and I think we're going live and don't forget if you are speaking please put the microphone um good evening welcome to the March 4th 2025 meeting of the Emerson governing body this meeting is being videotaped
and may be viewed on your local public access Channel either 36 or 77 the meetings are also available Live on YouTube for those of you present in case of a fire follow the fire exits above each door and exit calmly Mr Pierce would you please lead
us in the Pledge of Allegiance I PL Al to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for it stands one nation under God indivisible with liy and justice for all I would ask you to remain standing
for just a moment um some sad news um the mayor of crcll Benedict Ben Romeo passed away last week he was the sitting mayor of creskill since 1999 um he served 26 consecutive years
as their mayor and also sadly veto Perillo who was the mayor of Titan Falls New Jersey he was America's oldest serving mayor at the age of a 100 he also passed away there in our thoughts and prayers thank
you this me meeting is called pursuant to the provisions of the open public meetings law and adequately noticed under njsa 104-1 at SEC this meeting of March 4th 2025 was noticed to the record in the Ridgewood news on January 7th
2025 and published in said newspapers posted on the bulletin board in the municipal building and on the website and has remained continuously posted as required under the statute Miss D Simone would you please call the Roll Call of the governing body mayor deala present
councilwoman rice here councilwoman sers here councilwoman Maguire pres council president arenia here councilman Timberman here and councilman chelino here okay um also present is Randy
Pierce who is our substitute burrow attorney um who is filling in for John mccan who is out of um town right now uh the next item on our agenda is uh proclamations and citations in March we celebrate women's history month and
recognize American Red Cross month all proclamations will be posted on the bur in burrow Hall and on our burrow website uh appointments and appointments um tonight I appoint Cecilia zindell as a regular member of the environmental
commission for the unexpired term ending December 31st 2025 Cecilia thank you for agreeing to serve um I was uh asked by the uh environmental commission if I would consider appointing Cecilia I was very
happy to do it they tell me she comes to every meeting and I showed up at the last environmental meeting last week and there she was so I finally got the opportunity to meet her asked her if she would s agree to serve and she did so they were very happy to have her as a full member now um minutes for approval
may I have a motion to approve the minutes of the January 28th 2025 meeting so moved second roll call please councilwoman rice yes councilwoman sers yes councilwoman Maguire
abstain council president orenia yes councilman Timberman yes and councilwoman chelin yes the pass 5 thank you and may I have a motion to table until March 18th the Clos session
meeting minutes of the January 28th 202 2025 meeting minutes which are not for release at this time and aoll call councilwoman rice yes councilwoman sers yes councilwoman Maguire yes
council president arenia yes councilman Timberman yes Council melino yes I pass is 60 thank you next is correspondence it is all on file in the clerk's office Financial business there is no Financial business however at our next meeting we
will have a budget meeting where our departments come in and speak about their Capital request and about the budgets um for their departments um let's see unfinished business there is no unfinished business this evening new business discussion of
2025 Bergen County open space trust fund Grant Mr Hermanson do you have any comments on this yes I had sent that uh hurry and I went out uh to our parks to evaluate the parks because as of the last meeting we were asked to look at
playground equipment for uh the open space Grant I sent each one of you some notes uh that I had taken that that we had went through each Park and what was discussed uh at this point uh Perry has recommended that we look at acrian to
replace equipment for the small kids then uh remove at least one of the picnic tables that are there uh so that we could put additional uh equipment in uh we would leave that to the committee to what they would recommend or want to put into that park for the age group uh
to look at where we go from there uh and then find prices so that we can put it through to submit uh by April what we have to do for the March deadline is just let them know which part that we're going to be applying for and then we would have to have the amount of what
we're applying for then for the April deadline so we're now have to get together with the committee based off uh what the recommendation is on acan park and go from there okay does anybody have any questions or comments for
Rob okay the next item is discussion of secretary for historic preservation committee um Phil Mao the um historic preservation committee chair um has said it's been
increasingly difficult to have their meetings and keep track of things and they are requesting um that they have a SE secretary for their meetings I think they meet a maximum of 10 meetings a year and quite honestly I think it's
quite less um and uh the budget committee is going to budget for 10 meetings and we just need the governing body's approval because this is an expense that we haven't uh done in the past um but I think it will help the historic preservation committee um get
up and running so um can I get a motion to just add that to the salary ordinance and to um for Rob to hire a secretary for the historic preservation committee um and have it be for no more than 10
meetings a year at a rate of $150 per meeting which is our burrow ordinance for a secretary per meeting that is not salary can someone make a motion just to second and a roll call
please councilwoman rice yes councilwoman sers yes councilwoman Maguire yes council president arenia yes councilman Timberman yes and councilwoman chelina yes pass 6 Z okay um discussion of shade
tree commission fees Rob I believe they want to increase some of their fees for development uh in your packets uh there was we had put this in that's currently right now there charging $150 uh per tree which they said is way below the cost that they're paying in
order to install get the trees this just the reason for the increase uh they are proposing from $150 to 250 per tree and the chart they have a chart attached does that include the um planting or is our DPW doing the planting is that just for the tree I think the DPW is doing
the planting when they were discussing it at the last meeting but trees have really gone up in price I know that I mean 150 is what it was probably 15 years ago and leis on so I would assume that the threes have all gone up um I'm okay with that does anybody have any feelings on increasing that and the
reason we're discussing it is it has to be it's by ordinance so we would have to change the or update the ordinance in order to reflect the increase per tree and this is when developers come in and they knock down trees in order to do the Redevelopment so then they have to get a
tree management plan from shade tree and then the land use board um puts it in the resolution that if when they um redo the building or they do the Redevelopment um and they've taken down a certain amount of trees they agree upon how many trees they will pay the
burrow for and that goes into the shade plant shade tree planting fund everyone okay with that all right can I get a motion to increase the um shade tree commission fee for per tree from 50 to $250 so roll call please
councilwoman rice yes councilwoman sers yes councilwoman Maguire yes council president orenia yes councilman Timberman yes and councilwoman chelino yes passes 6 Z thank you and that brings us to discussion of Recreation summer
camp director salaries um I think that the Recreation Commission discussed this and with the counselors and that they are recommending a fee increase for them for the summer a salary increase that they're um they're asking to go to to
move an additional $103.96 per uh per camp counselor instead of a 2% increase that they give them a 3% increase which would make it an even $10,000 uh the salaries are also 100%
funded by the rec Camp fees as well so this is not anything coming out of taxpayer dollars uh for the committee has recommended to do this and they're asking the governing body to sign off okay is there any other
increases that's the only those are for the two directors those for the two directors that's the only thing I saw that's the only thing that's being requested here I thought that the children were getting that increase no I misund on our
salary okay all right so we have to make a motion Rob that's they're asking for you to make a to to accept this okay do you want to word the um motion so that someone could make a
motion uh the motion I I would make as the motion would be is that uh the rec committee is requesting that Franklin and Rich paid $10,000 each next year would we have to make a motion or just put I think it's just that's what I'm
saying I I think it just goes to salary ordance okay I think you're just going to put in the salary I think you're just they're requesting that you that it's okay that what you're going to put in and then you'd AC C it at the salary ordinance if you didn't accept it then you would just vote no against okay so does anybody have an issue with that then because when we prepare the salary
ordinance the increases will be reflected there what's the normal increase of what are the normal um generally a 2% increase what is that number if they're asking for 10,000 what is the 2% the two got them to 9,896 what percentage of their salary
she's asking is that it's a 2% it's a little under three a little over three so when they do the salary ordinance there's going to be an exception for them I I don't think we should be talking about people per se but but the position I just want
to for the position point that out so for the camp positions what is the base salary right now and then what will the new salary be and much I have what they what they requested the salary would have been
9,896 04 at a 2% increase they're asking to go to three which would be an even $10,000 so their salary each for this summer would have been 9,896 4 in total for each counselor
during the summer and direct director director corre director sorry I don't have kids I don't think they can so I don't know the lingo um instead of the 2% they were asking for 3% which brings them to a solid 10,000 each per
just1 or so it3 10396 and there's two directors right Mike yes yes yeah everyone okay I think it would have been good for us to see too because they do roll a surplus usually every year I
don't know what it is this year last year takes a significant I okay so that's something we can talk about in a budget meeting also about the Surplus and what to do with that and how to reinvest it um have they looked into hiring any medal nurses or anything like
that with the circle um that's a good idea I don't know that they did but it's certainly something that I think would be valued um do who's wreck right now is it um Ashley do you want to go back to them and ask them what their feelings are on hiring a
nurse sure and it could be a shared service with another municipality I think other um they have a secretary now so Nicole could maybe call around and see if any of the other summer camps have a nurse and whether they we could do it as a shared service or share it with the school
nurse um anything else on that okay are you snapping no I can't just thought you trying to get my okay so moving on discussion of the noise ordinance update um I can speak on
that uh I've been getting calls from people that live on the peripheral of some um Auto Body zones in the in our town and uh we've spoken to our police chief um right now some of the
complaints are not um completely warranted that when the police show up but uh the chief has expressed to me that when they do show up and if they are making noise and it's in a commercial area that our noise ordinance
does not give the police any teeth to enforce so they're looking just for some changes for certain businesses within the town that are in commercial zones so that they're not working on Sundays or late night on Saturday or 12:00 at night on a Wednesday night stuff like that
nothing crazy that's going to hurt any of our businesses we're not looking to hurt our businesses but we do just want to if we do have residents that are living buffing buffers to commercial zones and I think just about almost everyone in this town could live well you know we have issues with garbage
pickup um when um Boston Market was there they would sometimes pick up the garbage at 5 o'clock in the morning you know so that kind of stuff I think we can tighten up so we'll work on committee on changing it and then bring it back to the governing body for an introduction does anyone have any
comments or suggestions on that no okay moving right Rob do you have anything to say on that no I just met with the chief uh there's a couple things that he's made some suggestions uh we would like to have the B attorney go over because there's just want some
clarification sure of what we're looking to to do and uh go from there well we'll have John review it after we decide what changes we'd like to make okay um discussion of fiscal year 2026 congressionally directed spending Rob do
you want to speak on that yeah Tria you have that she you pass them out right okay so thank unfortunately this is the way some things get that happen Okay we literally received this budget you know for the for the uh Grant
request last Friday uh it is due by March 11th in order if we're going to put in a grant um so we I reached out to and when did we receive this last Friday uh so why they do that we reached I reached out immediately to our grant
writer along with uh our engineer uh to talk about I projects that we could put in and potentially put in for for our for this request uh the three if you have the the sheet there that ever that was sent back to us today uh of going
back on this was that they had talked about the elevator uh the the firehouse elevator which is eligible um which would be they are recommending as the top priority they also said that if you wanted to you could contemplate a a sanitary sewer system project um which
would mean that they're looking to check on the storm water drain to see if anyone if they're leaking anywhere to leak through the the drains because they we haven't had them checked um so that would cost between 2,000 and $3,000 per sewer drain to have them checked um
there was also be a two second part of that is after they would know if those were leaking that they would then have to check pipes but that would be a two piece uh project and the only only one we would really be able to put in for first is to actually just check the
storm water drains uh and the third option then would be again was be request requesting further funds towards the Forest Avenue project um so at this point right now the recommendation from uh Dave and our grant riter was to do
something for the firehouse uh for the for the elevator to put in for the request for the for the elevator and up to how what amount can we request you can go up as high as you want almost $2 million uh but this project the elevator
would be somewhere between 6 and 700 that depending upon how it's bid is what the estimate is okay now do you want to explain how that happened because originally we thought that we had the full money for the elevator so we all we we've been through this now multiple times have been
discussed at multiple meetings so we'll go over it again is that yeah that's what I'm requesting the engineer when the engineer came in on the first request was that he looked at how he was going to put an elevator strictly into the firehouse and they were trying to put it over by the
staircase when they realized that that was not going to fit there when the architect came in and said that at this point of where you're looking to establish this elevator it will not fit the building and it will not meet the standard they had to come in and put it towards the front of the building then
and then build it out that's where the additional cost was going to come in because because now we actually had to build a structure to come out to in addition to the building not just insert an elevator correct so that's where the addition I'm asking you to repeat this because people I hear talking about this and they don't understand why even
though we've talked about it and I want them to know that it's because it's more of a addition to the Firehouse building than it is just inserting an elevator shaft on continue and so they so since you have to do the since you have to do the addition because that's the only way the elevator would go and and be proper
that's where the additional cost came into to the extra amount of money on this we have looked in multiple places to try to find grants to try to find ways to find money cdbg has helped tried to help us with this but we cannot we're
trying not to have to pay for this directly out of our out of the burrow funds which is the recommendation by uh by Dave along with our grant writer because we do believe that we have an opportunity to be able to get the money through this grant uh for the project
and you believe that if we were to receive this grant that it would fully fund the elevator project that's our belief and if if not we still would have money potentially from cdbg okay so in terms of um prioritizing um does everybody agree
with Dave that we would like to apply first for the elevator um second for the sanitary sewer system System project and uh third for the Forest Avenue project which we already have a million doll Federal grant for which does not include
soft costs um but there are moving Parts on the Forest Avenue but we also have to wait for the other agencies to come on board which is why we would put that at third because Bergen County and pamis and the cemetery and everyone else that we have to work with are not ready with their funds yet so that gives us the
time in order to um focus on the firehouse right now does everyone agree with that order my only concern is that if you can only put in for the first part of the sanitary sewer and it's a small dollar it it's not it because it's $3,000 per storm drain and how many
storm drains do we have Perry Perry has basically you got to get back back to us on the exact number but we are literally going to be somewhere over 100 you're you're well over 100 on here this is it's well over 300,000 to $500,000 project on that
so that being said you're okay with the uh lineup Megan you're good Ashley Ashley okay all right so Rob that'll be the order okay let them know tomorrow thank
you moving on introduction of ordinances there are no ordinances to introduce this evening adoption of ordinances there are no ordinances to introduce tonight which brings us to reports um I will give my report right now um last Wednesday February
26th the burough held our first welcome Ramadan Crescent Moonlighting ceremony there was a great turnout of residents and friends um who helped us celebrate as a community and mark the start of Ramadan alongside our Muslim Community
and friends um we thank the thank you to the Emerson Eid committee Mr Mrs actar our DPW superintendent Perry salamando fire chief Tommy Carlos and police chief Mark Savino for setting a hide Bar for our ceremony and we look forward to
continually um celebrating each year um Congressman go heimer's office was here in fact Cole Tui was here with us thank you Cole um I've met Cole on several occasions he's a very nice young man um
doing constituent Services on Federal matters such as Medicare IRS Social Security passports VA benefits service medals uh we appreciate that they came out in local to Emerson for our residents I'm not sure how many came in when I came in earlier today at about
6:30 I think only one person had called in and I'm not sure because he left before we started our meeting so I didn't get a number um the first Bergen County Utilities Authority household hazardous waste collection of 2025 will be held on Saturday March 8th from 9:00
a.m. to 300 p.m. it's rain or shine it is in munaki and for details please visit www.bcu.org um Emerson Junior Senior High School is presenting Peter Pan this year um to
purchase tickets you can call the school 201262 4447 you can also I believe pay at the door um I think they're encouraging pre- uh purchasing the tickets tickets are $10 for students $20 for adults um I'm
going to give you the dates of each performance on March 7th March 8th March 14th and March 15th which is Friday Saturday Friday Saturday there are shows at 7:30 p.m. there are three
matinees uh March 8th Saturday March 9th Sunday and Saturday March 15th and the curtain comes down on Saturday night March 15th at 7:30 p.m. these kids work very very hard um
they work with a little and they produce a really wonderful wonderful show and I encourage everybody to please patronize the uh school in order to get there and uh enjoy the show our next senior meeting is on Thursday March 13th at 12:
noon new members are always welcome and we have been getting some new members I'm happy to report there's at least six or seven since the beginning of the year um if you are 55 over are interested in learning learning more about our senior Club you could visit on our website www
Emerson nj.org seniors or attend their next meeting to see what it's all about they offer fun events day trips and plenty of social activities on a regular basis the senior Club is taking a trip to the ba Brownstone this month for St Patrick's
Day and I happen to know that tomorrow they are going to Bethlehem Pennsylvania to try their luck at the casino there at a joint trip with ult Jaan so in order to uh make use of bus service they are
now going to start sharing Services um for the seniors buses on different trips with the different um Senior Communities surrounding us so I think it's great and I think it's wonderful that so many of our seniors can get on that bus and go try their luck um applications for the
community garden are now being accepted by the environmental commission through April 1st all plots will be assigned on a first come first sered basis and are strictly limited to Emerson residents a donation of $20 along with the completed application can be dropped off at the
clerk's office applications are available on the B website social media or from the clerk's office the Bergen County satellite office will be accepting passport applications with photos taken here on site administering notary Oaths and processing photo cards
for seniors veterans and exempt firefighters on Wednesday March 26th from 10:00 a.m. a.m. to 2: p.m. at the senior center walk-ins are welcome only check payments will be accepted this is especially timely as starting in May
those flying on domestic flights will either need a passport or a real ID to board the airplanes regular New Jersey licenses will no longer be accepted when flying I thought that they had extended that but that they go back to the May
2025 May is the lastline May is the last deadline okay I have it also I have a passport I have the real ID um senior bus service is available to Residents age 55 and up and to those with special needs it runs each week on Tuesday
Wednesday and Thursday please call Stacy to book a ride at Burrow Hall here um mark your calendars and get your unwanted papers ready to get shredded we will be having our mobile shredding day in collaboration with the bcua on Saturday May 17th from 9:00 a.m. to 1 1
p.m. at Burrow Hall the burrow of Emerson through its shade tree commission will once again plant a tree in memory of those Emerson residents who have passed away between January of 2024 and the present in conjunction with
their 20125 Arbor Day ceremony on April 26th uh family members are invited to attend and they may say words about their loved one um if you are interested in having their name added to the program please contact our acting Clerk
or um Miss D Simone here in the clerk's office at 201262 6086 Option nine uh the state of New Jersey has announced this year's property tax relief programs for eligible new jerseyans new in 2025 there
is a single combined application which simplifies the process to apply for the senior freeze anchor program and state New Jersey the deadline to file is October 31st 2025 a link to the state's website with applications and
information will be posted to the homepage of our website or please feel free to call Lauren in our tax office for further information as always I encourage our residents to sign up to receive emergency notifications and other burrow
information through our Rave alert system please contact the clerk's office if if you have any difficulty um signing up our military Banner program is up and running for 2025 Banners are to honor residents Who currently live or have
resided in Emerson while in service if they've ever served um in one of our branches of our armed services the burough has made this program available to our residents to honor their family members by contributing $200 for the
banners banners will be displayed from Memorial Day through Veterans Day and are stored by the department of public public works during the winter months and will be rehung every year as long as they are in good shape we concluded our second year of the program with 51
banners and look forward to displaying many more this year this is Emerson's way of saying thank you to the men and women of our great United States military the sponsorship rate again is $200 per banner and is tax deductible
please place your order by April 30th in order to have them displayed by Memorial Day if you have any questions please call Mr Hermanson our burough administrator at Burrow Hall um Please be aware there is a new IRS scam that is quite frequently going around the
fraudulent messages claim recipients are eligible for 14 for a $1,400 stimulus check directing them to click on a fake link to claim their payment clicking the link can lead to malware installation or
a fake form asking for sensitive details the IRS does not contact taxpayers via phone calls text email or social media and will never request information this way if you receive this message send the
text to p i n irs.gov and Report incidents at the Better Business Bureau bbb.org
scam tracker if you need any of those um emails please call the clerk's office um I received an alert from psng that they are prepared for tomorrow's strong winds and rain which are expected to hit um if
to report outages text UT Capital to 4 PSEG or on the psng app or you can call psng at 1 1800 436 PS um this info will also be posted on the
burough website um I had some fun on Friday and on Monday um celebrating read Across America um on Friday I was at volano school with Mrs kugos so I wrote on the other thing and I got rid of it Mrs cugno and Mrs
mano's I believe fourth grade classes where I read some books and we talked about um local government and what the mayor does and what council people's do um and then on Monday I uh greeted by Mrs gagiano at Memorial and we read to
Mrs Johnson second grade class and I got a giant card from the class which really made me smile so thank you children it is my pleasure to come read to you and I will come visit you guys and talk about government or anything else that you would like to me to talk to you about
throughout the school year it is so much fun to go see the kids it's the best part about being mayor is being able to touch our small children's minds and get them interested in government and uh what we all do up here um don't forget
spring ahead daily savings daylight savings will begin on March 9th at 2 a. so turn your clocks ahead by 1 hour the next regular meeting of the governing body will take place on Tuesday March 18th at 7:30 p.m. at which time we will
be reviewing Department budget requests and to our Hindu residents and friends who are celebrating we hope you have a joyous and colorful and happy holy does anybody have any kind of announcement that is um pertinent before our next
meeting okay Rob do you have any report for us just two quick things um we'll be introducing the budget on April 1st uh our budget advertisement will be April 11th intro to bond and capital ordinance will be April 22nd the adopt we'll be
adop the budget at on May 6th and the adopt on the bond and capital ORD second reading of the of that will be on uh May 20th and sometimes these dates can be fluid depending upon how much work you get done
so the last thing I have is something new see this but this is called uh the pass blue envelope to the governing body um which is we got pass at which the uh the Emerson Police Department is now participating in the blue envelope
program which is designed to create safer and more positive interactions between law enforcement officers and individuals with autism during traffic stops the program provides autistic drivers with a distinct blue envelope to store essential documents such as the
driver's license registration insurance information this program is coming to Emerson to Aid those with disabilities to have POS positive interactions with police officers for more information on the program or to pick up an envelope please contact the Emerson police department and I'll pass this then so
everyone can see what was do Chief came in and discussed that with me uh yesterday other than that I uh basically all my other information was given in basically a new business and uh and through the matter okay thank you rob um
next order of business is public comment members of the public are welcome to speak on any topic by coming to the podium uh and stating their name for the record in the interest of time speakers are limited to three minutes in consideration of all who may wish to speak please keep your comments brief
and concise may I have a motion to open the meeting to public comment so move all in favor I any opposed we are open to the public seeing No Hands may I have a motion to close the public portion of the meeting at this time some move
second all in favor any opposed we are closed um resolutions on consent agenda are considered routine and will be enacted by one motion of the council and one roll call vote there will be no separate discussion of these items
unless a council member requests an item be removed for consideration may I have a motion to approve consent agenda resolutions 95-25 through 100-25 some of second roll call please councilwoman race yes
councilwoman sers yes councilwoman leguire yes council president arenia yes councilman Timberman yes and councilwoman chelino yes pass is 60 thank you okay we are now going to go into closed executive session to discuss
matters that are exempt from the public pursuant to njsa 104-1 at SEC and adequately noticed by resolution 101 25 May I have a motion to go into close session so move roll call please
councilwoman rice yes councilwoman St yes councilwoman Maguire yes council president arenia yes councilman Timberman yes councilwoman CH yes okay perfect we are now going into closed session members of the public May remain on YouTube until we return to open
session at which time formal action may be taken second all in favor I any opposed okay we are back in live um and open is there any more business to discuss no hearing no more business to
discuss may I have a motion to adjourn this meeting at 8:50 p.m. some second all in favor I I we are adjourned thank you for joining us