go ahead Mayor uh good evening everybody uh madame clerk uh roll call please councilman Miseri here councilwoman Peterson here councilman Zazali here deputy Mayor Mig here mayor Scavage here please rise for the flag salute
i I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all adequate notice of this meeting was duly
provided to the Verona Cedar Grove Times and the Star Ledger by email and published in an annual schedule of meetings on December 12th 2024 filed with the township clerk and posted on the public bulletin board in the municipal building lobby in accordance with the Open Public Meetings Act item
two extraordinary business of the township council 2a ceremonial administration of the oath of office to police chief Frank Pumphrey um Judge Candido Rep i state your name i Francis
Pumprey do sincere do sincerely profess and swear do sincerely profess and swear that I do and will bear true faith and allegiance that I will and do bear true faith and allegiance to the government established in this state to the government established in this state
under the authority of the people under the authority of the people I do solemnly swear I do solemnly swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States of America that I will support the Constitution of the United States of America and the Constitution ution of the state of New Jersey and the
Constitution of the State of New Jersey and that I will faithfully And that I will faithfully impartially and justly impartially and justly perform all the duties of police chief perform all the duties of police chief of the Cedar Grove Police Department of
the Cedar Grove Police Department according to the best of my abilities according to the best of my abilities and understanding and understanding so help me God so help me God congratulations thank you Chief congratulations thank you thank you your honor
that was easy all right everyone have a good night oh you want me to say a few words okay I think I can uh yes i I have to be honest i'm uh I'm very humbled uh to be up here today
uh you think about everything you go through to get here and I look out on the room and I see everybody that's here i I'm telling you it truly moves me uh the support of all of you uh we talk a lot about family uh Cedar Grove has been my
adopted family since 1999 uh I came here as a young dispatcher thanks to I see Mr tucci in the corner back there uh from another agency uh things weren't going the way I thought they were going to go and uh I
didn't know where to go uh I came to Cedar Grove they gave me a very nice reset and uh I was fortunate uh to a lot of people here who've brought me up along the way uh looking across the room I'm sure I will probably forget to thank a few people and if I do I apologize now
uh I I was trying to figure out where do I put my thoughts to start tonight uh I definitely want to start by thanking uh Mayor Scavic Deputy Mayor Migga Councilwoman Peterson Council Member Sari Councilman Zazali and Manager Mr zeli uh for having the faith and
confidence in me to do this uh it's a lot uh when you look at a police department in a municipality it's one of the biggest big ticket items uh so to have that confidence in me means a lot uh working in Cedar Grove has been a pleasure uh I learned a lot about
government here uh especially knowing the manager council form of government it works fantastic uh the council has always been very supportive of us over the years i think I've said this before uh you hear a lot of people say that but the support uh in the way you fund us
you equip us uh you always have our back it really does mean a lot it's a tough job i think everybody here who puts a uniform on knows that uh there's a lot of highs and lows in the career but when you know uh you have folks like yourself backing us it means a lot uh talking
about Cedar Grove I learned something else when I came to Cedar Grove how civic-minded the community is how much people enjoy being involved in different capacities here uh from the volunteerism especially uh for those of you who don't know me I did grow up in the neighboring
town uh when I came here some of the first people I met on calls were uh Mr otterbine and Doug Giblin from the first aid squad who reminisced about knowing my mom in the ER at uh Mountainside excuse me uh she rode the first MICU
unit uh before they called them medics and uh true volunteerism emts from Cedar Grove drove it i think Charlie and Mike are here where are they back there uh yeah they used to know my mom uh when
they rode the MICU unit many years ago and uh to come down here and see that and then to see it with the fire department uh the council people the people who put a lot into this community uh that's why I'm really honored to be part of it uh I was able to make a
profession out of it which I uh I'm grateful for uh like I said I look around I see the first aid squad I see the fire department we've had a lot of good times uh Donlin no stories please Chief uh those are many years ago uh yeah save those and we're past
statute of limitations on certain things but we're all right uh uh I have I've had a great working relationship uh and then when I came into the PD uh to to see a lot of the people that brought me up uh you're all part of this because without you I wouldn't be where I am uh
the training the guidance you gave me uh I know there were a lot of nights uh some of you were wishing I didn't come into work because I didn't stop on that radio uh through 3:00 4:00 a.m but uh I appreciate everything you did for me uh
Lieutenant Gunther is here he taught me a lot told me a lot about the pendulum and things swinging here and we're always trying to be in the middle we don't want to go too far left too far right we want to stay in the middle and be fair in how we do this job uh Lieutenant Carricker I can't tell you
how much fun I've had and how much I've learned from you over the years uh helping me out uh getting me down the path uh and I again if I if I forget anyone I'm sorry uh Dan Boumy another one who taught me a lot about the relationship between labor and
management with the union uh Mike Graasso my rabbi I know he's floating around here somewhere uh a lot of good times with Mike and I learned a lot from Mike uh as far as the traffic goes I know
you've probably a lot of you know that about me uh Cedar Grove pushed me in that direction i come back to Mr tucci he uh gave me an opportunity to work with Ruckers uh he he let me go out he let me do it he gave me the time to do it with the township uh it has served me
fantastically in my career i hope it's something I've been able to bring back to the community uh and I hope going forward a lot of people see that and it sets a standard for everyone uh as far as running the police department I am very very lucky i'm inheriting a
fantastic organization uh the members of the Cedar Grove Police Department have always been above board they've always been professional and uh I can't stress that enough how uh somewhat easy this will be for me to transition into it when I have a good group of people that
I have uh I look forward to working with everyone uh continuing and building on what we have here uh again I know I I I really I thank everyone for coming out i'm very humbled uh I've thanked
obviously uh our council the people I've worked with the people I've crossed paths with here but I think we all know this a lot of time goes in to government all right i I applaud the council for the time they give volunteering it our
fire our first aers the police officers uh you can't do it without somebody behind you many of you know her chief Mana remembers her from her early days in Fairfield uh my beautiful lovely wife
Jennifer she's been here i can tell you now uh I wouldn't be able to do what I've done over the years if it wasn't for Jen uh she's always been by my side uh she's always supported me uh she's always taking care of me on those long days when we come
home with uh you know wet boots and exhaustion uh I really do owe a lot to her for supporting me uh for all of you too if you ever worry if my head is going to get inflated she will pop it before anybody trust me uh she has a way
of grounding me like nobody would know uh and also I I got to thank uh my aunt my uncle my cousin Michael for coming tonight uh many of you know over the years it's been a little tough uh unfortunately I lost my parents i'm sure they'd be thrilled to see where I am
today uh I owe a lot to them also for getting me here uh a lot of hard work i grew up with two brothers god what we did to my parents uh but uh they got us through it and uh I think they helped prepare me to get
where I am today and I do want to thank Judge Candido for swearing me in uh the judge and I have had a uh good career here together uh a lot of late nights in this room uh over the years with court uh but again I think I'll uh I'll wrap it up
here i I truly truly honored i'm humbled by everybody who came out tonight thank you uh it means the world to me i look forward with continuing to work with everybody here and uh anybody ever needs anything uh for the community um I'm
always there i like phone calls not emails i love picking up a phone and talking to a person not typing a response out uh so I'm always available thank you again everyone i really appreciate this it means a lot thank you um congratulations Chief um I know some
of us up here want to make some remarks so let's start with Mr zelli please thank you Mayor sure congratul Thank you all for coming to our budget adoption or introduction today hope you stay for that no in all seriousness congratulations are in order for Chief Pumprey uh Frank is an exemplary police
officer a testament to the Cedar Grove Police Department and I am so happy to be sitting here and watching him get sworn in as chief of police i am pleased to have worked with Frank during my short tenure here as manager and I'm even more pleased to continue working with him uh no one knows the MUTCD
better than Frank he memorizes it like it's the back of his hand in Title 39 and uh I'm confident in Frank's abilities to lead the department i'm confident in his goals and his commitment to the township as a whole frank's commitment to the township and the police department you all know about
that but his commitment to the policing profession itself is beyond reproach and it's something that we should all be proud of and we're very fortunate to have in our our chief here in Frank frank I congratulate you on this milestone of your career i look forward to what the future will bring for you
the department and the township as a whole and I'm excited to continue working with you go in order you want to go in order okay um Chief I've known you for a very long time i don't know um probably most of you don't know this but Frank and I started our illustrious careers together
at the North Caldwell snack bar when Mark and Jerry's expanded from Cedar Grove into North Caldwell and we work together in the snack bar so you know it's nice to see that we've kind of made some progress in our lives but I'm really really excited for you to be the
chief i know you're going to do a fantastic job um I have the utmost faith and confidence in you and I feel safe and secure that you're leading our department so all the best you know we're here for anything you need and uh congratulations my turn
i would like to extend a big congratulations to our new chief of police it is welld deserved and the township is very happy to have you and serve in this very important role in our community i would also like to thank Chief Humphrey's family as well the role is
one that truly will take away from your family time unexpectedly and I'm glad they're going to be there to support you and Chief I look forward to working with you and our fantastic police department i happen to know firsthand they're fantastic thank you very much and good
luck to you thank you great yeah I want to just echo um what everyone else has said up here i don't know you as long as the others uh I don't have a history with you that that goes back that far but just um in my limited uh interactions with you um and the police department it's been nothing but a true
pleasure um you're consumate professionals um and I'm very excited to have you at the helm um leading this amazing force i mean everyone came here tonight to support you it's it's such a a beautiful and powerful thing to see and that's a testament to your character
so congratulations Chief and um I wish you um safe and prosperous uh career as our chief thank you congratulations Chief it's hard to repeat after being the fourth one but I'm going to try to change it up a little bit i had the pleasure sitting on the planning board
while I was on the council and I watched the chief testify during some of the planning you were there you're the chair of that and just the knowledge and his ability to answer questions and in his testimony i was so impressed and as a trial attorney I you know this is what I
do for a living and I thought that you did such a tremendous job and then I saw you during our budget hearings doing the same thing answering questions and I think I kind of pressed you a little bit about some of my concerns and you you you satisfied me for sure and you answered my questions well so I know
you're going to do a great job certainly management wise I know you're going to manage well and you do have a great team behind you that's you know you kind of hit the you hit the nail on the head earlier during your speech i mean Sar Grove we're kind of blessed and lucky that we have the people that surround us
it makes all of us look good and I feel like you have that department and you're going to do great and you're going to do a great job leading them so congratulations to you um I look forward to working with you as well uh congratulations Chief um and
ditto uh but I I would like to say congratulations for myself um it's you know you you served the town well for a long time as a police officer it's a it's a well-deserved promotion um and as uh Council Member Sar pointed out you
obviously uh are liked by your police department um which makes the decision of you being the police chief easier um so Good luck in your new role thank you sir great thank you thank you everybody
[Applause] we We have a a long very numbers heavy meeting if you'd like to stay it's going to be No really oh pictures thank you guys thank you everyone for coming you want to take pictures real quick um yeah we're going to do some Yeah should we stand up stand
up stand up here we'll stay up here i hate the way they look up i know let's go down yeah let's go down come on mayor tell them you're in charge tell them joe said the mayor said
I know camera anybody else thanks for asking how are you perfect i can I got a lot of warm
Why don't we get the officers up here you don't mind yeah no of course [Music] get out of this one yep if I just strategically place myself right in the
back I'm a pro i'm a pro i don't know this top one here right i mean I see you let's see breaking stuff my dad like ring the bell
you have a hard time no I don't congrats dude uh oh got to change the family plan on the insurance now congrats dude good for you awesome Stevie oh I love it ss Trips S right i love it
that's good news i'm happy for you brother good yeah call me up yeah yeah kate's playing her golf i'm not doing anything uh 1228 yeah i don't Yeah come on Kate it's all Kate it's all case yeah yeah she's got it covered all right by the way call me yeah good
thanks for I'm not I'm not going I don't want to rush now it's a career moment in case I want to sing in case I want to sing i'm going to sing the budget
you want to tap that do really i don't want to no don't do it can you imagine tickets for you mayor congratulations
thank you all right okay i'm going to keep going as folks are exiting so we're going to move on to item three uh 3A approval of minutes to consider approval of minutes of
regular public meeting March 3rd 2025 i will wait no it's fine they We're just going to approve the minutes it's totally fine um I'll make a motion to approve second thank you second uh roll call please [Music]
second councilman yes councilwoman Peterson yes councilman Zazali yes deputy Mayor Migga yes mayor Scavage yes item four public hearing 4A to consider adoption of pending ordinance number
25-945 an ordinance amending chapter 217 section 16 of the code of the township of Cedar Grove entitled sewers service charges u Mr zelli can you give us some information this Okay I'll read it first oh should I do that this is an ordinance hang on let me Let me see if
we could shut those shut those doors okay yeah he's gonna shut him mayor do you want You might want to just read yeah I'll read it again you got to leave mine open now okay I'm going to read that again now
that the doors are closed officer you got to leave one door open please thank you -945 an ordinance amending chapter 217 section 16 of the code of the township of Cedar Grove entitled sewer service
charges mayor this is a uh ordinance adoption raising the quarterly charge for sewer related services from $5.83 per thousand gallons to $6.67 per thousand gallons and raising the minimum quarterly charge from
$96.20 to $1106 for those who pay the minimum this is an increase of $55 on the whole year which equates to $4.62 per month or $1.15 per week this is required as much of the sewage treatment plants infrastructurees in poor condition or
near failure and until the utility becomes self-sustaining we have to raise a down payment on the debt our AFS was completed in uh January and we're moving in the right direction as I will explain later during my budget message this is one of the components towards curing that deficit
okay great thank you um is there anyone present here wishing to address this ordinance number 25-945 only nope nope okay seeing none um this public hearing is closed um may I have a
motion please mayor I move for the adoption of pending ordinance number 25-945 to be published in the Verona Cedar Grove Times as a past ordinance to take effect as prescribed by law great thank you may I have a second second roll call please councilman Miseri yes
councilwoman Peterson yes councilman Zazali yes deputy Mayor Migga yes mayor Scavage yes item 4B to consider adoption of pending ordinance number 25-946 an ordinance amending chapter 259 section 10 of the code of the township
of Cedar Grove entitled waters consumption rates and charges uh Mr zakell mayor this is an adoption of an ordinance raising the quarterly charge for water and water related services from $6.22 per thousand gallons to $6.67 per thousand gallons and raising the
minimum quarterly charge from $311 to $33.35 much like the previous ordinance this is to better situate the utility to become self- sustaining support future capital improvement needs and uh secure debt service without having to put the down payment down for those who are paying the minimum this is an
$8.96 increase on the whole year 75 cents per month i'm not going to break it down any further than that uh this ordinance will also match the water and sewer rate per thousand gallons great thank you very much um is there anyone here wishing to address this ordinance
number 25- 946 only nope yes ordinance i'd like to make sure is this about the ordinance then no you can't not yet thank it's coming okay um Okay seeing none uh the public hearing
is closed um may I have a motion please may I move for the adoption of pending ordinance 25-946 to be published in the Verona Cedar Grove Times as a past ordinance to take effect as prescribed by law thank you second second thank you roll call
please councilman Miseri yes councilwoman Peterson yes councilman Zazali yes deputy Mayor Miga yes mayor Scavage yes item 4 C to consider adoption of pending ordinance number 25-947 an ordinance of the township of
Cedar Grove adopting the redevelopment plan for certain property located at block 330 lots 16 and 16.01 01 as shown on the official tax map of the township of Cedar Grove pursuant to the local redevelopment and housing law
NJSA 40A 12 A1 29 89 Let me read that again 40A 12A1 to 89 Mr a Kelly thank you Mayor this is an ordinance adopting the redevelopment plan for 121 Pompton Avenue commonly
known as the Cedar Grove Garden Center this redevelopment plan outlines who the redevelopment entity is which is the Township Cedar Grove Township Council who the redeveloper is which is March development march is planning to construct a scaled nursing and assisted living facility here the redevelopment plan codifies site plan zoning and
planning board resolutions in the process and timeline for development this is not the developers agreement or financial agreement which is subject to future council approval thank you Mr kelly I think it's just worth noting here that uh because there there's been a lot of questions in the community this is an assisted living
facility um mayor this if I may this is a scaled nursing facility assisted living um much like the we have very numerous similar types of facilities throughout the township um this would be a uh similar structure to what's
existing elsewhere no children will be coming out of this uh development and it will be used to satisfy um partially satisfy our fourth round affordable housing obligations set forth by the new uh affordable housing law perfect thank you very much um is there anyone here
wishing to be heard on this ordinance 25-947 no seeing none uh public hearing on that is now closed um may I have a motion please mayor I move for the adoption of pending ordinance 25-947 to be published in the Verona
Cedar Grove Times as a passed ordinance to take effect as prescribed by law thank you may I have a second second okay thanks uh roll call please councilmani yes councilwoman Peterson yes councilman Zazali yes deputy Mayor
Migga yes mayor Scavenage yes um item five the meeting is now open to the uh excuse me meeting is now open to residents of the township wishing to be heard on any item on the agenda okay seeing none uh that portion of the meeting is now closed item six uh
reports of township officials mayor I'm going to save you right now and read through the uh agenda for the uh budget i have no report right now um okay so we'll move on to Madame Clerk good evening good evening Mayor members
of council and those in attendance i just wanted to announce that late night voter registration is scheduled for April 22nd 2025 and I'll be open in the office until 900 p.m wonderful thank you thank you
um good evening Councilwoman Peterson how are you good evening Mayor i'm good how are you good thanks i do not have a report this evening i'm sorry hey attorney sorry Mr deprive just so you know forgive me good evening and council
members um my only report was going to be piggybacking off of 4C uh you will see the completed redevelopers agreement for that property coming down the pike along with the pilot agreement which are currently being worked on so as we get through those financial and development
phases I hope that the project can get uh the shovels in the ground by I think the end of the year would be great the um project wants to move forward getting through these hurdles so you'll start to see more and more of those uh agreements come through to your uh desk and if you
have any questions please feel free to ask i have nothing else thank you very much perfect thank you and forgive me again sorry about that um and you Okay um good evening i know you have a I can see it you have a you have that's a thick pile of paper deputy mayor last time so Okay well we're ready look out
joe want to compete with who talks more well mayor deputy mayor you want to read my report no I don't want to read yours all right okay good evening everybody last month I did attend the state of the county address and many exciting things
are happening in our county of Essex so I do encourage you to follow them i especially love the cherry blossoms which are in peak bloom this week at Brunchbook Park i also attended a very eye-opening event called the Black Poster Project this is a traveling
exhibit compassionately created of posters with pictures and stories of a person who unfortunately has died due to overdosing it depicts the overdose and fentanyl problem we have in this country the stories are endless and the loss of
such great people of all ages is very sad i thank the organizers and speakers for the invitation to this event it was beyond informative if you get the chance to see the Black Poster Project I highly encourage all to go including children
from middle school ages and older it's very inform excuse me informative on a very difficult topic on Saturday along with the mayor and the township manager we attended the opening for community gardens at Morgan's Farm
the farmers and gardeners are ready for another great growing season and I wish them all great success in whatever they have chosen to grow i do have a few reminders um there is a fish and chips dinner on behalf of the uh Cedar Grove
Historical Society it's at 700 p.m on April 16 uh 5 to 7:00 p.m on April 16th at Morgan's Farm there is also this year a chicken option so it's instead of fish and chips it's chicken and chips if you do not want the fish all the proceeds go
to the historical society tickets are $20 each and you can purchase them at cedar Historical Society.com on April 19th there is a Unico Easter egg hunt at Community Park at 10:15 this event does not have a rain date um and they also ask you to please
bring your own basket and again with the historical society there is a free event April 23rd at the library at Cedar Grove Library it's called DNA and genealogy at 7:30 of course I always encourage everybody to join the Cedar Grove pool i
know it's cold out but someday it'll get warm right Joe in June I also remind everybody that we have many senior citizens programs added to our programs offered through our recreation department please take a look at the township's website for all of
them and their details we have trips exercise programs bingo board games pickle ball um uh art and arthritis and neuropathy workshop and we just keep adding more and the youth and adult recreation programs are also taking
online registrations for the summer including the summer camps thank you that wasn't too bad that wasn't too bad but you took all of my items but that's okay we need to get it together it's fine yeah that's okay um so thank you um I'm I just have a couple of quick things
that um Deputy Mayor Migga did not touch upon and my list comes from this very helpful email that comes from the Cedar Grove Recreation Department and I just want to encourage everyone um who has not signed up to receive their emails uh to please do so because it's a great
source of information um just flipping through all of the things that um Deputy Mayor Migga mentioned are in this email that came earlier today um the only thing on here that she did not touch upon is the spring leaf collection program uh which runs uh through April
30th so um you can put your leaves out and they will be taken away um it's it's a great service that we offer they need to be bagged yes thank you please don't put them out to the curb um yes that's very important and we we have bags available for sale at DPW so um those
were my only updates for today and I'll keep going to my left good evening council good evening Mayor uh I have no add-ons to your items and and the deputy mayors thank you no report okay great thank you good evening Mr zazali good evening Mayor uh good evening everyone
uh mayor um if I I wanted to ask uh Mr zelli a question through you if that's okay of course um Mr kelly about I think it was about 2 months ago we went through the north end firehouse and there was still some things that needed to be changed or updated and I believe
that the the completion date was May 17th or 18th um if you can give us an update where we are in the process what work's been done since then and are we hitting May 17th sure through you mayor um so the firehouse project is
progressing uh last week the last kind of big ticket item was the installation of the elevator uh the elevator uh was on site last Monday and I believe during the pendency of last week has now been installed um now that the elevators in um the flooring can be finalized and the
only other major project now is an installation of a power pole outside by PSEG through their subcontractor Chemco with whom I spoke last week uh once the pole is in power can be ran to the building and uh I believe our generator
is installed so for the most part the majority of the work is uh done i haven't personally been to the site in probably about two weeks now but I get reports every day from our construction team um other than that and some of the outside landscaping and site work and
the inside punch list items I hopefully expect us to be in on that target date i know the fire department needs to get the racks from the DPW which is where they're currently responding out of install them in North End and then you know acclimate to responding under there but I fully hope and expect that that
deadline is fixed and stays the same okay thank you um that's it Mayor that's it okay thank you great thank you uh we'll move on to item seven consent agenda i'm going to read these together um 7 A to consider resolution concerning
the approval of raffle application St katherine of Sienna 7b to consider resolution concerning the approval of raffle application Cedar Grove Elks Lodge number 2237 um 7 C to consider resolution concerning approval of raffle
application Cedar Grove High School Lacrosse Booster Club may I have a motion please so move second thank you roll call please councilman Miseri yes councilwoman Peterson yes councilman Zazali yes deputy Mayor Miga yes mayor
Scavage yes item eight um new business 8A to consider resolution concerning the introduction of the 2025 municipal budget mr zelli you are up i apologize for the length of this mayor but this is very important to me as you know mayor
through you i begin by providing a summary of the 2025 valuations of the township township's ratables in 2025 totaled 2 bill275,47,500 reflecting an increase of 15,883,500 from 2024's ratables of 2 billion259,524,000
township's public utilities total $1,471,400 reflecting a decrease of $13,700 from the utility valuation of $1,521,100 in 2024 the township's net valuation taxable increased by
$15,779,800 to 2 bill276,824 in 2025 that number in 2024 was $2,261,45 $45,100 excuse me overall the average residential assessment in the township increased by $1,400 to
$478,700 again the average residential assessment in 2025 is $478,700 as has been the case every year this council introduces a municipal budget the governing body's directive to me is to administer prudent and efficient budget management which results in tough decisions being made each and every day
that are always in the best interest of the township and our residents as has and will be reflected in Essex Countyy's tax analysis on a countywide basis Cedar Grove will remain one of the lowest tax municipalities in all of Essex County at the behest of this mayor and council the township made many hard decisions to
keep the 2025 budget in line with state mandates uncontrollable inflation skyrocketing statutory and healthcare costs and more modest increases simply associated with the everyday cost of doing business at the forefront of my administration's goal is to keep Cedar Grove's municipal portion of the local
property tax as low as possible while still prioritizing efficiency transparency and quality of service that our residents deserve and indeed should fully expect to our residents while other industries pass costs on to you consumers please know that this township council does not act
with haste and has continued and will continue to make Cedar Grove an attractive and affordable place to live work and raise a family as with every budget the township places your needs first before considering other requests each and every year the retirement benefit portion of the municipal budget continues to grow this
results in increased long-term costs borne by the taxpayer make no mistake this was a very difficult budget year indeed our biggest expenses were group medical benefits for active employees and retirees pension contributions for PERS and PFRS system members and police salaries and operating
expenses the New Jersey State Health Benefits Plan which is what covers our employees health insurance increased by 16.4% this year this is the township is anticipated to spend 3,588,000 on group medical costs alone in fiscal year 2025
in addition in fiscal year 2025 we are expecting to pay $74,427 for dental insurance $18,357 for long-term disability insurance $554,276 for multi-line defense general liability insurance and
$284,454 for workers compensation insurance these insurance costs total $4,519,514 with regard to PFRS payments for our police department this cost to the township is $1,755,93 with respect to the PERS payments for municipal staff and DPW
this number for 2025 is $589,870 top of that Social Security contributions is $440,000 these statutory payments alone total $2,784,963 with the statutory expenses and the insurance costs that I just outlaid the township is anticipating spending
$7,34,477 these numbers are staggering but by not replacing three employees who retired or resigned over the last year we were able to insulate these costs a little bit better with with respect to our police department 2025 budget reflects staffing of 31 officers 17 crossing guards and
one civilian staff member in 2024 we were faced with growing overtime costs resulting from officers having to cover vacant crossing guard positions the township was able to raise the wage of our crossing guards eliminate the skewed nonsensical pay structure that previously existed and pay the guards
for the hours worked at an effective rate of $24 per hour the township's crossing guard posts are now fully staffed resulting in no overtime being cost to the township when an officer has to cover it for the salaries and wages this number totals
$5,445,600 an increase of $143,221 with respect to our operating budget of the police department you'll see a modest increase to $369,700 from $363,000 in 2024 it's important to note that in this other
expense line $140,000 is budgeted for the purchase of three new police vehicles and $40,000 is budgeted for this year's promotional examination administered by the New Jersey State Association of Chiefs of Police we can expect this $40,000 to be removed from the OE line next year and go back into
the current fund furthermore the township's anticipating funding from one of our officers who is assigned to the DEA on a loan assignment where the township anticipates receiving forefeiter funds from uh forefeiters that he participated in i anticipate the forfeite funding will arrive here and be to deposited into the township's bank
account by July 1st 2025 otherwise we may have to recall our officer back to patrol to address two retirements the Cedar Grove Police Department and the township will begin looking to hire two additional officers uh once the promotion process goes underway another large expense that the township incurs
this year is funding for the Cedar Grove Public Library as the council's aware this is a statutory minimum number that is 1,6,75141 this is a 5.28% increase from last year's state funding requirement conversely the entire municipal budget increased by 3%
the library portion increased 5.28% when the whole municipal budget portion increased 3% the expenses described thus far are those that are either contractually obligated or statutoily determined each and every day the township seeks new ways to reduce costs and generate new
revenues in 2024 received a full year's benefit of having a part-time consulting engineer instead of a full-time salaried employee with benefits and pension obligations in 2024 we also received a full year's worth of road opening permits from the road work taking place around town and realized
$141,920.30 in revenue this number by itself almost entirely offset the cost of the part-time engineer however that cost was fully offset by the $2 million in grant funding that the township received for various road reconstruction projects and the new playground to be installed at the community park through
the Jake Law grant at each and every opportunity I strive to negotiate for this township to get the best price on each and every contract that comes before us this is evidenced by my ability to reduce the cost of a firet truck by over $200,000 by negotiating an aggressive prepayment
schedule and reducing the cost of returfing Panther Park by over $40,000 through negotiation and applying for a class action settlement resulting from defective prior installations that the township had at Panther Park with the consolidation of the planning and zoning coordinator position retirements
of employees in the DPW and subsequent privatization of certain aspects of the DPW we seek to streamline operations and eliminate redundancy in township operations we are proud to operate with efficiency at the apex of our concerns and our focus to in to incentivize
efficiency as this council is aware 2025 is the first year a merit-based rate system will be in place for municipal employees goals and standards were presented in July and a comprehensive evaluation will take place to determine merited race percentages the days of blanket raises across the board are over
with that said I transition to 2025's total appropriations fiscal year 2025 budget reflects total general appropriations of $24,540,2389 which is $224,800.13 more than appropriations set forth last year 2024's total
appropriations were $24,315,223.76 included here is a non-spending appropriation called the reserve for uncollected taxes this number is1,162,718.77 this is money that we do not spend out of but it's money that we must raise in the event that there are delinquencies on tax
payments the fiscal year 2025 budget will be funded from 12,254,481.64 from the tax levy 7,400,000 from the municipal surplus and the difference with permits and fees grants energy receipts and interest on investment i am pleased to share that
since Rebecca and I closed 27 bank accounts in nine different banks the last of which was closed in September of 2024 the township has realized 96,32.72 on investments i'm pleased to share that the township is using a stable amount of surplus to fund this year's municipal
budget and is committed to keeping that number stable so we can continue to generate and regenerate fund balance each and every year to that point township can expect additional revenues from the pilot agreement as Hilltop is set to experience rate increases through contractually provided for provision as
well as revenues from other pilots that are going to go online on the average residential assessed value this budget will result in a $67.58 increase on the entire year 6758 this is $563 per month or $1.40 per
week with these numbers in mind I want to make it known to the residents as this council already understands that your portion of your entire entire tax bill only 21 or 22 cents on the dollar gets back to this municipality essex County will receive 23 cents on the dollar and the board of education will
receive 55 cents on the dollar so this township is responsible for providing the most services serving the most residents with the lowest percentage of your property tax bill i believe in fact I'm certain that this governing body stretches this dollar to the f furthest extent
possible with prudent budgeting policies adopted by the governing body and the freedom to negotiate with public entities like PSEG township was able to pave more linear feet in 2024 of roads than it has in any other calendar year at no cost to the residents given the credit based system agreed to by PSEG
township actively works to fight cumbersome and costly regulations stemming from the NJ and other state agencies so the taxpayer dollar goes towards providing a service and not fighting against unjustifiable fees and red tape that impedes our ability to deliver good government this township
was able to provide more services in 2024 and cease to continue this in 2025 including the widely successful e electronic recycling expansion at the recycling center and increasing funding for public events like our fireworks Memorial Day picnic and treelighting all while expanding services to our seniors
ranging from trips to Wind Creek Casino the Paper Mill Playhouse and weekly programming for exercise games and awareness brought right to our seniors in Cedar Grove make no mistake this budget was crafted with all these priorities in mind and of course with the responsiveness and level of service that is in my opinion unmatched and
unrivaled in any township in the state of New Jersey not included in our general appropriations are the budgets of our three utilities with respect to our water utility 2025's appropriations total 2,752,29 with respect to Soore 2,411,66757 and the pool
$62,90026 as the council will see in this year's appropriations items will look vastly different there's been major restructuring and moving of where things were being paid out of for example you will see the other expense line in my budget significantly increased from what it was last year the reason for this is because we moved all of the internet and
technology services into my budget this was previously paid for out of the water utility sewer utility and utilities accounts set up in the municipal budget and by removing it out of those accounts and consolidating into one it streamlines where we're going to be paying our bills out of similarly with the state police radio access this is a
fee we have to pay every year to the state police this was previously paid out of the police department budget water utility sore utility and solid waste budgets this has all been removed and placed into the office of emergency management's other expense budget you have one line to pay this now as opposed to four different budgets paying for
it additionally the council will see salary movements to try and better support our water sewer and pool utilities portions of my salary that were previously paid out of the water and sewer budget are no longer there all my salary has been moved to current over the next few years our goal is to place more and more employees in current to
reduce the burden on these utilities employees who were previously paid out of the pool fully are now paid out of recreation 50% of the year and out of the pool 50% of the year not only does it make sense because that's when the utility operates it better supports the utility given the fact that the governing body is increasing rates this
is the other side of the equation to help support that utility as the council's aware these rate increases have been adjusted will continue to be adjusted annually so that they are all self-sufficient in the utilities but that's only one side of the equation by reallocating expenses to the proper location in addition to the
rate increases township's committed to securing and structuring the utilities to a point where they are self- sustaining with regard to our debt service as I stated earlier one of the biggest items in the municipal budget is our debt service our debt payments and funding out of the capital improvement
fund and we'll take each in turn now 2025 the township anticipates spending $3,693,95 to pay down our debt as the council has stated repeatedly the goal using pilot funds is to pay down debt and for capital improvement projects with respect to the debt service
township is paying $916,000 towards bond principal $435,180 for interest on bonds $1,938,535 for payment on principal bond anticipation notes or bands and
$44,280 for interest on bands the resident should be aware that the township's minimum statutory payment for our debt service is $2,100,337 this council is electing to pay an additional 1,593,658 towards reducing its debt
voluntarily through the 2023 restructuring and bond credit upgrade Township is able to lock in an effective interest rate of 3.26% for bonds and 3.6% 6% for bands the township will be completely paying off all bond anticipation notes issued between 2015
and 2020 this year 5 years ahead of their payown schedule with respect to our capital improvement fund this is 1,772,000 that the township is appropriating in cash to fund capital projects we are not taking debt on this we are not taking interest payments on
it this is cash that we are allocating for capital projects this number is 154,000 less than what was appropriated last year as will be contemplated in the introduction of capital ordinance 25948 tonight i could speak about those projects when the ordinance is introduced if you'd like
mayor uh that's coming out of the capital improvement fund and the other portion of the capital tonight is a capital bond ordinance to cast new debt which I will also speak about um when it's introduced for the uh the public in closing the township is still evolving
from some antiquated practices and procedures that uh still hinder our growth but the township needs to work beyond this in 2025 this is the first year we will be fully on Edmonds and we will use this software more readily to capture real live data accurate data to better predict our budgets in the future
better manage our finances and uh comply with our auditor's request to have incumbrances set up i sent the initial budget memo to uh department staff in October on October 11th 2024 as the council knows is a very long drawn out process that involves a forensic
exactitude of analysis to calculate anticipated revenues and expenses for the next year as the governing body has been made aware unanticipated expenses constantly pop up ranging from repairing the surface at the upper playground at Panther Park to combating exuberant fees from the D regarding stabilizing the
Pman River this all reinforces the mantra that if Cedar Grove is going to do something we're going to do it right i personally owe a big thank you to all our department heads who worked diligently to complete their budget requests adapted to our new admin software went through the renaming of
their accounts some difficult migration factors and a whole host of other items that piled up onto this year's budget preparation all while continuing to do your everyday jobs your dedication does not go unnoticed and I thank you all for the continued service to our residents mayor with that I rest for now and happy to answer any questions you have and
we'll speak to our capital ordinances and the rest of the agenda as you go through it um thank you Mr zelli i I Is this your third year doing the budget so feels like my 30th yeah you you joke but I I know how much work goes into this
but beyond budget season you keep us informed of all of the things that you're doing to save the township money um you know I feel like we get at least one email a week from you at at a minimum um about either a grant we've
won or uh steps that you and Rebecca have taken to um to either save us money or make us money and um it's it's top of mind for you and I know it's top of mind for our residents um personally it's why I moved my family here from another town
in Essex County uh with a much higher tax rate um my gosh almost 20 years ago um so to say we appreciate the work that goes into this feels like an u an understatement but we do um I I can speak on behalf of everyone up here um
because it's it's so important to maintain the services and the quality of life that um people have grown to love here in this community without sticker shock right and and we're doing this in the face of the highest inflation we've
seen in in many years so thank you um on behalf of the council for everything that you've you've done um and to all the department heads and everyone involved in in getting our budget um to where it needs to be um and with that would you mind if I may if you No go
ahead please i'm just full of You have a full folder i should have I should have known better notebook i got it all going on careful what you're saying there you're full of it today i am full of it that was very funny job i would like to thank our
township manager Joseph Kelly and CFO Rebecca Roth for the ex excellent job they have done preparing a very fiscally responsible budget the endless hours you have put into this are truly appreciated i am proud to be a part of such a
fiscally responsible town council we are in challenging times and yes some things had to go up even in have to go up even in Cedar Grove just like they have to go up everywhere else but the township of Cedar Grove continues to offer so many programs at such
affordable prices some are even free such as our beautiful fireworks display along with very reasonable taxes it is an honor to serve the residents i firmly believe Cedar Grove to be a wonderful township with programs for all we have
wonderful employees we have great volunteers and I am proud to be a part of the budget that is being presented thank you again Joe and Rebecca this is not possible without you thank you Mayor Matt yes please thank you i said it
earlier when we were talking about the chief's promotion and it goes with what we do here in Cedar Grove um I know a couple years ago during our interview with Mr zelli one of the concerns of the residents is we have a young manager coming in and some people questioned the
council's decision and to what the mayor said about moving to the town 20 years ago I feel like that transition from our town manager Tom Tucci to Joseph Kelly and this council we haven't been here for 20 years but we're trying to follow
what Cedar Grove believes which is providing the best services and trying to keep the costs affordable for everybody in our community and I feel like we did that again this year and that's a huge you know effort as everybody said already it's a lot of
work to get there i know that you know and we can't take credit for that we're the part-time volunteers up here but you do keep us informed throughout the process the budget hearings um we have the opportunity to question everybody i think the mayor this year you were involved in some of the uh committee
meetings with the chairs with Mr zeli i did that when I was mayor it's very helpful um so I feel like we keep doing what we've been doing for a long time and I want to keep doing it and I think that that's what we did this year again so congratulations congratulations to
this council for keeping up these traditions so I'm very pleased as well so thank you Mr zeli thank you Rebecca and thank you to everybody all the department heads too who who spent a lot of time as you said Mr zeli making sure that um they checked every item on on
their list so thank you and you have you have six whole months before you have to start the process there again mayor um anyone else or can we I you know if I may through your mayor um I do just want to make comment i know all of your comments are appreciated and I agree
with everything but I just really the amount of work that you have put into this the transitioning from like you said to admins to changing the accounts to making all of those changes to make us more progressive up to date with the
way that you're running things is um amazing the amount of work you do I am blown away by every single day so thank you thank you thank you for all of your hard work thank you to Rebecca thank you to all the department heads i know this is a heavy heavy lift as per your report
i think that's just like a little bird's eye view of everything that you've done so thank you very much for all that you do i really appreciate it we're lucky that's all mayor mayor uh uh Mr zakelli thank thank you for uh the the time that
you spend doing this it's not easy uh there's many many moving parts and you somehow seem to keep it organized um and uh you you're keeping the budget reasonable any increases that you do
have are very small uh in comparison to what the changes could be uh you're not making anything extravagant you're conservative but yet you're progressing at the same time um it's it's a job well done so congratulations and thank you thank you also one more thank you that
was a very thorough con but yet concise report right i mean like that gave a lot of information everybody so anybody anybody that could watch this video I didn't want to go through the whole budget for you i think our town clerk can tell you how many renditions I went through for it very helpful no I
appreciate all the great comments and we uh we came a long way from when when Bill H may he rest in peace used to do it by hand um so that's we're uh employing the same tactics just with some technology oh and Mr zelli not another Thank you but a question yes sir
um for residents who want to see the budget where can they go so it's going to be in um in the library the library in council chambers um it will be posted online um the introduced budget gets online too I think right and then um
once it's introduced by the government body it'll go online the clerk will send it down to the Division of Local Government Services um as the council's aware this would have to be adopted in May for it to be finalized so it will still operate on the temporary municipal budget till then and then um I'm happy
to I love This is my world i'm happy to answer any questions about the budget this is you know this is my my Christmas day today good boy um don't tell your fiance that she's probably watching sorry Kate okay thank you very much um so let's uh let's vote
u Madame Clerk may I have a roll call please a motion to approve oh may I have a motion please i'll make a motion to approve second thank you um roll call please councilman Miseri yes councilwoman Peterson yes councilman Zazali yes deputy Mayor Mig yes mayor Scavage yes 8b to consider resolution
concerning the introduction of the 2025 solid waste collection district budget mr zakell mayor this is just a separate budget um for garbage collection leaf collection much simpler total appropriations of $1,989,900 cuffing a decrease of
$175,900 from last year's project great thank you um may I have a motion please so move mayor second thank you roll call please councilman Miseri yes councilwoman Peterson yes councilman Zazali yes deputy Mayor Mig yes mayor
Scavenage yes item uh 8 C to consider resolution concerning compliance with NJSA4A-4-5 as amended by PL 2017 uh C1E3 mr zaki mayor this is a compliance with the EEOC uh hiring um this is a
resolution that the state mandates the governing body adopt uh concurrent with the budget introduction concerning the United States Equal Employment Employment Opportunity Commission's guidance on the consideration of arrest of arrest and conviction records and employment decisions under title 7 of
Civil Rights Act of 1964 this is required by NJSA4A 4-5 um it must be adopted prior to the uh governing body's adoption of the budget okay thank you uh may I have a motion please so move second roll call
please councilman Miseri yes councilwoman Peterson yes council Mazali yes deputy Mayor Mika yes mayor Skyl yes item 8 D to consider resolution authorizing participation in the self-examination program of the
municipal budget of the 2025 budget year um Mr zak do you have anything mayor yes this is um where I I must plug Rebecca uh every three years the division of local government service allows uh township to review it uh do self-examination its own budget prior to
adoption uh on that third year the state must review it last year the state reviewed our budget this year we could participate in self-examination so Rebecca will do that once this adoption the resolution is adopted and um again just I owe a big shout out to Rebecca
and our auditor Andrew from Anizavachia who they prepared our financial statement to prepared our debt statement which allowed me to finalize the numbers between the time we met with the uh council in January and and today's date so Rebecca and Andrew if you're watching thank you i couldn't do this without
either of you wonderful thank you um roll call please motion may I have a motion sorry so move mayor second thank you roll call please councilman Miseri yes councilwoman Peterson yes councilman Zazali yes deputy Mayor Mig yes mayor
Scavage yes item 8E to consider resolution authorizing the purchase and installation of synthetic turf at Panther Park Multi-purpose Field through Field Turf USA Inc through the Educational Services Commission of New Jersey by Purchasing Cooperative in an
amount not to exceed $550,947 u Mr zell I know you touched on this yeah Mayor if I may this is a resolution authorizing the award of contract under ESCJ contract number 223-37 for returfing of the field at Panther Park as I said many times
tonight this is being financed through a capital improvement bond so we're going to cast some debt and the time comes in July to see which uh rates are the best we'll make the determination if it's a bond or a ban uh right now the rates are inverted um I just want to let the council know that this number is
$550,947 when they first quoted it it was $597,000 and I was able to negotiate it down to $550,947 just by negotiation and also through the um class action credit that we were able to receive um once this is
signed on I will work with Marica to coordinate scheduling obviously we will keep the council apprised of this information this is crucial uh I want it done quick but I want it done right um and we want to do it during the non- busy season unfortunately every season's a little bit busy at Panther Park um but
nonetheless this is something that u will be good for the residents also if the council recalls a few meetings ago we passed a dedication by Ryder which is allowing us now to collect the fees from renting the field put it in a bank account and leave it as is for the uh for to you know reuse the field and put
that money towards refunding it yeah that's fantastic i know how much wear and tear that field gets used um Sorry go ahead just raising the air a little bit oh yeah it's freezing oh I thought it was just me
it's freezing it was It was very warm in here before get more people back in here um and Mr zell I know you you had sent the governing body um pictures of of the essentially defective turf that has been there so mayor this is this is at the
multi-purpose field on u on Bradford unfortunately we do have to fix that one on community but this will be a I'm hoping the timeline is is four weeks max i see okay got it what's the lifespan on this one Joe so what the lifespan should be and what it is are two different
things it should be around 15 years uh the constant use of this especially during CO obliterated it it's um it was really overused not overused it's used in a in a good way and our residents get use good use out of it um but nonetheless we have to uh we have to
upgrade it how will that absolutely how will they um so the football league and the lacrosse league who all those people that utilize that field township they'll be notified from Marissa as when it shuts down prior to I'm trying to get
it done before the fall because the fall is the the busiest time um so I'm fairly confident usually I'm pretty good at at you know expediting the process a little bit um so now I had to the whole reason this had to wait was because we needed to wait for the capital funding to be in
place to award the contract right we couldn't certify the funds without the bonding um right got it so I'm hoping I'm anticipating early summer to midsummer is is what my goal would be working with direct teams or whatnot and
then you have to stay off it for a certain amount no I think it go right on it yeah beautiful okay perfect okay thank you um any other questions no okay may I have a motion please i'd like to make a motion mayor to approve second
thank you roll call please councilman Miseri yes councilwoman Peterson yes councilman Zali yes deputy Mayor Migga yes mayor Scavage yes um 8F to consider introduction of pending capital ordinance number
25-248 a capital ordinance providing funding for various acquisitions and improvements for the township of Cedar Grove and appropriating 1,772,000 uh dollars for such purpose um Mr zig yes mayor this as I said is the capital improvement fund so we are not casting any new debt for this this is money
we're taking from the pilot funds um if the council recalls I sent uh this pie chart for use of fund balance um in the use of fund balance you'll see that the majority of that is used to pay our debt service pay the board of ed the $1.2 million a year they're contractually uh
that we are giving to them and um also for the reserve for uncollected taxes of that fund balance amount 1,772,000 is for the capital improvement fund and the projects on this side of the capital bonding is a new batting cage at Panther Park parking overlay
which is the streets that I'm sorry paving overlay um which is the street uh paving that we do every year a scanner for the mechanics uh replacing one of the leaf tag boxes that we suck up the leaves with uh a new single axle dump truck which are the real big dump trucks we plow with and tow the leaf tags with
a new lawn mower a new F350 single cab pickup truck with a plow stabilization of the Pecman Riverbank tech improvements and three AC wall units great thank you um may I have a motion please so moved
sorry have to read that i got it i move for introduction of pending capital ordinance 25-948 to be published in full in the Verona Cedar Grove Times as a pending ordinance with a public hearing scheduled for May 5th 2025 thank you
second please second thank you roll call please councilman Miseri yes councilwoman Peterson yes councilman Zazali yes deputy Mayor Migga yes mayor Scavage yes item 8G to consider introduction of pending bond ordinance number
25-949 a bond ordinance authorizing various general improvements in the county of Essex New Jersey appropriating $1,946,700 therefore and authorizing the issuance of 1,849
365 bonds or note to finance part or cost thereof mr zak thank you mayor this is my um this is where we determine whether or not we will um use bonds or bond anticipation notes to fund these projects um this note or
bond will be offset by 398,390 grant that we received from the NJ DOT the projects for this bond anticipation note or bond include uh replacing the turf at Panther Park remote access to the bathroom doors at Panther Park which means Mara can now um
set the doors on a timer automatically open them close them no more keys to all be fobbed in and out um paving of Reservoir Ridge and Mountain Way tree replacements sidewalk replacements various improvements to municipal properties including office renovations running water to and installing a
bathroom at Morgan's Farm funding um the county ordered reval process as the governing body is aware uh the county is ordering the township go uh under a re-evaluation for properties we are the oldest reval on the books now last one was done in 2010 uh we really stretched
it out pretty far too far according to the county so that is being funded through this bond um ordinance new CATV camera for Andy and the crew downstairs online digital zoning maps something that our residents will be able to go online and see uh new bodywn camera
docking stations for our police department seven new defibrillators for each frontline patrol car new alka test machine improvements to the police common area purchase of new Glock 43X weapons for our administrative officers and I'm sure Connor will be happy a new
uh LAR laser unit for our patrol cars so we we are funding a lot of projects out of this and um I just want to note that because the bond number that you see is 1,849,000 because it's offset the actual issuance of debt is 1,528,310
okay thank you Joe um may I have a motion please i move for the introduction of pending ordinance 25-949 to be published in full in the Ron City Grove Times as a pending ordinance with a public hearing scheduled for May 5th 2025 thank you
second please second okay thank you um roll call please councilman Miseri yes councilwoman Peterson yes councilman Zazali yes deputy Mayor Migga yes mayor Scabage yes item nine approval of bills madam clerk yes please thank you be
resolved by the township of Cedar Grove County of Essex New Jersey that the summary of bills having been duly audited and found to be correct are hereby ordered paid in the aggregated amount of 3,361,33259 thank you very much um may I have a motion please so move second roll call
please councilman Miseri yes councilwoman Peterson yes councilman Zazali yes deputy Mayor Mika yes news yes item 10 the meeting is now open to residents of the township wishing to be heard on any item on or off the agenda concern
concerning township business mr maner you can go next yep i just need your name and uh address okay mayor and council my name is John Riso i am here exercising my first Your address please pardon me your address please
169 Old Bloomfield Avenue Parcipony New Jersey okay uh 07054 i'm here exercising my First Amendment right under the US Constitution the oath of office is the glue that holds the legal system
together on September 5th 2005 I was arrested and charged for a crime I did not commit i was convicted based on a false police report written by Eileen Oul patrolman Pumprey and Patrolman Schneider assisted with the arrest and
they all were promoted to sergeant as a result as a result I lost my driver's license i became unemployable and suffered immeasurable harm the court put further restrictions that made it impossible to get my driver's license back
i'm requesting that you do the right thing and I'm requesting that my driver's license be restored now thank you anyone else wishing to be heard mr
maner mr young he's letting you go first stephen Young 18 Young Avenue i just like to thank the DPW for the great job the maintenance they do down at the community garden the uh the small garden
and the large garden it's always wellmaintained very safe for our residents to use uh every time we need the uh compost piles they're there they're just doing a great job and it's great to see the township's residents
are really coming out and uh living up to uh New Jersey's motto the Garden State thank you thank you Mr young as you all know my name is Salmaneri at 26 Sweetwood Drive and uh I appreciate having the
opportunity to put my comments on official record um I as you all know is my whole thing is about communication what you all have done today okay could not possibly be commun communicated
electronically there is no way that the people of this town will be able to see what you've accomplished what everyone has accomplished the people here the personal messages they have is so important for us to know our electronic
age has robbed you of the ability to communicate effectively with the citizens of this town you are now almost exclusively relegated to electronic media and so on it is great but people
of my generation I I would think are in the same situation we don't have the ability to go on electronically for many reasons and the main reason is it's been abused i
have 120 emails a day and I have two emails it takes me about 20 minutes to try to go through this to determine which is important which is not important we're losing that ability for instance
paper great to see this i great to have it on paper okay right here i was almost impressed we have a newspaper that's dedicated to Cedar
Grove unfortunately this publication is provided by Young young uh they put a beautiful art article about Cedar Grove on the front page this
is 40 pages long everything in this article except for that first page is about Pay Valley this publication they published
two they published Cedar Grove Life and they also published Payic Valley Life everything in this article is a duplicate of the other article they published Poseic Valley Life
we are they have brought this to our town and we are presenting it to the people of Cedar Grove and it has nothing to do about Cedar Grove i don't understand how they can take our town
name and name it Cedar Grove life it's not about Cedar Grove how are we allowing this to happen we're promoting residents and whatever to deal with another
town's concerns and interests i'm concerned and I don't know how many people in town share my or how much you share my con my situation i wrote to the editor and I
quote "Mr kungji editor just recently I spoke to your sales rep Lisa about contacting you directly and he and she suggested he or she suggested your email rather than cell number i have
been a resident of Cedar Grove for over 50 years and have recently reviewed the content of your Cedar Grove life March 25th print publication that you are circulating in our town i have concerns that the content of the paper does not
represent life in Cedar Grove but life almost exclusively in Pose County which is almost exclusively identical to your twin paper Payic Valley Life i'm requesting to speak to you
directly with my concerns and possible concerns of residents and businesses in our town i would also like to invite you to attend the next town council meeting and explain to our elected officials and town residents your purpose and intent
of using our town name in your publication i think it's a concern not only my concern but the residents town and hopefully it's your concern i've sent a copy of this to just about every town council member and the residents of
this town i hope you're joining me and determining why we are promoting a publication that has nothing to do with Cro and how they've taken Cedar Grove which I think is I don't know legally if
that's a proprietary name that's exclusively for us that somebody can take our name and represent Cedar Grove i ask the attorney to possibly explain that thank you
so thank you Mr maner um so I know um I'm familiar with the publication I believe is that the um Miss Ford is that the gentleman who reached out no that's someone else another that's a separate um so Mr maner I'm a communications
professional i've been in PR for oh my gosh almost 30 years now um so I I feel your frustration um and I think we talked about this in our last meeting too the print media is um unfortunately a dying medium there are newspapers
folding you see it left and right right star ledgers only digital now the Jersey Journal in Jersey City which was where I'm from doesn't exist anymore after 145 years um our Verona Cedar Grove Times is is very similar to what you're saying here with Cedar Grove life it's couple
of articles about Cedar Grove and Verona and the rest of it is is statewide news um from the Associated Press or Reuters or other news services um unfortunately it's it's sort of the the way of the world not sort of it's it's the way of the world right now we're having a lot
of um you know cuts in newsrooms ai is replacing reporters uh it's it's a it's a scary landscape for print media right now and I know um you know a lot of folks are resistant to to making the switch to digital or they can't for
whatever reason and we you know I empathize with that i I understand how frustrating it can be um you know we we do our best to to share as much news as we can i mean we have bulletin boards in the library here in town hall that's what I'm telling you it's a print right
that print we have to get to the presidents okay these other towns don't believe okay they are taking advantage of our town through print so the more we allow it the more abuse it's going to be
i don't necessarily think it's abuse though how do we use How do we allow a newspaper to represent our town there's a free press Mr mr man i mean it's Don't we have a proprietary interest and I like to ask the how can somebody take
our name and print it for the Yeah please if I may Mr maner here's here's the deal they have a constitutionally protected right to free speech they have a constitutionally protected right to free press let me finish right and there it is not our name i don't own the name
Cedar Grove this governing body does not own the name Cedar Grove right all 13,000 residents the name belongs to them right so people have social media pages that say Cedar Grove on it right and as long as they're not conveying a message that would give the appearance that the township is endorsing or not
endorsing we are not in the position council correct me if I'm wrong to regulate that content okay you know it's much the same where there's a provision in the ordinance that the clerk is the custodian of the township seal only the clerk can use the seal to notoriize
documents and convey a meaning with the the seal of the township only the ma madam clerk has is vested with that power to use the words Cedar Grove Cedar Grove Life Cedar Grove magazine we would be committing a constitutional infringement in the event that we were to regulate somebody's use
of the word the words Cedar Grove i hear your frustrations i know what your your sentiments are there's nothing stopping you from making a print magazine about Cedar Grove life right and printing it and distributing it right you're you're afforded the same rights that they are i would
agree however their intent is to represent you okay that is the intent there's a difference between free speech and what they are presenting they are representing you as
being accepting the fact that they are representing Cedar Grove okay and that's how I look at it and the point is by us circulating it we're promoting it mr mer we are not circulating it mr mary this is not something that the township is
circulating this is not something the township is controlling or publishing why are they allowed to put this in the municipal building as though we are the one Mr mayor because this is a public space sir this is a public space where there's a free right there this there
are constitutional protections much like this governing body the the free speech doctrine prevails here because it's an open public forum right there are limited public forums there are designated public forms i'm not going to go into first amendment you know uh uh uh juristp prudence here with you as
much as I would love to i don't think the council wants me to to to go through the litigation history of First Amendment nonetheless but Mr let me just wrap this up here they are allowed to do that right just like we cannot regulate the content of any speech going up it's
it's constitutionally impermissible so just ju just like if you want to put a flyer up for your flag um uh uh project that you display that you hang up and down on on Route 23 legally we cannot stop you from doing that council do you want to jump in here the difference in
that Cedar Grove life is that it's not Cedar Grove Township with the C and it's a it's not a distinction understand that if this hold hear me out I hear you made your point i understand your point if this was a newspaper that said Cedar Grove Township
with the seal of Cedar Grove then it would be a representation of this governing body this is an advertisement okay and there's a a sense of uh informality if you will from what this governing body is is saying from
this day versus what somebody is putting into print that says Cedar Grove Life there are two different things this is for the purpose of commercial advertising they get a lot of leeway under the first amendment if there was something that was if you said that uh
the Cedar Grove Township was the the title of the newspaper with the seal then I think I would be on the phone with the editor and say you need to remove the seal and the township portion of it because you do not represent the township but that's not what's happening here okay okay so there's there's a
there's a difference in kind that really makes the difference between what's permissible under the first amendment for somebody who's commercially advertising because they're trying to sell ads and what is a uh adoption of this governing body's uh you know an
endorsement of polic an endorsement of policy if you will an endorsement from what and trying to put it out there now Mrs kelly's point is also spot on if they are throwing newspapers onto people's driveways or putting newspapers here that is not something that the
township is endorsing or promoting well uh we have trespassing laws no now if do we have trespassing laws when somebody comes into the establishment and firing if it's a if it's a public space no so
this building how about business public space how do they put a newspaper in a business then that business should tell that newspaper that you no longer and that's exactly what I'm saying okay if we don't and we have literary ordinances right so there there's things that the
town can do we don't set certain standards for this town okay this individual is taking advantage of this the residents in this town and trying to convince our residents do not patronize your local stores patronize another
county okay we don't have business are but somebody has the ability to throw the newspaper in the garbage they they couldn't you know what I mean it's it's just advertising but but unfortunately the residents in this town kind of
believe this is Cedar Grove light and all I'm saying unless we unless we challenge the editor okay and say this is what is affecting our town and we're not happy i I think that your your
point we have the point of free speech that point that you made in your letter i thought your letter was very well written to the advocate okay you make great points now I I think that this township can provide more articles for them to write maybe this town is you
know so wellrun that there's not a lot of news going the editor right why are you doing it what's your There's no there's no requirement that he do there's a difference so we can urge and we can suggest but there's no requirement and
that's my point okay and that's a good point i think that's a fair point and I'm hoping the residents of the town and the councilman will take that into consideration and I hope I hope the editor takes your words into consideration because they're were very well written
thank you Mr maner um does anyone else have any comments nope okay seeing none I'm going to close that portion of the meeting um right away just wonder if this is not
M Mr maner we're going to move on thank you thank you so much um uh item 11 uh adjournment may I have a motion to adjurnn please so move second thank you roll call please council yes councilwoman Peterson yes
council Zali yes deputy Mayor yes mayor Stanford yes thank you everyone thank you thank you