##VIDEO ID:K1qvib4kf0U## on our websit our municipal offices will be closed on Monday January 20th in observance of Martin Luther King Day there'll be numerous events around town so please attend in his honor and memory um also want to have a moment of silence for the passing of retired police Lieutenant Rob Robert adami also a father of two other retired police um officers met in close session to discuss the following one board interviews two the potential sale of Township property three personnel four contracts five public Gatherings six legal issues and opinions regarding any opens on the Open Session agenda seven litigation updates and finally Oprah right to the mayor announcement okay adequate notice of this meeting has been provided by resol not that part sorry I'm so sorry the mayor's announcement I read when you're done with that may Schwarz you could start going right into our regular business starting with presentation excellent thank you sorry about that no problem May and we have no presentations on this evening so then we go to work session items work s items miscellaneous anyone work session items I do have one please go ahead uh yeah I just a a request um in terms of um I'd like to request that our attorney along with our planner look into um what are the possibilities um of a design ordinance that we can uh look at in terms of um just as as we approach um many different um applications throughout Town throughout our different um land use boards uh would like to see just from a research perspective uh Mr Mayor to see how we can really address um design uh designs as it pertains to um different applications that we're having throughout town uh I know the master plan of course does speak to uh a little bit to design but I like to see you know our comparison of what we can do in terms of looking at how other towns what are the best practices when it comes to looking at designs um being conducive to the types of um areas of our town so if we could perhaps maybe do some research uh Mr attorney with our planner that would be wonderful not a problem we can look at that yeah if you can give us information if that's in il legalities as well because what I like what what she may like or what he may like may be not y fair enough Mr Mayor yes Mr Mayor so usually I just want to ask when you want to do this because usually we make nominations and I would like to make nomination for class four planning board C for Allen s but I know we usually do that in miscellaneous or new and I was just want asking for some clarification on when that would be so I think we're we're going to do that or I think we should do that under the Personnel committee report okay that if that makes sense so we'll do that under reports by committee um so that's done we'll go into Old business uh I announc this accounts I'll announcer right now Parkside Lane Sales activity everyone may know that as Luba as I announced they were at a soldout stage um the pro the properties's been sold out uh and it's all the properties are are going on the tax rols they're looking at annual tax approximately $15,000 each for the non-aff units the affordable units are based on a component of how much you paid for it so that that project has been closed out and 329 Alfred Avenue uh for those who know that is right by Decor Avenue it's 255 units that has opened leasing has begun move moving has begun that is a pilot and um we'll be talking in our budget committee later on as to what we're going to forecast from that but uh anyone wants to stop by for a tour go ahead they're open and it's a great addition to tck anyone else in Old business new business I guess we have it listed right here so why don't we start with personal right here they list it was listed here coun sure um so Personnel subcommittee met last week um I believe it was on Wednesday at 9:00 am. to uh conduct some additional interviews for open Advisory Board positions um further uh we held uh full Council interviews today during closed we interviewed 14 individuals who are interested uh in serving um on the advisory boards um we would like to Doug is this a walk-on so oh let me clarify so the the way that our advisory um board appointment system works is that we ask that new volunteers come in for an interview with the Personnel subcommittee um and then there are recommendations that they be interviewed with full Council which we just did today and then once that happens we will at the next uh council meeting we'll make a nomination for those seats and then at the following meeting we will make uh an appointment for the seats so it takes three Council meetings to officially go through the process I just want to be clear on that um for the planning board we already held full Council interviews last week and we also have a couple of reappointments for the board of adjustments so we're going to make nominations for those seats today um for all the other Advisory Board positions we did not interview we interviewed them today so we're going to wait until next week to nominate those so I just wanted to make that crystal clear for everyone so I'm going to go forward with those nominations if that's okay all right so for Board of adjustment we'd like to reappoint Leticia Williams um for a full member seat term of January 1st 2025 to 1231 2026 Victoria Wilkerson we'd like to reappoint for the alternate three seat term of 1125 to 12 3126 um now for planning board we'd like to nominate four individuals first um I'll I'll do the nomination that came from um councilman Pagan it's Alan S for the class four member seat January 1st 2025 to December 31st 2028 we'd also like to reappoint Howard Thompson for the same seat CL class 4 member seat January 1st 2025 to 1231 2028 we'd like to reappoint Yehuda con for the class 4 uh EC seat environmental committee seat January 1st 2025 to 1231 2027 we'd like to reappoint Daryl green for the alternate one seat January 1st 2025 to 1231 2026 those are the six yes that's a motion yes it is a second and this is consider resolutions at the next meeting correct can I ask a question um Mr clerk last year you had sent us a list of people that had Financial disclosure statement violations there was two one is no longer on the board but I believe one of them is one of them that was appointed um how are we handling that I think they were find uh there was a couple folks who lapsed I am not recalling their names off the top of my head but we have been reminding them as we are reminded by the state we received periodic notifications if someone is indeed out of compliance are we are we allowed to reappoint them or that's not a requirement there's no connection between the two I don't believe so Mr sammon I I I don't believe if someone does not file that fds that it precludes them from your appointment so we can remind them Scott could correct me if I'm wrong that's correct but they are you know they are they can continue to be fined for their personally yeah personally and yeah so they they should I don't know they had been fine but they they're eligible to be find by others got it okay so I'll second it it was second sorry second it's all it's all good so then then I'm going to go down the rooll just to have this uh be considered at our following meeting and that is we're doing left right yes counil can we do this one at a time yeah let's do one at a time that's thank yes please so first for Board of adjustment this is Leticia Williams so a role for just Leticia councilwoman Goldberg yes on Laticia councilman Pagan yes second uh councilwoman G yes uh councilman Catz Deputy Mayor beler yes councilwoman uh sorry Deputy Mayor Oregon yes forgive my my brain recollecting the names for the last one mayor Schwarz yes all right so that's a yes for Leticia next is Victoria Wilkerson so boa and what position was Leticia Williams Danel uh full member Victoria willon is a expired alt three alternate three so this is for Victoria Wilkerson alt three the motions and seconds are the same councilman Goldberg no in light of her failure to file Financial disclosure statements in 2023 and 2024 councilman Pagan councilwoman G yes councilman Catz Deputy Mayor beler yes deput mayor Oregon yes mayor schwar for Victoria is there there was another one correct yes now planning board uh reappointment for Howard Thompson class 4 member and now Howard Thompson class four chair or just class four we have councilwoman Goldberg yes we have councilman pagan councilwoman G yes councilman Catz Deputy Mayor beler yes dep mayor Oregon yes mayor Schwarz yes yes for Howard on the PB class four next is Yehuda con class 4 environmental commission rep we have Council mberg yes councilman Pagan councilman G councilman Catz Debbie M beler deput mayor Oregon yes mayor Schwarz yeah yes for Yuda next um it's the reappointment of Daryl green for alternate one Daryl for Al Council woman G oh I'm so sorry councilwoman Goldberg no councilman Pagan councilwoman G yes councilman Catz Deputy Mayor beler no Deputy Mayor Oregon yes mayor Schwarz yes we'll see a resolution for Daryl who is next alen sonone for a class four member seat uh there's no more seats you can nominate more than one person to a seat you specifically said you want to class four right unless you want to change that I I think you can still nominate yes she said yeah what would be the steps can we clarify what res okay just symbolic Allan Sone class 4 councilwoman Goldberg yes councilwoman Pagan councilwoman G yes councilman Catz yes Deputy Mayor beler yes Deputy Mayor Oregon yes no mayor Schwarz yes we will see a resolution next meeting Allan four that's all six that's everyone all right cool so all those are good for Resolutions at the following meeting uh that was under our new business and I believe now is the subcommittees 2025 to 2026 Council subcommittees Council or that that's actually in the back we have that already presented is that correct yeah it's all in the packet for Council and the Public's education how this listed under consent agenda uh we will need to walk it in uh Mr Mayor before we do that I would like to amend the resolutions to and I'm going to move this to eliminate all subcommittees and handle all matters as a body of the whole second sorry one sorry about that councilwoman Goldberg may you repeat that I am amending the subcommittees to making a motion to eliminate all subcommittees and have them be heard as a body of the whole so thank Thank You by seconded by councilman [Music] Pagan so this is a motion to amend the subcommittee list yep so they would all be eliminated and everything would be handled as a body of a whole like it used to be understood we have councilwoman Goldberg yes councilman ban yes councilwoman G no councilman cats no Deputy Mayor beler no Deputy Mayor Oregon no May Schwarz yes it's yeah yeah the motion dies can I ask a question um when were these discussed because I I don't recall ever discussing the at all when was this decided it just seems like it was put on the agenda person something you listen sub personel it's not on the consent agenda councilwoman it's not yet on the sub it's not yet on the agenda so the next motion that motion fails so there'll be a motion to right but since when are subcommittees assigned by Personnel Personnel listed it we have a vote right now to see if you want to agree with your listing and List It and the consent agenda floor is yours if you want to make any changes Mr Mayor um okay can I chime in um so I I sent a draft of some subcommittee um roles and I asked for feedback from each of you and it was it's all available to the public if we happy to we're going to walk it in right now but it was never made by one committee it was everyone was welcome to raise their hand to participate on which subcommittee they wanted to and and feedback was taken and I received some feedback from you as well uh councilwoman Goldberg on other matters um such as day of seating so if you had any additional feedback you were welcome to share it right so this um emails uh having a discussion like this as a subcommittee should be handled in open it's not an email conversation uh they should take place in open meeting so everyone in the public can see the process in accordance with the open public meetings act these were not um in my opinion these were just it was a draft proposal and everyone could respond to it and we would the the uh intent was always to discuss it in public so we can have that conversation right now okay so I would like to know how these decisions came about to to make the subcommittees like this they're not final we can all vote right now none of it is final it's just a draft so then my I would like to change so uh I heard once from mayor Schwarz that the budget subcommittee should be the mayor and the two Deputy Mayors um that it's a leadership subcommittee and so that's the one of the biggest changes that I think should be made and also I would like to make sure that we have the minutes sent to full Council within two days of meeting and put on the website within seven days so the public is fully aware and have at least one open subcommittee meeting per subcommittee per year so the public can see the inner workings of the subcommittees mayor uh can I make a comment okay I'm I'm just going to make a comment here um so our um uh councilwoman G actually sent to all of us all of the subcommittees and asked for comments and I remember uh responding to her uh two points here number one we have subcommittees for the purpose of efficiency within our Township and number two I do not think it's wise to assign people to subcommittees without having their own input perhaps the two Deputy Mayors do not want to serve on the budget committee so I think it's in our best interest to to uh play to our strengths play to uh what we want to do uh play to who uh what we have uh uh raised our hand to do so for for any of us to make an assumption that a person uh one of our members wants to or needs to serve on a particular committee uh subcommittee I think is is um is is a wrong approach so so first of all the open public meeting Act is to ensure that decisions like this are made transparently and decisions are not made by email um decision there's no decisions we're making decisions right now let keep this conversation concise mayor um anyway so to the point of I seem to have been assigned a the next part is a leaz onto an Advisory board that I did not raise my hand for so I would like to say that I do not think that I think the budget subcommittee should be leadership okay um if um councilwoman G doesn't want to be on the budget subcommittee I'm happy to take her seat on that well I'm going to nominate councilwoman Goldberg on the subcommittee for Budget I'm sorry she said she doesn't want to be in the budget but I I'm I'm going to nominator I I don't second so is there a motion for the current list of the 23 24 subcommittees to be I would also like to amend the zoning subcommittee to uh put Deputy uh council member Cat's on there second um I'm okay uh not being on the zoning subcommittee I think the last year's zoning subcommittee did an exceptional job who is that last year's zoning subcommittee was councilwoman beler as an alternate mayor Pagan myself and councilwoman Goldberg and I believe this year two other people want to step up if we want to play the game we can say everyone gets a seat at the table but we're not going to play a game we're going to start moving forward tonight so we're going to start do roll calls we're going to start voting on it and we're going to move this town forward I'm also by the way Mr Mayor yes I have the number one Advisory Board in the whole Council everyone knows about the youth Advisory Board and um I'm willing to yield that to council member Goldberg if that would also please her uh no thank you okay right now we're on subcommittees though so right now we have any point there is an open um there yes sorry to interrupt um um council member Pagan I recall you saying you were going to reach out to councilen Goldberg to see if she was interested in hackin sack River Greenway yeah I did and then I told you guys both of you guys that she wanted to talk to you both directly and I don't know if you guys followed up with her but I put it yeah I did I haven't received a phone call from anyone on this days except for council member kab kab Pagan cats and Schwarz okay so um councilwoman uh Goldberg are you interested in serving as the hackin saac river Greenway Advisory Board liaison member no I think if you look at the distribution of work on the uh Liaisons for the advisory boards it's it's a lot okay so we can someone else interested in the hackin sack River Greenway Advisory board or we're going to leave that blank is there anyone interested I'll do it if no one else want okay so but we're going to go from the top now Board of Education right now currently says the continuation of hold over from this year was uh Gene organ is that still work for everyone council member cats didn't you tell me that there used to be a task force of three members of the council and three members of the Board of Ed meeting with the superintendent once a month why did we stop that it's so the answer is we did that when I was the mayor but this was many years ago I don't know the following mayor I actually think a test SC sounds good to meet with the superintendent the board let's put that as something else separately than the Board of Ed liaison it's definitely something that's good to sit down speak with the superintendent look across the table to our trustees and our Council but but if you want to talk about adding another committed task force on that we can put that on for the 28th meeting but right now on the board of education Gan organ is there anyone else okay Chamber of Commerce Deputy Mayor beler is there anyone else interested C Management Group currently Schwarz is there anyone interested Fields is currently Oregon is there anyone interested oh I'm totally interested okay I'll second that excellent so let's do a we want to do this individually Mr chair how do we want to work this Mr clerk how do we want to work this um well you know we have proposed for Deputy Mayor Oregon so I don't know if you guys want to there's a motion to replace her with Pagan in a second um well being that the again this is not approved as a resolution yet so we can make this change if Deputy Mayor Oregon is amable I'm kind of happy with it we're um doing really good things there and um we've got really nice momentum so I'd love to stay is there any reason why we can't have two no or call two that works excellent there we go weone in Oregon a St preservation currently Deputy Mayor belter is there anyone else interested okay Library board currently Deputy Mayor Oregon is there anybody else interested environmental commission currently commission councilwoman Goldberg anybody else interested Advisory Board and community relations currently councilwoman G anybody else interested mayor I'd be interested in abcr okay do you want to call a roll call or would you want to share that excellent it is councilwoman go Goldberg cler tell me you ready I it sounds like councilwoman G yielded it yeah so so so do you want a roll call or do you want to yield to vote or you want to yield I say we roll call that what you want okay so we have for advisor board and community relations let's do a ro call between councilwoman G and councilwoman Goldberg make a motion I'll start the motion with the one in place make a motion for councilwoman G second by councilwoman G so then we have councilwoman Goldberg no we have councilman Pagan no we have Council G member G yes we have council member Catz yes we have Deputy Mayor beler yes we have Deputy Mayor Oran yes we have M schz yes okay hacking River Greenway is G Goldberg gave that up to G so I don't believe there's anyone else for that Municipal open space is councilman Goldberg anybody else for that pprb Council M Goldberg any else for that patriotic observance Deputy Mayor Oregon anybody else for that Pride Council Pagan anybody else for that senior citizen Advisory Board councilman G anybody else for that sh tree Advisory Board councilman Pagan anybody else for that and Social Service Advisory Board councilman Pagan anybody else for that I believe all our we also had I apologize mayor we had stigma free with councilwoman beler there might have been apolog the next page I'm Sor it's all good stigma free is Deputy Mayor Bel anybody else for that tasa Deputy Mayor Oregon anybody else for that and yab councilman cats anybody else for that did you want to yield that or fine no I I was willing to because it's the best best excellent okay so we have a fully stop the greatest talent and we're going to list under new business for January 28th a task force to meet with the Board of Ed and the superintendent um okay so let's go back to our Council subcommittee kind of gift it off of so wait mayor I apologize for the subcommittee list we could add that to the consent agenda this evening the list of subcommittees if You' like um so we just need a motion in a second I'll assign it a resolution number okay I'll make it that a motion second excellent so then we have councilwoman G yes I mean sorry councilwoman Goldberg no I'm so sorry because both your last names start with G councilman Pagan no the councilwoman G yes councilman Catz yes Debbie May beler Debbie May Oregon yes may Schwarz yes cool this is added as 36-225 to the consent agenda okay back to the subcommittees liaison Le sorry mayor it's confusing now we're back to the sub we skipped over the sub back now we're going to go back to oh you're right I apologize just a question we have pool subcommittee and then swim Swim Club I think we're we're going to replace swim club with pool right we don't need both yes so want we cross off swim club and um just uh we we change it to the pool subcommittee and okay pool subcommittee currently beler Oregon Schwarz beler and Oregon with GS alternate any comments on that done budget Schwarz Goldberg G any comments on that I maintain that it should be the leadership per you okay I'd love if everyone quoted me all the time so then I think we should have we should have an alternate okay so we want to add an alternate you're fine with the board we like to add an alternate okay so anyone like to take an alternate spot on the budget anybody for progress I I will be the alternate on budget alternate on the budget excellent leaf collection cats Oregon Goldberg excellent job this year thank you affordable housing belter spws Pagan anybody else on that okay Street renamings G Oregon Schwarz excellent zoning beler Schwarz Oregon with an alternate G comments on that Personnel G cats begone with an alternate of organ any comments on that okay cool and we we switched Swim Club to pool swim club the pool subcommittee cool you got that um Okay cool so we just have to do the same thing a motion so I'll make a motion to walk on as I've listed and had nodding heads or Sil second wel we have councilwoman Goldberg no councilman Pagan no councilwoman G yes councilman Catz yes and I'm going to continue as a self-appointed plot committee if that's okay Mr Mayor yes sir Deputy Mayor beler yes Deputy Mayor Oregon yes mayor Schwarz yes okay Library appointments um I believe there were some new rules here and in past the mayor made the library appointments now I have to look for nodding heads is that correct Mr attorney a majority vot of the council regarding the library board correct is that a roll call or just not a hit uh I do as a roll call roll call okay so the mayor appointments to the open seat was to Sandy silverberg into the mayor seat I had appointed SEL Seline um Seline Wong um and so we're looking for a motion on that and second St second that councilwoman Goldberg abstain councilman Pagan councilwoman G yes councilman Catz yes that be mayor beler yes that be mayor Oregon yes mayor Schwarz yes okay okay on the new business just a reports in some Community meetings I've been setting up meetings with various members of council and Deputy Mayors and management staff we had a um meeting we were having a meeting with the Northeast Block Association coming up have a meeting with the neighbors of some of the neighbors of the American Legion Drive Beverly Road coming up we I had a meeting this morning with the league of Bergen County League of mun Mayors and municipalities this morning uh specifically at that meeting discussion on the New Port Authority that's coming into um that been now funded and a construction is starting very soon uh at the upcoming meeting they'll have New Jersey Transit there which is obviously something near and dear to our commuters um we also have a meeting with Leonia coming up a meeting with Bergen County coming up all these meetings have been set um and if anyone has any Community groups that like to meet with the Mayors or Deputy Mayors or whatnot council members management staff please reach out we'd love to meet with them and they can reach out to myself or the manager or anyone on Council and we'll clearly set up those meetings hear their concerns um with that being said I appointed Hillary Goldberg to the mayor's seat on the planning board effective is it we decide say still a meeting uh so but we said the reorg is going to be at the and the reorg will be on January uh 30th yeah January 30 Communications any yes um I'd like to um remind the public that applications are now being accepted by the community scholarship of fund of Teek available to any te resident in public or private high school graduating this coming spring the website for the application is community scholarship fund.org the deadline to apply is February 28th last year they were able to give over $107,000 to TX students it was over 50 students so um if you know any High School seniors please encourage them to apply again the website is community scholarship fund.org thank you uh Community reports by Council industry and safety test um I just wanted to have the detailed minutes in there but the task force met um and manager hashmat was there so we are going to be having another meeting in February I don't know if you have an update on the the street um intersection that they picked um I actually reached out to Nancy dargas um at the county and we don't have a set dat but I will have that set up before next meeting and give an update and then I'm just asking so the police had asked if any of the block associations um the Girl Scouts the Boy Scouts um we are looking for volunteers to help distribute the material for The Pedestrian safety so if anyone is interested to please email me H Goldberg tnj.gov thank you I have okay just I just want to give the public an update on the affordable housing um I'm going to defer a bit to our um manager who will give all the details but we are in uh the compliant stage of of reporting up to DCA the Department of Community Affairs in terms of uh what the requirements are so we're meeting uh pretty much on on a regular basis we have a meeting this Thursday with our new planner topology and they uh they are helping us to uh ensure that we get our numbers in um by the deadline before the deadline of January 31st um and that that's a report I just wanted to mention and terms of the planning board I just want to also mention that uh we do have a meeting on the 16th and then a master plan meeting on the uh 30th thank you any other Le the library board had their reorganization uh last week the new president of the library board is Benji Bernett the vice president is Kesha Carter uh the secretary is shandre Young the um Treasurer is Paul asra and welcome to new members Sandy silverberg who knows the library very well and uh the mayor's representative is Seline uh leis Wong so congratulations to everybody okay there's nothing else we go to council I forgot to mention that the abcr did meet at the end of December to have a community meeting um there was food there was Fellowship we got to hear a presentation from the youth Advisory Board shout out Ellie cats right the best Advisory Board um about their little libraries and so it was really a nice event um would love I hope to do it again next year with um if the Advisory Board decides to do it again um and get more folks to come out and fellowship and I'll go with the pool committee um there is contractual so I'll keep it kind of brief uh the pool met with the swim club we had a very productive meeting and we continue to talk with them and uh move forward together on to council listed uh we have three proposed resolutions Mr clerk are these were going to be walked on are there copies available can you give some guidance here yes so just like the ones that we just handled mayor uh these are proposed resolutions not on the consent agenda that you are free to walk in this evening to the consent agenda so there's no discussion you could Motion in second and we could add it and assign it in number I'll make a motion to add the three proposed resolution second it thank you and Township manager report wait sorry I need to make a roll call on that may apologize sorry so you made a motion for all three I made I didn't yes second Mike okay is it on now okay um I just have some issues in terms of the wording uh that I think we need to address um I think that uh um whereas it whereas it says here since 1994 millions of Americans have been inspired by the life and work of Dr Mart Luther King Jr um I I would change that um I I feel as if that it's certainly before 1994 um the federal holiday was was made a holiday in 1983 um I think that uh the wording in this could have been improved upon or could have been um received some collaboration from from um others um um so I I would suggest that um the wording be looked at as it pertains to the resolution for Martin Luther King uh Jr day can I make we make those changes now let's let's do those changes now so we would vote it on it is Martin Luther they be and also and I'm not sure I know we had this conversation a year ago how we can address these earlier you know in the year or something so we don't do it the Mr Mayor actually have a recommendation on that so a lot of towns do something where the beginning of the year they agree and maybe The Advisory Board of community relations can come up with this a calendar of all of the the days that we're going to do and just do one resolution and then the clerk already knows what we're going to do and it's not a thing uh the abcr chair is please address that thank you okay can we chose that language now on on the Martin Luther King certainly I I would say that definitely uh way before 1994 millions of Americans have been expired by The Life and Legacy of of Martin Luther King so I would certainly change that date what he has it open right now so we're g to oh you want yeah we're going to make the change now we're going to vote on just cancel the date the date no I I would say at least uh based upon the federal holiday so I would say the date of 1983 change does that work for everybody okay so we can do that roll call if that's right sure okay roll call CLE so we all three okay cool you got it for all three with that change of the date from W mayor beler all good made that to 1983 that was a motion from mayor Schwarz what was the second I apologize that was from councilman Pagan and we have councilwoman Goldberg yes councilman Pagan uh councilwoman G yes councilman Catz yes Deputy Mayor beler yes Deputy Mayor Oran yes mayor Schwarz yes they are all added thank you Mrs manager thank you mayor and good evening Council and Township residents everyone should have received your tck time Teck times recycling calendars at your homes please use these as your reference guide for this upcoming year if you did not receive one please call the clerk's office or stop by we have limited quantities but we can assist you the next planning board meeting in reference to the master plan is scheduled for Thursday January 30th at 7:30 p.m. at the Rota Center in room mp1 please see our website for for additional details and documentation argon Park and vote Park tennis courts remain closed for inspection and repairs updates to follow when they will reopen as many of you are aware pedestrian involved incidents have become frequent within our Township I am pleased to share with you that I will be working with our Police Department to kick off a pedestrian safety Street Smart campaign to include working with the with Bergen County easy ride and the north Jersey Transportation Planning authority to identify areas in need of Improvement through the month of February our motor Patrol Division will Crackdown on crosswalk violations in commercial districts community policing will also engage with school groups to educate children on pedestrian safety and an inspection of pedestrian stanions will be scheduled special thank you to Rothenberg Law Firm who will be donating several thousand pedestrian pedestrian reflector belts that will be available to residents at the Teek Police Department this will increase safety for pedestrians with added visibility in our crosswalks social media postings and updates to follow with details the curbside leaf collection season after two extensions officially ended on January 2nd additionally leaf collection in our Parks was completed on January 8th during this season our DPW successfully collected a total total of 20,500 cubic yards of leaves as of today for the winter season the the DPW has applied 676 tons of road salt to maintain safe and clear roadways our Fleet consists of 11 Salter salt spreaders and 33 plow trucks which is available to be deployed to handle winter weather conditions we will continue to Monitor and adjust our operations as needed to ensure the safety and efficiency of snow removal and Road treatments throughout the remainder of the winter season when a snow emergency is declared all vehicles must be removed from the roadway unless you are parked in an exempt area for additional off street parking residents are encouraged to use our M Municipal parking lots meter fees are waved until 24 hours after any winter storm please refer to T our T website and use the keyword snow removal for additional information during any upcoming storm for our grant updates the township has been awarded $25,000 from the New Jersey Division of Highway Safety to promote pedestrian safety this funding will be used in connection with our upcoming February pedestrian safety campaign moving on to some project updates the V Park restroom building has finally been delivered and the utility connections will be completed this month concrete and another site work are scheduled for this spring the Bev drainage project has no immediate updates and remains on track We are continuing Communications with the D for updated appraisal appraisals on the compensation proposal heric park has several updates that I will share with you now the baseball field um has the fence and backstep installation that is just finished the basketball court poles and backboards have been installed and the benches are in place the gravel walkways have been laid and the paving will proceed as the weather permits the splash pad the equipment has been delivered and the contract contractor has passed building and electrical bonding inspections and is awaiting plumbing inspections site work will be completed in the spring the restrooms um have been installed and electrical implment connections are also in progress the playground most of the equipment is already installed and rub rubber safety surfaces will be installed also in the spring F Lane is under design review and has been submitted to NJ doot for approval the Argon Park tennis courts is in the final design phase and the project will go out to bed bid this month construction is scheduled to begin in 2025 Phelps park splash pad is in the Final Phase of design and our 2024 Road resurfacing project is in the Final Phase of roadway review the Andreas Park pickle ball courts the contract documents are awaiting signatures and pre-construction meeting is scheduled for this month lastly a friendly reminder please sign up for your Township alerts on the front page of our website this is the most efficient way for our residents to stay informed thank you mayor good stuff coming down uh Mr attorney any reports for you nothing from nothing from me Mr Mayor thank you very much and with that public adop we have no ordinances for public hearing or adoption so we'll skip with that skip that and we'll go to the highlight of the night meeting open to public good and Welfare um three minutes I do I read the whole thing I apologize I'll read the whole thing okay thank you very much for your patience mayor to inquire whether any member of the council has we don't need that part okay I apolog okay I'm G ask okay we're going to call the public we're going to call people in the room first we'll go to zoom there afterwards you have three minutes to speak please address the council please uh do not address individual council members by name anybody in the room that like to speak cours thank you Mr Mayor Ron Schwarz 698 Mar Avenue T New Jersey speak tonight on behalf of the Grassroots group one town one vote a resolution was passed uh by the the group at this meeting on Sunday night and I'm going to read the resolution to you one time one vote supports the development of affordable housing in EK and supports approving accessory dwelling units as part of fulfilling ek's affordable housing requirement and as it as side I note that there is the ordinance relating to approv approval of um the Adu units is back on the agenda for the third time we urge you to introduce uh that ordinance and upon due consideration to pass that ordinance approving the accessory dwelling units uh every new development and there are several developments that we will probably see in the next two years must include an environmental impact report and a traffic study and when we say independent um traffic study an environmental impact study we mean a truly independent study not done by experts that are hired and paid for by the developers we urge the township to um require the deposit monies but for the township to actually hire uh the experts in these two regards and I note also uh as a personal note that despite the fact that the crossroads development has been pending for almost two and a half years now and we have had no less than three public Forums on the proposals by CrossRoads we still do not have a traffic study we still do not have an environmental study to inform the public as to what I believe will be the immense traffic um Implement uh the immense traffic uh effects of this uh development on the intersection of Cedar Lane and and Garrison Avenue perhaps someone on the council kite can maybe Schwarz who maybe Schwarz who has been a proponent of this uh development can explain why there has been no traffic study and no environmental impact study for the public to review uh by this time um and we urge also that the independent uh reports that are should be done be given to the public in sufficient time for the public to review these important studies so the public can have the most uh important U input into these developments I I compliment mayor Schwarz for the uh Speech he made at the reorganization meeting have to build build build uh recognizing the need for uh public input and public Buy in to these Redevelopment plans thank you very much Mr Schwarz anyone else Mr y y y sorry good evening uh Philip Yu T resident uh so first of all I want to say um uh I want to like just thank you all for this this job that you do it's a job that is uh just listening to all the Committees and the subcommittees and all the uh other things you need to do it's a lot of work uh uh it's a job that most of us in town wouldn't want certainly it's a job that I wouldn't want um but uh but you guys uh uh have it and uh and I hope that you uh do it well you've done it well before um I've noticed some some um contention uh and some uh some behavior and Body Language at some of the meetings that have been disturbing to me apparent to the public you know um uh I'm a psychologist I'm I was a therapist for 48 years I'm retired from that I'm still working doing other things but um uh as such we are trained observers observers of non-verbal behavior and some of the stuff I've seen I'm not really happy about so I hope that changes as time goes on and that you work together well as a unit um uh just to follow up from What U Mr Schwartz ran Schwarz just presented um I reviewed the settlement agreement I've read it in its entirety several times the American Legion Drive and Beverly Road settlement agreement there is a a a section in that agreement that speaks to a traffic study interestingly it only speaks to a traffic study on the other side of Cedar land the American Legion Drive side of CED land does not mention Garrison Avenue does not mention Beverly Road any traffic study that's going to be done on that area I agree that it should be an independent traffic study because my understanding is that traffic studies never stop a development from happening uh we saw that uh in other areas of town and uh I want a traffic study that's going to be really thorough and independent and that will include Garrison Avenue Beverly Road we have the Ambulance Corp there I'm concerned about the traffic that already exists there the number of accidents at the corner of Beverly Road in Garrison Avenue without a construction there and um we need safe passage for our ambulances to because they go down Beverly Road all the time and uh it's not just Beverly it's beus it's it's all those side streets because they'll all get clogged up at certain times thank you very much Mr seagull good evening my name is Rich seagull I'm a 25e homeowner here in EK I'm Jewish I'm noticing this um resolution for Martin Luther King day and I'm wondering why this town is continuing to have resolutions not having anything specifically to do with the town you made a pro-israel resolution a while back which was a very regrettable thing to enter into but as long as we're talking talking about uh Martin Luther King day um one of the things that he achieved was the elimination of redlined real estate this town is continuing to support Israeli real estate events that are actually selling redlined real estate right here in EK including West Bank settlement real estate and real estate within Israel itself and um another thing unique to the Civil Rights Movement was that it would not have been possible without the First Amendment without free speech and I understand that Hillary Goldberg introduced this resolution and she has been actively trampling on uh First Amendment rights um when our high school students organized a walk out for Palestine she was calling them anti-semites and she got our Congressman to do the same thing this Scott gottheimer the two of them bullied our high school students is this really in the spirit of Martin Luther King I mean the Civil Rights Movement would not have happened if people were not allowed to speak out and congregate and March and demonstrate and these kids did that they were heroic kids and their efforts were squashed it was a disgrace so how are we having this resolution now in the in view of what goes on in our town and in view of the actions of one of our council members it's it's just an astounding hypocrisy and as long as I have a minute I just want to say that before I came here I saw a video from Gaza of a bunch of guys digging a baby girl out of the rubble and this one was alive and many many thousands have not and I get tough I get nasty with you people but I'm crying I'm horrified I'm Jewish and I'm horrified by what my people are doing committing genocide that's what we're doing and we need to get real about it thank you for letting me speak thank you youf a resident first off uh congratulations to all on this reorganization I look I'm very hope ful that we could all move for forward together as a community on Sunday morning doctors and nurses that had been to Gaza came to the municipal green to speak I just came today to thank this Council for the ongoing support of the Palestinian people my eyes were delighted to see our very own counil me in attendance sure she was lurking in the shadows but her presence is one nonetheless appreciated thank you for filming the attendees from behind bushes and shrubs thank you for practicing your First Amendment right to film in public if it wasn't for you who would hold those who stand for Humanity responsible for their actions how dare residents protest the ongoing killing of the healthcare workers in destruction of hospitals in Gaza listening to firsthand accounts on the atrocities being committed there these people are really Gaza lighting tinck Yes you heard me right Gaza lighting it's a newly coined term meaning the psychological manipulation where one who commits atrocities uses the response to gain Sympathy for the actions when is the murder of tens of thousands of innocent civilians an appropriate response in any given situation thank you for keeping a promise of serving all residents of this great Township holding strong one-sided views on a conflict over 5,000 miles away that's what I look for in my elected officials here in tck New Jersey with my remaining time I would like to read a poem short poem the poem is by khed Juma and it was first published back in 2014 oh Rascal children of Gaza you who constantly disturb me with your screams under my window you who filled every morning with rush and Chaos you who broke my vase and stole my lonely flower on the balcony come back scream as you want break all the vases steal all the flowers come back just come back thank you thank you anybody else in the room before we go over to zoom Mr Green all good evening Dow green t neck resident I just want to say I really applaud this Council you guys have come together you're trying to work together and a lot of people don't realize the tough job that you have the job that gets a lot of times no thanks but you could always work together if you want to work together if we can get out of our personal feelings and move this town forward what I witnessed tonight is some progress I'm seeing people who were once on opposing sides coming together to move tck forward so I just want to tell you thank you because I know some sacrifices had to be made a lot of people don't know what really goes on but uh I applaud you to move this town forward and keep up the good work thank you Mr Green um we're g to go to zoom as I see know hands in the room oh we do one one we go uh am Raman T resident just had a couple quick questions um so how do we meet our affordable housing obligations is it as simple as just passing a resolution and what happens to the town if we do not meet that obligation very concerned financially obviously now can this be met with an affordable housing project you know just in a building that's all affordable units versus just portions of a unit being built and then also has there been any discussion about the municipal garbage uh pickup any money saved is obviously a great interest to me thank you anyone else in the room okay cler how many you have bring in we got a few hands mayor I'm bringing in Sandy silverberg M silverberg yeah just a little lag time second a little Tech buffer room there Sandy you're free to unmute here I am you got me Doug yes we could see you okay thank you very much uh this is the first Sandy sandwich of the Year I hope it won't be the last I I want to wish everybody a Happy New Year I know some of the people have been a little bit under the weather and I'm sorry for that but let it be a healthy and peaceful New Year I also want to thank all of the candidates that ran for office uh it takes a lot of courage to do it and I congratulate those of you who won and uh I really appreciate thank you to um the mayor for pointing me to library I the library board I will do my best uh I also want to thank the town manager for giving us some space to work uh occasionally and uh that's very much appreciated while the library is still under construction uh now the other part of the sandwich or the reverse side of the bread the intersection at decar right off of Route four is still an absolute Nightmare and that's with that building I think it's called The Mark uh because I went to a couple of planning board meetings recently uh that isn't even really up and running to an appreciable extent so there is not that much traffic uh coming out of that but there will be and there'll be another piece to that construction and it's frighteningly dangerous when you come off of Route four and you want to make a left turn the people that are coming from decada slide through through the stop sign there's I know it's a really difficult problem maybe I don't I don't know what the solution is rumble strips other warnings maybe a lighted sign there's got to be a way to bring people's attention to the danger of that intersection uh thank you very much and I wish you all this year the best of luck I I think we're off to a terrific start thank you thank you Sandy Mr clerk anybody else Hildy Dylan good evening everyone um and um I just want to congratulate the council uh also want to uh give credit to all the people who ran for our Council you can hear um the the incredible time that it takes to be on the council and it is greatly appreciated the commitment that uh you all make for the township I'm I'm um here not tonight as the chair of the environmental commission um we have some things coming up that we'll bring to you in a couple of weeks or a couple of meetings but um I wanted to uh tell you that I've had three incidents recently I'm very glad that we started this traffic safety uh task force um but my husband and I stopped for a light on the corner of Cedar Lane and um and Larch Avenue and a car went around us a white Chevy Tahoe going at least 45 or 50 miles an hour and went right through the red light then was stopped you know ironically because people were double parked in front of the up PS store and um they couldn't go any further because there there was kind of a a grid lock there at the moment which is quite common so I think in addition to looking at ways we we need to look at ways to make it safer to walk there were also cyclists that were going up Cedar Lane at the same time that came to a complete halt because of witnessing this car coming in speeding really um inappropriately and dangerously on SE Lane so we also we need to think about cycling Lanes we think we need to think about widening walkways safer ways of crossing the streets um where it's and I hope that you will be sincere about getting public input um I appreciate the experts that you have on this task force so far I heard councilwoman um Hillary Goldberg say that we can contact her um if we're interested or we know organizations that are interested but I hope that you would proactively seek advice from organizations that have um studied this before like age-friendly Teck your environmental commission has had this on their agenda for several for almost a year now talking about Safe Streets so I I think that you should include the residents in your in your efforts um and with that as I said we'll have some exciting things coming up from the EC uh in several in a few meetings moving forward and I wish everybody a good night and a healthy new year thank you Hy CL I have TBO Gilbert thank you for putting the pronunciation in your name on Zoom there I appreciate that I appreciate the reminder TBO there he is whenever you're ready you're free to unmute oh am I muted now yes we hear you loud and clear all right I'll be brief I've talked about this before I'll talk about it again the TX Swim Club recently I watched this movie called Join or Die it was about the decline in clubs and communities in America how this also affected democracy and even the economy in many different ways and how we can fix it and I believe that the TX Swim Club is a great opportunity to help our families community and town to become better I believe that we could do great things with it like reintroducing a swim team and making a yearr round pool so that our citizens can enjoy themselves not just during the summer also kids these days barely know how to swim in America only 56% of people can perform all basic swimming skills we need to be able to help our citizens against that even if it's only a small percentage of people I believe that keeping the pool open and making it more accessible would help everyone I believe that a p private public partnership would also help everyone that is what I'm asking you to do for us and for yourselves thank you thank you Mr Gilbert Mr clerk what do you got any else I have Keith Kaplan Keith Kaplan you're free to win mute Mr Kaplan it's it's coming give it just a second sometimes it takes a second because we move them to panelist it's a whole thing there we go can you hear me now loud and clear three minutes thank you want to congratulate uh mayor Schwarz on his appointment and uh to everyone serving on Council um I wanted to comment having attended the last zoning Board of adjustment meeting about the conditional use criteria that are found in our code uh back in the 70s when the town's demographics were changing a bit there was a bit of an overreaction to the types of people that were feared to be moving into town one of the uh new requirements said that dwelling occupied by one family or uh could have no more than three persons not related by blood marriage or adoption another said that you had to have over an acre in order to have a house of worship another said that you had to have five acres or 10 for a high school uh plus another acre for every hundred students you'd have these cases were heard by various judges uh Holy Name brought one of the first suits because none were not related and they owned three houses where the nuns at the hospital lived the judge had said the township of tenek is being converted into a private club the application for admission must be accompanied by a valid marriage certificate the and this is the judge's words quote wrong kind of people unable to find decent housing need not apply no matter how many suitable homes lie vacant he called it restrictive and legally unenforceable a couple weeks ago a school in the Northeast applied they were under this code required to have five acres but they only had point three of an acre no one cared they got their variants and life went on last week another applicant came through they were told they needed half an acre a lot of people came out objecting and they wound up making it through our code is legally unenforceable because and it as other suits have said there are no Halfacre Parcels of land to be found and prior houses of worship don't have these criteria we need to get rid of the conditional use criteria we need to keep the actual criteria the setbacks and whatnots are important but they need to be bulk criteria that put some teeth into what the new master plan says is the Township's Vision that houses of worship are uh like schools something that is a beneficial use that the town wants to see um it's about time that this Council looked at the conditional use criteria which is actual redlining and attempts to keep people from operating in town and rip it out by the root that should have been done a long time ago thank you I have shenaz yes can you hear me loud and clear you have three minutes okay thank you so I just wanted to say January is Muslim heritage month and I'd like to thank everyone who came to the Muslim heritage month events at the EK Marriott and at the Rota Center there was an excellent Interfaith program at the Marriott with Rabbi priests and Islamic scholars that was enlightened and addressed some tough questions to help people move forward as people are going through several different emotions in every Community additionally there were cultural programs and educational displays at both locations so I want to just take this time to really thank everyone who came and especially all the elected officials who came in peace and I hope everyone becomes a champion of peace and understanding as we go through 2025 so just want to take the minute to thank everyone um the second point I do want to address is um the American Legion Drive development it is a big concern um that we haven't really seen the traffic study and I know in previous meeting I've talked about this and it's um you when you live on this street you see how hard it is to maneuver the streets become almost like one car can go through especially on North Avenue and that's where you see a lot of traffic for the schools as you know we've got five different schools and daycare centers in this area so please please consider and share and and and really we need we need uh a detailed traffic study on on the American Legion Drive so thank you and thank you for your service thank you sh Mr cler we have Abner straws Strauss Abner Strauss house I was testing everyone here in Chambers Abner they know how to pronounce your last name properly can you hear me yes we clear minutes okay fine uh first I wanted second third fourth and fifth the point made about the an my being so impressed about the time effort and commitment you guys make to the well-being of our town and I particularly want to thank your family and your employers for allowing you to commit so much of your resources to our well-being um so I'm a member of the tneck swim club and a member of their political action committee and I just want to discuss the idea of what a partnership means uh there's been an effort to form a partnership between the township and the tea Swim Club my understanding is that a partnership is based on a shared vision and mutual trust and thirdly that by forming a partnership there's a better chance of achieving the faired the shared Vision my understanding is that the shared vision is to continue the swim club and to to do it in a way that makes it affordable and available to all of T neck and it seems that from what the two parties have said that that is in fact in place there is a shared Vision but I must be honest when it comes to Mutual trust there's a question in my mind now I have to say that what I'm presting ing tonight is not I have not been privy to the what happened in the joint meeting between the teenx swim club and the council committee but prior to that so I you know this may be irrelevant based on what happened at that meeting there's been something that has undermined a mutual trust and my understanding is that prior anyway the the council has presented or the subcommittee of the council or the attorney of the town has said do it our way or you're out and our way meant um a voluntary default or else that's it and that is not a way to build Mutual trust I think if there's a partner ship the end result can be achieved and the township has to think about what undermines a pwn partnership and what encourage encourages and puts forward a partnership and I thank you for your time thank you Mr Strauss Mr clerk anyone else I have Deborah bayberg you're free to un mute hi good evening I hope you don't mind if I put my camera on I'm literally straight out of a surgery today so none of you need to see this uh Deborah blerg Teck residents congratulations everyone on the Das um I just want to talk about first of all this um following on from what F said about with regards to you know body language and stuff we're all talking about working together and nicely but the thing is is when you want everyone to play nicely in the sandbox you should make sure not to kick sand in the person's face who you want to play nicely going on from that I've I also get a lot of warnings to be told you know you cannot specifically address a member at the dis well tonight we had a member of a public attack a member of the um Council from the Das and not a word not a single word from our mayor I'm really disappointed in that take the pettiness somewhere else it's enough already now the other thing is I always get asked to go and ask questions if I'm curious about something so please explain this affordable housing business because as I understand it we as a town have to build something like over 700 affordable units which is about 5,000 um new units needed to to proportion that and then there's the issue that if shepher Woods gets taken by the uh County for the um what's the word the highway it be I think we get some and they take all of it we get some uh affordable unit credits but I also understand it's a wetland so I don't know how developing on it is going to I don't understand that stuff so please explain that in idiot terms so people like me can understand so that when people are whispering in ears we actually understand what's going on and then my other question is is are we becoming like Oprah and just handing out titles to everybody because was Major respect Ellie for everything you have done an AM Meritor position usually comes at the end when you're leaving and you deserve it 100% when you leave your position when you leave the council it 100% should be you deserved it you earned it 100% although I believe in term limits and I do not believe anybody should be serving in any political position for or leadership position for 25 years it's a great achievement but unfortunately when you are in power for a long of time I've always said power can eventually corrupt and you just don't understand talking of which when we do these studies can we make sure that none of these people are related to anybody who works or is involved within the council I have always been very clear about transparency within the Board of Education and how these cont and do these contracts relate to people who I don't I don't like it when things mix it's just not a good look so can we do that and if you want people to play nicely in the sandbox stop kicking sand in their faces thank you have a great evening thank you Mrs bber anyone else see no anyone else in the room Mr son anybody else s in there after okay we'll end it after Mr son the Alex rashim spot where there is Alex rashim Memorial spot um thank you Alan son resident I want to thank Michael Pagan for the opportunity to serve on the planning board over the past 18 months I appreciate the six individuals who supported my nomination and I'll reach out to Deputy Mayor organ uh to better understand her concerns about my background and qualifications uh the legislation on the fourth round of affordable housing was adopted in March uh the state published its calculations its numbers in October and I've spent most of the past year going through those numbers as a member of the planning board I had the privilege of attending the state League of municipalities conference in November in Atlantic City among the several sessions I attended were three related to affordable housing and another on adus with Deputy Mayor beler I also had the opportunity to spend almost two hours with the staff of Department of Community Affairs to understand tx's prospective need number 431 of our eight surrounding municipalities two of them have a number of zero Bergenfield and hackensac as qualified Urban Aid communities the other six communities range from 88 units in bagota to three 81 in angelwood uh with most of them in in the lower end in between as was done for all municipalities Statewide the number of 431 units for TAC was based on three factors um at a set aside of 15% and that was the question which has been the general rule for the overwhelming majority of developments in tck it would require that 2,850 units be developed over the next decade the three factors are land capacity how much land land do you have available for development the number of 22.3 63 that the state had is is clearly too high uh and again I think that number has to go down uh and the qu and the biggest chunk of that almost half of what would be left would be Shephard Woods at about six acres uh and that accounts for about a quarter of the units the growth in equalized non-residential property is about a third how much has property has commercial property grown over the past 25 years and the biggest factor is income capacity which accounts for about 40% of the units which is based on incomes that are much higher than elsewhere in the region if we don't adopt a plan uh and the question was asked uh that will open town the township to builders remedy suits uh uh Builders might be able to go to the court say the township is not cooperating and basically giv a go-ahead to build what might be much larger you developments outside of the control of the township the deadline to reply is fast approaching is a little more than two weeks away um and I think it's important to understand what those 2850 units could be this would be 11 buildings the size of a 1500 an Avalon or a 329 Alfred Avenue where would these buildings go DPW site Shephard Woods where else it's no surprise that no one understands I think we need a public forum and we need an opportunity for the public to give input on what they think aordable housing should be and hear from what this Township wants to do thank you thank you Mr s he good and Welfare is now closed councilwoman Gober I you have my time good okay um I just wanted to say um acknowledge that is Muslim heritage month and um thank you to the scel for passing that resolution and I hope that um everyone uh on Martin Luther King day I know my family and I always do something uh in terms of an active service I hope the community members will consider doing that as well I want to thank all the folks who came out today and shared their concerns um sentiments with uh with us we really appreciate your input um and um want to see see specific I want to address here um I think I'll let um our Township manager except address some of the more detailed questions but thank you all for coming up you here yeah briefly I just wanted to chime in on a couple affordable housing comments that were made um the the state has a mandate of 146,000 affordable units of which Tek is 431 um that that's over 10 years so understand that's not like in the next one or two years it's over a 10year period uh so the new round uh encompasses that um yes that's challenging when you have limited land so that's why it's so important for us to think outside the box and we have to think about how we can repurpose land how we can uh use single story uh retail areas uh and and uh and and certainly expand up perhaps two or three or four stories to um to speak to that also thinking outside the box means looking at um a development like 1475 which is 100% affordable sen senior um living um those are things that we can look at we can look at things like like um workfor Force housing which also falls under um affordability um criteria uh so these next few years is going to be challenging but yet we are able to to use subject matter experts um to use forums bringing in our our community to to sit at a table to discuss ways in which uh we're going to address affordable because think about it affordability is a good subject it's not a negative subject is it's it's just a matter of how we approach it I mean we've seen over the last few days um the the horrific horrific fires in California um they're going to be faced with horrific housing shortages and how how they go about addressing that so it uh when we think think about affordable housing I like to think that it's almost affordable living because it speaks to things like how do we address Insurance when we have insurance companies leaving States because they can't insure properties so we have to be able to think ahead of things and I do want to appr I do want to uh shout out to one toown one vot I appreciate the fact that you are endorsing adus I think is important I we uh just this few days ago received a um an email from from a um a resident who's a veteran who asked about housing how can we uh address housing for for veterans so adus speak to a lot of solutions um that will you know solve for a lot of things within our Town um just understanding I think a question was what happens when a town doesn't uh meet uh their fair share requirements there are lawsuits there uh there is the fairshare um housing uh agency that basically oversees it and we just simply want to be on the right side of that we don't want to be opened up to to lawsuits so it's very important and lastly I just want to say you know happy um um Muslim um heritage month I think I think that that's very important to acknowledge them we do it at the beginning of the year um also um MLK day there's so many events and it is truly a day of service it is a truly a day of giving back uh and I encourage you know people to do that and there is a visioning a vision board event that's being held on Sunday uh this Sunday the 19th uh at 3M at the Roa Center and it is an MLK event so please come out and um cast your vision thank you yeah just to piggy back off of that every time we've mentioned development in the Years leading up to this there's always been a um a feeling that we need to go out and challenge it and instead I hope now that we're in this together and um these are the goals that we need to meet together and instead of that let's talk about it beforehand and let's see if we can come up with um the path forward together instead of of taking the time of the the planning board and the zoning board let's talk together and this is what we've been doing since before um before 2025 since the election we've been meeting we've been talking we've been talking to different organizations like the mayor discussed anybody that wants to have a a conversation if one vote one tck wants to have a conversation let us know the time and we'll be there and we'll try to address concerns it's what we're trying to do what to cut off the um the the bigger problems at the end and we've got um one one email address now right we're we're council at tenek nj.gov you don't have to email each of us individually now it'll come to everybody um so we're trying to be more accessible we're trying to work together with the town and we're trying to answer questions when we can um to Hildy Dylan uh every day now people it seems are getting hit by cars um run over by cars it's crazy um safe Safe Streets Teck is is so important I'm glad that February will be um the police will be starting to go out and I hope to get double Parkers and Speeders um I'm glad the Rothenberg Law Firm is donating The Illuminating um bands I hope everybody will wear them at the end of the day we're all responsible for our own safety so don't expect the car to stop for you um make sure you're not looking down at your phone when you cross the street you need to take care of yourself you need to speak to your children something is strange as going on out there drivers are not being careful but neither are pedestrians so please please please take care of yourself um Mr Kaplan conditional use criteria any Saturday night or Sunday night you want to come over and talk about it I think we should move forward with that um but the ball's in your court so please reach out and make a date we had a wonderful meeting with the swim club um we are very close to coming up with a solution and we will um have a plan before we open all of us together for the spring um nothing nefarious happens we are working well together um it's just a matter of days and um what else om we did a study on garbage a couple of years ago um that councilwoman Goldberg LED and it is cheaper to keep garbage the way that it is now and I think that's it thank you everyone okay I'll Jump Right In om we can continue that conversation at the gym if you'd like about minable garbage pickup it's something i' love to talk about the financials were just not there um as it relates to affordable housing we're going to be hearing a lot about affordable housing over the years over the days weeks months to come we are prepared uh and we have our planners already working on it to object to the 431 number one comment that the deputy mayor belur uh made if we do more 100% affordable properties if the finances work well then that will lower how many units we ultimately have to build because it will be know 15% set aside um so this is something that we're going to be talking a lot about explaining a lot about and taking it uh Taking It Forward um as it relates to Mr Schwarz and Mr Yuck we have a meeting coming up with some of the neighbors from American Legion Drive will discuss the traffic studies we um again if one t one one t one vote wants to sit down we'll go sit down and go over that as well and go over any other concerns they have um as it relates to the decator intersection we did had a stop sign we did have rumble strips I believe miss silverberg's talking from the other direction I will drive by there again and take a look at that Hildy we glad you're safe and everything worked out there but we will be doing not just our enforcement in February but we have already increase our our enforcement got some comments tonight already about traffic stops tonight so get ready to get pulled over thank you for your contribution when you do get a ticket but you will get a ticket um Mr Gilbert uh the swim club you've already heard that we're making progress and one of the things we discussed indeed was the potential of a year- round pool not just for the members of the town but also especially members of our athletic teams are in our schools which are sorely in need of that space um M bber thank you very much you are correct I did not there was a comment me directly to council M Goldberg I apologize this is my first time up here in the chair and I did not stop it so I do apologize thank you for pointing that out and that is all I have so with that we will go on to the next um go to the consent agenda can the clerk just read off the numbers of the resolutions that we added on so we know what numbers they are sure for sure Council we have this evening one two three sets of minutes resolutions 20 to 40-22 and what we added to the consent agenda this evening was 36-225 for Council liaison 38 I'm sorry 37 for Council subcommittees 38 for Martin Luther King Day 39 for Muslim American heritage month and 40 for councilman l y cats so that's 21 to 40 and our bill list first bill list yes uh of the Year 6, 49,679 Mr Mayor I have a a bunch of I'd like the pull sure go ahead uh 26 27 26 cler got that all right 27 28 okay 29 30 35 okay anybody else want to pull anything so let's put that aside let's do a vote on everything else in the meantime okay is there a motion I'll make the motion to to approve all the resolutions in the bill list as listed with the exception of 26 27 28 29 30 and 35 second whenever you're ready councilwoman Goldberg okay I'm going to do this one at a time because I'm not doing it unanimously so no on 21 yes on 22 23 24 25 um abstain on sorry yes on 31 abstain on 32 abstain on 33 abstain on 34 abstain on the bills list abstain on 36 37 and yes on 38 3940 36 and 37 you're abstaining yes 38 3940 is yes yes no on 21 yes on 22 23 24 25 31 abstaining on 32 abstaining on 33 abstaining on 34 abstaining on 36 37 yes on 38 39 40 abstaining on the bills list correct cool sorry thank you councilman beone Mr clerk I'm abstaining on the bills list I'm voting no on resolution number 21 voting no on number 36 voting no on number 37 and voting yes on everything else that was a no council on 21 36 and abstaining on the bill list and yes on everything else that's everything thanks so much sir uh councilor G can you remind me one more time what 36 37 38 3940 30 36 37 36 is Council liaison 37 is Council subcommittees 38 is Martin Luther King date 39 Muslim American Heritage Month 40 is ell white cats got it um yes oh thank you we have councilman cats abstain on the bills list and abstain on 32 and yes to all thank you sir Deputy Mayor Belcher okay uh can you just uh confirm 32 32 resolution 32-22 is authorizing 2024 budget account transfers budget account transfer okay um yes joal thank you Miss and Deputy Mayor Oregon yes to all thank you may Schwarz yes to all thank you sir uh we had a few pulled from councilman Goldberg all right so the first one this is authorizing an application to the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs local Recreation Improvement grant for the new gym fans at the Roa Center um the application well the 2024 budget the capital plan had this as $100,000 until 3:00 today the resolution said $100,000 and now at 3:00 it said 80 so I just was the grant writer submitted that change this morning but the amount came down from the 2024 from 100 to 80 right but so what changed in the plan this was the application update that she had submitted to me right they're asking for less money she didn't provide a reason why I could get that for you though Jackie Doo did the plans change because the $100,000 was what we budgeted in the capital plan the six year it sounds like just a funding change for this specific application it went from 100 to 80,000 right but we don't know why right okay it could it could have simply been a typo I could ask her and get back to you okay um I'll move it second Schwarz we want to do with the rest ofers and see if we put them all together um than let's do it one at a time okay so that was a motion from councilwoman Goldberg and a second from councilman Schwarz councilwoman Goldberg stain councilman Bean yes councilman G yes councilman Catz yes that M vire yes that M Oregon yes mayor Schwarz yes thank you 27 Council Goldberg so I'm going to do 27 and 28 uh because they're the same question this is for the attorney so these are both Grant applications for rehabilitation projects for low-income housing and homeless housing in EK so I just wanted to know do these qualify towards any of our Rehabilitation numbers if the grant is received and they're rehabilitated um so just so everybody knows that we have the 431 number that was recommended to us and then we also have the present need which is housing that we have to rehabilitate whether it's missing was a whole CR IA um but so these are rehabilitating current units so Mr attorney do they um count towards our number so the short version I don't I don't know I know we've asked the um our new planner they would they would know the specifics of it we've asked and we haven't gotten a response back yet but I'll let the council know so can we try to ensure that they either count towards our third round unmet need or our fourth round Rehabilitation number can we try to work on that because those are both current units that we'd be rehabilitating we can okay um I will move both of those second both 27 27 and 28 we're moving 2 29 will you R it no we'll do it I want to do it do 27 and 28 for now we have a first from Council Goldberg and a second from mayor Schwarz councilman Goldberg uh yes on 27 and abstain on 28 yes on 27 and abstain on 28 councilman Gan yes councilwoman G yes councilman Catz de mayor beler yes de mayor Oregon yes mayor Schwarz yes adopted 29 okay so my question on this is so the the funds for this is coming out of the recycling tonnage Grant um so in 23 we received 35,000 from the recycling tonnage Grant um I just wanted to know kind of this is more of a full Council question um I know this is something that the EC has been exploring um is there any thoughts or opportunities to increase the grant funding that so the way that works is you increase your recycling tonnage so I know this is kind of a bigger question but I know something the environmental commission's been looking so I'm just wondering if anybody who's been on Council longer has kind of explored this because just curious iar how many Council M cats I'm sorry I don't know this one all right is everyone okay when the EC meets we kind of explore this say one more time so the the tonnage Grant on recycling last year we got 35,43 um so it looks like this is the only expenditure that we're using out of it but the expenditure is 57,000 so it's more ,000 you want to right I want to see if we can explore ways to increase our recycling tonnage so that we're at least maybe trying to break even we've been taking a loss for a while but M maner can we speak to our superintendent yes thank you very can I move it move so second move by Goldberg second roll call Council Goldberg yes councilman pan yes councilwoman G yes councilman Catz yes s beler yeah Oregon yes may Schwarz yes 30 um why are there sewer bills outstanding for 10 years on these lots and blocks I'm not sure what the addresses are the this 30 2025 is removing various block and lots that are in dispute as released to the sewer and rather than sell lean receive the money from the lean Holder have to reverse it with interest we every every year we pull a few that have contention one of them in particular is a building that was recently built and the sewer bill was the the sorry the utility did not bill for water for several years this is the tck mikah on Windsor Road which is creating a conflict as to what they feel they should or should not pay um it's been good disputed back and forth so The Prudent um thing to do while we hold in hold this dispute is not the sellan be at a risk of having to reverse the lean with interest which one is that on I don't know it's on winter I which number which block and what about the other two I don't if you tell why they um there's blocks sorry block I do not know that hand if in general if there's a question on any of these resolutions during business hours if we address it to well I'm speaking okay we address it to the CFO during business hours we can have an answer for you at 10 o'clock at night so I'm going to go ahead and move 30 of 2025 and look for a second second councilwoman Goldberg I would like to do a yes for Block 1 1905 Lot 12 and no on the other two and strongly suggest that we have an objective um way to decide these properties since one of them is owned by a council member so no on the first one yes on the other two within the resolution no on 3210 because I don't know no 14902 lot 5 yes on 1905 Lot 12 thank you councilman beone councilwoman G yes councilman Catz I'm going to abstain Deputy Mayor beler I'm gonna I'm gon to say yes but I I do agree with the mayor that there are certain things that can be uh answered during business hours by reaching out to our sub subject matter experts and our department heads to get um answers to my answer is yes Deputy Mayor Oregon yes mayor Schwarz yes 30 approved okay 35 believe that's the last one being pulled yeah I just had a question um so the vendor is being changed for the library I just wasn't sure why manager do you want answer that um vendor for 35 the library change the order to contract between the township of T and pal proo Builders LLC for the te Library renovation project and it was added today so I just wasn't sure why we were doing it I know we have a change order uh for the asbest removal is that what that one is that's what that's for yes yeah vendor I don't believe the vendor changing we just need to amend some bits of the contract because they found some as okay yeah that's fine then I move it thank you there was a motion from councilwoman Goldberg for 35 is there a second second thank you councilman pan councilwoman Goldberg yeah Council pan yes councilman G yes Council Cass yes de Mayor beler de mayor Oregon yes mayor Schwarz adopted everything adopted we have a few ordinances to intro yes sir mayor we are hearing six ordinances this evening please bear with me we have ordinance number 1- 2025 first ordinance of the Year amending section 36- 111.2 of chapter 36 Township Code for Township TC adding restricted on street parking space for handicap parking at Van courland Terrace we have ordinance number 2-22 amending section 36- 111.2 of chapter 36 the township code again for adding restricted on Street handicap parking at 263 Grayson Place we have ordinance number 3-22 amending the township code to revise development regulations regarding fences we have ordinance number four that 2025 amending the township code to revise development regulations regarding fences and retaining walls we have ordinance number 5-22 amain the township code to revising laws on kataa Avenue and Ivy Court last but not least we have ordinance 6-22 amending the township code for the township to enact a new section establishing a regulating accessory dwelling units AKA Abus Mr Mayor before we do that I want to just recog ized uh om for the resident on the on the fence cuz he I don't think everybody realizes the full story so he actually reached out to me on a certain day and um about fencing and he has come to the zoning subcommittee repeatedly with changes and literally spent the last year writing this um and really doing jumping through all the hoops and I just think that deserved recognition because it's really impressive I don't think many people do that so that's it Motion in a second um second thank you sir councilwoman Goldberg yes and all with an Obion on six um because I have some questions for the attorney councilman gone yes councilwoman G yes councilman cats yes deputy mayor May beler yes Deputy Mayor Oregon yes Mays all introduced we will see him next meeting and do we have a motion to adjourn 10:01 PM everybody get home safe stay warm