that residents understand do we have a lease already or can we lease these out and and keep them and then so that we don't ever leave our income somewhat have some type of residual income like these are different options and maybe they're not options but if we had workshops we could get that out there and we don't have people coming to to the to the podium just saying things um also does this code enforcement officer um coincide with the master plan that would be nice to discuss in a workshop um because if they are you know are they like a parking enforcement are they going around on their own or uh you know things like that and um I I think that's it thank you Miss Young someone on this side who hasn't spoken yet sir over there yes you sir I know but I want to get some people who haven't spoken yet tonight good evening Tina Council hey guys take a deep breath it's gonna be okay promise um my name is Golan Elias I'm a longtime teic resident I wanted to take a few minutes today to talk about ordinance uh 11-202 24 about chicken hens I know that's off topic from everything else we've heard um firstly I want to say how much I like Jesse Leon the Chicken King of Teck um he brings hold on I don't think you're going to like the rest of this um he brings a certain levity to these meetings whether it be dressing up as a chicken bringing his kids to speak um I personally think we should give him the keys to the township if something like that exists um secondly I've stood here before and told you about my love for chicken I love fried chicken I love grilled chicken dark white I love all chicken equally with those you're welcome with those two statements on the record I have read through through the proposed proposed ordinance and I'm against it for the following reasons first of all for those of you that remember the health officer came and spoke at a previous council meeting and the community and to the community prior to the last vote on chickens some of those concerns have been alleviated by the ordinance but many of them have not um and the current requirement for the 25 ft from an occupied dwelling I think should be 25 fet from our property lines um the concern being that even with all the new health requirements in the ordinance the smell and potential Predator concerns um bought by the public are not properly being reduced uh more PR Predators will be present even if they can't access the chickens and the smell of the chickens will permeate into the backyards of our neighbors um please think about how this can impact all of us and please don't pass this ordinance um like I said when I started I really like Mr Leon I'm sure he's going to take an opportunity to speak after I do um and I love chicken I just don't want chickens in our backyards or properties um I also just wanted to take a minute to address the divisiveness in this town um there are a number of events in the next 45 days right we have Memorial Day we have a juneth walk we have July 4th all these events were talked about I think six of you can go to your constituents and say guys go to these events as a Township person and introduce yourself to somebody that you don't know and I think that would go a long way I think it's something that could help bring the town together and stop us from saying um on this side you're on that side it just gives us all an opportunity to meet in a very calm relaxing environment not in Chambers not in a board meeting not in a council meeting not in a planning board meeting just meet with your families and friends and get together so um please take the next two months this is for all the residents this is for the town you know for the for the council please take the next two months to look for opportunities to help us heal and build and finally I just wanted to thank the township manager um please Rec consider retiring until your hairline looks like mine thank you very much have a good night thank you sir someone on Zoom Doug I swear it's not planned we have Jesse Leon it was uh sarin dipity Jesse Leon tck resident um I think you all know why I'm here I don't have any gimmicks tonight I don't have a cute child I I looked at the agenda and kind of figured this would run way past his bedtime and I I feel very Vindicated in that decision um I want to thank you for putting this on the agenda finally again and and for making it look like maybe it will actually pass in June um I think that my timing right after Goan is is also serendipitous just because I can respond a little bit more directly this ordinance was written in tandem with the health officer after her meeting um the only difference from the last uh ordinance that was raised that was written with her was we took out the unnecessary Advisory Board um that would just create extra level of red tape and and and unnecessary but there is a lot of um regulation in there to protect the chickens to protect neighbors there is mandatory reinspection at the health at the health officer's discretion on renewals um there is so much in there that will make sure that smells and and uh any nuances are evaded quickly um I won't say noise because chicken hens don't generate the kind of noises actually a nuisance and roosters have always been banned under every draft ordinance that we've always suggested so before anyone comes here and says rooster no roosters never we don't want to wake up your NE our neighbors at four in the morning we want eggs H I'm excited to maybe actually finally push this boulder up the hill and I really hope you'll let me unless you expect me to come for the next three years and talk more about chickens and dress up and bring you in although you know he'll he'll age up and get a little bit less cute uh never to me though um so so you know I just beg you yes to chickens let's try it out finally let's let's give the town towns people something they've been asking for for quite a while before me I I was the third or fourth iteration of this I've just been the most persistent since so it's time to try it out it's time to let the people have a little bit more freedom on their own properties to create wholesome healthy food on their properties that they know the entire supply chain of they have all control over all the inputs that they can create the most ethical eggs that they can possibly imagine all within this wonderful town and it's been such a a unifying Community making Venture I've met people that I never would have imagined meeting in this town I know that you know I have a Facebook group that once the the political side of this is done it's gonna turn into like a hey let's trade tips let's you know oh I have this do you have this I have some extra eggs do you want some but not for sale because sales are strictly prohibited um so again it's a great ordinance it's the best we've gotten I think um it's it's time to pass it so thank you I'll be back in June maybe with a gimmick or maybe with a child but tonight it's just me and I I want to thank you thank you Mr Leon the young lady right there Hi my name is Obby tall I've lived in TX since I was four years old I'm now 23 years old um I didn't have anything prepared for tonight uh I know that people are tired SI can tired of hearing about what's happening in Israel and Gaza um but I do think that when people spread dis information uh and they spread they give life to old uh hate tropes about Jews in this very room and also within our town that it does uh that we do need to talk about this that it does apply to our town um I was shocked to hear some of the statements made tonight to compare basically all of us to Nazis you can just say Jews you don't have to you know hide it I know we all know what you're talking about uh was was in just beyond me um and then also to compare a holocaust a potential Holocaust Memorial wall to the Berlin Wall was also Beyond me um a and in incredibly uh hateful you can care about Palestinian statehood without invoking old hate tropes uh and and in hating uh uh just just spreading hate to your neighbors um I I wish I could give everyone here a little bit of a history lesson uh because people here uh I think a lot of people here maybe don't necessarily fully understand uh historical context surrounding this conflict um if people are going to say this is not politically correct at this point I really don't I really don't care Palestinians Palestinian leadership Arab leadership had the opportunity to have a sovereign state in 1937 when they were offered 80% of the land in the peel commission they rejected it and then in 1947 I saw a flyer about the nakba yes a lot of Palestinians were dis displaced from their homes during that but that happened because of Arab Arab leadership all attacked Israel uh they started that war and that was the result of that war because because they lost it um I I I think that please don't interrupt I think that disinformation interrupt to you so please disinformation is a huge issue it's a growing problem in our society especially amongst young people um I it's incredibly concerning especially with the proliferation of Tik Tok uh and other social media sites uh I just picked up this book from the Teck library tonight it's called East West Street uh on or on the origins of genocide and crimes against humanity so um since you all care so much about uh what's going on now and care so much and seem to always want to compare what's going on to the Holocaust I would implore you to read this uh I'm going to go home and and start it tonight I'll let you know how it is uh I think that we all owe each other uh respect and and to spread and just again I I you know I don't have anything written really but um I guess yeah my La my last Point sorry this is a little bit all over the place my last point I guess was the comment that was made um by a religious leader uh one group doesn't get to have Monopoly on town on a Town especially on public property I promise you that if the Jews because that's what you meant had a monopoly on this town then my younger sister would not have been treated the way she's been treated at the public high school for the last 7 and a half months thank you someone on Zoom Doug bringing in uh Muhammad please unmute whenever you're ready I'm sorry young Miss what was your name I missed that for the record what was your name ma'am thank you and Muhammad whenever you're ready you have three minutes hi my name is Muhammad I'm a G resident for more than 15 years now 15 17 years now uh what's happening since last October I feel like this council is not good for the teer the unity I'm here since 17 years I never seen such a ununited te uh from my side I would I would recommend all the Teen people to vote them out we shouldn't be voting for them they have created so much hatred between us but something is not in our control what we are trying to do is wasting our time every public meeting they're allowing other people to come in from different town and say back things our own town people and they're not stopping we should choose the right people and I would say just vote them out don't vote for them right I want vot for them if you want to bring a change you have a vote do it do it also on the same note what happened last meeting how come we don't have a woman officer in the meeting anybody can be riled up anybody can misbehave how come there's always a male officers not a woman officers female officers available in the township meeting how come what happened last meeting was able to go like that where the officer was misbehaved with the lady the way it was um I don't know what to say but what them out this is your opportunity do it thank you someone on this side the gentleman right there my name is David seagull I'm a Teck resident for about 30 years I actually coach uh softball my team won 86 this morning today so I'm pretty happy and I'm looking forward to after I finish speaking going to have some dinner um I want to thank you folks for everything that you do it's amazing that uh you have to be here so late every time and you really serve the community I haven't gotten much love so I'd like to just extend my thanks also considering Memorial days coming up I'd like to thank all of our veterans for all the service that that they've given to our country um I'd like to talk about adus it's a subject that I've actually studied a bit and uh I think it's very important for the community for any Community because housing costs are so high the issue of Aging in place I personally recently downsized and sold my home and had we had adus I perhaps might have kept it I might have been able to do any you know either sell the home and stay in a unit or or taking a tenant uh the one thing I would suggest is um and you may have done this I don't know but there are a number of cities in in Jersey that have Incorporated it to see how it's working I know Princeton for example was forced to the concept is typically that you have two people in the home one of which is an owner one of which is a tenant and that kind of controls to make sure that uh you you have uh you have folks who who are uh um a little more control uh in Prince I believe that they needed because of litigation they they had to allow for the property to be uh not requiring an owner so it become two investment uh tenants two investment uh unit so it's just uh I would suggest that as you're considering the the adus to make sure and see how it's worked in other municipalities and see how uh we can make sure that whatever we incorporate here uh takes into consideration any issues that might have been so I'd like to thank you and I'll on Zoom Doug Jonah Sims hi can you hear me yes please state your name for the record you have three minutes yes my name is Jonah I'm a non-resident and I apologize I don't have a camera on my computer so I won't be joining on camera but um I am a non-resident but I did attend uh last council meeting virtually and if I didn't have to travel tomorrow it would be attending uh tonight in person um and last council meeting was very disturbing to me um I am from New Brunswick and I'm Jewish and I am very disturbed that the council has weaponized Jewish identity to promote Zionism to promote hatefulness and to promote the use of excessive police force against members of our community of color members of our Muslim Community and overall in not just the Tet Community but we see it all over we see it all over New Jersey we see it all over the country um it's it doesn't stay in Teck um hate spreads everywhere uh and it was very disturbing to see that and lastly I'd just like to say that I was on for almost five hours and I was one of the six or so people left on Zoom that we never got around to and when it was brought up that everyone should get a chance to speak who has been waiting um 5 hours to speak um one of the council members mentioned that we have to get on with business part of your business is listening to the people listening to your residents listening to your non-residents letting people speak that is part of your business that is what when you ran that is part of the job so if you don't believe that's part of the job you need to resign because that is not what your job is your job is to listen to the people it is not a handful of people making decisions is making decisions that is best for everybody and listening to everybody in order to make those decisions thank you come on this side right there Hi my name is zad before I enter my prepared statement I find it important to correct the record earlier a councilwoman chose to speak a false accusation in naming a resident and saying they threatened them this was a lie no such threat was ever issued your way and this is just like the lie you created that a young Muslim woman threatened to blow up the town you should be ashamed of the lies you speak at this Podium I'll get back to what I originally planned on saying now my name is zad I'm a te resident I was raised in t i was a student of Thomas Jefferson Middle School tenic high school for much of my life I represented this Township with pride I'm a constituent of his town and by every definition am entitled to representation by This Town Council I shouldn't have to lead with all this but given the events of the last six months I like many of my neighbors in EK find myself pleading with this Council to find its morality and to finally listen to your constituents on October 17th this Council opened the floodgates for all the division of his community by passing a resolution which failed to recognize Palestinian life we have been pleading with this Council to recognize our pain and suffering but instead you have chosen to double down and escalate the tension in this community in your words actions and policy decisions last council meeting the town's police force at the direction of the mayor was violently assaulted a black Muslim woman for engaging in peaceful protest this Township continues to explore options for silencing their constituents whether it be during these Council meetings or when we engage in peaceful protest test on the streets I've stated this before on Zoom but in light of the current circumstances I find it necessary to restate when you direct your energy toward silencing our voices rather than listening to our valid concerns about the ongoing genocide in Palestine not only are you failing as supposed leaders in this community you are taking steps toward fascism need I remind you you are not Lifetime app pointies on this Council and we your constituents will not back down because we recognize your true nature when when you are up for reelection we will not be casting our ballots for genocide deniers who resorted to fascist policies in an effort to silence for opposition I find it necessary to state for record this council meeting started an hour late the mayor and Council should consider vet before ending good and Welfare early because you have work to do that we all have work to do and yours begins with listening I shouldn't have to remind you all that you serve on this Council as public servants we all took time out of our day because we are concerned con ered residents of this town many of us had to shift work around and even find child care because we felt motivated to speak in this meeting for you to end good and Welfare early is selfish and just another attempt at silencing us and never forget the more you try to silence us but louder we will be someone on Zoom Doug Jacqueline fuela please unmute state your name for the record yes this is uh Jaclyn Fury and can everybody hear me loud and clear three minutes thank you first I like to State uh that I am a resident of New Jersey I have lived there since I was born 44 years ago I have never seen this type of anti-Semitism in my life in the state of New Jersey I will repeat this I am neither a Jew nor an Israeli however what I have seen over the past seven months are a bunch of uneducated people coming into this community wrecking Havoc they have attacked the police officers they have attacked hospitals yes I have multiple medical degrees and I can speak on this tonight to hear that someone who is Muslim would come in and state that they would take down a Holocaust Memorial is being pathetic I don't care whether you're Christian Catholic Muslim whatever you are you don't do that you don't speak like that we are to bring everyone together and stop this hate this is disgusting and it needs to end the Holocaust can never happen again what is happening in Gaza is horrible it is a war it is nothing compared to the Holocaust if anyone is going to state that they are going to to tear down a memorial where 6 million Jews names are going to be placed on it that is a hate crime that is not tolerable in this state nor in this country so now what I suggest is if anyone in that room is not educated on what happened during World War II or what happened when the Jews went back to their Homeland I suggest everybody contact the education departments in New Jersey and make sure that your children are getting educated because when I went to high school I was educated on all of this on the NOA on World War II on slavery on interment camps that my grandparents were placed in for being Italian American so maybe we need to start by re-educating everybody in in the state of New Jersey and stop all of this hate and also stop aligning ourselves with terrorist organizations that have been proven by this this country to be terrorist organizations and if you live in America and chant debt through America you need to pack up and leave this is the United States if you don't like it get out if you're going to threaten any Jew any Muslim you need to get out stop with all of this hate it is disgusting you are all tearing this state and Country apart for no reason thank you Mr vaty I have B VY tinic I've been trying to keep track of the notes I please quiet and chamber so we can hear our speakers want folks on Zoom to be able to hear them thank you I am not full of hate I'm full of compassion I uh when it comes to tck and Gaza and Italy not Italy Israel there is a connection here there are people here who have suffered or connected to people who suffered and it's hard it's it's very hard to keep it just just on the board of a tck all right this is too serious and it should be respected as that whether it's well whether it's the citizens of T neck or the citizens of Israel or citizens of Palestine uh if we're connected we're connected we can't break that it's real uh what I wanted to say in addition is that government is fallible sorry you're fallible you make mistakes and then you try and correct the mistakes and maybe you make another mistake we have to watch We're impatient but you you you're stuck you got elected and they Dro a ton of stuff on you and I'm sympathetic Miss beler right is that Bel yeah uh she taught me a very important word Mr Mayor names what what go right ahead oh I'm sorry you show me the word she taught me the word what it meant silos all of us are in our own Silo we see the truth a certain way we believe it other people see it another way they believe it we do have to get educated what we've heard is partial I keep on reading I keep on reading reading books that were published before this happened before October 7 and what the history said it it it said we're all at we're all guilty I guess how much time I have 40 seconds so we've got to learn I think we've got to learn them cool cool down realize we're stuck I have instructions memories that other people don't have and so we Clash but we don't want to clash because we're American and we're here and we've got the Bill of Rights and people can't you know all those things I've got 17 seconds to say accidents crashes I had another one in front of my house today fortunately no one was injured maybe 40 $50,000 worth of cars were damaged and uh thank you Mr vasy your time is up sir that's all right and Mr clerk I make a motion to extend the meeting till midnight second all those in favor please say I I I have uh Greg Burman Greg Burman you're muted that was totally unintentional thank you very much minutes thank you um I uh listened to the whole meeting tonight and uh I appreciate the fact that you have to that the members of the council have to do this many times a year uh I only did it today and I had participated in listening to all the hate and U hateful language for those spirited towards you and I very much appreciate you having patience and dedication to do that um my intention tonight was actually speak about adus uh an apolitical topic which I have uh researched myself uh read the text of the ordinance and have specific comments um since that topic has been postponed uh I did want to see what the business of the council was today and some of the issues who there are interesting to people who live here and to people who care about this uh in our community However unfortunately this meetings and public speaking sessions have become uh a forum for um some sort of alqaeda uh Al jazer listening uh sessions that are translated just a rebroadcast on the evening news now in tin New Jersey I don't know what purpose of that really is and how many people will still keep tuning in and trying to understand what is going on in the town and not um somewhere half the world around where you know people who obviously cannot read the news and uh understand um understand basic facts are uh taking up on themselves to Common broadcast in this room uh I have a concrete suggestion I believe that the rules have been passed by the council have been that um the those who speak at these meetings have to identify themselves by full name and last name and also uh speak uh on camera uh I would suggest that we don't actually allow people who are not uh on camera and who are not fully identified with their name and address to speak at the meeting and um um as well as those who are in the room should not be speaking MK it's at the minimum is disrespectful and the maximum I think it is uh intentionally threatening I saw that the there are people in the room walking around and uh obviously uh in in the outfits that are meant to be threatening and that is not the decorum that should be allowed in this um at this juncture I am reserving my comments on Adu units for next meeting and I hope to communicate them to you uh at that time and hope to be constructive and I uh and and in a small way contribute to uh a better ordinances and better uh future of this town and I hope that we can also uh avoid having the political nonsense uh creep into this conversation thank you very much for listening to me thank you sir Mr Berliner te resident and uh Howard Rose I join you in still living in tenek um Tom Dean really no second thoughts we we really can't convince you you only got one left you know the the mic is still hot um by the way if you don't want to be arrested for illegal uh weapons possession in a public building don't be carrying a weapon I mean this should be a yeah by the way nice sign I appreciate it and she did her job she arrested someone who illegally was carrying a weapon in this building I'm here they're up there we shouldn't have to worry about if someone is carrying a taser or something else and again if you're gonna play the game know the rules don't have a taser on you when you're arrested couple of fun announcements um it is Memorial Day please feel free to join us uh on the green and then for the Cedar Lane block party on the same V tenek on May 26th will'll be holding their block party from 11: to 3: that's um Sunday for those who don't have a calendar on them uh tjsl I know that many of you have asked uh we will be opening registration on Memorial Day tnx soccer.com look for us at the table uh at the Cedar Lane uh Street Fair early bird pricing until the 4th of July registration will remain open August 17th we do fill up please look forward to see those flyers and please look out for us again if you want to be a player a coach a referee if you're a young person 13 years or older you can get certified as a national referee it is good part-time money and we do also have a scholarship wait out is that a middle finger please don't do the middle finger you can hold up your sign but don't do the middle finger please continue Mr Berliner no I saw middle finger so please don't do that Mr Berliner please continue thank you very much um I'd like to say I hope we can all get past that it was nice to actually have the hearing it did go long but people were able to voice Unfortunately they didn't actually read nor did they know what they were speaking about so again the agenda is out there it's probably about 100 Pages please read it please be informed please come out thank you so much thank you Mr Berliner someone on Zoom Doug I have Heidi fukes whenever you are ready please unmute hi good evening Heidi fuches EK resident since 1972 this is my real name this is the real me and I am really a person who lives in EK New Jersey uh clearly times have changed and with it policies and processes must evolve I have 10 suggestions to address the decorum and safety issues currently plaguing the township meetings number one prohibit disruptors who do not abide decorum either by refusing to stop after three minutes calling out continuously and disrespecting rules of the chamber and that includes sirens and weapons number two bag checks to enter the building meeting it is a government building number three there should be an officer in the room who will deal with decorum until all this unrest by agitators is over or perhaps permanently number four no more hybrid meetings free to pee and the like anyone who can go on Zoom can have their camera on this is not a discrimination issue and council members need to stop making it one if you have a phone you have a camera you can use on the Zoom app number five if hybrid is to remain verify IDE of each speaker or deny them speaker Power number six limit good and Welfare to tenek Residents unless there's a specific issue that requires someone from outside the township to join number seven limit good and Welfare to domestic local issues and cut off abusers there should be a mic cut off button number eight cut the microphone at 3 minutes and 3 seconds number nine create a sign policy number 10 do not allow language or phrases that have been deemed Beyond Free Speech I've heard people mention about you're not listening you're not hearing I remember when I was raising my four Sons if I didn't agree with them they thought I wasn't listening or I didn't hear them sometimes you just get a no I hear you I'm listening but you're going to get a no so going on and on and whining that you're not being being heard because nobody's agreeing with you does not mean that you're not that we are not listening thank you so much and let's uh make this town a better PE a better place and my sign over there says Shalom which means peace hello and goodbye thank you thank you Miss hes Mr Schwarz yes um Mr manager it's Mr Mayor sorry it's been an hour and a half of good and Welfare we've heard from dozens upon dozens of great residents and we have about about $ hundred million doar worth of contracts to start approving the next few minutes so I'd like to make a motion we Clos good and Welfare second we have a first and a second Mr cler uh councilman Schwarz yes can I ask how many people are on Zoom Council Bel we have six hands on Zoom uh I'm gonna say no council Goldberg yes Council one Oregon yes Deputy May Catz yeah sorry he logged off Deputy Mayor G no mayor Pagan yes because we have work to do Mr Schwarz would you like to start us off sir um I actually spoke quite a bit after the hearing so I'm going to uh pass other than saying I look forward to the chicken ordinance and to Mr Elias's comments about chickens um I know you're please don't interrupt please don't interrupt have a good evening have a good evening thank you have a good evening sorry about that Mr I understand your issues with chickens I know some of your neighbors you're better off with chickens so I thank you and I look forward to tonight's vote thank you Miss beler okay so I'm going to start by uh by basically saying that Paula uh ravan I I uh believe that all voices should be heard during good and Welfare so thank you for your comments uh ilila I want to say that uh no residents should be subjected to threats or intimidation and no one should be disrespected or feel unsafe I I want to say to my colleague Deputy Mayor G in the last meeting she mentioned that her son was um called the nword and I just want to say that I think that we really need to come to terms with some of the issues around this within our Township there's a great deal of hatred please hold alls side conversation so that we can hear Miss beler please the the nword is being hurled around our Township like it's nothing and um that is disgusting it is horrendous and it must stop institutional racism and racist practices have been written into Master plans and into development plans so therefore we want to ensure that we take our time to make sure that our master plan is reflective of who we are and who we claim to be I want to say to Mr Rose civil disobedience is a part of our constitution um that and that I agree with you the resolution that was passed on October 17th should not have been approved we should be about the people of TX business I want to say to the residents on Cranford place that spoke I I we are looking into the directional issue of traffic I also will um ask our manager to look into the use of the um track field um in ensuring that it's permitted properly by organizations that that get permits Mr Addison uh I do agree with you code enforcement is not punitive but it's a way in which we build our brand I speak as a fellow realtor to another realtor we must be concerned with our quality of life and one way in which we do that is to ensure that our ordinances are simply upheld that is what a code enforcer does and someone else had asked what do they do uh we I have asked at our town man Our Town attorney simply look into it to come back with some suggestions and best practices that we can look at in terms of what would that mean for our Township lastly I want to say adus are an affordable and intergenerational style of living and it can add Great Value to our uh they can add Great Value to our Township thank you thank you miss beler and miss Oregon um to Sher andne uh Aid please reach out to me about a fundraiser for als I'm so happy to work on one with you um but I need you to get in touch with me I don't have your contact information I spoke to Mr Quan when he was on his way out about Cranford place um they had to get home because of child care um I had a problem with the timing of the ordinance from 8 to8 I didn't understand why they wanted to um close down allow parking after 8:00 pm um but he explained they only need the parking um until the the ban on parking on the their side of the street till 8:00 pm so I'm fine with it um and I explained to him that he needs to reach out uh to the board of ed to talk about what goes on on the fields as far as the employee manual goes um to Dr Powers the manager and the deputy manager worked very hard on the employee manual it's not for the public it's for the employees uh and it's from the manager and the deputy manager to um for the employees uh to anybody that was confused about the start time of our meetings they started at 8 o'clock we did not start an hour late um in discussions about the budget um shandre young the reason why it's being held up is you'll see there's an ordinance we're introduced producing tonight um regarding the cell tower we're hoping to be able to uh cut taxes significantly with its sale um as far as the nword goes anybody whose child is called uh the nword I hope they would report it to the police um and uh file a a hate crime report I I wouldn't tolerate that I don't think anybody should have to tolerate that and to all the people who were here all night tonight with their signs and then got up and left before we had a chance to answer them or to speak um that was very disappointing you know if you're going to bring things up then don't pile out before we have a chance to speak that's that's not um there's no sincerity there thank you good night everyone thank you Miss Oregon Miss Goldberg thanks Mr Mayor um so I've been attending Council meetings for a number of years now and I've never watched a more dedicated group of Advocates as those advocating for backyard chickens Mr has worked hard to lead his group and the ordinance being introduced tonight for the third time um I'm very excited to support um I supported it before I supported it from the over there on that side of the day um I don't eat chicken I'm a vegetarian um but I don't judge people who do so I'm very excited to see backyard chickens introduced tonight um development affects the quality of life of all residents in town both positive and negative it offers residents attractive housing choices and cohesive neighborhoods and desirable shopping options and considering the vital needs for s for road safety public facil facilities adequate parking Transportation environmental impacts as part of a big picture plan for the community and that big picture is what's known as the master plan accessory dwelling units are piece of the complex housing crisis in this country and they are a positive addition to our housing options it will help seniors as age friendly T neck and ARP present to us presented to us that being said we must recognize the impact of zoning and our residents and infrastructure and properly include accessory Dev uh dwelling units in the new master plan so our residents voices are included the master plan is a social contract which is the guide for which zoning and development is done that social contract is where the Legal Foundation for our zoning ordinances arise so when you purchase a home you're entering into a social contract with the township and your neighbors that they're following the guidance of the master plan so let the planning board do their very important job I have committed to development done right and we are in the middle of a new master plan and when that is done I do support adus words matter so do acronyms we committed to doing things right and I intend to continue to do things right that view hasn't changed and I look forward to voting yes on it after the master plan last meeting we recognized may as military appreciation month and at the end of this month we end with Memorial Day I want to thank our armed service members who are serving currently and gave their lives in order to protect our rights as Americans and the democratic values that we as a nation hold dear avit I know that she left but I wanted to thank her for her bravery for speaking tonight um she's right education is critical and she gave me hope um if you're listening somewhere uh teal is my favorite color too and was also the favorite color of Sarah duer uh Tink resident murdered by Hamas during the inapa 44 Americans were murdered by terrorists on October 7th eight Americans are held hostage by terrorists six of whom are still believed to be alive her Goldberg Poland idon Alexander Omar nuta atai Chen seui deel Chen Omar Neutra and Keith seagull and two have been confirmed murdered by uh murder Judy Weinstein and God hagy and I pray for their release every day until they're home thank you thank you Miss Goldberg Miss G I just want to apologize to the people who were patiently waiting to be heard today and did not get a chance to be heard and so in honor of them I yield my time is that all I don't know if you can see the room but a lot of them left um thank you though first and foremost I want to thank everyone who came out tonight to speak and participate Mr Rocklin thank you for advocating for Safe Streets and thank you for your willingness to serve on our board Mr Quan thank you for bringing up the public safety issue on Cranford place because this changed to enhance Public Safety on that particular street is long overdue in my humble opinion Mr mky we will look into those traffic safety concerns so thank you for pointing that out to us Mr Leon we are finally getting this done and I am so happy to see it happening and in an effort to keep this meeting moving along I'm going to stop right there and ask our manager if there's anything he would like to say Dean uh just quick um Mr Mayor the employee manual I just want to touch on that again Tom and I work very hard on this with our uh labor attorney is a very important document that not only protects the town it protects the employees their rights what they need to do in order to file a complaint if they want to go on military leave donated there's a lot of the policy man is a lot bigger now because so many new Employment Practices have come into place the last time we updated it so uh this is a this is a good document again it protects the town protects the employees tell them it tells them what can they what they can't do uh I'll take responsibility if it uh if people are offended that it was gone late that's my responsibility but this is an important document and the sooner we got it on there the the better uh with regards to code enforcement that is a civil service they call it a competitive title uh we would have to contact service if we were to hire a code officer uh set a salary of course and determine if it's going to part-time or full-time full-time of course would involve pension contributions and any offer of healthare uh can be done but it's process through civil service and the last thing with the with the budget um you know again the whole reason for the sale of the cell phone tow is to reduce our Municipal tax rate by a couple points which very helpful it's not uncommon that municipalities are late submitting their budget it's a problem all over the state of New Jersey the only consequence for us is losing one uh point from Best Practices we always have a surplus of at least n we do that state the town is also under State review so once we submit our budget into the Fass system uh the state will have to review it and they have to approve it before everything is finalized so the the timeline right now is hopefully we'll have the the process moving forward with the sale of the tower uh and we sell the tower uh I'm confident we're going to get good money for that that uh will award it to uh the the highest fitter uh at the June meeting and then we do the introduction of the budget July adoption budget thank you Dean and thank you Tom for everything you guys do our next order of business is the consent agenda and all matters listed on the consent agenda are considered to be routine in nature by Council and will be enacted by one motion there will be no separate discussion of these items if any discussion is desired by Council that particular item will be removed from the consent agenda and will be considered separately Mr clerk can you please read the amount of the bill list into the record yes mayor and just for the public council's reminder we have the consent agenda this evening which does include a couple sets of minutes a couple Raffles resolutions 140 your packets say 169 but remember it's to 171 the two resolutions we walked in this evening and the bill list in the amount of 1 million 6 4,815 60 thank you Mr clerk Miss gulture uh yeah Mr Mr uh clerk can you for the benefit of those people that have said about numbers tonight can you just um tell them what is with those resolution 140 and 170 so for the benefit of of people that may want to know the two that you read you WR 70 yeah absolutely councilwoman thank you 170 and 171 just in case some people are tuning in who are not with us earlier uh these were two resolutions brought forward by Council this evening to be walked into the consent agenda uh 170 being may as ALS month recognizing ALS and 171 is our Asian-American Pacific Islander Heritage Month resolution Council beler thank you for that question thank you Mr clerk thank you Miss beler I make a motion to approve the consent agenda second is the first Mr Mayor I just wanted to point out and thank you I know everyone said goodbye to our manager and Deputy manager but tonight's consent agenda has years upon years of extensions on our labor contracts um orchestrated by not our labor attorney but by our town manager that will give our our our hardworking dedicated staff and our taxpayers budget shity Financial assurity for years to come so I just felt important to pull that not pull it but thank you before we vote on it thank you Mr Schwarz so that was a first from our mayor and a second from councilwoman Goldberg for our consent agenda for all the matters a forementioned councilman Schwarz yes on sorry yes on all with a pull on the bill list of 24- 02141 and 2401 953 that's a total of $475 for multiple ads in the Jewish link for Public Notices thank you sir for that and we are on to councilwoman Belair yes on the bills list uh and yes to uh resolution 170 and 171 and we we're also doing the whole consent agenda here so I need your vote on all those other resolutions in minutes also just the consent okay yeah this is just the consent agenda our resolutions our minutes our raffles okay I'm I'm good with all of them understood all good yes to all from councilwoman beler councilwoman Goldberg yes to all councilwoman Oregon yes to all Deputy Mayor G yes mayor Pagan yes all adopted thank you Mr clerk our next order of business is our introduction of ordinances Mr clerk can you please read the title of those ordinances into the record yes sir last but not least we have our introduction of ordinances this evening first up we have ordinance number 10- 2024 amending section 36-14 of division 2 of Article 2 of chapter 36 to traffic the Township Code respecting parking on a portion of granford place we have ordinance number 11-202 24 adopting rules and regulations related to chicken hens we have ordinance number 12- 2024 adopting rules and regulations related to retail electronic smoke or vaping establishments last but not least we have ordinance number 13224 authorizing the sale of an easement over certain property a portion of block 4703 Lot 4 as shown on the tax map owned by the township not required for public purposes together with an assignment of Rights contained within the S the cell tower leases on the subject property layman terms the cell tower ordinance and those are the ordinances that we are introducing this evening mayor and councel uh thank you Mr clerk I make a motion to approve all second so we have a first from mayor Pagan and a second from councilwoman Goldberg a yes to introduction councilman Schwarz yes to introduction Council one beler okay um yes to the interest uction with exception of 11 2024 I vote no for 11-24 was that a no or abstain I'm sorry and we have councilwoman Goldberg yes to both Council woman Oregon yes to all seie mayor G yes to all mayor Pagan yes ordinances introduced we are seeing all of them again on June 18th thank you Mr CL make a motion to adjourn all those in favor please say I nice have it thank you everyone once again for joining us tonight we hope you get home safely and yes for those that are still listening June 18th is indeed Township manager Dean kazin's last council meeting for those listening back home think we I think we need he doesn't oh the