##VIDEO ID:1dau-vScgWk## I call the order of this regular meeting of the Arona Township Council for Monday September 9th 2024 Madame clerk would you please read the open public meetings act compliance statements the notice requirements of the open public meetings act have been satisfied with respect to this meeting of the township Council the meeting time and date were included in the public meeting notice along with the public internet link and telephone Callin information set notice and meeting agenda was posted in the municipal building and sent to the official newspapers of the township the Verona of times and the Star Ledger at least 48 Hours preceding the star time of this meeting the agenda and handouts can be viewed online at Verona nj.org counil meetings public comment period will be held in the order it is listed on the meeting agenda and instructions on how to comment will be provided at the appropriate time thank you madam cler for to call the RO please councilwoman Holland here councilwoman McGrath here councilman Roman here Deputy Mayor makoy here mayor tamboro here mayor also present tonight is Township manager Joseph diaro Town Deputy Township manager Kevin Sullivan Township attorney Brian Oya myself municipal clerk Jennifer Kieran thank you please stand for the pledge algi to of the United States America and to the for it stands Nation God and [Music] Justice thank you everyone for the mayor's report today just a few items first um the last couple weeks we had two very serious fires in Corona which set state of the response of our fire department our Rescue Squad our Police Department our Department of Public Works our office for Emergency Management our construction officials office um and all of those groups as well as several Mutual Aid Partners including the fire andms helped to uh to extinguish and manage those emergencies I can't thank enough um the firefighters and all the rest of the emergency Personnel who dealt with dangerous situations in order to do that uh twice but also like to thank Theona Community who in our true fashion has shown an outpouring of support for both families um which is really what means to be part of a big small town uh so thank you to everybody for that um like to congratulate the Veron Unico on another successful Labor Day 5K run I I congratulate all of my Council colleagues and our Administration folks or time attorney who participated in the Run um and uh and the Ron R we member Christopher SLU who beat everybody from the council and our staff um but he's 21 you know so or 18 sorry he's 18 so you know he has a little advantage that way um but uh congratulations really everybody was a winner that I'd like to thank our our wreck department for a great summer not only with pool but also with our uh Recreation camps playgrounds uh i' also like to thank all of our pool staff as well as buildings and grounds very successful season I got a lot of great feedback from pool goers on on everything this year and I know a lot of people look forward to the reigning of the pool that will be starting soon um i' like to thank all of the sponsors for our our um Sumer concert series especially the Chamber of Commerce who added another concert uh I had the the pleasure of being able to attend two unfortunately my schedule didn't allow me to do the other so I thank uh deputy mayor uh M boy councilman ran for stepping in to introduce all of our sponsors there um today I remember Julian Holland a 2020 graduate of R High School uh recently passed away uh along with a a large contingent of our community attended our services on Saturday and I just want to share my support to the the Holland family uh and uh it was it was a difficult day but it was once again uh really important and lovely to see the outgoing support from Community there are couple hundred people present and a lot of people traveled from quite a distance to to be there um the verone environmental commission meets Wednesday this Wednesday evening so please uh attend if you are interested and finally I would like to remind everybody and invite everybody to our September 11th REM of ceremony this Wednesday at 8:45 in front of our and Mr cult good evening mayor and Council um I too you know would like to invite anyone in town who ever on the broadcast here to Wednesday September 11th at Eagle Rock reservation and wherever the camera may be I will give this to the town clerk and she can post it and it's a very solemn day for a lot a lot of people but I mean if you were involved at the time it's it's heart branching so that's one of the things please I know it may interfere with yours but anyone who would like to attend please come uh the next thing is on September 24th Tuesday 10:00 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Essex County Cody Arena we're going going to have our senior Wellness day and I will give all these to the clerk like I had said and seniors can get tested for blood pressure and an array of other things that they would be needing uh if transportation is needed they are supplying that you can check with uh the departments at the citizen service and they'll be glad to get you involved finally uh Sunday September 29th is fall family festival at the Environmental Center and it is from 11:00 a.m. to 300 p.m. and for AG crafts seasonal uh Refreshments canoeing hiking etc etc etc so please come out and join us and that's all I have from the County's point of view anything in your Parks or anyone else needs anything mayor council questions for count Lea no we thank you for very much thank you for getting the traffic the audio traffic signals he I only relay the message that we can help you know and so the county executive D senzo Department of Public Works they do a job thank you thank you J at this point Mr J this thank you mayor um with item one uh agenda the street skate he's came in I believe we had six companies that's being reviewed as you're aware the AR went out for price and design so we'll be setting up special meetings uh for a presentation of the various designs that the companies would like to propose to you so your final decision will be based on price and design for your street skate design so we'll set that up through the clerk's office in coordination with a council meeting uh we have a meeting coming up with the three services again the rescue squad the fire department and the police for their 501 c3s and the foundation from the police uh prior to having a meeting with fundraising company that's coming up shortly and then an item that came up this week uh or last week to my attention there was a request to use the township seal and before I commented on the township seal by a resident I looked in your codes and then I discussed it with the town attorney you have nothing in your code uh protecting your seal and it's also not copyrighted so we're going to be uh moving to copyright your seal and draf an ordinance uh to for use of the seal will be on by the township or with the permission of the mayor and councel that's the way the ordinance will be written we'll do it both ways hav encounted that before sorry I missed it my first year but we'll get to that for you um we have started the department uh 2025 staff level preparations for your budget and that'll proceed on on schedule before we get to the council meeting and the department is presenting their budgets to you but that process has started and Kevin will report out all the project progress on all the projects those are the only new things I have to do at this time and Union negotiations have started with opu and I will mention those in close session thank you Mr T thr solivan from good evening thank you um I will try to move through my report quickly uh there's a lot of items a lot of updates since our last meeting uh with the pool rate study and strategic plan we are winding down that information uh now that the pool season is closed we anticipate between presenting that and circulating that through the recreation advisory committee that we will be prepared to bring that to the mayor and council at the uh second meeting in October that's what we're targeting for uh discussion of the rates and strategic plan uh regarding sewer infrastructure we continue with the smoke testing program uh the town is about 70% complete proceeding as expected we'll be summarizing all the findings at the completion of that for all the upcoming needs throughout the collection system uh the primary clarifier clarifier Pump Station project we still are waiting for ibank to authorize us to go out to bid uh however we were able to coordinate a meeting with the ibank on this project and a few other projects that's scheduled for September 7 hopefully we can get a few of these projects advancing into the next bidding phases uh the next two are the UV disinfection System project for the Wastewater Plant and the micr screen project uh we received submissions for the design and and construction management services for both projects on uh August 28th there are resolutions for consideration by the mayor and council tonight for advancing those projects into the early design stage ages and uh the applications to the ibank again those are projects that were included in the capital planning in the beginning of the year and were included in the uh utility rate study also at the beginning of the year um we also continue to work through a number of other miscellaneous sewer projects including an RFP for the operator nitrate sampling for uh qu for the Wastewater Plant and we continue to investigate the Derwent Avenue collection system line uh we are requesting quotes for heavy cleaning uh tree root removal and televising of those trunk lines in the near future uh moving on to the drinking water wells we uh continue to work through construction of Wind Drive well that's advancing as expected should be back in line by early to mid December uh the Fairview Avenue well is again one of those ibank projects we will be discussing with the ibank on September 17th however it seems we will need to wait for Green Acres to advance their um their exemption application that we submitted to them back in in June uh and then we continue work with special Counsel on a number of class action uh lawsuits against a number of different companies uh related to posos um we also again one final project that we are sitting down to meet with ibank on is the clarage drive Pump Station again that project is complete in design uh we believe we've received all the final review comments uh and all the permits on that project we just need authorization from the ibank to put this project out it again we will be discussing with them on September 17th um jumping to the park meter rates we have the new kiosks installed we had the uh the final um integration between Park Mobile and the kiosk systems is is being implemented this week so those kiosks should go live by the uh by the end of this week uh as far as uh different energy initiatives uh we continue to work with the energy audit team uh We've begun receiving some of the drafts of the audit reports for the different facilities uh they need a little bit more time for the draft of the wastewater treatment plant audit report and and upon completion of those they will be summarizing them into a presentation and we'll schedule them for a public meeting uh and again we did follow up with the solar consultant uh on August 27th to fine-tune their presentation and move their feasibility study to approve concept study uh they are working through the comments that were received at the last meeting and uh they are currently working on those updates now the playground at the community center continues to advance uh in in good form the uh prefabricated restroom is scheduled for delivery and installation next week uh there's some additional site work that is progressing but the project should be complete within the next several weeks and we will look to schedule uh ribbon cutting ceremony and open the playground officially in the very near future hopefully by the end of this month uh number of road projects to update on uh the main one is U with something coming up is lynen Avenue uh Township met with complete streets technical assistance team on September 23r uh they will they have recommended temporary demonstrations for Traffic Control uh they are anticipating there will be public Outreach the week of October 7th with a potential installation as early as October 14th for a one to two we window for these temporary demonstrations the demonstrations that are most effective will be implemented into the final design of the Lyndon Avenue project which is scheduled for construction in 2025 uh and then a number of the other projects Douglas Place Boston Whitney windir and Derwent Avenue those are all closed out we are expecting to officially close those out with final do reimbursements and uh a formal final change order for each of those projects in the near future um as far as ever field goes I know there's a bond ordinance to uh formally Advance the funding for the final design of the project on tonight's agenda for introduction uh negle group has been directed to advance their design efforts they've been given all the comments from previous meetings and we will be presenting interm design plans along through the process to the governing body and prior prior to the final design being completed uh the pickle ball courts are currently out to bid will'll be receiving bids on the on October 16th uh we continue to work with the shade tree Commission on a number of street tree needs uh We've accomplished a lot and advanced a lot of the most immediate needs uh we've completed an entire townwide windshield survey and we we'll be working with both finance department and shry commission on future budget needs to to complete and carry through the rest of the needs that were identified um helping through um the emergency repairs to the communications tower building are expected to start on Wednesday of this week they should take a few weeks to complete but uh the the building will be structurally stabilized then the building envelope repairs will be scheduled immediately afterwards and um we will be looking to put out to bid the project for the town hall uh repointing and window replacement in the very near future we're waiting for the final bid documents from at this point uh that completes my report unless there's any other questions anybody have any questions for the depy council M thanks just for clarification um on the complete streets technical I think we met with them in August and then we're meeting again in know in a week or two yes okay for to consider different demonstration projects right this will be the second meeting what they uh I believe what they will be recommending in in their their final recommendation is three different forms of recommendations for Lyon Avenue in different locations on Lindon uh they are going to recommend the installation of each of them to see which ones are effective versus those that are not effective but that yes you are correct there will be a meeting with them prior to the neighborhood Outreach and the implementation and I just want to um reiterate what you said about the Sha Tre I just came from the Sha Tre commission meeting and so there was a lot of great information and data that we need to work through you know to make sure that we address all the needs in the township and you know that comes with a price tag I'm very much looking forward to your continued working with them and all the administrations so that we make sure we fund that project appropriately great thank you just sort of the same question I asked last time about the smoke testing if there's anything interim that you can share have we found major issues minor issues are we looking at large capital projects are these things we can do as a maintenance kind of the preview sure there's uh there's a variety of items that are being identified um there are some miscellaneous connections that you could see roof leaders uh or potential Sun Pumps maybe connected at the house by house level uh there are sewer caps on people's sewer laterals those are very quick it's a $5 sewer cap to put on it there's small infiltration but they can accumulate over time some of the larger items that have been identified there are um certain areas where we're find that there's catch basins that are are connected seemingly connected to the sanitary SE collection system so there will be some additional investigation with our public works department die testing sewers and and putting cameras through lines but it it seems there will be a combination of um Regular maintenance removing some of the catch Basin through some larger capital projects um and and it's probably going to take several years to go through them but the again with the great study that was adopted with the rates that were adopted earlier this year there was an assumption that we would have to put significant investment into both the collection system on the sewer side and the distribution system on the water side so this there should be a multi-year approach on this okay so this is within the real things we can handle basic it is and then just a thank you I think all of our summer construction did pretty well um it does look like the majority of our outdoor work should wrap before winter hits so just want to say thank you to everyone in the township who's been involved in project management execution I think we did pretty well was here thank mayor item out the policy the sponsorship policy the town attorneys reviewed it I know the council has had it um I didn't receive comments back and I'd like to get that in motion I'll be putting it in the the handbook and policies at that's okay with the council after the future devels SS thank you Council mayor M thank you Mr Mayor um he's somewhat repetitive here I would like to congratulate Unico on another well-run Labor Day race they had a wonderful day uh and Unico this is one of this is their major fundraiser for the year and they do give a lot back to the community so this is an important day for them so congratulations to them and everybody that helped out our police fire uh rescue uh Public Works they did a great job keeping us safe during the race and congratulations to all that ran the race and finished uh also summer concerts uh we had a great year it was uh again thanks to all the sponsors that uh chipped in to help uh make this happen and thank you to our Police Department uh for for their work during the summer at these events and for our buildings and grounds that help out a lot behind the scenes to keep it running smoothly uh and again also uh with the last couple weeks the fire department uh the rescue squad police and public works with all the emergencies that we had two major fires uh you know thank you for all your hard work and what you do for the Town of Verona uh the other uh one thing uh sustainable Verona had a meeting last week they do have on October 5th it's going to be Saturday October 5th the EV Fair uh they have about eight to 10 electric vehicles already uh they're working on uh an electric bike company Vol ter to be there and they'll have a couple food vendors it will be at the Verona pool parking lot the lower parking lot from 11 to 3:00 so anybody who wants to take a look at an electric vehicle uh you're welcome to come up and and sit in one and and look around uh and lastly uh we'll add with happy birthday to the mayor for the past week thank you here welcome that's all thank you Deputy Mayor councilman Roman thank you uh most of my items are repetitive but uh I will mention a couple of things uh just the all the summer events all the recreation programs I think this was a really great summer in the township where we offered a lot um one of the way that I always look at Community Services is I want to make sure that no one can ever say that there's nothing to do there's we had so much programming and so many opportunities available and it was all executed very very well so just thank you to the entire Township staff for putting everything together that's the concert series all the rec programs schol everything the library program everything we offered um seems like it was a really good summer here um also thank you to the emergency services departments for their response to the two fires uh one of the fires in particular there um got some great comments on just the efforts that the fire department went through to to save a lot of valuable personal items for a resident um the services as always are just incredibly compassionate they're skilled uh they respond quickly to you know whatever it is and just working in you know hot hot hot conditions outdoors and uh it's a very stressful job and they volunteers so really appreciate all of their work and likewise happy birthday to the mayor thank you councilman Roman C woman mcra um thank you and happy birthday I Echo all the comments of um my colleagues um the Valiant efforts of the fire department of the cool season that we had that was very successful of the very uh wonderful and entertaining uh summer concert series that we had um and again thank you to Unico for once again sponsoring not just a wonderful Community event but raising money for scholarships and other programs they are just such a key nonprofit in our community I enjoy I enjoyed watching the race this year from the Forest Avenue neighborhood uh which was really a pleasure um I want to encourage everyone to vote right now we are actually in an election um for the replacement of the late Congressman P um we are voting right now for a new representative in Congress the election is Wednesday September 18th this is a very odd day to have an election we're used to having elections on Tuesdays so that early voting has begun you can vote at the Verona Community Center from 10:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. um Monday through Saturday of this week on Sunday from 10:00 a.m. to 6: pm and if you still had vot by then you can still vote on Monday um the 16th from 10:00 am to 800 PM so I encourage everyone to vote early or vote at your normal calling place on Election Day for a new representative in the 10th congressional district um which covers Verona um I attend did uh we passed we just had Labor Day and I want to note that um I attended a lovely event in nework on Friday sponsored by the Essex West West Hudson labor Council organ um that was there to celebrate the achievements of Labor many of the things that we have come to take for granted like an eight hour workday and paid vacation and you know laws against child labor all came from the labor union labor movement so I just want thank all of our friends in organized labor um today I had the pleasure of attending a uh gun safety event with congresswoman Mickey Cheryl um she is sponsoring legislation on safe gun storage um and since there has been such a rise in the amount of gun ownership across the country and in New Jersey um she is really alarmed as R everyone who attended this event about the rise in suicide and uh deaths of children um and so she's sponsoring legislation on safe gun storage and had the pleasure of attending and being a special guest um 82% of Youth suicides involve a gun um and gun violence is the leading cause of death for children and teens um and in terms of Veteran suicide which was another focus of the event 60% of Veteran suicides are due to a gun uh there was a stat that was given that was just astonishing that 7,000 veterans died during um Iraq and Afghanistan in the conflict and since 911 30,000 veterans have died by Suicide so it was really an important event and considering this event was started before the Alabama school shooting but then continued um she you know she hosted this event even though it was already in the works before that shooting there was also a shooting at a football game in in uh Wayne in Bay County so this is a very topical thing which is why I devoted some time of my report to it and I appreciate everyone you know just really thinking through how you store your weapons I want to thank the Verona Police Department they have been on the Forefront of this for years giving out information on B smart which was one of the safety programs highlighted at this event and I also want to thank our superintendent who emailed information on the B smart program to every single parent in Verona so we are doing some great work locally but we need to continue to normalize the discussion about safe gun storage and if anyone has any questions they can reach out to me our police chief um or look for that information on the beart program and I want to thank congresswoman Cheryl for her um proposed legislation and I hope it's successful um I we covered a lot of these okay committees we already spoke about cha Tre the uh neighbor traffic and Safety Committee is meeting tomorrow night on Zoom the Multicultural inclusion and accessibility advisory committee met at the end of August they are planning a really great event with the library um on Spanish um heritage month on October 6th it's going to be targeted to children and young adults um and it's going to Fe feature a live podcast uh which is going to be really um interesting and different I also want to highlight that the library is having an open house is Saturday today and as part of that is a voter registration Drive sponsored by the League of Women Voters please contact the library's website for more information uh mayor I would like to talk at a topic in new business specifically about project planning when it comes to our resoning of Bloomfield Avenue and what's happening with affordable housing so if we can have just a few minutes to talk about that I would really appreciate it and I think that is my report so thank you thank you councilman Holland thank you um first of all I would like to Echo some of the statements of my colleagues um my heart really goes out to the residents that were impacted by the recent fires um and I offer my sincere gratitude and respect for our First Responders thank them I thank them so much for their service um they are volunteer organizations and it is tremendously emotional let alone risky and dangerous work for them to do so I I'm just really grateful for them and for the support of our community for these residents that were impacted um I do also want to acknowledge that this was well and we're still in summer um so and happy birthday Mr Mayor another summer birthday but um it isn't fall yet it feels like it's fall because the kids are back to school but it has actually been thus far an extraordinarily warm summer um so I think it's really important for us to remain aware that we are still within hurricane season if there is still a risk for extreme storms we've already experienced some extreme storms and some extreme heat the summer um so I do encourage residents to prepare um with regard to the hot summer I do think it was a very productive and positive pool season but I look forward to receiving that rate study so that we can really drill down into into the details on that also I look forward to reading the surveys um the survey results from uh pool members as well as families that participated in the rec programs to really get a sense of how successful those programs were where are there areas that need Improvement um and others um with regard to the uo 5K I definitely had a different view of it this year I ran with my 10-year-old daughter um and uh she was very pleased to rank within the top 10 of the 10 and unders but um it was definitely an interesting experience um but she had a great time she felt very accomplished for running this 5K as did several of her friends so that was actually really really sweet to um participate in the race with her um running through our neighborhoods and seeing a lot of people cheering for on so that that was really wonderful um I also want to acknowledge as I referenced earlier FAA School the vmac committee um did provide the safe homes pledge to the various different organizations that are preparing packets or did prepare packets for back to school I think it's really important for families uh to take the sa take the safe homes pledge safe um stands for securing your Firearms matches chemicals medications and alcohol actively working to prevent underage alcohol and drug use forbidding bullying and evaluating computer phone and social media use I think these are all really important things that we can work on as a community and I'm grateful to be the leads on to the bmac committee that that works on these powerful messages so thank you that concludes my report thank you councilman Holland we're going to have a public comment session on any item that anybody would like to discuss Madam clerk you please read the participation statement anyone from the public wishing to speak on any matter if you're attending by Zoom please raise your hand by pressing the raise hand button on your monitor if you're dialing in by phone press star n if you're attending in person please raise your hand once you recognized um you may approach the Le turn at that time clear state only your name and Township of residence for the record you're not required to provide your street address however if you do please note that these meetings will be posted on the Township's YouTube channel and addresses will not be redacted for any purpose you'll have four minutes to address the council there'll be no cross dialogue during this public portion and after everyone wishing to speak has been heard the council May address your comments and or question time open for public comments good evening Jean stolof 102 Fairway um first I'd like to say thank you for again for the council's support in helping us uh deter uh the development of the Woods at the top of Fairway and howl um there is a meeting coming up uh this week September 11th and it is um I think the architect is going to to continue with their uh testimonies um I understand that Rona may be working on um an opinion about um storm water and I wanted to say thank you for uh doing that work and if uh members of the council cannot be there to present this information to the planning board I plan on attending and I can take a message to them and give them whatever documentation you would like me to deliver and in looking forward um I think the other big concern for Verona residents is potentially the traffic flow should uh somehow the developer um open up uh that main access road for Beyond non Beyond emergency use and I think that if there's a way of deterring that traffic coming into the neighborhoods there going across uh Forest Avenue towards the schools at you know key hours of that would be appreciated thank M um response on a couple items when everybody's done okay thank you Ryan calling him from home good evening this is Kevin Ryan brona New Jersey uh I just wanted to follow up on a point that uh councilwoman MRA made regarding the the election and I hope the municipal clerk can correct me if I'm wrong uh I believe this election is just to complete the term for uh councilman p uh Congressman pay so this person who's elected will just serve until the end of December so the seat will still be on the ballot again in in the general election in November it am I correct in that in that statement uh oh yeah we'll answer when you're done with your comment okay and then the second comment I believe that uh councilwoman McGrath may also have alluded to it in her presentation uh when I'd like the council to consider uh informing the public uh in upcoming meetings about the possible effects of the next affordable housing ground on uh on U on Verona uh I believe the uh councilwoman also mentioned this uh at a prior meeting that we will be getting a uh directive I believe sometime in October uh hopefully from the uh the state as to where we stand as a town in relationship to our affordable housing obligations that we can uh start to plan early uh as to how we may may have to meet them and that's my comments thank you Mr Fran uh at this time I will close public comment J stoff thank you for coming I I do want to make sure that you saw our resolution that's in the consent agenda tonight uh that we will related to this development that we will be sending to West Orange and the planning board something that I had asked for that the town attorney was kind up to draw it up I think we need to take a strong statement and show that the governing body is here uh so I uh I appreciate that and I appreciate your offer certainly of taking anything that the township prepairs Mr uh dico you have Mr staf's information right yeah I believe we do so if there's anything that we need to work out gentlemen will make sure it gets to you and I appreciate your advocacy because it's something that affects the entire town really truly and the more I see this development the more I see what a disaster it is so uh it's one of those things and I agree with you on the traffic flow once the last that I spoke to mayor mccardy of West Orange is that they had were very West Orange was very intent on not even improving the road that connects to how drive so if it would be basically is that going to be gravel at this point or something along those lines with the gate so I'm hoping that that continues but if it doesn't uh we I think had some conversations among the Council of potentially changing the traffic flow if we need two of our streets we can't control West Orange but we can certainly change the traffic flow of our streets to prevent incursion into those neighborhoods um and that I would def definitely papor as well um to Mr Ryan you are absolutely correct in your assessment of the of the special congressional election that the term is uh will expire um at the end of the current term and uh which will actually expire in January um beginning of January and I agree on the affir housing piece now Mr vention a couple times um that will be coming up right now anything coming out on the number of units is an estimate there are a couple law firms and engineering firms out there that are they are estimating but I've never ceased to have been surprised by the state of New Jersey and uh we'll be waiting so impatiently um as I sure the rest of our Council and our attend will be to get those exact numbers and uh comments on our public comments there we go we do not have any um adoption of ordinances or hearings this evening we have two ordinances for introduction the first is H1 Madam cler could you pleas read the title of H1 into the record amending chapter 5 administration of government Article 2 Township Council section 26 appointment by Council by creating subsection a committee meeting attendance thank you M Clark was move the ordinance so motions made by councilman Roman is there a second the second is made by the deputy mayor uh is there any Council comment on this councilman McGrath I didn't have to look I so uh thank you mayor as um we corresponded today um I have a lot of concerns about this um the introduction of this ordinance um I um um I have spent the last 13 years of my life um volunteering pretty intensively for both my community and for um other organizations and I've actually led a lot of uh nonprofit volunteer organizations and advocacy groups so I have a lot of experience with volunteerism and you know I sat with this ordinance a while and I took the time to um send the draft language to all of the volunteers of the boards and committees for which I'm liaison and I got some really good feedback um the main concern is on the 70% threshold um and I did the math and for many of our committees um that threshold would be met met if a volunteer missed three meetings in a 12-month period and for a few committees that meet 11 or 12 times it's four four times and that that does happen at a decent clip today um we have a a group of volunteers who are parents um which we've actually worked really hard to increase their ranks and have more volunteers um that our parents of children both young and in their teen years and they are just very busy many of our volunteers have full-time jobs and you know when the job says hey you have to travel here you have to attend this meeting at night it's not flexible um there are a lot of commitments that the kids have I've observed volunteers calling in Via Zoom from the sidelines of the of the soccer field um waiting in a car at another sports game um and trying to figure out well when I have this meeting on the night of a concert what do I do so I did get quite a bit of feedback from our current volunteers that this is a very high threshold but I also got some and and a threshold that frankly may be too hard to meet and and our retirees as well their joke our retiree volunteers is I've never been more busy than when after I retired and now they have all sorts of commitments they're taking care of grand Grand children they're dealing with their own health challenges they're traveling a lot and they're trying to avoid getting covid so there's a lot of things going on um so that's one set of comments I did get some good um feedback on our technology so the shade tree commission and I believe sustainable front as well which the deputy mayor sits on now and I used to sit on uh they're trying a hybrid where they meet um at the community center conference room um but they also want to be able to have some members on zoom and that technology has really not worked out well they are still struggling to log in at every meeting um and so uh the feedback I got from those from the shade tree commission is this policy is great but this technology is still not working well and so we would be um it would be a punishment almost to hold have this standard when this technology is not um is not actually there just yet um and then other feedback I got was on subcommittees so the Multicultural committee is doing they've broken into very small groups and they're doing a lot of planning work outside of the meeting so they are also concerned that some really productive members who maybe are in a streak where they just you know haven't you know attended you know they just missed a meeting here or there and they would hit the 70% threshold are actually really like productive members of the committee and the process when the threshold is me met is just very Draconian so I have concerns about introduction I would like us to consider not introducing maybe reworking this working through the technology issues because again throughout every I know everyone's been working on it it's just still not there yet um and just giving a little bit of a pause with that said I am very much supportive of a policy that focuses on the 50% threshold um I have observed through 5 years serving on the council that this is an issue and we do need a policy um we have observed um I've observed members who just stopped coming so I do want us to put in something but my concern is at that 70% level so I think if our process maybe 70% is a warning and then 50% is when the process with the removal kicks in I think that would be something that we should think about going forward thank you for um and those are all my comments thank you thank you other comments po um so thank you Council mcrath I I had a couple of additional notes um I was curious so so I do appreciate that this has this had been brought up by the recreation uh advisory committee to have an attendance policy I do think it's worthwhile to do so um and we did discuss a new business some of these Logistics seeing it in writing I do have concerns that it is perhaps um rather challenging for perhaps the average volunteer to follow along with um and I do have also some logistical concerns about where uh some of our boards and committees hold special meetings those special meetings maybe on you know odd evenings or at different times where people are not necessarily able to attend as easily um and so you know are they going to be punished some of the boards and committees have alternates for this very reason for example the planning board um so you know and if you have a lot of development there's potential for several special meetings you know if these are held at inconvenient times then it may be that a memb inadvertently triggered this um but getting back to how this is kind of in my opinion and it's you know a term of art is that it's a bit clunky in my opinion um so the notice is that you shall be considered removed um I think you know that leaves room for confusion from residents to say you shall be considered removed um I also think the notice should really be more of a warning mechanism instead of like your first communication is that you are essentially removed um I think perhaps the notice should be that you may be considered for removal by the town um by the Town Council uh within you know a certain period of time um I do also think it's challenging to refer to the appeal period as prior to the 15-day notice so you're you receive this notice you're then given 15 days up until that 15th day is your appeal period so you're appealing before you've actually been removed that's kind of unusual and distinct from most other actions usually you're appealing after the decision the adverse decision then it's you're actually requesting a hearing at that time I really think the average resident that's volunteering for example for the W advisory committee is probably not necessarily you know looking at this as something where they're going to now have to seek a formal hearing I'm also just concerned with the phrasing of this ordinance and whether or not it's actually I I do appreciate that the hearing mechanism is intended to provide due process to our residents and I think that is a really important thing I'm just concerned with the way the ordinance is presented that it's not particularly user friendly to the average resident and these are the individuals that are volunteering for these committees so while I agree with the concept of an attendance policy I'm just a little concerned with how this is drafted right now and unfortunately I I don't believe we had the drafting um at when we discussed it in new business so it would have been an opportunity to perhaps Redline it um during the new business discussion so those are just some of my concerns because I to again I think it's a little clunky I'm not sure if it's envisioning the special meeting process and again I feel like the notice is essentially telling somebody that they've been removed without actually giving them any opportunity for warning thank you comments let I have more I have a question exactly who and what committees or boards does this pertains it every single one or there's some exemptions uh if it if it is everyone then I we have to add something in here about what if someone has to recuse thems from a meeting planning or zoning uh was kind of thinking that this didn't pertain to zoning work or blinding work but after some of the comments right now I believe there's a thought that it does just you had originally said it does not because the has the state has a process for them the other thing and you could add detail we gave with this the thought was to have an ordinance that was flexible it's like any rule or regulation you take in consideration hey you've missed well then well why did you miss so there's that that's why you get the letter and that's why the do process uh that counc M Holland spoke about is so important because you want that communication to happen for instance if you had a board member God forbid they're sick and they have cancer and they're going to be out for a period of time more likely than not this would not even nobody would would trigger these notices to go out because they they've already been notified right but many instances in the past that we've heard about when I've said you know for you as the attorney are people that kind of disappear and you don't hear from them they don't attend meetings they don't really have a reason you might see them in town or at an event or whatever and they just don't you know it's almost as though they want um to be on the board they don't want to participate um and that's kind of what this was written for so they could be removed um because in some instances the people that aren't participating aren't going to fight it so that's the thought process behind hey you're going to be removed unless we hear from you and then once you hear from you then that triggers the process we why out and and the communication opens up so a lot of times if you are missing and I'll use one of those boards for example let's pretend you have a conflict well you're you're never going to show up at any of the meetings where that conflict is discussed right so you would you would think that the head of the board or the commission would even trigger this ordinance but if they did by mistake or whatever a letter goes out they write in and say hey I'm not here to have a conflict I can't show up you go oh okay go back to work and you couldn't wor this differ this is just the way we set it up I do think it was not that it matter but I do think you did have a discussion you actually made some changes the last council meeting we had we had this I remember making changes to text this is my reason for asking this question was I know in the past Board of adjustments we had to someone individual got hit by a car he didn't tell anybody he was he was missing I think eight to 10 meetings and they thought he just disappeared we've had planning board members and zoning board members that have recused themselves from eight to 10 meetings for one application without any other applications coming forward so I think maybe this is just you know we're reading this as a legal document and it's stiff whereas we should just add some discretion in their discretion depending on the unexcused absence or something and do we put in here that it's the duty of the chair of that committee is that do we want to you know that's a question for this Council to decide Mr thank you um I would agree that was where I was thinking about uh involving the chair of a committee who's most likely to be in communication with the members I think that's really where you have the problem is when the chair is trying to find somebody and then they simply aren't responding that's really we have run into this situation on some of these boards where people just simply do disappear um I kind of agree that there there should be some discretion or something here other than an automatic removal uh the intent here is to encourage volunteerism and to make sure that we accommodate but we do need to have a way when someone does just flat out disappear and stop attending that they can be removed so I think that including the the chair would be a way to get there I'm going to recognize myself at this point um just s a couple comments going through couple things that my council member said I'll but before that I'll office the point of this ordinance actually came because not just the recreation advisory committee but uh several committee chairs have actually been frustrated that their members are not showing up in meetings um when somebody decides to be on a order committee and puts that application in one of the expectations is they will attend meetings I I find a 70% threshold to be quite reasonable um I would not agree with lowering it to a 50% threshold largely one of the great points I heard from a committee chair was that part of the issue with people missing meetings is that business Cycles again okay I I got cancel my talk when I'm done but there's a business cycle so what's happening is they'll decide something just like the meeting we're having right now we had a discussion at the the last meeting we're cycling back and having another discussion on the same on the same uh item so part of the the issue is making sure people show up so I think 70% is is actually pretty generous um and the reality of it is we have to ask our our members of boards and committees when they assume their responsibility that if they it really should be up to them if they don't feel because of work travel or or commitments or other things it's really up to them say you know what I'm GNA pull myself out and then I'll reapply it at time where my time allows and that's really what we should be asking people to do um so I don't see that as I don't see it as Draconian and I feel that that uh that term is uh is not correctly used in the circumstance uh but we need and frankly in my opinion I want volunteers who are going to be responsible I want volunteers are going to be at the at the meetings in order to participate because if they're not there and we've appointed them to be there they're really not doing what we've asked this Council to to do and is you know but I appreciate people people who step up but you also have to step up and do it if you're if you're on the rescue squad and you don't complete your your required training you can't answer Rescue Squad calls if you're on the fire department and you don't attend drills we don't want you in a burning building same idea you have a commitment to to what you're doing um and those obviously wouldn't apply under this ordinance of just using those examples I would be in favor in light of the subcommittee and special meeting issues that were brought up changing some in in front to say or S does not attend the required number of meetings it should be the regular schedule meetings SO meetings in advance right uh so that would be that would be fine um I know the the planning this would not apply Mr just want to clarify to the planning board the zoning board and the environmental and shry commissions correct because those are State mandated boards that have their own due process regulations and statute that's correct um so so I think that's another important item to to know I think it is it's certainly fair to to warn people I have a little a little concern with putting a lot of the the onus on the on the chair because we do want to have a consistent approach so I think in my opinion um because we're the appointing authority whether it's the manager the mayor or the council we have three appointing authorities that we want to make sure that the people were appointing or doing what we're asking to do as the appointing authority right so I think at that point what it should be is that instead of them being removed a process would be initiated whereby we consult with the chair so we start with okay this person has not met it we've done the attendance we then consult with the chair but we're not waiting for the chair to come to us because some chairish just may not do that and that's not necessarily serving public when we're trying to have people people here so then we've had issues with having Forum at meetings because of the attendance being limited um and we can't you know can't technically conduct uh you can discuss but you can't make it uh conduct business I don't think it's that fair to the public who attends on that on that side um but as somebody who like Council McGrath has spent a good portion of my life as a board member on nonprofit boards um in a variety of of Arenas and I sit on several today um part of the the issue we all face is that when we're we need to be able to get our projects done we need to make recommendations we have boards and committees a lot of them are working boards and committees that are somewhat independent but the purpose of lot of these boards and committees is to spend an extended period of time and effort looking at issues the council puts forth to the Committees and providing us recommendations and that process should move quickly and we don't want back um so I I think that I I don't want there to be an appearance that having a policy is um is not showing appreciation for the people who volunteer in our community because it's not the case I think what it does is showing an appreciation for everybody on the community and their time and also allowing us that if we have people who can't do the job we have a a process we're not picking on one person we're not singling anybody out we're not doing whatever when you have a consistent process you allow that and that opportunity so I don't see a problem with some some light uh changes to this as far as dealing with quired meetings um and having it stay at 70% but have a chair consultation and specifically write in that a recusal is not considered an absence you I think that's that's a point we don't have a lot of recusals on nonp policymaking boards so you know to be fair so that's not as big of an issue when we take out the planning board the zoning board the environmental commission anybody who acts on man use applications things like that um so those are those are my thoughts on on that side um and I don't think the the subcommittee piece would be involved like something the subcommittee meetings because it would be regularly scheduled meetings uh councilman holl I do think that the legislation needs to specifically exempt those other boards that that it's intending to exempt so I think that's an additional red line and I would strongly urge that the first written communication to a resident volunteer on one of these boards is not the denial I think the first written communication should be some form of a notice warning that they you know that they may be considered for this removal because it is always possible that in the scenario that was given by Mr aloya somebody's dealing with cancer maybe they're not always answering their phone right away maybe they're dealing with other crushing problems and I think getting a written correspondent saying you're removed from this committee could be perceived as very insensitive to a resident volunteer so I think having that notice provision in there would be very worth worthwhile um consultation with the committee chair is fine for me but ultimately the way it's presented in the ordinance I do think is clunky and not user friendly for the average resident so those are my comments my suggestion is on the stylistic part of it if you would provide some specific recommendations to illustrate your your point on that Edis in a red line that you could send to Mr aloya so we could be more specific understanding that that would probably be help on the the format of the style piece of it sure councilman holl grats thank you um so I'm a little confused between what our town attorney said and then some followup questions uh that were made because what I heard you say Mr Loya is that the intent of this ordinance was that if someone basically had an excused absence like well I'm attending my child's concert so I can't make this meeting tonight that that doesn't actually count towards really as an absence because they're communicating with the chair like oh I have a conflict or I have business travel so I won't be there is that going to be worked in um because again I I while I do sit on several boards and committees I actively manage volunteers and have done so for over a decade and again I'm just concerned with the 70% that sometimes again we have well-intentioned people we're we're attracting actually some of the best Volunteers in Verona to work on a board and to volunteer for board and commission um and then at the same time they're doing other things are coaching Little League Little League or softball teams and again they're trying to manage very complex lives or they're babysitting for their grandchildren so I just want to you know I I will have continued concerns if we stick to 70% unless we have a soften language in there that kind of says like if there's been communication with you know if there's been like you know communication why they're missing a meeting we're good but it's we're going to run into problems with 70% it's just unfortunately it's just too high of a threshold for the reality of how uh volunteerism is at this in this day and age at this moment so I don't know Town attorney if you can just clarify your previous comil just just as a point ofation the chair has to recognize anybody to speak so if you would allow me to do that I just want to keep the the meeting going at the P um I did just want to have a comment before Mr MOA jumps as well in the council discussion um is that I think we have to be careful about saying um that the chair can excuse absences right because the the problem with that is if we're excusing let's say somebody traveling for work and and things like that that happens 75% of the year that their excused absences that person is still not isn't really meeting the obligation of what we need our members of committees to do right so we have to be I don't I don't want to if we're going to decide what an excused absence is that needs to be done by legislation not done by necessarily by the chair um but also I think the the 70% accounts for those excused absences in my opinion right is then really and truly if we're if we have somebody who because of other commitments once again can't attend 70% of our meetings then we have to have a conversation about whether that's right for that committee and I think that's why engaging in this process you know I don't agree that s should be immediately kicked off but at the same point if we don't want somebody who holds a spot that could be held by somebody who could be at 100% of the meetings they're there and the other nice thing is that because of our system of government every meeting being open even a individual who may not be able to commit to attending all the meetings could still come to a meeting and participate publicly but I just didn't uh you know that's my uh that's where what I see we're talking about excused absences but Mr Loya if you wanted to jump in at this sure so with with regard to this foremost the when this was drafted obviously I did it at your quest and I took into consideration the the re Department I follow a lot of what they said actually with some tweaks and we changed it last council meeting that being said the way I envisioned it to be used is when you reach the threshold of 70% or you miss three consecutive meetings if you look at it um it's the clerk um and we discussed that in the last council meeting it would be through the clerk would send this letter but before the key is in the middle of the paragraph of the ordinance before notification is sent by the municipal clerk it actually gets placed on the agenda here so the mayor or the manager as the appointing authority formational and if it's the councel you guys actually have to pass a resolution so through that process even before the clerk does that and you can include it the ordinance if you want but I don't think it's necessarily necessary a couple of things have probably already happened one is the person who's on the border committee should be aware because we should notify them of this rule all right so when you get appointed or if we pass this ordinance whatever in the future everybody gets notified so they know the requirements so they shouldn't be surprised then you have the chair of the committee hopefully he's reaching out to its members with Ms to see what's going on encourage them to come then you have the municipal clerk before she puts it on the agenda is going to call him or her and say hey what's the deal you're going on the agenda and then the clerk will bring that information back to the council or to the mayor to the manager to discuss it and then you guys actually have to pass a resolution before that notification goes out so there's a lot of different Communications that should be going on that we can include and more specific in the ordinance that you know and direct the clerk when you get notified you have to send out or you have to call and let them know they're be on the agenda whatever or you can change it completely so the idea was this would be a multi-step process and certainly you'd be having a discussion before the notification comes out so you guys would be able to decide ultimately and you can add it to legislation as you indicated there whether somebody should be excused or not excused or what the reason is then it's almost as though you develop I'll call a case law right once you develop one rule then it goes on and on and on and as things go along because you can't necessarily think of every reason someone might be out and under what circumstances and whether they should be excused so as you go along in my opinion you develop rules and regulations that are very much so more specific as far as if anyone should be excusing you then you can add a few words if you want but again I don't necessarily believe that that is uh necessary either but we can draft this any way you want to um this was again just something take into consideration my Recollections other ordinances but also what the rec department had recommended and then your feedback meaning the council's feedback in the last meeting so my recommendation I think we have a lot of feedback clearly on this is that we could have a procedural motion to table consideration but I think at this point rather than everybody going to verbally discussing I don't know if we have consensus on every topic is that everybody write a piece of legislation and give it to the town of jne to see what right out what we would want this to look like what is the process it doesn't have to be you a formal ordinance but what would you like the process to be let's write those out let's give them to the township attorney and get a little homework and uh you know write that out and the township attorney could then use that to try to find a document that could reflect and build consensus among all of us and I think honestly that's we have to be productive at this joint because we're we're all on kind of different planes that be Mar yeah I was going to say something very similar we're reading way too deep into this I agree with all the changes that everybody up here came up with in my I'm here seven plus years I think this has come up twice yeah with two so I I think it's just something that isn't that common it's not going to happen that often but when it does we need something like this document just to say okay we have to remove this person and this is how we'll do it I just want to clarify I this we're going to put the boards down we're zoning planning board and it's all the commissions correct shade tree environmental historic preservation also so it's just those five or any other ones you think of so Le five okay thank you c m bre um May I make a suggestion um work that either someone from the township can do or possibly Our Town attorney to help us in our assignment is maybe if we could be directed to the provisions of all of the groups that were actually pulling out because apparently they all have removal provision so I do have to say that on shade Tre there was a lot of confusion on that in the past so I'm going to be really curious to see if that is well documented at the state level but could we be pointed to what those removal POS those attendance Provisions are for all the things we're exempting maybe we'll actually find the answer in there um or what that common ground is Maybe there's a standard or best practice in another community that we're not considering that's an excellent point so we all have homework um and one last item before we take a procedural cue on this I do want to address the Technologies or the community center that's a very simple fix I've used that teleconference system and had hybrid meetings on multiple occasions for emergency management and stuff like that we actually did it for our Township manager interviews and everything work well that might be a training item that we could send from the T Administration it our T clerk is an expert in this stuff maybe attend one of those meetings and and help through and that might be a really simple way of addressing uh addressing that situation uh because we have to St I can speak to that Thea is on to the sustainable the clerk has been on so when there's a problem and talks the chair right through it and we've always had it up in front of that room is I think it may be a training thing and maybe we take the chair and pick another person on the committee just in case a chair we have we have spoken before about having a like a chair guide book like a community chair guide book and the ATT Clark ising on that as we speak so you made the Motions you have the privilege of closing the day okay I would like to make uh a motion to table this for uh further action at a later meeting is there a second second okay motion to table is not debatable M Clark councilwoman Holland yes councilwoman McGrath yes councilman Roman yes Deputy Mayor maoy yes mayor tamboro yes may our motion passes 5 to zero the ordinance is so tabled until an appropriate time we are now moving on to H2 on first reading Madam CL read the title of age2 is there b ordinance providing a supplemental appropriation of $50,000 for preliminary planning expenses for the Improvement of ever Field located on Bloomfield Avenue block 707 Lot 10 in by the township of Verona and the county of es New Jersey Rising the issuance of $142,500 bonds or notes of the township Finance part of the cost thereof thank you madam clerk would somebody move the order motion is made by the deputy mayor is there a second second second is made by councilwoman Holland tonight is there any discussion on this item hearing none mad clerk roll please councilwoman Holland yes councilwoman McGrath yes councilman Roman yes Deputy Mayor maoy yes mayor tamboro yes mayor H2 will be numbered ordinance 2024 4-33 will be published according to law and a public hearing will be held on September 23rd thank you madam clerk we are moving on to our consent agenda we do not have any minutes this meeting we do have several resolutions um I did not before the um one of the ones I wanted to bring to the attention of the public would somebody please move the incentive agenda some of the motion is made by councilman Roman is there I'll second second is made by the deputy mayor this time I'll open for public comments on the consent agenda only uh so we have to read the public participation again because we've had a little change in our online M anyone from the public wishing to speak on the AG on the consent agenda if you're attending by Zoom you may raise your hand by pressing the raise hand button on your monitor if you're dialing in by phone press star n you're attending in person please raise your hand before you approach the elect turn once you're recognized clearly state only your name in Township of residence for the record you're not required to provide your street address however if you do please note that the meetings will be posted on the Township's YouTube channel and addresses will not be redacted for any purpose you'll have four minutes to address the council there'll be no cross dialogue and after everyone wishing to speak has been heard Council May address your comments and our questions thank you M Clark see no public comment I'll close public comment is there any Council discussion May question on K1 the contract change for Douglas place is there any specific item that required that increase of funds for that jop I mean it was it was pretty low but the percentage is close to 16% the uh with grant money awesome thank you and then I have questions for uh K4 I mean there's going to be a little bit of discussion on this if you want to and then I can get back four um a quick question for administration why on uh for K12 are we um why since this was part of a larger Contracting project normally the shade tree replacement as part of a road reconstruction project is done through the vendor that was fired and we don't normally vot separately on the vendor who's putting in the trees so why are we doing it that way this done uh when those it was uh TR this work thank you that explains it thanks gospel woman H I apologize and I was remiss for not mentioning it earlier um but I I would like to pull item P 12 for a separate vote please I'm sorry was um right now fact um this one I did so I will amend my previous motion to separate out K1 12 for separate vote and second on this one second the mayor second all those in favor day 12 is removed at Council Holland um right de may I think we're back to you okay I just want to make a note that I I did contact the uh clerk today about minor changes on K10 and k11 those changes were made uh providing of services what they were uh so on K4 the uh resolution that we have for the West Orange planning board uh I I know it's not too late is if for a possible change in wording uh because we have down here the further resolved requesting the West Orange planning board to deny the application to West Essex Highlands LLC lock 179 lot 32 War Road W orange uh we have it basically talking about if if they change their stor order management plan we be okay with this and I was going to suggest some different uh wording in there to say uh basically to the effect of for a number of reasons including but not limited to the revision of the storm water management uh plan that is current with the state of New Jersey because they're they're working on the old rules and regulations is there any objection to that edit uh uh Council Holland I don't have an objection I'm just where are you proposing this edit and not envisioning it in the bottom of the resolution be a further resolved okay uh that is respectfully going all the way down to where it says Warner Road West Orange and instead of unless it is revised as necessary to implement the most recent storm order rules and regulations it's kind of just sticking just to that whereas we had someone come up uh M sto off earlier there's other things that we're worried about including traffic uh the amount of trees are taken down so rather than being specific just to stor Water Management I suggest and I for a number of reasons including but not limited to the revision of the storm water management current plan from the state of New Jersey's rules and regulations and the and address the concerns raised in Mr is I6 so essentially you would be restating part of the title into the conclusion yes okay I mean I would not have an objection to that I mean another alternative is you can just strike everything following the comma and just insert a period where the comma is you just say didn't any application West Su that's essentially what I'm just so you yeah put a period there or you could restate what is largely in the title of the document itself so I I would be fine with either thank you I think uh my opinion is just putting a period after LLC would be just fine Council H this is a question for the administration did we ever get clarification on this project on where the water and sewer was going to hook up and are they like hooking into our water and SE this is a this is a close session item right so oh we discuss this for close session okay so uh a couple questions on got recognize Mr Roman I'm sorry uh first off a Grier's error in the heading Implement is yeah these were sent to her earlier okay and then secondly I would just sort of concur that there I my feeling is that there's a lot of reasons other than just storm water to deny this application it's overly dense it does result in environmental impact due to the loss of trees wildlife habitat Etc um so I agree with the we shouldn't structure this in a form that it sounds like if they comply with current storm water management Rags that we're fine with it because I we aren't so the question is do we want to get more of that into whereas Clauses uh to go into some further detail other than just storm water management uh or should we rely solely on Boswell report should we put some more meat into this is really what I'm asking my my opinion is to send some something now just because because we need to send something now I me I wouldn't delay here at the meeting this evening we want I mean I think we could add a um you know we added the proposal T room uh and perhaps add a whereas it says the furthermore the proposal has potential to greatly affect the quality of life of R residents with increased traffic environmental impact sound you know there's another whereas in there uh before you know between the second and third whereases and I think that the amount of free removal should be flagged in I agree yes because they're up over 57 5800 as stated on their record uh so my other questions are has uh Paul Pierro uh at the last meeting they stated that his storm water management report was based on a prior plan has he reviewed the current plan that they have on file well I'm just so I understand that you want to like kind of maybe strengthen this but where I'm relying on what's in front with the Boswell letter so yes um I guess my concern is I would like us to stick with the letter because we already sent it to them and that's what they had a chance to respond to and they didn't so now we're affirming hey you really should deny this because you're not following the storm water regulations I would like us to keep to what we saw or if there's because I was not in the last executive session if we want to table this go into executive session come back and strengthen it I would be fine with that but I I I just before we add additional language I'm just not 100% comfortable I just want to be brought to speed and that could have been done you know in between the last meeting and this one but so we I'm more than if we can table it that's great but if not we really like I mean I don't I didn't disagree until we started adding language until um because I I just need to need more information May recommend procedurally C sure um I would suggest then what we might do is still intend to pass this this evening but after executive session I don't know that propos adding an executive session in the middle of meeting that's a your discretion um but we might have some further matters to discuss in executive session before crafting this but I would I would definitely like for us to get something approved tonight yes before we go into when we're talking about the prior letter the West Orange planning board Den denied that letter and didn't review it because the author of that letter was not there to present and give argument for or against it it was the principal of the firm that was there and so they therefore didn't accept it uh or they have the letter but they're not going to accept it or or review it as a planning board because that that author is not there to answer questions based on so the the letter is basically in limboo um yeah this what this goes back to the the conversation that we had about the um save my comments for another time um I'll hear a motion to table this and we can take it off the table after executive session yes if you unless I'm missing something I believe you after all this discussion have only made two changes yeah and I've written down the changes so if you want me to read them now you might comfortable voting the one change is obviously we remove part of the paragraph put a period in so that's easy and the other change is the third where as I've added language to the third whereas clause on the resolution with now States whereas the proposal will impact the township of Verona based upon the changes in land cover and runoff that will discharge toward Verona and the pekman river semicolon dramatically increased traffic semicolon significant environmental impacts based upon the removal of trees and then it goes on so just listed the three additional reasons that you guys discussed to me I just note that the title would probably also need to be amended to strike everything after lot 32 because the deputy mayor's request to not make it an unless so like yes it will change the title that's just so indicated Council just a brief question will any of the executive session items play into adding any language um Administration me we we still discuss Council one yes so I just want to understand this is there a traffic study that we are referencing or is there is there a traffic study that we have seen I just want to make sure that when we make statements they are backed up by fact and yes like I have heard about this project and we all know intuitively I just want to make sure we're not just saying the same thing that everyone says about every development that we're sticking with facts so and and the facts are not great on this development in terms of them using the wrong storm water management guidelines but in terms of traffic and uh you know and other things I just want to make sure we are tying back to a document that we have read can someone answer that I think one that there'll be you know hundreds of units I think we can make a reasonable assumption that there will be more cars than that than there yes of course but and but we are also the flip side is we have done development and we have heard these complaints and again we would like to go to you know documented studies to back up our facts I'm just I understand that we we want to present the strongest case but I'm just a little concerned with adding this one sentence I was fine until then so I just really don't want to just throw in the kitchen sink I would rather as focus on what we were doing for on behalf of our residents which was really focused on storm water which was really effective and I want to thank all of the members of council who were really pushing to get to this so I'm just a little concerned about taking that one sentence further I would I would I would concur with I'm okay with taking the traffic piece out um I think that the traffic as it pertains to Verona has to do with a very specific issue at a very specific location that is being handled mayor to Mayor and administration to Administration um I think the tree loss is documented and I think that that's a huge impact I think that's got to go here yeah yeah I would I would agree with that um and the tree losss fir I I would agree with the tree loss as it relates to the storm water thank you specifically yes and the environmental impact and so on okay however I'm sorry but there's one but concern from I think every resident that came up to us has been at the meetings the Plenty board meetings over there and you are all concerned with the traffic in the forest area uh neighborhood now although and thank you for reaching out to their mayor that is a verbal conversation they can as soon as they approve this project they can also turn around or if they have a different Council they can turn around and open a road onto how so I think unless we include that we are not really doing right for our contitions my suggestion is perhaps at that point we would want to have a separate resolution that deals when they've started talking about the traffic pattern we have some more information on that we could have as many resolutions as we want they're going to love hearing from us maybe yes maybe we do that and um you know and and go from there if that's okay Deputy Mayor do that that work so now the title has been changed just got a period after LLC the end has been changed just have appeared after LLC the third whereas now says where proposal will impact the township Verona based upon changes in land cover and runoff that will discharge towards Verona and pick River and will have a significant environmental impact based upon the removal of trees semic okay all right excellent we have de with item number K4 one last comment no you got it and I'm just going because I I've attended these meetings and and uh so too with the letter uh from somebody who if we want to present this I will be going to the meeting on Wednesday night so if we want to present this resolution and they say they're not going to accept it unless someone presents it I will be there and I will be more than happy to stand up present it can we even read it can we get the deputy mayor a copy with the seal on it in one of those nice red folders to bring up but I'm still there we'll give him another copy yes we'll have it sent by in case it's presented and they don't corre want to accept it I will perfect St one of our nice red folders put the seal on it excellent than I'll R it into what's that you're more fiscally conservative Mr drco as you should be and keeping all the supplies in your control uh Madame Clark would you please call a roll on K1 through K1 and k 13 through K7 councilwoman Holly yes councilwoman McGrath yes councilman Roman yes Deputy Mayor McAvoy yes mayor tamboro yes we have resolutions K1 through K1 and 13- 17 will be numbered resolutions 147 through 162 thank you but somebody move resolution K12 please motions made by woman McGrath is there a second second the second is made by councilman lman we've already called for public comment on this because it was part of the consent agenda before so we don't need to do that again any discussion on the turf Smith contract Mr bear I'd like to recuse myself from this item excellent thank you and uh any other comments Madam clerk call the roll please councilwoman McGrath yes councilman Roman yes Deputy Mayor mavo yes mayor Toro yes mayor on resolution K12 will be numbered 163 and it passes 40 with one refusal thank you madam cler we have no addendum this evening uh we do have some appointments on the agenda he recently expanded the size of our refre asan advisory committee um so we have appointments to UHA um Thea John ttis and Ashley Raa um we I did ask the town clerk to contact the managers um yes delegate to make sure that he did not was not interested in one the voting positions and he did decline a voting position so we had that so I just want to make the council aware that we have Fair process that um and the way that the uh the terms were assigned if anybody has another option that is perfectly fine um but I suggested to the cler that we list them with whoever applied first would have the term that goes the longest and then back because we have we have three different term endings and there's no particular order in that I I didn't even know who applied first until the clerk put that together somebody move the appointments mov motions made by councilwoman Holland or Le on to this committee I'm going to Second this because I haven't seconded anything tonight is there any discussion on the appointments just thank you and I Concur and uh I'd also like to thank the chair of the recreation committee Cory Shaw who has showed not only tremendous leadership um but also administrative skill project management foresight and communication uh Mr sh is really an example I thank him for his advocacy and his his honest leadership and feedback councilwoman Holland yes councilwoman McGrath yes councilwoman Roman yes Deputy Mayor makoy yes mayor tamboro yes mayor appointments U are voted affirmatively 5- Z thank you all right um we are moving on councilwoman Holland asked for a discussion on the blomfield Avenue zoning and on our affortable housing no sure I'm sorry you're councilwoman MCG yes um thank you well you know in the spirit of kind of good planning and thinking ahead I think it would be a good idea if our Administration can work with our planner and with our special planner for affordable housing just to put together a timeline on how everything's going to come together um over the next um five to six uh months I noticed that as I was not at the last meeting that the council approved yet another um sending yet another area of need of Redevelopment to the planning board um our as I've stated for a very long time our zoning needs to be fixed I know it's in the works I'm getting you know a little anxious as you know it seems like we have a lot of properties for sale Walgreens will be closing at some point we have area we have developers who clearly want to get going and it just feels a little hod pod and so and then we of course have the big October reveal uh Statewide on our affordable housing numbers um so I think a little planning would go a long way especially since um so that we can have a line of sight on again what are we working through in terms of Are We zoning what are we anticipating in terms of the state's process so we can see how it SS together but also hold all of our um all of our vendors accountable to a timeline um I just want to make sure that we are you know really moving things forward it's great that the C2 Zone has passed uh so we we fixed that I know we're working on area of need of Redevelopment um and also we're getting questions from residents so I just think a little planning would go along way and that's what I wanted to bring up to me I believe the touch Administration has expressed the timeline in the P have one report that was submitted we'll be meeting with the the team again in anticipation of that October date and number we will be getting to working on that in conjunction with your planner the you on with the areas of need of Redevelopment okay great it would great to see it like Sy thanks any other your comment on that uh you know we we have always thought of this and for any development any large piece of property if you bring up Walgreens no matter what we plan for they're going to always come they're going to come forward and they're going to want uh their area declared an area you needed Redevelopment so it's going to come back to us to decide uh eventually in the long run and we always have in place our ordinance that requires a 20% set aside for any development that if anybody on lufield Avenue want to develop right now they're going to have to here too so we we kind of have prepared for that but I do you know I I I we were given the schedule of what the time frame was from the administration a couple months ago so that's I mean until we really get these numbers it's always been uh something we always anticipate but uh once again I'll go back to 2017 into 18 you get the numbers and the numbers always changed so you know they move the goalpost day after so hopefully uh you know October will give us some good numbers thank you any other items for new business heing on at this time I'll open for public comment on any item that anybody wishes to speak about the same public comment State appes and I see Mr I don't see Mr R doesn't have K yes Kevin Ryan Verona New Jersey uh just a question about your last discussion that uh councilwoman McGrath initiated uh at the end of the last round of affordable housing I just want to confirm that I believe as part of the agreement there was a carer along Bloomfield Avenue that was uh designated as a PO potential site for um uh affordable housing uh Redevelopment inclusion I would just like to know if that's if that still is the is the case and uh but also follow up on the deputy mayor's pronouncement uh before the last round started we were assured by our special councel for affordable housing that we were in total compliance and uh lo and behold we were in to compliance until we were like 120 units down so I'm very happy to see that uh you've gotten some out side expertise to come in and help you uh decipher uh what what the plans uh should be and hopefully we won't get into a situation that I believe Milburn is still involved in where there's 400 court cases court cases and uh five or six interveners uh so hopefully uh things will go a little bit smoother and uh I think the quicker you can get the public uh on board uh the better will be for all of you thank you a call comments since at this time respond to Mr Ryan I am aware of no change in the status quo as far as the uh the blue Avenue uh quarter there anybody else is no okay um this time we have passed a resolution going to Executive session will we be taking any official action Mr aloa Mr yeah no then we will see everybody in two weeks in the same time same station wonderful night