WEBVTT

METADATA
Video-Count: 1
Video-1: youtube.com/watch?v=cZ7IXls2Hbk

NOTE
MEETING SECTIONS:

Part 1 (Video ID: cZ7IXls2Hbk):
- 00:00:04: Meeting Called to Order, Pledge of Allegiance
- 00:02:14: Public Comment: Gordon Lev - Ivy Issue
- 00:05:42: Public Comment: Senior Lunches and Shrubbery Trimming
- 00:08:13: Finance and Administration Committee: Bills List
- 00:09:35: Finance and Administration: Budget Reading Authorization
- 00:10:30: Municipal Budget Presentation, Process and Goals
- 00:17:29: Tax Levy, Inflation and Historical Tax Increases
- 00:21:22: Debt to Budget Ratio Compared to Other Towns
- 00:22:50: Tax Breakdown for Average Household
- 00:24:28: Municipal Property Revaluation Discussion
- 00:29:19: Revenue and Expense Overview for 2026
- 00:32:34: Monthly Service Bill and Health Benefits Discussion
- 00:35:57: Collective Bargaining Agreements and Revaluation Costs
- 00:39:12: Reevaluating User Fees and Expanding Cost Recovery
- 00:43:40: Public Comment: Color Issue on Bottom of Ground
- 00:45:24: Resolution to Amend Municipal Budget (88-26)
- 00:47:26: Open and Close Public Hearing on 2026 Budget
- 00:48:48: Resolution: Adoption of 2026 Municipal Budget
- 00:49:41: Resolution: Authorize Tax Collector to Refund Duplicate Payments
- 00:50:32: Public Safety Committee: Remembering Officer Charles Roberts
- 00:51:54: Resolution: Purchase of Two Police Vehicles (91-26)
- 00:53:20: Community Affairs: Town Survey and Eco Fair
- 00:55:15: Community Affairs: Leaf Blower Ban Reminder
- 00:56:04: Public Works: Grant Funding for Watershed Analysis
- 00:57:45: Public Works: NJ DOT Grant Application for Madison Street
- 00:58:56: Safe Routes to School Contract Modification
- 01:00:04: Department of Public Works Updates
- 01:00:51: Planning and Development Committee Update
- 01:01:56: Public Comment: Library Issue and Staff Conduct


Part: 1

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To the flag of the United States of America and to the reps, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. The notice requirements of the open public meetings act as amended by public

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law 2015 chapter 72 have been satisfied with respect to this meeting of the mayor and council of the burough of Glenidge. Specifically, the time, date, and location were included in the meeting notice posted on the bureau's official website at www. glenridgej.org

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at least 48 hours prior to this meeting. The agenda and public handouts for this meeting can be viewed online at www. glenridgeenj.org. >> Madame clerk, could you do the roll call, please? >> Le

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>> here. >> Law >> here. >> Zim >> here. >> Terriiano >> here. >> Meer >> here. >> Moody >> here. Mayor, we have a >> Thank you so much. Um, I do not have any remarks from the mayor. Uh we have the minutes

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of the April 277th meeting. Uh may I have a motion to accept those minutes? >> I'll move. >> And you've heard the motion by councelor Tiano. May I have a second? >> I'll second. >> Heard the motion by councelor Tiano,

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seconded by councelor Moody. Any discussion? >> Seeing none, madam clerk, please call the role. Hi >> Law. >> Hi >> Zimi. >> Hi >> Tiana. >> Hi >> Mayer. >> Hi >> Moody. >> Hi.

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>> Mayor. Motion carry. >> Any written communications? Madam clerk. >> Not at the moment. Mayor. >> Okay. Thank you. Um nothing from the mayor. This is an opportunity for comments of the public.

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uh please come up to microphone, state your name and address and um if you can limit to three minutes that would be appreciated. >> Good good evening. Gordon Lev, 131 Hillside Avenue here in town. Couple of

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just good things, no bad things. >> Thank you. >> Um >> yeah, >> I wanted to I wanted to Shout out to Mike Z. >> That

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in no time at all was a concern of mine taken care of or it's being taken care. >> He did. >> It's being taken care of. Now you know why he wasn't doing other things. But seriously, behind me is the lofts and

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they pay no attention. and the home the homeowners don't seem to care either uh about the back of the building, but the back of the building faces my backyard and my neighbors. And there is ivy growing up the sides of

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their building. Half of it is Irish. What is what's the English ivy? And the other one is poison ivy. >> And it is 40 feet in the air. It's everywhere. I've been meaning to take care of this for a couple of years. Apparently this

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winter it got all its juice together up there and it just moved even further and it's going under um one of the gates etc. So uh I brought this to the attention of the town and

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notice was put out to get the board of health which is in Bloomfield to take a look. No sooner had that call gone out than this uh was it Stephanie? I think Steph um and her uh

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other person uh with her and they took a look and they said, "Yep, that's poison ivy." And I was glad to know that they knew it and they needed to get in touch with the HOA, I gather. Well, apparently somebody did. And this is moving right along. They had They were going to give

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them 10 days to take a look at it. Um, and my next door neighbor Jod Stigliano saw somebody with a she thought was sort of like a hazmat suit back there yesterday or so. >> So, we'll keep you informed if this is all taken care of, but what I'm also

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leading to is how and I'm not sure where how to approach this. They do not care about the back of the building. I mean, they just don't. And you can come look for it. look and see what I'm talking about. It's not horrible, but it's declining and it's continually every

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year getting a little more uh rotted. >> They don't seem to take care of the fact they just don't they don't I don't know the people who have poison ivy growing over their windows. I question, you know, why they don't

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question about that again. So, a thank you to Mike and the town and Bloomfield Health Department. I just thought some good news and let's see how it goes. Um, another thank you. See, I told you I'd go. >> I'm looking at your cards, but yeah.

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>> Okay, quick one. A um I want to thank the town for having the seniors lunches. We had never gone to them and now we're going every month. And uh Jim Callen does a fabulous job. I mean, fabulous really. And everybody has

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a wonderful time. We have made new friends on great >> hillside Avenue who have lived there 47 years, 52 years and we're now we're now meeting them and it's been a very nice moment and we've spent time. We've gone

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out to other dinners now. Uh so it's working. >> It's all good news. That's great. And Jim is terrific and I want to thank the town for supporting it. Um, I don't see anybody else here from there, but >> we'll make sure Jim knows. >> I'm sorry.

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>> We'll make sure Jim knows. >> Um, >> and Gordon, I've just got to chime in and say they've been a godsend for my mom because she's very shut in other than those. So, I agree with you that he's struck upon a >> I don't know if anyone had ever said,

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you know, that it's really very >> it's really an important anchor. >> I I'm I'm pleased to hear. >> Thanks for saying >> just putting it on. I want to put things up just a few things on the record. Anyhow, um you know they take shop, yoga classes, uh the library tech, etc., etc.

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Um the only thing I ask that you look into and we've gone over this not maybe each year just about alerting the community that they are responsible for cutting back their shrubs from the

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sidewalk >> because I go for walks lots of walks and you have to sometimes almost walk into the street. Well, you do have to walk into the street. So, it really needs to be pushed and not just a side highlight.

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Um, it's for clearance with cars coming by you. You want to be able to stay on the sidewalk. >> I ask you do every and anything you can to alert the community that it's their responsibility and we don't want to stick at you for not doing it. You know, make it a money sink if it comes if it

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has to in my eyes. Anyhow, thank you for your uh for what you do for the community as always. Thanks for bringing good news. >> Just love it here always. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. >> All right.

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No other public comment. We'll close that section and turn it over to councelor Leo um for finance and administration committee. >> Uh yes. Thank you, Madame Mayor. I have a full finance and administration agenda this evening with some resolutions and

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presentation. Um, let me start off as we usually do with resolution 86-26, the bills list. Um, the bills list uh it's a relatively modest one since we're not collecting

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taxes and passing them on to the board at this time. But we do have 162,000 in the current fund, 176,000 in the general capital fund, most of which is for road construction. Uh, and you can see the other amounts

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there in the resolution. So, I move resolution 86-26. >> You've heard the motion by councelor Lewit. May I have a second? >> I'll second. >> The motion by council, seconded by council law. Any discussion? Seeing none, madam clerk, please call

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the role. >> I lo >> I. >> Zimi. >> Hi. >> Triiano. >> Hi. >> Mayer. >> Hi. >> Moody. >> Hi. May your motion carry. Thank you. >> Um, next, Madame Mayor, I offer

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resolution 87-26. This is a resolution to authorize the reading of the 2026 municipal budget by title only at the public hearing since we have satisfied the requirements of

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state law to do so. >> You heard the motion by councelor Lewitz. May I have a second? >> I'll second. There's a motion by councelor Lewood, seconded by councelor Tyrion. Madame clerk, please call the role. >> Leave. >> I lo.

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>> Simei >> I. >> Tiano. >> Hi. >> Meer >> I. >> Moody. >> I. >> May your motion carry. >> Thank you. So now we have a budget presentation. All right. We're going to come into the looking for this.

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That's fine. view. Thank you. There we go. Okay. All right. Well, thank you everybody for coming to listen to the municipal budget presentation.

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Although I'm quite certain that that's not the only reason to uh to run through this video. So uh this presentation is roughly divided up into five parts

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roughly divided up into five parts. Next slide please. First we're going to run through the process of adopting the budget. Uh next we're going to touch on the goals and objectives of the budget process in Glen

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Ridge. Uh the centerpiece of this presentation is to run through our municipal budget. Um that is the budget of the burrow of Glen Ridge separate and apart from the board of education

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in town. and then the water utility which is a separate uh item as well as the swimming pool utility again separate from the main budget municipal budget.

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So moving to the next page, the budgeting process began last year with our CFO Matt Lar monitoring and analyzing the world's finances and providing updates to the

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administration and to us on the town council. Uh let me pause here and just say that um this budget a lot of hands but the one person who deserves the credit for marshalling this whole

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process as well as this presentation is Matt Lar our CFO so Matt thank you very much so um late in the year the departments met with fur administrator Mike Kelly

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and CFO Mery to review the current year budgets and discuss budget requests for this year. Uh early this year, the finance committee met to discuss the bureau of finances, capital projects, and operating goals. Um now, we've just

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been through a process of budget introduction where the proposed budget was prevent presented for introduction by us on the council. And now, uh these are the next steps in the process.

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So a month ago uh on April 13th the budget was uh introduced. The annual financial and annual debt statements have been filed with the state and we introduced a cap bank

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ordinance. That's the ordinance that allows us to um sort of exploit the difference between a 2% and a 3% cap and bank the difference for future years. uh we introduced the budget and also

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posted a userfriendly budget on the burough uh website for people to to review. Uh now for the last month we've been through a process where the budget was submitted for review by the state. Uh we've gotten through that. The

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summary was posted online and in our last meeting on the 27th of April, we adopted the cap bank ordinance. So now tonight here we are at the public hearing uh and the final adoption of the

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budget. So this this hearing must be held prior to the adoption vote uh and not less than 28 days from the date of introduction. So we are within a tight timeline. Our budgeting philosophy has stayed very

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consistent throughout the years. First of all, we're following a longterm approach. Um and you'll of that later on in the presentation of how longterm our approach is, but we want to be sustainable and balance that with

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providing a high level of service and maintaining predictable property taxes. Uh we're following a conservative uh accounting philosophy or conservative accounting practice uh wherein we uh

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although we don't follow a GAP, we have a modified cash basis for accounting that we do follow. Uh our fund balance policy is uh taken from the government finance officers association. They

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recommend maintaining a total fund balance of as high as 25% of annual general fund expenditures and we've always uh finally uh Glenidge is and remains a

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because of our history of conservative debt issuance which you will see detailed in the following pages and our pay as you go capital financing. Inflation is a thing that has been on

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everyone's mind. Uh it's certainly resurfaced this year and it's spiked a couple of years ago. Um so here you can see um that the municipal tax levy has been remarkably steady even while uh

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inflation was spiking in 2022 and you know we'll see what's happening with inflation this year. Obviously some items have spiked up quite a bit and we're trying to maintain a steady

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trajectory of the tax So to put numbers on it, inflation has since 2019 inflation has 25%. Our tax levy has risen 18.7%.

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So so we kept under the uh under the rate of inflation or at least did not follow the the spike in 2022. Moving on to the next page. Um here you can see the um

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split or the the path taken by the three major elements that taxpayers fund. There's the municipal tax levy again having gone up 18.7%.

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Uh the board of education um roughly around the same the county of took a a dip a couple of years ago. Uh that's because of the

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relative effects of surge in development elsewhere in the county of Essex that kind of redistributed the tax base in the county. Um and that process may be regular regularizing a little bit to

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judge by the 2025 trajectory. Um, I always love this. I don't know why, but it's just fun to make a comparison. Uh, so looking back on those on those um

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numbers of historical tax increases in Glen, you can see that we average just a hair under 3%. And on this chart, you can a number of other towns uh to see how we compare.

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Our immediate neighbors are in the same neighborhood. Bluefield averaged a 3.4% increase. Montlair averaged a 2.6% uh increase. Uh on the high side, Caldwell was up about 7 and a half%

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on average annually. on the low side, Roseand uh where a lot of that new uh construction occurred uh was up about 1%. So that's really speaking to the impact of redistributing the tax burden

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based on development patterns. As far as a comparison of the uh municipal uh budgets or the municipal tax levies uh in the past five years, um Glen Ridge increased by 14.8%

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between 2020 and 2025. Uh by comparison, Bloomfield was up about 17%. Uh Montlair was up by 12.9%. Um in one of the next slides you'll see

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uh that this is not the whole story uh because um Glen Ridge goes into far less debt than most of the other towns in these areas. So you might think okay you know 13% is better than 14.8% but it's

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not the whole story because indebtedness is obviously putting a burden on future generations and and future councils for that matter. So here's the debt to budget ratio and

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of the comparable towns in this chart, we are nearly at the at the bottom with a 17% ratio of outstanding debt to the current fund budget. Uh by comparison,

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Bloomfield is at 71% Montlair at % on the high side of the comparison level is at 200% which could be quite worrisome. Lauren Park is all the way at the bottom uh with 14%. So, so this is really uh the

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manifestation of the long-term pay as you go approach. We are very very conservative with debt raising in so that's that's part of the sustainable vision and that's part of the triplea

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that kind of approach. Now how does this break down for the average household? Um on on the left you can see that for the average household paying uh 23,673 annually in taxes the board of education

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is taking the majority of that with $14,416. Um to switch up the order uh the municipal budget is next with $5,200. Uh and the county with $373,700.

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Uh the library which is um which is broken out separately $348 per average household. So uh our municipal budget which this body is responsible for accounts for 21%

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of the taxes that are raised from uh all of us collectively as residents in the town. Uh the board of education is the largest share 61% 17% goes to the county uh to do county

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things maintaining avenue all those lovely parks and arenas and what have you. Uh and finally the library is about 1% of the total. Uh in 2026, uh we've had a municipal property revaluation. Uh this has been a

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big topic of conversation because since the last revaluation, uh the the value of homes basically doubled in the town. So that kind of shakes things up. Um to take a step back, a revaluation updates all the

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property values to reflect the current market conditions. It's done so that we have a fair uh allocation fair assessments and a fair ultimately a fair allocation of the tax burden. Uh and it's required that we do this period

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to maintain an equitable taxation. The revaluation should be revenue neutral. Uh in other words, it's not changing the total tax collected. It's just tweaking and adjusting how much is paid by each household. Uh impact on

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taxpayers depends on how your value your home value or your property value uh varies compared to everyone else's. So if you are tracking the average then you'll have an average tax increase. If

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your home went up more than the average you'll pay more. If your home decreased or went up less than the average you pay less. So again, revaluation redistributes the tax burden fairly based on the value of properties. It

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doesn't create new taxes. It only reallocates them. So uh to put numbers to it uh whereas the assessed taxable value of all properties in town was $1.73 billion

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last year. Uh this year it is roughly $3 billion. So not quite doubling but tremendous uh amount. And you know, of course, anecdotally, we've all seen crazy sales prices and property values

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in town. Uh, the residential share of the property revaluation has gone up because the nonresidential properties in town have not appreciated in value as much as our

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homes have. Uh, we could talk about that all day, but the bottom line is that the resial share moving up from 89.5% of the uh total property value to about 92%.

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Um the apartments uh in town uh they've moved up from 1.35% of the value to 6.7%. Um the commercial space in town uh

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meanwhile has declined from 9% to 6% of the And this is not unique to I think this is a development that is essentially shared by all of New Jersey or our

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corner of it. Um so key ships significant increase in the overall valuation. Um the multif family properties gained substantially resial properties are now a larger share of the

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tax base. Now moving to the municipal budget um based on this 73% higher net taxable value uh and an average value that has jumped

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from 675,000 to 1.2 million or 70% higher. Um the this of course does not really affect at all what the average municipal

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tax is, but it is allocating a bit more to res. So the average residential uh property uh paid um again municipal taxes only not the total

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tax paid but the municipal portion paid uh $5,353 in 2025. now 55,491 in 2026 for a $138 increase. So that's I don't know about

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2.6% higher uh tax amount to to go with the overall municipal tax levy 2.58% of

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And because of the strikingly higher total value of all the properties in town, the municipal tax rate dramatically falls from 771 to 0457. Uh but again, you know, that number

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itself is just to sort of relativize uh what everyone is paying on the municipal tax. It's not changing the tax level. Now looking at the uh the revenue and the expense size

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um as we already uh discussed the municipal taxes going up from 13.3 million to just under 13.7 million. Uh we're budgeting um about 950,00

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and municipal receipts. So items outside the municipal tax such as for example a pilot payment uh like the pilot payment that we're getting from the fund balance uh amount staying about

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the same. The the library tax is going up quite a bit and this is something that is really set by state law. So the last year and this year uh library tax amounts are basically the minimum set by

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state law. Uh and those are actually based in part on the valuation of properties in town. So the library is enjoying uh the benefit of these valuation spikes

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uh if you will and and then there's a smaller amount for grants that we expect to receive. Um as far as the expenses go uh the largest item is the salary and benefits of those who are carrying out

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the municipal services in town. uh the administration, the police force, the um uh DPW and so on. Um and uh so that

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amount is going up mainly according to negotiated contracts. There's also a health insurance amount in there um which has gone up quite a bit although uh we dodged the bullet by getting out

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of the general state health insurance fund that's really gone up 32% or 36% uh in favor of an alternative fund that's only going up by 20%. So um so we're quite fortunate there. Um and then

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finally the capital statuto uh line items going up by about 350,000 uh this year. Um because the main function of the town is

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to provide municipal services. It may be helpful to think about the cost of it in terms of a monthly service bill. for the average household. So if you look at the pie chart on the left, uh the largest

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portion of the bill is for public safety. So that's mainly police uh and fire suppression services. Um followed by garbage and utilities. So uh garbage

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collection, recycling, uh sewer management and so on. insurance is 11%. That's a major portion. And if we go to the table on the right, then we see what each of

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these things are for an average household. So on average, we're spending $125 a month to uh maintain public safety. We're spending $67 a month for

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artist and recycling collection. $51 to ensure all of that. Um, and $40 for statuto expenses, $28 for uh capital

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expenditures that are necessary to continue to provide quality services. $30 for parks and recreation, $28 for public works, $23 for our

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library voted by the way the best in the state and uh $23 for admin and $42 for other making a monthly service bill of $457.

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I'm going to say this is about twice the amount of my cable bill and I think I'm getting more than twice the value here. Um as I had mentioned uh the primary uh budget driver this year has been the uh the health benefits

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the health insurance uh fund is uh going up by 18% compared to last year but that still is far better than the state fund which was uh going up by 36% and

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fortunately we exited a couple of months ago. This is an issue being faced by every municipality in the state of New Jersey, not unique to rich. Looking ahead, um, we're looking at redesigning the medical

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plan to try to optimize the costs, uh, educating and incentivizing Burma employees to, uh, gravitate to lower cost plans and also paying attention to collective

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bargaining or this issue in collective bargaining. Some of the other budget drivers that we face are the collective bargaining agreements that cover most of the staff in town. Uh these contractual increases

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and staffing costs will continue to drive growth. Uh attrition from retirements really does not affect the overall number. We also have funded additional police uh positions that are necessary for succession planning.

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that is relatively small where every person makes a difference. Um the library appropriation as I mentioned you know this is a generous $97,000 year overyear increase but that's by by

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state law that's that's not that's not our choice. We have the cost of the townwide revaluation which is being advertised over the next five years. Uh utilities

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that's an issue. Um, inflation is is hitting that. Solid waste and recycling is also hit by cost increases. And the fire agreement with our leaders in Montlair has a series of annual

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increases built into it. Now some of the uh strengths and opportunities that we see we can increase revenue in certain cases from alternative tax agreements. Um we

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are reviewing the uniform construction code to optimize the revenue there. And we have parking uh permits and parking fees that we can that that we can adjust. Uh we've

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allocated $675,000 toward capital needs in the bureau. We've got road projects that you might have seen going on in town and much if not all of the funding for those comes from grants from the state department of

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transportation and the community development block grants. Um finally we uh have to invest in the future by setting aside money for storms and snow events reserves for accumulated

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absences and reserves for dead service. though our debt may be. So the current trend to sum it up is that expenses are strongly increasing year over year. Non- tax revenues have remained relatively flat and the tax

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levy is representing a growing share of the budget. Uh the key issue that we face is that user based revenues are not keeping costs. So those need to be looked at and services benefiting specific users are

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increasingly funded by the general tax base. That's obviously an imbalance that needs to be addressed. What are the opportunities that we see? Well, first we can reevaluate user fees to better reflect the actual costs. We

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can compare ourselves to other municipalities to see what's uh what's appropriate and what is sort of standard. Uh we can expand cost recovery for non-residents who use public

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services in as well as targeted users and we can explore new revenue sources tied to demand for services. So that's the big picture for the general funding. Now looking at the

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water utility and the smooth utility both of those are in in good shape. Um the water utility budget in total $2,685,000 of which

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is from water or the monthly water bills that we all pay. We are operating in a net positive state. So the water utility service is

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sustainable. Uh we're moving ahead with the water replacement project which is uh all finished I think except for very very few. Just about everybody in town got a got a

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new water meter. So this is making it uh this is enabling us to measure use more accurately and more let's say on demand. Um and we're negotiating rates with

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Montlair through which our water is flowing. Um and we're expecting an increase in the 26 budget. The swimming pool uh is also quite

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liquid. Um thank you in fact a selfquidating municipal utility. It's fully funded by membership revenue. So the swimming pool is not

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subsidized at all by general tax revenues. All the debt that was ever put on to build the swimming pool and update the swimming pool that's all paid off and

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we are allocating $100,000 towards capital needs including replacing the deck at the pool. So the pool is in good financial shape and we have the opportunity to make

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improvements in it. On the downside, the minimum wage is continuing to go up. So, we have to take that. So, that brings me to the end of the budget presentation. And let me add

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particularly for those who may be watching this on YouTube or Facebook that if you have questions about the budget, you can go to the town website uh glenridgej.org

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or you can CFO atj.org and CFO sitting right here uh will be happy to answer your question. So thank you very much. >> So I guess we go back to the regular

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order >> unless there's any questions folks want to ask um in this informal part of the >> question. All right. Thank you again. As far as the colors did not come out on

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the bottom of the ground, Thank you, sir. How do >> without having people see it twice a day? I didn't know that. >> Susan >> Susan >> Susan. >> Okay. Thank you again councelor Lewitz

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for the presentation. Um, did you want to move back through uh the budget work? Okay. >> Yes, Madame Mayor. Um, sorry you're not with me yet. >> There's more. >> But wait, there's more. >> But wait, but wait more. >> Um, yes. Uh, next, I would like to move

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resolution 88-26. Uh, this is a resolution to amend the municipal budget. The the main items in this amendment are um $46,500 less in

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>> Oh, I'm sorry, Councilman Kitz. I might have messed something up here. Uh Madame Clerk, do we have to open the public hearing on the budget first before we get to the resolution? >> Um well, you can explain the resolution.

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Okay. >> Well, we doing the amendment first. >> It's up to you. >> No, we have to >> Let's do the amendment first and then we'll do the Okay. Thank you very much. >> So, um

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yes. So, so resolution 88-26 to amend the budget, the the main items of which are uh $46,500 less in surplus anticipated and uh $65,000 more in payment in LE of taxes

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from the Claris. So, those those two modest adjustments in the um municipal budget. So, I move resolution 88-26. >> You heard the motion by Councelor Lewitz. May I have a second? >> I'll second.

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>> You've heard the motion by councelor Lewitz, seconded by councelor Zimit. Any um discussion? >> Madam clerk, please call the role. >> I may >> I

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motion carry. >> Thank you. Okay. So then we'll Okay. All right. So with no um I'll open up the public hearing on the

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2026 municipal budget. This being the time and place for members of the public to address the mayor and council regarding the proposed 2026 budget. Um may I have a motion to open the public hearing? I move that we open the public hearing.

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>> I've heard the motion by um councelor Lewitz. May I have a second to open? >> I'll second. >> Thank you. Councelor Law, uh the public hearing on the 2026 municipal budget is open. If you have any comments, please come to the mic.

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>> Okay. Seeing seeing no comments on the public budget, um I will uh call the municipal budget uh public meeting closed. The public hearing closed. Um and may I have a motion

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to close the public hearing on the budget. >> Mayor, I I move that we close the budget hearing. >> You've heard the motion by council. May I have a second? >> I'll second. Mayor >> the motion by councel, seconded by councelor Tiano. Um, madame clerk,

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please call the role. >> Leave >> I. >> Long, >> hi. >> Zimi, >> hi. >> Triiano, >> hi. >> Meer >> I. >> Moody, >> I. >> May your motion carry. Thank you so much. And now, Madame Mayor, I would like to

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offer resolution 89-26, adoption of the 2026 municipal budget by title, as we previously voted. >> You've heard the motion by councelor Lewit. May I have a second? >> I'll second. >> You've heard the motion by councelor

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Lewit, seconded by councelor Zimit. Madam, um, any discussion? Madam clerk, please call the role. >> Leave. >> Hi. >> Long. >> Hi. >> Zimi. >> Hi. >> Tiano. >> Hi. >> Meer. >> Hi. >> Moody. >> I.

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>> May your motion carry. >> All right. And finally, madame mayor, I have resolution, excuse me, resolution 19-26 to authorize the collector of taxes to

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refund payment to uh the listed taxpayers due to duplicate payment. Uh and there are a couple of taxpayers listed there who are due a refund because of duplicate payments. Heard the motion by councelor Lewitz.

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May I have a second? >> I'll second. >> Heard the motion by councelor Lewitz. Seconded by councelor Moody. Any discussion? Seeing none, madam clerk, please call the role. >> Leave. >> I >> may. >> Hi. >> Moody.

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>> Hi. >> May your motion carry. >> Thank you so much. Thank you again everyone for all your work on the budget. Um, so we really appreciate it. All the materials will be online for anyone who wishes to dive in a bit deeper.

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Um, with that, councelor Law, public safety committee. >> Uh, yes, Madame Mayor. I'd like to take a moment to mark an important and, uh, celebrity for our community. Uh today marks the six years since the passing of Glenn Ridge police officer Charles

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Charles Roberts who died in the line of duty in May 2020 after contracting COVID 19. Uh Officer Roberts served Glen Rich for two decades not just as a police officer but as a neighbor, coach, mentor

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and friend to so many residents. Uh he simply embodied what community police officing is meant to be. uh six years after his passing, his loss is still felt by his family, by the members of our police department as well as the

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entire bureau. Uh we remember Officer Roberts for his dedication, kindness, and heroism. Um on Monday, there'll be the annual officer Roberts uh golf outing fundraiser uh at the Glenidge Country Club. If you're

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interested in attending this event, uh please contact the bureau administrator for more information about the event. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Uh as far as official business, uh resolution number 9126,

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it relates to the Glenidge department. uh police department has determined there's a need to purchase two 2006 Ford police utility interceptor vehicles for patrol use. Uh these purchases are a long time coming as such per purchaser

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made through a cooperative purchase agreement. Cherry Hill Winter Ford located in Cherry Hill, New Jersey is a participating vendor in the uh New Jersey state cooperative. Uh, mayor therefore be it resolved um that the

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Burrow Glenn uh here that the mayor and Burough Council hereby authorized the purchase of two Ford Police vehicles for patrol use by the Glenidge Police Department uh from Cherry Deo Winter Ford uh in the amount not to exceed

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$193,526. Madame Mayor, I see the resolution. >> You've heard the motion by council law. May I have a second? >> I'll second. >> Heard the motion by councelor Law, seconded by councelor Leitz. Any discussion? >> Seeing none, madam clerk, please call

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the law. >> I >> hi. >> Siano. >> Hi. >> Mayer. >> Hi. >> Moody. >> Hi. >> May your motion carry. >> Thank you. >> That's all I have. >> Council, community affairs and public relations.

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>> Uh No formal resolutions this evening, Madame Mayor. Just a few things I'd like to mention. Um, first of all, coming out of our townwide survey that we did, there were people saying you should help us understand where your money goes, where our money goes, excuse me. And, uh, I think councelor Levitz did a great

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job of articulating that this evening. So, thank you, Council Leavitz. So, just to reiterate that the budget is up on our website, what he presented. Um, we will also be overlaying the audio that uh so you can get the the walkthrough kind of like a museum tour. You can put on headphones and listen to them talk

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through. Uh, but in all seriousness, it'll help provide context for those uh flipping through. So, um, we heard you that you want to know more about where your money is being spent and uh, again, we're trying to trying to make that clear to everyone. Um, just a couple events. Uh so this Saturday is the

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ecoair in town 10 to 4 uh on obviously Ridgewood Avenue in front of the train station in front of the high school that that whole section there. Um probably the biggest event in town maybe maybe a race I don't know we don't need to argue which one the biggest is but a very

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popular event. There will be uh food vendors obviously lot of food vendors obviously lots of arts and crafts vendors people showing uh various um ecological things that you can do for your home uh as well as the high school

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art displays that will be up. So that's 10 to 4 on Saturday. Um also just be aware from a traffic perspective. Uh next Thursday at the women's club is the Bloomfield Glenidge Rotary Barbecue. Um, and that is uh not only a fundraiser for

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a new ambulance, for the volunteer ambulance squad, but they will also be honoring uh one Peter Hughes for his public service, his 25 years of public service. Um, so would encourage people to look into that. Um, and then finally, I just want to remind people that as of

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May 15th, get your loud leaf blowing done now because as of May 15th, the leaf blower ban is back in effect. So, uh, I just want to make sure that's on people's radars and also let them know that if you're if you're using a service

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and they're using a gas leaf blower, you could potentially be fined. So, make sure you tell your um your service that they need to be using electrically blowers uh after the 15th. So, that is all I have this evening. Madame Mayor, >> that's a lot. Thank you. Um, please

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don't email us about the biggest event in town. Just send it to Council Yeah, if you complain, >> not a contest. I was just It's a very popular event. Say that. >> The survey validates your >> one one of the most popular events. >> That's true. Um, Council Tamiano, public

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works utility. >> Yes. Um, good evening, Mayor. I have a few items. First, I want to offer um ordinance 1836. It's New Jersey special legislative grant funding. It's the second reading and reading for adoption. The bureau has been awarded a $500,000

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grant from the state of New Jersey through the special legislative grant program to fully fund a watershed analysis. The funds will be used for a comprehensive water analysis to evaluate storm water management, flooding risks, and environmental impacts and infrastructural resilience within the

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region. The ordinance accepts the grant and um appropriates the funds for this intended purpose. With that, may I offer approval. >> Great. >> Madame Mayor, this is for the record

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that this ordinance is having published and posted according to the law. I declare this meeting open for discussion of this ordinance and this ordinance only. This being in the time and place for the public hearing. Seeing no comments forthcoming, I

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declare this public hearing closed. So, Madame Mayor, I move to have this ordinance adopted. >> May I have a second for the adoption? >> I'll second. >> Thank you. Um, seconded by councelor Moody. You've heard the motion by councelor Taniano. Seconded by councelor

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Moody. Um, madame clerk, please call the role. >> Leave. >> I. Long. >> Hi. >> Ziming. >> Hi. >> Tubiano. >> Hi. >> May >> I have

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Thank you so much. >> All right, Madame Mayor. Next, I have resolution 9226. This authorizes the NJ DOT local transportation project fund, LT PF, grant application. Um, it authorizes the burrow to submit a

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grant application to the New Jersey Department of Transportation under the local transportation projects fund. The proposed um project includes the installation of an underground storm water management system and the milling and paving of Madison Street. The total estimate for this project cost is

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$328,800. >> Heard the uh motion by councelor Tiano. May I have a second? >> Second. >> Uh you've heard the motion by councelor Taniano, seconded by councelor Lewoods. Any discussion? Seeing none. Madam clerk, please call

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>> I. >> L. >> Hi. >> Zim. >> Hi. >> Tubiano. >> Hi. >> May >> I. >> May your motion carry. >> Thank you. >> Um, next we have um resolution 9326.

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This authorizes the safe routes to school contract modification. Number one. Glenn Ridges execute this contract modification with NV5 for the safe roads to school preliminary engineering study. This additional scope of work includes

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storm water and drainage design preparation of horizontal layouts for proposed improvements and the rightway services. The modification increases the contract amount by $182,328. Addition additional work has been authorized by the Federal Highway

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Administration fund and is fully reimbur reimburseable through the grant program. >> Thank you. You've heard the motion by councelor Tiano. May I have a second? >> Heard the motion by councelor Tiano, seconded by councelor Zimmit. Any discussion?

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Seeing none, madam cl. >> Hi. >> Hi. >> Hi. >> Hi. Mayer. >> Hi, >> Mu. >> Hi, >> Mayor. Motion carry. >> Thank you so much. >> And mayor, some other just quick from the Department of Public Works. Um they

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continue the work on shade tree planting, taking delivery of 12 um backwater trees. They're cutting and trimming burrow properties and parks. They're working to maintain our athletic fields as per the field schedule. Um they perform water meter inspections and

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water meter changes as needed. and they're doing water sampling part of the New Jersey Water District Water Supply Commission and they're also working on cleaning and maintaining our catch bases. So, this is work that's ongoing. Just want to give them a shout out for that good work. >> Yeah, it's a lot of work in the spring

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to get everything ready. >> Thank you. That's it's very comprehensive. Um, Councelor Meyer, parks and recreation. >> Uh, no report this evening, Madame Mayor. >> Councelor Moody, planning and development. >> I have no resolutions to offer. Uh,

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Madame Mayor, I want to thank uh, John Melissa for continuing to wrap up administrative matters regarding affordable housing. Uh, and I want to thank Eric Deline. The bureau is yet again getting highlighted for our

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efforts at waste reduction and will be presenting at Sustainable New Jersey on Friday for our municipal compost program. >> Good luck with that presentation. appreciate you representing the town.

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>> Many thanks and that's all. >> Come on down to the arts and eco the largest event in town. >> Um, administrator Z Kelly, any remarks? >> Nothing at this time. Thank you, Mayor. >> Councelor Melissa, >> no. Mayor,

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>> the other counselor, >> anything from our police department? >> No report. >> Nothing. >> Nothing. Okay, Madam Clerk. >> Okay. >> No, there's no new or unfinished business. So, at this point, this is the

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second um opportunity for comments from the public. If you would like to have comments from the public, please come up to the microphone and state your name. >> Y must be a comment. >> Well, we can or you can come up after the meeting. Whatever your preference

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is. Yeah. Hello everybody. >> Hey Wilson living in Claris. Um my little complaint I have which is not little but it's not that big but um the library um there's a couple of

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issues as far as we all know when the library closed obviously it should be posted most libraries in the country particularly this library for whatever the reason um I guess some of the staffing don't like the fact that if it gets close to the time of closing if there's anybody that may be a little bit

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uh let's say maybe delay the closing 8:00 or close to 8. They have an issue with that. Um I have personally acquired uh been going for years, but I personally encountered an issue three weeks ago approximately uh 20 days ago.

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And um this staff is always nice, always good, uh notorized stuff, whatever case staffer that's there, Miss Helen. um she helped me but I didn't think the fact that uh two weeks later it'll be a retaliation situation where because she

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helped me and it got to about five after 8 I'm assuming staff got a little mad about that like oh you know why he uh still here about cases mind you they're doing their best to help me out doing facts doing a lot of stuff to help a lot of people out um I have an organization I deal with

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veterans um lot most of the people are veterans be honest with you Some of them are not in good spots. They have a lot of mental health issues. I'll put it to you that way. >> I'm included. Anybody that served this country as long as I did, you going to have some type of problems. Just come

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with the territory. Family issues, all that. Nobody's uh to me above that. I think everybody suffers that um anxiety of some kind or PTSD, a lot of stuff. But again, when I go into the library, I see a lot of people come in there and I

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don't really the walks of life that I used to see in the past years. I don't know what happened. Maybe they got the stuff together. Maybe they say, "I don't want to use this library." Maybe I go up the street to Montlair. I don't know. Bloomfield right there, that little library. I don't. But I do know that when it comes down to adults, there is a

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way how you handle business and conduct yourself with adults versus children. We all would agree with that. All right. I'm 48 years old, so I'm not expecting that I would be in a debate with a woman that's probably as old as my mother. About uh the timing of closing, and we're talking about a half an hour

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before the actual library closes to where she in turn tried to weaponize the police. Mind you, I was an officer himself, federal. She weaponized them to come there to I guess do some straightening with me, but it didn't work out the way she thought. But again, when the officer came, he had the body cameras. I said, "Make sure you have it

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on." He came and said, "Oh, well, you know, she was saying somebody held him up before uh something." The case is there was an issue. I said, "Well, the only issue was there was a woman that was doing her best to help me out, even if it made her come out a little late and the staff turned around doing what they came fax machine was a little issue

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with communication. You know, there's a lot of stuff going on." And also, one of you counselor said something about the affordability with housing. If anybody knows, you know, there's only about maybe eight or 10 different uh from agencies, but they the only ones you can

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actually go to to get these affordable units. >> I was blessed to get one over there. >> I'm helping out as many people as I can. I don't think it's right that, hey, know I'm going to have a problem with doing that because somebody doesn't understand quite what I'm doing because they see a pile here, they see a pile here, a pile there. Not on the floor, nothing like

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that. I'm not even utilizing a computer, but I'm mostly utilizing the fax machine or copying documents and stuff to help people that I'm helping out. And um you know that's basically what my my grip is that I didn't understand how this woman would think that was appropriate to half an hour before closing and say well yeah

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you gave us that problem last time. I'm like gave a problem. Let's have a conversation. >> Yeah. >> I never gave their problem. I had a conversation with you. I don't even know if this the other staff is the one that help me. They all shut the computers down at a certain time. Um they even shut down probably a little early that day. But I ain't going to cry about that

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because I wasn't using it anyway. So it wasn't the issue. It was more or less of her come in and say, "Oh, you held us up last time." I said, "So we got to probably help get a little set up a little earlier so we can assure that our 8:00 uh departure will not be impeded." But instead of her saying that to them, she said I gave her a problem and that's

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why I got a problem. You can't come to me and tell me that. I'm not trying to hear that. I'm not I'm not trying to accept none of that. Like it's a way how we should do things. So that's my only concern is that I think that u the library staffing should be probably spoken to about the courtesy and that

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it's important that everybody that comes in here whether they're from town or they're from out of town the freak in front of the library means something right and taxpayers are paying for that so don't give people a problem that's coming in here especially somebody like me I've never gave them a problem we going for years you know even before I

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live in town so I just didn't understand why I thought that was a big deal that she thought it was appropriate as a person that was downstairs from the children's department so she's a supervisor down there I've never had a converation like literally never just maybe high in that too. My dill is always was upstairs

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in the adult section. >> So for her to just come to me the way she did without even a hello and remember the staffing already did their job. They've already shut the computers down. They've already squared away the air, make sure everything was straight. They like you straight. I said I'm straight. They said okay. So it was no problem. It's just that when she came

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upstairs, I guess she felt that she had to do some, you know, instructing and she felt like maybe oh, you know, you were the one that held us up last time. So instead of her saying, "Are you okay? can I help with anything? She was like, "Oh, now you got to start packing up this stuff now." I'm talking about shut off the printer. I couldn't even finish

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what I was doing because I had the operation going. Printer was shut down half an hour early. Um, fax machine was doing whatever it was doing. And then, like I said, the officer came, he was speaking, but at the end of the day, you look at the video, you'll see I'm literally being escorted, even though I'm talking to him, I'm being escorted

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to leave out before 8:00. That's a problem. >> Okay. No, I appreciate you bringing this to our attention. and we just talk briefly and um we can you know connect offline um because I I'm not sure you know like on personnel or you know

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issues with the library. I just want to check in with you Mike like how we can >> that's not my world that's the library world. >> I know so we we want to walk through you like how we have may or may not have oversight with with the library even though we are funding it and that's part

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of our budget but you know councelor >> I'm glad you mention that may because I know you know sometimes the library is not underneath the municipality, but I I know from my my uh digging that this one is. So, that's the reason why I went into trust. I tried to speak to M times. I've sent emails, had an organization

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send her something, the state send her something. She ain't respond to nobody. So, I don't know what that's about, but >> Okay. Well, >> I guess she standing on cool with that. I don't know. >> Well, I don't I don't want to speak for you know, we we this is kind liazison to the library boards. >> Library.

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>> Maybe you can. >> I would just that maybe she just missed the emails. >> But so we that's why I'm saying offline because they do have their own board of directors that oversees that. >> Oh, they do? Okay. Okay. >> Yeah. And so I want to make sure we're explaining that to you and you don't think we're just trying to like

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>> brush you off and like where that goes. So if you we're going to close the meeting right now so if you have a couple minutes afterwards, we can just personally check with you offline and just Yeah. >> No problem. I just want to mention this one thing too that um I did officer that

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uh came there if he can make a synopsis of it basically a little small inquiry about the situation and he didn't really feel as it was necessary that needs to be addressed as well. So I was going to tap the chief about that >> or or whatever the case is. Maybe LT over there. I've seen him in town at the

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um National Night Out if you remember. >> But that could be a little issue because remember he does have the body cam on and you can see the body cam. You'll see her positioning as far as she said I should apologize to her for her telling me to leave early basically. I've never heard that before, but she has a body

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cam. It's there. Plus the library has library has CCTV for say. So whether that video would be cool or the body cam but I just thought it was a little bit Not really to my liking that he didn't like the fact that I was making a synopsis. I said this is a small town. I don't know if you know this one. I don't

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know your relationship. I know how that goes. Been there, done that. I'm not even trying to guess it. I just want to know if the documentation could have been documented just in case. So when I get to a situation like this, they can pull. Oh, okay. I see what happened or whatever the case is. It's all documented. But he I guess he felt it

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wasn't that big of a deal. He said, "Oh, don't worry about it. You know, I don't know her anyway. Just just, you know, just don't want you to hold him up for being late." That's basically what what it was. >> Okay. >> Yeah. >> Okay. >> Thank you. >> No problem. >> All right. Thanks. >> Yeah. Just give us a second and we'll finish. >> Is this a copy agenda for?

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>> Yes. >> Yes. >> Can I have it? >> Yeah. I haven't seen them. >> Oh, you can have you can have it. >> That is for the public. >> Um, okay. Seeing no other public comments, councelor Law, >> yes. I'd like to make a motion to adjourn the meeting. >> All those in favor?

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>> Meeting is all right. Thank you.