everyone ready can everyone please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance councilman Schwarz councilman beler here councilman Goldberg here councilman Oregon here Deputy Mayor Katz Deputy Mayor G here mayor Pagan here adequate notice of this meeting has been provided by resolution number 299 d223 sending a copy to the newspapers officially designated for 2024 by Ray of resolution number 2224 pling a copy in the T of clerk's office and posting on the municial build and bulletin board of the mayor here by this St be included in the minutes thank you Mr clerk good evening and welcome everyone to tonight's council meeting Township Administration present at tonight's meeting are Dean kazinski Township manager Doug ruson Town Township Clerk Thomas row Deputy Township manager Scott sammon Township attorney and Ron Goodman 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 restart the meeting the next televised regular council meeting will take place on Tuesday February 27th at 6:30 p.m. the public portion of that meeting will begin at 8:00 p.m. Township offices will be closed on Monday February 19th in observance of President's Day now can everyone please bow their heads for a brief moment of silence for several former Township employees who recently passed away including Eugene O'Reilly Sarah Jones and Robert wierk please bow your heads thank you Council met in Clos session to discuss the following topics earlier this evening Community Choice energy aggregation osrp and Rossy Sagamore Park drainage the Palisades Avenue pedestrian overpass the potential sale of Township land security escros electric vehicles abandoned property legal issues and opinions regarding items on the Open Session agenda litigation updates and Oprah now before we move on to the next order of business I just want to say thank you to our DPW for everything they are doing to clear our streets during today's storm for our residents because we have more than 400 streets to pav in tck and it is no easy task so thank you to everyone at our DPW for all your hard work okay our next order of business is presentations and we had something special scheduled for TAC but they are working hard right now to help protect our residents so we will be doing that presentation during our next council meeting in two weeks which means we can move on to the next order of business on the agenda which is work session items and miscellaneous does anyone on Council have anything for miscellaneous no moving on the next order of business is old business does anyone have anything for old business see no hands next up is new business anybody have anything for new business no moving along Communications proposed Street renaming of Windor Road for Rabbi Lewis SEO I think that was you Karen Miss organ um can I actually give my presentation first on our our committee update on our street naming and then tie it into you or you want to go first no go for it same thing um the uh subcommittee of um councilwoman beler councilwoman Oregon and myself met and discussed our street renaming do seem like this is on but um and we basically decided not to overly complicate something was we what we would do is if there's ever a desire if someone approaches a council member for a street renaming it would first be brought up at a meeting no votes so no one's CAU off guard it would then be mention it a bio would be then submitted in this case there was a bio submitted by the manager I believe and then it would be discussed at the next meeting so the goal was that um there's no surprises no I don't know what this is there family members in the audience and you're caught off guard so there's at least one meeting to then have that conversation we're we're we're still we are still talking through the idea of is there capacity per year Maxim per year which didn't come up which there was no desire to move forward on um and there was one other item and there was um I forgot the other it discuss was but again there was no desire to make any concrete decisions other than to not jump any voting and to make sure those are written by so everyone has at least a meeting to read did I summarize that properly okay with that sorry I believe if you could just turn over to Council in Oregon on a matter that was presented to the manager I'm not sure if everyone read the oh sorry take your thund so was the thought to revisit criteria at a later time um or is it thought we there won't be any more complicated criteria complicate the thought was not to overly complicated it so we've named streets after musical tal Talent we've named streets after people who have passed away the senior citizens nominated Carol Otis had brought them Comfort um we named a street after Henry puit so we could celebrate his life with him um we named a street after a young mother that passed away we named a street after a rabbi who has served his community so instead of saying they need to be with us not with us having lived here for a certain amount of time uh there there is no criteria for this other than these are people that Council it's council speech and these are people that Council would like to name streets after so someone compelling to us the One requirement was we wanted a bio from a letter from the presenters and then a bio about the person so that we could learn about them just chime in on that as well uh I think the whole idea is that we wanted to bring back to the council the bio or to share with the council the bio of that person and why um that you know that it's felt that that person's life um has represented um you know receiving um the Acclaim of having a street named after them so there's no background checks no criminal history like we're just no vetting whatsoever except for looking at a bio just I don't think it's it would ever be anybody that people in town didn't know in this case we have a a well-known Rabbi in town in for another Rabbi who served the community for 40 years so I don't I I think we're looking you know this is not like putting someone on the youth Advisory Board where we want to make sure that they have a background check this is something different than that and we don't have to name after anybody any year but if there are people that come up that compel us to do that then we can I just want to say I really like the idea of the bio for the council but also for the public in the agenda packets I think it's important that the public also know the bio so I just wanted to say I like this anyone else thank you Karen because Rabbi seru reached out to me too and I'm in favor okay so so the mayor and the manager got a a letter from Rabbi ceru on January 1 uh requesting that Windsor Road where Temple emth is be named for Rabbi seagull um northwest corner of Windsor Road and Brier Cliff Road um and so we went back to him we asked for a bio about Rabbi seagull and I did not know any of the things that are in the bio they so impressed me so they're in the packet but I would just like to read it for now uh Rabbi Lewis Joel seagull was born on October 28th 1923 a graduate of Yale College he was ordained a rabbi by the Hebrew Union College Jewish Institute of Religion in 1951 Rabbi seagull came to Temple emth in 1960 having served the first nine years of his career in Malden Massachusetts it was a difficult time for the congregation Rabbi Joshua tractenberg had died suddenly the year before and it fell upon Rabbi seagull to help the congregation heal and to give them stability with a new spiritual leader Rabbi seagull possessed several gifts that made him equal to the task he was a gifted orator and a talented teacher his class that met weagley for years to study every page of the Bible from cover to cover became legendary he was a compassionate pastor and an inspirational role model several of his former students went on to careers in the jewi Community he was a learned scholar and a passionate advocate for social justice but perhaps most importantly he was a friend to so many in our community who simply called him Lou they appreciated his clarinet playing and the way he threw a Yiddish word into a sentence during his tenure here Rabbi seagull was active in making the township of tink a better place he supported the effort in the early 1960s to desegregate the public schools his oratory in favor of the move was highlighted in his obituary in the New York Times my that same article mentions that he was a founder and the first president of the Tina clergy Council in the early 1970s it was the clergy Council while Rabbi seagull was still an active member that worked to keep the peace in tenek following the police killing of Philip pel in 1990 Rabbi seagull also advocated for temple emth to sell the land for the establishment of a Mikvah ritual bath in tinac in the 1980s Rabbi seagull believed it was an important statement about Jewish unity and promoting diversity in Tink it had an additional Advantage because a reformed synagogue was a party to the establishment of the Mikvah the temple included a provision still en forced to this day that the Mikvah be available to rabbis of all movements to bring their conversion candidates for immersion the final step of the conversion process Rabbi seagull served Temple emth actively for 32 years and for most of that time lived with his family at the corner of Windsor Road and briercliff road when he retired in 199 2 he began an act of retirement which included teaching and officiating at life cycle events in 2004 he was elected president of the National Association of retired reform rabbis Rabbi seagull died in June of 2005 at the age of 81 nearly two decades later the township of Tina continues to benefit from his legacy of scholarship compassion and social justice so indeed I learned a lot about this the other issue that Temple emth has right now is every other year they have a by anal weekend where they support Rabbi seru and that's coming up in March of this year and so I don't know if the 27th is enough time I guess it is uh if it's in March um but they would like the street named in March when friends and family and former congregants come together um to name so I I do have the resolution that I was going to ask to walk on tonight but not realizing that we were not going to nominate in the same meeting um I'm happy to introduce it if we have four nodding heads for for the next meeting no um just a quick um question on the since we're doing the resolution next meeting so we don't have to do it this next time so since so it' be on the northwest corner of Windsor and briercliff does it make sense to have an extra sign closer to the building since Brier Cliff is kind of far I'm just think I don't know if that makes sense that goes in the resolution if there's a preference I was just thinking so so we have it on the two corners usually and then I think we usually give Doug would know an extra one to the family for the home or the synagogue to keep inside okay good I'm good all right thank you Miss organ does anyone have anything else in communication is that resolution sorry May is that resolution you want to consider it for next meeting or tonight okay cool you got it anybody got anything else for communications no moving on next order of business committee reports by Council leaon affordable housing subcommittee update Miss beler okay yes uh so I just want to give an update that the the affordable housing subcommittee met um on February 5th um this subcommittee is um tasked with uh looking at the new affordable housing legislation that um is pretty pretty um you know fluid right now it's it's it's a situation where um we have uh some legislation that's coming down from the state that really speaks to how municipalities will be um handling affordable housing and whether or not COA the the um Coalition on affordable housing will still work the way it it has uh up to now um there is a uh a new round the fourth round that will begin next year so we have to all municipalities have to create a plan so we uh we met and we had our attorney uh there uh and one of the the questions that we asked is uh looking at options in terms of giving priority to teenic residents on afford uh affordable uh units um uh we also engaged our planner our planner explained the process uh and it doesn't look like we have reached the threshold to be able to do that but we are constantly looking at possibilities by which we can um afford our residents um you know affordable housing options so um that is the update our next meeting is um February 28th thank you thank you Miss Bel Miss Goldberg I have a couple of just questions I don't know if the attorney answers or the subcommittee um the next round to begin that looks at have we met our number or or can it come down like do we know is that an option uh the number is unlikely to go down it's only likely to just go up I you cut out I couldn't I'm sorry I'm sorry the I would not expect our number to go down it's really it's it is almost certainly going to go and just go up from where it is now all so there's no way that they say you've met your like we're at a good number now I'm just no because we have we haven't met the the number from the from the previous round so they're not going to revise that previous number it's just going to be looking about looking forward to the to this next round and then one other question tying into um I don't know how many months ago but it's definitely in a packet when we discuss this at a zoning subcommittee meeting that there were units that were coming off of our affordable housing numbers from COA um did the subcommittee or can the subcommittee explore ways to keep the those units on so we don't lose those numbers um what we can do is we can certainly look at the the criteria in which um apparently affordable housing units do expire so that's how they drop off um so what we have done is we've engaged our attorney to look at ways in which we can uh either replenish those or um expand um the the timeline on them and um we're working very closely with the attorney in terms of um options and opportunities as well as with our planner I have one more question not to belabor this I'm sorry um I guess the other question for the subcommittee and the lawyer to potentially look at is there a way that any of the older units and I know we've kind of talked about this in theory but I'm just questioning is there a way that any of the older units that aren't subject to this could be somehow negotiated to include it in future numbers is that something that you guys could look at also it it appears yeah I'm I'm thinking that the older old the older buildings older buildings are typically the ones that are expiring you know right over time so I know we talked about this once but I'm just curious if there's if there's a like the Cedar Lane Apartments is what I'm thinking are you talking about older nonrestricted apartments and making them restricted well not as they making them restricted I'm just wondering if there's any negotiation with it yes if if there's a negotiation to have with the owners of those buildings well any negoti again I I do this all day long I'm actually I'm actually extending to my regulatory agreements for restricting periods what are you giving me so and two the buildings I'm getting 40 Years of no taxes so you take a building C Lane which pays $180,000 in taxes you could put these 200 units on the ra 80 units on the ra on Rosy on the on COA and then we're going to wave all the taxes so I'm not really sure that's where we really want to be going right now what we're really trying to focusing on is is finding out what our number is which apparently New Jersey is very hard to do hit that number and then as Council Bel incredibly figured out if we can hit that number and go over that number we then can have new affordable housing in town restricted to our residents and I think what we've heard and listened to our neighbors for years now that is the number one goal affordable housing isn't the number one goal affordable housing for current homeowners or current residents is the number one goal so that's really what our mission is and this is something that and to give credit to council beler for we figured out that we're really trying to hone in on this just a few days ago so we're really really trying to hold in because now all of a sudden we take a particular project um say project on State Street and we say hold on we want to have this on the neigh I don't want this in my backyard yeah but what if 40 of those units go to be go to you in your backyard that's a game changer for something we've been putting final these pieces together so sorry I'm a little emotional about this is like I think it's a great idea I'm just trying to figure out if there's a way to hit that number sooner to make that possible but your questions are a little more drilled down that we're we're not there yet answer thank you yeah that that's very very good that's a good um all good points what we're doing is we're working very diligently as you can see we're having two meetings in February because if there was an opportunity in which we could identify 1425 uh which is 100% affordable and 100% senior citizens if there's any way in which we could have some typ type of price priority given to our residents I would think that my colleagues would agree we would want to work toward that right so um so that's what we're working toward thank you sorry thank you alls anyone else have any committee reports no I have a brief Advisory board report our pride Advisory Board met last week for the first time in two years and it was wonderful to sit down with the new members to discuss Pride events and activism that they plan on taking part on during the next year does anyone have anything from any advisory boards before we move on no okay next order Business Council listed items proposed resolution in honor of Black History Month Miss beler okay thank you Mr Mayor okay so we all know that February is Black History Month and uh uh we have so many activities and events that are going around we I'm sure we all have part uh taken in uh different opportunities um it's a great opportunity in February where we see our young people that come out and and do different events our churches are brimming with opportunities that really speak to our history because black history is American history so um in light of the fact that we are you know a community that um really celebrates black history I just kind of put together a resolution that I would like um for consideration for my my colleagues to approve and it's simply in honor of Black History Month and I'll just qu uh briefly read it um it is whereas free and fair elections by providing equal access to the ballot for all Americans is a Cornerstone Stone principle of our democracy and whereas in the interest of the people Integrity in elections and ethics on all levels of government makes for a strong viable and enduring democracy and whereas it is critical that all citizens have a voice and their voice be heard by elected officials who remain accountable to the voting public now therefore let it be resolved that the Tina Council tinac Township Council advocates for the end of discrimination of all forms in the uh voting process and equal access to the ballot and be it further resolved that the tenek township council is committed to diversity equity and inclusion in the makeup of our government advisory and statutory boards and be it further resolved that in this black history month of February 2024 the tenek council Champions the cause for democracy and supports tenek residents and all Americans in the pursuit of voting rights so Mr Mayor I'd like to submit that for discussion later or now I have one okay just one thing that really confus me and it's obviously black mon is very important the tck council in the Discrimination in the voting process and equal access to the ballot where's the te is there something I'm missing about the te that's that's is there is this like a nationwide push or something what's the connection between Township council's discrimination and voting process I've never heard of any of this in tck of having any difficulty I could be naive in this no no no it's really basically saying that we advocate for the voting process and equal access to the ballot that we as Leaders we believe in the de Democratic way of votes being counted uh what our constitution speaks to in terms of everyone being able to have access to the ballot that's what that means um councilman right what's the connection to Black History Month is this I mean again this is a na please fill me fill me in if there's a nationwide thing going on that I'm not aare have you ever heard of voter suppression tactics 100% so it's just saying that we are in support of or not in support of voter suppression or anything that would reduce people's access to vote is this a if I Google this this is a big this is what all these town every every town is doing right now I don't want to make or is this like their own initiative here I'm a little bit cless right now voter suppression has been going on for decades not in Tina I've never and we all only lived here 29 years and Everyone likes to talk about that I think the resolution is accusing very very person no it's saying that t is in support of Equitable access to voting right that we are in support of not um of not having voter suppression that we are taking a leadership role as a Town Council saying that we believe in the American way we believe in a voting process we believe in equal access to the ballot that is our that is what this is say I I'm very glad that the town is doing a lot for Black History Month I'm glad that the library was very involved I feel like we should have a more inclusive resolution I don't know if we want to do it on February 27th but I think um I I think we should have a better resolution I um you know having forgetting this and putting it aside I think there's more that we can do for Black History Month um I think what what what councilman Schwarz was trying to say was we celebrate our poll workers and the clerk's office here I don't think we've ever had an issue with them um suppressing anybody and um yeah I I would like to see something else at the next um maybe there's even some language that we could take from somewhere else but I don't think I think this is more about about I'm not done this but I'm not done um there's not this doesn't really talk about voter history much this is a resolution on voter suppression I think we should introduce something else that's all Council okay I I disagree I this is an honor of Black History Month black Americans have had a specific fight when it comes to voter rights within this nation and what this resolution does it honors the struggle it honors what they were en enabling what they were able to do from the the 1964 voter rights act all the way from the from 1866 from the first Civil Rights Act to today so this is simply a a resolution that identifies an American struggle that American uh that African-Americans have dealt with um in the past this Council has brought forth resolutions that we didn't all agree on um in the past we've been told you don't understand you don't have the perspective um Denise beler is an African-American woman I'm an African-American woman Denise spelter has brought forth a resolution you all may not understand clearly from the questions I've heard what it you know what it means for some reason you you feel it's accusatory but I really want I think it's celebrating tck and celebrating what we stand for um in the past we've been asked can you please support this resolution you may not understand but please support it because it's important to us we understand our residents in our community better than you may I think we should give Denise that same respect today to sit here and tell her what she what a Black History Month resolution should look look like it really feels absurd um rather than niit at the words I really think we should support our fellow Council colleague yeah just to be straight with all of yall I'm okay with this language Miss Goldberg but I didn't hear a motion yet but miss Goldberg I just want to say I'm fine with the resolution these are the life experiences of the AF African-Americans in this country in the town and I do not have that life experience and I'm not going to tell anyone how to have their life experience and what they've experienced and I respect ECT that so I'm fine with the wording of the resolution I make a motion that we approve this resolution as written second councilman schs can we have discussion after the resolution I mean after the motion go ahead wait the motion is to get on the consent agenda or I think yeah it be placed onto the consent agenda okay I just want to clarify I'm sorry M organ so I don't have a problem with the resolution I just would like to introduce another resolution for black history month and I don't see why that would be an issue we've had we've done one every year in the past going backwards it doesn't if it needs to be written by a a black American then let it be written by one I don't a black American and I wrote this resolution I I don't need if you want to write another resolution Karen you write a resolution but I am proposing this resolution in honor of Black History Month I understand what you're saying you're not understanding what I'm saying no I I understand what you're saying okay so so just this resolution and no other resolution because I'm not able to write it I I I'm speaking have a motion on the floor right now does anyone else have any comments before we have a roll call yeah okay we're listening this is that the votes to add it to the consent yes and just to just to clarify to council this would be adding it the consent agenda as resolution resolution number 77220 four there was a first councilwoman Bel and a second from Deputy Mayor G councilman Schwarz yes councilwoman belshire yes Council Goldberg yes councilman Oregon yes Deputy Mayor Catz Deputy Mayor G yes mayor Pagan yes added to consent agend thank you Mr clerk the next order of business is KMC Legal Services Deputy Mayor G um so I can't remember which meeting it was where we heard from the two groups who would like to build their monuments on the municipal green um that meeting there were I think at that same meeting all the council members received um numbers from um our town manager and I had a lot of questions about these numbers and I thought that it made sense for us to do an audit of the two organizations just for us to better understand uh the uses of State dollars um that were given to those organization so I uh reached out to Dean and I said can we please hire a firm to do a forensic audit of those organizations just to ensure that um those those dollars were being used appropriately if we're going to commit to having these organizations build long-term structures on our M Municipal greens and really feel strongly that we should uh know the organizations that we're working with so this resolution is to introduce um to conduct that audit basically so you're making a motion to add this to the consent agenda yes I just want to give everyone that background so yes can we please add this to the consent agenda um and then I also just wanted to sorry second does it require second oh sorry I was just seconding to add to the consent agenda oh okay I think did you want to add anything no I I didn't know if a motion or not yeah I didn't know if you were reaching for something sorry I want to make a motion to add it to the agenda I think uh councilman Goldberg seconded and this would be resolution 78- 2024 this evening the special legal legal services for KMC there was a first from Deputy Mayor G second from councilwoman Goldberg councilman Schwarz yes to list councilwoman beler yes councilman Goldberg yes councilman Oregon yes to list Deputy Mayor Catz Deputy Mayor G yes may Pagan yes resolution 78 listed tonight thank you Mr clerk next order business Township manager report Mr kazinsky the floor is yours sir sure thank you mayor I have a bunch of announcements to make important announcements recycling in zone one will be collected tomorrow this is due to uh today's snowstorm Z one was supposed to be picked up today one and two yeah one and two will be picked up two is normal on Wednesday so one will be added to um because of the holiday three is normal because of Monday's holidays so one and two are being picked up tomorrow one was suppos be picked up today okay because of the holiday uh uh just a reminder parking of any uh vehicle on any portion of the street during a snow emergency is prohibited unfortunately and I I do my best in relaxing the parking restrictions in our Municipal Lots earlier than normal but uh we had to unfortunately issue a total of 269 tickets uh for people in the violation of the snow ordinance between 8:00 a.m. from the time it started to 5:00 P p.m. when the snow emergency ended um 269 how much 269 50 sorry times how much I like the report every year times how um how many I believe it's I believe it's a $50 50 thank you very much I'll stop just a reminder in jerseys drivers are required to remove snow and ice from your vehicles uh the penalties are between $25 and $75 if it causes an accident Andor injury you face $200 to $1,500 I'm sorry 1,000 for each offense and also if it causes an accident uh while you're driving it's evidence of negligence so it's so important to uh to remove that snow and ice from your car um happy to report that glana Crockett our Recreation superintendent was chosen to receive the Michael B Burman award for administrative Excellence uh and again this this award is given to honor and identify dedicated leaders ERS in the fields of recreation and to recognize her outstanding performance and the agency that she represents so she's going to be given uh a nice um certificate of uh recognition on February 27th in Atlantic City unfortunately that's a day of a council meeting or else I I would have would have attended um we received the call I received the call from division of Consumer Affairs yesterday regarding our pending complaint against the post office United States Postal Service uh seeking reimbursement they said there's a good chance that Township will recover the $7,295 in postage for the fourth quarter tax bills that went missing uh in the fall uh other good news uh we uh received our Moody's rating report uh the town uh affirmed Moody's affirmed our aa2 long-term rating and assigned its highest short-term rating of they call it Mig one uh to the notes uh it all also should be noted that the township improved its report card in several areas one area was under long-term liabilities ratio we improved from a baa to an A and under our fixed cost ratio we improved from an A to a doublea um so that was that was good news that will certainly help us with our interest rate uh public information meeting is set for February 22nd between 6:00 and 8:00 pm and this is via micros teams and this is for public information meeting to discuss the East Anderson Street CED Lane Bridge Project and again it's on February 22nd between 6:00 and 8:00 pm the information is contained on our website and you'll see a link there for Microsoft teams to connect H Name Medical Center and our health department is going to be running three consecutive uh walking groups called strollers to sneakers and that's on May 10th 17th and 24th and the walking group will meet at vote Park Park and it'll continue around the track as we get closer to those dates I'll certainly share uh more information and and a flyer with everyone uh some project updates horon field the contractor was there last week and conditioned the field uh they're going to make another stop there next week uh that should be their final stop weather permitting and that's to check on the final grade and conduct a final role of the facility uh so that field should be done its entirety sometime the latter end of next week weather permitting um regarding TX Southern Little League just an update on that project we're going to set a groundbreaking ceremony it could be as early as next week um on uh yesterday I met with the contractor and the president of TSL uh to iron out some last minute details and finalize some color schemes and TSL TSL is going to have to work with Ken and our Recreation Department on an alternate field site uh while the work is performed obviously the field is not going to be done in time for their opening season which is I believe April 1st uh pedestrian bridge that connects WS to palate Avenue we're going to be moving forward with that project we secured Monies to um have the structural engineer oversee some emergency work uh I'm hopeful that work should start within the next uh within the next 30 days and um hopefully get the Bridge open before the summer begins and that's just prelim work again will get the Bridge open however there will still need to be some final work done at a later date uh an update on fire dispatch uh we're going to be updating the shared service agreement with the city of hackin saac and right now we're shooting for a start date of July first uh we're still again running into some issues with the fiber optic connections uh but they will be done uh we have to update our shared service agreement with the city of hackin saac before fire dispatching but the the chief says he anticipates a July 1st start date and Doug I don't know if you can pull this up Andreas Park pickable Court updates uh that's expected to go out the bid on 229 February 29th uh we plan on doing the opening of the bids on March 19th and awarding the project on April 2nd uh this slide will actually show four dedicated uh pickle bable Courts at the facility and this is at Andreas Park uh each Court's going to be separated by a 4 foot high vinyl uh fencing and of course are going to be blue and green with white lines and I don't know if that other slide will pop up Doug that has the um sort of like a a color scheme of what they're going to look like but there's no need to that'll be the color scheme blue and blue and green but there'll be no need to modify the surrounding fence we'll be able to fit for pickle ball dedicated pickle ball cours at Andreas Park thank you Doug uh engineering will be submitting plans to Green Acres by the the end of this month with regards to the herck park playground uh we'll probably receive some comments from Green Acres once they receive it uh we'll be doing separate advertising uh for the renovations to heric park uh we'll be separating a few things and we're looking at a spring start once it's advertised and awarded uh we'll also be awarding the voty park preat bathroom project this this evening uh the V Park shad and sh Al was ordered there's a 6 to 8 week lead time on that project uh probably an 8 to late to April Start for construction and we're going to be going out to bid very soon uh for the 2023 roadway resurfacing project um we're moving forward with the 1600 Rivero DPW project uh on tonight's agenda we have the proposals from our lsrp excuse me that's bontis and our special engineer whis coler's engineering and they will work together in preparing an engineering plan and design for a potential new facility uh list of street light upgrades was for recently forwarded to pscg they're going to upgrade 5% of our existing lighting to LED bulbs uh each year until that project is done uh all at no cost to the township uh the police department recently sent me a bunch of lights that I forwarded to uh psng for the upgrade for this year uh window installation of Fire Station 4 begins this week the roof replacement starts the beginning of March and the township is in a process of submitting a Grant application through local Improvement uh Recreation improvements and what we want to do is apply uh for this grant for new exercise equipment at Phelps Park and Brooks Park that will replace some of the older equipment there and we also submitted our Green Acres application for Sagamore Park Improvement project on February 7th so that's moving forward as well Mr Mayor thank you thank you Mr manager next order of business is our Township attorney's report Mr sammon do you have anything sir I do not Mr Mayor all right thank you our next order of business is our public hearing and Adoption of ordinances Mr clerk can you please read the title of the ordinance into the record yes sir have just one ordinance this evening ordinance 3-2020 amending the township code to revise parking laws on Fen Terrace for residential decal parking ordinance 32024 thank you Mr clerk the public hearing on this ordinance and this ordinance only is now open does anyone want to speak to it if you do you have three minutes anybody in Chambers again I'm reminding our folks on Zoom as our mayor so eloquently said this public hearing is strictly for ordinance 3224 fent Terrace parking regulations if you have any other comments that do not have to do with this ordinance please wait just a couple minutes for our general good and Welfare I'm bringing Jasmine Ray in Jasmine this is just a friendly reminder that this is strictly on the ordinance 32024 this public hearing and you have three minutes you're free to unmute oh I already I lowered my hand I was okay thank you Jasmine anybody else on Zoom Doug no then this public hearing is closed does anyone on Council want to speak about this ordinance in that case I make a motion to approve second councilman Schwarz yes councilman beler yes councilman Goldberg yes councilman organ yes Deputy Mayor cut mayor G yes mayor Pagan yes adopted thank you Mr clerk our next order of business is good and Welfare any member of the public wishing to be heard at this time can please come forward and state their names for the record comments shall be limited to three minutes per person and a friendly reminder the clerk if you're on Zoom the clerk will only call on you if you have your full name listed so if you're on Zoom please list your first name and your last name and we are asking everyone to unmute and have their camera on if called on Zoom again if you would like to speak on Zoom during get welfare please have your camera on and unmute when called on Mr gross thank you my name is eal gross and I'm a T-Neck resident I wanted to take this opportunity to talk about traffic safety as many of you know our community suffered a terrible tragedy several weeks ago on the morning of January 25th Diamond fry a mother of two young daughters and the guardian of a young niece was driving home on Palmer Avenue after dropping off her two kids at school when her car was struck by a Ford Explorer on the corner of Sherman Avenue the other driver a bagoda high school student who was with a classmate sped through multiple stop signs and struck Miss ryson's SUV with such force that it h her car into a nearby house as always tx's finest were on the scene they worked valiantly to save Miss Fry's life but unfortunately she succumbed to her injuries and passed away the following morning I pray for her family to find strength in this difficult time this story struck close to home for me literally we live just around the quarter from where this young mother lost her life Palmer Avenue is a beautiful street it's peaceful and quiet it is a block frequented by many young children including my own it is where we take nature walks on Shabbat to observe birth and collect pine cones and where we casually meet friends doing the same our streets should be places of warm memories and happiness Not Tragedies but the truth is that what happened here was part of a pattern just a few months ago in the fall an SUV speeding through stop signs on Palmer slammed into a transport minivan from Holy Name Hospital on the intersection between pmer and vandelinda just a few yards from where Miss fryson lost her life the Collision happened with such force that the hospital's minivan did a full flip which was caught on camera I heard the CR Crash from my home the Screech the smash the cries for help and was on the scene within seconds it was a miracle that no one was killed major accidents of this type should not take place on quiet residential streets and that two happened on the same Block in the span of just a few months is a call to action all of us drivers pedestrians law enforcement and elected officials need to do more to keep TX Street safe as drivers we can all afford to slow down chances are that someone you or your friends know lives on the Block you are zooming down we can show some courtesy and stop and let pedestrians cross the street even if they have no business Crossing be the bigger person stopping and making sure pedestrians cross safely is just the right thing to do as pedestrians we can wait for cars to stop for the next red for the next light don't play chicken with oncoming traffic and let's look up from our phones in both ways when we cross the street to law enforcement know that you have our full support in enforcing ing the law cars who disregard pedestrian crosswalks who run stop signs Andor traffic lights or test their speedometers on quiet residential streets should get pulled over they should pay big fines there should be meaningful consequences for recklessness and as elected officials we need to find a way to make TX streets safer and I urge this body and our community to work together to find a way to do that so that what happened on Palmer Avenue never again happens on any other Street in Tek thank you thank you Mr G Doug someone on Zoom Jess yes Jesse leam please unmute good evening Jesse Leon EK resident uh I have two quick items on my agenda tonight one I wanted to thank uh the township manager after I complained about my street I did notice that some of the potholes actually did get patched but today uh my street is a is a dead end and it stops and is not paved at the end um today I actually saw one of the plows tear up a couple inches of of the pave street at the point at which the pave Street and the unve street meet um it would be great if someone would just go ahead and pave the end of the street and so we would have a a complete paved Street we wouldn't get gravel rolling down um and tearing up the cement also my curb cut is like two inches higher than the street that's most specifically what I was complaining about when I complained about the street so we bump our bumper on because because of the height differential um the other thing that I would like to talk about obviously is chickens um we're coming up on Spring soon at least on legislative time so if you guys would like to introduce an ordinance at the next council meeting and then approve it at the following council meeting by the time it's hatching season for young chicks there might be a few T-Neck residents who might be able and eligible to purchase them um I encourage you to reach out to me I'd be happy to resubmit to you the ordinance the last version of the ordinance or any of the other previous versions of the ordinance that we have submitted over the course of the last three years um maybe this spring could be the spring that team unites around backyard chickens um think about it four of you are eligible to bring that ordinance forward and maybe um councilman cats will Deputy Mayor cats will show up and vote for it um and that would be great thank you very much thank you Mr Leon ma'am I think I saw your hand up yes you miss hi everybody good evening my name is Teresa btz I'm a lifelong te resident grew up here starting in 1985 and moved back in 2009 to raise my own family here um I've never spoken at a council meeting but my 11-year-old son Samy has spoken at a council meeting and two Advisory Board committee meetings and I just wanted to introduce myself as the skate park Mom and thank you all for taking Sammy and his friend yonatan so seriously and really engaging with them in an education lesson that is better than anything they could have learned in the classroom about what it means to be civically engaged and advocate for things that are important to you so for people who are listening who who don't remember the most amazing speech ever given at a Tina council meeting um my son Sammy who's 11 and his friend yonatan hershorn went to a skateboarding camp in Ridgewood this past summer and they loved it and they were so disappointed when they realized that tenek didn't have a skate park and that their parents were not going to be willing to drive them to all the time to practice their kick flips so after they spoke at a council meeting in November um to ask the town to consider installing a skate park councilwoman Goldberg followed up with me and invited them to the PPR andb meeting the a couple of weeks later where they presented again to the park playground Parks and Recreation Advisory Board um and the chairwomen of the that committee um Allison Davis and Christina pommy were incredible they really listened to these kids requests talked to them like adults gave them a homework assignment to go out and assess whether this was something that was important to other tck residents or if it was just the two of them um told them to go look at potential locations for where the town might put a skate park and With a Little Help from their parents these boys launched an online petition that got about 500 signatures in the very first week from Neighbors and friends names we recognize names we didn't recognize I just want to share some of the comments that came in on their online petition because I think it's just a beautiful Testament to what our community can do together um somebody named Patrick Pon commented to them please consider this and bring the need of a skate park to the tenek town manager and the Town Council and the ten Recreation Department's Advisory Board and then he followed up and said I just heard the council brought it up at their meeting I think it's a great idea and would love to help out um somebody named uh Joseph Hine commented I'm a skateboarder from tenek and it would benefit the inclusion and jiving of the communities within tenek tremendously somebody named ble Kaminsky commented young kids need things to do that are outside fun inclusive and interactive I remember the old days of skateboarding and it was a great time filled with nice memories and cool subculture thank you ma'am thank you thank you so much Doug someone on zoom and please remember if you're going to be called on Zoom please list your first name and your last name and turn on your camera we have uh former councilwoman Javon Romney rice here three minutes thank you Doug and good evening Council um my the clock hasn't started yet but I guess I'll continue yes you're good to go okay great um just wanted to make sure that I was giving the fair amount of time I just want to say thank you guys for coming out on such a lovely evening I thought perhaps you were going to be on Zoom but I see you're here in person I just wanted to say thank you to councilwoman Belcher for her resolution to honor Black History Month with the Voting Rights um in this day and age in 2024 yes many states do have a challenge with voter suppression and I'm glad to know that this Council would stand behind making sure that elections are free of any obstacles that diversity equity and inclusion is continue to be championed here in our Township and thank you Denise for that um putting it forth and even for having to defend it which I think it's kind of challenging to imagine that anyone would want to challenge um how black history and the relationship to voting rights uh it is synonymous until we all have the right to vote freely with no obstruction without any suppression it continues to be an issue that needs to be championed so thank you Denise for bringing it to the um table and I hope it's unanimously supported thank you and have a good evening thank you Jon Mr Schwarz thank you Mr Mayor Ron Schwarz 698 Larch Avenue tck uh three things tonight one as an individual as Ron Schwarz individual I want to urge you to support the resolution that was introduced on the consent agenda by councilwoman belter tonight it puts the Council on record as being in favor of the fight for voting rights for African-Americans it puts the on record as supporting diversity equity and inclusion on not only your advisory boards but on your statutory boards as well I think that's something we need to do for Black History Month to respect the diversity of our town let me also add that I just don't think it's time uh today in tinic to quibble over the introduction or wording of a um resolution supporting Black History Month introduced by a member a black an African-American member of of this body it's just not time to do that U second item on behalf of wtown one vote as a representative tonight I want to thank the council and um uh councilwoman G for uh introducing a resolution I believe it's it's number 78 to have an audit of the uh monies that were spent by the state and by the town on the uh Monument committees this is something now that one town one vote has been requesting twice uh before this body and I am glad and congratulate the body that you are moving forward on this and I would urge you to uh pass this resolution the public has the right to know what happened with these monies third item uh as a um the elected um Democratic committee person for District Six in EK which would be heavily uh impacted by the American Legion Drive uh Redevelopment plan uh I read the uh minutes of the uh Zoning subcommittee for the January 1224 uh meeting and did have a reference there that crossroads had come before the subcommittee to introduce a new design a less dense design on behalf of the people in my district I would request that um Council woman council person Schwarz councilwoman Goldberg or may Pagan who were present at this meeting give us more detail than what's in the uh minutes of the subcommittee meeting so that I can talk to my constituents about what exactly Crossroads is recommending at this time I understand it's less dense according to the notes but I ask uh one of the three of you who are there to be more specific and let me know what's what exactly is going on thank you very much thank you Mr schz Doug someone on Zoom I have Nadia here three minutes do you have a please pleas St your first camera uh my camera how are you hi Nadia Hussein good afternoon good evening everyone uh first of all let me say thank you to the councilwoman Belair for introducing this resolution black history is not just simply belonging to our African-American population but it belongs to everyone it's everyone's history because if it were not for the historic black struggle and the Civil Rights movements no one currently sitting on the board would be there right now sitting on the council I apologize would be there right now similarly for a Board of Education none except one would qualify to be on the board of education it was just 58 years ago that Voting Rights Act was signed that allowed any kind of discriminatory voting practices 58 years is not that long ago many of us living in EK are beneficiaries of the black community's unending fight during that Civil Rights Movement my black brothers and sisters were beaten lynched hosed and many other unspeakable acts to pressure them to be silent and to stop their protests for justice this for me is just a reminder that the path to Justice can sometimes be uncomfortable if not a dangerous one thank you Miss beler for also including that our government advisory and statutory boards should be diverse and inclusive of all of our residents TC is a multicultural multiracial town and our government should be reflective of such lastly let me add this black his history is an integral part of my history and my family's history and everyone's history and I willever be grateful to those who gave up so much so now we can all be seen as equal lastly let me address a question that was asked about voter suppression many of us do do consider that when the council election was held in May this was a form of voter suppression as really only a few people knew about Council election and as a result only only some Town residents voted now that Council election is in November more of the town can vote in the elections on more of us can have a say on who we choose to govern tinet thank you very much good night everyone thank you Mr s Mr Rose thank you Howard Rose EK resident uh council member Bela uh thank you for your statement and the ordinance uh black history is American history and it's an acknowledgement we've come a long way and there's so much more that has to be done regarding uh Gunda Crockett sort of reminds me of the stamps that we issue nowadays forever stamps Glenda's been with us for a long time but as the years go by she increases in value just like a forever snap she's done a lot uh more than just bowling uh which she's very well noted for uh statement was read by I believe his name is Mr gross regarding Palmer Avenue and I hope that it leads to a much more rigorous enforcement of existing laws that are meant to protect people in the Township Housing it's my understanding that to give residents better access to the housing it's being built we need a Teck Housing Authority that would enable us better so correct me if that's wrong and if it's correct explain where we're at in that why we're not there yet and what we're doing to get to that point in time there's also discussion regarding housing on current properties adding to buildings that are there already now we're already able to add to existing buildings in attics and basement to add to housing and I'm concerned in terms of what the impact might be if we have separate buildings on current property added are we going to be changing the laws regarding permeable ground cover and adding to non-permeable areas are we going to be changing the boundary line of the property and its proximity to a building and making that less of a distance I don't want to see tenu become a squatter town uh or look like a shanty town uh and how many people does this enable because that's the term that was used in the past to do this how many people can make use of it on a property that's 60 feet by 90 ft is there really space to put another building so how many properties in Township has a survey been done how many properties based upon whatever the criteria is will it impact and with those that it impacts how many people want to do that how many people who want to do that can afford that so what's really the net effect and the approximate number of the impact of this situation if it's determined to go forward with it thank you for your time thank you Mr Rose Doug someone on Zoom we have Cheryl Hall please unmute good evening can everyone hear me yes yes ma'am good evening thank you thank you esteemed members of our Council and all of the public um that are listening in or in person tonight um I want to really express my gratitude to councilwoman Denise beler and Danielle G for your both of your resolutions tonight um I believe that the people of tenek deserve an accounting and also um I'd like to thank those that asked questions about councilwoman belcher's um resolution because that gives me an opportunity to be useful um voter suppression is rampant right now now not just in the past but right now as of this past November throughout the United States African Americans that are elderly are not allowed to sit down are being forced to wait on long lines and that's happening throughout the country while I've always had a positive experience here in ten it is very meaningful to all Teck residents and certainly to your black and African-American residents um to affirm or to hear that affirmation that you value our lives and our residency um as Citizens so it's very important and I don't know if you realize or have heard this but the king family of Martin Luther King and also the NAACP since 2022 has asked everyone to make voting rights and fighting voter suppression their primary focus so yes there definitely is there are things going on uh right now and today and I really appreciate and I also um have full confidence that this will be voted in um hopefully unanimously I also wanted to ask a question of our town manager and maybe he can give us two minutes of his time um to explain why he thinks the cert empathy training is vital right now for the township of TAC I know Dean you have worked in service of this Township since the early 1980s in law enforcement I don't know of any other expert that would be able to tell us right now better why we need help in communicating with each other I know it won't work for every everyone but why not invest the time in people that are willing to help each other and to be helpful which The Advisory Board and community relations is definitely up for that task right now thank you for your time and your presence thank you Miss Hall thank you Cheryl Miss Horwitz good evening Council and thank you so much for the opportunity to be heard tonight my name is Emma harowitz and I'm a te resident I apologize that due to the extreme parenting required um of me today due to the snow day I was not able to review the agenda in the detail I normally would and I didn't read the resolution but I understand that there are issues of voter suppression referenced in it and I want you to know that I personally don't take the right to vote as a woman or as a citizen of the United States for granted and I hope that no one else would ever feel like that was something that they couldn't do here in America so um voter suppression is a terrible thing and I hope it's never an issue here in Te and I thank you for the resolution assuming that that's what it addressed and again I'm sorry I didn't have a chance to read it but thank you Miss beler I also wanted to say that last week I had the opportunity to attend the youth Advisory Board career night and I want to compliment everyone who was involved in arranging it the students who ran it did a beautiful job and I particularly commend the student president Caitlyn for her efforts although I'm probably past the point of choosing a career although you never know I personally learned so much and I know that my children did too I hope we'll have the opportunity to have other similar events where we can hear from the wonderful people who live here on a variety of different topics we all have so much to learn from each other I'm also inv involved with the Patriotic OBS observance Advisory Board and although it's only February and there's snow on the ground I am already anticipating the 4th of July parade and the better weather that it will bring our parade has been a source of Pride for our town for many years and I'm very excited to be involved in helping it grow and become even more inclusive and exciting than it already is I hope the town will please stay tuned for opportunities for the public to get involved and share ideas so that we can celebrate this wonderful country that we all cherish finally I know that everyone on Council and our wonderful Township manager are aware of the tragedy that took place on Palmer Avenue on January 25th in a reckless driving incident a young mother lost her life and a family will never be the same I know many people have spoken and or will speak and ask for traffic calming measures on palmour Avenue and I joined them in that request I know that there are professionals whom the town can hire to engage in traffic studies and I also know that speed bumps are not favored but there has to be something that we can do perhaps the insertion of White Stripes onto either side of Palmer Avenue to create the illusion of a narrower Street this is the second serious accident on Palmer Avenue in recent months and the footage that I saw of the first one was frankly terrifying there are many children whose bus stops are up and down Palmer Avenue and both accidents have been at 8:00 in the morning a time when many buses pick up not only that people walk their dogs and have a sense of safety on Palmer because it's not a heavily trafficked area but lately it's proven to be lethal in fact I believe it's also time for us to turn our attention to the entire area between degra and Route 4 too many cars use it as a Speedway between routes 4 and 80 and I have noted problems on Queen and Road in the past Council and Goldberg was instrumental in getting structures placed in The Pedestrian walk by vandelinda Avenue thank you thank you Emma Doug someone on Zoom I have Paula Rogan three minutes yeah hi um I strongly support the Voting Rights resolution introduced by councilwoman beler thank you for introducing that it's so important for EK to reaffirm the need to support voting rights and representation both in tinck and throughout the United States uh on another topic uh by October 17th of this year more than 2,000 people in Israel and over 2,000 people in Gaza had already been killed despite much division among residents the council passed a resolution supporting the policies of the Israeli government concerns of people about the lives of civilians in Gaza were ignored those of us holding a peace vigil in on the town Green in advance of the October 17th meeting were condemned by some and told it was too soon to vigil for a peaceful solution I'm worried because there's been so much antagonism against students and adults who have called for ceasefire or for support of Palestinians now 30,000 people nearly 30,000 people have been killed in Gaza more than 11,000 of them are children many thousands are suffering serious injuries and suffering from salvation dehydration and disease as well as displacement from their homes for me personally it breaks my heart when I think about all of the death and destruction in Israel and Gaza council members and other residents who are quick to criticize or even condemn the students for their walk out or their recent March after school I plead with you to please step back and take time to think about the students who have chosen to speak out in different ways people have expressed horror at the killings and kidnappings of Israelis but I plead with everyone to consider the feelings of students and others like myself who also feel horror with the killings of thousands of people in Gaza during the Vietnam War when I was in college many thousands of us demonstrated held Sittin and walkouts thousands of us shut down our schools for a week to condemn the bombing of Cambodia by us troops like at other schools around the country we even held a teaching for a whole week at Bank Street College of Education during that bombing recently there have been school walkouts and student L marches and sens students at Brown University just held a Six-Day hunger strike to call for divestment uh from companies producing weapons of war this is part of a democratic p uh tradition and part of making good trouble I've been to the student student dialogues at ethnical culture EK high school and I have great admiration for the students of all backgrounds who participate in these dialogues I hope that council members and others will listen and take the lead from our students thank you Mr Goen thank you someone in Chambers sir uh hello Am ram to10 te resident uh I'm here again requesting an update to the Township Code section 3329 fences and retaining walls for Corner lots to Mr Schwarz I did hear you last time but I don't think a variance solves it a variance is a one-time basis item that's granted to me but it affects all Corner Lots equally and would still be in the code the only way to clean this up is a journal code update to section 3329 and again that's why I'm appealing to the council I think as a Township we can all agree to a resident's right to privacy and private seen one's backyard the current code is just written poorly and being enforced too aggressively there's no real justification for having a 75t section of fence be 50% open allowing an invasion of privacy other than a technicality in the current code the code's intent was to allow a resident privacy in their backyard with a six foot high sidey fence this has been causing residents of Tina quite a bit of money for decades between requesting variances and extra steps to fill in the gaps in the fence it doesn't make sense to continue with a current writing the code's not monolithic and updates can be made I think it's very logical and fundamentally a popular stance to get behind right to privacy and saving residents money I'm sure this isn't the only item in the Township Code that needs updating but this is something that can be done now to ensure all residents have the right to privacy in their backyards I've done the leg work and analyzed other townships and Burgin and I have a few suggestions to update the code that it doesn't require a full rewrite something along the lines of for purposes of this particular subsection 3329 only the front yard shall be defined as that yard in which the front door and or the front of the house is located this would close any illogical enforcement and leave all safety tenants in place mainly the sight line requirements hopefully I can work with the council to get this updated before it affects other residents in the future it's a very simple and straightforward item and past councils may have overlooked it nothing being proposed is controversial and should be easy to support thank you for your time thank you hamr Doug someone on Zoom I have John Moscow here please unmute good evening uh my name is John Moscow uh I also want to thank council member Belcher for her resolution uh I am a Teek resident of 32 years a Jew and a member of Northern New Jersey Jewish voice for peace jvp I'm speaking on my own behalf tonight te tenek Township council member Hillary Goldberg is spreading slanderous misinformation and disinformation about jvp people should check out camera's not on Mr Mayor Mr Moscow can if you if you can if you're able to yes yes I'm sorry for interrupting Mr mosco please continue yes um people should check out our chapter website a national jvp's website to get accurate information council member Goldberg is deliberately spreading hatred heightening tension in the town rather than helping to build dialogue last Tuesday high school students held a virtual panel that exemplified what the township Council should be doing but isn't we noticed that council member Goldberg attempted to derail the panel subsequently she accused students of being anti-semitic despite the students being very clear that they were not using the phrase from The River To The Sea Palestine will be free with anti- any anti-semitic meeting the council passed council member Goldberg's one-sided resolution that expressed concern for Israeli lives and solidarity with Israel's extreme right-wing government but indicated no concern at all for the countless Palestinian lives lost this resolution was morally obtuse and a betrayal of everything tenek claims to stand for many municipalities and labor unions have called for a ceasefire to stop the genocide in Gaza and also an end to the pums on the west on the West Bank as it choose we should not be doing pums and also allow for the return of the hostages why hasn't the town EK Township Council joined in are you waiting as the world did during the showa the Holocaust only to express regret later as Jews we say that never again means never again for anyone as Jews we demand that the township Council stand up for human lives and human decency please disown council member Hillary Goldsburg hatred please support TX students and follow their example of dignified discourse and please passor resolution calling for a ceased fire now before more people die thank you someone in Chambers want to speak Mr Berliner AI Berliner T resident Cheryl you are always welcome thanks to the DPW and emergency services for keeping us safe preparing foreign cleaning up during and after the storm with Valentine's Day tomorrow let me also put into the public record thinking than you to my wife for letting me be involved and come out love you Doug I expect to see that in your notes I I need the proof let me first start with a shout out to the Hawthorne fourth grade PTA fundraiser as was shared by trusty Ed hot the recent Board of Education Workshop the fourth grade PTA is hosting a Chrispy cream fundraiser I would imagine that everyone's participation would be welcome I purchased my dozen and I ask you to join me in this worthwhile cause I strongly support the naming of Windsor Road for Rabbi Louis seagull and urge you to as well as those of us in attend at the Township's MLK celebration hosted at Temple emth were reminded by Rabbi seru Rabbi seagull was a scholar and leader who left an indelible impact not only on tinac but also far beyond our borders he was a religious leader who spearheaded the creation of the tinac clergy Council pushed to provide land for the tink Mikvah marched with civil rights leaders and help Tink cope and heel after the Philip pel tragedy he is missed by the community and we tenek need this to not only remember him but what he stood for ensure that his legacy lives on no matter your ra race religion color or Creed you we owe a debt of gratitude and this is a wonderful and Lasting me Memorial may his memory be a blessing thank you Mr manager and Council for moving forward a number of parks related programs including the osrp and Green Acres items for Phelps Park and Sagamore Park and thank you also for the responsible budgeting and fiscal management of this town The Moody report is great news and helps to lower our cost of capital to continue municipal borro for development at advantageous rates before moving on I would like to take the time to thank and apologize to our resident resident journalist bill or for how he was treated at an event last Friday your discomfort and being made to feel unwelcome by parent agitators and now is our own discomfort and feeling of distress this is not who we are this is not tenek thank you again for your straightforward and honest reporting what are we doing here and what are what is going on here and what are we doing shame on you shame on us shame on all of us how did we the adults in the room allow things to escalate and get so out of hand how do we the adults in the room allow things to stay so out of hand because of the sensitivities I will not go into details but what happened at last week's pprb meeting was unacceptable and disgraceful both in front of adults but even more so in front of children making a statement is one thing hiding behind a camera and pulling a disgusting stunt in front of children is vile and abhorent I hope whoever that was is identified and had the courage to make up and has the courage to make a public apology to the children who are innocently joining to present their research for a new skate park the board members who are trying to conduct Township business Township employees and other individuals who participated in The Advisory board meeting and all of the citizens of Tink we want and deserve better thank you thank you Mr Briner I zoom I have Natalie Addison please unmute and I just want to give a reminder to our friends on Zoom that Council will not be calling on you if you do not have your first name last name listed in your uh name title on Zoom Natalie of three minutes good evening this is not Natalie this is Raymond adderson thank you hi Raymond how are you uh first of all thank you councilman for coming out in this uh great web tonight and thank you to the township manager for making sure that all the streets are ploud that you were able to make it and we are able to get where we need to go I'm calling to support the res resolution that was presented by Council woman beler and had to be affirmed by uh Deputy Mayor G um I think it's a great resolution uh yes this is Black History Month but in my eyes every month is Black History Month only because was designated that February is Black History Month um doesn't mean that we have to live in that realm um I'm saddened though because we take 10 steps forward and 100 step backwards where one has to identify and quival over words that's in a resolution that maybe it's misunderstood but maybe it's a little bit sensitive that we should try to understand each other's Culture by doing so um there is a good movie called origin that I think it would be a good field trip for all of the councilmen council people to maybe see and View and we can get a better understanding on how we should live together and where we are in this world because when the bottom line is we're all human beings we all bleed the same blood so we need to be a little bit more sensitive to each other and not quivel over words and who should rewrite words and rewrite resolutions um thank you also uh I think it's a good time now to talk about or consider hiring a compliance officer we talk about everything else we talk about chickens we talk about everything compliance officer I think would benefit the town in more ways than one thank you very much for your time have a good evening be safe thank you Mr Addison someone in Chambers Mr Kaplan oh my God thank you Mr Mayor Keith Kaplan tenek uh for a moment I wanted to reflect on the black history month resolution I don't think anybody can realistically doubt that voter suppression exists in new and inventive ways anywhere in this country um considering how our own District was somewhat Jerry maner to ensure a certain representation I hope Council does take into account even when it results in something we favor that we would be against such things the second point I want to make about it is we have a tremendous amount of historical events and uh things reflective from our community uh I mean right off the top you have the first to voluntarily integrate our schools we have the first for black Mayors and Deputy Mayors judges and Personnel from our Township uh Miss Lacy living uh you know embodiment we just named the school after her uh I have no objection to this resolution for sure we should do it but I think that the comment that we should have another one uh to at least embody some of the living history we have here might be a good thing uh to move forward Black History Month is everyone's history uh regarding the traffic issues I saw a vehicle leave L uh Street by my house hit a tree and flip over on its top with a pregnant woman Inside it the problem of traffic is uh it's ever expanding part of the uh issue is not all traffic accidents are the same some are definitely by the person in the car and those certainly need to be dealt with through education and various methods but others are because of design of roadway hazards and various issues the manual on uniform traffic control devices lists many traffic control measures that can help slow down cars that can help with safety on our streets the problem is these aren't things that are out of the box just the go-to for a lot of people and doing it the way we've done it is sort of the way government typically functions so if you want the good responses if you want and some of these are cheaper than what we actually do they're cheaper than putting physical structures in you need to get experts in the field I believe uh and the manager can uh take this into account when people were complaining about Beverly Road and uh uh Sussex and Garrison and all the accidents cars literally landing on people's houses uh we put lines on the road and some people scoffed they said this will never work and it turns out that making the roadway narrower causes people to go slower and the people that were complaining almost daily suddenly stopped I'm happy to help contribute I'm by no means an expert but I have worked with them but we what we really need is to have experts uh uh take that into account and with a couple seconds left I want to make sure there's a lot of people that have a lot of non-t topics they're focused on at these meetings I'd like to see if we can uh return Tek meetings to te residents thank you Mr Kaplan Doug someone on zoom and friendly reminder please list your first name and last name and turn on your camera if you can Eliza Leon Eliza Leon please hi three minutes whenever you're ready okay so um I I'm Alisa Leon um T resident for a really long time I grew up here um and I raised my kids here now um so I wanted to just bring up two things the first is I I really agree with making the street safer um a while ago I had called in and commented on the intersection between red and Grayson and it was found that that wasn't an issue again I I live right near tinac High School um there are a lot of kids that are walking the streets all the time and I see so many almost accidents it like builds my blood pressure up um so anything we can do whether it's yield signs stop signs um just to put them up to just slow people down because people are always rushing together whether it's Teck Road or queenanne road or Palisades they're always trying to get um to get somewhere quick um I'm also wondering and also I grew up in tnx so I actually uh know that some places in tck don't have sidewalk so there is kind of this um community of Street Walkers because there are no sidewalks to walk on but um I'm especially seeing this as being an issue by the high school um high schoolers love to walk on the street um right in the middle um and uh people are also walking on the streets all the time I I am probably one of them sometimes um if I have a big stroller but but to kind of maybe have a campaign to have people walk on the sidewalks or maybe make some sidewalks bigger if they're not um big enough to hold the people that need to walk there I don't know just get people off the streets when they're walking would also be good in um making our streets safer and last I do want to thank um the town manager I live on Werner place um as well as Jesse Leon and um thank you for the uh filling those potholes but I also do want to mention the top of our street is not paved I don't really understand the logic behind that it kind of just like like stop somewhere on the top um and then the street actually it branches out two ways one is to a closed off section of like a a a used to be Road and the other one goes to somebody's driveway um it's not paved and I really don't understand why it's not and I would ask if we could just pave it just make it a regular street cars are always making u-turns in that area it' be good for not only the street but also cars I've uh personally um popped one of my tires once because it's just rocks and gravel and whatnot up there um so that is all for me thank you so much and have a good night thank you Miss Leon Mr son thank you Mr Mayor thank you Council I I want to Echo so many of the remarks that are being stated about traffic safety uh this is something that that I've seen for for many many years both before during and after my Council service um the speed limit signs uh are again uh treated as as basically uh recommendations uh not not rules or laws uh Unfortunately The Wider the street the more likely you are to feel that you should be or can be driving faster uh many many people as as Miss har pointed out do use many of those long wide streets uh especially those streets south of Cedar Lane uh as as Speedways to get uh from one one place to another uh avoiding the major roads that have those stop lights where you actually have to stop uh again in many of those streets traffic calming measures are appropriate and I think would be effective it's not the stop signs the stop signs as we have seen are just not working and are not working effectively uh some of those measures that have been used in some other streets and have been used effectively uh include uh putting striping to make the street look narrower uh but many of those streets would genuinely benefit from speed humps uh I know that there have been some issues with the with the recommendations of the Manu manual and uniform traffic control devices and those recommendations uh but when I see a speed hump when I other drivers spe see a speed hump you slow down because you pretty much have to slow down and I think it's one of the most effective measures in order to encourage people to slow down um I I've seen the video of the of the uh Holy Name vehicle rolling over it was it was horrific to imagine the amount of force that would be necessary in an impact I did not see any video and I I I would hope not to see video of the the more recent incident uh where where the T Resident was killed but to to even try to imagine how much force was necessary and how fast that other vehicle was going uh is horrific I can't even imagine all of the accidents that have almost happened uh the near misses and I think taking those steps to implement traffic calming measures on those kinds of streets is something that is an actual measure that can really bring genuine safety to our residents to the people who are passing by to those people who are just minding their own business and Crossing through the streets it doesn't take a lot of money it doesn't take a lot of effort uh but in identifying those streets and going through those and making sure that we have those measures that can be implemented at relatively low cost that can be done that will get people to slow down is something that will genuinely improve the quality of life and and again hopefully uh again in this most tragic incident could have saved a life if they' had only been implemented and I encourage this Council in looking ahead in its budget for this forthcoming year to try to implement those kinds of things and include those things in the budget uh to to ensure uh that all residents are kept safe here in this Township thank you very much thank you Mr s Doug someone on Zoom Seline Lewis please unmute whenever you're ready hi do I need my camera on up to you we know what you look like oh okay I'm sorry oh here I am all right hello everyone um first and foremost I want to thank councilwoman belter and Deputy Mayor G for bringing forth the resolution in honor of Black History Month black history is American history and I'm so happy it makes me very proud that it's being brought to the table um in my hometown of tenek okay number two um I heard there was a skate part and I even heard there was chickens so let's bring these little libraries to the parks um this has been maybe my third or fourth time that I have introduced little libraries um for our beautiful parks in Teck uh if you know me you know that I love reading um books are very inclusive they're free they're open minds they save lives and we can make this a town that promotes literacy we could do this together and so like I said this is the third and fourth time that I've come to a council meeting and I asked for the little libraries in t did it with the last Administration um and so I'm doing it with this Council um right here as well um hit me up if you want to know more about it but let's make this happen um three on tinic road I was um walking on tinic road going to the store I notice outside of some businesses it is filthy there is garbage on the ground a lot of it and I want to know what's being done to make sure these businesses are keeping up um with the cleaniness of our town I don't see it every where but I do see it in particular uh on KCK Road who's talking to the business owners um are there fines or something but we need to keep all of our town uh beautiful and clean so I I actually want to know what's being done about that um I actually have a one minute and 20 19 seconds so again I'm going to go back to the little libraries um I don't know if I need to write another email and if I do I will send an email to the council to speak about that um and lastly I want to bring up um we are in the plannings um to do something for juneth again and I'll be writing a letter to the council um discussing the plans for June and that's it thank you very much thank you Seline sir how you doing Yousef aalah T resident I'm here today to uh seek clarification on the attribution of inflammatory statements made about a Community member in the last meeting why was the phrase blowup used in reference to a citizen expressing their views I watched the meeting and didn't hear anyone mention any blowing up of the Town additionally I was present at the meeting sitting right there and at no point did I hear anyone mention blowing anything up one member of the Council made the accusation and the another one affirmed hearing it the Community member was mentioned by name putting her safety at risk maybe I'm missing something was this an attempt at intimidation to keep us silent to prevent people from talking at these meetings I don't know you got to remember that these meetings are recorded and they can be played back which it was and at no point did I hear any of these statements my question is will there be an apology for any uh misunderstanding moving on I just want to mention it's vital for community members I'm sorry council members to embrace diverse perspectives it's very disappointing to witness adults intimidating children who are advocating for the basic human rights of Palestinians how can we have council members representing us who are unable to hear different perspectives and walk out of Council meetings this is in reference to council one of the councilmen walking out during one of this speakers while walking out they stated call me back when he's done how are we unable to listen to other people's perspectives without showing emotion councilwoman Boucher and G thank you for giving me a glimmer of hope for the town the the future of tinck thank you someone on Zoom Doug I have Sheran please state your name for the record unmute you're ready yeah uh good evening it's Sher Han e lifelong Teck resident I don't want to have on I do not want to have my camera on I have my young son with me and I'd like him to not be on this is that okay that's okay thank you um first I'd like to thank councilman belter for introducing the vote voter suppression reolution Black History Month as everyone has stated is American history if it weren't for the sacrifices of those involved in Civil Rights Movement my parents would not have been able to move to this country our community owes a tremendous amount to the African-American Community for their sacrifices I also would like to Echo everyone else who has made statements about the road safety in this town I have also witnessed that we I've also witnessed many near accidents um daily so I whatever we can do to make this town safer for us would be great um I'm calling also to question why our town is still vilifying those of us who are calling for the indiscriminate violence being Hur at Palestinians to end why are we vilifying students why are we intimidating students why are we following them when they're when they're exercising their their rights of freedom of speech their right to assemble why are we taking photos of photos of them not journalists regular people taking photos of these children these kids need to be kept safe not exploited by us they protest to give a voice to the voiceless they are the voice of one and a half million people who are being ignored by the world and if we still don't understand this we desperately need some bias training some implicit bias training the start of tonight's meeting was enough evidence for us to show to see that we really don't understand when we're being biased against people of color and marginalized communities we can no longer as a town rest on the fact that we were the first to integrate schools that we are so Progressive we can no longer rest to that we have to be in the present um we C we'll we'll just continue to divide this town if we just ignore and suppress our voices and lastly the point of keeping these meetings about te- neck issues the person who made that comment last meeting called women or Muslim Jihadi jeames now what is being done to make sure that I am safe what is being done to make sure that women who where the hijab are safe I've not heard one thing one thing from the council about what can be done to make sure that we are safe in this town thank you anyone in Chambers want to speak no Doug on Zoom Michael Katy bring Michael Katy please unmute and just want to remind our friends on Zoom to please put your name first name last name on Zoom to be called on thank you the floor is yours Mr kky there's a reason why thank you you're muted Mike hi can you hear me Doug yes sir loud and clear okay uh thank you uh Doug thank you very much uh good evening Council good evening everyone um today I'm I'd like to speak about Echo some of the other uh residents of the town of spoken very passionately about traffic safety and uh the ability to walk comfortably in our town without fearing for without one fearing when they cross the street walk down the street and so on um many of the other spoke speakers who have touched on this topic they they've made some very really really good points I I agree with all of them I think you should take all of them seriously um I want to share some of my own insights on uh the current situation I think that for many years um we we've dealt with a lot of streets and we've know traffic basically had a pattern where you had these peak hours in the morning right we call them rush hour in the morning you had rush hour in the evening and we ended up with the situation where every intersection was overwhelmed with traffic during those periods of time and you know you go through those intersections very slowly let's say you're at Cedar Lane and queenanne Road and so on Cedar Lane and Garrison wherever wherever you are it doesn't matter exactly where you are right those are the times of the day when traffic goes to a comes to a crawl so so you don't really encounter a super dangerous situation because you're going really slowly you're cautious there's lots of stuff happening since the pandemic so many people have started working from home or worked hybrid and what has happened is that we don't really see the same Rush Hour anymore if we reached 100% 100 110% capacity at 8 am. we don't see that right now we're hitting 70% capacity at 8 am. but instead of going to say 10% capacity at 11 we're now seeing 40% capacity all day long we're now seeing people who are now encountering dangerous situations with low volumes of traffic which means that they're not approaching that intersection at a slow speed anymore they're coming through full speed there's no traffic or there's light traffic but there's also somebody who wants to walk the dog there's a kid who wants to cross the street there's a kid being dropped off by a school bus there's a person doing this all these people doing things when they're not anticipating each other uh and can we solve that through enforcement we can't we we have to hire another 10,000 police officers to do that um we can we can solve this through uh maybe through the car manufacturers a little bit more but in t we're not going to do that we're not we don't really have that power um I think what we do do what what is in our perview and what we can do is that we can focus on making our Corridor safer streets we can make those encounters where you know a driver approaches an intersection uh we can make it easier for them to see easier for them to have a predictable experience to see who's walking there when a person wants to go approach a crosswalk and they find that cars just don't stop for them maybe sometimes they can't see them there's there are ways there's a whole toolbox the New Jersey DOT has a whole complete streets manual it's written by one of the firms that's located not far from here in pipany um we can hire them to to get it done to study the town do a small study for Safe Streets thank you all have a great night thank you Mr Katy shorts sorry I know we're about close to about one hour good welfare if yes sir it's been an hour can I'd like to make a motion 18 yeah so I'd like to make a motion that we Eng to Ware if you want to extend by a few minutes but we have quite a bit of resolutions that are important for us to discuss yeah we we have a busy contend agenda I'll second that was a first from couns sorry uh the motion was to terminate good in welfare because it's been an hour already so we had a first from councilman Schwarz second from councilwoman Oregon regarding closing good and Welfare right now at an hour councilman Schwarz councilman beler no I'd like to hear from everyone councilman Goldberg yes councilman Oregon yes Debbie May Catz Debbie May G no if if we do this it's if it's an hour every month that means only 20 people get to speak I just don't think that's enough time we're in the middle of a roll call but legally we're only required to do one hour at least 20 is not enough so no M pan yes yes good and Welfare closed all right Mr Schwarz would you like to start us off sir yes uh thank you very much in just a we our meetings are more than a month so it's not 20 people every month I I don't know what the Board of Ed does but there's quite a bit people know how to people know how people know how to reach us as well and we'd love to hear from everyone I must have spoken to probably 50 or 60 different residents today between text email Facebook Messenger um thank you very much um councilman beler for bringing forth that resolution I thought it was important for me to ask these questions especially where I was completely confused in where I thought it was voter suppression um there will never be a time where a resolution is just put on an agenda and I simply rais my hands unless I'm the one that actually put it on the agenda so I I think questions are are healthy there especially if as long as they're done in a respectful Manner and and I appreciate Cheryl Hall's comments on that as well um as it relates to the variance in the Lots there's some I think you were starting to talk about some very good points I'd appreciate if you could reach out to me uh my email is right on the on the website and if you can send me that information and we can look to see how we can carry that forward and see if those changes are indeed plausible um of course those will be run by the bill and Department who professionals not myself as not myself specifically because I'm I'm not a professional or engineer and um one thing I liked that we started talking in the last two years about speed humps and bumps we put a few sample ones in but we didn't have enough snow to gauge if it affected the snow pickup and Mr manager if you can just reach out to DPW especially on um on GL GL Columbus and Columbus and on Tryon to see how the snow pickup went the snow plow sorry yeah see how that goes because that was one thing we missed last winter from our test thank you very much everyone and I yield the rest of my time Miss beler okay first off I'd like to um congratulate our recreational um director uh Miss Glenda uh Crockett on her uh recognition um certainly my family has been a beneficiary of her service to our community uh I raised my two daughters um coming through the rec center and we we uh just had such a great time and there's no better person to be receiving this uh award um I'd like to also just basically um send my prayers um to the family that were impacted by the accident on Palmer I absolutely feel that our Township would do uh can should do everything possible to um control traffic if it mean means a speed bump um along Palmer let's do it let's figure it out because that's just just horrific to have had that happen um you know in our in our community um I want to also Echo uh Mrs horor with's um comment about the the student career day I wasn't able to make that event however I appreciate our students because they truly are our leaders they are our future um I am just so totally impressed with our young people um by them taking the um leadership and initiative to come together and to try to to figure out tough questions and uh they should be applauded for for all of their efforts and uh I will always be a champion of our young people because I believe they lead the way uh as it pertains to what uh they're doing as opposed to oftentimes what adults are doing I want to thank um uh former councilwoman uh Javon rice for calling in and Cheryl Hall and uh Mr Addison because truly I think we all agree uh that black history is American history uh it's so vitally important I think about that in light of Rabbi uh seil um who we are looking to um recognize in terms of a street naming and I like uh one thing I I read in his bio that I thought was very uh important is that he was a a a rabbi for social justice and that he believed um in um uh the integration of of uh our our schools and he uh believed in working with people and he believed that there was uh an intersectionality between uh people getting along and people working together and I think that that we can learn a lot from his his um bio and I'm certainly excited that we are recognizing him um I think that is important because I think that during that time he probably walk uh believed what Dr King believed I believe he he probably certainly uh just from his bio indicates that he uh believed in so many things that um African-Americans believed in so I I'm super excited about my colleagues recognizing this uh the uh resolution uh in um honor of black history I think it's timely I think it's important I think it shows that we are uh collectively uh recognizing that we live in a democracy and that voting rights is is important thank thank you Mrs Belair Miss orgon I look forward to supporting councilwoman belcher's resolution I to believe in free voting rights for everybody and no voter suppression um thank you for educating me I am in agreement with everybody who spoke about Miss fryson and the um traffic accident I think it hits so close to home for all of us because any one of us could have been driving our children to school that morning and never to see them again um I think the um scariest time in a parent's life is when you get behind the wheel with your child and you teach them how to drive and then they ask you for the keys to move on by themselves and then to hear that they've done something irresponsible ways what weighs on you um forever I am uh so inspired to see how many people in the community donated money towards funeral expenses and food for the family and how many people donated anonymously on on the site um and how people from all over the community donated money to help them and embrace them and if there's anything that we can ever do to help the family I hope they'll feel feel free to reach out um I'm ex super excited about the skat Park I love seeing Civics in action from children um we saw it with the AED defibrillators with the youth Advisory Board um I hope that we can find something with this and uh um also some funding opportunities if our youth would like to go look um at them I wish to congratulate Glenna on her award and thank her for everything that she does for us every day I'm a huge fan I'd like to thank the police department in town for helping us and keeping us safe always and um the DPW for all their work today uh Miss Lewis the first time you brought up the little libraries I offered to donate one and I'm so happy to sponsor one if you could reach out to me I think it's a great idea and I love to read and um intimidation is something that makes people feel unsafe it could be posting their picture on social media on Instagram it could be saying things about them that their children read it could be putting their face on the on the side of a box car a a box truck um it could be telling people that their town is not going to be able to rest going forward so there are many different forms of intimidation um I do intimidate easily but I part of the job um that's it have a good night everyone happy Valentine's Day tomorrow thank you Miss Oregan Miss goldbert thank you Mr Mayor um first I know Mr batky is not here but I wanted to follow up on something from last meeting I did watch Unstoppable it's on 2B for free if anyone is looking for it um at the recommendation of Mr basy and also he loaned me a very interesting book about the train and oil industry called bomb TR um and I look forward to exploring um the CSX issue it's an important issue but I recognize that we as a municipal municipality are limited in what we can do but I am committed to exploring to see what our options are thank you Mr gross miss harowitz Mr katsky and to so many others who spoke regarding the tragedy on Palmer I thank you all for bringing this to our attention I've received numerous phone calls streets like Palmer are really wide and some of our widest streets turn into Speedways I'm not sure what options we can but I really hope that we can consider looking at calming measures on these kinds of streets um and maybe Mr manager next meeting you can come back with some recommendations for safety improvements starting with Palmer Avenue um Jesse Leon thank you so much for talking about chickens I really miss chickens as you know I fully support chickens and i would support it if I were brought forward again Teresa thank you you Sammy and yonatan have been amazing and have really done an amazing job to engage and understand the process and really should be so proud of themselves and I am committed to supporting their skate park idea um and this is really what our town is about so yashara Ron for clarity the minutes from the last meetings are in the agenda packet but I will clarify the developer did come back and say that they would come back quote with density decrease designs based on the public meetings with significant reductions in setbacks for Beverly Road and a decreased floor for American Legion more green space and no charge for public parking throughout however they have not yet been they have not yet presented a new design so no one has seen it yet um there will be more public meetings absolutely and when they have a design to present it um it will absolutely be presented I apologize for any confusion anti-Semitism is at an all-time high in this world and the life experience of Jews is that is very consistent that when Israel defends herself Jews are are attacked globally the definition of anti-semitism from the international Holocaust remembrance Alliance which has been adopted by more than a thousand Global entities all over the world and in the United States 30 states have adopted it says part of their definition quote holding Jews collectively responsible for the actions of the state of Israel is anti-Semitism normalizing anti-Semitism is incredibly dangerous and puts Jews lives in danger when it's normalized and accepted and when it comes from your friends people you welcomed into your home to have kids play together to cook with friends K it's an act of betrayal worse than any pain I have ever experience I will never stay quiet in the face of anti-Semitism not today not tomorrow not ever and I look forward for the day when I see on the news that all 134 remaining hostages are on Israeli soil bring them home thank you Miss Goldberg Miss G thank you Mr Mayor um I wanted to send my deepest condolences to the fryson Brown family um Diamond fryson was the name of the woman who um unfortunately passed away with that accident on Palmer Avenue I wholeheartedly agree with all the suggestions we heard today in terms of investigating ways to make our streets safer I also think we should look at I understand the the drivers of the vehicle who ran through the stop signs were 18 years old old they were high school students in bagota I think there's an opportunity to work with the board of ENT here in tenek and maybe partner with other schools to talk about um safety for new Learners um it is really really sad that this happened in EK and and I never want to see it happen again um also want to congratulate glena Crockett on her recent recognition congratulations Glenna um loved seline's little libraries idea I know we have one outside of Whittier school and I've see them all over town I would I think they'd be a great addition to the parks I know we have that budget um for the different advisory boards we have a sizable amount in that that um in our budget to support different projects maybe this is one that we could support I don't think it's a heavy lift cost-wise to introduce these libraries in the Parks I think it it's a great idea to get kids um reading and access to books so if there's anything we can do to support that I would wholeheartedly um be in support of that um I um am deeply disappointed that we closed Gooden welfare today after just an hour um there were 18 people waiting to speak on Zoom they were not here in person because the roads you know are covered in snow and to not let those people speak I think was a Miss on our part if we're going to cut this to an hour at every meeting I think we maybe need to reconsider the three minutes to two to allow more people to speak I mean if everyone uses their three minutes 60 divid by three that's 20 people who get to speak we talk about we want openness and transparency right we talk about sunlight being the best disinfectant right that was a quote by one of my fellow Council colleagues how can we then say that only 20 people should get to speak at good and Welfare it's not enough time so I I I truly hope you reconsider that policy going forward thank you Miss G as always I want to thank all of our residents for participating tonight Mr gross yes that was a very very tragic accident and our thoughts and prayers are with diamond and her family and everyone affected by this terrible tragedy and our manager and our Police Department are looking into ways to better increase safety there and throughout our town and they will be reporting on that very soon Mr Leon thank you for letting us know about your street we'll ask our manager to look into that as soon as possible and let us know what is going on Teresa my 8-year-old son is an avid skateboarder and you and the kids have my support on that and please let me know what I can do to help and I will talk to my colleagues on councel and our manager to see if and what can be done about a possible skateboard park and T for our kids and lastly I want to remind all all of our residents that we have some outstanding programs every Thursday at 7 pm at the teic public library this month during Black History Month and this Thursday Reggie Pitman will be speaking and I support the resolution councilwoman beler as drafted as is Mr manager is there anything you would like to say Sir H just a few responses some of the resid I spoke to the Leons I'll speak to the engineer tomorrow morning see if we can address the Western end they took a look on Google Map and I see where it's pretty much a gravel area there um to the resident spoke about jaywalking I will certainly refer that to the police department to Seline regarding the little Library box I don't believe that was problem we spoke about this I think roughly two years ago uh and as mentioned I I certainly will donate the the first box uh so uh just certainly reach out to me to any member on Council again to breathe some life back into this project our health department handles garbage complaints uh please feel free to email me or our health officer to address any of those uh concerns as well uh they will do code enforcement um we've made uh mayor we've made many traffic coming upgrades to our streets uh that includes uh new striping to narrow some of these roadways installing speed bumps at several locations some residents like them some residents don't uh for reasons of noise we put an actually portable speed uh bumps in the municipal parking lot here because when I walked out to my car across the lot I was taking my life into my hands because of people that visited the municipal building that would drive greater than five miles mil hour through through the uh through the parking lot so again we we need to start taking some personal responsibility for our actions when you get behind a two-ton vehicle uh put the cell phone down put the put the makeup down put the portable razor down and start thinking about what you're doing when you're driving a car I get very frustrated by this uh and and my heart goes out to the family that that that just lost a loved one uh we also put in larger stop signs at dangerous intersections some are illuminated like what we did at limberg and Redmond Street we installed pole mounted speed radar devices we put in Rapid flashing beacons to help pedestrians cross roadways we put in thermoplastic rumble strips uh and we've done aggressive traffic enforcement uh sometimes these measures Also Serve to displace traffic so yes we address it on one street it's moved to uh to the next street regarding Palmer uh right after the accident I ordered the police department to conduct a five-year look back study uh for other ways that we can do some traffic cing there larger stop signs I'm even in favor of four-way stops there is a um uh stop sign at every intersection on on Palmer um the manual and uniform traffic control devices in place for a reason however in some cases I'm comfortable with making recommendations to council to put in four-way stops at at certain intersections so you have my support with that regarding the skate park I once skated at the old vot Park Roller Rink I'm in favor and a big fan if we can get this done uh and a a location agreed upon and of course uh Council must approve the funding so that would that would help and to Cheryl I just want to go over this quick thank you for your leadership on the abcr uh with regards empathy training I believe it's it certainly will help to build fundamental self-reflection and communication skills uh to strengthen relationships in this community and build greater staff well-being and to engage the community and I think one of the most um easiest and most straightforward ways to practice empathy is to have a conversation with a wide range of people in this community about their feelings and experiences uh I think we can benefit from this by exposing residents to New Perspectives and it's very useful for us to get exposed to different lifestyles World Views and life experiences that are not that are that are different from your own and I think that's the core fabric of tenek I think that's something we should focus on and I think it really will will help this community out thank you thank you Mr manager our next order of business is our consent agenda and all matters listed on the consent agenda are considered to be routine in nature by Council and 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 absolutely and just a quick uh note because councilman Schwarz reminded me something's going on with our Wi-Fi our YouTube feed is down well we'll be trying to fix it and uh anyway regarding the consent agenda that is uh one raffle four sets of minutes resolutions 61 through now Council 7 two that we walked in um and the bills list in the amount of 9,242 216 and 22 cents does anyone want to pull anything pulling a 78 of 2024 that's the audit request 78 the KMC Legal Services which we walked on this evening it's not in your packet listed as a resolution anybody want to pull anything else before we take a vote in that case I moved to approve the consent agenda is there a second thank you Deputy Mayor and this is everything except resolution 78 which we walked in this evening first by mayor Pagan second by Deputy Mayor G councilman Schwarz yes and if there's any Bill list for the Jewish link the agenda online and over there does not have it so please refrain me any Jewish link items yes and everything else you got it councilwoman beler yes to all councel Goldberg yes but a recusal on 65 2024 that's the Wayne's puppy settlement and also a recusal on the bills list the jardan Meisner invoice 38553 also for Wayne's puppies that was from uh yarden yeah the invoice 38 oh my God I can't see 38553 and resolution 65 2024 both recusals correct yes Council organ yes to all Debbie mayor cads all Debbie mayor G yes all and mayor Pagan yes to all thank you Mr Schwarz the floor is yours to discuss 78-20 yes I I understand the merits in doing an I understand the merits in doing an audit I think there's we should probably do an audit of all organizations this request what I'm looking at is literally a forensic audit hiring a law firm I don't think we should have any volunteers that have to be we have lawyers to send lawyers after and spend $110,000 so if an audit is wanted and audit is should is merited let's have it start with our CFO and take it from there or even our auditor but to spend $10,000 on Forensic or forensic Law Firm is just excessive and almost outright embarrassing Miss G uh point of clarification for um Scott salmon um I believe the Jewish link was a recipient of some of the funds from the memorial um organization so I don't know if you should be even speaking on this I think you're supposed to recuse yourself um the the Jewish link publishes about 10,000 Pages if a holocaust museum put a 200 Page added conflict of interest um I believe I get to see if I want to recuse on something so if you believe that a $200 add I have no idea how much it is we'll change my judgment of calling this town to spend a $10,000 audit please feel free any time anywhere file an Ethics complaint against me but if if the if the option is for me I won't be recusing on that Mr salmon I think Danielle G was framing that question toward you are you there sir yeah I'm here so the question is whether whether recusals so uh I can't force PR by saying I can't force anyone to recuse uh or anything it's up to up to the council members um I think that's a fair point um I frankly had not thought of beforehand I'm kind of kicking myself and not thinking about it beforehand but I think that that is a that is a fair point that should be considered by coun schs but it's up to him whether or not he wants to recuse spure you had your hand up Mr um attorney um I believe Robert's Rule speaks to the fact that colleagues can speak to whether or not a person should have recused themselves or question whether or not they should now um I I think that uh if if we all if memory serves us right we myself and my colleague was while this this uh demonst ation was happening from the monument Representatives we were just in and receipt of an Excel spreadsheet that speaks to the line item that Deputy Mayor G is speaking about as pertains to um councilman um Schwarz being a vendor um uh in this transa as a transactional um vendor um so I think she has every right to question why he did not recuse himself in the vote um I I think that and the other point point I just want to make is that the purpose of an audit is to give clarification of what has happened how money were spent uh I believe if I if I am understanding correctly and perhaps uh um Mr manager can uh explain this but I believe that our CFO kind of gave an analysis and has worked with you in terms of all information that he can can provide I think we need the whole idea of an audit is to to have an independent representative look at the details of each transaction and lastly I just want to say this much I think there's something to be said about allowing an organization to place a monument any Monument of any ethnicity on our Township um property not knowing details about that organization so not only is the audit looking back at how they spent their money but I think there needs to be an audit as to the the composition of these organizations have they filed Financial reports are what what type of entity are they who sits on their boards Etc I think that we owe that to our residents thank you you can always ask you I was not actually saying you should not ask me that 100% I was answering and I'm also not against against an audit whatsoever I'm against a $10,000 outside law form forensic audit my suggestion I think we should do this for all our all our uh sports leagues or anyone that it's connected to us I some of the sports leagues are not should we have our CFO or or or our auditor look at those books every comment you're making is absolutely correct my issue is regarding hiring a forensic Law Firm to call up these vendors whoever they are and spend up to $10,000 on this investigation this is investigation this is an audit these are very important questions and then of course if our internal audit our CFO our auditor who's actually external auditor has any doubts then we have something to go on before we basically have the a mayor of Bridgewater who runs a law firm um spe calling up our community residents and if there's ever a time you want to ask about recusing by all means always do and do it publicly I've got absolutely nothing to Hype Miss goldber so this audit doesn't actually ask about any of the details of the organizations but um going forward um I do fully support our auditor Bowman working with the administration to explore all of our internal controls and processes as a best practice but we don't need to spend $10,000 to do that um we're we should not be focused on a specific project but our overall internal controls whether we're talking about a do P TR uh grant money or whether it's uh sports leagues I mean there's there's just general best practices but it doesn't have to be tied to a project and I think this is not um necessary Additionally the library already did audits on this uh every year as required by the grant by Weinstein and Weinstein cats listen I I get it I was so impressed with your filibustering or attempt to try to derail the process at a couple months meeting and I say that sincerely not sarcastically I actually mentioned it to two people how you were quickly coming up with great answers and responses of how to try to block it uh regarding the memorials I'll tell you personally I don't know if this new route with the memorials is going to work but I will tell you that we have like uh Memorials of memorandums of memorandums of understandings over the last few like we got tons of Mo you know Memorial memorandums um and to me this is just another attempt to filibuster or try to embarrass some of the uh volunteers because the reality is all of this information's available the CFO has it line by line to the penny Bowman our Township auditor has it line by line to the penny I'm sure you're well aware of that so to spend taxpayer money now to try to filibuster on something that may or may not happen to me is not the best uh way to go forward I personally believe that and and I'm not sure you know if someone just doesn't want to see one Memorial two memorials both memorials personally think that you know you have these volunteers they're working hard if something was done if it was Hanky Panky with any money I don't think it's the township it wasn't our money it was State money we were the custodians of this money just like we're custodians of other money that we distribute and I'm not looking to start auditing our Board of Ed or County money or or CED Lane Management Group which if you may have a concern or complaint about something that they are paying for so I think it's a bad precedent so I'm not in favor of this I would like to see success of both memorials so I will not be supporting this Mr cats Miss G um so a couple of things this is not a filibuster this is we have a fiduciary responsibility as um uh as the uh you know representatives of residents to ensure that we do an audit I didn't recommend that we spend $10,000 I just said Dean can we do an audit so to you know this wasn't my choice of picking the firm or how much it costs I asked can we do an audit of the dollars the um dollars we received were not detailed um there are line items that were unclear uh I I saw so many red flags in those numbers and the fact that no one wants to acknowledge that there are red flags that need to be further investigated to me is problematic um there is I don't I'm not out to get any one organization I just believe if we're going to be working with organizations that want to build long-term structures on our property not just any Teck property but literally our Municipal green the center of our town it it just it blows my mind that we would be against auditing it I'm not I would love to consider a lower cost option if there is one happy to I don't like the idea of spend $10,000 unnecessarily but we do need to do an audit whether it's internally whether it's a lower cost option sure but we have a fiduciary responsibility to do an audit of this of these uh organizations thank you Miss G Miss Belcher okay I I would like to say that the uniqueness of this whole scenario is that this is not private property if this was private property I would agree with Deputy Mayor um Catz uh uh what he's saying about um um you know not having you know this this first of all this is not a filibuster we have an obligation as Leaders within this commun commun to to look out for the best interest of our green I mean it let's let's be serious we you know you know think about it this is property that belongs to the people this is property that belongs to the people so we have every right to ask a questions we have every right to get an audit we have every right to be uh to to be as detailed as possible I I agree with uh with Deputy Mayor G is saying we did not choose this auditor if there is a different our attorney chose this auditor uh this this firm so if there's another alternative let's look by all means let's look into it but by all means we need an audit um but every single transaction has already been audited by the library board by Weinstein and Weinstein Miss G sunlight is the best disinfectant I just want to repeat that I didn't say that just as Brandy said that you quoted it is anyone else have any comments on this is anyone planning on making a motion I make a motion that we move forward with an audit second so Doug we have a motion to approve in a second yes sir yes KMC I think that that was the only thing F so we had a first from Council beler and a second from deputy May G for resolution 78 which was pulled from the consent agenda councilman Schwarz we have councilwoman Bel yes councilwoman Goldberg no councilwoman Oregon no de May cats deie mayor Jade yes may Pagan no G um uh point of clarification for Scott if you're still on um could we move to introduce an audit um either another audit internally absolutely you can yes you can yes okay well then I'd like to move that we do an audit internally I don't believe the numbers that we got in that Excel spreadsheet were thorough enough um so I'd like to move that we do an internal audit if possible if that's possible I I would second that but can I add uh edit that a little bit uh can we uh also include of um a in a view of the organizations in terms of the makeup who sits on the their board of directors um and and so forth if we could find that those types of details out I think it would be most useful I'm not sure why that's the responsibility of the council it's not it's their private organizations okay why it's important is because we have two organizations that are asking to place a monument on public property I think we owe it to our residents to know the composition of those organizations what does composition mean well compositions means who sits on their board of directors what type of entity are they have they filed their uh taxes are they a a a US company are they a foreign entity I mean those types of things I I think those are very important questions and I think I would say that we should have a our CFO set up a a policy to do that but to do that for all the organizations that we deal with I mean we're giving so soccer and I'm not making any accusations soccer permits and field of Galore worth millions of dollars a year in rent fees so I think that we should just charge the CFO with looking to come up with an annual or whatever it is policy on auditing the organizations that we deal with across the board I think I think an overall control like internal controls audit on our processes in general what's warranted I think also an audit into the people that sit on their board sounds very threatening I think it's okay for us to have a conversation with them and we've we've done that with each but happy to have another conversation I don't I don't think it warrants what's being asked for now I I disagree I I believe that we certainly any organization should be able to say who sits on their board who what is the composition of their the makeup of their of their organization I don't think it's threatening I think it's just a how business is done I just don't think that's the role of this Council I I think it is because of the the fact that we're asking to place we have these entities ask asking to place a monument on our Township property it is not private property if it was private property it wouldn't matter it wouldn't be something I would even think of asking but because this is public property that we are we are offering to these two entities I think we have a right to know anybody else want to comment on this seeing No Hands Up can I just restate the motion since there were some additions all right so so I'm I move that we do an internal audit of how did you describe it Mark all partner organizations all partner organizations that the township deals with that the township deals with soccer baseball Holocaust Memorial slave Memorial um anything any organizations and organizations or the the pro like I have a problem with with an audit on the organizations I don't think that's our role but I'm fine with an audit on our processes and controls yeah I think we should have the CFO or the auditor come back to us with these sorry yeah what was unique what was unique about these Monument organizations is that they were receiving Public Funding and we were the custodian of those funds so I don't know if there's a way to describe those types of organizations but where we are custodian of fund of public funds there should be an audit what I'm saying is I have no problem when we were talking about these two organizations but now when we start talking makeup and board makeup and everything like that if we're going to start talking a review of boards we should talk start talking about review all boards yes I don't I disagree or auditor B Bowman yeah before is echoing might I suggest they give me the the short mic you know it's like the short stick um may I suggest that um we start with a process before we uh start with requiring certain auditing Etc and hear back from the CFO maybe we want to even invite if with the manager's permission of the CFO in or on one of these zooms so we can ask him these questions I'm this is getting this is getting a little complicated for us to figure out tonight so I kind of want to peel this back then can we focus this back on organizations that receive Public Funding for which we are the custodian of I'd like for us to County sure and so we're audit the Board of Ed the county the Board of Ed is already closely audited you can their financial easily I mean the board of edit's already they're already there's so much public information about you just said the custodian sure but it already exists so that there's not an issue with I didn't suggest it I'm just saying no can I say something though I think that is I think the component we're missing here in this whole discussion is that we are allowing a monument to be placed on our public property so should we not know the makeup of the entities that we're allowing to do this should we not know what type of organization are they are they a corporation are they a a uh a 501c3 are they a nonprofit shouldn't we not know those details should we not know that they are whether or not they are a uh foreign company or they are domestic company isn't that important don't you think our residents would want to know that I think they would I think our residents want to know what is the composition your comments are duly noted for the record are we going to keep talking about this or is there going to be a vote all right last chance um so I'm moving that we um I'm just going to simplify it because it's it's this is getting too complicated trying to incorporate all the edits but I'd like to move that we do an internal audit of the memorial organizations that would like to put structures on our F long since they received uh Public Funding and we were the custodian I want to keep it narrow just because I I don't know how to incorporate all the feedback thank do I have a second for that for that narrow thing I I second thank you and audit the financials received not whether or not they Supply nuclear weapons to Iran and a foreign company or whatever that was going with that but to Simply narrow it down I'm sure the public would want to know that though yeah that's true I guess um but to narrow it down to the financials related to the specific audit to be started by our CFO and our auditor yes Mr clerk you got that yeah you got that Mr clerk can we have a vote go ahead go ahead goad I'd like to make an amendment to the motion to request the current existing audits before we have to delve in and make people do more work employees we already got that I'll second Ali's motion we already got it yeah but that's a secondary we amended it Ellie we received it we received the documents we have a motion flight I gave you credit for doing an amazing job filibustering last time and you got up to nine different amazing ideas of how to stop it okay I can do this all night with you guys I'm very good at this political stuff you don't interest you're not interested in The Monuments I get it we get it but let's not make taxpayers pay for your stuff and let's not make employees work extra hard and run in circles just because you want to try to fili a buster so let's ask for the existing documents the existing audits the existing paperwork review it and then if you have a concern go make a complaint to whoever monitors Public Funding wait out out before anyone speaks before anyone speaks Doug did you did you hear the secondary motion and amendment that he made just so that I just want to make sure he's clear on what was said before we proceed if you guys want to keep talking about this go ahead Doug sorry the I apologize the only thing that was clear was the initial motion on the floor from Deputy Mayor G can you please repeat your motion make an amendment that we first supply to the people that are so concerned about this the already audited statements from the different Auditors whether it's from the library from Bowman from our CFO with all the line by lines that's that's detailed to the penny and we provide that existing documents to the council members that are really really concerned about the public money let them finish just let them finish after they review the line by line if they have any question about how something was spent or they feel that there's any Hanky Panky or something done inappropriately that we direct them to the state whoever manages Public Funding that belong to the state and that's the difference it came from the state and make the complaint there or ask them for additional resources rather than making this is the long secondary rather than making our employees or our taxpayers having to pay extra money to be part of the filibustering that's my entire Doug did you get that and I think it was second just give me a second I just want to make sure dou understands this just give me a second please if you just wait five seconds Doug did you get that yes we're following Robert's Rules Doug did you get that and I think it was amend I think it was seconded by Council motion deputy mayor has a question for manager kazinski um so Dean I believe you emailed us everything you already had right so I I think what the reason I asked that is if there were more documents that you have not sent us then at Le's point is valid but my understanding is that you sent us everything because we already asked for it yeah everything was sitting yeah correct so there is there is nothing else to are you are you certain though do we have everything from the library do we have everything from everybody else but please bear in mind there is a motion and a second on the floor so yes please tell us what you're thinking but there is a motion and a second on the floor so we're going to have to ultimately vote on it I was go ahead Miss G and then also I just don't appreciate the disrespectful accusations of saying that I'm filibustering this to me is really important and I feel like this is my fiduciary responsibility I'm not filibustering that and and I find it very insulting that you did that to me very insulting well I complimented you at the same time no it was insulting it wasn't all right guys please keep it professional there is a first and a second Doug you're clear on what they are anybody else want to speak about this Bel I want point a clarification from our attorney um because of the fact that there was a motion put on the floor there was a first and a second um and uh I just want um Scott if you could clar ver ify whether or not um Deputy Mayor um Ellie could in fact um edit that motion that was active on the floor right you know as as uh we were ready to vote on so he he can May file a motion amend I will be honest with you I'm I'm very confused by what the amendment was it sounds to me like it was a basic a motion to table it but I'm not 100% clear on what what the amendment actually is all right everyone please if you can play pay close attention Ellie can you maybe a shorter version Deputy Mayor cats let Doug with all due respect you're amending Deputy Mayor G's motion to First locate existing audits already done on the grant funds for Council review the existing yes yes I'll include that article in this motion Al okay point of clarification wait now that Scott knows because he asked the attorney a question Scott are you clear on what is being done what is being said what is being asked yeah I mean it's it sounds to me like it's really like a motion of table but I I guess that's that's yes the answer is yes you can do a you can amend the mo the motion and that Amendment will need to be voted on before the main motion yeah because his motion takes precedence according to Robert's Rules of Order because his motion was the most recent one so that's the one we have to vote on correct the on on whether or not to amend for the question is just whether or not you want to amend the main motion yes for Scott Scott if if Town manager is saying he's already given us all these documents how can we table until we receive all the documents if he said he just gave us all the documents like it doesn't even make sense thank you he said he gave you all the ones that he had we're asking for all the ones that exist so then Mr manager are there more documents that you have withheld from us uh I received a zip file from chenet uh hun the library director and I will need to check back I I just want to check a few more filed from the previous manager Danielle that's all from when William browon was the the manager when this all originated okay so it sounds like someone else is f a bustering so now we have to table for you to go check on documents before we move forward with the motion everyone just stay professional there's a motion and a second I'm ready to vote are you guys ready to vote or you do want to just keep Bel laboring this cuz I'm ready to vote now she's not clear on what your motion was can you say it briefly it like it does sound like the man was it wasn't a motion to table according to the rules that is not a motion to table unless you say the words motion to table and he did not say that he's just making a motion it's it's very clear that there will be some document gathering for council's fication and the manager will be doing that and Mr Mayor Deputy Mayor I would like to edit that i' would like to edit that to include exactly what depy mayor uh Ellie said but I would like to uh include having that information presented as a forum to the entire Community because I believe everyone should hear that everyone should hear the compilation of all the documents and I don't accept that so do I have a second second and this would have to be I have a better idea on what exactly I'm gonna make I'm gonna make the motion to table this whole mess until the next meeting do we have a second I just there's nothing to table the resolution was defeated For Better or For Worse Deputy Mayor G the resolution was defeated she offered a new movement from Council that it does sound like the manager will be acting on for Council and and really there's nothing else on the agenda free to adj are we do we have to vote on the I'm so there was motions on the table I'm so confused now this this very CLE nothing's carried nothing's roll call I think the next thing is a motion to adjourn wait wait wait no no I want to make one more happy Valentine's Day Iber please I would like to request to make a motion to direct the administration and the CFO to work with the auditor to review our overall internal processes as a whole for Best Practices so that we ensure any funds going forward we have a clear practice across the board I'll second that's Mr Clerk so that's to do an audit it's called an internal controls audit a process audit internal controls audit that was a first from councilwoman Goldberg and a second from councilman Schwarz councilman Schwarz just done discussion before we vote I don't think this is for 10:45 at night because a resolution didn't pass I think this this is something that should be Council listed at our next meeting and discussed at the proper time when we have the bandwidth to consider it and people have time to comment on it you guys are all over the place with your motions that's a good motion I second then all those in favor please say I thank you everybody for staying here this long and watching we hope you have a happy holiday tomorrow Doug