testing one two three testing rob I'm checking right now she's said she can't hear us testing testing is the Liberty system working yes are we sure okay
um may I have a motion to excuse Council President Arjenzia and Councilwoman Chelino from tonight's meeting second all in favor any opposed they are excused proclamations and citations the Arbor Day proclamation will be read at
the Arbor Day ceremony this Saturday April 26th at Sorry it's working he says they can hear us tyler says he can now hear us okay good the Arbor Day proclamation will be read at the Arbor Day ceremony this Saturday April 26th at 100 p.m in front
of Burrow Hall it will also be posted on our website there are no appointments this evening minutes for approval may I have a motion to approve the minutes of the April 1st 2025 regular meeting of the Emerson governing body so move second
roll call please councilwoman Rice yes councilwoman Sers yes councilwoman McGuire yes councilman may I have a motion to approve the close session meeting minutes of April 1st 2025 which are not for release for the
public at this time second roll call please councilwoman Rice councilwoman Councilwoman McGuire and Counciloman correspondence all correspondence is on file in the clerk's office financial business may I have a motion to approve
resolution 125-25 uh the April 22nd 2025 bills list so moved second roll call please councilwoman Rice yes councilwoman Sers yes councilwoman McGuire yes and
Councilman Timber yes thank you which brings us to unfinished business discussion of new electronic sign mr hermanson are we just waiting to figure out where we want to put it that is correct i think we've decided that
that's the uh what you want the one-sided it's just a matter now of where exactly you want to put it we have set no stone on the bottom so there was new estimates on price money is in the budget for to do this it's just now a matter of and it's under budget because
we're doing the one side instead of two sides correct correct um does anybody have any strong opinions on where it should go why don't we form a little committee so that we could go out there i'm going to put um Council President Argenzia on it because she has some
strong opinions and um Ashley or Jill do you want to one of the Ashley's or Jill that are around during the day i can do it all right all right we'll do Jill and Ashley Rice i know that you're busy during the day at work they float around a little bit better and um maybe
we could take a walk with Perry and maybe measure it out and really take a look at what it's going to look like um but everyone is still in favor of going forward we got the hard numbers on it correct Michelle you set that out yes
all right so that is something we're going to be moving ahead with um the next item on the agenda is uh public hearing on the submission of the 2025 Bergen County Open Space Trust
Fund Municipal Park Improvement Grant application in accordance with the grant requirements we are holding this public hearing tonight for our submission to the 2025 Open Space Trust Fund for the project titled improvements to Acriman
Park located at 9 and 10 Remington Avenue blocks 509 and 508 lot 6 and 5 the improvements we are proposing include the upgrade of the playground area at this park uh we hope to be able to install new playground equipment for
children ages 2 to five as well as 5 to 12 with installation of a rubberized ground cover we also propose erecting a pergola for visitors to gather as well as to offer shade to escape the sun we also propose a water mister so children
and parents alike can cool off in the hot summer months i'm sure we all think back to our childhood we have fond memories of playing on a playground um play fosters social emotional physical sensory and creative development and
this governing body is dedicated to providing a welcoming environment for children to enjoy we will be submitting an application to the Bergen County Open Space Trust Funds Municipal Park Improvement Program for a matching grant of $75,000 we expect to hear an outcome
later in 2025 at this as this is an ambitious project that we are proposing it will likely need to be done in phases may I have a motion to open the meeting to public comment on this matter and this matter only
second all in favor we are open to the public seeing no hands do I have a motion to close to the public so second all in favor okay do any governing body members have any comments on the grant
application just excited just excited i think everyone's excited okay with no further comment the public hearing is closed may I have a motion to approve resolution 126-25 authorized submission of 2025
Bergen County Open Space Trust Fund Municipal Park Improvement Grant application for the improvements to Acriman Park project second roll call please councilwoman Rice yes councilwoman Sers
yes councilwoman Muire yes council yes okay the next item is new on new business is uh datab bank orangeberg phase 2 project uh we received an email from Mayor Thomas Gallagher of Ultapan
um in opposition to a datab bank in Orangeberg that they are going to be building um it feeds into the Oridel reservoir a source of drinking water and uh they feel that there is a high level of energy usage there could be fire
safety issues among other concerns um did everybody read the letter um they're asking us to uh adopt a similar um resolution in opposition to this project um is everyone in favor of doing that
yes all right then we will put that on the May 6th agenda okay in order to uh help them out with that um adoption of ordinances this is the second reading and public hearing of ordinance number
1701-25 miss Ryan will you please read the title of this ordinance sure this is ordinance 1701-25 Burrow of Emerson Bourbon County New Jersey calendar year 2025 ordinance to exceed the municipal budget
appropriation limits and to establish a cap bank in accordance with NJSA484-5.14 may I have a motion to open the meeting for public comment on this and this ordinance only second all in favor any opposed we are
open seeing no hands may I have a motion to close this portion of the meeting for public comment on this ordinance second all in favor okay may I have a motion to adopt ordinance 1701-25 on second reading so move
second who was that second okay roll call please councilwoman Rice yes councilwoman Sers yes councilwoman Muire yes thank you now we are going to reports
councilwoman Rice do you have a report for us this evening yes okay so I'll start with library um so the library would like you all to know that the programs offered during spring break uh were well
attended this Thursday is bingo night the seed library is up and running and if anyone's unsure what a seed library is it's a seed the seed library offers free seeds and resources for planting growing harvesting and seed saving so
it's up and running at the library as well and last but not least the website is emerson library.org visit it visit it frequently to see what's happening ashley can I just ask is the bingo for children that's a good question i'm not sure of that okay so if we could check
if you are interested in the bingo please check the um library website and just confirm whether it's for children or for adults i think it's for for children children I'm not sure i'll find out i'll find out by by the end of the meeting i should go on the website um and then for the environmental um update
we're still in uh April so we're still in Earth month um the next item or the next event is on April 27th the community garden opening um we have the community garden opening and of course later on in the day at 12:00 is yoga and
hike through the woods and then looking a little ahead into May we have a beekeeper presentation um so this kind of combines Emerson environmental and library because it is located at the library on Wednesday May 21st uh learn
all about honeybees beekeeping honey and pollination in a fun and engaging way uh from local a local family in town so oh bingo night here we go got the update bingo is adult 18 and older only
for bingo oh it is for adults yeah 18 18 and up and it's this Friday night this Thursday 6:30 April 24th this Thursday join us for an evening of excitement um the thrill of the win at bingo night get your dabbers ready and mark your
calendars for an evening filled with anticipation and fun open to Emerson residents only yes Emerson residents only awesome that's fun yeah and then one last thing um I'm going to read the DPW update uh the DPW fixed holes in
baseball field and um in preparation for opening day uh they also installed flashing pedestrian crossing signs for the police department on Main Street by the high school and a second one on Acriman Avenue by Acriman Park it had its annual
environmental GIF inspection overall the DPW did good waiting on the written report to come back uh the DPW planted trees at the burrow at Burrow Hall for Arbor Day ceremony to be held on April 26th um the DPW also started the spring
planting for the Shade Tree Commission and last but not least among many other things but uh they used the new stump grinder to remove seven stumps for the Shade Tree Commission so they were busy that's great and that saves a lot of money the stump grinder
councilwoman Sers do you have a report for us this evening i do it's short and sweet for the recreation commission opening day ceremony for baseball and softball is this Saturday April 26th join us on Main Street at 9:00 a.m to
cheer on and support our youth teams and coaches and just throwing out a save the date for Emerson Day it's Saturday June 14th now it's supposed to rain on Saturday what do they have a uh inclement weather plan for i know
softball has a backup plan um I believe it's if it does rain they will um postpone it to Sunday between 5 and 7 p.m for the ceremony i'm not sure on baseball okay so they're going to make
the call Friday all right so please watch social media and the burrow um website for an update on that okay uh Councilwoman Magguire do you have a report yes uh for cha shade tree if you're interested in having a free tree
planted in front of your property on the burrow's right of way please contact the shade tree commission at shaderee at emerson new jersey i'm sorry Emerson NJ.org um a member of the commission will contact you to provide you further
details about the tree planting program they're really excited to offer this to the residents so they're hoping that some residents will take advantage of it i know I've done so in the past and I'm sure many other people on the DEAS have as well y so um it's a great opportunity to have a nice tree planted on your
property it is in the rightway though um then um the Shade Tree Commission will be holding their annual Arbor Day ceremony this Saturday April 26th at 1 p.m at Burrow Hall at the ceremony a tree will be planted in memory of Emerson residents who have passed away
in the past year please consider attending it's a beautiful ceremony i think it's my favorite ceremony of the year it is a beautiful ceremony it's very moving yes very poignant um and then as far as the board of ed they're going to be having their next meeting on Monday April 28th at 7:30 at the high
school media center i think they might be adopting their budget at that meeting okay pretty sure but I would check the uh school website if you're Yeah check the agenda on the website um they'll be posting it they haven't posted their agenda yet but um you could always check the board of ed page and they'll have
their agenda posted in advance of the meeting on Monday that's my very good um Councilman Timberman do you call us yes I do uh for the fire department uh for the month of March um they responded to
13 calls and had a total of 291 man hours um of which carbon monoxide flooding and Over the weekend they did respond to a mutual aid three alarm fire that's it for the fire department
and then land use board um the burrow is now in uh possession of plans for the new Armenian home nothing has been scheduled or action taken by the land use board but we have received plans okay thank you i know people are curious there's been a lot of activity out on
the site um I'll go into my report um as a reminder weekly garden debris pickup resumed on April 7th and will continue each Monday through year's end um we want to thank the Emerson Fire Department for holding their annual egg
hunt two Saturdays ago even though it was not cooperating the weather we did enjoy uh inside the firehouse and photos with the Easter Bunny and all the candy that they gave out um military banners to honor a veteran the deadline is coming up quickly it's April 30th so we
could get the banner before Memorial Day um this coming weekend is busy as they said it's Saturday April 26 is Emerson baseball and softball opening day the parade steps off at 9:00 a.m from the high school and concludes at Hillman Field as Councilman Timberman said they
will call the weather on Friday and make that decision whether it will be held or not um the Sha Tree Commission is planning um their ceremony for 100 pm on the same day on Saturday and do you know if there's any rain plan or are we just
going to go with it they did not discuss that okay well we'll we'll get an it'll be posted on the burough website as well as on social media if there's any changes because of inclement weather um on Sunday the 27th the environmental where the weather when the weather looks perfect um the environmental commission
will open the community garden um at 11:00 am uh also on Sunday the Philip Morgan Foundation in partnership with the Red Cross will be hosting a blood drive at the senior center from 9 to 2 registration and other information can
be found on the Barrow website um for eligible seniors um the uh property tax relief and other assistance including senior freeze ankorstay new jersey and New Jersey SAVE programs um can be found
at www.nj.govtreasurytaxation GVtreasury taxation stay new jersey um that you could also call 8007929745 for more information or you could check down with Burrow Hall and you missed any of that information and they'll point you in the right direction the senior bus is available Tuesday
Wednesdays and Thursdays please call Stacy for a ride uh mark your calendars emerson's Little League is holding a casino night on Saturday May 3rd at the Knights of Columbus and Westwood for details please visit the burrow website
get your unwanted paper documents ready our free paper shredding day in collaboration with the BCUA will be held on Saturday May 17th from 9:00 a.m to 1:00 p.m at Burough Hall assumption Church Carnival will be held from
Wednesday May 14th through Sunday May 18th the American Legion Post 269 will honor our fallen heroes at a Memorial Day ceremony at Monument Park on Monday May 26th excuse me starting at 9 9:00
a.m the Bergen County Clerk satellite office will be accepting passport applications with photos taken on site um on Wednesday May 28th 10:00 a.m to 2:00 p.m walk-ins are welcome this is that is not for real IDs but you can get
a passport if you want to fly because I know that the appointments for Real ID are very difficult to obtain right now so if you need to fly and you don't have a Real ID uh you can still get a passport um by coming in to the clerk's
satellite office on the 28th to apply of course to apply for it um the recreation commission summer kickoff as councilwoman said is June 14th with a rain date of June 15th uh
the motor vehicle commission will be here Friday July 11th i believe all of the appointments have already been taken up so they haven't been released yet but we're told that people from all over the state are jumping on these appointments
so it when does it when does it open up to slide we'll have more at the second meeting but around June okay so we're going to keep our eye on that um but if you do need to
fly applying for a passport is probably your best bet probably get it quicker than a real ID at this point um I encourage our residents to sign up for emergency notifications and other burrow information through our rave alert system and as always all of our events
and current news is posted on the Burrow website at www emersonj.org/news also on our official Facebook page and on our Twitter pages and on our new Instagram
account which is burrow_emerson so please like and follow all of those pages um Bergen County is seeking poll workers for the 2025 primary and general elections more information can be found on the website or by calling the clerk's office as the
weather gets nicer and people are going outside uh please be alert for pedestrians walking kids playing outside and people riding their bicycles if you are walking your dog remember to curb your dog and pick up after them it is against the law to let your dog poop on
someone's property and not pick it up keep them on leashes make sure that you have them in control at all times when you are out and about especially if they are on one of those long retractable um leashes
um and it is the law that everyone 17 and under wear a helmet when biking skateboarding and rollerbaiting or roller skating um as high school graduation approaches Bergen Community College is currently open for 2025 summer enrollment and 2025 fall
enrollment for anyone who is looking in attending uh information is on their website the next regular meeting of the governing body will take place Tuesday May 6th at 7:30m at that meeting our burrow auditor and CFO will join us for a public
hearing on the 2025 municipal budget as well as the 2024 municipal audit um I also want to announce that the burrow received the Arborday Foundation Tree City USA for the 20th
year in a row congratulations to our Sha Tree Commission i want to wish everybody a happy Earth i think it was a gorgeous day i hope everybody got out there and breathed in a little uh fresh air and got some sunshine um and uh last but not
least the uh burrow was recognized the with their employees and volunteers for their commitment to safety last week I attended the breakfast for the GIF where the Burrow of Emerson received the platinum award for the third or fourth year in a row third year in a row it is
the highest award given from the Bergen Joint Insurance Fund Safety Program and uh we're very proud to continually get that um I do have some good news um the burrow has been involved for the last several years in a federal lawsuit where
um EUR was suing the burrow um on a constitutional case as well as me personally um and the lawsuit today um by judge let me just get the name of the judge Maline Cox Arlo um dismissed it on
summary judgement and has declared that the case is closed um which is good news um I do want to thank all of our lawyers Rich Malier um Len Seaman Brian Giblin uh Chris B who um represented the burrow
from the GIF Brian Giblin Jr and of course um our burough attorney John McCann um as we've been working through all of these lawsuits they've been a full team going back and forth sharing information between the different lawsuits that the bureau is involved in
and um uh we are happy with the outcome today rob do you have a report sure back to you back and forth yeah sure i only have three quick things um one County uh
yesterday had their uh meeting uh and agreed uh and signed off on the acceptance of the donation of our fire truck so we now can proceed to move forward with the donation of the truck we look forward to Mr o'brien uh put
getting it together and and delivering the truck down uh to County uh I received some uh to Centerview Fire Department yes yes in County so um Soldier Hill golf course uh around there
was been some debris uh and garbage that has been you know told to me that we were working on so I contacted the director of golf of Bergen County Parks and Recreation we're going to be talking tomorrow about where that is to get that cleaned up uh to make sure that it's not private property uh to show them where
and to make sure that it stay gets maintained uh to to keep our uh community clean uh the last thing I have is I want to thank uh Assumption Church again for working with our uh the Emerson Rec uh camp uh they again signed
on with a contract to work with them for uh purposes of inclement weather and also when the weather is too hot for the kids to be outside to be able to have a facility to be able to go in and get out of the the weather uh I want to thank
them for working with us again uh and having a place for the kids to go very good i'll py back to you i know what you're going to talk about do you have a report for us this evening yes I do um so first item on the engineers report is the
Randolph Avenue pump station contractor has completed the installation of the temporary bypass store piping which allows the existing station to remain operable by portable pumps during the construction process pumping surface pumping services will be on site
starting tomorrow April 23rd to begin the pump station improvement work um barring any unforeseen conditions it should take approximately two weeks to complete the project so once the project's completed Neglia will work with the burrow to seek the grant reimbursement from CDBG uh good news yes good news almost there
i said when I never hear about a a pump station pump station again we'll be almost there um the next item is in regards to the municipal aid 2024 NJ dot road program which is the Park Avenue phase two this project has been awarded
to Smith Sundi and Negley is working with the contractor to obtain the initial project paperwork and after that we'll look to schedule the pre-construction meeting once those have been obtained as a reminder the limits for this phase are from Spruce to the municipal boundary um the next item is
the MS4 tier A permitting and SP3 update negley is working with the bureau to prepare these the updated annual MS4 report and SP3 plan will work with the bureau to submit both documents by the May 1st deadline this is an annual reporting that's required by NJD um in
addition there's an extra report that's actually required for NJD this year it's the watershed management improvement plan and they need the plan and the associated report due by January 1st 2026 um this includes storm water
inventory mapping as well as preparing a watershed management report so more details are to follow on that report when we're closer to the deadline um and then the last item on our report is the Emerson Senior Center 88 door
improvements this is another CDBG project um Neglia is working with our architect we're close to finalizing the plans we just sent him the markup so almost done there and once we once those plans are officially finalized Neglia will work to with the Burough to obtain pricing for the replacement work very
good thank you Catherine all right does anybody have anything that anyone forgot it's timely john do you have any report okay um the next order by mail ballots have been mailed to
okay so if you signed up for a vote by mail that is this is not a drill that is your ballot that has come in the mail correct okay they don't receive it they can contact the Burton County Office okay thank you
um the next order of business is public comment members of the public are welcome to speak on any topic by coming to the podium stating your name and uh 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 second all in favor i Okay we are open to the public seeing no hands may I have a motion to close the meeting to general
comments from the public some move second all in favor okay we're closed resolutions listed on consent 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 Council member requests an item be removed for consideration may I have a motion to approve consent agenda resolutions 127-25 through 134-25
so move second roll call please counciloman Right yes councilwoman yes councilwoman Magcguire yes yes okay we are now going into closed executive session to discuss matters
exempt from the public pursuant to NJSA 104-1 at SEC and adequately noticed by resolution 135-25 may I have a motion to go into closed second roll call please
councilwoman Rice yes councilwoman Sers yes councilwoman Magcguire yes and Councilman Timberman yes very good members of the public may remain on YouTube until we return to open session may I have a motion to reconvene some moved so moved do we have any
further business so with no further business to discuss may I have a motion to adjurnn at 9:28 p.m some moved second all in favor we are adjourned thank you for joining us this evening