##VIDEO ID:rpWixtSrhyY## a good evening everyone Welcome to our September 24th Town council meeting uh both to those that are joining us in person and virtually uh we're going to begin with our conference agenda uh is a proclamation counc is that what we're doing Proclamation is that mayor yeah but I have to open the open that's okay mad this is to inform the general public that this meeting is being held in compliance with Section Five of the open public meetings act chapter 231 Public Law 1975 the annual notice was emailed to The Star Ledger and filed in the township clerk's office on November 21st 2023 and published in the West Orange Chronicle on November 30th 2023 councilwoman castelino present councilwoman G Michael present councilwoman Scarpa present councilwoman Williams present council president Rutherford here mayor McCartney mayor McCartney good evening everyone council president and thank you I did ask um actually I did introduce Suicide Prevention to the police a few years ago and Tammy seems to have a very personal story about it and she is running with it no pun intended but she has conduct conducting the um the stop for suicide prevention for a number of years now and personally attached so if you would thank you thank you mayor thank you council president council member colleagues and those who are here in council chambers as well as the public um as the mayor indicated this is a very personal a mission to and for me um if you do not know my story please uh I don't want to belabor this evening um with the details but it is a family um crisis that occurred uh to my younger sister um so September is suicide prevention month and we have a proclamation uh to honor Suicide Prevention month and what we want to do um even though this topic seems very dark um is bring awareness because there is a preventable disease here and if we know the warning signs of suicide then sometimes we can help those who are in crisis so with that our Proclamation reads National Suicide Prevention month whereas the month of September is National Suicide Prevention month it is a time for mental health Advocates prevention organizations and community members to unite to raise awareness of Suicide Prevention we can all help to prevent suicide and whereas in the United States there is one death every 11 minutes due to suicide and is the second leading cause of death among 10 to 24 year olds and whereas suicide prevention is a public health issue that requires the combined efforts of individuals families friends Educators Faith communities mental health professionals and government agencies working together to prevent this tragedy ends whereas by offering compassion reducing stigma around mental health and supporting the development of effective treatment options we can work together to create a world where suicide is no longer a leading cause of death and whereas we encourage all residents to take time to understand mental health through education and recognize that we need to take care of our mental health while we take care of each other and whereas if you or someone you know is in crisis please contact the 98 8 suicide and crisis Lifeline where you can connect with a trained counselor 988 is confidential free and available 247365 call or text 988 now therefore be it resolved that mayor Susan McCartney mayor of West Orange and the West Orange Township council do hereby Proclaim September 2024 as Suicide Prevention month and encourage all citizens to participate in activities and initiatives that promote mental health and well-being and to work together to prevent suicide in our community in addition to our um Suicide Prevention Proclamation um I host annually and I started in 2019 before covid uh the wac foundation uh stopped suicide West Orange Stop suicide ay Coalition and I have to give a tremendous amount of honor and credit to the woman who was the Catalyst behind um this Mission and that was Miss Lauren Mader unfortunately her son Zach had succumbed to death by suicide in their home um she is no longer with us she also took her life um last year after four or five very serious attempts um it is just imperative that we understand um that people should not and do not have to suffer in silence and or to suffer alone and so I have monitored since 2019 the deaths that we have had in West orang by Suicide or even the suicide attempts and I'm so very pleased and proud that our department our Township took on a a different approach to mental health and mental Wellness by being the first Township Police Department to have a program where mental health professionals rode along with our police officers that is a policy shift in how treat mental health and wellness so I would ask that we give our Police Department our Township a round of applause because that is a continued program I have been touched by this um illness just closeup personal familial and of course every time there is an incident in West Orange um it impacts me deeply and so I tried to figure out what is it that we can do as a community so that we can continue to increase awareness let people know that there's help let people know that never ever do they have to suffer alone so I created through my Foundation a zero suicide campaign I would like this campaign to last from SE well to begin September of this year and for us to do this campaign for one year in the hopes that within this 12 month period we can eliminate suicide in our municipality of West Orange so the foundation is launching the zero suicide campaign from September 24 to September 25 aiming for zero suicides in our community by engaging all local resources including the West Orange Police Department Township Health Department schools residents and Community organizations we will work together to create a comprehensive year-long initiative that supports mental health and suicide prevention we're not going to go through the entire campaign but what I have um asked each of us to do and whether you're on a adult parent whether you are a Township employee or whether you are a student in our schools in West Orange we have created a wellness pledge and I'm going to just read the pledge for our adults and parents and that pledge will simply say as an adult and part of the West Orange Community I pledge to prioritize prioritize Mental Health for myself my family and those around me I commit to understanding my emotions I will take time to reflect on my mental and emotional well-being and seek help when needed talking openly I will communicate honestly with family friends and loved ones about how I'm feeling and encourage them to do the same three seeking professional support if I or someone close to me is struggling with mental health challenges I will seek the necessary NE resources and support fourth checking in on loved ones I will be mindful of changes in Behavior mood or actions in my family and friends and offer support by asking if they are okay and five we will create a supportive environment you will Foster a Home and Community where mental health is prioritized and asking for help is encouraged without stigma together we can protect the well-being of ourselves and our loved ones helping to prevent suicide and build a healthier community and I'm asking each of us whether you be again a child an adult or Township employee to take this pledge and let's not be afraid of erasing the stigma talking about mental health and wellness because our mental health is Health thank you so much for your time and your Indulgence and please by all means if anyone you know is at risk or in need recommend that they seek help immediately thank you thank you councilwoman um we have a presentation by the uh new assisted living facility on Eagle Rock Avenue is that Mariola cldis yep um good evening and thank you mayor for allowing us to commend this evening we were not ready for this but we greatly appreciate the fact that you um decided to welcome us here my name is Mara CES I'm the administrator for the new Chelsea Community or at 609 EIG um we are brand new to the area um I do not live in West for I personally live in Morristown New Jersey Linda my uh self director lives in Warren but we are new to the area we're doing awfully lot of Outreach and we would like to know anything and everything about West Orange um our brand new community will not be open till spring of next year and the things happen along the way at the time being we are operating out of uh sales office which is located behind the community itself and will be available to Vis and to the public of the public within next couple of weeks maybe even days um we are present in a community we're reaching out to different officials to senior cators the churches synagog just to make ourselves um available and visible to all of you guys we want to support the community we always close with the First Responders um we rely on them tremendously so thank you for having us this evening uh Lind has been working for Chelsea for over 20 years we'll fill you in the history I'm new to Chelsea I come in from Brandy living in MAA where I was an administrator for close to a decade but decided to re toor to and obtained a position with Chelsea only about a month but will Linda will fill you in a history of Chelsea and uh the 12 buildings we currently have in two states only New Jersey and New York we a small company so thank you for having us this evening thank you woman that was powerful thank you beautiful um so thank you so much mayor and Council and everyone here we're so excited to be a part of West Orange as Mariola said I have been with the Chelsea for over 20 years in five different buildings West Orange is New I grew up in Cranford and live in Warren I always knew of West Orange but I am just getting to know every little nook and cranny and Corner that there is uh as Mariola said I am the sales director so here I go we are a very philanthropic organization yes we've got a lot of assisted livings in the area a three right here in West Orange what sets the Chelsea apart is that we're locally owned and operated we only have 12 locations and we believe in getting extremely entrenched in the community um for those of you who may remember our site was the atrium wedding venue but before that it was the Cabana Club does anybody remember the Cabana Club so there they are best friends now uh somehow I found out that it was the Cabana Club and we met Helen Helen kipnees an attorney who was the chairperson and they had a reunion on Saturday at the cat Center and we were pleased to sponsor that event so I understand it's like sacred ground so we hope we're doing the Cabana Club proud but honestly we do have a budget to give whether it's sponsoring a little league team whether it's Lions Club Unico the schools this is what we're supposed to do especially me I got to give money away so uh thank you as soon as we can I'd love for you to come visit if you have any questions in the meantime we are at 609 Eagle Rock and again we thank you very much for allowing us to speak tonight thank here we go CC president yes oh can I say something yes I just want to say uh welcome ladies and thank you so much and I have to maybe add this to Mr he might not even know this fact but I believe if I remember properly that I zering was discovered at a play at the Cabana Club when he was younger so I Ian earing 902 90210 oh not know today years old all right I want to thank both of our presentations uh we have a little bit of time left for our liaison announcements uh we'll start in uh reverse order councilwoman Williams thank you very much uh for liaison announcements we will poost our next historic preservation commission meeting on the second Wednesday of October uh the municipal Alliance commission has not met again that they meet quarterly and the Arts Center opened on September 24th um with an amazing Gallery exhibit for Latin or Hispanic History Month with our Latin off uh artists being featured um it was a wonderful opening it will continue to be open on Saturday and Sundays and then our next event at the art gallery um will be on indigenous people's day that's October 14th via registration um I am in partnership with um another organization hosting a film uh dying to vote it will begin at 1 pm we will probably do two showings but the information will be on the the municipal calendar as well as on the Art Center calendar if it's not already up um but dying to vote is a 30 minute documentary on how important the right to vote is and some of the challenges that have been experienced throughout uh the history of voting um by different uh parts of the country um that's all I have other than of course on October the 6 uh we have our run for wac at Rock Spring Golf Club um and registration is open and we look forward to seeing you there so that we can again continue to spread awareness and uh increase prevention that's all I have council president thank you thank you councilwoman Scara great thank you um our seniors were in full force again at the uh OAC for JazzFest we had a fabulous time our um couple from the Dean House were on another date I promis them we'd try to get them out once a month um the senior bus thank you to Laura van djk and Michael fanino took those seniors who couldn't get there on their own they had so much fun that when the bus came they did not want to leave it was the first time that they said can't we stay so um I just want Laura and Mike and the mayor to know how much it is enhancing the lives of our seniors to just get them out for a simple event like that once in a while um and we're looking forward to taking them again to mtown Laura is confirming whether she can get the bus but whether I don't think she'll have a problem but if she should we'll find a way to get them there but we have a nice group who really are getting to know one another they're socializing and that's really so important because we know how isolated our seniors can be um and that will be next Saturday the Motown and they had a really nice time at the community band at OAC and the community the West Orange Community band if you haven't seen them are playing at Liberty Middle School on October 30th and they are fabulous and it is free so our seniors are are going to come out for that and I hope that the community will also come out uh I see our um environmental chair is here our environmental committee meets tomorrow so I don't have any news on that yet and uh our Economic Development Committee will meet on Thursday so we'll have updates for the next meeting uh thank you councilwoman gabber Michel good evening any everyone thank you so much for joining us here in our council chambers and to those of you on Zoom welcome um the open space uh committee commission is meeting on October 10th here in uh town hall and it's at 700 pm and tomorrow evening the West Orange pedestrian safety Advisory Board is meeting via Zoom at 700 p.m. unfortunately I won't make it because or I'm sorry SE 7:30 I believe I'm not going to make it because I have my son's back to school night he's in Edison Middle School so I wish all the parents and kids a wonderful school year and um a wonderful back to school tomorrow night so that concludes my le on announcements thank you councilwoman councilwoman Celina yeah thank you um council president uh what I love about September and school back in are all is all the programming that's happening on the weekends and weather has been exceptional so you know West Orange Art Center had their showing as councilwoman said and that was just amazing uh OAC with Saturday night as councilwoman scarus said and just the talent that we have that performs there and that also lives in our community is also amazing the N Nik balani walk on Sunday morning the support for that organization ongoing and all they do for pedestrian safety and all I could say is folks Slow Down slow down slow down in our community because there's just been so much speeding going on and with school in we had a a school bus uh cut off um another school bus uh cut I mean another person trying to cut off a school bus and it you really need to slow down and pay attention to our crosswalks um downtown Alliance again they've been working really hard beautification Grant um miss bril one day will give us a report on all their great activities and if you haven't seen the butterflies and the imagination alley down by um Supreme Bakery I hope you do so at our meeting the other night I want to thank our economic developer uh was there and uh he told us of all the great benefits of uh bringing in a film studio to Downtown West Orange and how beneficial that will be and our business owners were very receptive of that and very excited for that and they're looking forward to that so uh that gets me excited and I hope we could uh move forward for the sake of our businesses in Downtown West Orange thank you council president thank you councilwoman um we had our insurance commission meeting today do meeting met last week um I think that's good enough for me since it's 7 o'clock I'd like to get started Madam Clerk this is to inform the general public that this meeting is being held in compliance with Section 5 of the open public meetings act chapter 231 Public Law 1975 the annual notice was emailed to The Star Ledger and filed in the township clerk's office on November 21st 2023 and published in the West Orange Chronicle on November 30th 2023 councilwoman celino present councilwoman gber Michel present councilwoman Scarpa present councilwoman Williams present council president Rutherford here mayor McCartney will everyone please rise for the Pledge of Allegiance iedge Al to the of the United States of America stands indivisible liy and justice for all the council is now in their public meeting thank you madam clerk uh as always we will begin with public comment um public comment is for res uh for members that are in person only uh so we will not have a public comment from Zoom uh you will not have to be called upon when the microphone is open just make your way to it and uh please state your name and your address uh before you begin your comment uh we're going to begin with Mr Fagan this evening Mr Fagan uh thank you very much council president uh this is always a nerve-racking moment all day for me uh knowing that I have to deliver this report so I'm going to do do my best and pardon me if I'm nervous um I can't believe that uh fall that I'm saying welcome fall fall began on Sunday uh of course it means that the year is now three quarters over it seems like we just uh celebrated New Year's but fall has begun in West Orange and to that point uh the leaf collection procedure for 20 24 is now posted on our website um there's a lot of restrictions and regulations there it has it is not yet running on social media it will be soon but it is certainly up on our website uh to check out um also uh good news the West Orange fire department has received an assistance to Firefighters Grant award I believe it was for 76,000 plus dollar and uh it will go towards training uh will help further train our already well Tred uh fire department uh and uh speaking of the fire department their annual open house is coming up on Sunday October 6 from 11:00 a. to 3:30 p.m this is a great opportunity to bring the kids and the adults out to uh have Hands-On um experience with the fire with the fire equipment and uh just all the excitement that that brings see seeing the fire apparatus up close um uh there's a parking feasibility study uh that's going to be taking place on the September 25th 26th and 28th I believe that's a Wednesday Thursday and a Saturday now there will be no road closures associated with this uh and uh the public will probably not even be affected by it um but it we pointed out because there will be uh individuals I say work Crews but there really aren't work Crews their work will be limited to look looking at and studying the parking situation in three neighborhoods I believe W Chong Heights the valley and one other I can't remember and uh I also concluded that it's on a Wednesday a Thursday and a Saturday just so that they have data to see what the change is from during the week to Saturday parking uh mayor McCartney's next open Office hours are October 3rd 6: to 8 PM uh please stop in and see the mayor if you have any concerns suggestions anything you want to talk about no appointment is ever necessary um you may have heard there's an election coming up uh voter registration deadline is October 15 um and you can register at vote nj.gov this information is running on our uh website uh we have a dwali festival I probably said that wrong and I apologize coming up on Sunday October 13th uh from 2: pm to 5: at the West Orange High School this is going to be a celebration of Music food and culture uh as councilwoman Williams pointed out earlier the 5K run for wac is coming up um there is a sponsorship information you can contact Council W Williams directly this information is our website also want to point out that at this event uh on October 6 there will be some road closures there will be soft closure hard closure and some barricades in place and once again this information is on our website and more importantly just follow the instructions of the police officer uh who might be on duty at that location uh I mentioned this last meeting it's worth mentioning again Sunday October 6th is shredding day get those documents ready uh there are also some restrictions associated with this so please check our website to see uh what can and can't be taken I know off the top of my head there's four box is limited per household and no previously shredded documents are accepted so please check the website um also the West Orange Police Department uh is having National Suicide in in celebration and celebration isn't the right word in awareness of uh National Suicide Prevention month uh they're having an event at the library on September 25th uh and of course the library is located at 10 Rooney Circle and as uh Council Will Williams also o mentioned earlier uh they do participate uh was the first uh law enforcement agency in New Jersey uh with mental health associates where uh trained individuals show up with police officers to deescalate problems and it has been very effective and it has set an industry standard for law enforcement agencies around the uh around the state um the mertile law the annually renewable license is each October 1st uh this information is on our website I believe this applies to uh business owners so you can check out the information on our website the details of course are at West orange.org and um happening this Thursday uh the pink Warriors are coming to uh West Orange I believe they're making 21 stops on a Statewide tour they will be here Thursday September 26 at 3:30 right here in front of town hall and of course October is uh breast uh Awareness Month a breast cancer awareness month excuse me and uh so they will be kicking off uh here at West AR town hall on Thursday September 26 um also it was brought up before about the uh Run for the stoper Nila uh run that happened this past Sunday 5K event and it was covered by news12 New Jersey and uh it wasn't just a uh a brief mention it was some extensive courage and you can see that piece on their website um uh I don't see uh Anthony py from the county here tonight but this is his contact information uh should you have any need to contact him this is his email and phone number and he is very responsive to phone calls and certainly emails um you can contact all Township council members via email there is no public comment from the zoom audience but uh you can email them at council at West daring uh council president I believe that concludes my report I got the uh I seen the hook to come sit down so I'm I'm heading to my seat now thank you thank you sir um Mr blei is not here I don't see him either so we will open it to the floor for public comment if anyone in the gallery would like to address the council now is your chance you can approach the podium use the microphone please state your name and where you're from I like that hold off on the clock just for like 10 seconds good evening Council council president mayor um my name is Jessica Pearson I'm from Verona and I've been serving on the Verona environmental commission since 2013 when I began a curiosity driven course of study into the storm water management rules of the state of New Jersey best management practices etc etc don't ask because I really don't have an excuse why I'm so impassioned by it but I just am in 2018 I joined the Verona planning board and I am honored to serve as chair to both today in 2019 we learned on the commission about the Watershed Institute of uh New Jersey they are an Institute that advocate for clean water but they do more they ALS also teach M municipalities how to tighten the screws and pass more effective environmental ordinances so I took their model enhanced ordinance of their storm water and I took it to the administration in Verona and I said what do you think can we do it can I do this can you G let me do it and they said go for it 5 passed 2021 and again this past round same thing went to the planning board boom boom boom it passed I'm here to advocate for West Orange to do the same thing to pass a more strict ordinance because right now on September 10th you guys introduced an ordinance that has the minimum requirements not good enough you could do better I think I think you would agree with me once you hear what you could do and it's really easy well the bottom line is this we know what happens when development happens in our neighborhoods in our properties right doesn't stop at Verona's border it hits Cedar Grove c u Caldwell hits Verona it goes to Cedar Grove Patterson all the way down the line Little Falls todua Etc when you guys do development you got to add us to the chain and then you have to turn around and look at Essex spells and rosand and orange and Beyond we need we we all affect each other we need to pass more conci ordinances because we have to be better neighbors we really do and I think that everybody is sitting up there on that day is because they want to be uh good custodians to the greater public this is a way to do that from as world as Hamilton New Jersey to as Urban as Jersey City these storm waterer management ordinances are being enhanced um it doesn't matter that the communities are very different in character we all have one thing glaring thing in common and that is the increase in intensity in storms the increase in the rainfall volume the increase in impervious surface that comes from all the development that we're all experiencing and the tree loss that usually coincides with development and I point this out because the updates in the ordinance that you guys will be passing the State updates tell us that these weather conditions and patterns are going to continue they're not going to end right now your effective ordinance relies on 1998 rainfall averages more than a a quarter of a century ago right the new one that you will be passing at some point in the near future that relies on 2019s rainfall averages and it requires Engineers to design their storm water management for rainfall averages projected for the year 2175 years in the future proactive we can all be more proactive here are some of the updates that you could easily add to your ordinance oh my God I only have 59 seconds um major development you can redefine major development the state says it's an acre or more of disturbance uhuh in Verona in Princeton in Jersey City it's a half acre half acre of disturbance the state says quarter acre or more that's almost 11,000 square feet quarter acre more of new impervious surface no in Verona it's 5,000 square feet of new impervious surface that triggers the ordinance now you have to do storm water management on your site you can amend applicability since it is in your zoning code to apply to all zones you can amend applicability to apply to all res residential development so when somebody wants to build an apartment building on a 3/4 acre lot well gosh they got to do storm water management on that three4 acre lot because you redefined it as a half acre or more Redevelopment oh my God I look at your Corvettes parking lot Corvettes remember that Corvette I'm almost done remember do I gotta go you you can finish okay um Redevelopment is not included in the state's ordinance I look at your Kmart or Corvettes formerly Corvettes I look at Verona's Kings parking lot on Pompton Avenue these were built in the 60s they have Absolut they're devoid of storm water management so when you do the redevelopments why wouldn't you want state-of-the-art development to also have protections for your neighbors and your own community and the resiliency of your storm water management system that can't handle all the runoff finally you can add a provision for minor developments like Verona has because all of those little patios and additions on homes they add up I'm just saying that I will be available I will make myself available to speak to any of you I can Redline anything so you want ordinance thank you very much I appreciate thank you very much Miss Pearson ready for me yep uh G even Council and mayor my name is Anthony sharperson I'm 104 Harrison Avenue New well Park Bar and Grill um owner operator um as some of you are aware we've uh received a few noise ordinance complaints um in sense um all those summon have been overturned um most recently we received one last Friday at 6 PM um we made oursel aware of what rules and ordinances govern our businesses and we've self-monitored we purchased own meters we added a Vue to limit any noise from anyone entering the building or exiting um in regards to entertainment we do have it um but we limit it to 12 o00 on the weekends 11 o'clock during a week and we only have a DJ once during the week and it's really for um kokei purposes so once people leave they go home from work the night is over um but obviously receiving a ticket at 6:00 p.m on a Friday when the ordinance extends to 11:00 it just feels like even all the measures that we're taking um is not going to appease our one or two neighbors who have issues and concerns with us um so I just pretty much wanted to go on record and let the town know that we've done pretty much all that we can do to operate within the confines of the law and we do have that ability to operate but when you have neighbors who don't want to be neighborly and we've tried to be neighborly since we've been in business for the last two years even down to our name when we came to lwell well West orang we were like we want to be part of the community um and that's why we named it Park the town the residents anyone around know that hey we want to be part of a fabri that makes up West Orange um so I'm really not sure what we can do I'm sure we came across some of you guys desk and I just wanted to introduce myself and let you know that I'm available to talk and meet anytime um I'm not sure exactly who the neighbors are that are complaining um but again I welcome them to come to the business and see how we um personally I've been in business for over 18 years um in a restaurant business so I pretty much have dealt with it all um so I'm just trying to get ahead head of H with this we do have like I said another summons that just came out last s last uh Friday and then that one was weird because today we just received the notice that it's going to be an in-person hearing as opposed to a zoom so obviously um people on the prosecution side are getting frustrated as well and I don't want to be look that like I'm doing harm to the neighborhood um we again we just want to be part of the neighborhood um and be good neighbors that's it all right thank you thank you Mr sharperson good evening mayor council members Chief um my name is Alfred Roso I'm a commissioner on the economic development commission and on behalf of our chairman Ronald uh Charles I'd like to read a letter in support of or the subject of the letter is the resolution 273-4 authorizing the ex execution of a purchase agreement an amendment to Redevelopment agreement with mdga West Orange downtown Redevelopment LLC the West Orange Economic Development commission EDC has followed and supported the ongoing efforts of the township Administration and Council to move ahead with fourth amended Redevelopment plan to create a new film Services overlay District which will Pro U pro promote Film Production activities adjacent to the location of the world's first Film Production Studio the Black Mariah on the GRS of the Thomas Edison National Historic Park the EDC understands that the township Council has important pending resolution 27324 on your next meeting agenda that will authorize the execution of a purchase agreement an amendment to Redevelopment agreement with a designated redeveloper mvga West Orange downtown Redevelopment LLC the EDC strongly recommends that the township Council approved resolution 27324 to allow the economic Redevelopment of a downtown to move ahead for the benefit of the residents and taxpayers of West Orange thank you thank you good evening is this working Joe uh yes okay thank you uh good evening council president Council women administrators mayor McCartney um I'm Mike brick I'm here as chairman of the environmental commission and also as a private citizen to discuss the film studio and um I am in favor of it and and I would like to explain why so I've been in town 51 years even though I'm 29 I don't know how that happened but it did and I've been in business my entire life mainly in Essex County with family businesses and our own business so I I bring both the environmental side and the business side to this situation so environmentally the the Edison property is a Brownfield property as I understand it the state and the federal government haven't given a final resolution about the exact condition of the property so the developer is willing to work with the scientists and the agencies to create his project and that is a major situation that many developers wouldn't do in the state of New Jersey because we're the most polluted State and we have brown Fields all over and you have to pick and choose your spot and there are many spots in New Jersey that you can pick to have a film studio um for instance we have film studios popping up in many places in New Jersey um one of them is a c studio in Cav point there's another one that will be done it's called bon 1880 Studios that's approved and in the works and then we also have Netflix which is A1 billion doll Studio complex in Fort Mammoth run by Hollywood Lion's gate and run run run by themselves then there's another one at NJ Pack and Newark run by Hollywood and Lions Gate so if we don't approve this now other choices will be made by developers by this specific developer and the size and scope of this is not a giant Studio it's only on 13 some Acres but what it'll provide New Jersey I'm I'm sorry West Orange here in New Jersey is onsite Production Services rip and electrical equipment prop set building location catering cleaning services Security office and support spaces parking for 200 to 400 Cars Plus 30 to 60 trucks and it will generate 300 to 600 full-time jobs and if we do this right many people who have these full-time jobs will reside in West Orange if we make them welcome and give them incentives to do so I'm not talking about mon Ary incentives I'm talking about social incentives to be part of this town um the other situation is taxes as a business person as I understand it there is no tax deal with this developer as of now but what there is is there is the state of New Jersey has a huge amount of money hundreds of millions of dollars that they're giving to Developers for the New Jersey film industry Studios if we don't vote for this now that money could be gone and once it's gone there's much less reason for a film studio developer to come to West Orange it's not that big a site it's a very important historical site but there are choices that are to be made um one of the things that I was told and tell me if I'm right um President Bill Rutherford you had wanted this um developer to put on a stem facility on site and I recommend that what we do is we talk to them and talk about a program for stem students in our high school as an apprenticeship type program on site that they work with and instead of the asking for a building to be put on site or a specific place in their facility I think it would be well worth it your voted in and then work with them because they seem to be very workable people and have an agreement to do a a mentoring situation with our high school stem students it would be very valuable for them as PR to the community and it would make it an extremely wonderful opportunity for the students in stem who are interested in pursuing all the sciences and arts that are in a film studio so thank you for listening to me and I hope you will approve this very important project for the town of West Orange thank you Mr Bri the mayor and Town Council my name is Lucille Wilson I'm at T Gasson Street Thea house um I have brought this issue up before between the um senior Advisory board meeting as well as the council once before my concern is the corner of Lindy and Main Street there is no frostwalk there is no light people there are two bus stops there's a very concern with the seniors that have disabilities seen or unseen or either just pedestrians trying to cross that street somebody's going to get killed there are two bus stops there's Public Service there's a bank and cars do not stop now you have the rental house and you have another senior building coming up you have seniors who want to be independent who want to walk the town of West Orange downtown but they don't feel safe crossing the street this is a very big concern to mine and also for my tenants and my residents in my building as well as others something needs to be done I have addressed this issue for a year and nothing has been done there's not even a cross what nothing so how are we supposed to cross the street and take a risk I don't want to become a statistic so something needs to be done that's my concern thank you thank you madam Clark yes could you repeat the streets that she ID lley Avenue and M right there that first name Barbara last name m1k monk I just want to reiterate it with my neighbor just said about this crosswalk that's at 59 Main Street in West Orange and um that um shelter that we stand to get the 71 in the 21 is right in front of the psng as well as the bank that's on the opposite side of the street um what I'd like to see done in regard to that area is for the traffic engineer to have a a new sign put up have a red sign put up that reads about a violation to let people know that that sign means business and also where there would be a yellow line normally that let you know you're not supposed to park there put a red line there have a red sign there so that that red sign reads certain things and let them know that they're in violation in addition to that that they will be fined find them a $100 if you want to find them more so be it but the point is is that that's very dangerous last week when we came to the um association meeting tennis association meeting Lucille and I was attempting to get on the 71 bus to come further up in West Orange and what it happened was when she stepped out the car that was here backed up and it was a car next to me and it was a next car next to me so that's pretty much almost like a fourcc car space from the dri way 1 two three four four cars and then where you see the where the bus stop sign is nobody should be parked here that's a really unauthorized area New Jersey Transit has a signed there I don't know whether this Township needs to call New Jersey Transit and get together with the town engineer or or what but I personally would like for them to do that I would like for them to have a red violation sign up here stating that you'll be issued a ticket and you will be fined if necessary and I rather it not just be necessary I rather to to be a find on people because perhaps they'll start you know parking there how many $100 fines do you want just for that and that's about being too lazy to go into the parking lot and then come up and go inside everybody wants to be in front of that building I had the same conversation last week with The Advisory Board committee regarding the same thing so my neighbor and I chose to come here today to bring it forth to the members to see what you're going to do regarding it last year my neighbor he has an artificial limb okay I was sitting and waiting for a bus but Eric was crossing the street and this man just about backed up on him and whatnot I said no no so I hollered out you know like that and then Eric stopped you know but here you have in the meantime the people that are moving like this if the bus is coming they don't know what our intent is until it happens so by cars parking there it violates us it violates the fact that it is a public service Transportation sign sitting there and it violates the fact that if I want to step out in the street I have to be guarded between a car here and a car here I've had my inces and I was taking photographs of a lot of the vehicles I stopped doing that because I figured I would be infringing on my safety if somebody saw me taking photos of their car so I stopped doing that that's pretty much what I wanted to say and one little footnote I would like to see um between Lindley and Main Street and Northfield I would like to see that strip cleaned up and I know we have code enforcement guidelines regarding street cleaning and whatnot and I would like to see that that whole strip clean Supreme vakery it's filthy it's filthy who goes into a baky that looks like that I mean the street I don't come from an environment where we live like that and we need to get back to old school not this stuff where people just bypass how often do the code enforcements walk up and down this area throughout the week or throughout the month whatever their guidelines are in terms of how often code enforcements check specific areas I don't know what that is but I can find out but I would like to see that clean because it's just too much that I see I walk up and down that area and to me sometimes like day before yesterday going into Supreme and I'm looking at it looks like where the guys do um you know the car work mechanic shops sometimes the street looks like that this is a baker no sidewalk should look like that at all you have the whole store owners or Property Owners whichever way you want to call it accountable because when you have a storefront you need to come out and Suite you need to come out Power Scrub you need to do whatever it needs to take to make that business look respectable we need to clean up this community in a lot of areas and I don't want to get started on that but there's a lot of areas in West Orange that need to be cleaned your time is up having people wash their windows thank you thank you good evening good evening good evening my name is CCE Minon I'm a former resident of West Orange for almost 20 years and a former Trustee of friends of Thomas Edison historical part that you all are kind of talking about tonight so I just wanted to show you if you all haven't seen this yet Adam Sandler actually shot is shooting Happy Gilmore too in West Orange did you all know about that yes so I'm sure you all will decide to really consider voting for this I no longer live here anymore but I am very excited about this I didn't learn a lot about film until I was a trustee and let me tell you West Orange is go mine it is a go mine especially that site so what I will say to you is please vote I don't have anything to do with anything I don't live here anymore but I am really excited that this is happening in West Orange so have a good evening thank you no problem hello uh thank you for letting me speak here tonight um I am my name is Canela Williams larabe I am a new resident of West Orange New Jersey originally from uh Brooklyn New York had to just plug that there um and I live at edel Road in lellan park so I also wanted to speak about the importance of a film studio as someone who's worked in the film industry for about 20 years and I'm currently the producer of a hit Netflix series and the amount of income that the industry can bring to West Orange and its residents and local businesses is huge and worthy of consideration and I'm speaking from experience from starting 20 years ago in New York where there was no infrastructure to seeing Studios like Steiner uh be built up where we already had coffe Studios and we Al also already had silver cup and starting from the Indie Productions to now having large Productions from Netflix Sony you name it so my current show we do film in New York and we film in New Jersey and that was something that I helped to push now one of the things is when I speak to my other colleagues my other producers is about the need for More film studios in New Jersey and they would love to have a home base here but there is no infrastructure like there is in New York like there is in Hollywood like there is in Atlanta so also when we film in New Jersey we provide inconvenience fees to the surrounding businesses and Residences if we're taking up a block and we also Patron the local businesses and we also create middle class union jobs in that industry so bringing this industry to West Orange and of course obviously it's burining all over New Jersey but but that will bring more money to the town and it also helps people you know we half of the time we we help people pay their mortgages if we're filming in their house with the amount that we pay it's like you you have people that are paying taxes and they're able to stay here and live here and um we also help bring other businesses to West Orange and that's something that is you know severely lacking in our main street is having we have some great businesses here but I know that there was a business that closed recently um that that I me and my husband patroned and um it seemed like a really great business and there's not enough people in foot traffic here but if you bring the film industry here you will have that foot traffic so I just wanted to say that thank you thank you thank you thank you I a good friend of mine Joyce salong she's to talk to you about uh film and like her stance on this hi my friend I live in Short Hills I don't live here but your name please my name is Joyce cfel I live in Short Hills thank you um I've been involved in film in a long time teaching it and writing about it um I was one of the organizers of the West Orange classic film festival with Ken Mand which is still flourishing I teach I've been involved with the monair film festival did a lot of writing for them before it got really um commercial uh I teach film at fairly Dickinson now and I did a lot of writing uh for patch.com and actually I have an article that I did about the Black Mariah film festival and if you know that was that John Columbus named it the Black Mariah because that was it looked like a taxi and that's why they called it he named it after that being called a um because that's what it reminded him of and then I had written another I had gone down and interviewed uh Steve garlic at the New Jersey uh film commission and from that I I mean I think this is a great idea I had done a Milburn Short Hills dinner in a movie club so people would come we'd go to a movie then we'd go to dinner together and I did a little just a little bit of research because it was really just talking about the um the movie but now there's no movie theater in uh Milbourne there's no movie theater in Maplewood there's the monair film festival where parking and the Monclair movie theater and if if you don't live there parking is a real pain in the neck um so I'll go up to the AMC theater um because I can get parking and what else is happening is that they're the movie business they're not making as many movies as they were um everything is being streamed but you have I think what the person uh said about me the mentor the gentleman said about the mentoring program I think that's a great idea about young people who are still interested in in the industry and also just from my experience interviewing Steve garlic when you have people coming into the um the town they need they need food to be delivered when they're working they need sets they may want to pay people to film in their homes it brings in that kind did somebody say that already because I couldn't hear the last person but did did they say that so you have that coming in and you have it um sort of spidering out to bring more business to the community and bring um an excitement and who knows you might be able to there there might be screenings you know one thing leads to another and you know and and the history of the Town um and the the Edison historical um site I think that that would it it give it gives it a lot of um good credentials I think you should do it I think it's I think it's a I think it's a good thing and I think it will with the theaters dying just having the influence of time you know of more Studios and film around here I I mean you know when I heard about this you know I'm thinking this is sort of this is sort of not so great for people going to the movies unless you're in the big cities where people want to get out of their Apartments so that's I can leave these articles if oh hi citizen okay so that's all I have to say good luck with it thank you you good evening uh my name is Lori monq and I am a lifelong Essex County resident I formerly lived in Monclair and West Orange currently residing in East Orange I am the former um the immediate former director of operations at jazz house kids we produced um the Monclair jazz festival which I was responsible for their policies and procedures for 10 years with the organization I currently am a business owner of wood Legacy Productions I have an off- premise catering business um and I for the last year and a half have been the executive chef at lellan Park Bar and Grill on 104 Harrison Avenue um where I'm also responsible for a lot of the daily operations of the establishment I'm I stand before you because um we have put extensive work in renovating The Establishment um maintaining the beauty um within the community um we are you know we've developed a great menu and we have um revitalized that location which was previously egens and the brown bear both of which I was a patron that moved out of that area and since um the owners took over two years ago um we've had a vibrant um steady clientele coming through of all Races genders ages and demographics and lellan park is becoming a destination place and I'm very proud to be part of that established helping to train um and employ many of the um local people in our community um students and um waiters um bartenders security all sorts of people um part of my role there at the restaurant is to assure that the safety and um the policies are enforced on a daily basis lately um we are are and I use this I don't use this word lightly but we are being harassed by our neighbors uh and calling the police officers on daily daily occurrences um on a Sunday um most recently we had police officers come at three different times and each time they came we invite them in to you know check out the establishment see what's going on um we're being um targeted due to noise we have a beautiful outdoor patio and um every time that the police come you know they always state that they do not see a reason why they're being called they've circled the surrounding blocks to see if they could hear noise coming from um the back of the establishment or in front um the owners which I know one of them is here tonight um have put in a an awning around the front door to help um maintain the noise control on the inside uh we hire Security on a regular basis to make sure people are not loitering outside um and I just you know I stand before you as somebody who um this is our my livelihood as well this is how I make my income as a um as a business owner being hired by them and um I just want to know what rights we have as a business to be able to operate within the compounds of your we're very well-versed on what the laws are and the limits and the noise and the time and all of that and we are operating within the rules that you have established but at the same time we have police officers coming in quite often that disrupt our daily operations where they can really be out serving the community in a more productive Manner and so um we have offered to open up the establishment to host a community meeting with our neighbors in hopes to resolve this um but I just really want it on public record that you know we stand here we take this very seriously and um we're hoping that we can work with the township to resolve these issues and um that you hear our concerns um because I'm I've heard a lot about businesses that are going out um I'm sure that having a business that is vibrant in you know the downtown area of West Orange is something that you all find very Val valuable to the um Vitality of the community so that's it rest thank you thank you thank you evening Council M chair brother for um council members mayor my name is Craig Sawyer I'm with Nishan group I'm Jerry J is here as well and our um chief executive office Michelle delort um could not make it here today I stand here on behalf of supporting the resolution authorizing mdga West Orange development known as the Maj development to acquire the purchas sell agreement to acquire development site and to amend the Redevelopment plan um to accommodate that to happen I state that from an experience of 30 years as an economic development um professional and one of the things that we do when we I call check the box and one of the things we do when we check the box we first ask ourselves does the person coming in that project sponsor do they have the compacity to execute and we look at it from a variety of perspectives one of them is experience do they have the experience to do development and you look at major development experience you would notice that they do check the box they have the ability to check the box the other thing you look at is do they have the financial capacity to secure the financing or to arrange to to raise the capital to make the deal happen and when you look at that you see that Ma has created a financial plan to finance the transaction access team public subsidy that the governor had put in place with the both the aspir program and the film tax credit program and when you look at those two pieces along with their Capital they have the ability to check the box on the financial capacity so first you look at the project sponsors and see or do you have the right sponsor from that perspective um second the township have taken the initiative and put in the foundation I said thirdly to set the table um by creating um the film Service outlay District back in 2021 to be able to facilitate a film studio to come to this particular site and when you look at the county site now it's County now is underutilize Brownfield sites we use the Brownfield to mean that there's environmental contaminations there and I think is is is is is fitting that you talking about bringing a film studio to a location where you actually created the first film studio in the world in West Orange so it's fitting that adjacent to that would be or can be actually a film studio um next to it um I think somebody mentioned earlier um the black Maria also when you look at now from the project can you check some of the key aspects of a good project one of the things you look at is it is it is an economic driver does it create jobs in that when you look at matrix's plan they talked about possibly creating 300 to 600 jobs as an economic development professional I can tell you if someone said they bringing in a a uh industry regardless of what industry besides that it's not going to be a pollutant industry you would employ that efforts in this case here we talking about someone that's going to bring in they stating a minimum of 300 jobs and when we talk about Film Studio you look it up it's variety of profession both professional technical um artistic um so variety of professionals you actually talking about working at all different levels and they are alsoo many union jobs um required because of the nature also when you look at the the business that coming here in the industry there also going to be what we defined as PE opportuni business service contract opportunities this is the way now for other businesses to be able to access some of their revenue through various means of providing Business Services to that particular industry not including the retail Trail sales opportunities that could benefit the Main Street Corridor one of the things that I I like about the the plan is that he agreed to allow the downtown alliance with Megan BR I name last name correctly Megan um actually run provide them access to the conception plan to make sure they have some voice about the actual plan um they don't have to agree to it but at least they have a chance to voice their opinion or how that conceptu plan could actually work and it's this is really important because what you did do not want to have is where you have what actual campus and they don't leave that campus they isolated within that campus but what he did say in his conceptual plans he will provide pedestrian access to make sure that time is 300 400 500 600 whatever that number is including in their guesses would be able to have a a easy walk to the main street to support the Main Street businesses if it be talking about restaurant or other types of shops that are there in addition to that they they are willing to work with us as planners to making sure we develop a a plan to make sure we alleviate the traffic that's actually going to come as a result of that business industry that's there since there will be some truck traffic actually going um to the ACT set the other things we you you passed your limit can you uh can you wrap please yeah okay um other thing is revitalization efforts um again we talking about a a Brownfield site which is being under utilized we got opportunity to increase the tax revenue at this particular site even with a tax abatement given you would actually have an increase in Reven boost to the township they willing to be a member of the towntown Sid which allowed more Revenue to go to the Sid to do more work Economic Development activities on the Main Street and last but not least I did get a chance to talk with the talk f with with um Joe Taylor um um with the major development and they are agreeing to put in a a training program to train people in the field of Film Production and other anti services that supports it um thank you for the time thank you sir good evening Joe kovak Grand View Avenue I'm speaking about the downtown Redevelopment phase two uh pending legislation council president you claimed at the last meeting that I was quote just wrong on assessed versus market value end quote and that quote assessed and market value really don't matter much end quote I assume you were saying that because I referenced the 2022 sales price and thus market value of 55 legs side at 12.5 million was $5.5 million more than the assess value I said the two measures were supposed to be close and should have added as you said that the two measures are usually different but I will remind you that last year you and the council voted to hire a vendor for more than $1 million to conduct a stat mandated revaluation whose sole purpose is to bring assess and market value together so I would say that makes their similarity important actually I was pointing out the only way I could to estimate the loss from the 2022 Market sale price of 55 Lakeside compared to the proposed price by comparing the assessed values of both 55 and 25 Lakeside and using that ratio applied to the proposed 10.8 million price that formula indicated a loss at 55 Lakeside of more than $6.1 million of the purchase price from two years ago if you're saying that's not going on comparing the sales price two years ago and the proposed price now including 25 Lakeside what do you figure is the loss on 55 Lakeside and by the way do you realize that the assessed values of those two properties are actually higher than the price the township and you support selling for $12.35 million versus 10.8 million isn't market value usually higher sometimes much higher than assessed value secondly council president you spoke at length of the history of this project and criticized the process from many different angles then after you indicated you were the Swing Vote on the council and despite all your criticism of how the deal got here saying the deal quote could have been done differently and better end quote you decided it was in the best interest of the town to vote for wouldn't it have been better for you to vote against it to put the council majority in position to make the deal truly better for the Township from a position of strength instead of just take Taking what was offered and perhaps you could do that tonight I was disappointed that the three council members who didn't vote against the amendment at the September 10th council meeting hardly responded to the concerns of the public and two council members who voted against so I'm addressing my questions primarily to them one what are the benefits to the town of this amendment as compared to the original Redevelopment agreement from December 1A what are the benefits to the town from the revised Amendment two did anyone on the council negotiate this amendment or the revised Amendment Three you're proposing to sell 25 Lakeside property where the public works and West Orange animal shelter are located where are these functions going especially since we spent years trying to find an alternate site four are you aware that in 2017 when I was on the council prism offered to pay us more than $9 million just for the public Works property I disagreed with mayor pzy on a lot of things but not that while acknowledging the repeated failure of prism to perform and good riddance why wasn't a similar price negotiated here did we even try to negotiate this why wouldn't we five what did the appraisal say about the market value and related usage for the Township's purchase of 55 Lakeside and the plan sale of it and 25 Lakeside have you even seen them or do they not exist if they exist please put them on the township website or tell us why you don't think it's a good idea to provide transparency to Residents you're already proposing the sale so confidentially the confidentiality seems unnecessary if they don't exist why would you move forward with a sale without ones that reflect the proposed use six the proposed purchase price of the two Township properties how do you figure that we're getting a good price and not giving up millions of dollars from what we paid for 55 Lakeside two years ago how much do you think we are losing why would you allow the number seven why would you allow the administration to put an amended version of the proposed amendment which is 14 pages single space without a red line as with the original Amendment wouldn't that make it immensely easier to see what's changed perhaps you as a council could consider amending our municipal code to require red lining from council meeting uh documents uh just want to say that uh I talked a lot and unfortunately I do talk a lot but I have copies of the questions to help the council members uh respond to my questions and I want to say welcome to the new CFO I and a lot of other people are hoping for a a different era uh with your coming here and I also want to say lellan park has one of the best hamburgers I've ever had highly recommend think it down hi everybody Megan BR downtown Alliance director and I'm here with John mroy uh chairman of the board I have to say that I didn't swap notes with Craig but we had a lot of the similar points to make about the uh Redevelopment plan so we found a recent article this week from variety.com where Governor Murphy discusses the increase in the tax credits for movie studios and sound Productions to $430 million it was like 200 thou 200 million before and that is why you see stars filming in our town and in New Jersey overall like CeCe talked about happy gomore was filming today this makes New Jersey a great place to make movies Murphy mentions Thomas Edison and West Orange in the article which is pretty neat to have a movie production Studio where the very first one was and I know you all know all that in addition New Jersey provides reimbursement for remediation of environmental sites 55 Lakeside we know is a very tough environmental issues it needs to be cleaned up before anything can go there so now is the right time to act both the tax credits the remediation makes this project work it's important for the project to be part and Incorporated in downtown we very much appreciate the clausing the contract that talks about we'll have some dialogue about what it looks like and integration with the rest of Main Street in or downtown the studio is an important economic driver the amount of jobs that are going to come in there um in and out are foot traffic that we desperately need downtown we need the folks that are making the kind of money that folks make in a Sound Studio to be able to spend for breakfast lunch and dinner within our downtown now's the right time we are Film Studio ready we ask that you vote Yes on tonight's contract and we appreciate your time thank you Doug Adams n West over Terrace um there's been a lot of conversations uh about this and um you know I just I don't necessarily propose um to be the smartest person in the room there's some really brilliant people that have spoken to this but there are some things that just seem like low hanging fruit to me um my grandmother and mother used to always say um don't be Pennywise and dollar foolish and so when we think about a conversation like this I've been in West Orange in January it' be 28 years I have not lived here a year when there has not been a conversation about redeveloping down town and trying to get downtown more attractive I I've I've seen it go through all the conversations and all the debates and all the things that have happened and it's always interesting to me that the conversation is always about um what not to do but there are very few conversations about what's better to do and so the idea my wife has some wonderful uh relatives an aunt who's 90 and an uncle who's 92 and they live in Red Bank so we go down there uh quite often they haven't even started building the studio in Fort monment but all the other area around forth monment they are building up like firecrackers those trucks are moving the CRA the escavation everything because they are getting ready for the studio down there you know why because when they lost lost the fort they lost a major industrial center for that Community hotels in the area are sitting have been sitting there b vacant restaurants closed down all around the fort because when the fort left all of the business left now that the studio is coming man they are building up stuff down there like crazy this is an opportunity for West orangs that goes 10 years from now and and I agree as the council you've been elected and I believe you have the capacity to have conversations about how to Nuance this deal the difference is I don't necessarily see people lining up to come and spend money to go and do this so when people talk about oh you could have did something else or you could have went and got somebody else this there's no there's nothing fugazy going on here this old conversation about a studio down here started because whoopy Goldberg God bless her soul came down and said hey I would like to do something when that went away now we're sitting here with the opportunity to do something but nobody talking about doing it where were the people who are complaining about how this should get done where were they with all of their ideas and suggestions and I think it's very courageous and I I I'm you know I'm just a straightforward guy I just had to say I think it's very courageous of our council president to stand on business with regard to the value of this studio to a town and to the town while he's going through things that could easily C justify him making otherwise decisions I think that at some point what we're seeing here is that there is an opportunity for this town and one of the things and I I I love the the young lady that came the producer who who came I actually went and watched the show it really is the truth okay I I I really love it um but the the ideal of it is there is a potential wealth transfer that goes along with this industry because there are people particularly down in the area of town where we're at and where there's always complaint about Uptown downtown there's always these issues but there's an opportunity for people whether it's through trads or through training or through stem to get connected to an industry that changes the wealth trajectory of their families we have to get out of the politicking about this and out of the politicking about that stop counting pennies here we can deal with that with other projects but this particular project this is a game Cher for our community and I applaud the council members who are having the difficult discussions to work out the nuances we trust you to do that but to get this deal done thank you good evening Todd deobi Bernett terce I'm also here to talk about the Redevelopment deal um I don't think anybody has ever questioned the Merit of the use of a studio there um I don't think the only the only opposition to that it matter has been by questions posed by myself and others um we've asked you know there well there's no uh doubt that there are multiple Studios being built around the tri-state area and New Jersey specifically um but also Westchester as well um and these these Studios that are being built are much bigger one of them by the proposed redeveloper um so his Capac their capacity to do the job that's that's probably guaranteed almost um um but what's never been answered is we've asked about demographic studies to suggest that this location would support and be able to compete with all these other massive Studios that are being constructed um never has has the demographics been addressed or studies produced or provided that speaks to that subject so you know and the the longer this goes on and it may go on another year and a half or more if they ask for more extensions of the due diligence but a year and a half from now will it will it be a justifiable investment will it make sense you know or are they going to build something that 10 years from now is Obsolete and we have again a derel down vacant downtown um so nobody's talking about the the ability of the redeveloper to do the job and but what has never been answered is is it right for the town let's also talk about the financials the financials of this transaction uh Joe kovak properly raised some issues namely purchase price um versus not just obsessed value market value no appraisal's been produced for us to see um if if this is such a great deal for the town produce the dam apprais excuse me I apologize I shouldn't be cursing um produce the appraisal that that that supports the decision you've made um we're we're not counting pennies Mr Adams we're counting millions of dollars of outflow from taxpayers to produce this transaction Pilots are being contemplated here this this town has a history of granting 30-year pilot agreements that's multiple many millions tens of millions of dollars if not more we are not being Pennywise here we are being dollarwise and we're asking the questions that need to be asked of of our elected officials be fiscally and financially prudent with the expenditure of our taxpayer dollars I don't see that happening here because none of the answer and none of the financial background has been provided to show just how great this project really is for the township of West Orange um not only that but the previous agreement the the original redeveloper agreement gave the township the right to say no to a pilot for any reason whatsoever and yes that the buyer can walk away that's fine but what should be tied to that is whether or not we get to retain deposit money there's no deposit money that's hard at this point so to suggest that we are benefiting in that we're getting the taxes that would have been paid on the property that's nonsense and doesn't mean anything because the money's not hard it's not in our pockets and it's not a non-refundable the purchase price doesn't make sense the process doesn't make sense nobody's come to this town to do this kind of a project because it's not been marketed open um something like this requires that kind of a process instead the town repeatedly uses the law of of uh of an area in need of Redevelopment to allow themselves to control a project without going into time is up I'm just going to quickly finish um we we we demand that this Township openly Market our Township assets frankly you need to produce financial statements on all the assets quote unquote that you've bought with our tax dollars Rock Spring is one of them never seen it a single statement on that either vote no for this the project might make sense in another environment but not in the environment that's been presented thank you thank you good evening um council members uh Chief abbid mayor um I am here I'm sorry I'm just uh I'm I'm so thankful that Mrs Williams here spoke today about the suicide awareness and all of this excuse me no no no we're gonna let that one go oh okay yeah continue okay no problem so thank you for the opportunity to speak today I stand before you need I am a resident with with San but as someone who deeply cares about our community wellbeing I want to address this stress in concern many of us feel regarding public consumption of alcohol in Canabis uh which directly is impact in our life day our daily lives uh just imagine walking to the neighborhood a encounter yourself with these people which is not right for us for the children um additionally to this some local bars what just happened um a few minutes ago that one of the owners and the person that works in this uh bar they express their concern about the then getting tickets and all that so I am one of the neighbors uh that lives by the bar around the bar so I just want to express my worry that there's there's nothing getting solved on our side because they complain about them getting arest but it's actually us we're struggling a lot with all this noise coming from them you just can imagine it's not just us there's a lot of neighbors who can hear how bad it gets it's not just that it's the Public's disturbance by the their Patron is and this even the traffic it gets bad so it's not us here complaining about a noise but it's actually affecting our lives we just get home as soon as we get home we hear this strong noise that comes into your home I think that all of you have jobs have a life and you just get home and you get like with this I don't know I'm sorry that I'm like this but it's impacting our daily lives it's not just us uh there's also report by the officer that have gone and knocked doors and they have agreed there's to the point that one of my neighbors has to turn on the AC to block the noise coming from them so it's not us trying to uh bother the owner but it's actually getting to the point that it's affecting us I having exam tomorrow I have to work tomorrow I wouldn't be here it was not affecting me and so I'm just here to please beg you guys to help us and and do something for us and to pass this uh this uh tell me what is that the the ordinance yeah this ordinance please is really affecting us so we just need your help on this and to hear a voice please thank you thank you good evening everyone Mr President Council McCartney gentlemen my name is Joseph Pano litic spells in the 200 foot notice area of the Highlands development I represent Weare at this point hundreds of people in the town of West orans and hundreds more in the three towns Verona fs and Rh land in Opp ition to this project on Common Sense grounds we have now been through planning board meting I'm sorry old business jaro I'm still waiting on an answer to a question from six weeks ago which was there was a recommendation that because there was active litigation going on that people shouldn't speak there may be other reasons to speak or not speak here but if there is any active litigation going on I'd ask you for the docket number and the plti the party to that action if that is a true statement please provide it any way it can be provided we'd like to know so the project is ongoing there have been four meetings there's one more October 30th suspect it's going to take at least four more meetings for the developer to finish their end of the project presentation wise the balance of this year at which point maybe there's a new Council here maybe we'll get to get up and present opposition to that project and by the time that happens a lot of things are going to become obvious that should have been on it I won't get into storm water management I think I missed that piece but that is a big issue here that's going to get confronted whether the D issues permits are not under old old storm water rules or not there's a lot of problems with the plan as presented that's going to get appealed should the planning board approve it's going to get appealed there are Public Safety problems this project was settled and entered into the court 2017 it took until April 6th April 14th 2020 for a settlement agreement between the developer the town and the condo association which does not have the authority to Grant Transit through its site to get to the upper part of the mountain which is landlock that's going to get confronted the traffic engineer last meeting spoke about the 30 acres and the four buildings on the site and the exit at the oval Road Eagle Rock traffic light the private road that is Road was sort of a hands off let's not go there I STS Country Club Council got up and told people that half that road is own by6 country club the southern half that runs from EOL loock all the way to the town border where the gate is the notion that public safety issues aren't going to be confronted addressed in traffic and Transit through existing roads no sidewalks retaining walls on roads that aren't wide enough and eil Rock Avenue is going to get widened a four-way signal is going to go there and oal doesn't need to get widened if anybody wasn't here there were some were here 2006 in April when it was resolved to shoot down the last plan that plan was shot down in Great Park because the access to it fire rescue police getting in and out you need a Boulevard you define rsis as B it's a dead end oal Road up to I'm sorry how live over the top of a mountain as a form of emergency Ingress and erress we shot down then for 136 single family homes 500 units and 1,200 cars now that makes more sense not my issue we'll get there you should know that and I understand the planning board is going to do what it's going to do and we're going to do what we're going to do we're not going here but I would like to advise the town that the expense of ongoing fight remind you again we're raising private money you're spending taxpayer money there's going to be an argument on multiple matters in the court many of them were already known here some that should will include open space pland of the town in 2010 open space Recreation environmental plan of the Town actually County open space parks recreation plan 2003 still valid established all kinds of reasons why this site was environmentally sensitive absolutely appropriate to be developed on and should have been preserved as open space that's our objective it will be this is inappropriate for anybody to have to walk down from the northwest corner of the town down a mountain to get to a street and intersection where there's no public transit this is going to cost people time and money I don't know 2025 is the fourth round fair share is going to be back here looking for where else more units are going to go I would advise you to consider that this is not a done deal this won't happen and while you have the opportunity to consider other locations as they arve you might want to have a backup plan because Fair sure is not going to wait till 2030 for the units to take care of the people that need them that deserve them which is what time is up nothing want to say you'll see me then thank you for your patience good evening uh my name is and my name is m Munos we can't hear could you repeat that one more time my name is m Munos you spell it for us I'm sorry m a y s a m u n o z mun me I I'm only here because um I am I don't live near that their house but I am aware of what's going on the only reason I got involved is because as you were talking about suicide the first thing that came to my mind was this is the reason why I got involved because here we have my friend and um I had never been to their house and next thing I we started talking and she said to me I just want to die and now am not kidding I looked at her and she looked so sick that I actually said oh my God she's either name it something is going on here I said what is wrong now I am a retired school teacher when I hear someone talk to me and telling me that it already it rings Bell something is going on so this is the reason why I got involved I said the noise that's going through her apartment is unbelievable I was I went upstairs they invited me to go to their house and and the noise was unbearable this is the kid who is well she's not a kid she looks like a kid but she's in her third slave 30s actually she looks like a tiny here right thinking oh my goodness this is someone who really needs help she's studying to she's studying she's in college unable to study because of the noise every mean I'm the witness I could not believe what was going on and like the walls were actually vibrating that is not way not a way to live okay so she wasn't the only one and then little by little I was concerned I we we did go to the police station to say okay what can we do we went to the health department because this was not not it should not have been going on okay it's like as if the people have no respect for others this is not a town where you should have a nightclub this is not a restaurant I've been living in was start since 1966 okay we never had clubs down here you might call it a restaurant but you cannot have people dancing shouting screaming that's not a that's not a restaurant that's not that's to me it's it's a club okay now like Le a lot of times they're not the only ones the police has been there they go in they come out and they do it again and they do it again I've even told her if I am not home please go sit in my yard and go study in myard y okay she failed one exam she was like I can't sleep at night I can't do anything we need to move right now things are very expansive their family cannot afford to move they've been living there for 17 years they never had a problem they never had a problem neighbors have moved out there's one couple with their kids they moved up to Northfield Road with their in-laws they couldn't stand the noise now she is she has another apartment we adjacent to to her and the same thing so they're looking to move and again as I said houses are not cheap they're very expensive and she's so a student so therefore they need help I heard the gentleman saying oh we're going by the rules we're not making any noise yeah the food must be good I'm not saying the food is bad they he said or their hamburgers are delicious that's fine I don't have a problem with that but please you know you have to take in consideration what these people are going through many people they were afraid to come they were there she has a lot of neighbors that would but they they don't want to come they're intimidated police officers have gone there to talk to them they don't want to get involved they're intimidated they don't want to talk and every time it's like in the spring time oh my God now we're going to hear this again I can't go through another summer again I can't I have babies this is going on this is going on okay go ahead sorry all I want to say is that I I know it's a crime to falsely accuse someone and we have proof of everything that we've been through with this bar next to us it's taking over our health is something that you cannot take it goes over midnight we have proof of everything PR police officers coming in talking to them telling us that they rent this place to other people that they have no control what they can do in their premises so all we're asking is to please like we just want to go to sleep at night without hearing their music they're trembling in our houses or everything that they have been put in we have their customers coming defecating in our house pooping or peeing in our house and we cannot take this anymore so I know they said that they're being harassed I know everything they're saying that oh no one comes like we tried to approach them at first and they were nasty to to us and then we were advised by the police that we should not approach them anymore cuz we have to call them and they could go and talk to them we know that they have recorded of everything they have spoke to them and we know they're lying because I have provided all the proof I have to the Chief and to anything anything that I can can provide they they got it and they know and they continue to do the same noise the next day and the next day they don't respect the police so we're scared of course we're scared because if they don't respect the police who are they going to respect they're not going to respect us they don't care we tried but now we're just tired so please just like approve this um ordinance thank you thank you good evening good evening seeing a bunch of familiar faces uh good to see everyone um my name Isen Hy I'm flest Hill uh and I am here speaking in support of the uh Redevelopment um I think that the town for a long time has been trying to figure out exactly what to do with that um we have something viable right now that could create jobs and uh I'm looking forward to uh seeing what having something there can do for our town and living up you know the downtown area thank you thank you sir you hi there um my name is Amy mccampbell and I live at 195 Gregory Avenue I'm here tonight to ask that the members of the Town Council approve the plans for the Matrix movie studio development project I support this project based on my background in three different Realms of experience number one as someone who's spent over 20 years working as a TV sorry I just got over covid and film producer and whose husband is also in the business I truly understand the work environment and workers we would be inviting into our down downtown and a project with a project like this number two as someone who has been working with the downtown Alliance both officially and as a volunteer so I know what our business Community is hungry for and what kinds of possibilities a project like this can bring to the corridor and number three as a realtor who knows what town amenities buyers are looking for and which make a community active attractive first let me share my perspective from my work with the downtown Alliance I think we all know the structural limitations of our downtown Corridor especially as compared to those of neighboring towns uh it's not centrally located within town you have to make an effort to get to it there is no train station to provide a steady flow of foot traffic these factors and others have made it challenging to create a corridor that is a draw for the community and this is why businesses like City workshop and most recently mountain mountain Society wine who invest in the kind of beautiful spaces and sophisticated retail offerings that we all say that we want have closed up shop and left the corridor I work with these business owners every day and what they want are bodies in downtown spending money at their shops so how do we get these bodies down here we've had success with our social media efforts and events saw lots of you guys downtown this summer at street fair and downtown Thursdays thank you for coming um but they don't bring the steady foot traffic our businesses need we need an economic driver like a new industry and we need it now I hear people say that this isn't the right deal that we can wait for something better or we can hire a full-time planner who will come up with some magical solution to the downtown challenge perhaps those saying that can afford to wait to find these others answers but our downtown business owners landlords and residents cannot the studio means we will have within a short time frame a constant flow people coming into downtown people who will become customers for existing businesses they will become customers that will attract new businesses and a more robust retail mix that will benefit all of us throughout down West Orange that's me the realtor so now perhaps you're saying well they're just going to come in they're going to go to work and they're never going to come out of their offices so the impact would be limited so here's where I'm going to put on my film and TV production hat people who work in production work really long hard hours chances are they're not going to be leisurely strolling along Main Street but they will run out for a quick lunch to take for a quick lunch or take a quick short walk outside and this is why I'm really appreciative of the council's efforts to ensure that the developer creates a plan that is integrated into downtown and not just isolated um from the corridor so when they do come out they come out to downtown they're going to need things delivered to them quickly that may be a lunch that may be a PA scrambling to an art store for supplies to make a last minute prop a carpenter who who needs to grab a piece of wood to rig up something a dry cleaner who has the costumes needed for a seed the one constant in production is at whatever you need you need it fast and resources in town will be the fastest way to get them many of these workers will be commuting in from the city and they'll be on foot for at least part of their commute to and from public transportation which means potential customers walking past our stores statistics show that people who work in production related jobs have higher than average salaries and that they spend those dollars locally in the locations in which they work I know I was one of those people in my opinion the studio is the fastest and most unique way to bring foot traffic to our downtown will likely become a catalyst for so much more our existing businesses will be better served and we will finally have the customer base to attract new businesses and once we have proven the downtown West Orange concept other opportunities for development projects maybe under the guidance of a fil time Town planner will arise but we have to start with something I've gone to lots of conferences on how communities revive their dying downtowns and there is one constant everyone works together towards the same Mission I hope that your vote tonight will be reflective of that same ideal we work together to create a downtown Corridor worthy of our great town great town right now and no more waiting thank you thank you anyone else please uh put your phones on silent Madame mayor yeah good evening thank you council president first let me start with a thank you to all the speakers that came out in support of this downtown project and council members the fate of our Township is figuratively and literally before you this evening hinging on your vote on resolution 273-4 for the purchase agreement for property approved within the film Services overlay District at this moment the township is standing at a transformative threshold with this $10 million investment in our downtown if approved the township will be able to reap the funding benefits that are available to us with our film ready Community designation this investment along with the New Jersey Economic Development Authority's motion picture and television designation position West Orange as a filming destination this agreement offers Financial stability by bringing down our debt generating taxpayer revenue and works towards the necessary needed remediation of the site and you should also know on top of that that's not in the agreement in July of 2024 New Jersey DP opened up the brownfields application we have been successful on our Central Valley Corridor with this town of um city of Orange and we are creating a new BDA on hopefully creating a new BDA on Lakeside Avenue which would help with this remediation council members thank you for your own due diligence because with the modifications now that you have agreed upon in this final version council president I thanked you personally on your initial vote to approve this resolution and I appreciate your response that you believed it was the right thing to do I to I too believe this agre M will create a positive impact for our business owners thank you Amy and everyone else that spoke about that and residents and the economic Vitality it would produce to effectively Market our town as a premier film and TV production destination that will resonate for our Township for years to come I hope you all will do the right thing and vote Yes on this resolution thank you thank you mayor public comment is now closed uh we're going to allow for my Council colleagues to respond we will go in U proper order uh this time we'll begin with you councilwoman Celina thank you council president um lot of emotional statements tonight so I'm gonna start off with um our earlier uh commenter she Jessica Pearson thank you for coming out and sharing with us the storm water management information um and this ties into uh Mr Peno who also came out to talk about uh the west essic highland uh uh situation so again you know it's at the planning board level I look forward to once again listening reading and uh seeing how this progresses and I appreciate all the advocacy that is um now being presented to to uh to the to our planning board I think it's important we talk about development and uh COA obligations and um that will tie into what I have to say in a few other minutes with my downtown statements so thank you uh folks for coming down this evening with that these Brave young ladies that came here this evening I I have to thank you um I know how hard it was for you and Anna for you to come with them um and being their their shoulder to to to lean on I know how important that is and councilwoman open up with her comments about her Mission and just so important because I know how stressed um big cheerleader for our downtown great big cheerleader for our business owners and very upfront with our business owners um when they come for us for a liquor license we take that very seriously we also try to notify uh new business owners um where exactly they're investing in and we really appreciate their investment uh that restaurant is is beautiful the bar is beautiful they spent a lot of money and we really really appreciate their investment um but they're in the the the middle of the heart of a of a Eagle Rock neighborhood one that I live in and um so with that being said um you know we have discussions Miss BR and I you know we welcome everybody and we went and talked to them in regards to to talking with them uh about um you know noise and whatnot when they first come I believe they could are genuine and Lori was here this evening their food is outrageous they're a great place to go but this summer there was a lot of fun being had there and I think you know folks need to um you know all work together and we'll make sure that happens with that that um that there'll be conversations and folks will work together um we have ordinance on for hearing tonight um in regards to um consumption with um alcohol and cannabis oh what just councilwoman if I may I just want to be Weir talking about because I heard the jentl say that summonses were issued so I don't know matter of potential litigation or ongoing litigation I haven't talked to the township prosecutor about it to see what the status of everything is but I would just be we talking about the status of the summons is and the noise and all that oh okay so I apologize on that um but I am going to talk about the the ordinance tonight and I hope that in regards to our ordinance that it will pass this evening our colleagues passed it on first reading and so um there's been other issues in the neighborhood um with with other um folks traveling through so we hope um the ordinance passes so I guess that's all I'm going to say about that this evening downtown so you know one of the challenges of our downtown is we have a lot of residential mixed in with um business owners we have a school we have Automotive um we're two and a half miles long uh Miss Brill and her team does a great job and divide dividing the corridor into four sections and uh trying to promote all sections I am so proud of all the speakers that came tonight from the downtown team and also grateful to all the other speakers that came this evening uh it it's been long it's you know I got here in 2015 I wasn't on the committee then I joined up four years ago uh before that uh you know watching as a neighbor since 2006 when Redevelopment was uh process was starting you we're talking about 20 years ago folks I mean this has been an ongoing saga with our downtown and our business owners need to survive and they need something now of course we want a good solid contract that's why myself I uh abstained at the last meeting I did not have the opportunity to go in close session to ask questions um which would have been really helpful but that's okay because uh my colleague and I we we sat down this week and um and I appreciate the due diligence of uh the developer and our attorneys and we worked out some additional um amendments to this to this document which um Mr kovak um we talked about uh later which we can ey out but we're adding $300,000 to infrastructure what I learned about uh the infrastructure itself that aspire credits that the developer will apply for will have requirements in there for certain infrastructure improvements um so they won't um receive those credits unless they do uh meet certain criteria uh so um that is uh one of the benefits I guess that may be in number four or five on your questionnaire and thank you for presenting us with that um also with the environmentals um we are in great standing and thank you to the mayor and her administr ation and and to the state level of uh receiving a hefty sum of environmental grants that is desperately needed for that area and uh if we don't meet that threshold and there's still uh large environmental issues Amendment here uh will have the um the developer contributing uh half have that uh with us if we go over that threshold we don't anticipate at this point in time but we don't know what we don't know and that's part of the answer for the pricing that you discuss and and what the propor is worth I mean you know we all go to buy home we all do our due diligence uh but the environmental was worse than we anticipated at that purchase and um and unfortunate um reason why prison never moved forward and Council my former Council colleague Mr kovak um if you recall and I appreciate at the time you were first want to stand by and say you know we need to uh resend this Redevelopment agreement with prism we need to do something about this and and the council did we did because they weren't building the 500 homes that were slated to go there and um which now with this Council I know fully doesn't support those kind of numbers we see that with wests 6 Highlands and uh some other developments um you know being uh brought to the township so um yeah so we went to court and uh the court ordered a judge I believe the judge's name was Judge Moore a settlement for the 17 to 18 Acres of property um not that's not only uh behind the CVS on Main Street but also by the Edison laof so we have two tracks of land you go down Lakeside Avenue towards Wang Avenue the track of property to the left and tracks the property to the right um what this Council decided to do um a few months back or the beginning early of the year was to break up the transaction um and divide the properties up and we only selling off 12.2 Acres um so you see uh a lesser uh price for that but again you know to say we don't have appraisals is just just silly so whatever we need to do to get appraisals up on the website um for the administration or provide them to Mr doovi um they they need to see them but all this is done with Mr Hendrick and and and and you know so sir because you you've you know you've worked in this seat before and we know we operate with appraisals um we talk about Pilots you know again Livingston go rout 10 Verona Bloomfield Avenue hackin Main Street in hackin saac uh all over New Jersey um you know there's there's Pilots given and we're going to work out the financials so they're not just given there they are um they are um there's a a process there is a um a formula and uh that will be worked on and even prisms pilot that they received um 10% of the gross revenue uh once this project is done and economic development is there and maybe those empty storefronts such as the this wine store that just closed up their doors will maybe be able to come back and then guess what folks that increases their revenue their gross revenue that will bring uh U more uh bring up the revenue for the pilot so there's so many pluses here I could talk for an hour and I could talk a little bit more there's a $400,000 uh for the tax payments um we get to keep that unless you know we for some reason don't move forward with the pilot and you know we talked about other benefits that could be no negotiated at a later date so I appreciate um the Developers for working with us uh I appreciate the our attorneys for you know for being available on their vacation time uh to get to get this to this point and I look forward to having a conversation with my colleagues because I think it is important that we all understand this and we we talk about this uh one of the questions is who negotiated this well of course our attorneys with the Developers we were given this document about a month ago and asked for questions I took advantage of that and sent my questions in and so I you know took it upon myself to jump in there and uh and start making amendments and any one of my colleagues uh could always do that as well um but I do understand the need um I also extremely appreciate the revision in item 14 taken out uh uh one of the sentences that I was with but this connects Main Street to the project which is so important and instrumental and I appreciate our economic developers comments on all the boxes that this checks because it does check a lot of boxes and whatever I forgot to say about this I I'm not bashful I'll come back later and say it but um we need to get this done folks you know we we worked hard there's so many so many business owners counting on on us to get this done and and to get it right so I appreciate all that wanted to take time with this a Redline copy there was a red line copy given um it's on there it's unfortunate that if you don't open it up so I had asked Madame Clerk and I'm not sure if she saw my email because you got to open it up scroll down so it should have been easier access I do agree with you so we could get you that red line copy uh for you and uh it's right here so anybody could take mine I have it's well it's it's also highlighted it's not that difficult to read um any case I appreciate all the time spent on this I appreciate all the passionate speakers supporting it and you know I I really appreciate folks wanting to invest in West Orange and that goes for the little you know blip we might have had earlier this evening um and hopefully I know that will work out uh with with the neighborhood and and folks working together um but thank you all for coming in this is so such a GameChanger such an important vote and uh this is the future of our Main Street uh thank you council president he you welcome um thank you councilwoman Madam clerk if you don't mind could you please print out the redline version with the red ink uh for the counil uh of the PSA agreement um I'm going to allow my colleague s you responding if we could have that um color yeah otherwise I would have done so my version doesn't is not red line either well the one I there's a hard copy I gave everybody tonight that's red lines yes but obviously it's black and white open open the document up and then it's open mine is still black no r at the Microsoft Word the red line so I use an Apple product so I don't have Microsoft Words the same way you guys do but that's neither here nor there so if it's not possible it's not possible uh we will continue with our responses to public comment while we try to figure out how to address um notifying the public of some of those changes uh councilwoman gabra Michael thank you you into the yeah good evening everyone um I'm going to make my remarks brief just because after we do respond we're going to go into um close session to discuss all of this executive session um I would like to thank everyone here for being here those of you in person and also in Zoom uh please bear with me I just got in visign so I'm still learning how to speak with it and it's uh it hasn't been very comfortable adjusting um so uh Miss uh p thank you so much uh for coming in speak to us about storm water management if you can please email us uh Ron as ordinance um you know I do agree I you know taking we should be taking the initiative to be proactive and adding updates so I do look forward to reviewing it and working on it with the council and the administration to see how we can uh update our ordinance um as you all heard from Mr jenero uh we cannot comment on the L Park Bar and Grill uh situation since it's pending litigation but I am in support of the ordinance that we're voting on tonight on second reading um as is this this Council um and to those of you who did come out here to speak out about it thank you it's very brave to come here and share your story um and hopefully something can be worked out to help your quality of life um Mrs Wilson and and Mr Monk uh and Miss monk excuse me thank you for your comments um I'm going to defer to our engineer and hopefully we can find a solution to the issues that you've mentioned and I would like to thank uh Mr pulo for his advocacy as well as Weare and all the work that they're doing in this town um so I know it's not easy considering we do have a decision from the Supreme Court um and then to all of you who commented about the downtown re Redevelopment thank you for your Insight um and for those of you who are for it and also against it's good to hear uh different sides um you know I've had a lot of residents come to me and oppose of this project so it is nice to hear uh the other side so thank you all for coming down here and taking your time to speak up about this um and on that note I am going to end my response public comment thank you council president thank you councilwoman uh councilwoman Scara thank you um I want to start by thanking um Jessica Jessica Pearson for um her 2hour crash course in storm water management that she gave me yesterday and um she has already redlined our with worked with me and redlined our entire ordinance and I will be sending that around and sharing it with all my Council colleagues legal and uh environmental commission and I think there's a lot to learn um I would love her fulllength course and perhaps maybe she could even talk to our environmental commission um she is an incredible resource uh she has the background she's self-taught she's passionate about this area and we need to get this ordinance right I mean we've had just love Gallard and a number of our residents who all have had thousands of dollars worth of damage from runoff we all know about the profuse flooding problems we have in this town we need to make sure that this ordinance has teeth and we can benefit from Jennifer's expertise she's an invaluable resource so I urge all of us to take advantage of of her I will be getting to know her even better and she's on the planning board in Verona so she has real understanding of this whole issue um Lucille Wilson and Barbara uh our seniors thank you for coming out again and talking to us about Lindsay and Main Street uh I could see how difficult of a situation this is for our seniors we do need to um do a little more um I know Barbara talked about violations I don't know what the chief has done in that area or what he could do maybe he can just talk a little bit about out what could be done or what if we can have engineering take a look at the situation there but it's not one that I'm intimately involved with so maybe you could just talk about that later um for the young women who came who can't sleep at the poor woman who can't sleep at night student she didn't give us her name but as a result of the noise I know I've spoken with Anna and other members of your community all summer the pool I've heard the stories of what you are going through uh no one should have to live like that I know that there have been that bar has turned over many times and it's been a bar and restaurant and it's never been a problem for you and your neighbors so whatever is going on there now Chief we need to get a hand on um I know they said summons have been issues there's no excuse for defecating in public areas and on homes it sounds like that's an area that needs a closer look I of course I'll be voting for The ordinance um but Chief I don't know what you can do in terms of policing the area a little bit better and making sure some of these atrocities that I heard about all summer are not happening in that neighborhood um and I'll ask you to weigh in on that as well um to everyone who came out to talk about the downtown uh development we all love the idea of having the film studio in our downtown we all would love to see this happen however any business person and there are many of us know that the devil is in the details of any business deal I have many ser ious concerns I've stated them in our last meeting I'll briefly touch upon them here and I would say to my colleagues um Al in Economic Development commission thank you for weighing in but all of my colleagues have you read the the development agreement they're all business people I'd love to see them take a look at it I'd love to see a more robust discussion and um I think we need to look at what we're really doing there how it's going to affect our tax base and how it's going to affect our our town at large some of my concerns are um it's developers responsibility to produce financials that justify the pilot pilot language and the criteria in this agreement poorly protects the taxpayers and are written for the benefit of the developer the giving back of even the 200k the $200,000 if the developer walks away after another whole year is ridiculous because we have not competitively bid this project we have taken the properties off the market for over a year um so to give uh another lengthy amount of time to the developer just doesn't seem reasonable to me um to me 90 days you know seems reasonable to for them to get a studio partner getting that studio partner is key and that's that's a key part of the deal and it has to happen in a in a shorter amount of time um West orang residents are burdened with not only the cleanup the way this agreement is structured but with the we're do we're absorbing the cost of the demolition of the two buildings in the prior agreement the first agreement the de developer assumed responsibility for the environmental cleanup and we re renegotiated an agreement where this responsibility and risk is shifted to West Orange taxpayers I think we can do better I think a more collaborative effort and an experienced Town planner looking strategically at our Township and at our tax base needs may have facilitated a more prosperous deal for our West Orange residents so I I agree that it's wonderful we love the idea of the film studio but I have some serious concerns about the way this um agreement is structured and I think that's about it thank you councilwoman councilwoman Williams thank you thank you uh this evening for everyone coming out um tremendous appreciation for those who Express their support of the studio transaction Mr Fagan thank you so much for continuing to um highlight issues around town and information and especially thank you for um highlighting Suicide Prevention on the East sign and letting people know that there are resources um that are available um Miss Pearson thank you again also and echoing my colleagues for coming out and sharing uh your advocacy for storm water management um also will note that ruers does um have have a storm water management class that is available for each of us um I've taken it as well yeah so it's pretty it's a pretty extensive program it's a six week program um that you have to take your microphone in order to become certified um as far as lellan Park and the residents who live around that neighborhood um this is an example of how we may need to consider um a tremendous resoning effort for our community um West Orange as it stands now uh most of our business communities are abutted up against our residences and so moving forward because we do want all of our businesses and Residences um to have uh to be able to mutually coexist um that might be a solution that we may have to look um towards in the future is perhaps some of these businesses that you know again yes they're vibrant businesses but if those businesses vacate or become unsuccessful um then we may need to look and and determine whether or not another business goes in that location we may need to convert these areas to a just a residential zone so I think that is something um that the township the administration the municipality um will have to consider moving forward but it is our desire each of us um for our homeowners our businesses to coexist um so in an effort um as was mentioned perhaps a community meeting might be something that where all parties can come together um and and come to a mutually agreed upon solution to the noises that are being um there as well as just being able to uh sustain their business um Miss Wilson and uh Miss monk um traffic safety especially in and around our community is something that this administ ation does take seriously um they have implemented a vision zero plan um we've um done Grant applications for um making some of those Vision zero improvements and certainly crosswalks and a location where our seniors have to access on a regular basis um is an area that should be um booted up to a priority or an urgent um concern so hopefully our engineering department and our Administration will be able to look at that and perhaps get something done expeditiously um also want to um again some of the concerns about the studio I'll Reserve those to when we get to the ordinance I I'm sure we will pull that um and I do have some prepared remarks about um that opportunity um so I will Reserve those until we come there Mr Peno um thank you again um for coming and continuing to advocate um and if I did not make myself clear at the last opportunity when I corrected um the statement about pending litigation um I made a correction and said it was an active application with a quas Judicial board and I felt that it was inappropriate for us to make those comments however you are more than welcome and free to keep us informed about what is going on and your perspective and and certainly we respect that but this this particular body as far as commenting is conc concerned it is in another um in in another quas judicial board our land use board and all those uh elements will be handled there uh I think that is the gamut of the responses again the studio is the most um gamechanging opportunity transformative opportunity and when we get to the resolution uh I'll have further additional comments thank you council president thank you councilwoman um all right so much of what I would have said to many of the public commenters has already been said I will not belabor the point I do want to address a few issues um um one is Lindley uh Mr rabbit can we figure out with um our director of engineering what needs to be done this uh this corner is obviously it's a four lane plus parking it's an extensive cross with no markings uh so you know what can we do there so this has been a an issue for years it's a county road we can't do any improvements on it the county would have to do it but the county and I I honestly I think they're right and I know it's inconvenient especially for seniors who don't want to walk greater distances County wants you to go to the corner and use to traffic light and cross properly corner to corner mid block crosswalks are are very much frowned upon in the engineering world and especially here because if you think about it the driveway for 59 main streets right there so you'd be Crossing you're dealing with the driveway you're dealing with people coming Northbound on a blind curve people going Southbound people coming down the one way know making left turns making right turns we had a fatality out of there a couple years ago and um it's not a good place to cross it's not a safe place to cross but there's really not any engineering improvements that will make it safe well if we've had a death and we have had some near misses and we certainly know that um the senior community is not going to be bound uh by that request to go to the next um corner and you know obviously that's going to be more difficult for some than others if we know it's a problem there we got to figure out a solution even if that involves more than just the crosswalk so if there needs to be other traffic management um apparatus or signage or whatever we need to do there I think we need to engage in that study and if this the county is not willing to do it um you know I obviously we should give them every opportunity to but if they're not willing to do it that's something I think at least from a study perspective we should do ourselves and present them with the data even if they don't want to do it themselves it may be a cost we have to incur to protect our residents so that we can get you know an upgraded uh you know traffic control mechanism at that corner and I I want to be clear what he's saying when you you say mid block Crossing it's mid block on the other side it's a corner here on the east side right um so you know the folks that are coming up from Renta house are going to go straight out to Maine and then they've got to figure out how to get to the other side I do think it's important that we at least understand uh what um you know a study would tell us are the best ways to mitigate any kind of public safety issue I mean we can look at it again we've looked at it several times over the years but it's always been the same conclusion the only thing we could probably do there which I don't know that we want that look is to completely divide Main Street with a with a physical divider for the North and South traffic so that you can't physically cross there um that's that's an option I'm open to any options especially make a left turn if you were coming north pound on to right winland right I mean that that that might have to you know that might have to be the the the solution you could you would make your left one block sooner at Northfield Avenue and then make a right and come back around the other way um all right so I I want to encourage us to do that whatever is required to understand the best way to better control traffic there and decrease uh risk to pedestrians I I am fully in support of uh we have uh just this year made a commitment as a vision zero Town um that would certainly fall underneath that pedestrian safety Advisory Board um you know makes recommendations all the time to increase pedestrian safety um so I do think that's something we should we should jump on as soon as possible I talk to zath in the morning about it thank you very much sir um all right I want to say a few things about the movie studio but I want to make sure that that is for last I I won't uh comment um on the complaints that have been issued uh to lellan park in particular I do want to extend uh myself to uh the residents that are having a difficult time uh please reach out to me via email or cell phone um I'm happy to talk with you offline further about it and see what we can do working collaboratively to solve some of these issues I do want to say uh I I frequent the place I've been there and when police have responded for noise complaints and I I at least the time that I was there when the police responded I did not feel that a noise complaint was warranted at that time it was early in the evening and I couldn't even hear the music until I got close to the U to the to the um restaurant that doesn't mean that your um complaints are baseless and I'm not trying to uh say that in any stretch of the imagination um I just had that one experience so I'm but I'm happy to help solve the problem we do want to keep businesses in our Main Street Corridor it's right off of uh Main Street and part of the challenge we have financially in this town um is paying for everything that we need uh property taxes go up every single year when we have U commercial properties we get more bang for our buck with those property taxes because they use less in Services than they pay in taxes um which allows us some relief on the residential side and that's only because they don't put kids in school um but my email address is is public and you know please email me and uh include contact information I will respond with my contact information and I'm happy to help uh in any way that I can all right now on to this development um this has been the most difficult uh project to work on for a host of reasons uh I have been supportive of it from the beginning and while I I've been supportive of it I've also been critical um I think my criticism is warranted I think my support is also warranted um when I point out the flaws and the approach they are real um and for those that don't know we began in February we as a Town Council asking the mayor to put out an RFP on those properties um mayor didn't want to do that went to the economic Development Committee of which I was the Theon at the time we had a full discussion about what to do with that property and the unanimous opinion of the economic development committee and none of them are my appointees they are all appointed by the mayor the unanimous opinion was that we should put out an RFP and that was communicated in writing I believe in March of 2023 it may have been April but around March or April and that was ignored and then when we were approached with this this particular project in September I said to the mayor you're going to have a difficult time getting this past because you didn't put out an RFP uh even if it's a good project the process was flawed from the beginning um but I have an obligation as a councilman to at least hear out what the developers had and plan had planned for that particular site and understand if they were capable of pulling it off and also if they were the types of individuals and the type of company that I think West orang should deal with so I met with them I met actually with them on two separate occasions I met with one of my colleagues and then again with another um and we asked them a bunch of questions and their approach from the very beginning um was received very well by me in particular and I think by the council in general and the first thing that um struck me was their offer this was not a request that the Town Council meting they offered to pay um a fee for the interim redeveloper rights um I thought that showed tremendous good faith I also thought it showed confidence both in their ability to execute um you know to actually build something but to get the right pieces of the puzzle together uh to do this particular project and so then we began negotiating having a a full-fledged conversation and we had unprecedented access to this particular development as a Town Council I am critical of the mayor but I will give her credit where it is due she allowed unprecedented input from the Town Council on this development um I spoke with my colleagues who were not supportive I tried to make modifications that would help them support it um and those modifications ultimately still didn't get the support um so you know with regard to uh some of the commentary that my my colleague uh Scara just made a moment ago I take exception to it um one of the things you said councilwoman was that um you know the remediation was on the developer originally and now it is on uh the town well originally the remediation was on the town originally in our first interim developer agreement that we did not receive any payment for uh we got nothing to show from that agreement at all and and by the way I was not the liaison nor did I negotiate that um that that agreement required the township to subsume the cost of remediation now as a Township we have access to Grants to help us uh but it was still something something that we would have been responsible for should the grants have been insufficient when this dealer came around we negotiated uh the remediation to be the responsibility of the developer and the developer agreed and that was one of the agreements that we had early on um and they spent hundreds of thousands of dollars already to understand the depth of remediation required on that site and it is far greater than and they or me I'll only speak for myself um or any of the folks that I've spoken to about this would have expected from a financial standpoint we're not talking about hundreds of thousands of dollars we're talking about millions and let's be clear West Orange we are on the hook for that if this deal does not go through so we do know how dirty the dirt is the studies have been done the mitigation is ongoing right so we have and we own the property so unless we transfer this property to a purchaser who will assume that and not deducted from the cost of the uh of of the acquisition we as taxpayers are going to pay for it whether you agree with that statement or not that is absolutely true um so negotiating that off of West Orange's books and onto the books of the developer I thought was a major win and I thought it showed great faith on the part of the developer now we found out the number understandably the developer was concerned I get it it's a real number it's not a small number and there are zero Grant dollars in our uh custody today so there still is some risk um but even when we went back we and I I I I I don't know I I believe Mr doovi it may have been someone else was one of the folks who um at our last council meeting brought up the issue with regard to remediation we councilwoman Cino and I um over the last two weeks have been further negotiating this particular contract to get it in a better form and that is one of the things that we were able to do there's a a $5 million expectation uh to be remediated there could be more than that and that is taken care of that first 5 million is taken care of by this agreement and then anything above that is split 50/50 between the developer and the town if that is uh the way it goes and we end up having a $6 million or more commitment let's just say it's a $7 million commitment we will have had to spend a million dollars they would have had to have spend $6 million to clean up a $7 million problem and by the way this is a problem we've known about for years this is not a new problem so um that I felt was a major um um point to to negotiate in this contract and something that that I think the township benefits from to go further than that um we've had more than our fair share of difficult moments in this Council chamber and one of the things that has been very difficult is getting um basic things done transparently and what I have said now for four years is at some point we're gonna have a big um we're gonna need to do some hu some big work take some tough votes and it's going to require some trust to do it and that trust has been eroded and it's there's it's that is the full sentence I have zero confidence in our Administration not just because of how we got here but for many other reasons and so my concern this is why it's such a hard vote is how do we protect things along the way how can I move forward with a project when there's so little trust now I have to I have to weigh these and this is why it's a difficult job and I will be very clear this is a tough vote um it's it's a tough vote because of the stuff that needs to be done I may not be around to make sure that it gets done um and let me just clarify one thing Mr brick said about the stem Center um what you may not know Mr brick what councilwoman Scara knows and uh the members of the economic development committee know is uh we had a presentation by someone who is building stem centers around the state right now and he's building them with HUD money and the HUD provides 80% what uh uh what I was going to ask for is the remainder be taken care of by the developer um but I can't ask for that now that is something that comes with the financial agreement and that Financial agreement is nowhere near um we're never we're not going to get to that this year there's nothing we can do I don't believe to get to a financial agreement this year so that's difficult for me but that is the what the stem Center is the training had already been agreed to it's not writing uh but it is an understanding that that council members and the developers and the administration have it is a benefit that needs to be provided to our students in town and I think it will excite them and interest them and help them but that's happening anyway that the stem Center is something different um now there is talk in here about a pilot and I am concerned about the pilot because again I will not likely be here to vote on it um so I do have some concerns both for West Orange as well as for the developers U depending on how the council is constituted when the financial agreement comes it could easily meet with a 3-2 no vote and then we are back at square one if that is the case by the way we only lose $200,000 we don't lose the full 400,000 we keep the first 200 there's nothing that will affect that first 200 as of today um but that is a possibility so it's hard for me as a business person I I I I did I I did my stin on Wall Street it's hard for me to say yes to something that could end up being a no in just a few months and have incur have uh the developers incur additional costs and not really get anything in return for that um however when I weigh all of these things the good good far outweighs the bad up to 600 permanent jobs2 200 plus million investment on our Main Street local hire requirements that will put West Orange residents and businesses to work the impact on the schools the property taxes that will be paid will be greater than the property taxes we're getting now even with a pilot and they will not put a single body in the schools our schools are already overcrowded even when people don't want to admit it that's another one of the things that has eroded trust our schools are overcrowded so um and then this of all the sites in New Jersey is the absolute best site to have a movie studio it is the home of the first one that's our history now there's some things that need to be done just making it pedestrian friendly is not enough we need to make sure that those employees are going to walk out and buy lunch and buy dinner and get a drink after work and and patronize the local businesses otherwise like we've seen in other areas people will come to work stay on campus all day and go back home and not a single dollar will be left in town we we need to make sure that the site plan and that our further agreements honor that um and I will tell you I expect that they will with the sole exception of one issue that I've asked for the developers have been receptive to every suggestion and we've been able to negotiate we didn't get everything we wanted they certainly didn't get everything they wanted and that to me is the mark of a good deal now I have been supportive of this and there are people in this room right now who know that I am on the fence still it is a tough vote um there are some things I think are worth taking the chance and in the grand scheme of things I think the impact is far greater than any negative impact we could incur and in spite of the zero trust I have in this Administration justifiably so even a broken clock is right twice a day so um I looking forward to our vote I think we will have further conversation uh at that time um and I think this is probably the most consequential vote for Main Street in West Orange um in the last 20 years even actually probably more than that even going back to before uh all of the votes on the Edison loss um so I just want to make sure I covered all my points that I wanted to cover because I won't get a chance to come back uh obviously Mr kovak you and I disagree on the numbers um I'm not going to waste the the the time tonight going through it all um some of which you caned some of which you don't either way uh from a financial standpoint the impact financially to Township of West Orange for this project uh is probably the biggest impact we can get for that site um given the unique Dynamics around development there I understand that you disagree God bless you sir uh I I I feel very confident in that in that statement um I think that's it for me um uh just one second um oh with regard to West essic so while it is not it is not appropriate for me as a member of the planning board to uh opine on which way I would vote on any particular development that is currently before the planning board it is perfectly appropriate for my Council colleagues to State their position they're not voting if they join the meeting they join the meeting just as any other member of the public now we have some work that we do here um and we're we make a we make decisions about those um different projects from time to time and sometimes we opine on them and some of them have been opined on tonight uh I won't say how I feel about it but I do think the community needs to know how y'all feel uh at least I won't say it um as long as I'm on the planning board uh I think that's it for me let me just double check I'm coming to you councilwoman as soon as I make sure um yeah the last thing I will say is Mr dubov you asked the question is it right for the town honestly sir that is the only reason that I've been supportive of it it is right for the town and I don't know how we're going to get another group to clean up or bring that number of jobs without putting kids in school um I I I I just don't see how that's going to happen but uh you're welcome to to disagree uh councilman Williams you wanted to say something I just wanted to ask for a two to three minute recess once you are complete with our remarks before we go to our next well I was going to ask the council to uh move up the executive session uh to the first item of business yeah uh so that we let our professionals go and then obviously we can use the restroom all the way there that's fine thank you all right so off a motion that um we move the executive session and go into adjourn the regular meeting and go into uh recess the regular meeting go into exective session all in favor any opposed the motion is carried well thank you West Orange uh we'll be back as soon as possible hi this is Joe Fagan Township council is now back to resume their meeting at this point I'd like to turn the meeting over to council president brother thank you sir welcome back everyone uh we are now back in our regular meeting um Madame clerk yes um how would you like to proceed consent agenda oh okay okay approval of minutes of previous meeting public meeting September 10th 2024 consent report of Township officers none reading of petitions and Communications and bids none Bill list does anybody have any questions on the bills consent consent resolutions are any resolutions being pulled this evening yes colleagues yes um I have some questions original original I have questions also do you ready thank you um first start with or are we pulling the bud the public hearing on budget amendment number one are we pulling that or we don't do we need to pull that or do we just we read that it's just no we're not voted we already voted on that so that doesn't need to be pulled that was just as a reference for the public okay um resolution terminating the shared service agreement number 27524 you want that pull or question uh my question was I have question to go ahead go ahead Council um so can we do them all at one time so so 275 I have a question on as well did you have others that you have questions 276 276 uh councilwoman has a question and 278 yeah I have 27 278 question for both Council women okay I have a question to on 28324 283 all right I like the P 277 for no Vote or question um it's for a question and 281 for a question and you're going to pull those actually no I want them pull yes because for for noot 277 and 281 correct and I'm assuming you're pulling 282 yes 280 or 282 we're pulling or 282 282 282 282 is what we just covered right in executive session purchase agreement so we're pulling it correct okay um Council M Michael is the one who pild 282 anything else so you got you got to pull 24 right f g to do the ordinances first well I have questions on those two I I didn't put mine in yet I have a very simple question though which one 28 27 last time we didn't have the four votes for the BND oh correct those have to be pulled afterwards because of the bond ordinance right why aren't why don't they have the same number as the last time because the last time they passed but then the bond ordinance failed so I had to put them back on with new numbers that answers my question okay all right so they're pulled um okay all right so we've got 275 275 is the resolution terminated the shared service agreement with the Bureau of SX fails for public health officer um this is being presented by Mr fanino I my question was does the termination is it retroactive to the death or is it just effective once we terminate the contract now and my my rationale or reasoning for that is because obviously we were paying them something or they were paying us something this they were they were paying us but when Teresa denova passed away we started using the county for our health officer okay so we didn't really have the relationship I think this is just the formal termination yeah and what director Fondo said to me was that because we're um we're Contracting with the ess6 Hudson Regional we cannot contract with another Community we can't sublet ourselves to them right I understand so so miss NOA was she was our health officer and since she's you know since passing she's no long we had the contractor of the service so I don't believe they paid us since that time I think this is just a formal termination of the agreement all right can we just get confirmation that we haven't paid them or they haven't paid whatever the situation is retroactively that we don't owe them any money as we're terminating this contract just so that we can be good neighbors I have a question I don't recall us um doing a resolution to terminate the shared services agreement with Dover did I just missed no missed that we did we did we did yeah yeah when was that done when when when was that done um I don't remember I mean I know that we've done other things in regard to that shared services agreement uh I just did not recall the resolution neither do I I don't think that we I'll research while you guys yeah please do and then you know my question would be why would we not right they said terminating and that was it we didn't follow up from there okay I mean we did some things to require the the inquire about the payments and then also Stop Those yeah that's it though but we didn't do the resolution so uh please follow up for me let me know if we have a resolution for for do um and that was my only question I'm not trying to pull 275 vote no okay anything else on 27523 all right so 275 is no longer pulled it's going to be in the consent uh 276 uh that was councilwoman Williams yes um my inquiry was this um easement agreement is for the repair of uh nine Nelson right but it's for repair of of un I guess storm water management apparatus that the township owns correct so why would the homeowner now take up future responsibility and repairs if it's owned by the town Township and then my follow-up question with that or for that is what is the expense right now that we're doing the repairs for and is that a burden that a homeowner should want and then is it also deed restricted from the future sale of that property I'll let legal answer would answer for the deed restrictions but we've made we've made repairs to some of these um properties to it's not storm order I believe it's sanitary sh but it's to you know to kind of get it up to where it needs to be but then they need to maintain it going forward we can't we can't maintain these things in perf this particular Street we've done this work to a lot of the other homes and uh this particular home was never done there were actually adding in two Mercator pumps my understanding is what they're putting in there it's something to grind what's in the pipe and help the flow go downhill so you know for lack of better terms so you know just so what what is the cost involved in this repair and why again why would a homeowners I I hear you saying but if it's our sewer system why is now the homeowner gonna have to take the burden of future maintenance because it's really on their it's their lateral but it this is just a very unique Street and it's probably better if the engineer explains it but I've been up there I do have a basic understanding of it so once we help them get their laterals cleaned out to the street we've we've made these modifications but it's up to them to maintain them we're really not responsible be honest with you we don't have to do any of this and I've talked to other plumbing inspectors that thinks the town is insane for doing it to begin with but these are our residents and it goes back like like uh Mr say it goes back you know years now to different houses on Nelson Court where we've done this for them so like we don't do it for this one this is gonna be the only one we didn't do it for yeah this is the only house we never did from years ago and for whatever reason this one was just never and every other home home owner is responsible for the continued maintenance of their understanding yes okay this is just finalizing this is the last piece of that and is this going to be a deed restriction that's going to go in into perpetuity if they happen to sell I don't know that answer I don't know we can find it out already on their survey I not if we not if we're granting an easement to do the work it's not on their survey because otherwise if the easement was already there it would be on their survey and we wouldn't have to Grant it well this says temporary easement agreement so it's not a permanent from what I'm reading temporary easement agreement with the owner it allows us my understanding from Talking the engineers that it allows us to go on the property to make their repairs from this time but because it's their sanitary sewer resp they'll have the obligation to maintain it no matter who problem okay that's my understanding mention thank you and and that was my question I don't have to pull it I just wanted further information okay and then you have 278 had a question on um I'm sorry no 278 yes um did we get 77 first right 278 oh no I'm sorry not to vote apologize never mind not to 78 I take that back councilwoman celino and councilwoman Williams have questions on 78 correct yeah I was just wondering if we got any of the other fees from the other neighboring towns on what their um schedule is I I know milburn's Milburn is up to $2,000 fine okay but the demographics of Milburn is much different I understand just we have to look at replacement did we think Maplewood is also similar that's not so goe Council when you're done no I just wanted to know if we had any information I I mean I I stand on record that I think $500 is punitive and more than we should um include so so I like a little more time with this on on this um because you know obviously it's a season I'm going door too talking to Residents and so there has been inquiries about tree removal and how much it would cost for the replacement and I mean some people are getting quotes of like $6,000 it's like insane so um again I like the little I I thought we were going to wait on this I didn't realize it was going to come up this quick or or we G we were GNA research it and lower it a little bit Madam clerk can you get us the S did you reach out to the neighboring towns to find out what their fees are Maplewood is also uh not to exceed $2,000 Farm their fees for what I'm sorry for tree remov tree replacement that doesn't mean it's we don't have that here this could cost you up on some of the Tree 66 Grand 10 like it's crazy right I have a tree that on is on Hillside that has to be removed it's $99,000 for the homeowner and she is a senior and it it is definitely clearly on her property and it is the biggest tree on Hillside did they get a number of bids for that see yes she did get she got several bids it can be expensive to take these need special equipment right so I I I I would I would ask if we could table I would move to table this and so we can get some yeah because I think just add that the problem with continuing table of this resolution that as it stands right now the tree removal and replacement fund has no mechanism for payment into it so it it says to be prescribed by resolution so it's hard to keep King can down the road so to speak where no there are no in place right now the only F be $2,000 for illegally removing a tree or what have you or if you want that's okay IL legally that going be set by the ordinance the council this resolution deals with the replacement chart so if I want to apply for a tree removal permit and to remove two trees all by property this dictates how much it's going to cost me if I can't replace them on my property or my neighbor that I would have to put into the replacement fund so that's if there's a modification requested by the council to the $500 fee or the th000 whatever that second one is um placeholder yeah I I I would recommend no more than 250 if I could get a second on second well well well is a placeholder until we figure out well there's two prices here that's the problem if we're gonna do modification to the price for the 2 and a half inch tree it should be consistent for the four inch trees as well so that way there's now so 50 and 500 we have here now 500 per two and a half which I'm getting confused I thought the minimum to take down was four inches not two and a half inches we amended it to four inches so that's it is four inches it's just being the options for replacement are different okay right you can replace it with a two and a half okay so I would recommend we go 250 and a a well you got I I second that all right so that that's motion is has been offered uh is there a second no I second second second Madam this is to amend right uh councilwoman castelino yes councilwoman G Michael councilwoman Scarpa no councilwoman Williams yes council president ruford yes okay 250 across the board throughout the yes yes and now we need to U vote on the resolution or are we not pulling it how how how do we move forward with passing the resolution itself I had questions on it is your question satisfied now yes we can vote on it yeah I'm good with the amendment I'm good with the amendment so do we just go ahead and vote on it my question okay uh is there a motion to approve move well I'm sorry I move for on the record um 27424 278 278 I'm sorry second that okay thank you okay as amended 27824 councilwoman celino yes councilwoman gber Michel councilwoman Scarpa yes councilwoman Williams yes council president Rutherford yes okay the motion carries all right so there was a question on we're pulling 279 and 280 until after the ordinance correct 281 yeah oh that's pulled no 280 282 that's pulled the vote no too 283 283 I just had a question I had spoken with Mr smdo about this earlier I was wondering if this was competitively bit why you know if it was competitive why it wasn't competitively bid or if it was oh yeah I had a question about that one too so it's our understanding that the Regio was doing other work for us in the town and this was a an incident that occurred in there that needed this work to help protect some of the homes and because they were in the area the way it was explained to me the reason was a non-fair and open contract was because they were already doing work in the area so it added to the job to help for the protection of the residents including the um the the paving of of Valley Way which is the current contractor which is permissible under the local government contract La correct I think it was because it was emergency work but corre it wasn't an emergency in the sense of can we pull up that because the reason why I say that is you know we always talk about fair and open cont contracts um and I would like to see what we originally voted on in March because we should mirror that L language if it was passed under the guise of being emergency work that should be named in this this was added to the work that was already awarded this was added onto for the fact that because my understanding and I think Chief um there was a car that came down hit a house we had to do some work to help prevent more damage going into homes I'm not disputing that fact I and agreeing with what you're saying but my understanding in March is that we voted on something that was considered emergency work and if that's the case in that resolution it should mirror that in this resolution so can someone pull up what what we vote on in in March because I think it should it should I don't think this was what was considered an emergency was that was it was it this work was performed in conjunction with the paving project and they're Paving now they're Paving now and excuse me I me to jump in but it's on my street so the the bottom of Fairmont there was a bad accents wiped out the whole guard rail which goes right into somebody's home so they're there now Paving and that needs to be replaced okay I I know but I would like to see I'm trying to find can someone tell me what resolution number that I think also part of the challenge was if if it's not bit out how do we know that's a good price exactly so I don't know like well you know is already there people in that world Jimmy Williams I bet they have they have a you know a pretty good idea of what something's worth I mean they may not be exact it's not to say you definitely couldn't get a better price but it's not something that you know they're there they can do this work right now you get it done and it's done I mean it's not it's not like you're gonna save you know 30,000 nobody coming and doing that for half the price it wasn't the first accident in that spot I just and the repair would be in conjunction with the road work so it wasn't like somebody coming in tearing up the work that was already being performed it was perform it was performed simultaneously with the road so this is already done there was I I grew up on fair enough there was a cable that ran through like yeah like I beams in the in concrete in the ground and there was it was inside of like a shrub so you really didn't see it um it was there for that purpose that's totally Antiquated outd you know you probably decapitate somebody if they lost control on a bicycle very Danger um so you know that's not even allowed today so those homeowners it's only like maybe three houses I'm going to say three or four houses that that effects they got a little bit vocal about hey we need this changeed we need this fixed the cable was still there this is how we came up with this so it has the work already been done that I don't know they're working on diet's probably on if you bring her on yeah see she's usually on on is z is she on uh Mr she 283 you want to call her 283 yeah I got it here it is number to oh I I want me to call yeah yes please yes do we have any oh I got some should I my 10 this was a big process I just want to find the resolution down his volume so we don't hear what she's really saying all right so can we come back to that all right so well he's getting around the phone okay yeah all right she's gonna join 12 she said so I think it's 87 it's the only thing maybe it's 87 I think I looked at 9 my accident I searched Regio back a couple years March 12th go to the March 12th uh meeting agenda it's either 87 or 90 okay it said the town receive 10 bids i f confused about like on both of them I said the town reive bids they're not no bids if bu original work but the original work this is like an add-on like with the library when we got the add-ons you guys saying huh so I don't understand what your concern I don't know why because they're because they're there this and there's a cable hanging down she'll she'll explain it's there's some efficiencies when you've already got the street dug up L yeah because they're there on theet no it's right on the curve it's right in the street no they're doing the Curbing and everything they're finally doing Valley way so this but this is not on the curb either this is processes and it's over the the threshold then it should be a fair and open process I mean right it's right on in between the curve and the sidewalk is the it's not like anyone could do it I'm not saying that they shouldn't all right but there's this C cable there um director are you able to hear us he's one that wanted does he to get this done is the director able to hear us Z are you on the call okay then turn it down and just turn it down I hear you Z if you can hear us you have to unmute yourself can hear now you have trouble calling in you get her on the cell phone put the reason is she muted herself maybe it's okay we don't have yeah she could probably tell us what my question was answer unless you guys have questions for her well I'm okay with the explanation for the public yeah and we could go back to her then we could go back I mean I don't I would like this one told where yeah I was for questions only okay yeah we could vote on it she gets off okay we're pulling it here she is all right so 283 is pulled we're gonna pull the uh 28324 287 as well the municipal budget because I need to do a roll call vote on that okay okay he you hear that yeah yeah okay yeah I have you on my cell phone is the to council has a couple questions you want to ask you a question I don't have questions the the question uh director is why wasn't this uh put out to a fair and open bid it's a $42,000 contract uh it wasn't part of emergency work uh why didn't we use the fair and open process I also requested from contractor to be higher price so I fig this would be easier so it was put out the bid or it was not because she did get another she didn't put it out the bit said she got a bid which was the other price can you repeat that I'm sorry you did not put it out to bid because of the price she requested a price she did not put it out the bid she requested a price all right so is there a recommendation that well hold on I just have a question um Madam director why does it need to be done in conjunction with the road workk at that time I was made aware that was these two houses two homes so to have contract with a consultant to do a safety study to figure out whether or not a guy rail was feasible to be put in place which wasn't and the um recommendations were they were to put the ballers additional curve a striping and signage all right I'm not sure if I agree that it had to be done in conjunction with the road work um this is the thing when you constru a curb I cannot have a now the contractor putting the curve and then the next other contract that comes out after you put it out to bit to to basically excavate what we already have we already have put in it need to be doing simultaneously before the winter start understood director any other questions for her thank you no but I know the people of Alleyway would be very appreciative we get this done thank you uh director I think that'll do it for us you're welcome all right so which ones are being was pulled so I mean that was only for a question so now P my issue is we keep talking about transparency and you know fair and open bids if it's over the bid threshold we should have bid it out or it should have came presented us as an emergency work so we can pass it it's not right but it's not an emergency and the engineer just explained that you can't have two different companies do this this has to be done at the same time the curb is set well answer I understand but again it's over over the bit it's over the bid yeah that's why there's a provision in the law to allow for this that's why the law allows you to do this yeah so it's legal I don't think it's right qpa certified she wouldn't do anything that so I mean that that's a system of checks and balances system of checks and balances my right to vote how I want so which ones are we pulling um Madam SP can we go down the list sure so I have two uh 7 7 24 I have uh well 279 280 281 282 283 and 287 the 283 was just a question no no they want to pull it okay do you want pull it now all right so we can vote on the other two or three that's for the acceptance of the consent agenda second uh okay sorry all in favor I any opposed the consent agenda is implemented 27 277 resolution authorizing contracts with certain approved State contract vendors for Contracting units pursuant to njsa 48 col 11-12 a yes so I would like to know why we're going this F with 277 and 281 versus uh us getting the resolutions and improving the projects like we have doing I'm not sure I understand the question to be honest with you just name this typical boiler plate every municipality in New Jersey does this I I don't know what the question is I'm just I'm just trying to understand someone came to me and said by us doing this that essentially you guys want to come back to us whenever we do want to purchase something below the the threshold from here I just want but we don't have to come to you below the threshold anyway yeah okay and if it's above the bid threshold then we pass this you still to come to us right yeah it's above the bid threshold then it has to go to public bid correct this is this is for buying routine everyday things so the state has done or the co-op has done sometimes there County co-ops there State there's different ones we participate in a number of them or you don't have to go to bid you can just buy whatever you want well they get you the best price because they're doing they're buying for 50 minutes P exactly yeah they're doing the bid process for us and that includes mechanic work that includes anything that's in that I understand but my question is by approving this does that mean then you don't come T us when you want to buy police equipment for example um from the State Co-Op it's like copy paper if if it's under the bid threshold 17 over it doesn't matter because it's a State Co-Op right right so we can buy purchased equipment before over $100,000 but with approval of the council right oh yeah yeah but the this isn't authorized this you're authorizing us the the administration to go out and purchase Things based on the price of the co-op but in the case like say say scbas from the fire department you from the fire department if it's in the co-op say from the Houston Galveston we're going to come to you and say we're going to the Houston Galveston spending $100,000 on on on those scbas you've given us the authority to go to that Co-op and now we're coming to tell you we're spending that money and you'll know about it so you you're authorizing us to use that service and then we're going to tell you that we're using that service you'll know that we're spending $100,000 on that or $10,000 on this whatever it may be we're still voting on those right you'll know about it yeah we have to I mean you have to use the co-op anything all big larger procurement things especially the larger procurement ones she's going to say I went to the co-op and I'm letting you know that I'm spending x amount and this this price was it's a prefixed menu and according to what she was telling me today these these contracts going be one year two years up to three years and it's done by the local governing body that oversees the that Co-op whether it be State County Educational or Municipal great so so the the so if for example heavy equipment had to be repaired under this contract you would not have to alert the council at all to go and engage in that no what that it depends on type contract you you have already this year we have actually been authorized by you to go to some of these heavy contract we we actually have um resolutions from you author us to use some of those particular mechanics already because we we actually Farm out a lot of our repairs auth contract that we don't have before us yet maybe you explain it because I've had residents trying to me confused like why are we authorizing contracts that we don't have before us they're thinking that this is the open pocketbook with any of these companies that we they don't have that the resolution don't have to come before us to V on right so any spending that we do obviously is is coming out of the current fund budget or an ordinance that was passed by this governing body or a trust uh that was done through a dedication by writer so there's there's always an authorization to spend but I I I think your your question councilwoman is that by approving these vendors if we are going to enter into a contract for you know to purchase something through a state contract vendor and that amount is $100,000 are we coming back with a resolution saying you know we're using this vendor through this state contract for the purchase of this item um like we have been doing since I've been on that's you know so I I again being being brand new to to this municipality I'm I'm assuming hopefully not incorrectly that you know we still are going to to do those resolutions for those contracts over the 44k uh uh budget amount this this just allows us to use those those vendors without having to do those sealed bid uh proposals so it's it's easier as as Chief Abbott said these are vetted uh contracts with the state of New Jersey or with the various co-ops that we're putting forward in the resolution uh it still doesn't absolve us from our typical protocols when it comes to you know approving uh purchases or contracts over uh you know that bid threshold amount that was that was the concern people were thinking that we're going to approve this and then now the rest of the year you guys weren't going to come to us with whatever purchases now until December allegedly but that's why people's concerns are that by passing this ordinance that we wouldn't control the prrint of this and talk B I know I'm just why I asked because again transparency for for residents so thank you so much uh I I I I will add that the state of New Jersey um you know strongly encourages the municipalities to use the state contracts and there's even some Provisions in there of you know you should be using a state contract unless you can demonstrate you know a 10% savings by going out um to the open market so you know while we are still going to do sealed bids for many many things you know the state really is pushing the municipalities to use these vetted contracts because and again there's economies of scale when the state can put something out that says you know 566 municipalities are are are going to be able to use you so you know they are getting those economies and scales when they when negotiate these contracts thank you Mr DC okay all right7 someone off motion I'm off a motion to approve 277 okay councilwoman castelino yes councilwoman Deber Michael councilwoman Spa councilwoman Williams council president Rutherford yes motion carries over 79 and 80 correct 28124 resolution authorizing contracts with certain approved Cooperative vendors for Contracting units pursuant to njsa 48 colon 11-52 for no question I make the motion second second okay councilwoman celino yes councilwoman gber Michel councilwoman Scarpa yes councilwoman Williams council president rer yes the motion carries all right 282 drum roll 282 d24 resolution of the township of West Orange authorizing the execution of a purchase agreement an amendment to Redevelopment agreement with mdga West Orange downtown Redevelopment LLC I offer the motion to question pull it I pulled it sotion and then discuss you have to offer the motion first and then discuss that's why yeah that's what she's trying to explain thank you so council president offered the motion second second okay sereia there you go councilwoman thank you so while I am very excited about the prospect of a movie studio coming to West Orange which is the perfect location I think I've been very transparent about not liking the way this whole process has been about I don't think it's been fair and open I you know I think that the beginning wasn't transparent you guys I think since have been so I thank you and I think all the attorneys and everyone who who's worked on this but I have to remain committed and um you know I like I said I've been very consistent from the beginning so while you know I do believe there are the votes to pass this tonight and I just I'm a no only because I don't like how this came about and that's on the administration it has nothing to do uh with with you guys so on that note um well before we vote I do want to make comment I agree with council president ruford about how we talked about in the beginning how this came about and he is right and that doesn't well with me like I said I do believe that has the votes the p and I really do pray that this comes to coition because my biggest fear is that and other fears that were relate to me by residents is that this won't come to fruition um there are concerns with the pilot there concerns you know we can't speak what we spoke about an executive session but there has been concerns by many uh residents to me that there hasn't been a studio partner yet um so these are these are issues and um you know I I really wish this project uh all the best but I'm in now in an effort to to remain transparent and consistent Mr council president thank you thank you councilwoman I just want to make a quick statement councilwoman scarp and then Williams yeah again um I'm concern I'm I've had concerns along the way um about the language and the criteria of the pilot and that's my primary concern and why I feel I have to vote no um but I do think it's a wonderful thing that the studio will be built in in West Orange um I hope the film Project goes through quickly and transparently and that the studio part is um picked uh ASAP you know I I hope it's within 90 days we so thank you councilwoman councilwoman Williams thank you uh council president for this opportunity to share U my sentiments about what will be the most transformative decision that I have ever made um in my three and a half years as an elected official so I just want to start by saying today is a a Monumental day in the history of our Township the vote that we are about to take is not just another ordinance it represents what I believe to be the most important decision of my tenure as an elected official we stand on the brink of a transformation that will Define the future of West Orange for generations to come this vote is about our studio development project a once in a-lifetime opportunity that will Revitalize our community strengthen our local economy and bring new life to properties that have remained desolate for over 30 years for decades we have seen the potential of this site yet it has remained untouched a symbol of what could be today tonight we have the chance to unlock that potential the develop ment of the West Orange Film Studio as outlined by Jersey Diggs is poised to create hundreds of jobs attract new businesses and establish West Orange as a hub for creativity Innovation and economic growth this project will not only generate millions in Revenue but it will enhance the cultural and artistic fabric of our town we are not just building a studio we are building a future a future where West Orange is known as a destination for filmmakers artists and Visionaries a future where our community thrives because we invested in it together this is a rare and unique opportunity one that doesn't come around often and we must seize it we must move forward together protecting the long-term interests of our community and by developing these properties we are turning a dormant space into a beacon of possibility productivity and pride tonight I will cast my vote with West Orange future in mind knowing that we are making a decision that will shape West Orange in the best possible way this is our moment this is our future let's take advantage of this once in a-lifetime opportunity and move forward together and yes this is emotional because again this is the biggest decision I have made from this chair it is transformative it is what's best for our community and I pray that we move forward and that this passes thank you thank you Council councilwoman C thank uh thank you um nicely po councilwoman uh I want to thank the uh Matrix uh partners for their uh time they're um working together with us the past couple weeks on this um want to thank my colleague for a lot of time put in on this uh council president uh rord um you know it we had as emotional as a councilwoman had had just gotten this means a lot to our community as you saw earlier this evening a lot who are downtown um business owners and residents it's 20 years in the making so it's a big moment for us uh one that we could be proud of and um I'm fully confident that uh you're going to you know be great partners for our community I know you already were you you started helping us with the street fair a little bit and and jumping right in you do a lot in New Brunswick and uh other places um that we followed up through and uh you've been very impressive so far so I look forward to the process to uh you nameing your uh Studio partner getting a feel for our community and I think tonight sitting here all evening you saw how important the downtown is to Residents to business owners uh that that came and sometimes when that doesn't always uh mesh together and to be mindful of the the good people that live in Downtown West Orange so I just can't wait for the world to come uh the film studio industry to come to Downtown West Orange to catch our energy I will be reporting this this evening thank you thank you councilwoman um I want to commend Matrix as well U certainly our attorney Mr beckelman who uh did a Yen's job navigating competing interests and um you know acting as a bridge between the township and uh the developers um I will say for the West Orange Community the developers uh have been forth right and transparent with us um every step of the way at least so far and I'm grateful for that uh this is a hard vote uh for me as well I articulated those reasons earlier um and so my my lack of confidence is in uh our side of the table not yours um and if uh there was a lack of confidence in your ability to get this done I would be a no um now I do have to say something uh councilwoman we could have done this last week we could have gone into executive session and hammered out the same things that we hammered out um and we didn't because you chose to leave the council meeting to go to a debate watch party it was consequential last week too and then councilwoman and I had to work over the last two weeks to do what could have been done last week in our meeting um so that's just another example of the way we do the business in West Orange um too often we get in our own way um we make it difficult to do the right thing and my hope is that um we will learn some lessons from what we've already been through and make it a little bit easier to do the right thing it is the right thing to have 500 approximately new permanent jobs in West AR it's the right thing to increase the property taxes paid on that property not just now but going forward into the future it's the right thing uh to clean up that site um in a way that does not involve um residential property tax payers um in town it's the right thing to clean up the site period um it's the right thing to have a movie studio on that site the place of the first movie studio in the history history of the world and if we're ever going to lean into our history uh the culture that is West Orange um this is the opportunity to do so um I'm excited for what the future holds and I'm looking forward to the vote uh Madame clerk okay is there a motion to approve to it's already been oh I'm so sorry I'm sorry um okay councilwoman castelino yes councilwoman gber Michael no councilwoman Scarpa no councilwoman Williams yes council president Rutherford yes the motion carries congratulations everybody look forward to working with you gentlemen thank you want have them sign thank you while they're here oh you guys want to sign the contract that's fine with you I do appreciate all your work on and your continued diligence have a great rest of your night thank you not yet right okay 283-4066 Valley Way in an amount not to exceed $ 42,2 40 Susan scar i p this um no I don't have any question questions anyone okay they were answered okay I move to approve yeah second okay councilwoman Celina yes councilwoman gber Michel no councilwoman Scarpa yes councilwoman Williams yes council president ruer no okay that was interesting all right um so that passes yes motion carries all right uh 2 87 yes this is a resolution to adopt the 2024 Municipal budget Madam cler to the we need to have a public hearing on the amendment number one and after we close the public hearing public hearing on the budget but now it's the budget amendment number one we didn't do the public Hearing in the special meeting we approved the amendment but we did not have our public hearing um so we're going to have to open a public hearing and once it's closed you can move to uh the vote on adoption of the budget for that reminder okay I have a do I don't but um it's there it's in here no it's not in here I the new did you yes I got it you got it you got it good okay uh the meeting will come to order clerk will call the role okay councilwoman celino yes councilwoman gber Michael Yes councilwoman Scarpa yes councilwoman Williams yes council president ruford here this is the time fix for the public hearing on budget amendment number one budget amendment number one was introduced on first reading by the township Council on September 13 2024 was advertised as required on September 19th 2024 together with the notice of this hearing before opening the hearing I wish to outline the procedure each person Desiring to be heard will rise and give his or her name and address before speaking you can approach the microphone in front of me I will recognize one speaker at a time in order of rising as nearly as I can determine please address all questions to the chair where necessary they will be referred to individual members of the governing body or Municipal officials questions must be confined solely to the municipal budget before us school or County matters are not proper subjects of of this hearing and cannot be discussed or answered here tonight I will entertain a motion to open the public hearing on budget amendment number one second councilwoman celino yes councilwoman G Michael councilwoman carpa councilwoman Williams council president retherford yes uh the public hearing is now open if anyone would like to have public comments you can do so now in person only seeing none uh I'll entertain a motion to close the public hearing on budget amendment number one to close public comment okay councilwoman castellino yes councilwoman gber Michel yes councilwoman Scarpa yes councilwoman Williams yes council president Rutherford yes the motion carries perfect so now we GNA vote on 287 yes move to approve to l s second second okay second okay councilwoman celino yes councilwoman gber Michael councilwoman Scarpa yes councilwoman Williams yes council president Rutherford yes the motion carries yes do I dare ask when will we see the capital budget no pressure Mr NFA Council we are working on that now yes Mr DAC prior to your uh joining us uh in West orang I made it very clear to the mayor and our chief uh our business administrator uh that in the capital budget I expect to see money for Parks um that is a it's an important part of that for me I'm happy to schedule some time to talk with you about it or anyone else um but that is something I have said on multiple occasions I want to see in that capital budget um and I will be it'll be very hard pressed to get a yes out of me if it's not in there um on the budget we just passed um I want to thank everybody that did the work um we were able to get it down to just over a 2% uh suggested uh increase um and uh and I think I think that is you know acceptable livable especially given all of the open positions and raises and uh all of the open positions and promotions that we were able to include in that budget so thank you to my colleagues well I want to thank you council president for all the work hard work you put in for this budget to help reduce it to where it is now so that's because of you so thank you council president that is my pleasure thank you anything else before we go good so uh now we are on ordinances council president before we get off resolutions I found the do agreement with the help of the clerk so the do agreement was One Moment One Moment the township of West Orange entered an agreement with the township the town of do dated as a January AR 1st 2021 and on page three of the agreement it said this agreement shall remain in effect from January 1 2021 through December 31st 2023 and there was no it exp this this agreement has expired and there was no resolution from last year right so shouldn't there have been a resolution to terminate once um Mr gross was no longer working there it had a sunset provision money we didn't budget the money for it it would it reappeared in the budget this year we cut the money out the line item the correction he indicated that it was just a that's what was indicated was just it was just left but it was not supposed to be there or removed yeah this was this was expired even while Mr gross was still working here in 2024 so just want to have it on record I I um I have yeah I have multiple challenges with um the way that payment through that shared services agreement was attributed to Mr gross um and uh yeah and you know I'm not even confident that when we voted to take the money out that it actually was especially since it appeared in the budget and then we were told that it wasn't it was a typo who knows if it's a typo or not uh at the end of the day um he was not entitled to those payments he should not have been paid uh once he was no longer working there and if it required us to do a resolution to formalize that then we should have um I'm I didn't know that it required it until tonight when we got one for uh Essex Fels or whatever the town was uh for the health um um officer whatever it was we voted on that one didn't have a an expiration this has an actual expiration so this expired so if we were to terminate prior to the expiration date we didn't need to have a resolution to terminate if if you terminated prior to the expiration that he would have made a resolution to I think it was terminated in July of 23 yeah it was terminated in July of 23 and uh it says according to Mr smeraldo that it expires in December so we should have had something formalized that's the case sh yes and that's an issue because we did mention it and I mean I mean oh the pension is over $14,000 a month that's a lot especially if it's being calculated with monies he didn't actually earn that that's not be clear on the record because we've been saying this all along and that is not true he has a contract he had a contract an employment contract that's specified exactly how much he was paid per year that says nothing about his salary that does not go into his salary there's nothing in the resolution that says it goes into his salary and there's nothing in his contract that says it's going that goes into his salary so when everybody comes up to the microphone and continues to to say that lie it's just ridiculous and it's embarrassing so that extra 40 something, he's getting a year wasn't going towards his there's no extra 40,000 he had a employment contract with a specific number just like I do Mr is the number 40 something thousand is my question I don't know what 40,000 you're talking he made far more than $40,000 no well I can clarify but through the shared services agreement no no there was nothing there was never ever a provision in the shared service contract that went to his salary that's so so when we had the shared services agreement with Dober done my recollection of that was Dober was going to make a payment to the township of West Orange a portion of that payment was going to be kept by the township of West Orange and the rest of that payment was going to be forwarded to Mr gross I can't I can't speak to any understanding anyone has I can only tell you what's in writing say that this does not say that neither the res let me get to it and then we had the second piece of that which was the ba when he got the addition additional increase for being the ba and between those two it was my understanding that those together were about $100,000 of additional pay the issue for me came in when he was no longer performing those Services his income was not downwardly adjusted there should have been a clause in his contract that uh stated if he's no longer performing the service of ba he's no longer entitled to that payment that wasn't in there we had no mechanism to withdraw that that was a that's what we approved that's not what I agree to in the meeting when we voted that was what was in writing what that's not what was in writing because we got the contract after we voted or at least I got the contract after we voted I did not have the contract and that's all in in a recorded session too so my argument was the contract did not accurately reflect what we voted on there should have been a mechanism to withdraw that $60,000 once he was no longer ba or the $40,000 when he was no longer working in Dober that wasn't in there and that's where the source spot is now we're not changing any of that tonight but I did want it on the record because I think that's an important fact um it's it's good for the uh Mr JC to hear so yeah I can't speak to what anybody's conversations and understanding was especially conversation I wasn't privy to I wasn't a part of so I'm not going to say you're right or wrong there I can only say he has an employment contract all the money is on the CFO part that's what he was paid his entire salary that was is exactly what his pension is based on the resolution with Dober says nothing about any of that money going to John Ross strictly comes to the township and as far as that you felt maybe he deserved more of his ba I'm not going to tell you you're wrong you were part of those conversations I wasn't but the contract is the contract and if it should have been written differently or better and it wasn't so be it but we shouldn't be coming to a microphone and saying that he was overpaid and he shouldn't have got this and he shouldn't have got that he had a legal binding contract that's what he was paid yeah I just disagree with how that contract was drafted I think it accurately reflects I don't think it accurately reflects what uh the intention of the council was in both of those moments again we're not going to agree um and nothing that we do tonight is going to change that just just for the record since we're putting things on the record this says year that Dober will pay the township West Orange $65,000 annually for the work performed by the township West ARS in local inter local government agreement it doesn't say it goes into Mr cr's pocket it says is that this year will pay uh 65,000 for the first year and escalated by 2% annual per year that this agreement remains in effect and the payments will be made four equal payments and they they list the four Cycles there's nothing in here disputing that Mr smdo are you saying that you don't recall any conversation in the Town Council was there then he he wasn't assistant ba but he was still he was certainly here he was doing the housing stuff and yeah but I don't recall that conversation I can tell you that I I know from the and first of all we're crossing into the area where we talk about personnel which we tend to not do or name and we're naming people that's one and two um that his contract was for for work to do as a CFO nothing else he took on the job his ba and he took on the other job and when he stopped working for CFO for or doing the work for over his contract still remained in effect which was voted on and whatever year that was voted on I was not part of that contract negotiation right so so that to me is the travesty of the of the matter because he was in fact paid himself because he was the one actually doing the work there's no I don't I don't think anyone is trying to suggest that the $65,000 that do paid us went into uh all 65,000 of it went into our operating account some of that money was going to actually compensate the individual who was giving up their time and actually doing the work and that was a conversation we had in public when we decided to enter into that agreement now whether it was accurately reflected in the contract or not is another story my assertion is it was not accurately reflected in the contract same with the ba it's not as if we we gave him a $60,000 raise after discussing the $60,000 in relation to what it would cost us to hire a separate ba part of the argument for voting for that was that it would cost us less and we wouldn't have in salary and we would not have to pay any additional wages of benefits because he's already got him and that vote passed and it was a hard vote and I had to and I made a speech about it because it was a difficult vote and I was afraid that Mr gross would end up walking away and leaving whoever the next mayor was if it wasn't his choice without a statutory officer in that seat you can't even make payroll if you don't have a CFO so with great reluctance I still voted for it but it was not accurately captured in the contract and that is all that I'm making uh a claim about right now now we can keep going back and forth my recollection is not going to change I I was there I voted and it's also a matter of public record anybody can go back and watch those sessions all right so now are we on ordinances on second and final reading yes yes all right 2871 an ordinance amending chapter 4 sections 33.1 and 33.2 of the revised General ordinances of West Orange and establishing a section governing the consumption of cannabis in public and supplementing chapter 4 to add a new section 41 prohibiting alcohol consumption in public is there a motion to introduce second councilwoman celino yes councilwoman gber Mich councilwoman councilwoman Williams yeah we have yes second can read yeah council president Rutherford yes thank you a second we're um happy to open public comment on uh ordinance 287124 there's anyone in person that would like to comment uh on this ordinance now is your chance uh please approach the microphone give us your name and address nope seeing none uh entertain a motion to close public comment second you choose to close public comment all right public comments closed do you want to make a comment yeah or you have a question I I had a question about this ordinance um Second and final reading um I know and understand that we are trying to uh reduce and prevent the consumption of these um cannabis and alcohol um but we know that we are very light and slack on certain days in our town for certain events and I just want to be very clear um that if this is going to be something that we enforce that we're not going to not enforce it on every given day we can't have selective enforcement um we can't allow if we if we're going to say it's not allowed then on St Patrick's Day it can't be allowed so I just want to put on record that we are not going to have selective enforcement of this ordinance for any day for any entity or for any group of people across the board sure Council so and and I appreciate that and that's why it's taken this long to get this ordinance and it's a sh shame that we have to do this now but there's been so many problems uh not just uh in the Mississippi parking lot this summer but also back here on Wheeler Street we talked about this last meeting that you know there's been multiple issues with uh you you know people barbecuing at night in the parking lot this goes on uh drinking and and franzinger of the night residents right behind here uh have been having a havoc in melee um residents over in quickley parking lot this summer it's been just out of control it needs to be rained in and um we were able uh with through the special events process permits that uh Madame Clark could help the parade committee with we were able to have the beer gardens on downtown Thursdays which were just ly we had the Beer Garden at the street fair so the parade committee and I'll be more than happy to sit with them uh they could um you know make certain beer gardens uh along Main Street if they like and uh get a special permit for Qui Le's parking lot but for one day a year um where this used to be um something you know and believe me as a kid tradition um it was managed it's a real shame that we have to put this ordinance on um but we need to give our police the tools they need in their toolbox to be able to manage uh these activities that have been going on and it's just been way out of control Council wom so unfortunately here's where we are and we'll have to help out the parade committee because we want that's a great downtown event for us but we could figure that out so I look forward to passing this this evening mam cler is there a motion to approve second whatever okay councilwoman celino yes councilwoman G Michael councilwoman Scarpa councilwoman Williams yes council president wford yes the motion carries thank you ordinances on first reading 2872 Bond ordinance providing for Road sidewalk and Sewer improvements by and in the township of West Orange appropriated $2 million therefore and authorizing the issuance of 1, 94,000 bonds or notes of the township to finance the uh parts of the cost thereof is go ahead motion to introduce move for the introduction our first reading okay so councilwoman celino um made the motion so I'll councilwoman Williams I'll do you as a second okay councilwoman celino yes councilwoman gber Michel councilwoman Scarpa yes councilwoman Williams yes council president Rutherford yes the motion carries 2873-20 in ordinance amending and supplementing chapter 7 traffic subsection 7-1 14.2 a parking prohibited on certain streets During certain hours of certain days of the revised General ordinances of West oranges for introduction on first reading second thank you councilwoman celino yes councilwoman gber Michael counc carpa councilwoman Williams yes council president Rutherford yes okay 2874-20 an ordinance amending and supplementing chapter 7 traffic subsection 7- 26.1 bus stop 7-10 point2 stopping or standing prohibited During certain hours on certain streets on certain days and 7-1 14.2 a prohibited parking on certain streets During certain hours of certain days of the revised ordinances of second councilwoman celino councilwoman gber Michel councilwoman carpa councilwoman Williams council president Rutherford yes the motion carries 2875 d24 an ordinance amending and supplementing chapter 7 traffic subsection 7- 32.2 restrict parking zones of the revised General ordinances of West Orange move for on first reading okay Council celino thank you councilwoman Scarpa yes councilwoman Williams council president rord yes the motion carries now we have to go back to those two resolutions yes9 do together or we have to do them separate I believe you have to do them separately okay uh 27924 resolution authorizing an award of contract to Regio Construction in an amount not to exceed $5 8,870 for the NJ do Municipal Aid Carlson Road Cen drive and Colonial Woods Drive Improvement project I'm over there we adopt this resolution thank you councilwoman celino yes councilwoman gber Michael councilwoman Scarpa councilwoman Williams council president rord yes the motion carries 28-24 resolution authorizing an award of contract to DLS uh Contracting for the 20 23 cdbg Road rehabilitation of Valley Road from Kingsley Street to North build Avenue in the base bid in an amount not to exceed without authorization $81,400 move for the adoption of this resolution thank you councilwoman celino yes councilwoman gabber Michel councilwoman Scarpa yes councilwoman Williams yes council president reer yes the motion carries and in matters new matters Council so I do have one issue I'd like to um Mr smdo or Mr Abbott has the RFQ for the forensic audit gone out yet still waiting for Council to respond the the the last draft went out councilwoman gber Michael said she would respond by Sunday as of this morning did you get anything I did not respond because he's going to respond tonight everyone there have to be rision so she and I have done some work on it it just took us a little longer than expected I just don't want you think we're slow walking it so so we are I I will send those into to you um I am also going to uh for my colleagues benefit uh narrow the uh scope and uh limit it to just 23 we'll start with 23 um and we can work our way either forward or back after we get the results from 23 uh so I will send that to you I don't do will that need to be voted on that's a legal question am not if it's if it's a contract I'm sorry if it's a request for qual or yes request for qualifications and no that would be we're doing we've asked the council the administration's asked Council for their recommendations for what to include into the RFQ because when it was on for matters of new business it was the recommendation of the council to put on this RFQ and I believe there was a resolution um that set forth the same was yes so the short answer is no if you send me the comments to it actually let me double back with the director of the law department but my understanding Steph jer's understanding is no I don't believe so it is my understanding as well because that is the administration's perview to uh issue and uh respond to the responses they get for rfqs now I know this is under our investigatory Powers so I just want to be clear um we asked this question last council meeting as well um how are we choosing the vendor from the responses that we get believe I sent a on that well refresh my recollection okay the administration will put up the will go through the process for determining which vendor is resp to request that we the administration recommends the township use the council that Township uses and you old vote on so but the question was put to you whether or not uh under our investigatory Authority we have the ability to bypass that and select the individual performing the service for the Town Council right and the response I was given from the Law Department if I'm not mistaken is that the selection of the contractor is in full purview of the and that was challenged and requested that we have the the law that states that what is what is the law state regarding in the memorandum it's first of all the sharp James case is very clear that it's the administration who selects the to has the power to contract and then your job as council members is to either approve or say no to the person that the administration puts forth so we've SE and by the way might might I just add if there was an additional question somebody could have reached out to me before 12 o'l tonight I do have a question upet that you have to sit here till 12:00 with us very very much the opposite of that upset that nobody reached out to me prior to that well that's all right you we don't have to reach out to you prior or anything I'm asking you right now all right I want to know the question I want to answer my my question director of the law department and we will get back to you right who the same director who has now for two years been paid without a contract and said that that was okay the same director that had the mayor vote in a council proceeding and said that that was correct which is exactly why the the information from the law department has been challenged council president you asked a question for the Law Department the Law Department gave you a response rather than waiting rather than responding to that or putting forth your uh position with regard to that you waited till now it's exactly right I waited till now you know why because it's My Prerogative if you don't like it you don't have to your prerogative should be to move government forward yeah it's not moving government forward do not ask questions ahead of time okay well it's moving government forward at the pace at which I choose to and in the form in which I choose to which is completely My Prerogative and you don't have to like it give you an answer you can't give it all of them can't give us answers unless they have the questions ahead of time what we just went through was a reiteration of what we already went through and I and I want to be clear because I don't accept the answer that I got from the La department so okay that's why we had that exercise okay well I think we should move on in the event that we don't approve the vendor that was selected let's say 10 people uh apply and five I guess are considered pass and then you pick one do you then go back and bring one of the other four yeah to us not necessarily it's up to the correct that's my right so Administration not we is in Stephen jenero or yes so what well the issue though is what if one of the five that the mayor decided not to include as as a a you know suitable uh respondents what if one of those five is in fact a firm that we wanted to chose and we don't ever get a chance to vote on it's the administration's decision it's the administration and the mayor's decision as to who to put forth responsive to these bits or request for qualifications right that's why that's where we disagree all right I'm I'm I'm good on I could you please provide any citations you may have that that contradict the I'm not an attorney it just it makes perfect sense to me that if we're going to investigate somebody the person we're investigating doesn't get to choose the investigator right like that just makes perfect sense to anyone in any business councilwoman scarper yeah on a positive note I would just like to thank I don't know if it's uh Mr Dak our new CFO or if it's Karen but I finally got the supplemental debt statement I've been asking for with every bond issue who do I think well if but and I assume this is a sign of good things to come because I do expect it when we Bond and I do expect to understand how it affects our debt picture and um it would also be great if we could get that annual debt statement up even on the website as soon as it's performed many of the um the public have asked for that I think it's supposed to be on the website yes so the uh the annual debt statement our introduced adopted budgets our un audited an annual financial statements are all supposed to be on our website going back at least five years so I know Mr kovak has asked for it many times and I know that you'll do a good job and get it there I'll make sure that the annual debt statements are on there and as we uh you know authorize debt and and we we do new supplemental debt statements those are also posted with the date of the uh the first uh ordinance reading thank you I have a lot of confidence in you Ma I have a question I noticed that the 2023 audit wasn't on our website unless I wasn't looking for it in the right place so the the 2023 audit is not complete uh Samuel kinon company um is is in charge of uh completing our 2023 audit uh I'm having a meeting with them Thursday morning uh to go over the fieldwork now we obviously are are are late in the audit season statutorily audits are due June 30th for calendar year municipalities since covid uh division of local government services has pushed that out to September 30th um so s Klein will will be responsible for the the audit testing uh we we've completed the audit schedules with pkf o Conor Davies um that was something that they did uh during their their contract with with the township um so the hope is that we can turn around this audit very quickly uh and and hopefully we can come back in a month uh with the audit and any potential comments um for corrective action uh you know before this governing body uh but yes the 2023 audit is not complete yet thank you council president if I may um Mr deoi was looking for U was it the appraisal on downtown or something with Rob spring yes uh well he mentioned both of them but I think he wanted the appraisal the Main Street Properties yeah I didn't want to interrupt whomever was speaking at the time but he um he needs to just file an OP request I mean there is a process we're not hiding anything he can have whatever he can have it goes to Legal they look at it they determine what the losses he can have and he can't have and he gets it perfect thank you very much Mr AB Council yeah I just wanted to see if um we can do an assessment on handicapp parking spaces throughout Town um as we've been traveling um we are realizing that there are some that may not be utilized but they're still in existence so if we could have a check done on that that would be appreciated woman that that to follow up and I'm glad you mentioned it because Council councilwoman celino asked us last time and I did discuss I did discuss that with our municity program and asked them if that we can track that um and one of the things they said is that they can't do it on a GIS because we'd have to create our own GIS but we can flag a property GIS the yeah GIS system it's the uh goo informational system where it's a mapping um so we can't do that but what we can do is um we can flag a property that does have a handicap located in front of it so that if there is a you know if we need to do like a Tickler of some sort sort that says you know maybe we should check on it we'd have to come up with a different parameters on how to do that but um you know we we also have to go through an ordinance to remove something if we we don't know you know if the person moved or not you know we can ask I Beth too tomorrow if there's a way for the parking study that's going down right now look at that so here's my question simple question you have a you have a handy P handycap Parking Spot in front of your home should you have it is your license plate supposed to have the placard or not necessarily it can it may but you can also have the pag from your re Mir but you need to have the you need one or the other because I'm seeing I don't see any of that on these cars that I've been reporting to you and like I said on on Mitchell Street the other day I saw a bunch of them in a row and not one of them had a handicap working right just give me the address on car way your car okay great all right one other thing thing on uh financial matters Mr tinc what I had said uh when I said I wanted to ask you for something later this is what it is I would like uh all of the reports and documents related to our 2021 2022 and 2023 end of year reconciliation is that a labor intensive um and if it is you know you can start with 23 and work back as your calendar allows uh I I just want to have a clear understanding of the end of the year so you know not just bank reconciliations but sort of our budget reports our revenue reports anything that's used to uh complete an una audited financial statement is that really what you're looking for it is I want to make sure that all of those do actually line up and that there are no gaps or holes um um so that's what I want that's yeah that's why okay okay thank I'll I'll start putting those documents together and you know we can coordinate thank you very much um you know feel free to just send it to the entire Council but I'm the one that actually I I need to see okay thank you very much sir move to a second anything else nothing else all right that's good I all in favor the meeting is adjourned good night West Orange good night everybody thank you