Good evening and welcome to the May 6, 2025 meeting of the Emerson governing body. For those of you present in case of a fire, please follow the fire exit signs above the doors and exit calmly. Mr. Johnson, would you please lead us in the pledge of allegiance to the
flag of America and to the stands one for all. I would ask you to remain standing for just a moment um to remember Pope Francis, former Bergen County freeholder
John Mitchell. May they may they rest in peace. Thank you. This meeting is called pursuant to the provisions of the open public meetings law and adequately noticed pursuant to NJSA 104-10. This meeting of May 6, 2025 was noticed
to the record and the Rididgewood News on January 7th, 2025 and published in said newspapers, posted on the bulletin board in the municipal building 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 Dalo, present. Councilwoman Rice, here. Councilwoman Sers, here. Councilwoman Magcguire, present. Council President Oenia, yes. Councilman Timberman. Yes. And Councilwoman Chelina. Yes. Thank you. Um, everyone is present this
evening. This month we recognize Mental Health Awareness Month, Skin Cancer Awareness Month, National Police Week, Peace Officers Memorial Day, National Public Works Week, Armed Forces Day, and
EMS Week. All proclamations are posted on the bulletin board and the burrow website. there. It's nurses week. Oh, let's hear it for the nurses, especially the ones on the council. It's nurses and teachers also. Thank you for adding that. You
don't want to forget anybody. Um, I'm sure we have proclamations. Will you post those as well, Michelle? Uh, there are no appointments this evening. Minutes for approval. There are no minutes listed for approval this evening. All minutes will be listed for the approval at the
May 20th meeting. All correspondence is on file in the clerk's office. Um, I would like to invite our burrow auditor, Gary Higgins, to come up and join us to review the 24 burrow audit. We will be doing the review and certification of the annual report of audit for the year
ending December 31st, 2024. Gary, do you want to sit? You want to stand? However you're comfortable as long as you're near a microphone. You don't want your CFO up here. Lauren, would you like to come up? No, she doesn't. I know that.
But if you speak, you must come up so we can pick you up on tape. All right. Welcome, Gary. Thank you. I don't know if everybody has the report or looked at it or what, but this is the audit for 123124. Uh, just so everybody understands, we don't do what they call
gap audits. We do a regulatory basis that the division local government promulgates. It's more or less a cash basis uh report which is a lot more conservative than general accepted accounting principles. Um just a couple things to note is that the audit opinion is unmodified which means it's fully
compliant with the regulatory base of the county. Um the town did finish uh the year very well. Uh surplus went from roughly 2.8 million to 3.5 million. uh it increased approximately $730,000
uh which is a 26% increase uh which allowed you to put more back for tax relief in the 25 budget because of that increase. Uh the majority of the surplus came um from excess revenues of approximately 930,000 non-budgeted revenues of 340,000
and then lapsed appropriations from the 23 budget because you hold that budget open for one year after it ends and that was almost 600,000. So you basically regenerated the surplus that you had done for tax relief of 1 million 1,125
plus another 730 on top. So finished in a real good position. And then finally, there is one audit recommendation and it has to do with some outstanding outside police billings uh that are owed from contractors that have not been
collected. And Gary, I checked with Lauren before the meeting and se I checked with Lauren before the meeting and 75% of those revenues have been collected. Okay. It was just higher than prior years and there was some contractors who had lagged more than six
months. So that was the recommendation, but it's a general comment. It's not considered a significant deficiency or a material weakness in compliance or internal control. It was kind of more of a housekeeping type of thing to put you on notice. So I I guess I believe you have a corrective action plan uh that
you'll have to pass regarding that one recommendation and then also you'll have to sign the affidavit which goes to Trenton which basically you're signing off that as a minimum you reviewed the recommendation. They're not going to give you a quiz on the other 113 pages. So, that's all you're really signing off
on. So, does anybody have any questions on the audit? No, we've already assigned it. Okay. All right. Good. And of course, your CFO did a wonderful job as usual with her recordkeeping and what she presented us for audit. Yes, she did. Yes. We're very grateful that we
have as usual. So, all right. We're not doing budget yet, right? No. I'm going to do a motion to approve the resolution to certify the annual report of audit affidavit for the year ending uh December 31st, 2024. But
before we do that, um I want to take this opportunity to again thank Gary and his colleagues for their diligent work in completing our audit. I also want to thank our department heads, employees, and especially our CFO Lauren Roer. um their commitment to complying with New
Jersey's financial practices are is commendable. Um and now I'd ask for a motion to certify the annual report of audit affidavit for the year ending December 31st, 2024. Second. Roll call, please. Councilwoman Rice, yes. Councilwoman,
yes. Councilwoman Maguire, yes. Council President Orenzia, yes. Councilman Timberman, yes. And Councilwoman Chelina, yes. Thank you. And now we will approve the corrective action plan that Mr. Higgins uh referenced. Uh may I have a motion to approve resolution
138-25 for year ending December 31st, 2024? Second. Roll call, please. Councilwoman Rice, yes. Councilwoman Sers, yes. Councilwoman Magguire, yes. Council President Aria. Counciloman Timber. Yes. And Councilwoman,
yes. Okay, we are now going to move on to the public hearing and adoption of the 2025 municipal budget. Um Lauren, you're already up. Do you guys want to sit up here so you could um relax a little and
not relax, but just be more comfortable and spread out your papers if you needed to? Um before we begin, the first item we have to address is the waiver of the reading of the budget in in full. Um resolution 13925, waiver of reading in
full of the 2025 municipal budget. May I have a motion to approve that? Some second and a roll call, please. Councilwoman Rice, yes. Councilwoman Sers, yes. Councilwoman Magguire, yes. Council President Argenzia, yes. Counciloman Timber, yes. And
Councilwoman Yes. Okay. And now we have res Thank you. Now we have resolution number 140-25 selfexamination of the 2025 municipal budget. May I have a motion to approve resolution 140-25 the
self-examination of the 2025 municipal budget. Roll call, please. Councilwoman Rice. Yes. Councilwoman Sers. Councilwoman McGuire. Yes. Council President Arenia. Councilman Timberman. Yes. And Councilwoman, yes. Perfect.
Okay. Gary Higgins from the firm of PKF O' Conor has been our burrow auditor for many years and Lauren, our CFO, um is are now in the hot seats in order to present the budget. Okay. Okay. 2025 municipal budget. All right. So, the two
resolutions that you just did, one was to avoid reading all 30 pages line by line till midnight. That was the first resolution. And the next one is self-exam. So you're on a rotating basis and you're assigned a group number either one, two or three. Um so every
one out of three years you get reviewed by the division of local government services. The other two years you do a self-exam which really puts it on your CFO and myself to review it and sign off on all the various budget laws that it's compliant. Uh which I I'm telling you
it's compliant. So, um, so what happened, uh, since you introduced on April 1, now you have to have a public hearing that was advertised and after that there's going to be an amendment. So, at this time, I would say you should have the public hearing on the
introduced budget. The introduced budget had a 3.2 increase for $100 of assessed valuation. All right? So, you you were going to go to $1310 from 97.1, which is 3.2.
After you have the public hearing on that, uh, the amendment will reduce that 1.03 number to 99.9. All right? So, there's going to be 410 coming off the increase with the amendment. Uh, so that lowers, and I'll
quote it on perund dollars of assessed valuation. Um, it'll be $28 increase per 100 of assessed versus 32. So, that'll be the change. And on the overall for an average house, it's goes down the
introduced budget had $143 tax increase and the budget as proposed has $125. Thank you. And we did say that it was a working living and that we would work on it and we did and we shaved as much as we could. And the other thing to know that your amendment doesn't have to
be advertised. Uh if there was any line item that increased plus or minus by more than 10%, you would be required advertise that amendment, but the way the amendment was put together, it doesn't exceed that. So all that you have to do then is pass the amendment
and then if you wish, you can adopt the budget versus waiting for another meeting. So everything could be still wrapped up tonight. Bless you. So at this point, you could have the public hearing on the introduced budget. Okay. May I have a motion to open the meeting for comments from the public on
the 2025 introduced municipal budget and only the 2025 introduced municipal budget? So moved. All in favor? Any opposed? We are open to the public. Seeing no hands, may I have a
motion to close the um meeting on the uh 2025 municipal budget? So moved. All in favor? I Okay. Um I'd like to point out that there is an amendment to this budget as Gary said and as promised um I
already said this but I beat myself. The living breathing document and the finance committee were able to whittle it down bringing the average tax as Lauren said to 125 for the year or about $1042 per month. Um, I am very proud of the staff and the finance committee
because together um they have worked with the council to substantially mitigate ever rising costs um while delivering the same outstanding services that our taxpayers have come to enjoy. Um Gary, do you want to
read it? No, I don't think you have to read it. No. Okay. So then we're just gonna do the amendment now. Yeah. Unless somebody has a question. All right. Does anybody have any questions on anything? Okay. Then I'll to ask for a motion to approve resolution 141-25 to amend the
2025 municipal budget. So moved. And may I have a roll call, please? Councilwoman Rice, yes. Councilwoman Sers, yes. Councilwoman Maguire, yes. Council President Arenzia, yes. Councilman Timberman, yes. And
Councilwoman Chelina, yes. Thank you. And if nobody has any questions for Gary, I want to thank you for coming in this evening. Thank you. I have to what? I keep on missing. All right. So before you leave, we're going to adopt it.
That's why I didn't jump out. So does anybody have any questions before we adopt it for Gary? Any comments? No. Okay. So now we have a resolution number 142-25 adoption of the 2025 municipal
budget. May I have a motion? Second. And a roll call, please. Councilwoman Rice, yes. Councilwoman Sers, Councilwoman Maguire, yes. Council President Arenzia, Councilman Timberman, yes. And Councilwoman, yes. Thank you.
Sorry, I thought it was my double vision on my script. Gary, thank you for coming in. Lauren, thank you for coming in. Thank you. This now brings us to unfinished business. There is no unfinished business tonight and there is no new
business tonight. So, there are no adoption of ordinances. So, we are moving right along in our agenda. Um, but we do have introduction of ordinances. The uh, Miss Ryan will announce by number and title the following ordinances upon approval.
These ordinances will be further considered at a public hearing to be held on May 20th, 2025 at 7:30 p.m. or as soon thereafter as the matter can be addressed in the council chambers of the Burough Hall, One Municipal Place, Emerson, New Jersey, and published in
the record. All ordinances are posted on the burrow website and on file in the office of the municipal clerk if anyone would like copies. Miss Ryan, would you please read the title of ordinance 1702-25? Yes. This is ordinance
1702-25, capital ordinance of the Burrow of Emerson in the county of Bergen, New Jersey, authorizing the making of various public improvements and acquisitions in, by, and for the burrow, appropriating therefore the sum of
$379,440, and providing that such sum so appropriated shall be raised from the burrow's capital improvement fund. May I have a motion to introducing to pass that on first reading? So moved.
Um, roll call, please. Councilwoman Rice, yes. Councilwoman Sers, yes. Councilwoman Maguire, yes. Council President Arenzia, yes. Councilman Timberman, yes. And Councilwoman Chelina, yes. Okay, now
we're going to go to 1702-25 capital ordinance of the B of Emerson. You're again going to read this caption. May I have a We're going to do a motion. You have to read it. Oh, Miss Ryan, would you please read the title of ordinance 1703-25?
Sure, mayor. This is ordinance 1703-25, bond ordinance to authorize the making various public improvements and the acquisition of new additional or replacement equipment and machinery in by and for the burrow of Emerson in the
county of Bergen, state of New Jersey to appropriate the sum of 3,122,190 to pay the cost thereof to appropriate various grants to make a down payment or partially fund an appropriation from the capital improvement fund. to authorize the
issuance of bonds to finance such appropriation and to provide for the issuance of bond anticipation notes in anticipation of the issuance of such bonds. Thank you. May I have a motion to introduce 1703-25
second and a roll call. Councilwoman Rice, yes. Councilwoman Sers, yes. Councilwoman Maguire, yes. Council President Argenzia. Yes. Councilman Timberman. Yes. And Councilwoman Chelino.
Passes. That brings us to reports. Um Michelle, Mr. Hermanson is not with us. Do you have a report in his absence? Sure. Uh thank you, Mayor. Bergen County is seeking poll workers for the 2025
primary and general elections. More information can be found on our website or by calling the clerk's office. The to register to vote in the June 10th primary uh election is Tuesday, May 20th. The Emerson clerk's office will be
open until 9:00 p.m. to receive paper applications, although you can apply um online and that information is also on our website. The pump station project funded through a Bergen County CDBG grant has been substantially completed.
Dave Atkinson will give a more thorough report at the May 20th meeting, but Perry has uh reported that it is substantially completed with a few punch uh list items that the contractor will address and Lauren has submitted the paperwork to start the reimbursement
process. Excellent. Um and then the burrow has been receiving applications through Handshake for internships, so we will be sending those to the personnel committee to review. Okay. Um, I'll go through my report. Um, and then I'll ask anybody if they have anything that's timely. I want to thank the Shay Tree
Commission, especially Karen Argenzia for putting together a lovely Arbor Day ceremony. Though the weather did not cooperate, it was still a moving tribute to the loved ones of those in attendance. Second quarter property taxes are due. The deadline to pay without penalty is uh Monday, May 12th.
The next senior meeting is this Thursday, May 8th. I believe they're having a barbecue if you want to stop in. Uh, Assumption Church's annual carnival runs Wednesday, May 14th through Sunday, May 18th. Our spring
free shredding day will be on Saturday, May 17th from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. at the municipal side of the Burrow Hall building. Emerson's PBA is having their golf outing on May 19th. The American
Legion Post 269 and the mayor and council uh at Monument Park will hold the um annual Memorial Day ceremony Monday, May 26th at 900 a.m. Light refreshments will be served courtesy of
Mr. Meta of Dunkin Donuts. Uh the Bergen County Clerk satellite office will be accepting passport applications as well as performing other services on Wednesday, May 28th from 10:00 a.m. to 2 pm at the senior center. Walk-ins are
welcome. Uh Saturday, June 4th, uh Emerson uh Emerson summer kickoff and fireworks. The Emerson Recreation Commission Commission is busy planning another great event with activities scheduled throughout the day. be on the
lookout for their flyer coming soon. The rain date will be Sunday, June 15th. Summer hours for the Burough Hall offices will begin the week of May 26th and will continue through August 29th. During these weeks, each Monday through Thursday, Burrow Hall offices will be
open 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. and then on Fridays, the hours will be 8:30 to 12:30. DPW summer hours will coincide with these dates as well and their hours will be 6:00 am to 2:30m and the police
department and records clerk hours will remain the same. And as always, you can always call 911 in the event of an emergency. On April 28th, Councilwoman Maguire, Councilwoman Chelino, and Councilwoman Sers, as well as Councilman
Timberman and I joined Fire Chief Tommy Carlos to wish Dan O'Brien of Academy Electric a safe voyage as he traveled almost 1500 miles round trip to Newport, Tennessee to deliver the donated
Burrow's old pumper truck number 26. Uh it was delivered to the Centerview Fire Department in County, Tennessee. Um they lost all of their equipment in Hurricane Helen last fall and the burrow and I know the council members were very
happy um to donate that apparatus that they can continue to fight fires safely. Um, the next regular meeting of the governing body will take place on Tuesday, May 20th at 7:30 p.m. And I'd like to wish all the mothers that are here and listening a very happy Mother's
Day um this weekend. Um, does anybody have um the Oh, I also I sorry I skipped over something. Uh Michelle, Chief Savino and I attended the Emerson Health and Rehab C Center's 50th anniversary last
Thursday. Um they set up the uh Emerson Rehabilitation outside in the back as if it was a wedding. It was stunning. We met the owners and some of the board of directors and we wish them another very happy 50 years of service um in the uh industry. Does anybody over here have
anything that they need to report that's going to happen before our next meeting? Nobody. Anybody over here? No, I do have a little bit from Okay. Uh, so Mr. Mazo um let me know that
they've been gathering historical photos um to decorate and update showcases um they've been updating the library case um and have moved a large case that was in the ambulance building to the senior center. Uh it'll be decorated with
historical season um items that we have in town. Uh they will be reviewing photos again tomorrow evening um in case anyone is interested uh at 7 o'clock in the senior center. It's not a typical meeting, but just look at photos. Um and of course if anyone in the town has any
photos that they'd like to um have the historical take committee take a look at, they'd be happy to take a look at them as well. And what time will they be at the senior center? 7 o'clock. 7 o'clock. Okay. So, if anybody that's been here that we'd like to call a towny has anything old that you'd like to um
put out on display, please um get in touch with Phil Mazo or the historic committee or go down to the senior center on Wednesday at 700 p.m. and say hello and show them what you have in your possession. Um we will now move on to public comment. Members of the public
are welcome to speak on any topic by coming to the podium and stating their name for the record. In the interest of time, all who wish to speak, please keep your comments brief and and concise. May I have a motion to open the meeting to public comment? So second. All in favor?
Any opposed? Uh seeing no hands, may I have a motion to close the meeting to general comments from the public? So move. All in favor? Any opposed? Motion carried. Resolutions on consent agenda are routine and will
be acted upon by one motion of the council. Um unless there is um any council member requests an item to be removed, there will be no separate discussion of these items. May I have a motion to approve consent agenda resolutions
143-25 through 147-25. Second. Roll call, please. Councilwoman Rice, yes. Councilwoman Sers, yes. Councilwoman McGuire, yes. Council President Arzia, Councilman Timberman, yes. And Councilwoman
Chelino, yes. We will now be going into closed executive session to discuss matters exempt from the public pursuant to NJSA 104-1 at SEC and adequately noticed by resolution 14825. Uh, may I please have a motion to
go into um close session? So move. Roll call, please. Councilwoman Rice, yes. Councilwoman Sers, yes. Councilwoman Maguire, Council President Arzia, Councilman Timberman, yes. And Councilwoman Chelino, yes.
Okay, we're going into close. Members of the public may remain on YouTube and we when All right. May I have a motion to reconvene? Second. All in favor? I Okay, we are reconvening. Do we have any further business? Yes. I'd like to make a motion to introduce resolution
149-25 to enter into an agreement between the Bureau of Emerson and the Police Benevolent Association local number 206 Emerson. You get a second. Second. Second. And may I get a roll call, please? Councilwoman Rice. Yes. Counciloman
Counciloman. Yes. Council President Arzia. Yes. Counciloman Timber. Yes. And Counciloman, yes. Thank you. May I have with no more business to discuss, may I have a motion to adjourn at 9:35 p.m. So all in favor?
Any opposed? We are adjourned. Thank you everyone for coming.