[Music] not without audio I don't well there is it's record recing on Liberty don't forget we're streaming guys even though we're not talking we're still streaming is there audio now there a okay very good okay Michelle um yeah
okay we're good Rob and you can hear the sound very good okay very good thank you good evening welcome to the February 18th 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 please follow the fire exit signs above the doors and exit
conly Mr O'Brien would you please lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance I pledge aliance to the flag flag of the United States of America and to the repic for it stands one nation God indivisible with liy and justice for
all I would ask you to remain standing in memory of William E price Jr Billy he used to attend our mayor and Council meetings to offer suggestions and ask thought-provoking questions and every December he Faithfully brought cookies
to the clerk's office and to the DPW so from all of our staff to enjoy uh Billy will be missed thank you okay this meeting is called pursuant to the provisions of the open public meetings law adequately noticed pursuant
to njsa 104-102 the record and the Ridgewood news on February 5th 2025 posted on the bulletin board in the municipal building and on the burrow website and has remained continuously posted as required under the statute Miss Ryan would you please call the Roll Call of the
governing body sure mayor deala present councilwoman rice here councilwoman seers here councilwoman Maguire is absent council president
arenia here councilman Timberman and councilwoman chelino here okay um may I have a motion to excuse councilwoman Jill Maguire from tonight's meeting all in favor any opposed Jill is
excused we knew prior that she would not be attending this evening um this evening we are happy to honor Dan O'Brien a 2024 Hometown hero award recipient in late
2024 uh I nominated Dan for this award uh to Congressman go heimer's office and he was selected I would now like to read the proclamation Dan would you like to come up and join me here I'm G to move the mics a little bit
closer I'm G to read from this bigger one because I'm getting older whereas Dan O'Brien has been an Emerson residence the cameras that way you want to look um has been an Emerson resident since 1987 and has owned Academy electric a generator business
also located in Emerson since 1981 and whereas Dan has been a longtime volunteer in Emerson and the surrounding communities and he is an ex-chief of the Emerson volunteer fire department and is a current member of the Westwood fire department where he has just received
his 50 years of service award and whereas in addition to volunteering As A Firefighter Dan is active in promoting Emerson's business Community as the vice president of the Emerson ch of Commerce and whereas Dan has a generous and philanthropic spirit and often donates
his time and resources to help organizations causes and those in need especially some Emerson Rec Sports whereas through Connection in the National Emergency generator Dealers Association danad began assisting the people of North Carolina especially
those in the mountain areas who were recently devastated by Hurricane Helen and whereas with some of of these regions completely destroyed these residents have been without power since the Hurricane's landfall in September of 2024 thereby restricting their access to
wellwater and he and whereas with Dan's Mission clear he has devoted considerable time and resources to helping them get temporary power as permanent restoration is not expected until March 2025 by seeking donations from generator
vendors as well as the community at large in addition to having his employees service portable generators and light towers which were in his shop and whereas as a result of Dan's efforts and a shared Spirit of generosity Dan
was able to make the 1500 mile round trip track to deliver 14 portable generators including 5,000 watt portable generator from windco generators along with a th feet of 10-4 cord from Cooper
Electric Supply to rescue to a rescue center in Godfather North Carolina to help power affected homes on November 8th 2024 and whereas Dan also brought his own equipment including his skid steer
Bobcat to North Carolina which he personally used to clear debris and help clear the driveways of residences in North Carolina and whereas I Daniel deaa nominated Dan to be a HomeTown Hero by Congressman do heimr for his
humanitarian efforts on December 16 2024 now be it resolved that I Danielle deava on behalf of the governing body and the residents of the burough of Emerson congratulate Dan O'Brien for being a recipient of a 2024 Hometown hero award
and commend his selfless actions not only to those in his hometown but to those in need in the mountains of North Carolina congratulations thank coun everybody here I'm speechless I I'm so humbled I'm
just a guy who tried to make a little bit of difference but after going there and seeing I mean you you wouldn't believe what they went through and the devastation and the flooding in the mless regions the water just came down
like Torrance and I've been involved and you know I'm all a long time volunteer fireman um Emerson ex-chief currently on another department but whatever and when I saw some of the Departments down there and what they had gone through I was
just moved like there was no tomorrow so the Pensacola Fire Department in North Carolina I saw their truck sitting out in the middle of the field and I'm like What's with that and they're like well that's as far as we could get it like really and I'm like well where's the
firehouse and they pointed over there and it was this concrete slab the firehouse was gone everything they had is gone and then I got involved with a um Walt cross from the Tennessee fire department who's
right over the border and they share and and like we have mutual Aid agreements here they do with North Carolina they lost their mini poer in a flood they were rescuing somebody on the highway and the flood came up and the truck went underwater while it was running they
lost all their rescue equipment they lost the truck thank God they didn't lose any lives but I was able to the Somerville fire department donated over $100,000 worth of Hearst rescue equipment which we truck down there for
them um I got them hosed and turnout gear and appliances and just all kinds of fire department equipment and there's still stuff coming to my shop every day that's going to be the next thing that's going to go down on our on our next trip
hopefully there'll be a fire engine on my land all going down there but that's up to you guys to discuss about okay and again I'm I'm so humbled that this came to me I'm just I'm just a guy I'm just a guy and a fireman and I try to help
people that need help and and thank you you're doing a good job at it well thank you thank you to every really I'm GNA cry thank you very much thank you thank
you thank you know you put this all together than thank you than you God bless us thank you all thank you God bless Sam thank you you want to take a picture with oh Dan let's take a picture I'm sorry oh you would um so
I got uh it's the center view volunteer fire department in Newport Tennessee is in need of a fire chief Dawson they had an engine it got it wasn't in good shape but Helen did it
in okay and if you guys do move forward please that's where that's where your engine is going to go and the um Pensacola fire dep Department was able to get two engines which I have no idea has been a
long process since November um but we're still looking for a mini pumper and a tanker so I'm got a mission back up conratulations Michelle does a good
job I'll edit them a little bit but she does a great job sometimes it's hard you have't know the person for 20 years so what Dan is alluding to for the public is as everyone knows um we
recently acquired a new fire Tru and uh we have engine and we have one that is um out of service and it we will be deliberating later in close session as to whether or not the burrow is able to donate that to the people of Newport
Tennessee cent center viiew fire department in Newport Tennessee yes okay that's where that's where yours will go yes are there any questions that anyone from the governing body has for Dan about donating it and and where it would go and how it would get there or does
everybody understand the process already just because he's here now and he won't be enclosed later you all understand okay good all right my truck my fuel my coals I'll transport I bur over
$1,500 worth of fuel there and back in the truck commendable which is why you were so deserving of the award Dan again thank thank you you're very welcome so now in February we also
celebrate Black History Month and recognize American heart health month all proclamations will be posted on the burrow in burrow Hall and on our website um appointments tonight I would like to appoint Alan salamando as the class C
member of the historic preservation committee for the unexpired term ending December 31st 2026 Allan will be administered his oath at a future historic preservation meeting and we appreciate your agreeing to serve Allen next on the agenda may I have a
motion to approve resolution number 882-2513 colon 44 a-204 at fair and open for term through December 31st 2025 to Jeffrey D Mueller Esquire
alternate municipal prosecutor may I have that motion second roll call please councilwoman R yes councilwoman seers council president arenia yes councilman Timberman yes and
councilwoman chelino yes passes 5 thank you next is minutes for approval may I have a motion to table the approval of the minutes of the January 28th 202 me 2025 meeting until March 4th 2025 meeting roll call
please councilwoman rice yes councilwoman sers yes council president arenia councilman Timberman yes and councilwoman jino yes correspondence number seven all corresponden is on file in the clerk's office Financial business
may I have a motion to adopt resolution number 83-282 bills list roll call please councilwoman rice yes councilwoman sers yes council president arenia councilman Timberman and
councilwoman chelina yes thank you the next item is discussion uh there is no unfinished business that brings us to um new business discussion of revision to flood
damage prevention ordinance uh Dave Atkinson from negle engineering is here with us this evening Dave do you want to discuss this for with us um sure I can go into that briefly um so quick and short the state of New Jersey has mandated uh particularly in Bergen
County towns to update your uh flood management ordinance blood damage prevention ordinance there's just some different things they're looking to incorporate into it it's basically State mandated stuff um as well as just to update and make sure that we have the uh
current um flood plane manager for the buau as well as the effective flood maps as part of that I believe you guys would have updated your that that ordinance um probably like three or four years ago
when the mapping was updated by the by FEMA so essentially it's just mandated language that needs to get incorporated into the into the bur's ordinance okay uh the language um are you going to suggest the language
for us in order to insert it well the language they the state has provided a draft of the language that they're looking to have in there my Rec so there's a boiler plate there's a boiler plate and that's typically what most of the towns have followed in years pass and we just have to pass it in order to
to to be in regulation with the state correct yeah so the first step would be to draft it uh get that sent to the state for their review Once they give us the green light then we would go through the process of adopting the new ordinance okay um does anybody have any
questions or comments for Dave all right and what is there deadline to pass that uh I think the draft needs to be March mid March I think March 15 I think is the date okay so we'll make sure that that's on our next agenda
and then ultimately I think it has to be in place by the end of June okay and then we have a discussion of assembly Bill a4649 to provide access to periodic cancer screening examinations for
volunteer firefighters through State Health benef through our state health benefits plan uh Physicians and other providers Mr Hermanson do you want to elaborate on this for the council yes would you want to move that
briefcase please this bill has been uh been proposed multiple times at the state level uh unfortunately it has um sometimes it's has has has failed and it
has continued to come back uh and this time our state senator Holly shapi has put has asked uh for the towns to get behind this bill uh in support of it which would allow screening for our volunteer
firefighters um which for cancer because obviously as we know a lot of the fires that are CA that we have cause some of the things that are burned cause cancer uh right now our state the paid firefighters are all part of this
program and are able to be screened for cancer and what they're asking for is our volunteer firefighters to be used of the state benefit Health Plan uh for have $1,250 towards screening over a three-year period uh they're asking for that to go go through uh and have the
state Benefit Plan uh that we have to have our volunteer firefighters covered by this for the screening so they're asking for the governing B to support the uh the amendment to go down down and go from there um I think this has a lot
of Merit I think it's something that um we should support for our volunteers um how does everybody else feel yeah so we should write we have a resolution to uh endorse or are we writing a resolution we have to put it
on at the next meeting put it on for the March meeting yes so it's been discussed I I I I did speak to our fire chief and he uh he is he was away but he was going to write something to in support of this also for the the members okay everybody on this end okay with that when it says
periodic periodic how often for them they can test for three years every three years for well they can test each year but they when you up to three years as of right now it's for the first three years it's $1,250 towards the screening so that's they basically recomend per
fireman per firefighter yeah so how and that's what we're asking for is for each one of our firemen to be able to be tested for three period for $1,250 each that's be up that would be up after the resolution see what would happen again at the state the state
would have to pass it again yeah and um obviously those members who are are firefighters who work for the towns and work locally you work are already covered these would be for firefighters who are not part of the state
plan okay thank you so we will put that on the agenda for um when's our next meeting March 4 March 4th okay um our next item on the agenda is Introduction of ordinances there are no ordinances to introduce this evening adoption of
ordinances this is the second reading and public hearing of ordinance number 1697-w Miss Ryan would you please read the title of this ordinance sure mayor this is ordinance number 1697-1 an ordinance of the burrow of
Emerson beron County New Jersey to amend chapter 77 Police Department section 15 outside employment article 2 an escrow deposit by prospective employer thank you uh may I
have a motion to open the meeting for public comment on this and this ordinance only all in favor any opposed we are open to the public on ordinance number 16972 seeing no hands may I have a motion to close the public comment on this
ordinance all in favor I okay with no more requests may I have a motion to oh I did that already um everyone's all in favor may I have a motion to adopt ordinance number 1697 d25 on second reading
move second second from rice and a roll call please councilman rice yes councilman sers council president orenia yes councilman Timmerman yes and councilwoman chelina yes yes 5 very good which brings us to reports we're really
buzzing through this meeting councilwoman rice do you have a report for us this evening uh I just have one from please use your mic environmental um let's see we're okay so as of today the application for the garden um should be
on the website uh the burough website so go have a look if you're interested in getting a plot at the Garden this summer um also they're in the proc process of planning for Earth month the busiest month of the year for the environmental commission um they have a lot of good things planned the garden opening some
yoga a hike in the woods some story time at the library some crafts the DPW truck event so everyone keep your eyes peeled uh for all information coming for that month and um no I think that's that's all yeah we're good that's
good okay um councilwoman sers do you have any report for us this evening um I do not thank you okay um councilman timman do you have a report for us this evening I don't have much to nothing councilwoman chelina I sure do okay
we're ready from the DPW uh the DPW has been keeping up with the snowstorms uh please be advised they are having problems with Sal deliveries coming out of Port Newark uh the DPW superintendent have a meeting scheduled
with the county on Wednesday to rectify the problem the DPW has charged Bergen County $529 for plowing County roads on February 2nd 11th and 14th the DPW is working on securing the seating in court
as per Court Clerk mandate the DPW superintendent and recycling coordinator attended mandatory recycling seminar and they are happy to report a monthly savings in our electric bill of $363 14 for the Cindy Lane sewer pum the savings
is a result of replacing the old outdated pumps at Cindy Lane with new energy efficient pumps our bill for January 2024 was $543 128 and January 2025 $180.4 uh I do not have any reports from
historical committee um for land use board um let me get to that report hang on one second uh they'd like to let the public know that there is a meeting on Thursday
the 20th uh dedicated to the Family Promise application uh this is looking to convert an office building at 436 old Hook Road into a residential second floor and common areas on the first floor
um the public is welcome to attend this meeting and hear all about the process that's been going on um and ambulance Corps uh nothing to report very good council president do you have a report for us this evening I do I have a brief one um the Board of Health did meet this Thursday this past Thursday um it was
status close they were good and Emerson fire department had a total of 26 calls for the month of January and 47351 man hours between incidents and administration that's it yeah brief moving right along
Rob do you have a report I usually follow you so that s um if you want to go if you want to go right now sure and then I I'll make sure that I don't copycat you well I'm GNA uh tie in something that uh councilwoman selino
said um we did receive uh a u a voice message from one of our residents to just to thank our DPW for the great job that they've done on the on the road clearing the road um he said that the I
just wanted to you know pay you know pay uh you know some some props to the to our department because as you've gone around in beron County this gentleman was saying who lives on Ferman that he as he goes through throughout the county
and works that there is nobody who has their roads that look like ours uh that especially after the that one last storm uh last week he said the roads are iy everywhere else but here there was black top uh and he really appreciates everything that R DPW does and I just
wanted to put that on the record uh because Perry was very proud uh of receiving that you know getting that uh voice message uh we received an open space uh note for our letter of for our open space Grant the letter of intent needs
to be in by March 28th uh which we just that's just to let us know that we are going to be intending to put in for a for the grant then we would have we have to apply by April 25th so we're going to work together uh with the grant
committee Recreation and uh and everyone on this to figure out what we're where we're going to go and what we what we would like to put in uh for this year for for the grant and we would apply like I said we have to apply by April 25th on that so any look forward to
recommendations from the governing body of what we should look into and what we uh what our your plan of attack on that I think the plan wasn't it to go forward with more um playground equipment in order to match the other I think but that's but we have to figure out which ones and so depending upon your what
your thoughts are based that's what I'm saying we'll we'll finalize where and how and with that I just want to ask the council right off the cuff does anyone have any other idea that we would have to talk about in committee or is everyone okay with moving on with play
playground equipment anything else out of the box other than playground equipment pull your mics down I'm good with the playgrounds I just I think we should finalize where we want to yes we could do that in committee but I just wanted to make sure that's what we were
going to hammer down on was the was the playground equipment yeah everyone's good with that okay good all right I just didn't want any surprises when we went into committee we like wow I thought we were doing the playground equipment again okay our CFO is working very very
diligently and very hard on our budget uh which we'll be seeing at the next meeting and um so uh we'll as I said they continue to work uh she continues to work very hard uh to try to figure out best ways of uh bringing the best
budget and best thing to best possible to the to the residents here in Emerson what date are we introducing the budget I believe it'll be at the next meeting I think it's the the next one of the one or maybe it's maybe sorry lat could be later meeting that's my bad that's I'd
have to check we still have to do department head I'll I'm think the next we're having a budget meeting I'm saying I think with the for everybody to discuss for department heads and but like I said but we're we're working on that very diligently right now to try to
come up with the best numbers for everybody okay um if he would follow up with Lauren and put a schedule together so that we the did check that yeah I'm sorry I'm I do have a schedule for her on that to to put it forth
um we've been meeting with our vendors in regards to the streaming of the meetings uh we're again as of tonight so far so good I know that this has been a uh concern to all of us and to the governing body and to the to
Administration uh of making sure uh that the the streaming is working uh we have met with the vendors and we're awaiting uh one more uh vendor to come back to us with a with pricing um Rand Pump Station I believe
that Dave will tie in with that go there with me on this sure um so the Randol Pump Station uh based on our last communications which were on Friday the vendor has in their possession all the parts to to
construct the uh control panel for the new pump station stuff we're doing um the pumps um the actual pumps themselves should be arriving the end of the month based on our communication everything is on schedule for the April uh
installation work for this uh Pump Station so everything's on target as of Friday well it has to be otherwise we lose the grant right yes but the the critical and this has only been because it's been a supply chain problem not any
part of anyone no that is correct yeah and we are we are diligently working with the vendor right now to keep us a breast of exactly when the items are being delivered not just when they have you know the product but we want to make
sure they're there because it does take time then to build the control panel uh in order to make that so we're making sure that everything is in check to make sure we make the uh April 30th deadline that we that we have uh put in place
okay Dave do you want to are you finished with your report I have one last thing uh our military tribute Banner program is up and running for 2025 Banners are to honor our veterans Who currently live or have resided in
Emerson the burrow has made this program available to our residents who wish to honor their family members by contributing $200 for the banners the banners will be on display for Memorial Day through Veterans Day and are stored by our Department of 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 we already have a few in the hopper this is our way of saying thank you to
the men and women of our great United States military the sponsorship rate again is $200 per Banner it is tax deductible please place your order by April 30th in order to have them displayed by Memorial Day okay that concludes my report thank
you Dave do you want to go on with your report I'll do mine last sure um so we talked about Randol app Pump Station and that was great news to hear about um Cindy Lane Pump Station that it is saving us some money there
which is awesome um want to report the audible uh push buttons those have all been installed and everything is functioning at the two locations as a reminder they're at Old Hook Road and Main Street and then at Kender Kack and Van Wagner uh so that work has all been
completed by the county uh through a shared service that the burough worked at with Burton County on that um as the year approaches we're going to be working with Public Works to come up with your 2025 Road program um we'll have to coordinate with psng since there
was a number of projects they were doing in town so we'll have to work with them uh to co coincide and pick uh the projects for that um with that said we also will be looking um last the last month uh meeting you guys authorized to
go out to bid for Park app Phase 2 which is the dot funds that we received for 2024 um we received the authorization from dot as well to go out to bid so we're just going to be working with public works and the clerk's office to come up with a date that works for
everybody okay so we can get that started uh once we get the green light from psng since they were doing work um on that road as well um also this month we did have a meeting uh with berken County to discuss uh the flooding
problems on uh Jordan and Forest um at the meeting we discussed the grant that the bureau had received as well as um our who was at that meeting um at the meeting was uh Jim tadesco uh and the county engineers and
then Rob from the bar I called in I I called in from there along Dave was that attending the meeting so I called in basically we're just going over what we've already discussed on the on Jordan the question then was what were they allowing us could we do what could they
do with the the monies from that we received on our uh our grant of whe How it could be used um it really was more of a refresher kind of meeting because of there was some things that were going back and forth and we still are waiting
on the plan that when you and uh when you had attended with us was discussion of that there's actually still needs to be plans made by an engineer which is what the discussion was about of who was going to make the where the plans are coming from and what what direction are
they going to so so ultimately the discussion it was a positive discussion with the county um you know we what was discussed with them was the next step which was really what we've talked about is to do the drainage study so we can determine what the next steps would be
as far as what improvements make sense financially as well as um from a constructibility standpoint you know we had submitted a Grant application requesting $10 million um which would ultimately be a brand new Culvert from Force going all
the way out to the discharge you know the reality of it is you know 10 million is a big gas um to do there so we're going to look and do analysis to determine something that's much more cost effective um so the study would
analyze the existing system uh determine your shortfalls and see what could be done um to make improvements to the system um during the meeting the county um talked about stuff that we talked about which was running a new line down
forest on the westand side uh which is a potential option um they are requesting as part of our due diligence that we check the soil conditions um because the system will have to be pretty deep to run and change grade over there um so
roughly would probably be 15 to 20 feet down in the ground at probably the the high point of the road um so there is concerns of Road stability and stuff so they want to see what the soil conditions are in that area and how do we check that is that what you're going to do or is that what we would bring in
a geotechnical engineer so they would do soil boring so we can get an idea of what the soil makeup is over there and have that test okay um ultimately at the meeting you know we discussed the monies that the burough has in place at the
moment uh the county was receptive to partnering with us but would not obviously at this point commit to a number because we don't have a number of what the cost would be so the initial step would be to do the Dual diligence um and the uh drainage studies for that
area and then um reconvene to discuss the findings and then develop a game plan moving forward on was sharing and that type of stuff okay Rob if there's any other meetings with the county executive would you please make sure that I know about them so I could attend
if it fits into my schedule please I can tell you that I was actually surprised at the county executive that we were not told originally the count it was just really the engineer the county please may be aware of them one of those they just kind of we threw it out there as requesting it and then well I'm glad that they're paying attention and I'm
happy to hear that the county executive was involved um and uh I feel a little bad that I wasn't there myself so um in the future if you guys are making a meeting just give me a little shout out because I was unaware that you were having a meeting um anything else Dave
uh no and then we did have a meeting with the I believe it was the DCA just to discuss I could talk to discuss uh the requirements for the grant and what coordination is need with them so um we should be receiving emails as far as
getting access to their system so we can monitor and carry that out did you get that today because I got it today I I got something I just don't know if it was cuz I'm also doing similar Grant in another town so I got okay I know I saw
something okay all right I had to unblock one of them because I think I got thrown into my span okay so Lauren got it today hopefully Rob got it so we'll make sure that everybody has it yeah and that's all that I have on my report I believe all right and I I just
have one question um Michelle had presented um for signature for me the um regarding the acrian basketball court project a change order what what was the change order for and is everything satisfactory complete eyes dotted te's
cross because I know that we had that slight issue with the height of the hoops and I believe it was corrected but then the cold weather came and really nobody played on it because the winter came so I haven't really had feedback from the community as the how great the
basketball courts are um we will do a when the weather breaks a uh ribbon cutting there but um they've kind of been dormant and I just want to make sure that everything's good in your opinion so that we could sign off on that but I also want to know what the change order was about sure so ultimately um as far as the project
everything's 100% complete at the site um you know what was submitted to was the payment number two and finals uh as well as the change order the change order consisted of a number of different items essentially you had um pluses and minuses from your existing contract
items that you had on there um as far as the add-ons there were some additional asphalt that was put on put into the project to kind of alter the grades to make sure we had the proper slopes and stuff to satisfy the color coding warranty um there was some additional
grading uh around the perimeter of the basketball courts to ensure that there was no tripping hazards or anything uh around there um and then additional was uh some added cost for the Hoops um now I know obviously we had the issues with
the elevations with them but ultimately the um add-on of the hoop stuff was to get the adjustments that were needed um to satisfy the 10- foot height that were well why did we have to pay to have them hung correctly so the grades were
adjusted the way your backboards and post and stuff were set there everything was a fixed elevation meaning you can't adjust the height of the backboards so you had to get a backboard that's adjustable in height so you can adjust the grades the height of it to
get your 10 foot right but some of them were hung at like 8.3 I believe so that wasn't part of the specs it was supposed to the specs said 10 foot well the spec was to put them back to how they work to be honest with you your backboards if you were to have measured them prior to
the project weren't at 10 feet in some of the locations um that that's the first I'm hearing of it because when the new new ones went up I immediately got phone calls that they were too low no one ever said they were too low prior to the work being done and to be honest if they're off by a couple inches nobody's really
going to know the difference between a couple inches that was they were off by they were off by two foot which that's a significant yeah all right let let's talk about that offline because I'm not 100% about um that change order okay all
right but I don't want to get into it right now that's fine I need more information sure okay um do you you have anything else to report I do not all right then I'm going to get into my long boring report um next Wednesday February 26th at 6: PM the barel will be holding our
first welcome Ramadan Crescent Moonlighting ceremony please join us on the front lawn of burrow Hall to help celebrate as a community and mark the start of Ramadan alongside our Muslim residents and friends all are invited
light Refreshments will be served uh the 2020 um February 26th at 6 p.m. 2025 commuter parking permits are available on Emerson Plaza East the fee for Resident parking is
$250 and they are available at Police Headquarters from 8:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. uh I see a lot of posts on Facebook uh anybody have this guy knock on their door does anybody know who this guy is um there's a way to stop that you could
have a no knock registration uh placard on your door which means that no one's soliciting um for Commerce can knock on your door uh if you get the no knock religious and political is always allowed to knock but um it's free if you
are 65 years or older it's a $5 fee for the decal um and it could stop a lot of those unwanted people knocking on your door and I want to remind people that if someone is knocking on your door and you do not recognize them and you do not want them there posting on Facebook is
not the best way to go about it picking up the phone and calling the police and letting them know that there's a stranger in your neighborhood and an unwanted caller um is is the way to go about it and it helps keep us safe and keep people that don't belong in our neighborhoods off our streets um 2025
dog and cat registrations were due by January 31st uh late registration is now in effect applications received thereafter will have a $25 late fee imposed applications can be found on the
barough website under Board of Health and uh they were also included in the garbage and recycling newsletter or you can contact Mary at extension1 1213 at the Burrow's main number um our senior meeting was cancelled due to weather
last week uh their new meeting date is uh Thursday February 20th this week at noon they will be celebrating Valentine's Day which was past postponed because of the weather new W members are always welcome and if you want to come to this meeting this Thursday you'll
becomeing to a party so that's always nice to come to um if you're interested in more information on the senior Club you can visit www Emerson nj.org seniors I know they have a trip coming up in March to the
Brownstone um for St Patrick's Day um and uh a lot of other fun events so uh if you are a senior and seniors now are 55 and older um if you are a senior please come on down if you're if you're free during the day uh the Bergen County
Clerk satellite office will be here again on Wednesday March 26th from 10:00 a.m. to 2 pm. at the senior center Walkins are welcome and you could do a host of things that day including um notary Oaths processing photo cards for
seniors veterans and exempt firemen as well as um getting a passport and other services um I was happy to attend the greater pasac Valley Chamber of Commerce mayor's breakfast in late January to promote Emerson um I think that was
pretty well covered in the pasc Press um this I think they did two different issues on it one issue and then another issue um the senior bus is available to our residents h55 and up and to those with special needs it runs each week on Tuesday Wednesday and Thursday please
call Stacy to book a ride in addition um the county of Bergen office of senior van services as well if it's outside of our coverage a coverage area and it is to go to a doctor's appointment um they will take you there for free as well um
and in order to call the county of Bergen for a ride outside of Emerson orell Westwood paramis um You can call 2011 36859 55 um you do have to call a full week in advance or as soon as you book
your doctor's appointment it is not as flexible as our senior bus um but it is available to Residents senior residents um Congress and go heimer's office will be coming to burough Hall before our mayor and council meeting on Tuesday
March 4th from 6:30 to 7:30 to provide constituent Services on Federal matters such as uh unemployment issues Medicare IRS Social Security passport VA benefits and service medals
no appointment is necessary um the more information on that will be posted on the website 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 in moonoi
please visit the bcua website for more information mark your calendars and get your unwanted papers and documents ready we will be having the burrow mobile shredding day in collaboration with the bcua right here in Emerson May 17th 9:00
a.m to 1 pm. it will be at Burrow Hall the Burrow's uh shade Tre commission will once again plant a tree in memory of those Emerson residents who passed away between January of 2024 and the present in conjunction conjunction with
the 2025 ARB day ceremony in April more information on the ceremony will be forthcoming but if you would like your loved one to be remembered at this year's Arbor Day ceremony please contact the acting burrow clerk at 201262 6086 Option 9 or by emailing the
clerk or the shade tree commission uh the state of New Jersey has announced this year's property tax relief programs for eligible new jerseyans uh new in 2025 there is a single combined application which simplifies the process
to apply for the senior freeze anchor and stay New Jersey programs the deadline to file is October 31st 2025 um a link to the state's website with applications and information will be posted to the home page of our
website or please feel free to call Lauren at the tax office for further information um first quarter tax taxes were due February 1st please contact the tax office with any questions um I encourage our residents
to sign up to receive emergency notifications and other burrow information through our Rave alert system uh please call burrow Hall in order to sign up for that or go on to our website and add yourself you'll have to create a password um you can also
follow us on Facebook and on Twitter and our new Instagram account at Burrow uncore Emerson um we're trying to keep up with the times here and the Emerson Junior Senior High School uh presentation of
Peter Pan is on March 7th through March 15th to purchase tickets Please call 201262 4447 extension 1300 um and I don't think it's through 7th through the 15th I think it's like the sth 8th and n9th and
then well it's each weekend and then they don't do during the week so it's the two weekends the 7th and the 15th um please look for uh any information from the high school on the play they do wonderful wonderful Productions uh the
next reading meeting of the Emerson governing body will take place Tuesday March 4th at 7:30 p.m. and I was remiss earlier in not remembering um I also didn't want to throw her off her game when I knew she had to speak uh shortly
after um remember that our one of our newest Council wom's lost her grandmother last week and our condolences are with her and her family so sorry um does anyone else have anything else to add I could just make one correction the
uh the budget meeting that is the second meeting in March here and the actual uh budget present for the presentation and to the to the council will be the first meeting in April we're having a
department head budget meeting here on what date the second meeting the second meeting which is the and then we will introduce the budget on what day April 1st 1 yeah okay yes all right just so that it's clear what we're doing on those two dates want make sure this way because I did say it and I want to make
sure I had clar that I'm sorry that I miss I you gave the wrong dates that's all okay that's why I just wanted to repeat it and make sure that we had it um so there was no confusion by the public um our next item is public comment members of the public are
welcome to speak on any topic by coming to the podium and stating your name for the record in the interest of time speakers are limited to three minutes and 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 second did I get a second Nicole and Megan okay and all in favor okay we are open to the public Mr O'Brien just two things first off again
thank you very much for all of your whatever it is you did to get me to this position I I'm I'm so humbled um I moved to this town a long time ago had my children here when through school
here and all that stuff and I'm just to be a resident of this burough is something special and and I think so too well you know I I try I try to put in what I can you know and I try to help
where I can but um to be recognized by you guys is just so humbling well I'm we appreciate everything that you've done for the burrow I I alluded to the fact I know that um over the years that when they've needed lights for some of our
Rec Sports you've donated them and um I know that you're always willing to lend a hand um I know you're at the Christmas tree lighting and you brought the lights for that and um I know that you do a lot for the town and it's appreciated Dan it really is especially your fire service but it comes back to you you know when
you do it comes back to you I just just thank you and also to to the DPW they do they do a good job I drive all over the in this town are in good shape compared to some of the others thank you very much thank you Dan
thank you so much anybody else seeing No Hands may have a motion to close the public comment all in favor I um any opposed all right we
are oh our clerk acting clerk would like to do a little report oh I actually okay I was going to do that do you want to do it you can do it you know what so we're streaming we have audio we have video and I want to thank Jimmy from OBS that
came this evening bis every time I see it it's different it's a different Acron acronym sorry um appreciate your being here this evening it's not BS um appreciate your being here of
course as usual when someone shows up it we have no problems but we really have been having a lot of problems in your time tonight and your lovely um friend girlfriend wife I'm not sure wife um is appreciated as well I'm sure you could have thought of something better to do
tonight so it is appreciated but we seem to have been all systems go tonight and we appreciate your time thank you actually it it didn't work right away and Jimmy fixed it during the meeting a and did we take a picture of what he did so that we know going
forward I hear that you actually did correct it in a little something a little live correct okay all right so we're really glad that you were here even more so so thank you very much um anything else you'd like to say okay I actually wrote
that down to say and then I forgot to do it um so um at this point we are going to our resolutions on consent agenda they are considered routine and will be acted on by one motion vote of the council there will be no separate discussion of the items unless the
council members requests an item be removed for consideration may I have a motion to approve consent agenda resolutions 84 excuse me-25 through 9225 roll call sorry Timberman and R may
I have a uh roll call please yes councilwoman rice yes councilwoman sers council president arenia yes councilman Timberman yes and councilwoman T yes okay very good that brings us to closed
executive session um may I have a motion to go into to close executive session to discuss matters exempt from the public pursuant to njsa 104-1 at second adequately noticed by resolution yes is 5 thank you we are now going into
close members of the public May remain on YouTube until we return to open session at which time formal action I think motion to reconvene so move second do we have any all in favor I I do we have any
further business yes mayor I'd like to make a motion to authorize the burough administrator to make an offer of conditional employment for the position of recreation secretary okay do we have a second second and a roll call please councilwoman rice yes councilwoman s
council president arenia yes councilman Timberman yes and councilwoman cholina yes we should do it want do all right think that we have other business um Mr Dan O'Brien was here and he is willing to drive
um I don't have the uh the lege LEF France France a 1998 the N okay so uh Mr Dan O'Brien is taking to Tennessee um a donation from
the burrow of a 1998 American LEF France fire pumper for the amount of $1 can I get a motion to approve that for the center view fire department in Newport Tennessee can I rephrase that that
statement um that we are um essenti that we are essentially selling it for $1 selling it for $1 uh to the state of Tennessee and whatever um uh jurisdiction that he mentioned earlier that he wanted to bring into Center of
uten so there it would be for the sale we approve it for a sale of $1 okay who would like to make that motion motion and a second and a roll call please councilwoman rice councilwoman s council
president Oria yes councilman Timberman yes and councilwoman chelina yes and I know I speak for the whole Council when I say that we are pleased to be able to help those less fortunate that have been affected by natural
disaster um do we have any other further [Music] business with hearing no other business may I have a motion to adjourn at 10:31 so moved second all in favor I any opposed
we are adjourned thank you for coming