hey Ry now you know now you know I have a r time how you doing man all right you that word you up what was the word that you up stop that minute are so we have that on tonight right I would like to call the 7 P.M work session meeting to order roll call please Nancy sure Mr bura Mr Lane present Mr Madigan I here Mr Shanley here and mayor M here uh can you please read the open work session statement yes sir this regular work session meeting of the woff township committee is now in session in accordance with the open public meetings act notice of this meeting appears on our annual schedule of meetings a copy of said annual schedule has been posted on the bulletin board in Memorial Town Hall a copy has been filed with the municipal clerk and has been posted on our Municipal website copy has also been emailed to the record The Ridgewood news and the north Jersey Harald news all newspapers having a general circulation throughout the township of whitea at least 48 hours prior to this meeting the agenda thereof was similarly posted filed an email to said newspapers thank you uh can you please confirm Finance has reviewed and signed vouchers they have Mr Mayor thank you I please have a motion to open the 10-minute public comment period 10-minute public comment Period 2 minutes per speaker for public comment on any governmental issue that a member of the public feels may be of concern to the residents of the township of L so second Mr R Mr Lane I Mr madakin uh yes Mr Shanley yes and mayor Mone yes thank you please step forward to the microphone if you wish to make a comment seeing and hearing no one I move to close public comment second thank you Mr Lane I Mr Madigan yes Mr shandley yes and mayor mó yes with an affirmative vote the motion is approved thank you now to the uh fun part of the meeting tonight we're going to have our presentation of the uh proclamations to the uh Ramapo boys basketball team for their winning the njs I AA group three state championship congratulations so just uh bear with me for a minute while I read this and I apologize before if I pronounce any names wrong um whereas the 2023 24 Ramapo High School boys varsity basketball team is the 2024 njs I AA group three boys basketball state champion for the second year in a row have being sadly defeated Freehold High School by a score of 94 to7 on March 10th on March 10th 2024 at RWJ Barnabas Health Arena in Toms River New Jersey after dominating each of their previous NJ Sia state tournament games over EK High School 8244 in the sectional semifinal and Northern Highlands High School 50-34 in the group three North one sectional final both at rall high school and Colonia High School 49th 31 at Bloomfield High School in the group three semifinal and whereas this exceptional team finished their season with an overall record of 25 wins and eight losses and finished the season ranked number seven overall in the stadi of New Jersey and the nj.com top 20 and also the number one group three team and the number two team in the big North conference number two in North Jersey by the Bergen Record and also earned the title of large group Team of the Year by the Bergen County coaches association and whereas in addition to winning the group three state championship the team also won the big North Freedom division title with an 8-0 record in League Play and for the first time since 1993 reached the Bergen County jambur Tournament final after defeating Bergen Catholic High School in the semifinal and whereas the 2023 24 Ramapo high school boy Varity team benefited greatly from the dedication commitment and Leadership of head coach Nick verer and assistant coach Jim rig Tyrell bigs Craig Nichols and Dan rig and team manager Sam cutson off and whereas special thanks is extended to the parents coaches and all the Ramapo students Educators and admin Administration for their never-ending commitment and support and whereas a special group of athletes sophomore Michael Moody Junior Hudson Bo champ Ryan Goldman Peter Keith Jack sposa Conor young and Charlie Winfield and Senior Chris Cino Wyatt Ellington Manor James gamper Cory Jones Jordan Ricks Zachary snorebush and Payton sales achiev these extraordinary feat due to their commitment to unselfish team play tireless work ethic outstanding basketball skills and their overall commitment to the sport of basketball now therefore be it proclaimed by the township Committee of the township of wof County of Bergen state of New Jersey that the 2023 24 rampo High School boys varsity basketball team coach Nick ver and his staff are hereby extended congratulations on behalf of our entire Community for the significant successes they have achieved and our thanks for serving as positive role models for the young athletes of our community and for illustrating the rewards which can be achieved through commitment and diligence and pursuing Excellence congratulations before we come up for the proclamations we're just going to have the uh Township committee say a few words Tom you want to start yeah I just want to say uh congratulations on repeat state champs uh tremendous teamwork effort uh I had the opportunity to I don't know how it was done but guys at the place I was watching the game and uh was cheering you on and um I also want to make special note uh captains Ellington Wyatt Ellington Mana uh Chris Savino and Payton seals have been playing together on the team since freshman and they all scored over a th000 points in their careers which is just unheard of and never done before so special accolades fellas and as a former board member on the rampo Indian Hills Board of Education we have Mr bansy here tonight from the board thank you for coming Mr bansky one of the one of the things we was most proud of uh was our student athletes and uh Wyatt is the Val Victorian this year so that's pretty special and I and I understand you're going to be going to John John's Hopkins and uh Payton is uh GNA be going to Princeton and the other guys I don't know but I heard about you two guys and I just wanted to mention that and I know that he'll do us proud in the future congratulations again I'll be brief I I think that what really jumps off the page for me and I think it was probably a really great victory was beating Bergen Catholic High School right I mean uh uh it doesn't show right now but I used to run track in New Milford and we uh you know we used to play against bigger schools that could draw from a a whole ton of people so for you guys to to to win that game in particular I'm sure sure it was sweet so congratulations on all your victories and uh you'll see many many more in the future [Applause] congrats congratulations two years in a row it's amazing and Wyatt you had a great season I I know you got injured last season and the team picked it up and still won it but it was even easier to win it this year than it was last year CU you had a great season so congratulations and congratulations on becoming the Val Victorian I know that just got announced by ripo this week but not only were you a good athlete you're a damn good student so congratulations it's very important and Payton my youngest son uh TJ he wanted to always go to the games to see you and he he was you're one of your biggest fans he's like oh I'm gonna get to see Payton tonight I'm like oh that's great so you had a fan in in TJ so hopefully he can play like you at some point someday but he's only in fourth grade so but it congratulations I I know you know Bergen Catholic was a huge win but I also loved watching you beat Northern Highlands because I have I have a freshman and a sophomore in ripo and we want we like to beat Northern Highlands so congratulations all right yeah just uh congratulations again on back-to-back state champs and uh making it to the finals of the jambur um long time ago 20 years ago I was in that tournament when I went to uh beckon and we did not do well in that so congratulations and uh come up for some proclamations and a few pictures thank you gentlemen thanks thanks we're gonna move this we take a photo pictures anything than to the committee for having us a tremendous honor you guys touched upon most the highlights that we hading the SE and we did touch upon you know how great students these boys are but it's been a privilege andon toach these guys um they show up every day to work hard I think they're great role models in our community great students um and great basketball players in the they are I they're great great people I think that's you know what I'm most proud of and I think they represent our school and our community very very well so thank you again for having us and we hope to be back next [Applause] go one [Music] [Applause] more Massachusetts congratulations just set it down thank you oh yeah nothing really it was fun going to their games okay uh it seven it seven yeah all right uh Matt we please have the uh administrative report please sure uh so on tonight's agenda you have several resolutions um resolution 150 is a resolution we passed last year and SLI through our through the cracks this year to get on reor it's just confirming our applicable bid threshold of $44,000 and confirming theth my authority to award window contracts contract between 175 and 44,000 um 151 is another affordability assistance grant with Christian Health this one is for uh Evergreen Court unit3 this is funds from our affordable housing trust fund uh resolution 152 is a resolution that amends resolution 117 of this year uh correcting a veterans uh exemption uh for 350 Smith Place 153 is a resolution in recognition that today is World autism day Autism Awareness Day and 154 is a resolution authorizing the execution of a private store extension agreement with 3 Vance Avenue in Franklin Lakes this will be our first single family home that will'll be able to connect from Franklin Lakes into the white Flore system um I expect that we will be able to be do be able to do more of these in the future now we have uh worked out a building arrangement with the bar Frankl Lakes uh in which they will build their residence and we will build Frankin lakes and if there's any uh nonpayment Frankin Lakes will uh uh handle that through the tax leing process we have one int one ordinance for introduction uh which is an ordinance to amend schedule s of our uh vehicles and traffic section specifically having to do with speed limits uh this is a uh recommendation from our police department and our Township engineer to lower speed limits on several roads in the town uh these are municipal owned roads not County Roads um and I will if you give me one second just pull up those streets so that we have them for you mat I got them if you want if you want us yeah have them should in all right sorry it's a Clinton a eer a Grand View a Hill Crest a Lain Road New and New Town Ro um there's a um so we'll have a special sorry we'll have a public hearing on that ordinance at our next meeting April 16th uh there's one motion for with regard to the zisy house and their Burton County History Day event and then we have one ordinance for public hearing this evening which is an ordinance to exceed the municipal budget appropriation limits and to establish a cap bank and that is a an ordinance that we pass every year in um ahead of the municipal budget uh it's not saying that we are exceeding our cap Bank even though that's what it says that the budget caps even though that's what it says in the title uh it's an ordinance that actually Banks uh whatever cap we have left uh for for future use if we need it uh onto the uh policy action items uh just hope that everyone had a great Easter and for those that are celebrating Ramadan happy Eid next week uh the mayor and I attended a meeting with the Mayors and administrators from the fifth congressional district which was arranged by Congressman gimr's office to discuss federal grants and Appropriations and uh I did find this very helpful and we hope to use some of this knowledge to take back some of that federal dollars uh from that our whitecloth residents have been paying with bring back here into white clo uh we're currently working on two bigger grants the first is the Burton County open space Grant uh for work at pois field there'll be a public hearing uh which author which has to be done prior to the submission of this Grant That'll be held also at our next meeting April 16th at the work session meeting uh we are applying to take back some of that Bergen County open space money uh to assist in constructing lacrosse a lacrosse practice field at pois field uh practice area at pois field and this will be supplementing uh money that uh the lacrosse Community has been uh diligently soliciting um uh the any additional monies that we are able to receive will be allocated for um improvements to PO field uh the pul field site itself and we're working on with our grant writers on preparing a federal appropriation submission to our US senators and Congressman God heimer's office for the installation of a sanitary sore trunk line between Franklin a and Russell a along whiteoff a this project aims to extend the sanitary sore trunk line uh and expand the sour service area to approximately 196 homes um as you know about four or five years ago our the Congress has uh changed the name uh of their you know their hot ticket items to uh Congressional Appropriations um and improvements to sewage infrastructure is one of water and sore infrastructure is one of the top projects and that is rated very high on those approvals so we felt that uh this would be a great time to apply for some federal money and try and uh see what we can get to uh extend that sort service area into the Hong so uh the area forong and Carlton and all those roads uh that currently are rely on septic uh canl can finally connect to the source system this is the last call for anybody who has any content for the summer newsletter please get it to me by tomorrow so we can finalize the content in that newsletter Curbing and rightaway work on Grand View AV Improvement project started about a month ago we ran into an issue with the depth of the gas main on Grand View AV in the hump area between St Nicholas church and laoi place uh I want to thank rep from psng who jumped on our request and met us on site today to work on developing a solution um we will discuss more once we hear back from psng But ultimately if we're going to remove the hump out of the road PSG needs to come in and lower the gas main that's in the road currently um the closure of Grand View AV may not happen the week of April 15 but we'll keep everyone apprised on that through our social media and our E news we met on site with orange and rockin last week to discuss the relocation of two utility poles that need to be um relocated on lawland road as part of that partial Road uh reconstruction project one is on the corner of burrett and one is on the property of abma farm both of them are in the area in which the road is going to be so they need to be moved back um reps from on R were very helpful and hopefully we'll hear back from them in the next week or so as to uh some success on that petition uh some people you may have noticed that some shade trees have been removed from Russell Farms Community Park um and have started to been replanted throughout the town two of them specifically were planted at houses uh where trees were removed on Grand View Avenue um those that replanting is being done at the direction of the Sha tree commission Joe vanderplatt Anna and myself have one more webinar that we're going to be taking next Tuesday regarding the required shade tree ordinance we have a draft and we're working on finalizing that draft so that we can share it with the shade tree commission and the township committee um with the hopes of introducing it in the very near future more to come on that we have successfully migrated all our cellular devices phones and data devices uh Administration police department and DP uh DPW and fire department from Verizon to firstnet uh which is the interoperable public safety broadband Network operated by AT&T the parking lot lights at the Lin house have been converted to LED which we've been able to drop the amperage at the Lin house uh by half by doing that uh the new state law amending the New Jersey Fair Housing Act was signed signed by the governor last week against I'm going to say almost every municipality in New Jersey sending a resolution uh asking them not to pass it um as it was written but they did um I will be meeting with our affordable housing planner tomorrow to discuss the impact it has on woff this is a save the date the annual fireworks show will be on September 28th and due to conflicts the weeks before the two weeks before and the three weeks after there is no rain date planned and then finally a PSA from the police department uh the Wake off Police Department is proud to announce the new program to help people with autism spectrum disorder or ASD during a traffic stop it's called the Blue envelope program the goal of this program is to avoid any misunder understandings between officers and individuals with ASD if someone with ASD gets pulled over the driver presents the blue envelope the driver will keep a copy of their driver's licenses registration card and current insurance card and an emergency contact list inside that envelope outside the blue envelope contains instructions to the driver like keep your hands on the wheel and a warning of about flashing lights and noises um the reverse side of the envelope contains instructions for the police officer such as simplifying requests and if the driver becomes upset to contact a person on the emergency contact card um a checked off box will also indicate whether the driver is verbal or non-verbal uh if you have a loved one and you would like to participate in the blue envelope progam program all you have to do is stop at the police department or call our main number which is 20891 2121 and a officer will drop off the blue envelope to you uh the program is currently only available to Township of whiteoff residents and that completes my report for this evening thank you Matt Township committee reports Tim you want to start sure I'll start uh fireworks committee met up on March 28th uh the only date that really works for the fireworks as Matt just said is uh September 28th uh because the weekend before is the Greek festival and then if you're going to go into October it's Russ Shana uh which is I believe the 3D and the fourth and you're going to move into yam kapor uh on the 12th so we're hoping that we're going to be able to do it without having a rain date because uh we don't have a rain date uh so hopefully we'll be able to have them I know last year in September we got rained out twice and we couldn't have it so hopefully we can bring them back uh September 28th of this year um the the design review board who has not not met uh this met many times in the past couple years just had their second meeting last night uh because the Abbott Family Properties at 397 Franklin which had been before the zoning board and the design review before wanted to change the color of what they were doing so they brought the new color in in the design review board looked at it last night and they approved it I think it went from light gray to light brown and uh all of them everybody on the board liked it zoning board also met um on the third Thursday of March they gave a one-year extension to a property on Lafayette that was approved last year on May 30th so they didn't they haven't been able to do the construction so they gave them a one-year extension on it they also gave a variance for a portico on Morley Drive they also gave an approval of a modest re re U rebuild on East East View Terrace and then they also had had uh 811 wof Avenue they it's a complete team they asked them to come back because they they felt they had too many non-conformities so they'll be coming back at the next meeting in in March in April and that's all I have that's thank you thank Roger okay excuse me uh under shade tree Matt already reported as you can see from the Russell Community Park trees already have been replaced uh to other areas uh one thing that that I'm you know when I first joined the committee that I've always been like a pet peeve is is the speeding in town so the fact that we're making some alterations to some of these speed limits on some of the streets is is absolutely tremendous I'm going to meet with Brian zovich the sergeant who's in charge of that and I think that we can uh I think we can add some additional streets to it as we move forward we'll just have to review it with them because they're obviously the ones that make the recommendations but in particular when you talk about Grand View a with everything that's happening there and coolage school being there it's near and dear to me because I have some grandchildren that are there being able to slow that traffic down before they even hit the school is going to be a tremendous benefit plus once Public Service gets that line mve we can get the the whole project complete so if I may interrupt you just for one second and it's something I neglected to report in my report uh the buau of Oakland sorry The Bu of Hawthorne has already passed an ordinance and reduced the speed limit on Grand viav in their section of town uh that was done uh it was their final reading on that with last week so those signs will probably be going up this week if not next week what did they go down to 25 25 so we'll be matching uh that entire length of Grand View have from Hawthorne at I don't want to call it syac cuz it's not syac go go Hill Road Hill G Hill Road to uh to wof a will all be 25 miles hour all the time not just in front of the school that's sweet hopefully when they reduce the speed limit there but two two things first firstly they they need some road paving in that particular areas anybody that's traveled it knows and I think the other key thing that I'm going to talk to Brian about is enforcement I mean it's one thing to have these speed limits reduced but unless there's enforcement uh you know it may fall on uh heavy feet so to speak uh let's see I missed the uh fireworks committee uh meeting I had another obligation uh but I'll be there with Tim at the next meeting and if there's any changes uh to what has been reported already I'll be happy to report on that at the next meeting uh I think that's it Mr Mayor thank you Roger okay Tom uh yeah I just had one question on the fireworks um is was Sunday night considered as a possibility as a rain date they not Sundays were not considered at all okay and I'm very partial to Sundays but I know all our kids play sports all day Sunday so I certainly wouldn't object to a Rain date on Sunday night particularly when we're going to the expense to put on a fireworks show so I would ask that that be considered and then brought back whether the governing body thinks we could do it on if it's available should it be work could we have it on that Sunday night sure we have a followup meeting schedule going to be Doc so it's Sunday night uh I believe we have a followup meeting schedul for a Wednesday in May I think it's the first okay if I'm not mistaken okay uh not the date it's the first Wednesday in May uh we'll bring it back to the committee uh when we're all there and we'll see what's possible and we'll report back okay so just not to beat a dead horse but the sooner the better I'm just want to for the record I'm in favor of a rain date on Sunday the 29th I don't want to wait till the middle of May and find out well the guy is not available we didn't realize this that's six weeks from now it's my only comment weed okay so um just a couple things really only one thing but I am happy to see uh the ordance coming up tonight on the speed limits reducing some of those streets some of our favorite streets I know that uh as police commissioner Deputy Police Commissioner Rudy and I have been discussing it with the police the last few years and uh I want to thank uh Peter Police Commissioner Rog Deputy Police Commissioner it's positive for our our residents there bunch of streets that clearly we've been trying to work on takes time for the police to do their studies to look at it to recommend to compare so thank you guys I just think think it's good for our residents as Roger had said and uh that's all I have thank you thank you Tom um just on the police I know we talked about the the speed of the signs but also we've prioritized over the last few years here in wof to uh pedestrian safety we've had a pretty aggressive plan of installing the speed caling signs and crosswalks we got them around all of the schools that was our first priority and then we went out to some key selection streets around town to try to slow the traffic down there so it as and uh Tom and Rudy took the lead on that the last few years and uh it's great to see we're making a progress here marel could I just add something real quick today uh at coolage school and Matt I want to thank you Matt uh there were a number of crosswalks I think I believe it was a total of four there were four there were four crosswalks so if you imagine in a couple hundred yards all of these crosswalks all of the traffic kept getting backed up people are crossing between all kinds of cars and there's only one crossing guard so that's been alleviated by having one Crossing area with the crossing guard that is with the appropriate lighting and everything else now it's a matter of uh of educating the public having people on site I know that Matt prepared a letter that was delivered to the school principal and I I believe that's been shared with every parent uh that does the pickup so it's a it's a you know in the beginning it may seem like well why can't I cross the street here well because it just messes up the whole flow of traffic and it's a lot safer to have just the single crossw walk and I think the people that made that design should be commended now it's a matter of education and making sure that everybody's aware that that's where they need to cross the street I'm sorry Mr Mayor I thought that was something a great Point needed to add great point and then just lastly I'm talking about since we're on the subject right now I know it's something we have to work with the county but I would love to see wov faf come down from 40 miles an hour so I wasn't going to mention that because we're it's something that we're it's in the works yeah uh but it's something that has to be done in a step-by-step process but we are looking I'll bring it up I'm not going to commit to anything but we are looking at the uh reduction of whiteoff a from the intersection of whiteoff and Godwin to right around Lawrence Court to be lowered from 3 5 to 30 yes um it already is 30 m hour from Lawrence Court well it might not be signed appropriately we're working on that right now uh it already from the area of Lawrence court or right before Lawrence Court to right past the nursery school on the property of the Reformed Church uh at 30 m hour then it goes back up to 35 as it passes Cornerstone Church and Community Park and then for some reason as it passes community park it jumps up to 40 so we are looking at trying to uniform to get a uniform speed limit along White Cab um preferably in the 30 number that would be great does that have to get set by the county it does so that's why I'm I'm not saying we're not commit we're not committing to anything we've already started conversations with the County engineer uh if you recall when we lowered the speed limit on syac or when the county lowered the speed limit on syac that process took about 16 months for the county to do their study get the free holders on board hopefully we can get the study done quicker and once the study is done and they share the results with us then we can use our connections uh to speak with our uh County Administrator the county executive his staff and the Freehold and the Commissioners I'm sorry uh to get that pushed through uh in less than 16 months great thank you mattc um I also attended the library board meeting last week their uh business as usual over there doing a excellent job for wof um Roger I and Matt attended the Hope Christian uh disability awareness breakfast um I think that was last was that last week or the week before two weeks ago um and it was a great breakfast and uh they had a ribbon cutting for a new Wing there they made some really really big Renovations for uh for their residents and their um more for their uh for their patients it was uh it was really something to say um Matt mentioned attended the grant seminar um at Bergen Community College it was very informal you know it's always been one of our goals here as uh personnel and finance over the last two years and along with Matt I mean Matt's knowledge on grants is I don't know how he knows all this stuff but he does an excellent job but we also brought in a grant writer and it's uh very it's worth every penny of it we're trying to bring as much dollars here into uh into wov to help us with especially offset some of the stuff in our budget U and then just lastly the military tribute Banners are on sale I know we had uh over the last few years we've had a lot of people purchase them we actually got to the point where had to take some out of service so there has to be some rep repurchasing because they do because of the UV lighting we do keep them up from Memorial Day through Veterans Day that about after three or four years they do need to be repurchased but we do still have the banners on sale you don't have the veteran does not have to um lived in wo it could be any Resident of W's any family member from wherever they are if they want to honor them it's always great when they start going up around Memorial Day and they're available till April 24th for purchase and um that's all I have this evening one thing yes stop you want to talk about the 911 you have all the yeah just I just have one other thing that uh I thought the mayor would bring up since I brought it to his attention I know he's in the middle of of it but I was approached um about wov being involved doing a national museum being planned in uh Virginia uh outside of Washington DC where they're trying to uh get uh memorialization audio and video of people that have memories from September 11th 2001 so whether you were a first responder on the scene you lost a loved one what your town across America did on that particular day what was your personal experience and uh with 90% I know you're you're working a little bit Mr Mayor um maybe that's why you didn't want to say it so I hope I didn't get ahead of it of putting it together and then the folks that are are running this would come to whiteoff would set a date would probably be the middle to the end of May and coordinate uh with you I know you work with the library at the library and see what people we have in town that might be interested in sharing their personal experience we all know where we were that day but uh it's already 20 two and a half years so in a in a blink it'll be gone so that could be exciting for our town and I think we'll have more information collectively then we can uh plug it yep thank you Tom just for the record I just want to add the name Brian Clark to that that uh he's been on many many documentaries he was one of the uh handful of people that uh the plane hit the second tower below where he was and he survived and he's he's a he's he's an eloquent speaker and he just uh he's amazing to listen to his story so uh Brian Clark I'll I'll remind you as you as you proceed thank you Roger um Township attorney report Dave yes uh Matt mentioned uh resolution 24-14 the uh private sewer extension just to follow up on that uh that's with the resident in Franklin Lakes and I do think we're going to have some more of those but just to understand the financing is they have to pay their connection fees before they connect up and then we build Franklin Lakes each year then it's up to them to build the resident they'll have till October one to pay up pay us uh but Franklin Lakes is obligated to pay us if the resident do pay Franklin Lakes has to Pony up the money and then they can put the lean or go after that res because we're not able to do that but we will be guaranteed the money because we're building Franklin Lakes on that is there any idea uh how many homes potentially it could be or I don't that might better than be I know we have one in the wings uh that is has come to my attention but we haven't gone too much further I'm not sure what they're actually doing but they're interested in doing it but I'm sure there's going to be a few more I don't know so we have a pump station that was recent recently renovated in that area so we have the capacity for it so as long as the slope is there that can get it to a a white a manhole in whiteoff um VAV um and then we also have Wayfair Circle and Wayfair Lane that could possibly also Connect into the into the area um so pretty much that ire area off of Vance uh bordering Ramapo high school that's that is currently on septic as long as this the pitch is there for the for the Sor line to be built yeah they could connect if they want thank you thanks Matt that's it that's it thank you uh motion to adjourn so move second Mr Lane hi Mr Madigan yes Mr Shanley yes and mayor mó yes with an affirmative vote the motion is approved thank you Nancy excellent