e e e e e e e e e e
e e e good evening everyone Madame clerk right back in the meeting say we're going to go right to the city manager's report okay thank you mayor uh up first is a presentation by 3p
cannabis manufacturing mayor council uh my name is Rob depa I'm an attorney at the law firm kot and I represent 3p 3p is before the mayor and Council requesting approval to operate a uh Class 2 cannabis
manufacturing facility in the city uh the property is prezone for the use located at 20 Owens Road I'm going to turn it over to the CEO Colby Piper good evening mayor and Council I'm Colby Piper from 3ps dispensary I'm the CEO
and I created the vision and luckily hopefully today if we V correctly I'll be able to open to in hackin saag um I'm here for any questions or anything have you guys I've seen you guys reviewed the um deck that I have the company what we main processes we're going to be
co-packaging for other brands and we have already have contracts for these Brands our main item that we'll be producing is pre-rolled joints and Infused pre-roll joints we will also produce solventless concentrates as well as Vape cartridges um those will be our
two main main items that we will produce and our third item would be gummies in the future when it comes out the contracts that we currently have require us to fulfill these joint rolling uh for these companies um and that's basically
what we're here to do okay is it just manufacturing or is it cultivation too so in the future we love to cultivate it'll be very good for the business it also be good for hacken sack to add another excise type but currently there's not an available resolution for
cultivation so in the future we would like to present back to this Council um and speak about cultivation for our business and that will happen at the same asset at 20 Owens Road as well so do you have see your potential suppliers you're getting material yes so
the way that the contracts are written that we have now um the actual contract that we're writing for let's say Ms with the other msos they provide us all of the material um and we basically put the material material together into a joint origami format whichever one they asked
us to do so we have all of the sourcing done these msos currently have grow facilities that are up and running and we'll be taking their biomass which is the least potent um material or what we call Waste in cannabis and producing
these pre-roll joints Edibles and concentrates and facility is everything self containing as far as the manufacturing process concerned about or emissions particles right so all packages oh I'm sorry can you hear me
yeah I think that's better I'm sorry all all all packages that we receive and leave are already smell proof in child safe packaging um with manufacturing we use the least potent of the material so the odor will be very very minimal our facility also has no windows and only
doors and it's all concrete so that help keep in the smell and then we will provide any type of ancillary exhaust system or carbon filters that you to minimize the odor to complete have no odor is there any emissions to the outside any emissions of smell odor
there will be no emissions of sell to the outside anybody else I'm sorry yeah can you just maybe just brief the council in terms of where you are in terms of the Cannabis Regulatory Commission approval okay so we have our
conditional license the next step after having our conditional license is to present um our complete package of invest and everything else as well as the city resolution of support to the state and then we will receive our annual license um that process has varied for every individual going
through the CRC timing um but now that the business has slowed down the industry the response time is a lot quicker so it should be about 90 days to receive the annual license and you selected a property in the zone yeah 20 Owens Road is already located in
cannabis overlay Zone that you guys have previously Z it's properly zoned yes Dr second 20 Owens it's Loro right yeah this is lto Cheese Factory um when it comes to security the buildings already secur um it's been Central as it's already has cameras that
are centralized to the local hacking stack Police Department we'll be adding another level of security which will provide interior cameras as well as exterior cameras those cameras will be will be centralized to to the state CRC as well as the hacking police and fire
um the property already has a gate on it for the back so there's security there and then in choosing the property we like the property the best because it's set back behind two building so no one really knows that it's there and you have the synergies of the cheese factory and marijuana so if you
get hungry you're all good so I mean works perfectly the good thing about it is the the side of the building that we're using was used to be used for sausage manufacturer so the building was previously USDA approved we're looking to make it GMP certified um and then get
get it there off and running and oil deliveries coming and going as far as the property's concerned I mean you have security for when products are yeah brought in and could you tell us a little bit about that so the products that we bring in we most likely will pick them up we'll be picking them up with the Sprinter vanand siiz vehicle so
nothing too larger than that the vehicle will be refrigerated and we would have I guess one of our employees with us for the driving based off the state regulations and then security wise in our facility any security that's required by the city by the city we'll have there as well does that building
have a loading zone or is it small enough just carry it so the building currently has five loading docks okay and we have one actually total have six we have one loading dock and the building has five behind it that sort of still uses so okay okay anybody
else nope i' already had conversation okay thank you very much all right thank you very much and just so you're aware gentlemen that that there is a resolution of Municipal support on the agenda tonight um for their consideration so you may want to make sure if you want to stay till till that
gets decided but that is going to be on the formal agenda which is at 8:00 tonight and assuming it's approved I'll get a signed copy to forward to you to get to the CRC real quick what's your projected Revenue so the projected Revenue right
now is when we get to year one we're looking to do about $4 million which is 90,000 to the state at full capacity we're about 20 million um which would be about 370,000 to the city
of hackensac pretty thank you is it the same percentage Steve yes it's 2% 2% cor and and we had because we have another we have two manufacturing licenses you're the second one and I think one of the questions came up because it's easy you know we have one
dispensary where it's easy right they sell to end use cust customers just like any other store but when it comes to you know the purchase of goods that my understanding is there's regulations to make sure there's not self-dealing and and those sort of things to ensure that
you know we're getting the fair 2% of your purchases and from there yeah our our company is all businesso business transactions that are tracked by the metric system of the CRC so we will technically be selling products to hashery to sell um and those be
technically a wholesale format also don't have any other licenses so they wouldn't be doing any self healing no I'm just saying a hypo I'm not suggesting you would but just just it's a little bit harder you like you said if you're selling a marijuana to an endus customer it's like a normal transaction
versus businesses selling right because you need to buy biomass like you said and then you're going to take your product and you're going to sell it to hashery or whatever it is so you know all those can be you know you wanted to play games with it it's a little bit
easier to do that except my understanding is the CRC has put into place I'm not suggesting you would don't get me wrong I'm just saying you know that that the the city's not doing this you know you know out of the goodness of their heart they want to see tax revenue
come in to help the community so that to make sure that we're getting what we expected that if you sell your 20 million that the city gets its you know 400,000 right the the the metric system that is created by the CRC that is used across multiple States tracks the product from seed to sell they make it
pretty hard for things to disappear which is a good thing thank you thanks very much thank you so I real quick I see the building's 20,000 Square ft that's totally utilized by you guys no so if you look at the that plan on the right hand side is about 4,000 square ft okay we'll be
using the right hand side and Mark lto cheese will be still using their left hand side all right and in manufacturing some of these I have some clients who operate on 2500 square F feet you'd be surprised when they have the machines running you know 247 you can operate on
a size like that for manufacturing use your product is small so yeah right it's about 10t line product line abely all right thank you very much thank you all right thank you uh up next is
another presentation this is uh I like to call up Ryan gleon greater Bergen Bergen Community Action Anderson Street historic neighborhood preservation plan year four update good evening mayor and
city council Ryan my name is Ryan gleon I'm the associate vice president of Community Development and real estate at greater Bergen I'm in coordination with my boss Mike Lem andola we act as the coordinators for the mppp program in hackin saac uh as well as a neighboring Garfield uh prior to my time at greater
Bergen I worked for the njdca as a grant administrator for the MPP program um which included hackin sack uh I'm here tonight to provide an update on the proc progress of NPP in the Anderson Street historic neighborhood as we enter year
four of this transformative initiative um just some very brief background on NPP it's a state funded initiative designed to support Economic Development enhance the visual appeal of communities and Foster stronger economies through strategic investments in what DCA calls
threatened but viable uh commercial districts throughout the state um each grantee Municipal grantee is awarded $125,000 a year over the course of a 5-year implementation plan with a 20% Municipal match uh by targeting specific
areas for revitalization MPP is designed to mobilize creative implementations that create attractive walkable and thriving business districts that are set to improve the quality of life for hackin sacks residents and visitors um there are currently only 40 municipalities in the state that have an
MPP designation and hackin Sack was awarded in 2022 since its designation hacken sack NPP is focused on a multipronged approach that combines beautification public art small business support and quality of life improvements and thanks
to the strong collaboration between the city of hackensac Greater Bergen business owners and residents the program has already delivered tangible results in making Anders Anderson Street a more inviting and vibrant destination um just some key accomplishments from our year three
Improvement plan our beautification efforts we purchased and installed 44 new Planters along Anderson Street and in Anderson Street Park and we uh purchased and installed 20 Belgian block tree belts in all the tree pits along Anderson
Street uh our quality of life Green Team uh we dedicate a certain amount of Greater berens buildings and ground staff to walk the neighborhood maintain the planners water them pick up litter off the sidewalks and just be a common presence in the neighborhood uh we run a storefront facade and Improvement
program last year we improved the storefront facade at 75 and 81 Anderson Street which I believe is the tutor building on the corner um preserving the architectural character of the district and finally we did a public art installation in the fall and winter uh
we partnered with hacken Stacks Main Street Alliance and John Peters we installed four life-sized bronze sculptures uh in Anderson Street Park from the sew Johnson atellier sculpture garden and it was great to see people taking selfies with them and and all the
kids and people doing double takes in the park um while these initiatives have enhanced the neighborhood's character and walkability we continue to face some some small challenges including a continual engagement from the local business owners and just some minor ongoing safety things we had some
vandalism in the park this year however we are committed to and remain steadfast in our efforts to overcome these obstacles so what do we have planned for year four we're going to continue to build upon the successes that we've had thus far um including putting an
additional $30,000 into the storefront facade Improvement Grant initiative we already have two applicants who are very eager to get started and we think we have a third um we're going to continue to invest in the quality of life Green Team and uh we purchased 44 new planners last year so we need to have them
watered and make sure they're well maintained um we're going to add an additional seasonal planting uh we did that that last year in Garfield we did a holiday planting we put we don't want the Planters to be empty during the winter time so we're doing some holiday things in the planters for this
year and we want to do another public art installation uh we haven't really uh decided on what it's going to be yet we want to collaborate with the city with the community maybe do uh look for local artists to participate in that um but we want to do another public art
installation in Anderson Street park so for this year the total budget for NPP Anderson Street is 160 ,000 125 will be directly from DCA 25,000 is the required Municipal match and gbca will put in an
additional $10,000 um so in conclusion hacken sack's participation in the MPP program is a testament to the city's commitment to revitalization and thank you very much and I welcome any questions people love the statues I mean
people came and actually asked us a few times what happened to them you know they didn't realize they were on loan and they were then missing so I think it's nice you're going to do now in the past have you done any other work in the park uh no we haven't yeah that you that's something to think about for we
did new we did new benches I believe um and we put the planners in there and we did purchase new uh garbage cans which match the ones along Main Street we wanted to do some work in the fountain remember yeah the fountain might you know like think about into that as well
you know cuz it it it's you know we want the park to be used and pretty and it could use I think a little bit more spruing up if we have you know maybe for next year's Target sounds like you kind of spent up on this year but the street overall looks much better much better than it did three years ago so we thank
you for that it's really nice I mean the crosswalks you know the Planters the hanging plants and the garbage people notice these things yeah we needed it all I got a question do you replace the garbage SKS around the park what's that the garbage skin in the park did you
replace the garbage cans in the par we have not replaced them yet they're sitting in our warehouse um because of how they're designed we need to pour some concrete and the weather has not permitted us to do that and we want to connect with DPW and everyone because I know there's Water and Electric that runs under that to the
Fountain we just want to make sure all our placements are okay but we do have them and we're going to install them in the spray okay great yep good job appreciate it thank you thank you that was a wonderful Grant so we're enjoying it thank you next up um is a discussion
regarding the uh 2024 City manager's year end report which um I provided a copy to everybody um it'll also be available on the website prior to the end of this week for uh public
view um also on for tonight is a ordinance ordinance regarding restricted access um to uh various City facilities to safeguard records as recommended by the uh Mel and GIF which are our
insurance companies and last but not least I'll call up Chris weaton our city engineer uh for the combined sore and construction projects update evening everybody okay jumping into our sewer
and construction projects um uh our uh our overview uh is on this sheet here um the only thing that's really changed here is that we are now complete with the East Kennedy Pump Station generator replacement um we also did accept bids
on a number of projects and those are uh are in evaluation right now in our uh combined sewer separation projects again we're currently working in the pink area um the Anders Street
drainage area is coming to a close we um we'll get into that in a in a moment in the slides um next project is in the light blue area the west of the rail what is that where where are we talking about that you're saying it I can't yeah the west
of yeah west of the rail uh continues up Clay Street uh and encompasses uh portions of first and seconds so is that the area around the high school uh it uh um I don't think this part includes
which color which color on here that would help which of the colors is is that is the the light blue is the west of rail I'm trying to see so what street like what yeah so I I can you see me anybody tell by looking at I
think that's that's bdan and all those and uh up to Clay a block be Clay is BL High School is just across uh the railroad track stair right so this is the Stanley right
area this is up behind it more the high school is over here on the other side of TR okay we got it okay so on the Anderson drainage area project as I stated we are just um wrapping this project up we've just been waiting for uh weather to break which is
is happening now uh we expect to be mobilizing the end of this month remobilizing uh to uh do the concrete work for the final curbs and sidewalks um on the streets indicated Clay Street
uh West West Rail Road AV and Stanley place and then following uh those uh sidewalks and curbs we will do final Paving and uh and site restoration including uh seeding on the East Kennedy Pump Station
generator uh the generator is now in service it has been tested with its automatic transfer switch uh and all final inspections have been performed and passed and uh City uh Personnel have
been trained uh in the the maintenance and operation of the generator and labels have been uh added for uh for ease of of Maintenance and uh uh and operation another project is is our Jefferson Street pipe repairs uh which
which is uh uh extensively a trenchless uh repair um uh with cured in place uh liner uh intended to be placed in the pipes we have done some initial television inspection and we have
identified a portion that probably will have to be excavated uh instead of a trenchless for about 200 feet we are working on doing a um a more comprehensive uh CCTV in that segment because we could not get all the way
through so we'll be scheduling that for um uh for an overnight period and then we will uh um proceed with the with the lining and uh and decisions for for repair of uh uh of that suspect
area at East Kennedy Pump Station we also are have been uh working on improvements um for the station as uh the it is rather dated and we need uh we need some U pump improvements there we
will be installing two new variable frequency uh uh axle flow pumps for large uh events as well as uh two new centrifugal pumps for smaller rain flows that'll help to protect the large pumps
from uh from starts and stops frequent starts and stops and uh we will in install new controls we also will do some work on the screening facility uh coming into the the pumping area and um uh some other other work as as shown on
the on the slide we made any progress on this Chris we have made progress yes uh we but we are uh I think there's a bond ordinance on for this evening if I not tonight um but upcoming uh to to fund uh to fund the improvements
here we talked last time I asked you like it at least getting these worn rakes done quickly will help a lot I think we have a plan we have a plan mapped out um but we can't do any yes we are we are limited uh in terms of what we can do um until the funding is in
place in Parks uh we did uh we are working this week to complete the connection across the street across polyfly um uh across polyfly Road uh as as shown here so we we uh uh expect this
work to be completed uh today and tomorrow and uh then we will um uh shortly thereafter work on the final restoration of of the park and and seeding also in Parks Johnson Park
Sports Complex we opened the second uh contract or the second uh bid package sorry the second set set of bids for the site and utility contract uh for Johnson Park so we have uh two contracts uh in
play the Fieldhouse contract which was awarded in December and then this uh site and utility contract will be proceeding um uh to award uh I I expect at the next uh council
meeting we also did um on Johnson Park um uh complete the negotiation of the administrative Annex area for inclusion in this project and so I I believe that's on for Council approval this evening other Park Pro or our other Park
project is Pini Park uh Fields 8 nine and 10 the bids were opened here on February 26th and uh includes uh Field improvements for Fields 8 n and 10 this work will probably start uh in early
July after the uh after the the city uh uh Fourth of July celebration in roads and traffic we also open bids for lot a improvements uh which is uh resurfacing and striping and Curbing and uh sidewalks around the
parking lot um um I'm trying to recall the name of the market I is it C SE Town that's right SE town thank you um and um so we have reviewed those bids and
and made a recommendation this also I think will be on for award at the next council meeting later this month in roads and traffic we uh have uh selected the contractor for the installation of speed humps on uh
kav and uh we will be starting this project at the end of this month uh with the contractors sndi and um just a again a reminder please help to keep our sewer system uh healthy and clean um which you see on
the this you know it's not a pretty job that we that we have uh sometimes and uh on the right is what these wipes do to our facilities so this is the Court Street screening facility during the rain event last week uh we've been somewhat fortunate to have uh had less
uh precipitation of of of late but uh and no heavy rains but uh nonetheless the the debris uh and material that shouldn't be in the sewers causes Havoc with our sewer system um increases maintenance and increases costs uh to
the operation of of our sewers Sy okay and uh that's all I have any questions Chris is there is there a bid award date for frini or no um we we're talking with the contractor right now because we we did go in for
supplemental funding okay uh with the with Green Acres for fishen Park so we'd like to kind of maximize that window so that we can uh do more with the with the project so we're we're not going to rush it we're just okay thank you give it a
little bit of time okay thanks okay questions anybody good thank you Chris thank you that's all I have okay you need a motion to open to the public please offer second in favor I I anyone from the public would like to speak please come
forward to the microphone good evening Marty Smith 245 Prospect Avenue morning sir or afternoon sir at the February meeting I asked what parameters were used by the council to determine not to
lower the speed limit on some of Avenue between pic and Spring Valley Avenue at that point Mr kuso said that the county had made that
decision so I'm confused if in fact that section of Summit Avenue comes under City jurisdiction why did County make that decision for lowering the speed limit
I I was under the impression you said traffic traffic our traffic yeah that's County our traffic bu only the county only made their decision based on their part of that roadway our Traffic Division did not recommend decreasing
the speed limit for our section of the road you know we did a survey on that section of Summit Avenue by the Bergen County Sheriff's Department for a week's period and over 85,000
Vehicles were counted in that one week's time using Summit Avenue between Spring Valley and pic between pic and Spring Valley Avenue that's a lot of traffic I mean to begin with 35 mph speed limit is
fast but the Bergen County survey showed that the average speed limit of cars traveling was 38 M an hour which is I think a dangerous speed limit but I don't know how we could allow that type
of speed limit to continue to exist on subm Avenue so but I think we're beating a dead horse here so well not necessarily because I've had conversations and I said in the past we're going to go be working on pedestrian safety is going to be big for us and we know you're big on
it yourself Mr Smith so if we do decide to put crosswalks on Summit Avenue between P value there are eight intersections with no crosswalks I don't know that all eight would have it but if we were to put crosswalks I think
the police department Traffic Division may have a different opinion on the speed limit that's a good possibility so especially if we fight for it so okay but that said you got to realize putting in a new crosswalk isn't just painting a white line they're expensive
because they Ada curbs every all that stuff has to be done so they're you know you're talking hundreds of hundreds of thousands of dollars to put a couple crosswalks like I I had occasion to be driving on Atlantic Street the other day by the Atlantic Street Garage M which is
on the north side of Atlantic Street and there is a ston in the middle of the street that says drivers doesn't belong there we didn't put it there the hospital put it there shouldn't be there it's not a crosswalk no crosswalk all right it's not a crosswalk the mayor talked to me about that in CL never ever
put a crosswalk there because the sun glare in the morning coming down Atlantic you can't see anybody do me a favor you for up early take a ride down Atlantic in the morning how about cars coming the other way well cars coming the other way see them they
can see them but if you're going eastbound it's it's unbelievable especially this time of year I I don't think that's a good enough excuse not to have a c not see not seeing people is a pretty good excuse for me I've almost hit people myself so the last thing I'd like to
mention is the traffic device that was installed on Prospect and Atlantic this huge device which I think is overkill for that location I mean it must have costed four or five times what the
beacons on Prospect and compson Street are which are curbside and I think the better approach would have been simply to install two flashing stop signs on Prospect Avenue
that would have save serve the same purpose and protected pedestrians as this thing does because they were flashing yellows there are flashing Reds and then there is a solid red which means traffic is going to be backed up
and can't continue on that solid red until it goes off I don't I don't disagree with you though putting you mentioned putting stop signs that would also back up traffic as well what I would like to see is the same exact ones that we have on Thompson because I think it's a bit of Overkill I haven't seen
them operating yet but uh seems a lot to be honest with you the busier crosswalk is Thompson yes it is Atlantic so much busier much busier trying to get to the hospital yep okay thank you thank you thank you good evening mayor council good
evening Ed cabal Kaplan Avenue um I know you guys are about to start the project of speed bumps but um the speed beds where you have it situated is nowhere near the bottom of
the hill it's at the top of the hill okay so the way I saw the plan was Summit prospect prospect to speed bumps and no speed bumps and the going down the hill to Parkway and then from Parkway
to poly I'd have to I'd have to look at it but I I want to say I want to say the reason why as engineering said they couldn't put it on the hill on the hill portion they can't have speed humps on a hill
for whatever traffic caling reason that is they can't do that so you're going from South Prospect to Parkway there's no speed bumps only the only on the top of the hill only on the top Hill so your first speed bump it's
maybe 200 ft before the stop sign okay and then the other one it's five houses down so it doesn't you don't you don't hit the crest nothing going down where the majority of the speeding goes on nothing from the the top of the hill to bottom down the P you guys decided to
put it on Summit in Kaplan and I wasn't advocating for that that doesn't have a lot of speeding that's a very short Street the speeding is from poly to Parkway Parkway to South Prospect that's where all the speeding goes up and down okay all right let me uh let me look at
that tomorrow again and look at it say I'll speak to nealo they were the engineers on that they weren they didn't come tonight they just figured that would advocate for them as well so yeah they looked at it they were like well most of the speeding is down the hill and up the hill right right yeah and
people have a tendency to step on the gas when you're going uphill yeah so the other thing is did they signs up yet no no left turnout yet no no it was just last week it was just approved by the uh by the county they're slow so yeah we had to go hopefully we'll uh yeah of
course they'll have it there short they're happy they we're getting the speed bumps I think it'll slow down let's see what we can do about getting something on that Hill yeah the hill is the most important thing I agree with you Ed okay y thank you thank you sir next person please good evening mayor and Council um
my name is Karine Jacobson I live at 374 D wolf place um I'm here tonight to talk about the parking that's on dwol place um currently some the houses on that block does not have driveways and I seen an increase of parking um whereas on
Berry Street they have permit parking so when the wolf becomes flooded with people coming from Prospect to park on our block there's no room for us to park who don't have driveways and then we can't park on Berry because it's permit parking there um so that's the
reason why I'm here tonight um because there's no Park in um like at the 9:00 at night there's nowhere for us to park on that block and not every house on the wolf Place have a driveway um but we do see you know people coming from Prospect and parking
their cars and leaving it for days in and it's just an increase of it so can we look at the wolf I know why for Resident only parking yeah cuz I know why we didn't do it when we did the other ones was there a reason or that was the wolf wasn't included when they did Stanley place and those other
streets and then we had a we had a resending because it was causing too many problems and the Wolf wasn't part of that alley no so right now there's no permit parking it was and then we rescinded it yeah that's what it was that's what I figured it was on why was it resed because if I remember correctly
there was a couple of the streets and we only cut it back to just Stanley because what was happening is people were were um people on Barry like he saying people on Barry and I believe onake were parking in those areas they in other words it was just moving the problem
to the next block yeah so but I will look into it again see what kind of relief we can get all right thank you so much I appreciate thank sure good evening sir even I'm Greg i'm Greg I live on the same street and uh I
was in touch with and I seen her personally Lieutenant kadana okay she told me there was some construction going here however that was halted on the wolf yes knowledge you there's there's commercial trucks parking sewer
possibly sewer work but uh no there's overnight uh Plumbing trucks parked there there's commercial vehicles in other words commercial vehicles are they they survey or something but they did it in the daytime Street they were doing they were doing work there they did a
survey but they only did it in the daytime okay so they're leaving their trucks there overnight yes yes there's an influx you know what that is Tru can't stay on know work have under wolf we we'll look into it there
shouldn't be any commercial trucks Park Street anywhere in okay but what about the influx of the people coming from that we're going to work we're we're going to work on that we got res sticker okay all right that's what we asked for thank you yep got it you know I saw nixel things that parts of thew for
closed for a while but I don't I thought it was City work might have been camera it could have been CV yeah anyone else in the public seeing on motion to close to the public offer second all in favor i i n opposed
so we will see everybody at 8 o' you close the executive motion to close the executive session Steve have a Steve you have uh yeah um um yeah I I guess uh if we're done uh we did as usual hold a closed executive
session during which as usual we did discuss a number of uh lawsuits in including the ulsi case the McCarthy case and the leak case which uh I am happy to announce uh we won that case that involved a member of the hackin
sack Police Department who had filed a lawsuit against the city and was dismissed by a federal judge so positive news thank you thank appreciate it so motion close the executive session all in favor I I motion to close to council the whole offer second all in favor i i
i n opposed see everybody in uh 17 18 minutes e e e e e e
e e e e e e e e e e
e e e e e e e good evening everybody Madame clerk this meeting is being held in accordance with the open public meeting
Act njs 10 colon 4 dish six at SEC notice of which was sent to the record in the Star Ledger and was posted on the municipal bulletin board roll call please council member Von rudenberg here Deputy Mayor krino here council member Paglia here council member Carol here mayor lebros here would everybody please
rise for the flag slute I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice okay tonight there are no proclamations
or presentations so we'll go right to the city manager's report minutes approval oh I'm sorry approval minutes my bad need a motion to uh accept the minutes of the uh February 25th regular meeting offer second all in
favor I I None opposed and now to the manager all right thank you mayor a four-way stop sign has been installed at Anderson Street in claran the city is looking into traffic concerns at Anderson Street and Prospect targeted enforcement will we continued
in these areas hackin Recreation is hiring summer camp counselors Camp begins June 30th you can apply at the Recreation Department registration for Camp opens up on April 1st hackin sack Recreation soccer spring
training registration is open the program runs from April 21st through June 12th contact Recreation for more information youth Spring Track registration is open for ages 7 to 14 it runs from March 18th to May 29th hackin
saac baseball and softball registration is now open season begins in April baseball and softball coaches are still needed contact Recreation for more information the health department is hosting their annual Wellness Journey
reg register in person at the kickoff Wellness Fair Saturday March 22nd from 10:00 a.m. to 1: p.m. at the Civic Center the 8 week program includes Free Zumba classes weekly one mile walks and much much more the city of hackin saac
uh joins communities across New Jersey in mourning the tragic loss of New York police officer shot and killed in Al line of duty this past weekend he dedicated his life to serving and protecting others and is passing is a heartbreaker breaking reminder of the dangers our Law Enforcement Officers
face every day we extend our deepest condolences to his family friends in the entire Newark police department during this difficult time and sent our prayers to the second officer who was injured during the incident on March 26 the hackpack will
be hosting a woman's Forum on Career Development and last but not least on Sunday March 16th at 3 p.m. at the hackpack there will be a celebration of life concert in honor of Eddie Decker it'll be presented by Tony Desair Valerie Simpson and John Pizzarelli C
hackpack do.org for further information that's all I have mayor thank you okay with that we go to new business resolution 11725 say resolution for final adoption
of ordinance number -225 an ordinance formally accepting the deed of dedication from sineri 211 LLC to the city of hackensac for property which is block 702 lot two commonly known as the Alfred and Mary szer Barden
within Court Street Plaza for public park and open space purposes and to authorize erection of improvements within this ordinance has been published according to law now calls for a public hearing need a motion to open to the public offer second all in favor I I None opposed anyone who'd like to speak
to this ordinance and this ordinance only please come forward seeing no members from the public motion to close offer second all in favor I I None opposed the motion to adopt the ordinance second second all in favor I I
None opposed be resolved by the city council of the city of hackin County of Bergen and state of New Jersey that ordinance number 9-22 has passed a second of final reading and is hereby adopted thank you resolution 11 18-2
say resolution for the introduction of ordinance 10-22 an ordinance to amend chap chapter 35 of the code of the city of hackensac records public to establish the new section 35-12 entitled City buildings restricted areas to safeguard
records need a motion to adopt or to uh introduce the ordinance offer second all in favor I I None opposed be resolved that the above ordinance being ordinance 10-22 as introduced is now on first reading and that said or shall be
considered for final passage at a meeting to be held on March 25th 2025 at 8:00 p.m. or as soon near after as the matter can be reached at the regular meeting place of the city council and at such time and place all persons interested be given an opportunity to be heard concerning said ordinance and that
the city clerk being she is hereby authorized and directed to publish set ordinance according to law with the notice of its introduction and passage on first reading and of the time and place one and where a set ordinance will be further considered for final passage thank you resolution tion 19-25 say resolution for the
introduction of ordinance number 11-202 an ordinance to amend chapter 170 of the code of the city of hackensac vehicles and traffic prohibiting parallel parking opposite to the direction of traffic in chapter 170 six need a motion please offer second all in
favor I I then opposed be it resolved as the above ordinance being ordinance 11-202 as introduced is now passed on first reading and the set ordinance shall be considered for final passage at a meeting to be held on March 25th 2025 at 8:00 p.m. or as soon thereafter as
the matter can be reached at the regular meeting place of the city council and at such time and place all persons interested be given an opportunity to be heard concerning set ordinance and the city clerk being and she is hereby authorized and directed to publish set ordinance according to law with notice of its introduction and passage on first
reading and of the time and place one and where a set of ordinance will be further considered for final passage thank you resolution 121 1-25 I'm sorry 120 12-25 this is for the introduction of ordinance number 12-22 an ordinance adopting the former
sear site Redevelopment plan within the former sear site Redevelopment plan area consisting of block 405 lot 3 need a motion please offer second all in favor I I I None opposed we resolves that the above ordinance being ordinance 12-22 is
introduced does now pass on first reading and the set ordinance shall be considered for final pass passage at a meeting to be held on March 25th 2025 at 8:00 p.m. or as soon thereafter as the matter can be reached at the regular meeting place of the city council and at such time and place all persons interested be given an opportunity to be
heard concerning said ordinance and that the city clerk being and shees hereby authorized and directed to publish set ordinance according to law with the notice of its introduction and passage on first reading and of the time and place when and where set ordinance will be further considered a final passage need a motion please offer second wait
no no that's done at the ending right you got to go to the next one 121 12125 for the introduction of ordinance number 13-22 and ordinance amending the 13248 Main Street Redevelopment plan for the Redevelopment area consisting of block
302 lots one2 and 27 now we need it need a motion thank you take all in favor I I and opposed be resolves that the above ordinance being ordinance 13-22 is introduced is now passed on first reading and that that shall be considered for final passage at a
meeting to be held on March 25th 2025 at 8:00 p.m. or as soon thereafter as the matter can be reached at the regular meeting place of the city council and at such time and place all persons interested be given an opportunity to be heard concerning set ordinance and that the city clerk being she is hereby authorized and directed to publish set
ordinance according to law for the notice of its introduction and passage on first reading and of the time and place one and where set ordinance will be further considered for final passage thank you resolution 122-2 this is a resolution authorizing
tax refunds for state board judgments duplicate payments and Veterans refund need a motion please offer second all in favor I I None opposed resolution 12325 it's a resolution authorizing tax appeal attorney to settle the cases on
the attached list that were dated for March 3rd 2025 that were scheduled for trial or settlement need a motion please offer second all in favor I I then oppos resolution 12425 say resolution authorizing 100%
veterans deduction for 90 Prospect Avenue block 237 lot 1.01 need a motion offer second all in favor I I then opposed resolution 125-200 veterans deduction for 71 Kohl's
Avenue block 589 Lot 23 need a motion offer second roll call or no next one's a roll call all in favor I then opposed resolution 12625 this is a resolution authorizing
Municipal support for 3p dispensary LLC to receive a class two cannabis manufacturer license from the New Jersey cannabis Regulatory Commission to operate within the city of HAC need a motion please offer second need a roll call on this council member M Von rudenberg hi Deputy Mayor krino hi
council member baglia no council member Carol hi mayor lebros hi resolution 12725 is a resolution approving the memorandum of understanding between the city of hackensac and the hackensac
uniform uniform Fire officer Association I local 3172 AFL CIO CC need a motion please offer second all in favor I I None opposed resolution
12825 this is a resolution approving the memorandum of agreement between the city of hackensac and the hackin sack professional firefighters I a local 2081 need a motion offer second all in favor I I None
opposed resolution 129-219 all in favor I I I and opposed resolution 13-25 say resolution for the author authorization of ACW time payout of 8,639 47 to retired police Sergeant
Brian ziggle Hoffer need a motion offer second need a roll call please council member Von rudenberg hi Deputy Mayor Canino hi council member baglia hi council member Carol St mayor lebros hi resolution
13125 a resolution for the authorization for crew time payout of $3,239 95 to retire editha Garcia need a motion offer second all in favor I I None
opposed resolution 132-2 a resolution authorizing the awarding of a co-op contracts for the purchase of 14 automated License Plate Reader network cameras and associated equipment for the hackin saac police
department that was uh need a motion please offer second roll call please council member Von rudenberg hi Deputy Mayor krino hi councilman faglia hi council member Carol stay May AB bruss I resolution
133-25 it's a resolution authorizing the awarding of State contract for the purchase of upfitting equipment for two recently purchased fire vehicles a motion please offer second one all in favor I I and opposed
13425 the resolution authorizing change order number two to hqw Architects LLC for architectural service related to Johnson Park Sports Complex need a motion please offer second all in favor I I None
opposed resolution 135-25 resolution awarding change change order number one to Suburban engineering for Clay Street combined sewer overflow CSO separation west of the rail bid phase and Construction Services need a
motion please offer Che all in favor I I resolution 13625 it's a resolution authorizing change order number one to APS Contracting Inc for construction of the Johnson Park Sports Complex need a motion please offer
second all in favor I I none opposed resolution 13725 say resolution authorizing payment of bills a motion offer second roll call council member Von rudenberg hi Deputy Mayor krino hi council member Paglia hi
council member Carol I mayor Le Bros I abstain so before we go any further with the consent agenda I have uh we're going to pull out let's see just one 14325 we're going to pull
anybody else that's just it anybody else have any complex with the consent agenda no no [Applause] okay that's it okay the following items are considered to be routine in nature and will be
enacted in one motion any items re requiring expenditure are supported by a certification of availability of funds any item requiring discussion will be removed from the consent agenda and consent agenda items will be reflected in full in the minutes including any exceptions and or additions the consent
agenda consists of resolution 138-can to Dy Ramen hackensac LLC for license 0223 33- 0643 resolution 13925 is the resolution authorizing a person to person place to place liquor
license transfer for ell Baka to J izzy1 1081 LLC for license number 0223 33-34 d8 resolution 140-2 is resolution
authorizing Anderson Street historic district neighborhood preservation program year four implementation plan resolution 14125 is a resolution in support of New Jersey climate superf fund Act resolu resolution 14225 is a
resolution authorizing release of escro funds for multiple properties resolution 14425 is a resolution authorizing raffle licenses and resolution resolution 14525 is a resolution authorizing board and commission appointment okay we need a
motion need a motion for the consent agenda as it was read offer second all in favor I I None opposed now we need 14325 14325 is a resolution authorizing leave of absence without pay for Alan d Leon Police Lieutenant need a motion
please offer second roll call council member Von rudenberg hi Deputy Mayor canestrino hi council member Paglia hi council member Carol stay mayor Le Ros hi so before I open to the public I'm going to make a brief statement um I
know why most of the people are here tonight about the early voting um we did consider we had discussions on it um we checked with the only other town in Bergen County who has a May election this year which is Linhurst they are not doing early voting um this Council the
majority of this Council feels that uh there's plenty of ways to vote you have mail and voting at any time you can take and drop your ballot off in a in a in a in a Dropbox um not to mention the polls are
open that Tuesday so this council is uh decided not to allow early voting and I'm sure we'll hear from the from the public now so I need a motion to open to the public off second uh all in favor I I None
opposed so with that anybody from the public would like to speak please come forward give your name to the clerk and you will have three minutes thank you good evening Council mayor lebros esteemed City Council thank you for giving me the time to speak today my name is Courtney Johnson Suffern and I'm the president of
the Bergen County NAACP I'm here to advocate for a critical issue that affects their fairness and accessibility to our elections the implementation of early voting for the upcoming May election in possibly all future elections in hackin
saac our democracy is built on the principle that every single citizen should have the opportunity to vote however for many hackin saac resid voting on Election Day is not always a viable option work schedules family obligations and other personal
challenges often make it difficult to get to the polls on a single day early voting provides a solution to this problem and ensures that all our residents all our residents have a fair chance to participate in the electoral
process early voting is not just a convenience it's it's a fundamental right by allowing residents to vote before election day we are ensuring that every voice in our community can be heard regardless of personal circumstances this is especially important for Working Families seniors
and individuals with disabilities who may find it particularly difficult to vote on Election Day I want to stress that by not supporting early voting we are in effect in placing barriers and ways of citizens who are trying to exercise the right to vote this in its
simplest form would be voter suppression when people are denied the opportunity to vote due to preventable obstacles it undermines the very Foundation of our democracy by adopting an ordinance to support early voting hackensac would not
only make a decision to make elections more accessible but they would also stand as a model to other communities especially ones you've already consulted with showing that we prioritize inclusivity fairness and the empowerment
of every voter as president of the Bergen County NAACP I have witnessed firsthand how important it is for all individuals to have equal access to The Ballot Box we cannot afford to let anyone be disenfranchised simply because they
cannot make into the polls on a single day every vote is a step in the right direction for ensuring every voice is heard I urge the council to reconsider to pass an ordinance that would allow early voting in hackin saac let's work together to ensure that every resident
has an equal opportunity to cast their vote regardless of personal circumstance this is a voting rights issue not a campaign issue thank you for your time and your consideration I look forward to your reconsideration thank
you m John appreciate [Applause] it ma' Amy Bullock second vice president of the
Bergen County NAACP and co-chair of the political action committee hackin saac City Council Members the National Association for the advancement of colored people also known as the NAACP calls on state legislator legislators to Champion the expansion of
voting rights focusing on dismantling barriers that disproportionately affect the black community and communities of color it is the position of the NAACP that early voting must be championed and supported millions of New Jersey voters
have taken advantage of inperson early voting since its Inception in 2021 reports indicate that almost 1.2 million voters cast in-person ballots ahead of election day in the November 2024
election the 2020 Census Data posted on the Bergen County website shows hackin saac tck and Englewood as having the largest African-American populations in Bergen County respectively and hackin Sack also having the largest Hispanic or
Latino population in Bergen County early voting increases accessibility and opportunity for residents to participate in the election process as elected officials who allegedly represent the Democracy that this nation was founded on you have a
duty and responsibility to those you represent to work towards increased voter education and engagement including allowing for early voting in a city where minorities are in fact the majority and given that the hackin saac city council has yet to take
action to Institute early voting it is the position of the Bergen County NAACP that the city council is engaging in voter suppression of historically marginalized and disenfranchised communities of color not allowing for early voting limits accessibility and
opportunity for residents to engage in the election process it is the position of the Bergen County NAACP that the hackin saac city council take immediate steps to pass an ordinance that provides for early voting in the May general election add up to
three public locations for a total of four days including election day in the city of hackensac as per njsa 1915 A-1 permits if action cannot be taken tonight we strongly encourage the council to consider calling emergency
meetings to follow the process of a first reading second reading with a public hearing and a vote to pass the ordinance as to allow for implementation of early voting in the May 2025 election thank you thank
you I think that's I it's [Applause] casine Gaines good evening evening as you know under New Jersey state law since 2022 voters in
every state county and partisan municipal election are entitled to the option of early voting voters in nonpartisan Municipal May elections a small percentage of Statewide voters are only eligible for early voting if the existing governing body requests it by
ordinance on February 18th I submitted a letter to the city clerk on behalf of myself Agatha Tumi Roberto Diaz Phil Carol and Sonia Clark Collins who are all candidates in the upcoming municipal election requesting that the council
take action at its February 25th meeting to Institute early voting as I said at the time this is a nonpartisan issue this is a non-controversial issue this is about offering our residents the same opportunities people have in every other
burgundy County municipality I suppose say for lindur at absolutely no cost to the city because the state foots the bill this is a win-win for everybody however I was disappointed to see that it was not on the docket for the last meeting this meeting and by your
statement here today at the last meeting no one from the council weighed in on this issue after I spoke the City attorney said it was an open issue to be considered and that you would look at it from a legal sense but the statute is clear and it was enacted to afford
voters expanded opportunities to vote this is not a radical idea four years ago individuals currently sitting on the council voted by mail before election day presumably because it was more convenient for them to do so the City attorney suggested last week that people
who want to vote early should vote by mail as was repeated today now that's an answer that confuses me because it suggests that people should be able to vote early but only in the way that you prefer they vote only in a multi-step process we are a working Community it is
easier for hackin sack to vote early on a machine and I'll prove it to you in the last election 18% of people voted by mail while 25% of hackin saac voted early on machines that means almost 43% of our
voters voted in one way or another early it would be significant and morally reprehensible for you to deny hackin sack residents of their preferred method of voting early I don't understand what is
difficult about this there is no cost to the city under the statute the county conducts the early voting process and is reimbursing the state by by the state and so what I would like to know since this was discussed not in accordance with the open public meetings act since
this was decided apparent L outside of our public view I would like to know I would like for everyone in this room to stand if you are in support of early voting right now please thank you that is not appropriate
conduct okay thank you folks I see you Mr gain your time is up but I am before we move forward I'm going to make another statement so and and I I actually miss Johnson and I
didn't catch the other young lady's name but I appreciate your comments and some of the comments you made make total sense to me believe me especially democracy and everyone has the right to availability right I agree with that
100% And inclusiveness and fairness are two key words you said Miss Johnson all right so with that and I don't know how many people are aware of this but to bring it up anyway so this Council believes in open responsive government
and they're willing to explore the issue that was where we were with that but despite the fact that the city's current election system already allows for early voting by mail however our opponents hack aack United campaign quickly proved that their only interest in political gamesmanship when they launched an
absolute baseless challenge excuse me I have the floor to remove Mr rich I can't even think of his last name serbo sorry and this entire the upcoming
uh Team off the ballot on baseless there's there is absolutely no reason to do that so you want democracy they didn't want an early vote they wanted no vote they wanted absolutely no vote they wanted us all out baseless challenge and
everyone came up with a reason I mean what that's gamesmanship that's pure politics all right we've never done that we've been up here doing this for a while and that's totally unfair and Mr Gaines as for you right how much early voting was in your in
your union vote was there early can I respond to that just yes stay there and respond to me only I don't want to expl was there an early vote in your Union Yes it was open
for five days okay CU I got it I got information from people it was open for three hours online well you are incorrect well please show me different try again okay that said we like I said
before let me find my place on here sorry so we already feel that the Integrity of this election has been uh at risk with trying to remove us from the ballot and you have to understand this is an election this isn't it's about fairness and when you try to take
the other team off the ballot all right there's nothing unless you have legitimate reason there's nothing fair about that that has a big effect on a lot of different things so with that anybody else from from here want to say anything before I open it back to the public I'll speak at the end speak at
the end speak at the end all right thank you next person please can I respond no no you're I'm sorry madam you're only let up once but you can have a a representative respond for you if you have somebody here next person Mr Carol are you
waiting Mr Mayor Philip Carol coolage Place deputy mayor council members so you just said of a lot of things just now that are untrue okay no
one tried to remove you from any ballots we checked to make sure and Mr kimman you can comment after if you'd like to make sure that your paperwork was in order that's it just like you checked
ours that is not true so tell me Mr Kleinman a petition two P two challenges were filed by hackin sack United seeking to remove both Mr serbo and every single one of the people who are constitute the lebros team from the ballot on no
grounds whatsoever they they were given opportunity to supplement their response they did not the city clerk rejected your petition challenge because it was groundless and baseless but do not come up here and say that you did not try and kick every single other elected official
or candidate off of the ballot this year because that is exactly what you did okay so let me ask you this okay did you guys or have you guys went door too and met your people your constituents hackin
hat in the last few weeks no I've met quite I think at Al these shop right Mr car you're talking about campaigning now there no Rel it's not well you brought it up you brought it up we were out you brought it up so you hired a company to
come out and represent the city hackin okay us team well I've the people that the people that I met okay were not mhm we're not part of your team so anyway so let's go beyond that let's go
to the early voting you have five members of the council sitting right here I'd like to know what was the majority of votes and who voted not to go with early voting well Mr car wasn't here when we
discussed it oh so you never brought him into the fold with it Mr Cow was at a wake came in late to the meeting for the last I'd say half hour or so I'm not sure when you came in jar but uh no and when we had discussed it I brought it up
I said what's the decision on tonight because I need to because if the if the decision's a yes I have to draft an ordinance to be clear the contact excuse one second so we contacted Linhurst which was the only contact of the county we contact we found there was only one other uh municipality in Burgen County
that had a May election we spoke with them we do not want to cause any undue expense whether it's at any level someone pays for it the state doesn't come out and print money to to to pay for this it's an it's quite an expense so to us we check we did all the checking we did all the research we
spoke to Linhurst multiple times our Clerk and we followed suit with the only other um municipality in Bergen County that has a May election and neither one of us agreed to have that expense put on anyone in the county in the state in the
city because we have the option of early voting by vote by mail and that's been successful over the last few campaigns and if you choose to vote in public you can vote as we've done for many many years on Election Day so those options are open to everyone who should need
them and that was the decision that the majority of this Council and I'm sorry Jerry weren't there for that vote but the four of us all agreed that we would align ourselves with the other municipality and do it that's our choice that's why we're sitting here floor that's our choice that's why we're sitting here so we made that decision so
that's what you're saying so councilman Carol was not here councilman Baca was not here one was he was here he was here hold on we go back I'm asking you can you all tell me
how you voted the three of you were here most of the time so was so was Leo I'm lost cuz we were I don't know what you're talking about I need to know out of the five how was the vote 3 to2 two to why sir why don't you just ask a
question you can ask a simple you can ask a simp how was the vote you can ask a simp you can ask a simple question right now you can simp you can simply say who supports it and who doesn't who supports it and who doesn't that's what I was asking well you're asking it in a
kind of an unusual way well all right well we have no problem saying it yeah just let's let's like I said let's let's give the answer Stephanie were you in favor of councilwoman no and can I explain my reason why my my reason for
not supporting it is for for personal experiences um I have been trying to get my name off the mailin ballot since I won election 8 years ago I have sent multiple notices to the county through different Avenues through people that work there and I still receive a mailin
ballot so Mr gains when you say I am a mailin ballot it's not by choice so I'm sorry that I do not have faith in the county election system from a personal experience I do not um I've also had people come to me say that during this past election they saw mail the bags of
the dropbox at the County office not be secure so I from personal reasons not I'm not running for I'm not in a campaign this year do not have faith in the county election process I don't that's my reason why uh councilman Carol yes
um I believe we should have um early hours Jan sweet councilman ble me personally I don't support Early B because I saw how the system work and I was there many times in the parking
lot the Bergen County I saw many people that withd drw by somebody else to drop the the absente valys so I really know that that was something that will help the other party and they have people that they are driving the residents from
Assistant Living places or whatever to do that we're hiring a company to have petition Deputy Mayor I think I explained my rational thank you mayor and I did as well thank you for your T you're
welcome next person please Sarah how are you good evening evening my name is Rashid G and I'm the first vice president of the Burton County NAACP I just want to make it clear because I know President Johnson said that but the na ACP is a
nonpartisan uh organization and does not support or endorse any candidates uh so this issue is about voter accessibility whether yor and pain yor and pain it really doesn't matter it's suppressing voters and I think that's the issue that you guys need to get through here all right it doesn't matter what your
campaign thinks or what they did or whoever did what it's about giving accessibility to your voters you can't compare this to Linhurst cuz Linhurst doesn't have the same demographics as Hackensack so put politics aside and
think about the people who put you where you're sitting right now thank you rashed I appreciate that next person [Applause] please hi Andy post 319 Clinton Place I
just want to say we are not Lind Hurst we are the county seat we should set the president I really expect that Miss post Miss post Andy can I just ask you a legitimate question it it does not bother you that hackin United tried to
take us off the ballot I never heard that of course you now you're being told that well I've been told that I need to see the proof we can get you the letters I would need to see the proof come in and visit they'll be online tomorrow believe me okay thank you right appreciate it next person
please Reverend Davis 1982 Stanley place I'm going to say right now that this is not about your campaign John this is about the people and right now you're showing your ego this is about the citizens of hackin saac it's about letting them have early voting and you
yourself keep bringing the politics into it whether they somebody said something didn't he sound like a 5-year-old they said this about me they said that about me it's about the citizens of hackin saac and giving them an early chance to vote we are not lindur we are hackin
sack and that's all that's being asked I don't care who said what about and I don't think half of the people ask about who said what you keep bringing that up I had no idea what that meant Mr [Applause]
serbo I'm rich serbo c e r b o thank you I I get mad I get forget look you know here's here's what's to come uh two slates two tickets running arguing the heck you can't even AR they're arguing about voting now so they're going to
argue and just argue over nothing okay so I give you an alternative I'm the only candidate running by himself I can work with both uh slates and and I can compromise we can work things out why the argument all the time work something
out work out a deal John for early voting to make them happy okay or you know maybe they should uh work with you and see the uh the you know the reality and uh that there shouldn't be early voting maybe but work it out okay I'm
that person I'm running running alone to work things out here so these two tickets are going to fight for the next two months okay couple things I wanted to talk about while I was you know listening to you know the back and forth but you know you use the word
renaissance I hear in the city that's a big word John you know that's you know that's that's a word that's uh is famous over the years uh uh through the centuries uh about Reviving art and literature and and really doing
wonderful things uh U from classical uh a Classical period so I mean you I mean if your if your Renaissance is about more haircuts and sandwich shops let me know okay because we can change we can
change the definition of Renaissance for hackin sack okay just if you don't mind all right another thing is is I I like the U the uh the federal U um do what is it called uh do G do G
uh um Department of government efficiency is that the department of government efficiency I love it okay because it's being even if it's not true we'll find the truth but he's uncovering so much waste and fraud and I don't
think it's just on the federal government level okay I think it may filter down into the state the county and even down here so how do we get to uh find out if there's uh fraud and uh waste can we can we have
an efficiency uh Camp uh can we have an efficiency here nothing too high you know is that possible actually we did our wait to your finished government efficiency in hackin sack uncovering uh you know
awful spending and and things uh that aren't going to benefit us and uh it's taxpayer money everything's taxpayer money remember that Federal um state county and local every penny you spend
is a taxpayer dollar okay so that's why we're concerned and and I like that that do G thank you very much just a quick answer that the first number of years of our of our term in office that's exactly what we did is look at ways to control
spending and reduce expenditures that were not necessary and we continue to do that on a daily on a daily basis here we always go very thoroughly through and we substantiate and even every one of our departments that come through with their budgets they we do a bottom up we do a
zerob based budgeting everyone substantiates what they need in their departments and it's made a a nice difference in what we've been able to do as far as controlling our living for the taxes for the city so that is is one of the major initiatives that this team took on 12 years ago and still continues
to do so we're not do OG but we we certainly have looked for ways to cut costs yes can I ask a question for clarification I mean really not supposed to we're not you're not supposed to can we answer your question after the meeting because you can come up and speak with us and we will be happy to do
so Robert's Rules do not allow people to come back twice I'm sorry so well I'm just curious if you're really supposed to be campaigning from the DAT yeah I mean again this is not appropriate you've had your time you've made your point so I the only thing I would say is I I you'd have to describe campaigning
because we've had it both ways here but I understand where you're coming from and I think the next two months are probably going to have a lot unfortunately Silly Season its it is Silly Season so but it' be happy to speak with both of you afterwards next anyone next person
please seeing no one motion to close offer in favor I I Stephanie mayor before we do that um I just need to make an announcement that the elevators are out of service we just had somebody get trapped if you saw the fire department
um so they have to use is there anybody in here is anybody in here handicapped that would need assistance is there elevator through the department if we needed it both elevators are down yeah I was tell both are down all right sorry folks
sorry coming to work with that you I'm going to get up sure you have to we closed the public session right didn't we remember yes you did you made a motion to motion to close the public you you did I did the elevator got
us um good evening everyone thanks for coming out I just want to start by thanking um the hackin saac public schools the hackin saac uh Johnson Public Library for the um excellent art show that they put on the other week um it was great Tara Christie and the staff there did an excellent job of um
supporting our young artists and all the art teachers are there there was a nice presentation to Tony marlia who retired um from the board for serving many many years on the board and the community so it was just a really really nice night um and again thanks to the the Johnson Public Library staff they really do an
excellent job of um supporting the community uh two Sundays ago we had our 2025 twin County Wrestling League Championship it was a a great success a great turnout um we we had um a lot of support from volunteers and um we just
appreciate everyone being there supporting our wrestlers throughout North Jersey and for helping making it safe and successful um as Vinnie said earlier coaching um coaches for softball and baseball are still needed um so if you have time or you know even if it's
not every game every practice but just some time to be there um please reach out to the rec and and sign up to help out um I just want to mention uh something in the national news that I thought I had a conversation with I think one or two police officers a couple years back um about uh Fentanyl
and how you know what the question that I had was how come drug dealers are not charged as terrorists because they should be you know now when you deal drugs you know there's a 90% chance that you're going to kill somebody because there's a 90% chance fentel in those drugs um and at the federal level they
are doing that they are now charging drug dealers as domestic terrorists or you know foreign terrorists if they're coming from another country and that's where the fentanyl is coming from um so that is just something that I'm really happy to hear I think that's a huge step in the right direction um there's too
many still every day I hear somebody a friend of a friend that's overdosing from Fentanyl and I've said it before it's not kids that are you know drug addicts or people that are drug addicts it's it's kids that just tried something once or they're sitting at their computer and wanted Aderall to stay awake and their parent found them dead
the next morning it's really really it's sad it's a it's a it's an epidemic and I'm so happy that the government has agreed to start charging these drug dealers as terrorists because that's what they are they're here to kill Americans um so I just think that that's something you
know positive in the right direction and I hope that this helps our law enforcement to you know regulate a little bit more and and support them because it it is it's a slap in the face when you're arresting someone and they're out the next day um and then they kill a bunch of people um so I
think that's a great thing and I'm happy about that thank you everyone for coming out and have a great night thanks step uh yeah I'll Echo um the school did a wonderful job you know at the library and the students did a wonderful job and my goodness there was hundreds of people I mean the the uh the uh Johnson Public
Library was packed and it was filled with enthusiasm which is part of what hack SEC is and we were so happy to see that that Tara does a great job in the library and Stephanie is the council's liaison to the library so kudos to you too for supporting them and getting through that they're looking at doing some major renovation on their lower
level where they're going to add teen room and some teen programming which I think will be a wonderful addition to the Johnson Public Library and of course as a city we're supporting that initiative to the greatest extent that we can on the very same night the hackin sack Art Club also had um a change in in
artw work at our Gallery at hackpack and uh again that Art Club is growing in numbers and some of the work is just really really Beyond so lovely and when the art Club comes in I think it's the best if if you have the opportunity you know it's open every day if you want to
bring your lunch and go take a walk around it the pieces are lovely and because it's the art Club so there's so many different artists there's such a diversity in the type of of artwork you're saying you know frequently it's one artist and I hate to say they all look the same but you know there's a similar thread but here there's you know
different different materials that are used different types of art they really do a wonderful job and I'll tell you any artists out there that are watching this I mean they're always looking for new members too please they're a Wonder wonderful group right John and John was with me and they're so happy to have a
place to display their artwork and you know I think it was one of the best things and I'm happy we're naming it after Ruth because she was the advocate for having an art gallery in town that uh it's really being put to wonderful use um I always try to go over a couple of the things if there on anything on
the agenda that has to do with Redevelopment because when folks we here talking about or reading through them and it's blocks and lots people frequently have no idea what we're talking about so there were two items on tonight one of them was for seers um you know we've been long this Council stood
firm on the fact that you know there were two pretty much iconic buildings in the downtown that we wanted to preserve one was 210 me if you're as old as I am you remember it as people's trust you know if you're a little bit younger you know it was other Banks United Jersey Bank Etc some it Bank through the years and it was you know for many years it
was the tallest building in the downtown so you know that has been preserved and is converted to residential and was quite lovely and we wanted the same with Sears I mean the Sears tower has been again an iconic building so we worked hard with it with uh development and definitely we're maintaining that
building people will it's not suitable really to live in that building the way the structure is but there will be retail on the first floor and there'll be either either office space or amenity space throughout that Tower and they're looking to build that's a huge piece of property if you if you look at the size
of the parking lot River Street all along River Street so there there have been approved tonight for the potential of maximum of 325 units that would be going in there and we're working closely with the developer to do that um the next property that we talked about
tonight was is called the sapphire now if you're looking at the corner of Main and Mercer all right that's where the one tall building that we have the only one that's a 14 story building that's called The Brick is there this would be next to it on the South Side there's a a vacant piece as an empty plot there
they're looking at lower and smaller only 102 units there they're going to be putting a rooftop uh restaurant there which is something we wanted in town I think we'll have a nice draw because the views are quite lovely there they're going to do some some office space and of course retail on the first floor but
they're looking to not only provide the parking that they need but they're looking to also provide parking for the city um so this week we'll have some more parking right in a in a garage right there on Main Street so I think that's a very worthwhile project so those were the two that were on the agenda we voted on tonight
um yes yes um I I guess I'm cautiously optimistic Steph is reminding me we had a meeting with the Board of Ed today um met some of the new board members uh I think that the vibe we both got is that you know we're hoping that they're ready to move forward we talked about as I've
talked about recently you know that the city has been had been working with the old board to where the city is going to purchase the property and give let them have use and build over the parking lot so they can get the long needed school to get out of padrio and to help with the overcrowding in the middle school so
you know I think it took the old the new board members some time to figure it all out but it sounds like they're trying to learn and move in the right direction so again I'm cautiously optimistic and let's hope that this is going to be a fate to compete our CFO has our money
put aside for it so we're ready to make the purchase they picked the property so uh we're hoping that that that really comes to fruition but it was a good meeting Steph and and I am happy that we're going to be working together to get this accomplished and last but not
least it is uh women's History Month um so we're looking on March 26th we're planning something in the city we want to do a simple women's focus group where there'll be a group of hackensac residents that women that have
contributed a lot not only to the city of hackensac that made great strides in their career and they will kind of be there will be an open communication by amongst these women and individually by these women and interaction with the audience as well uh do you remember Alison you remember what time on the
26th did we get a time set 6 to8 6 to8 okay 6 to 8 on March 26 again it's a free event so you know if you're interested and you want to come and learn or talk or meet some of these folks I think it will be a nice nice nice evening um and I know that uh uh
city manager mentioned it but you know we all mourned the loss of Eddie Decker you know he was a musician a musician in town very talented owner of musically yours passed away suddenly unexpectedly so on March 16th many of his fellow
artists H are musically artists are coming and they're doing a show that uh we're you know that's supported by the city of course at the hackpack so if you're interested in hearing some great music tickets are available online just go to hack pack.org I think it's going to be a really really nice event so
that's out there for folks to go to too thank everyone for coming and we hope see you all again well it look like a finally we're going to start the construction in Johnson Park for the Johnson par sport complex and the thing for forini par
that we we're going to build the three bball field 9 and 10 and we're going to add in the area that used to be the field number seven is going to be a football a football field with a lights and Turf and related to the paving and
last year we approved par Third Street and Davis and we already allocated the money for Second Street but we had to finish some SE work and then we already got the Leist for 25 we're going to spend like a $4 million um we got if
somebody want to come you know I can show you the Leist Newman Street the walls R and we're going to do some improvements and some streets like H and Grand Avenue right by the school Pola and fermont you know the 88 ramps and I
think if we got more money we're going to go to Union Atlantis Warwood Lane and new man stre again from exit to Atlantic thank you for coming good night well first of all happy women
history month and um I'm happy for all women and it should not be just one month it should be every month for all you women every day [Applause] I would like to bring up um the early
voting situation unfortunately I wasn't here for the in-house discussion but um at my church um during the presidential election and voting they
provided early voting you know transportation for early voting and hearing the positive uh results from the people that took the opportunity and the advantage of
it was greatly appreciated um these are a lot of elderly people who could not have attended during the regular voting day so again I do support the early voting
um and the church did um open my eyes to it how important it really was so I just want that to go on record here [Applause] uh I would like to thank
everyone who has attended tonight's meeting physically and remotely take care and God bless thank you Jerry so I to uh attended the school art show with the library it was wonderful uh I don't think I've ever missed one
since i' I've been doing this uh it's great to see our kids artwork um and as Kathy sorry and as Kathy said we went to the hacket sack art show as well down at the hackpack which had some wonderful uh paintings down there to be that were displayed I two was at the high school
or the uh junior wrestling regions and they do a great job they've got a great uh crew of of people working in hackin sack on the junior program and uh it's very successful and it's thanks to people like councilwoman Stephanie here who make it successful so thank you for
that Steph we appreciate it um prayers out to our New York police officer Joseph esona and the other injured officer as well to their families um you know and it was a 14-year-old I believe yes it's unbelievable but you know
prayers also prayers to Syria I don't know if any follow is anybody's following what's going on in Syria right now but it it it's pretty brutal what's going on over there it's pretty pretty new but uh it's basically a giant genocide going over there with involving a lot of Christians so it's uh prayers
to those people over there and uh the Ed Decker show is going to be great um Ed was a great character he was uh driving force between the pack for the pack to House series and hackin Sack which really got got it off the ground um was
major major part of bringing in some very big acts into the hack pack um and he he's missed he you know spent a lot of time with Eddie at meetings and stuff and he's he was a character was tough but we we we really do miss them um I too would like to wish all the
women happy women's month and they you're right and then maybe there'll be an extra piece of pie tonight for us when we get home but we'll see and uh with that I want to wish everybody a safe trip home and anybody who wants to come up and speak with us afterwards and I'd like to speak to one
of the police officers anyone from the group that's here tonight and uh come up and see me please all right and with that they need a motion to close offer second all in favor I I thank you thank you folks Auntie if you had a question
I'll answer come if you just if you come up anyone who has a question or wants to speak please just come forward we're always here to help for