##VIDEO ID:lKBHQ_UyQzg## hello everybody good evening everybody hello good evening it is December 19th at 7 pm and this is the alel bur Council mayor and council meeting Linda will you please call the meeting to order and read the open public meeting act announcement in compliance with the open public meetings act the notice requirements have been satisfied the meeting dates for the year are confirmed at the annual meeting are posted on the public bulletin board in the municipal building and on the burrow website published in the record within the first 10 Days of the New Year and copies are sent to the Ridgewood news and Star Ledger notice of this meeting by the December 18 2024 Sunshine notice was sent to the record The Ridgewood news and Star Ledger and has been posted on the public bulletin board in the municipal building and burrow website councilman deloo councilwoman Homan here councilwoman Lis solo here coun oconnell councilman OU here councilman yino here mayor wilinski here everybody please stand for the salute of the flag I toag States ofer the for IT stand One Nation God indivisible justice for all all right so um I'd like to First approve do the approval of minutes December 5th work and regular meeting please do I have a motion to approve the minutes for December 5th so mov second please second councilwoman hman yes councilwoman Lolo yes councilman OU yes councilman Yaro yes all right so next we are going to be swearing in our fire chief so uh we have resolution 24-27 appointment of fire chief Greg Anderson do I have a motion to approve resolution 24270 so moved second please second roll call please councilwoman Homan yes councilwoman Lis solo yes councilman ool yes coun yakar yes all righty are you ready to do this again um oh okay we can we can do this not a problem not a problem not a problem we have lots to do all right next we have the um agenda review we are going to be introducing ordinance 24-17 this is um our officer employees we do this every year the salaries wages and compensation uh for the year 2025 we have our consent agenda these are matters that are routine and we enact them on one motion though I do like to highlight some of them um we are entering into our shared service agreement with Bergen County Utilities Authority this is a yearly appointment um we are actually approving a memorandum theou for the teamsters um Union contract which we work very very hard on I'm very happy I think it's extremely fair and um very happy to have um this memorandum tonight we have an another resolution supporting the Fair Housing Act um this is the ongoing um challenge that we have with the new fair share housing rules this is an an alternate um apparently an alternate route that we are hoping that the state will look at and take so we're encouraging all municipalities across the state to um support this and pass this resolution so we are in support of it it will actually make um the numbers I think much more fair it'll still be doing the objective of providing affordable housing but it in the meantime it won't be doing anything that's detrimental to our infrastructure our schools at our community and um our little town we are awarding the Crestwood Park concession stand Tyler talk about that short thing this has been as Allison knows as Amy knows and as I said to Amy today this has been an extraordinarily long time yeah he found an email he found an email where we first started talking about this in 2014 and 10 years later we finally got it done yeah wait till it's built wait till it's built um but no I mean Allison You've Been instrumental Amy for your support um this is something that the members of Crestwood Lake have been asking for DPW has been asking for and we got to a point where and I've said to many it is the current concession stand got to a point where it was not economically feasible to keep it going and it was to pass County inspection so therefore we knew that we needed to pushed this across the finish line for year 2025 um the first round of bids were higher than we would have liked so in the best interest of public funds we did go back out to bid again um and got something that was a little bit more economically feasible while providing the best amenities for our members so we're very excited to move that forward it is a great project Presswood is our Crown Jewel of our town so this will be a great addition and there's a nice upgrade for that certainly thank you uh we also um are we have a resolution supporting the cdbg grant for the um senior housing I think it's for new roofs oh good and yeah I think it's the new roofs um and we have our list of bills Council Lola did you have a chance to look I did Al righty and then also more salary resolutions that we're approving that are um perfunctory that we do it every uh every year sometimes at the reor all right so I'd like to open up the meeting to the public anybody from the public wish to speak on any of our agenda items not seeing anybody let's bring it back so first um let's introduce ordinance 24-17 Linda will you please read that ordinance 24-17 an ordinance to amend chapter 53 of the code of the burrow of Allandale officers and employees to fix the salaries wages and compensation of the officers and employees of the burough of Andale for the year 2025 excellent do I have a motion to uh introduce ordinance 24-17 so moved second please H roll call councilwoman hman yes councilwoman Lis solo yes councilman UL yes councilman jarino yes okay ordinance 24-17 has been introduced upon first reading and will be published in the Thursday December 26th edition of the record and will be Tak it up for further consideration and final passage at the Sadia meeting the mayor and Council on Monday January 6 2025 at 6:30 pm or soon thereafter thank you very much um next we have a motion for approval of our consent agenda do I have a motion please don't mve hman second please second okay councilwoman hman yes councilwoman Lo solo yes councilman OU yes Council Yaro stain 24278 yes on the alrighty we have our staff reports Linda Cino our municipal clerk do you have a report for us today I don't mayor but I just want to wish everyone um happy holidays Merry Christmas and happy New Year than to Youk our CFO slbo administrator Al Alan um so I'm just going to wrap 2024 up as a whole instead of going into the depths of everything um it was a very exciting year a busy year um and a successful year uh we have accomplished a lot this year and we still have some ongoing projects that I look forward to in 2025 one of the biggest ones as Tyler was speaking about is the concession yeah the concession St um also the community center I want to thank everyone every single person in this burrow has had their hands in this project and I can't thank everyone enough um between the building itself executing the internals um everybody really stepped up and I'm looking forward to the opening in 2025 for everybody to utilize it um and I just want to thank the mayor and the rest of the council for giving me the opportunity to be the burough administrator this year and I look forward to 2025 so happy holidays and happy New Year and too bad we didn't get we might still get the grant the other Grant wrapped up for the community center saw my email today but we've been working on this grant foring it two years yes it's just not a userfriendly portal I cannot wrap my head around it but I mean I I couldn't do it anymore then Alison had to take it over like just too much she's working on it terrible I know so oh well thank you very much money not money um oh uh Chief Dylan happy holidays to Mayor and Council I think we finished 2024 off pretty strong and uh we have a good uh set stage for a productive 2025 looking forward moving forward JB Anderson you anything to say for as a report since you're here okay we're looking forward to 100% absolutely we 100% support you and we're looking forward to a a mo year next year than all right um so addition a normal course working with the administrator in the Burl clerk uh we had our Zoom meeting today with bolia on the Water Utility a lot of discussion about eits and some related things um the SLE River sewer issue discussions continue with the developer and River love to see where they go affordable housing uh tomorrow at 10:00 is the uh order to show cause um and uh the attorneys will will be participating remotely on that so we'll see how that yes uh and then I guess under good news and Christmas presents is we settled the PK litigation so uh that's uh that's nice to have that done uh and beyond that Merry Christmas and happy holiday every all right we're going to do our Council reports next Council that know thank you mayor uh again there was a lot that happened a lot of moving Parts this year improvements here at burough Hall thanks to Allison and her team the Crestwood Lake concession stand um having Andy here for the first year working through Crestwood Lake as well as our parks and Fields um really we encompassed within the committee all aspects of the committee I know it's more of a generalized statement but a lot was accomplished this year and the ball started rolling in a number of things that we really needed to get going so um we're really looking forward to hitting 2025 continuing those improvements working with Arc and wre on improvements which have already started on field three and then other than that I know that Allison's excited for our next project which will be the Texas but she she wanted to break first so I give her a little bit of space first but U no and even Alison I think you said it best is that not only with the community center but with so many things is that it's always a collaborative effort it's always a team effort where you know that everybody has your support back and everything and I I mean it truly I mean I could call any one of you and anything that I need whether it's be committee or anything else and I know that it's great to have this I'm sorry I'm start crying the support of everybody so thank you all and I'll leave it at that happy holiday stick thank you Tyler excellent report councilwoman L solo uh well happy holidays Merry Christmas happy Hanukkah happy New Year everyone um yeah it was a busy year again um you know that cartoon where like there was it used to be that like big dog and there was like that little dog that would like Gap around like was it like George it was George whatever whatever like you know I was like that little dog to Amy this year like all right I'm there with you I'm there um it was really busy great year um you know uh Shing Finance HR admin I I love aror all team I mean it's just the best around um thank you Linda thank you Alison you know thank you everyone Anthony whole crew um um and then also land use we had our land use uh committee meeting this morning and you know there's a lot going on whether it's flooding issues that we've talked about um individual property things um we have Co money coming in we have um businesses coming into town um so it's all all good things moving forward um the the community center open house was fantastic um it was so great just the response from everyone everyone's just excited to get then start using it and I was like really honored and pleased to be able to take people around and give the little little tour you very good tour guy made sure people saw the bathrooms which I think itol everybody got to see the bathroom done the things um it's been a great year and I look forward to another uh year next year and being sworn in again in January with my running mate over there Liz homman um so thank you everyone thank you hel hi thank you um so certainly happy holidays and special wishes to all we have had a very busy year um and I will leave um sort of rais comments that we've been meeting about the sewer challenges uh with Saddle River it certainly is important to myself and our team as elected officials that we preserve capacity and our infrastructure in Allandale for Allandale uh needs as well as it's incredibly important that we in no way put any additional financial burden on allenvale residents for anything that would um be happening in another municipality uh so that's that with water we continue to facilitate conversations uh between violia and residents that have come forward with concerns about their water bill obviously we don't own the system any longer uh but certainly we can help residents uh have contact with and then we've also continued to meet with the BPU the rate payer Advocates and our own um special attorney in addition to the wonderful Ray whis um and on what we believe theia did which is an unacceptable 12.5 two 25% rate increase this past summer so we hope in 2025 we'll see a change some way that certainly will be trying that's it so cheers thank you very much thank you very much the Public Safety Committee met last Tuesday uh we discussed the departure of one of our officers and the plans for his replacement so that means we're hiring again and we'll be looking for a candidate who possesses their PTC certification um this allows us to bring an officer on board and get them out on the the roads much faster than if they had to go through the the entire Academy um we're looking for resumés by 12:31 uh we anticipate interviews shortly after that date uh we discussed few other items around town such as ways to elate the congestion downtown on weekends parking traffic around the new community center as it's getting ready to open uh we received an update from Chief pataro of the ambulance Corps report their department is doing well but uh they always need more members so people can come out and join up uh we also heard from temporary no more Chief Anderson uh who gave us an update on the state of the department uh which is coming out of a little bit of a rocky time but uh Greg has great insight and a firm grasp on how to move the department forward we have seen positive change already under his leadership and we wish him all his officers very well the couple years and finally I'd like to wish all my fellow council members B staff and all the residents very merry Christmas happy Hanukkah thank you awesome all right um so I'm going to give my report quickly um it's been a year I um you've heard me all say a lot going on in a small town between violia we've have fair share housing the sewer massive massive massive um things in our town um and then of course opening up of our community center the it was so exciting um to be at that h house I mean we had hundreds of people come through and everybody was positive there was really good energy I really like to thank Amanda for all the work on there uh and we have a lot more work to do because everybody came in with just different ideas different usages there's going to be things that we haven't thought of the system um that we have put in is state-of-the-art system so we're really looking forward to being in the 21st century and having this new calendar that's going to give people codes and still working that out but I think it's going to be um I think it's going to be amazing so I'm really happy about that and those who know this project started in 2018 Rey is the only one Ry and me I think are the only ones that have been it from the very Inception of the project when we were going to take the property from emminent domain um proceedings that didn't go through to actually the acquisition and then of course the environmental issue that really kind of you know took us through covid but thanks to uh raise great work we actually did settle on an $850,000 settlement um which were very very to so um that is actually PA for celebration for sure um and our our rear meeting is actually January 6th for anybody and it starts actually at 6:30 for the Cena Dia sign got gotta get itation yeah and I'm really looking forward to working with everybody on my uh second term next meeting Walter I we to write we'll write it down January at 6:30 late Dan and I are getting sworn back in so I just would like to thank everybody uh that's here um you know starting with Allison honestly could not have done this without you with anything your support we're always tag teaming we managed to always go back and forth we think think and then you know come to a conclusion so I really appreciate all the work that you do for this burough and making this space so beautiful for all the employees it really really makes a difference to come to work to have a nice space for us for the library for the residents um so thank you so much for that Linda thank you for also always being so sweet and kind and just really willing to U get the work done always willing to learn and grow you're just a pleasure to always be around with and work in there and always chipping in when you need to chip in you're just never afraid to roll your you know hands up and and get get get some work done um and Reay always witty um always giving great advice always having way much more fun than any body else in the room sure um honestly you have just been um you know always a rock since my gosh when I've been on the council for for how many years um too many to count but um just every time I you're always there for me always take my call always take my text no matter what time of the morning that is it's in but um I just really I I I do take your advice um you know as as solid I never question and I you always have the right opinion so really appreciate always having our back with that um and Mike what a year you've had my gosh um and I really think you've hand so professionally no you've had a really really I mean you you've got a brand new Department you have all these you know new officers they're all young you know younger officers they're all learning and they're growing and you know they look up to you and you've been a really good role model to them I appreciate that I appreciate how you handled the mark dun incident that was just an unbelievable umly sad event that we had in our town but I think that was really important to have everybody showed how you handle that and everybody um all the community pulled together so I appreciate you know your leadership for that and your strategic thinking all the time um and Andy's not here but um I do feel like I have to mention Andy because uh he just had his oneye anniversary seems like he's been in this bur forever but um he just loves his job and um you know we're just all here to support you tell he just loves Allendale and he's just very grateful and he's always willing to lend a hand too I mean he we actually had to tell him not to come today because he's been off he's on vacation for vacation for and he's already been a two land use board meetings week and so we're like no you cannot come we're demanding you not to come toight um and then Chief Anderson really happy that you are on board with the fire department um honestly you have shown great leadership in a lot of lot of adversity and it's not easy to always take the high road and you have um and there's been things that have been done that just quite frankly aren't fair and they're not right but you know what you didn't let it you always you always stood the line and we really appreciate that and we need that leadership in that our department and we really hope that you are you know you all and your your people know that we are here to support you and we will you know we'll get through this next year promise and my Council so Matt the king of memes um you are you always make me laugh I don't even know how you find half of these but um and I use them over I like they're mine like where did you get that I'm like oh thatt you uh no I I do I appreciate your um I appreciate you challenging me I appreciate your directness I appreciate um you know when I call you I always get you know a straight answer you're always there um the work that you've done with Public Safety and I really appreciate that you're you know still on the council working together so thank you and Liz I know you have so much going on I really do appreciate though that um you're back on the council I really do um and you've been amazing um you know everything about water and sewer like nobody else and no one else could do it and you're such good at negotiate negotiation and with people so we have so much going on with the violia and the lawsuits and the and it's so so I'm just really glad that you're here by my side and honestly yeah it's all gonna be good promise it's here and Tyler um thank you so much for being our Tech Guru and taking on the whole concession stand project because that was a really big project and I told you you are on the committee of fun wasn't it fun it'll be fun when we open no you really took charge of that that was really great leadership that we showed taking charge of that and getting that concession stand done as you know it's been going on for 10 years so it's going to be very valuable and I look forward to more fun ahead on that committee I'm sure and last but not least Suzanne AKA SU [Laughter] so IED to tell you that I'm like a thank you um honestly for just kind of what you said always being there to talk talk things through sometimes you just have to talk things through and you're always there and you're a great person to talk things through with um and always have a great um perspective and thank you for nourishing us all the time at all of our meeting and making sure that we're all taken care of no we really appreciate it I'm very grateful that you're going to be on our team again so I really look forward to working and Merry Christmas to everybody and um next we are going to swear in our new chief chief Department good night we got some news I forgot to reminders one the green team is collecting um lights like your string lights that don't work colle well we're not done with the meeting yet because we still have unfinished business at the end and then open to the public all right let's wear inar we're great you're in front of the [Music] flag no it I Anderson do Solly sweare that I will support the Constitution of the United States and the constitution of the state of New Jersey that I will bear true fa and aliance to the same and to the government established in the United States and in this GR under the authority of the people and then I willfully impartially and justly perform all the duties of ACC of my ability do you want to do a picture oh what we the reorg do you want to do a picture maybe the reorg when he's got everything right when you're all Dred we you still need to I'll wear this yeah still need that you can still wear it right is it the EP right I've got a mini light up epip yeah right all right bringing it back any um unfinished business or any new business from the council so yes so the green team is collecting and I'm not I'm trying to think that they're collecting I know I have two strands sitting I thought they were doing at the high school too is that the that's right the library oh and speaking of the library um there is still time to vote in their holiday ornament making contest whatever so uh the children teens and adults made ornaments and you get to vote on the best one and then there's going to be some sort of award at the end of it so till Saturday you can go stop by the library bring my Lake strands in I'll get yep Nancy said they're really uh they're really well done go check them out anybody else have any new or unfinished business all right I'd like to open up to the public one last time on any matter anybody from the public wish to speak W wood 38th Hamilton speak of system is not functioning properly is rather annoying because there's a hum which interferes so everything else agenda it's on it's on the list for Capital 2025 for the man in the little yeah it sounds like they might just have to be repaired it's been the system is last been I believe in3 there hum on that one too no okay you can hear to thank you I have okay Al uh two things I want to thank thank you very very much for the I don't know what to call it the gifts for the old people oh yeah the senior bag yeah I'm glad you like them they're get what's so funny like to thank the gifts for the old people that's that's what they are uh I I I attempted to email them and unfortunately it did not function properly so I I wish to extend that thank you to you and if you would thank them for what they do it's very nice of the the effort that they go through although in my case I don't think it's necessary uh next thing I'm I didn't hear this anyway but did you say anything about the mural not today no nothing um so yeah we're hoping to have it completed by the first quarter of next year when the weather gets better first quarter so it's in progress yes I actually just talked to Simon this week and there was a delay on the panels so the panels are coming in and he's picking up the last one this week yeah that's about it thank you Happy New Year to all of you I hope it's 20 is a productive one I hope happy New Year all right anybody else from the public wish to speak on any items not seeing anybody um I'd like to wish everybody thank everybody again for a wonderful year and wish everybody happy holidays Merry Christmas happy Hanukkah happy New Year and meeting adjourned all in favor