##VIDEO ID:inq8mhSwjyE## vience 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 this meeting is in compliance with the open public meetings act as adequate notice of this meeting has been provided by ing the annual schedule of meetings to The Star Ledger Union County Hawk Union County local source and tap into to Clark by posting such annual meeting scheduled on the bulletin board and Town Hall reserved for such announcements the official website of the township and the proper filing of said notice formal action may be taken at this meeting okay I see that councilman Smith has just joined us welcome thank you okay okay at this time okay excuse me okay at this time we'll move on to Communications from the mayor and the reports of Township officers Mr Mayor yes thank you madam president members of council ladies and gentlemen here tonight and at home I'd like to take a moment to just thank Ralph Bernardo and his volunteer and his staff and everyone who attended and participated in this year's tree and manora Lighting it was fabulous as always fabulous and I thank Ralph and his uh team that uh which composed a lot of volunteers you know I I I read something on Facebook that uh Ralph lit the tree a little bit earlier and he did and it was cold and the volunteers have had it and then somebody said well it's a great free event and then another person said no it's our tax dollars well half right some of that tree lighting is from tax dollars and a lot of that tree lighting is from Ralph getting donations from so many generous residents and businesses in town and he always has a board posted with them so you know we shouldn't take nothing for granted uh I don't think there's another town in Union County that can host a tree lighting like Ralph and the recreation department does and uh of course with my support and Council support we do appreciate the tree and manora lighting uh I want to thank everyone who attended breakfast with Santa we had 990 uh people there it was great the kids were animated to see in Santa and I think some families got some really beautiful pictures for their Christmas cards we are in our last call for leaves please folks get them out I mean they should be out and done by now but um you know it ended a week ago but we always do continue to go around for the Johnny come lately or the jany come lately however you want to call it but please get them out and keep the branches out of them with snow season approaching us and hope for hopefully a little bit i' just like to remind everybody I always recommend it's not a um law there are snow streets that we have emergencies that you do have to remove cars over but if we get over 3 inches of snow and you can re remove your car off the street it helps DPW greatly at the plow and make it curb to curb and do a better job for you but hopefully we won't have to talk about too much of that and the other thing is to help the Clark police out a little bit uh this is our shopping season lot of online lot of Amazon and the rest of those companies out delivering if you're going to have stuff left on your porch and you're not home work something out with a neighbor or something because there's always porch Pirates running around I think this year we haven't had too many or if any in Clark but it happens and all it takes is a split second they go off with your package and bad enough it's your package but bad enough it might be something someone really wanted from Santa Claus that they may not be able to get in time so help the police if you see anything suspicious folks please do not run to Clark neighbors and report it call the pday I always see these things on Clark neighbors and the first thing I say is did you call the PD because if you're going to Facebook before you go to RPD you got it backwards plain and simple so if there's anything suspicious call the PD they'll be glad to come out they've always have done that I've never ever heard our department complaining about any call they may get whether it's real or you know something someone perceives just call them they'll be out and speaking to the police department for the month of uh November there was 150 motor vehicle stops 26 directed radar details and 10 traffic enforcement details the other thing is too folks please be careful this time of year with sung glare it's really bad out there once the trees uh drop their leaves so please be careful driving take it easy if you're going to decide to drink and drive at the holiday season there's a thing called Uber lift uh station cab uh hitchhike whatever you want to do don't drive and endanger other people's lives it's crazy to do that drink responsibly have fun responsibly and enjoy our great holiday season that concludes my report thank you thank you mayor we'll move on to council reports councilman Steve hund thank you uh president excuse me I have the November Clark Police Department uh monthly report we saw a total of 1,844 calls for service including but not limited to 128 ambulance requests 70 alarm calls one arrive request which is for mental health behavior emergency calls one criminal mischief nine fire department requests for fraud and identity theft identity theft six motor vehicle and residential lockouts 90 motor vehicle accidents 26 shoplifting and theft 1062 were 911 calls 1,164 were miscellaneous calls there were a total of 18 arrest adult arrests including but not limited to 15 for shopping shoplifting and one for warrants the youth Bureau handled a total of 10 cases including but not limited to one for criminal mischief two for offenses against the family five for all other offenses and 10 were all all 10 were in-house disposition that concludes my report thank you very much councilman mazarella yes thank you council president uh this is my DPW report for this evening uh leave collection will end December 19th make a note of that please um please leave um a 1 foot um distance between the leaves and the curves to allow for water runoff in case it rains and no branches uh the leavea piles will not be picked up if there are branches in it please remember this um clar Public Works does not pick up leaves on County Roads please make a note of that and remember this if there are County roads in town the leaves will not be picked up by the township they are picked up with count County DPW okay um um please remove all your basketball hoops and um soccer nets from the roadway in case we have a snow event we don't want to have any damage to any of your uh the Nets or our equipment so please remove them as soon as possible electronic drop off will resume on January 25th 2025 Branch um Branch pickup for 220 uh 2024 is complete please remove all branches from the roadway there will be no branches picked up until spring cleanup in March 2025 bulky and appliance pickup resumes on March 2025 weather permitting and all other pickups uh if um you care to have them done um you must make an appointment it is required for your schedule peek up pickup DPW is making available outside the gate in the DPW Yard 16in wood um for free for the taking do not make a mess if the bin is empty we will replenish it as it becomes available and please no log splitters or chainsaws will be permitted and for any other scheduled pickups email DPW hour.com or DPW um or www hour.com to look at any scheduled pickups that we may have for the following uh remainder of this year thank you that's the extent of my report thank you Council mazarella Council Manti uh thanks thank you uh in the month of November the Clark fire department responded to 47 calls totaling 478 for the year uh the calls included but are not limited to numerous odors and alarm calls there was one call for Mutual aid from another town uh five calls were from motor vehicle incidents uh one of them was a roll over on the Garden State Parkway um there was one call for a mulch fire and several calls were for uh smoke alarms regarding um unattended cooking so as we answer the holiday season just a Clark fire department would like to remind everyone to make sure that you attend your cooking at all times um as always I'd like to thank the members of the Clark fire department for their hard work and dedication and keeping our town safe this concludes my report thank you thank you councilman manid councilman OK Conor thank you from the finance committee the township continues to be able to meet its current obligations and from the Clark volunteer emergency Squad recent Squad activities the squad provided medical coverage for the Township's tree lighting as well as coverage for the high school Friday Night Football games the call volume is as follows there are 137 calls on November with four mutual Aid calls total hours responding to calls is approximately 890 man hours this does not include any hours the members are on duty but on not on calls your- to-day call volume is 1,316 calls with regard to membership anyone interested in becoming a member can email the squad at applic at www.rc.com where the applications can be found do you have a unique set of skills the squad is looking for associate members these are members that support the efforts of the squad with Community relation activities fundraising and recruitment efforts but do not respond to calls if interested please reach out to the Squad via their website on on.com servicing the community the squad hosted two blood drives in November remember each pint of blood saves three lives and please check the lawn sign for all upcoming blood drives holiday giving help the holiday fund drive has been mailed the squad ambulances are aging quickly and require repairs on more regular basis we are looking to remount one of the ambulances so we'll have a new Ford Chassis that cost us about $200,000 additionally we are looking to repurchase a powerlift stretcher for our patients that will also reduce the risk of back injuries to our responders each stretcher is approximately 60,00 ,000 so we can use all the help they can get to make this happen respectfully submitted Lorie Sheldon Treasurer trustee I'm sorry that concludes my reports thank you councilman oconor councilman Smith thank you council president albanes uh the pool and Recreation report the tream manora lighting was another huge success was attended by over 1500 residents I want to thank Ralph Emily Lambert and all the volunteers who helped set up and decorate the Brewer Township Municipal Building registration for all win direct classes is taking place now information is available on our website or you can stop by to recreation office and ask Emily or Ralph uh for any information or questions the indoor soccer begins January 3rd and 4th uh the house decorating contest winners will be selected this week uh the Clark family skate night at warano Park is scheduled for Saturday January 18th and tickets are on sale in the recreation office the New Jersey Devils and Clark hockey night is scheduled for Tuesday January 14th at the credential Center in Newark tickets can be purchased on the Clark website or the New Jersey deil's website all Clark attendees will be sitting together in one section and there'll be pictures on the ice afterwards and if you have any questions on anything recck related you can contact Ralph Bernardo at 73 2 42884 thank you thank you councilman Smith councilman tol thank you madam president from the environmental commission this Wednesday December the 18th was supposed to be the December meeting for the environmental commission and this Wednesday they've canceled it due to the basically with the holidays they're going to reschedule it for Wednesday dece uh January the 15 2025 all are welcome again the environmental commission is here to make sure we keep our town clean green and safe always um another issue before this meeting I spoke to the business administrator and I asked him could he give a little bit more insight because I've been getting texts and uh voicemails with regards to this drone areia that's going on in New Jersey and the United States right now and I have no idea how to respond to it because I have no jurisdiction or any saying it's nothing to do with a counsilman but I just want to know what the Township's doing dealing with it at this time if the ba through the cler uh president could say something or what's going on the latest I appreciate Jimmy thank you uh there was a mayor's meeting the other day in Trenton unfortunately I was unable to attend and with the aftermath I'm kind of glad I wasn't a unable because it was a waste of complete time nothing was said nothing was done actually assemblyman Brian Bergen from Mars County walked out in the middle of it it was the biggest waste of time he's ever seen um there's nothing to report there's nothing to really say I was just telling the two captains here that uh John Kirby from the Biden Administration was on TV before I was watching it before the meeting and he said he thinks it's hobbyists licens drones things of that nature we really don't know our next great president who's taken over couldn't be sooner soon enough Donald Trump said today you can bet assured that the US government knows exactly who what and where they are but they're just not saying I don't think it poses a threat no one seems to believe that at this time we're only telling you what we can do watch them go over there's nothing local government or local police can do about it at this time there's an FBI hotline number report it to them if you like um there's been so many sightings I'm sure they're in and dat with it and we just got to play it through to see what the federal government has to say eventually Tomorrow there's a congressional hearing a meeting in uh DC so maybe uh Congressman Kane will be able to come back with some information for his constituent districts thank you thank you Mr President Mr Mayor and Jimmy thank you madam president I'm all done thank you councilman to I'll have the library report from uh Megan kic our director of the library um during the month of November there were 6,782 visitors to the library and they recorded 5,168 website visits um the library uh has acquired through a donation a color poster printer and uh it's technology will be offered to the public they're setting they have set up a fee schedule um so if you're interested in creating a poster you can use that printing service which is now available at the library um some of the activities for the month of December uh for for families and children uh there'll be gingerbread houses for kids 3:30 to 4:15 uh this Wednesday December 18th and that is from 4:15 and then also the following day on Thursday there'll be a program for kids uh same program making a gingerbread house and this is for ages um children 5-9 and twins 10 through 12 um that's going to be in the evening at 6:30 to 7:15 so uh trying to make all the programs available to um different families who have different time times available there'll be a family movie mattin on December 22nd and that will be for um children preschool everyone basically uh from 3 years old to adults and that's at 2 to 3:45 and that'll be in the community room on December 27th there'll be finger painting Friday uh special program for kids up ages 2 through nine and um that will be in the children's activity room 10 to 10:30 a.m. and to wrap up the year they'll have a uh New Year's Eve countdown for kids 11:30 to 12:15 uh that's in the morning though and that will be for ages 3 through 12 and that will be in the children's activity room uh some of the programs coming up in early January uh there'll be a winter reading challenge and this is for everyone and um as you uh log in the books that you've read and it'll be held from January 6th to March 10th they'll track your progress in the beanstack app and prizes will be awarded for participation in that event on Tuesday January 14th rubber ducky Day celebration for kids um there'll be a rubber ducky uh crafts and games and that concludes my report on the library I would just like to thank everyone who has supported the friends of the library and um thank thank you uh to Karen DeMarco and all the members of the friends of the library Karen's our president and for the generous contributions they've made throughout the year uh to the Friends of the uh to the library for different supplies and for programs that they have funded throughout the year and that concludes my report for the library um so at this point um work um we'll we'll continue do you want to make your announcement about the uh report reports the officers all of the reports given this evening are will be available on the website as soon as these minutes are typed and they go up there um next is ordinances Appropriations and claims public hearings on proposed ordinances and for the record no objections have been received in connection with the proposed ordinances first is 24-15 an ordinance amending and restating chapter 195 land use and development of the code of the township of Clark as you know this was introduced on November 18th it the full ordinance which is well over 500 pages has been available on the website um you just go to our clark.com go on to the government Tab and you'll see ordinances and resolutions it also um went before the planning board at their uh December meeting they um have a a resolution regarding this ordinance saying that it is consistent with our master plan and so now the public hearing thank you at this time I'd like to open up uh this ordinance for public hearing if there's anyone who wishes to um come forward please do so at this time seeing no one I'd like a motion to close this portion of the hearing no mo thank you councilman oconor do have a second I'll second that thank you councilman Smith all in favor I okay at this time I'll uh I'd like to direct a motion to adopt the ordinance I'll move that thank you councilman Smith do you have a second I'll second that please thank you councilman H hund uh Madame clerk when you're ready you can call the rooll councilman hund yes councilman masella yes councilman Manti yes councilman oconor yes councilman Smith yes councilman tol yes council president albanes yes ordinance adopted next is ordinance 24-16 an ordinance establishing an exemption from the fee for filing of annual registration of Certificate of Insurance for businesses and rental units and multif family homes with four or fewer units within the township of Clark pursuant to njsa 40a col 10 a-2 okay so this ordinance will um preclude nonprofits for having to pay the fee um at this time I'd like to open up this ordinance to the public is there anyone wishing to come forward speak on this ordinance seeing no one I'd like to motion a motion to close this portion of the meeting thank you councilman oconor do have a second I'll second that thank you councilman hun all in favor okay at this time I'd like to ask for a motion to adopt the ordinance I'll move it thank you councilman masella do have a second I'll second that thank you councilman Smith Madame clerk can you call the rooll when you're ready councilman hun yes councilman masella yes councilman Manti yes councilman oconor yes councilman Smith yes councilman tol yes council president alanes yes ordinance adopted next is ordinance 24-17 an ordinance entitled an ordinance to fix minimum and maximum salaries okay at this time I'd like to open up this um ordinance for a public public hearing is there anyone wishing to come forward seeing no one i' like a motion to close this me portion of the meeting on the hearing so so moved thank you councilman manid do have a uh councilman Smith for the second all in favor I I um at this time we'll uh have a motion to adopt the ordinance I'd like to move that please thank you councilman OK Conor do you have a second I'll second that thank you councilman Manti okay this is for all non Union employees minimum maximums okay um Madame clerk when you're ready councilman hun yes councilman masella yes councilman Manti yes councilman oconor yes councilman Smith yes councilman tol yes council president albanes yes ordinance adopted next is ordinance 24-18 an ordinance to supplement section 51 of chapter 347 entitled vehicles and traffic of the code of the township of Clark like to open up this ordinance public hearing is there anyone wishing to come forward seeing no one i' like a motion to close this portion of the meeting do have a motion thank you Council mazarella thank you councilman hund all in favor I okay at this time I'd like to entertain a motion to pass the ordinance adopt it thank you councilman oconor do I have a second yes I'll second it thank you councilman mazarella um Madame clerk when you're ready can you call the rooll councilman hun yes councilman masella yes councilman manid yes councilman oconor yes councilman Smith yes councilman tol yes council president albanes yes ordinance adopted okay at this time we'll move on to the payment of claims councilman OK Conor can you give you a report please thank you I have reviewed the bills totaling $386,500 126 thank you thank you at this time we'll open up the meeting to the citizens hearing on the agenda if there's anyone wishing to come forward to discuss items that are on this evening's agenda please do so at this time seeing no one I'd like a motion to close this portion of the meeting so moved thank you councilman Smith thank you councilman hund all in favor I I okay this time we'll move on to resolutions on the agenda first resolution is a public hearing authorizing the submission of an application for funding for the year 51 Community Development block grant okay at this time I'd like to open up this um portion of the um open up the public hearing for the applications for the Community Development block grant program seeing no one coming forward can I have a motion to close this portion of the meeting thank you councilman oconor do I have a second I'll second that thank you councilman Smith all in favor okay do I have a um a motion to adopt the resolution thank you councilman tol do I have a second I'll second that thank you councilman Smith Madame clerk can you call the roll when you're ready councilman hund yes councilman masella yes councilman Manti yes councilman oconor yes councilman Smith yes councilman tol yes council president albanes yes okay next is authorizing the transfer of funds within the 2024 Municipal budget council do I have a motion I move that please thank you councilman oconor do I have a second I'll second it thank you councilman Smith um roll call when you're ready Madam clerk councilman hunt yes councilman masella yes councilman Manti yes councilman oconor yes councilman Smith yes councilman tol yes council president albanes yes number seven is a ward of oncall general contractors list through a fair and open process for 2025 council do I have a motion yes I'll move it thank you Council Mella do you have a second I'll second that thank you councilman medidi um roll call please Madam clerk when you get a chance councilman hund yes councilman masella yes councilman Manti yes councilman oconor yes councilman Smith yes councilman tol yes council president albanes yes number eight is authorizing a one-year contract extension to law soft for information technology and network support services for 2025 do you have a motion Council no move Madam president thank you councilman tol do I have a second yes I'll second that thank you councilman Smith um roll call when you're ready madam cler councilman hund yes councilman masella yes councilman Manti yes councilman oconor yes councilman Smith yes councilman tol yes council president albanes yes number nine is authorizing the business administrator to enter into a contract with inservco Insurance Services as the claims servicing organization in the amount of6 16,720 for 2025 $ 17,22 for 202 26 and $17,730 for 2027 do you have a motion Council i' like to move that please thank you councilman oconor do I have a second yes I'll second it thank you councilman mazarella U Madame clerk when you're ready can you call the role councilman hund yes councilman masella yes councilman Manti yes councilman OK coner yes councilman Smith yes councilman tol yes council president albanes yes number 10 is supporting Amendment of the fair housing act as proposed by the New Jersey Institute of local government attorneys do I have a motion Council I'll move that please and I'll second it thank you councilman OK Conor and Smith okay um Madam clerk would you call the role councilman hund yes councilman masella yes councilman Manti yes yes councilman oconor yes councilman Smith yes councilman tol yes council president albanes yes number 11 is authorizing final payment to DLS Contracting for work completed on the 2023 NJ do Road Project ston Stonehenge Terrace Road improvements in the amount of$ 13,293 that thank you council manid do have a second second it thank you Council mazarella roll call when you're ready Madam clerk councilman hund yes councilman masella yes councilman Manti yes councilman oconor yes councilman Smith yes councilman tol yes council president albanes yes number 12 is amending the council's meeting calendar to cancel the January 6th 2025 Workshop meeting and add a regular meeting on Wednesday January 29 2025 at 4:30 Westfield Avenue 700 p.m. where action may be taken okay do I have a motion I'll thank you Council Manti I'll second please thank you councilman hund uh can I have a roll call when you're ready Madam clerk councilman hund yes councilman masella yes councilman Manti yes councilman oconor yes councilman Smith yes councilman tol yes council president albanes yes okay at this time we have some new business to add to the agenda I'm sorry no we're going to stick with consent agenda yes consent agenda items are as follows first is authorizing the police chief to issue clothing bin permits for the year 2025 next is authorizing the tax collector to refund over payment of sewer fees in the amount of $762 77 next is authorizing the tax collector to apply sewer account balance adjustments as credit in the amount of $3,250 number 16 is authorizing the tax collector to refund over payment of taxes in the amount of $9,975 41 and last is authorizing the tax collector to make the proper adjustments for 100% property tax exemption of block 49 Lot 2 in accordance with the direct dirve from the United States Department of Veterans Affairs do you have a motion to adopt Council I'll move that Madam president thank you councilman tol councilman toll do you have a second I'll second that thank you Council Manti Madame clerk when you're ready would you call the rooll please councilman hund yes councilman masella yes councilman Manti yes councilman oconor yes councilman Smith yes councilman tol yes council president alanes yes okay so now we have one one item of new business M uh it is authorizing a developer agreement with tkg pro1 LLC uh of Woodbridge for the tract of land located at 1085 Central Avenue okay since this is a new item we need to add it to the agenda so we need a uh do I have a motion to add this item to the agenda Council yes I'll move it thank you Council Mella do you have a second I'll second that thank you councilman hund ol favor or do we need a roll call on that please councilman hund yes councilman masella yes councilman Manti yes councilman oconor yes councilman Smith yes councilman tol yes council president albanes yes okay um motion to adopt motion to adopt yeah I saw the discussion above U we'll put that here do you have a motion to adopt I'll move it thank you councilman mazarella do you have a second I'll second that thank you councilman Smith Mr Al do you want to uh make some points make yeah um we've been working on this agreement for I guess about a month now and you know just to highlight some of the you know items in this and it's a a standard developers agreement um the key here is you know do compliance with the township ordinances um that they have to post the performance guarantee um inspections and approvals by the township of um engineer and the zoning office and the building inspector uh we will and also details all of their maintenance responsibility that includes storm water maintenance Cy this during the construction um insurance and liabilities you know how how much general liability vehicle insurance workers comp Etc and to idenify the town against any claims um you know paying the taxes and fees uh any type of off trck uh improvements these include road work sidewalks and utilities that were approved by the the planning board or required by the planning board um and you know other other conditions that are associated with this are the agreement allows for the transfit of property um under specific terms it also that requires all the utilities must be installed underground unless we approve them and just general items within the um the construction zone on what what type of equipment they need to keep uh portes making sure that there's uh enough so it's just a standard there's nothing outside of the the normal developers agreement Council does anyone have any further questions on this I think it was apparent and everything that we read about it um okay at this point we'll go on to a roll call councilman hund yes councilman masella yes councilman Manti yes councilman oconor yes councilman Smith yes councilman tol yes council president albanes yes respons okay okay at this point we'll move on to public comments is there anyone from the public who would like to come forward um at this point uh seeing no one I'd like a motion to close this portion of the meeting thank you councilman toll do have a second second that okay thank you councilman OK Conor all in favor okay at this time we'll move on to mayor council and professional comments um mayor yes thank you madam president for our last meeting of the 2024 year very quiet very easy one and I I just want to wish everybody a very merry Christmas happy Hanukkah happy Holidays happy New Year uh please enjoy it it's family time of year and enjoy it and have a good time and think about those who are maybe less fortunate and see what we can do to help them out uh there's a lot of food drives going on uh Council had one last week it was very good and I thank the council for that a lot of toy drives going on do whatever you can do to help the people who are having a hard time out it's a very nice thing to do at this time of holiday season and again for myself and my family Merry Christmas happy Hanukkah happy New Year happy holidays and God bless you all thank you thank you mayor councilman hunt thank you uh council president just want to thank our Police Department um for the wonderful job they keep doing every month keeping the town safe our numbers I see are actually down this month from from previous months maybe possibly the lowest um I've seen in 10 years with the number of calls so that's that's a good sign so thank you very much captains for doing your job and for your men staying safe and doing doing their job uh and also just want to wish everyone a healthy and happy holiday season and we'll see you next time thank you thank you councilman hunt councilman mazarella yes thank you Madame President um first I'd just like to give an extra shout out to uh our DPW and our Personnel at Public Works um with an excellent job you've been doing this past year uh keeping our town clean uh and safer for uh all of the residents in our clown in our town you've responded very quickly and um excellent job and to all the residents um I want to wish everybody a very happy and healthy uh Christmas and and um happy Hanukkah and happy holidays be well stay safe and God bless thank you thank you Council mazarella Council Manti uh thank you council president uh first I'd like to thank the uh Clark fire department um over the weekend they had um drove Santa around town it was just great to see the kids outside waving the Santa and just a wonderful job by uh Chief Sasa and his team just uh want to say thank you it was great um also the house decorators I know it was mentioned but a lot of houses in Clark are decorated looks beautiful this time of year so if you get a chance just drive around cuz it absolutely wonderful time of the year with that for my family yours Merry Christmas happy Hanukkah happy New Year and I wish all of you a safe happy and prosperous 20125 thank you councilman oconor thank you yes I did have the opportunity to uh get to see Sansa as he drove by on the fire truck so I know it's been a tradition in the town um by the fire department again volunteers their whole day out driving around Santa so once again thank you to the fire department and all the volunteers within town with the holidays coming I'm assuming the emergency Squad might be a little busier than usual so thank to them as thank you to them as well and I believe the police department actually was escorting Santa o Claus around weren't they so thank you to those police officers as well into the police department um there's a song by Andy Williams titled it's the most wonderful time of the year so hoping this is the Most Wonderful Time of the Year for you and your families merry Christmas happy New Year happy Hanukkah happy holidays good night Conor uh councilman Smith thank you madam president uh I just want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas Happy Hanukkah uh K Quanza or the other holiday that you celebrate and have a happy healthy New Year and we'll see you next year thank you thank you councilman tol thank you madam president and congratulations on a fine job you did did this year Angel uh good health to you and again through a difficult time but we're here for you always um those we've lost in the last month Katherine rehers Mrs reers was a longtime resident of Katherine Street I knew her as a child growing up because I used to play with her children uh to Patty Chucky Pam and Paula Chucky was a year older than me but he used to beat me up every other once in a while Chuck I always bring that up and make him laugh out that but it was a great family Clark kids growing up in Town helping one another out their parents were wonderful parents and they were blessed we were blessed knowing them and Mrs reers that lived to an older age God bless her I don't like talking about ages of uh residence but just want to say to the reers family our condolences we will never forget your mom and your dad especially um what's going on as you see next to me I have a photo of course it's the holidays you're supposed to bring out the old photos what you're seeing here they behind the booth can zoom in on this photo please right here come on zoom in you can do it Go the opposite way not on me but on that we have a photo of the Old Town Hall that was in front of this building this is from 1957 and what they used to do is used to have a nativity stream nativity scene in front of the building with livestock like what it goes on at St John's today well they used to do that at Clark Westfield Avenue 3:15 Westfield Avenue at The Old Firehouse and the old police building or municipal building which was upstairs the fire trucks were downstairs and they had the meeting room upstairs stairs we had one room for one group of citizens and if it was an issue they went down a stairwell and went out on the front lawn with a speaker but on this building the Township Clerk was responsible for feeding the animals every morning the firemen or the Public Works were then responsible to go out and clean up after them after every day and they would be fed and so on and they'd be there for the children to come in pet and play with and get to know livestock and the farm animals that's Clark from back in the day the building was removed the building was added on to I should say it was only moved removed a couple years ago when we put this new building up but it's called progress and that's what I say to you tonight we're finishing up 2024 the 24th year of our 21st century and we're going into the 2025 year I'm just going to say this have a healthy and happy holidays never forget where you came from there's no place like home thank you thank you I'm not going to repeat some of the things that were said about all the holiday celebrations but I do encourage you if you haven't seen all the Christmas trees that are decorated at Town Hall this is your last chance this week well this week and next week to go see them and uh it is a sight to see um I want to thank all the uh citizens for uh making contributions during the food drive we were out there last weekend the council members collecting food and thank you um this is I guess our second or third year doing it and um I'm sure we're going to continue doing that but um people are in need of food even be on the holidays so uh please keep that in mind um and also as was uh mentioned by councilman o Conor please make donations to the squad and also to the fire department too are having their fund drives at this point in time and that concludes my report and I Excuse me yes oh I'm sorry okay I just wanted to uh thank the clerk and her office for all the hard work they did this year and the support you give us so thank you very much welcome yes that's the team that makes this operation work up here each month and uh at our Workshop meetings thank you councilman OK Conor um so thank you I'd like to wish you all a happy healthy New Year see you next year and uh I'd like to get some reports from our uh our administrators here Mr ol um yeah so just to follow up on um councilman to's question on the drones there was also a call today um with the specialist assistance to the president um in intergovernmental Affairs and pretty much a couple of things that did come out of it that there are over a million licensed drones in the country so that's something to keep in mind when you see these drones um there wasn't a lot of additional information that came out of this meeting there was a lot of comments back and forth from you know some of the people on the call about why now there was no answer you know where were these um drone drones in September October now that they're here um there was also uh some discussion by the FBI and the homeland security saying that a lot of these uh been determined to be manned aircraft uh that you know depending on distance and speed it could appear to be hovering again it was met with some skepticism uh from some of the people on the call but there was you know a lot of dialogue back and forth forth you know but again back to the original comment there really are no answers to why when and where are they coming from so um you know they are putting out some additional radar and trying to identify you know where they're coming and going but you know there's there's a lot of things that are going on there um the other thing I wanted to bring up is that the Turnpike Authority is having a meeting tomorrow in Woodbridge at um it's at one turnpi Plaza in Woodbridge at 9:00 a.m. and you know if any of the residents want to attend to discuss the situation about being able to take boats under the parkway I know um I think councilman tol's going to try to make it um you know based on the discussions and so any of the residents are also welcome to um attend the meeting um other than that I don't have much more other than you know everybody have a merry Christmas happy holidays uh and happy New Year uh we had another great year working with the council council president and and I could tell you no one's going to be as happy is getting 195 um put behind us the 500 pages and the you know 40 calls and emails from the Council on on different questions um and I'm sure our counselor will um reiterate that because a lot of them ended up going back to him but um it was a big it was a big lift and you know appreciate everybody's interest and and how detailed everybody went through it so it was um it was a lot of good conversations uh and again thanks Ed you know you I send her all these crazy things all the time I think we got you know things ready for April's meeting next year like here put this in your April folder because I'm going to lose it somewhere on my desk um so but again worked well and you know all the other departments within the town DPW Health um Finance you know it's been a you know construction Police Department fire department ambulance Squad Recreation I didn't think I got them all now um you know it was been a great year and and worked well with everybody and and I appreciate everybody's cooperation and assistance throughout the year that's it thank you thank you for that Madame clerk I just want to say thank you council president great job this year it's always a pleasure to work with you this Council mayor business administrator um and I'm looking forward to next year uh happy holidays to all of you and your families as as well as all of the residents thank you thank you counselor I will just reiterate that everyone have a wonderful holiday season thank you thank you uh do I have a motion to adjourn thank you do I have a second I'll second all in favor e