e e e e e e e e e e
e e e e e e e e good evening everyone Madame Clark this meeting is
being held in accordance with the open public meeting Act njsa 10 col 4-6 Etc 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
pagle is absent council member Carol is absent May Le Bross here would everybody please rise for the flag salute 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 for all okay so we have a very special night here tonight we're uh as you know we're celebrating Black History Month and we had a special event tonight down in the Civic Center uh featuring uh black
business owners here in hackin saac uh this year's um theme for Black History Month was Labor so we thought it would be nice to uh feature some of our blackowned businesses here in hackensac and we had some in here uh we had a great time then there was some great uh
great food I'll tell you that much and uh I have some plaques for those that were here tonight we're going to do those first so as I go through these do we know this group thank you with the folks from 14
Parish please come forward are you here yep so 14 Parish has been on Anderson Street for a long long time and uh they got great great food there and uh I just enjoyed some of their oxtails they were delicious we loved it so it says
celebrate America African-American business for 2025 Black History Month as the mayor and Council honor 14 Parish Caribbean Kitchen for their contributions as an African-American business within our community so thank you so much we appreciate it thank you thank
you iconic coffee you up here did he come up maybe not anyway I kind of coffee is a a new uh coffee shop on Main Street one of the new businesses on Main Street they make great
coffee Art and Soul Tattoo they up here yet no they're probably a lot of stuff people are putting their stuff away so they might find their way up here penl Pharmacy I don't
see and seamoss I see is here [Applause] y so Coss also is a newer business on Main Street um and it's celebrated African-American businesses for 2025 Black History Month
as the mayor and Council honor of the seamoss factory for their contributions as an African-American business within our community thank you so much everything was great tonight appreciate everything thank you is better taste up
here not yet anyway if they come up we'll uh make sure we call them up later on uh we see them stroll up here so we have some other business to take care of we have some promotions tonight me move these out the
way we're going to do these in the order they're set okay Gregory Zea please come [Applause]
forward you want blue or black blue it is okay mom's goingon to hold the Bible you hold left hand on the Bible please raise your right hand and repeat after me I
state your name I Gregory Z do solemnly swear do solemnly swear that I will support the Constitution that I will support the constition of the United States of the United States and the Constitution and the constition of the state of New Jersey of the state of New Jersey that it will bear true faith and allegiance that it will bear true faith and allegiance to the same to the same
and to the governments established and to the governments established in the united states in the United States and in this state and in this state under the the authority of the people under the authority of the people and that I will faithfully and that I will faithfully impartially impartially and justly perform and justly perform all the duties all the duties of police
captain of police captain according to the best of my ability according to the best of my so help me God so help me God congratulations Greg job [Applause] thank you
sir we're going to do some pictures afterwards I'm sure Franklin Bay please come [Applause]
forward how are you sir left in the Bible please raise your right hand and repeat after me I state your name I Franklin do solemnly swear do Sol swear that it will support the Constitution that will support the consti of the United States the United States and the Constitution and the of
the state of New Jersey state of New Jersey that it will bear true faith and Allegiance bear true faith and to the same to the same and to the governments established to the governments established in the United States United States and in this state and in this state under the authority of the people under the authority of the people and that I will Faithfully I will faithfully
impartially and justly perform perform all the duties all the DU of police Lieutenant police liutenant according to the best of my ability according to the best of my ability so help me God congratulations just need your John handu thank
you Jason Kowski got some fan club man who's holding boys okay you guys both hold that together dad's going to put his left hand on the Bible and he's going to raise his right hand and please repeat after me I state your name I Jason kow do solemnly swear do solemnly
swear that I will support the Constitution that I will support the cons of the United States of the United States and the Constitution and the constition the state of New Jersey of the state of New Jersey and that it will bear true faith and Allegiance and that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same to the same and to the governments established and to the governments established in the united
states in the United States and in this state and in this state under the authority of the people under the authority of the people and that I will faithfully and that I will faithfully impartially impartially and justly perform and justly perform all the duties all the duties of police sergeant of police Sergeant according to the best of my ability according to the best of
so help me God so help me God congratulations thank thank you next up Roger Robert gerardi [Applause]
hey guys how are you we're gonna come on this side who's holding kids or Mom okay left hand on the Bible please raise your right hand and repeat after me I state your name name I Robert Gerard do solemnly swear do solemnly swear that I will support the Constitution that I will support the Constitution of the
United States of the United States and the Constitution and the constitution of the state of New Jersey of the state of New Jersey that it will bear true faith and allegiance that it will be bear true faith and allegiance to the same to the same and to the governments established to the governments established in the united states in the United States and in this state and in the state under the
authority of the people under the authority of the people and that it will faithfully and it will faithfully impartially impartially and justly perform and justly perform all the duties all the duties a police Sergeant a police Sergeant according to the best of my ability according to the best of my ability so help me God so help me God
congratulations congrats guys you panota [Applause] serus was I close left hand on the Bible please
repeat after me I state your name i b do solemnly swear do solemnly swear that I will support the Constitution that I will support the Constitution of the United States of the United States and the Constitution and the constitution of the state of New Jersey of the state of New Jersey that I will bear true faith and allegiance that I will bear true
faith and allegiance to the same to the same and to the governments established and to the governments establish in the united states in the United States and in this state and in this state under the authority of the people under the authority of the people and that it will faithfully and I will faithfully impartially impartially and justly
perform and justly perform all the duties all the duties a police Sergeant a police Sergeant according to the best of my ability according to the best of my ability so help me God so help me God
[Applause] congratulations I'd like to call up director guetti real quick this young man sign go thank you you're welcome thank you let's have another round of applause for
these gentlemen here proud day for your families I had a conversation with each of you on Friday night I didn't check what we were supposed to do so we'll leave it with us but uh I do owe you a story cuz I know Captain zel loves my
story so I figured I'd have a story that I need to give you a little bit of a message as you move on and embark on this this incredible ranks that you achieved so a wise leader once gathered his followers and handed them each an
unlit torch he then LED them up through the darkness toward the top of a mountain where a single fire burned when they reached the summit he lit his Torch from the flame and then turned to the
others the fire represents knowledge responsibility and Leadership he said now one by one each of you light your torches as each person stepped forward their torches ignited and soon the
entire Mountaintop Was a glow and then the leader spoke again the light I carry does not grow Dim when I share it instead it spreads leadership is not about holding power it's not about rank it's about
passing it on Guiding others and ensuring the fire never goes out the lesson and please take this with you gentlemen today as you step into these new roles you are carrying the torch
forward your responsibility is not just just to lead but to inspire others to build those around you and make sure the flame of dedication integrity and service not only continues but grows
brighter every day so please remember that as you go forward congratulations again just real quick I want to speak to the city manager and the mayor and councel without your
support without your expectations of this fine Police Department things like this do not happen so I can't on a on behalf of the PD I can't thank you enough for these promotions I know we just had a few not too long ago so thank
you for that and and thank you for also supporting The Innovation thank you for supporting even the federal government coming in to look at what we do here because we will be the model for the area so thank you and again thanks for
your support Chief you want to come up thank you sir thank you director I'd like to start off by thanking the mayor the city council and the city manager for these much-needed promotions and also a
platform tonight to SW wear in these exceptional officers in front of their family and friends as chief of the department it is my honor to promote these police officers to their new ranks it's much deserved and quite an
accomplishment law enforcement excuse me promotions in law enforcement are not only about a badge and a rank it's about greater responsibility responsibility to the citizens and the City that you Service
as well as your fellow police officers that you will mentor and supervise I have no doubt on my mind that we all will push forward boost morale and create positivity within HPD
congratulations I'd like to turn this over to Captain Z of follow followed by Lieutenant Bay who'd like to say a couple words thank you thank you Chief uh first thank you everybody in the audience for coming here this is a really important moment for the officers getting promoted they
take a lot of time out of their life a lot of effort as you've seen from your dining room tables of books and study material and it is a very competitive test in the past few years we've seen the highest scores ever in our Sergeant exam and it's a credit to everyone that
gets promoted off these lists that they really put in the time and effort so thank you for coming and your support for them it really means a lot mayor and Council thank you for this ceremony and previous ceremonies like it it's really important for us to show our younger
generation who include some of our recruits who are actually with us this week for agency training you'll notice them by their shiny heads in the back but I see again really important and thank you for having this because it's important to show a future we're
showing a tangible future for them to look towards and work towards and for them to put that effort in and study hard and get promoted and this is really important to show them so thank you again to our sergeants here sorry I'm not done to our sergeants Lieutenant here
this is a really important step for you you go from being an informal leader to now that formal leader and you've already shown that informal leadership with your just specifically for them for your ability to train people running
training classes your special weapons and tactics season detectives they've already shown their leadership and building on it with this they're showing their ability to now lead the these men and women on the street and something to
remember is always look to Mentor as the Director and the chief already said stole my thunder a little bit always look to Mentor your officers it's not about just managing them it's they might come to you with a tough question on a tough call not only do you give them the
answer you explain why and you help them grow and Mentor them for the future so take that with you please remember that that's the most important thing never forget that the most important asset in our Police Department in any department is the people that work there and again
back to everybody here thank you for coming this is really important even if they don't tell you themselves it means the world that you're here to support them so again thank you for coming we appreciate it good evening I just wanted to start off with thanking Chief antista uh
congratulating Captain Ziza Sergeant Kowski Sergeant gerardi Sergeant shedit but especially thank all of you without your support your guidance and your faith we wouldn't be standing up here uh so we're going to pay it forward
and we're going to work to build the department for a brighter future that's it thank you Michael so on behalf of the city council myself um we're honored to do these promotions uh these five fine officers uh we know
that you'll do fine we want to wish you uh health and safety uh while you're out there uh it's not an easy job you know guys are some of you were leaders but now three new leaders here um it's not an easy job we know that you have our support and uh anytime you need us come
through the city manager and you know situations let us know uh but we appreciate all the hard work you put in we appreciate all you folks coming out tonight and supporting these fine young men uh on a very important night and I'm sure they'll remember this for the rest of their lives so thank you very much we
appreciate it thank [Applause] you yes you guys want a picture the paparazzi you guys feel free to come up to take
the picture don't be shyed step you should come on this side late great job guys congratulations some with the chief very excited right you know it's all right maybe going the other right oh
[Music] oh wait here's one more guy one more got L what he belong to it's okay A congratulations everyone well deserved enjoy look forward good career for everybody thank you thank you
guys Michael y got it um do a five minute recess yes everybody go all right we're going to take a five minute recess for those who want to leave after this ceremony we just had
e e e e e e e e e e
e e e e e e e e e e because there was aund and something
people in here do you want me to open the window body heat okay so going to move forward with business um need a motion to approve the minutes
of the February 11th 2025 c meeting the only person that was absent was um Leo offer second all in favor I I None opposed and with that we turn it over to the city manager thank you
mayor thank you all who attended tonight's Black History Month celebration in the Civic Center highlighting various African-American businesses owners in our city multiple residents have reached out with concerns about traffic issues at the intersection
of Anderson and claran uh four-way stop sign a four-way stop will be installed at the intersection to alleviate some of the traffic issues that have been occurring there hackensac Recreation is hiring summer camp counselors Camp begins June 30th apply
at the recreation department youth Spring Track registration is open for ages 7 to 14 it runs from March 18th through May 29th hackensac baseball and softball registration is also open season begins in April baseball and
softball coaches are still needed contact Recreation for more information North jersey.com has reported that hackensac is rated the number the fifth lowest taxes in the county with Tito coming in at the lowest
followed by East Rutherford carlat and munaki the last day for candidates to submit petitions for the s to the city clerk to run in the May municipal election for city council is this Thursday February 27th by by 400 p.m. that's it mayor thank you okay new
business ready Deb yep resolution 95-25 this is a resolution for final adoption of ordinance number 6-22 an ordinance to amend and update chapter 141 article 8 of the count the code of the city of hackensac storm
water control to reflect amendments to state regulations this ordinance has been published according to law and now calls for public hearing need a motion open to the public um but before we do there is a procedural issue we need to address so when this ordinance was introduced it did go to the planning
board and it was also sent to the Bergen County engineering department for a review to ensure that it was uh consistent with the state model ordinance which is what this is being based upon they had a few minor non-substantive Corrections and
additions um so uh and they this morning approved moved it as revised so in order to make sure that procedurally this is correct we're going to need to make a motion to um amend the existing ordinance um to reflect these again
minor changes I mean there they're really typographical changes one or two words here and there a quotation mark that they didn't want little things like that but nonetheless we would ask that you make a motion to amend the ordinance
to be consistent with the recommendations of the Bergen County department of engineering and then we would approve we then we would open it up to the public for their public hearing and then at that point you could move to adopt the ordinance okay so I move to amend uh this ordinance to
reflect the changes uh made by the engineers offer second all in favor I I None opposed and with that now can open public hearing to for an as amended as I said my opinion is that these were not
substantive changes so we do not need to go back to First reading we can adopt tonight all right so do I need to and the planning board did send their approval I believe correct yes yes okay then we're good offer second all in favor I I anyone from the uh public who'd like to speak to this ordinance
and this ordinance only please come forward seeing no one from the public motion to close to the public offer second all in favor I I None opposed motion to adopt the ordinance offer second all in favor I I None
opposed okay sorry lot of paperwork Okay resolution 96-25 is a resolution for final adoption of ordinance number 7- oh I'm sorry I never read
the no be resolved by the city council of the city of hackensac County of Bergen and state of New Jersey that ordinance number 6-22 has pass a second and final reading and is hereby adopted sorry about thank you resolution 96-25 this is a final adoption of
ordinance number 7-22 an ordinance authorizing acceptance of deed of storm culbert easement between RF a urban renewal LLC RFB urban renewal LLC
RF retail urban renewal LLC and the City of hackensac installed upon portions of block 11102 Lots 1 3 4 and 5 formerly known as block 300 Lots 3.02 3.03 3.04 and 3.05
this ordinance has been published according to law now calls for public hearing need a motion to open to the public offer second all in favor I I anyone who' like to speak to this ordinance and this ordinance only please come forward seeing no memb of the public motion to close to the public
offer second all in favor I I None opposed motion to adopt the ordinance offer second all in favor I I I None opposed be resolved by the city council of the city of hackensac County of Bergen and state of New Jersey that ordinance number 7- 2025 has passed its
second and final reading and is hereby adopted thank you resolution 97-2 this is a resolution for the final adoption of ordinance number 8- 2025 an ordinance authorizing Financial agreement with 463 Main Street urban
renewal LLC an urban renewal entity authorized pursuant to the long-term tax exemption law njsa 40a col 20-1 etc for the development of a residential Apartment project upon block 411 Lots 2.01 13 14 15 16 and 18 this ordinance
has been published according to law now calls for public hearing need a motion to open to the public please 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 one from the public
motion to close to the public offer second all in favor I I None opposed I need a motion to adopt the ordinance offer second all in favor I I be resolved by the city council of the city of hackensac County of Bergen and
state of New Jersey that ordinance number 8-22 has passed the second and final reading and is hereby adopted thank you resolution 98-2 this is a resolution for the introduction of ordinance number
nine- 2025 an ordinance formally accepting the deed of dedication from szeri 2011 LLC to the city of hackin for property block 702 Lot 2 commonly known as the Alfred and Mary szer Garden within Court Street Plaza for a public
park and Open Spaces purposes and to authorize erection of improvements Within need a motion to introduce the ordinance offer second all in favor I I I no none opposed we resolved that the above ordinance being ordinance 9-22 is introduced is now passed on first
reading and that said ordinance shall be considered for final passage at a meeting to be held on March 11th 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 in place all persons interested be given an opportunity to be heard concerning set ordinance and that
the city clerk being she's hereby author ized and directed to publish set ordinance according to law with a notice of its introduction and passage on first reading and of the time and place when and where set ordinance will be further considered for final passage thank you resolution sorry resolution 9925 say
resolution authorizing tax appeal attorney to settle the cases on the attached list dated February 6 2025 that were scheduled for trial or settlement need a motion offer second all in favor I I None opposed resolution 100
-25 this is a resolution authorizing tax refunds for duplicate payments and payments made in error need a motion offer second all in favor I I None opposed resolution 101-2 say resolution authorizing 100%
veterans deduction for 804 Summit Avenue need a motion please offer second all in favor I I I None opposed resolution 10225 a resolution concur uring with planning board's Redevelopment investigation findings regarding block
405 lot 3 sear site and designating it as an area in need of Redevelopment for condemnation purposes need a motion please offer second all in favor I I None opposed resolution 103-2 this is a resolution authorizing
transfer of 2024 budget Appropriations need a motion please offer second all in favor I I I None opposed resolution 10425 a resolution awarding contract for Engineering Services to Suburban
engineering for CSO management and backup C2 licensed wastewater operator need a motion offer second all in favor i i i n opposed resolution 105-25 a resolution authorizing the
awarding of a co-op contract for one year for Barracuda email Protection Service need a motion please offer second all in favor I I I None opposed resolution 10625 say resolution authorizing payment
of bills need a motion to pay the bills sorry offer offer need a second roll call council member Von rudenberg I Deputy Mayor krino I council member pagle is absent council member Carol is absent mayor Le Ross I I'm sorry
obain you mentioned councilman Carol's name I just want to announce the public I probably should have done this earlier but uh we were told uh just before the meeting that he experienced the death in his family so please keep uh councilman Carol in your prayers I don't know who it was or what part of his family but uh
keep him in your prayers so we go into the uh consent agenda does anybody have any conflicts no none none here continue okay the following items are considered to be
routine in nature and will be enacted in one motion any items 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 end or additions consent to gender um consent agenda consists of resolution 10725 through 116-25 10725 is a resolution determining the form and other details of not
exceeding 4,600 th000 General obligation bonds series 2025 of the city of hackensac and the county of Bergen state of New Jersey and providing for their sale to the New Jersey infrastructure Bank in the state of New Jersey pursuant to the state fiscal year 2025 New Jersey
water Bank environmental infrastructure financing program goes with ordinance 38-29 resolution 108-25 is a resolution determining the form and other details of not exceeding 14, 630,000 General
obligation bonds series 2025 of the city of hackensac and the county of Bergen state of New Jersey and providing for their sale to the New Jersey infrastructure Bank in the state of New Jersey pursuant to the state fiscal year 2025 New Jersey water Bank environmental infrastructure financing program this
goes with ordinance 39-29 resolution 10925 is a resolution authorizing the execution and delivery of loan agreements to be executed by the city of Hackensack the county of Bergen state of New Jersey and each of the New Jersey infrastructure Bank in state of New
Jersey acting by and through the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection and further authorizing the execution and delivery of an escrow agreement all pursuant to the state fiscal year 2025 New Jersey water Bank environmental infrastructure financing
program which goes with ordinance 38-29 resolution 11 19-25 is a resolution authorizing the execution and delivery of loaners agreements to be executed by the city of hackensac in the county of Bergen state of New Jersey and each of the New Jersey infrastructure banks in the state of New
Jersey acting by and through the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection and further authorizing the execution and delivery of an escrow agreement all pursuant to the state fiscal year 2025 New Jersey water Bank environmental infrastructure financing program this goes with ordinance
39-29 res hold up one second I had that as resolution 11025 and you said 19 19 I believe I'm sorry it is 110 mm resolution 11-25 is the resolution providing for the combination of certain Bond ordinance authorizing the issuance
of several obligation bonds series 2025 of the city of hackensac in the county of ber in state of New Jersey into an issue of bonds aggregating not to exceed 4,600 th000 in principal amount resolution 11225 is a resolution approving ambulance reimbursement
resolution 113-2 is a resolution authorizing raffle licenses re resolution 11425 is a resolution authorizing support of publishing legal notices on official government websites resolution 115-2 is a resolution rejecting all bids
for the firehouse Engine 2 improvements and resolution 116-25 is a resolution authorizing leave of absence without pay for Leroy Montgomery who sanitation worker need a motion need a motion second all in favor I I
opposed okay thank you for that okay so with that I need a motion to open to the public offer second all in favor I I None opposed anybody from the public please come forward give your name to the clerk and you will have three minutes
[Applause] good evening Reverend Caroline Davis I just have a question um the wal Cott on the corner of Anderson and Main Street I just want to know I I really don't know how that got approved and
went through a a traffic study it is a constant issue there and I don't know what's going to be done about it there's no pulling for UPS trucks or anybody else and they park on the corner of Maine and Anderson and if you're trying to make a right-hand turn is very
dangerous because they're turning into Anderson traffic and they can't see around those trucks so I don't know what's going to happen with it now it should never have been improved the way it is and it's a constant traffic problem so I have traffic look any if
traffic look at that I I actually concur with Reverend Davis because I've seen uh delivery trucks parked on Anderson up near the corner there which makes it hard for people to make the turn so we need to make sure um through the company the management company that those
vehicles are pulled farther down Anderson Not to cause a problem maybe also have Albert looking make a call to the wott cuz I'm sure that it was talked about that they had to pull into the garage and if they're not doing that then they have to enforce it there
too thank you next person please Brown to share Second Street hackin sack I just want to say the affair tonight was was very informative for me because I didn't know all those businesses was on Main Street those blackowned
businesses but it wasn't well advertised because as you see it was really yeah we needed more people yeah and we needed more I don't know where have somebody sent me to fly it and we did we did put it on social media Outlets it was out there yeah they I called about about five people that was down there I had
just called them before they got there and they came so I just that's why I said next next time we do it again a better job yes and um so that was good that was um in 2018 I gave a big Affair a black history I remember when I was on
the rec board and uh Dave had told us that we weren't going to have a black history mon after they had been approved so we were all kind of very disappointed so Dave told us about two times we're not going to have it so I looked at Dave and said yeah we're going to have it so I don't know how we was going to have
when I opened my mouth I don't know where the money was going to come from but the community pulled together when I asked him to we had a big Affair at Mount Olive Baptist Church I don't know if you remember that but I went against the grain and for that I think that's why I got booted off that Recreation board but anyway God Gave Me Another
Blessing so a couple of months ago when I was here I mentioned the school on Second Street there's still a problem there and and I don't think you've done anything about that yet these the parents come at 8:00 there's no cone in the street or nothing to let you know that there's a school that people flying
off a first Street they come down Second Street they don't even notice there a school there across from the park I forgot the name of the school it's been there over 30 years I don't know why the director Hill Hiller school no on Second Street um across from Cara Park when I was here a couple months ago I mentioned
it um School the greater ber greater Bergen yeah and it's been there for over 30 years there's no lines in the street the parents have to hold one child and pull one out the car it's it's it's very hectic especially about 8:00 in the morning so I would like to
see better you know even a crosswalk some lines of something a cone industry Slow Children cuz it's a park there they they should slow down anyway cuz it's a park AB M so please if you can make note of that cuz it was nothing done when I was here a couple got couple weeks ago
got we'll take care of it okay and these cards came out these lead cards are you familiar with them mhm okay so they for people who who have rental properties I'm thinking okay so here's my problem with this we're allowed to get our own company are we
not as long as they're certified doesn't have to be the city card refer to Steve what the question for the lead for the lead testing can they get their own company yes that's absolutely correct you so here here's the thing with this card it makes it look like uh you guys have a company that you could choose for
250 then 150 when you got units that's 400 then you got $20 for this and $30 for that that's a lot of money but I happen to find a company in um Montclair that's going to do it way cheaper than this so I mean the extra money it's
going to be at least $100 off of this 75 off so I think you should have searched around because when you send this card out it looks like there's no other options but I had to use my noodle I said as long as it's a licensed company it should work so did they come out from the city yes yes so so so let me explain
so this is all comes from a state mandate right you know this this this is not something that we decided to do and what happens is there is a ton of administrative um effort in terms of trying to make sure that that this
uh this is put into place accurately and and uh and correctly and so this company L environmental that we've contracted with I think quite cleverly has you know come up with this model that allows municipalities to be able to easily
track um lead inspections and they are doing this like every everywhere in the state I mean they are probably they have hundreds of municipalities as far as I can tell who have signed up for their service because you know we just don't have the Manpower in our Construction
office to be able to manage all of that but certainly and and and look they send the card out you know they say this is what you have to do they're saying we're willing to do it but absolutely you are not obligated to use this company if you do not wish to do so for a lot of people
it's just easier because they don't want to spend the the time you know going around like you might to search for somebody else yeah but all you got to do is go on the phone and call one or two companies and Bam they give you the answer you don't have to search it's not a lot of stress but when you save $75 to $100 per unit and you have more than one
unit that's a lot of money so this is this was like uh very disappointing and I've already you know said a lot to the community get your own company you know like a kickback type thing you know what I'm saying so I don't know if that's what it is but one more thing I just have to say um um I had request Ed a
handicapped space in front of my house at 341 Second Street now I have a driveway I have three drivers in my house we use our driveway Second Street has plenty of parking I have a aunt that is 101 years old and when she comes down
that electric chair from the house it's better for me to come straight to the truck than to try to wiggle her in a um driveway with a wheelchair myself who has a handicap sticker she's 101 why should I have to take her off the chair
round into the driveway and there's a wall on both sides my my steps and there's a business next to me you can't really maneuver her safely so the officer turned it down because he said you have a driveway well there's another house on the corner of high and Second Street they have a driveway and a
two-car garage and the entrance is on Second Street the garage is on um High Street so I want to know what's the difference in that because I don't know if anybody in there is 101 years old it's easier
for me to bring my aunt straight down off that chair go to the curb and put her in because I have more room to maneuver in the driveway there is no room I mean I can get the wheelchair anybody I got to struggle wiggle the chair get her this way get her that and I have to have at least three people to help me so I would like them to
reconsider putting a handicap space in front of 341 Second Street my aunt will be 102 this year and I think she deserve to have comfortability when I take her out what's the address maam again pardon me address again 3 341 Second Street
traffic came out and looked but their reason is that I have a driveway but I have three drivers I use my driveway I have my antique car in the drive which works is registered and insured so that counts as one my other kids have uh two others got cars and I have two other cars but I park on the street but I
would like to have that there so I can get my 101 almost 102 aunt in her car we will look into it m thank you thank you next person please good evening my name is Pedro
Cruz I live in hackin saac since 1993 I moved here from Brooklyn and I have a brief statement to read about the climate superf fund act Empower New
Jersey make polluters pay oops sorry extreme climate events cost the United States 150 billion dollars each year an estimate that doesn't account for loss of life healthcare related
costs and damages to our environment these massive and rapidly increasing costs already fall Upon Our citizen residents and taxpayers the climate superf fund Act is urgently needed to shift the burden of
paying for these damages onto the companies responsible for them in order to protect the health environment and E economic future of our New Jersey Community the climate Superfund act introduced by senators
mcken and Smith and Assembly women assembly assemblyman Allen and Assembly women Hall and Co so Gill is groundbreaking legislation that would make the largest fossil fuel
corporations pay for the damages caused by climate change modeled after similar legislation passed in New York and Vermont the bill applies the logic of the original
Superfund act which requires polluters to pay to clean up their contaminated air sites to The Climate crisis no estimates are yet available for New Jersey but New York is ver New
York's version would raise up to $3 billion of Revenue annually for the next 25 years and we can estimate that for New Jersey that number would be two billion uh I'm here with a
colleague Chris no say anything I'm done okay thank you very much thank you thank you sir is there a number on that uh is there a bill for that hi good evening uh Chris no n w l
um I'm a Fort Lee resident but you know I know Pedro um and uh yeah the so yeah I also came to kind of support him in in urging you to pass a resolution that would show support for this act you know this bill
that's in front of the uh Senate and the assembly right now so the Senate number is 3545 and the assembly number is 4696 and um also I'd like to add that it was co-sponsored by Bergen County
Assembly women Park and hater and Senator Gordon Johnson so really we're trying to build momentum right we're we're we're reaching out to municipalities around New Jersey all over New Jersey actually but we're up here and um trying to get
resolutions passed so that we can kind of move this along and get passed in the State uh legislature so I want to mention too um that really like as Pedro said it would make the largest fossil fuel corporations pay for the damages
that uh you know the the regular public is already experiencing and will continue to experience but in particular in New Jersey um you know for example Just One impact that would really uh be be very local is that Bergen County will need
it's estimated 69 miles of seaw Walls by 2040 at a cost of half a billion dollars and that's for the Hudson and hackin saac rivers okay that you know it says seaw walls but along the rivers there since they're titled and um so and of course the hackensac
river flows through hackensac as well so some of that money you know we hope would be offset by um the money that would be generated by this act and then municipalities can apply for Grants from the state to get money to pay for things
such as flood walls um other things include uh infrastructure resiliency too so it's not just mitigation um it's uh could be for energy efficiency in weatherization upgrades to schools and municipal buildings upgrades to storm water storm
water drainage systems so I I I know that the um combined sewer overflows can be an issue in a lot of towns especially down here um and so um yeah as Pedro said New York passed this law Governor hok signed it in
December last year and so um Vermont also did pass it so it's still it's going through some processing um before New York can start seeing money um but for the municipalities that pass a resolution there is no Financial Risk there's no
liability risk the worst case scenario is uh the state would have to battle in the courts with it but for a town to pass municipality there's zero risk and the other thing I want to mention too that that's a point that's brought up is that the price of oil and gas would not
increase because that's set by global markets and oh okay so yeah so so that's not an issue regarding this um and yeah I shared a bunch of information with you about two weeks ago and then I sent it again today so you could take a look at it um you know
please let me or Pedro know if you have any questions and are the Bills in that um the emails I I don't think I attached the actual bill but I can send that to you I sent the resolution to you please email it to me sure sure thanks it wasn't no I just looked at right the
bill was not but the resolution right right right so I can send that yeah sure all right thank you very much apprciate you next person from the public please I'm rich serbo Spring Valley Avenue I uh was wondering you know the weather's getting nice so that's you
know not to uh change the subject on the weather we just heard about or whatever but um so I'm wondering when when a roster or something will be set up to pave streets roads everywhere around
town will that is there a setup roster for that starting in in when the weather out when does it start we're just about ready to release it Mr Sero what we're going to pay for the pave for 2025 so
they start in April I guess right or something yeah well you have to yeah because that's when asheva becomes cheaper because they don't have a winter mix so we usually wait till you have to wait till I think it's April 1st I believe so okay okay um another thing is
um you know I've been around town and there's a lot of homes that are in need of refurbishment and repairs and and I and I'm I'm shocked by that there there's so many okay and uh the reason they're not doing it or fixing up their
homes is the cost of uh contractors now is ridiculous they want so much money to do work on your home so it's better to be oh just leave it like that and they don't want to do it also because if they
do fix up somewhat uh you're going to come back and uh with the annual what is it uh assessment annual assessment like they did in uh old England it's the old England uh English kings did that to uh
the peasants in England so you're doing it here now every year I don't see why you're doing it but it's keeping people uh from fixing up their homes okay that's a fact a few people told me about that and um think it over okay because
you're allowing uh uh people to leave their homes to go go to hell as they say so whatever um look another thing about the de velopment I know you're riding this wave of development and U it's
going on and on and on and it's all we here it's wonderful okay but I don't see any jobs coming along with this uh into hackin act if you look on any of the job sites there's quite a few of them no jobs are in hackin sack okay they're in
other towns you you go here let's go there let's go here let's go get an interview over there there aren't many jobs coming to hackinside you didn't really bring a lot of businesses in uh with this development there's a lot of sandwich shops or you know you can get a hero or you know you get a cup of coffee
I get I get that it's beautiful but there's not many jobs or new businesses in hackens sack uh going along with this uh uh this uh luxury development okay thank you very much thank you
sir next person from the audience please good evening mayor Le Bross Deputy Mayor councilwoman um first I just want to once again congratulate Captain Ziza Lieutenant Bay Sergeant
Kowski sergeant gerardi and Sergeant serus on their promotions and thank you for recognizing them um so I've stood up here many times before as you know uh it is my honor to stand up here today as someone running for city council and I
am here um primarily because you know there there are going to be a lot of things I'm sure that we disagree on over the course of the next couple weeks um what hackin sack's present looks like what hackin sack's future looks like but
I think there's an area where we can certainly agree and that is on expanding access to voting um um I sent or actually I delivered last Tuesday a letter um regarding early voting I have
not heard back um there was no resolution on today's docket um I just want to share the contents and then hopefully ask for an update um so this was an open letter requesting early voting to Mayor lebros and members of the city council we can all agree that every voter in hackensac deserves the
opportunity to cast a vote in the May municipal election in 2020 1 fewer than 4,000 voters made it to the polls in our local election there are more than 25,000 registered voters in hackensac which means that fewer than 20% of our
registered voters had their voices heard over the past three years New Jersey has implemented an early voting system that has increased access to The Ballot Box as part of the law early voting is available for May Municipal elections at
no cost to look local taxpayers the state reimburses the county clerk for all aspects of holding 3 days of early voting preceding the election on May 13th and those three days are
statutory to take advantage of this extraordinary opportunity that would triple the number of hours polls are open and available to hackk voters the city council simply needs to adopt an an ordinance enabling the county clerk to offer early voting at up to 3 three
locations in the city we requested that you take action today February 25th as it was the date of your next meeting that did not happen but perhaps There's an opportunity for future action to be taking place at no cost to local taxpayers failing to adopt
such an ordinance would be a direct effort to disenfranchise hackensac voters since early voting is automatically available to voters throughout New Jersey in municipalities with partisan local elections we trust
that you share our respect for our neighbors and will Empower them with greater access to The Ballot Box this may and that was not only me that was on behalf of myself Agatha Tumi Roberto Diaz Phil Carol and Sonia Clark Collins
and so absent that taking place today an update um would be appreciated thank you absolutely yeah we're aware of your request and uh I'm going to defer to Steve to explain this yeah yeah well as as you mentioned because originally you mentioned a res solution but then you corrected yourself and you said an ordinance which as you understand would
take two meetings um we didn't have a full opportunity to consider this request or for me to look at it because you know we did not have a cal meeting tonight we did not have a closed session tonight so um I'm aware of the request I'm going to look at it from a legal
sense we will have a cow meeting in a couple of weeks and a close session in a couple of weeks and so if there's a decision to proceed you know know then then it will be up to them whether to do that but at this point um you know we have not had an opportunity to draft or
research the appropriate ordinance um to even consider that so I I think it's an open issue to be considered and if there's a decision to take some action I would suggest at the next meeting there would be a formal response got it and absent that and I understand that absent that there's nothing that precludes
anyone today on speaking on their feelings on it even though there's absolutely not you have 3 minutes you you you spoke to them C certainly uh it's not out of bounds just because there's not an ordinance on the table I do think it is important to point out to people um you know so that they're not
under misunderstanding that you know do keep in mind that in addition to election day regardless of the decision here there is now vote by mail for any reason whatsoever so people who are uh concerned about their ability to vote on
Election Day regardless of whatever is decided here would encourage them to you know look into their vote by mail options because in the old days you know probably when we were starting out in political world you know you had to say you were going to be out of town or you were going to be sick no more so anybody
who wishes to vote and believes they may not be available on Election Day uh should you know go to the county clerk and go file for a vote by mail ballot you can now vote by mail permanently I haven't voted in a machine in in years um I signed up for it during covid and
they just send me a ballot and I return it and I'm not even sure what the voting machines look like anymore because I haven't been there since you know 2019 so um you know do keep that in mind if a member of the public is listening that that is available to you and and is encouraged uh as well and then in the
next couple of weeks the decision would be made whether this uh provides additional benefit or not obviously that would have to be done by ordinance you know so it would take two meetings so it would be done you know prior to April if we decided to to
proceed with that but obviously um timing wise was a little difficult to address this request given the short meeting today thank you I um I just want to and I'm going to step away I just want to make the point I appreciate you letting folks know that about the vote by mail because that is significant
thank you um you know there are over 80% of municipalities in New Jersey that have partisan elections and they automatically have this right to not only expanded vote by mail but also three additional days of early voting so I don't think that someone's zipped code
should determine whether or not they have the same access to The Ballot Box that's all all right so and this will be discussed now and the other thing that wasn't mentioned is obviously we're missing two members tonight who would have we did have a cow session would have been here and part of a discussion
on that if we were able to discuss it uh but I thought Mr gain you mentioned something about voting in hackin sack where you talking because the way I understood it the only way there was no cost to the city as if it was only at the county building is that correct sorry were you asking me or were you asking well I was asking I thought you
mentioned three places in hackin saac the county the county building is in hackin saac I'm not saying that to be snarky I'm saying that would qualify no if you were talking about other like schools or No in fact the statute says that they can't be schools that's correct cannot be schools and it's up to three up to three I said that and in
every other election it's always just the county building yeah the the county building is satisfactory the I just wanted to make when I heard you mention three yeah locations I got confused I thought well we're only thinking in the county building no County building would qualify all right thank you very much
thank you you're welcome next person from the public please good evening everyone good evening city manager mayor deputy mayor council my name is Marlene Somerville I'm a hackin sack resident so the first thing is to say thank you very much for
you guys today assisting Us in putting on the Black History Month um celebration honoring labor as the theme and the blackowned businesses in hackin sack uh know that it was not the full turnout of all the individuals that were requested to attend but those that did
did a phenomenal job the presentation was superb and Allison thank you very much for the hard work that you put in to put this together it was was very much so appreciated my question to you guys is how can we moving forward right turn this into not just a Black History
Month event but an annual event so I'm fully aware that everybody here understands you know black history month but black history month is every month right it is every month it is every day it is every week it is every year it is consistent it is part of American History so I would like for us to be
able to make sure that for our blackowned businesses in hackin sack we can do something that is not only for the month that it is here but kind of sort of in perpetuity and what can we do to make it an annual event that doesn't necessarily require us celebrating you
know just the one month and the one day so that is my question to you guys and I'm hoping that we can have you know a robust conversation to be able to see how we can be a little bit more inclusive and not just exp expand it Beyond just the businesses that are on Main Street but to other different
businesses that's within our vicinity thank you understood nope good idea thank you next member from the public please seeing no one from the public motion to close to the public offer second all in favor I I None opposed
Miss Von rudenberg sure good evening everyone V sorry thanks for coming out uh everybody we did have a wonderful night downstairs celebrating um our blackowned businesses um it was just a great way to Showcase some of our our local um businesses and
and the people behind it you know it's not easy to run a small business it takes a lot of work and sacrifice for anyone that that has done that and uh we appreciate them being here and believing in the city and wanting to be here um so we want to show their support and it was a great networking event as well um I
know um M mentioned earlier she didn't know that some of those businesses were here so it was nice you saw them talking to each other and you know it was just a nice opportunity so along with what Miss Somerville said you know making this a bigger event and turning into a a bigger networking opportunity and and really
being there to support um our businesses is is important because we appreciate them being here and believing in our city and thank you to Alison um for all the hard work because it was it was a lot of work that went into that and we appreciate it um congratulations to all of our promotes from the police
department um great group of of gentlemen um I know many of them and you know well well deserved and you know every time something like that happens you you feel safer you feel like you're in safer hands because you have a good group um at the helm and and we appreciate their service and their dedication to our city um this Sunday is
the hackin saac junior wrestling uh league tournament the twin County tournament at the high school it's a pretty uh big turnout all the northern New Jersey wrestling uh programs come out to compete um and if you're around and and want to stop by please stop by Sunday at the at the high school a lot of work goes into it um and it's really
an amazing event to see everyone out there uh and that's it for me have a great night everyone thanks for coming out thanks step uh I'll reiterate and also also I want to thank you Marlene for coming up with the suggestion about uh celebrating the the black owned businesses here and
hackin and they weren't just Main Street I think there were some from other parts there was certainly the one from the corner Central and as so we had we had you know folks from throughout the town and I agree I mean I think this is a nice event and we could invite whoever
we like and those that Reed their proclamations this year certainly could continue to be invited and then any new businesses that open up could be also recognized and receive a a proclamation from the city to to recognize all of their efforts and I think you know we probably want to do that throughout you
know other businesses as well you know let people be aware of here's what we really are seeing in town let's support our our our businesses that are in town all of our businesses you know it's very difficult postco it's been extremely difficult to open a new business you
know not just here everywhere you know folks were a little bit hesitant at taking or you know spending that type of money first year investment in a new business is quite high so they appreciate that support and we we get to I mean even the the two different places
that provide or three different places that provided food said oh I'm G to stop over by you or I'm going to come recommend some of the things that you had so you know it's getting even the businesses to support each other aside from just the public so thanks for for coming up with that suggestion and of course the the police department
promotions welld deserved I mean chief antista is doing a great job um you know he he we are as a council committed to give him whatever he needs to be successful and to really turn the police department in into the model as as uh
director gdet said you know a model for others to follow the command center is just spectacular that that we've been able to put together for um the police department and uh giving them state-of-the-art they deserve every the best of everything training uh and and utilities such as the command center is
just phenomenal um I usually go through things that quickly that I'm involved with because you know reading it through a docket sometimes you really don't know what we're talking about up here so just a couple of quick things um as far as the the change to the storm water ordinance that Steve talked a little bit about just so folks know really the
major thrust of that was now we have very rigid storm water requirements that come from the D and then on top of that here in the city of hackensac we have even stricter storm water requirements that we place on so when new new buildings and developments are proposed they must adhere to both the state the
and our own hackin sack um requirements as well these storm requirements don't change those what they did is they've now included if you're doing road work or railroad work they now also have storm waterer requirements where they didn't before so they're seeing the benefits of of doing some of these
things and they're now expanding it to other uses so pretty much that's what that's about um we talked about 463 Main Street 463 Main Street those of you remember the old Bruce the bed king that's the property we're talking about it's across the street from Aldi there
and they're moving along it's taking them some time to get their financing together but they're they're ready to start moving forward it's a smaller project about 130 units that will be going into into that building so that's the talk about 463 Main Street uh the Sears uh Redevelopment designation Sears
has been now vacant more than two years um this Council has been very strong in saying we had two two iconic buildings that were in the downtown that definitely we wanted those buildings to remain and one of them was 210 Main Street the old I'm dating myself now people's Trust Bank years ago and it has
been and is it's fully occupied um so with Sears we also want that iconic Tower to remain and when it's been vacant for more than two years um you know you start to see you think about it if your house no heat no air conditioning you know you're going to have conditions in there that were all
documented in this proposal so that was part of this designation that was on here for tonight as well um two other things um we're still CFO was here you know we're still pushing to uh in our conjunction with the with the Board of
Education to get moving on this purchase of property to uh build a new school um you know we've been actively engaged with the board of ed for years I mean this is this how many years ago step did we do the original proposal for them and they never moveed forward on that but this proposal they chose the land and
the city has agreed to purchase the land and donate the use of the adjacent parking lot and even build over the adjacent parking lot to accommodate everything that the Board of Education wants um they canceled our last meeting and um you know we're hearing you know
that the new board members are maybe hesitant to move forward with a new school so we're encouraging everyone to please support this initiative we personally have been promoting this and working with the board of ed for over over 10 years uh to get this accomplished and they were this close we
were this close you know prior to your last Board of Ed Ed uh election and we're hoping we could push over the goalpost before these properties are purchased by someone else so we're asking everyone come go to your board of ed meetings all right say let's get moving on this we have the plan we don't want to get into another Padre poo where
we're paying a million dollars a year in a lease so we were really working together and we really had a plan City wants to chip in so let's get that done um just real quickly about Teterboro Airport I talk about that when I have meetings with them um I I've spoken at
length last time about this where some of the problems with using the alternate flight path over Route 17 were coming from their inadequate really supply of air traffic controllers because they were coming out of Long Island they've since moved it and air traffic controllers now for us and for the New
York area as well are now in Philly so that there is more availability and they're actually testing using this during the day which is what we I personally have been pushing for years now so they have uh I've asked and the uh the airport committee has has
designated me to head up a focus group that I've asked for because I think now is a time to strike while the iron is hot while we have new air traffic controllers we have new interest in supporting this and helping our residents you know have at least some of this volume decreased of the noise um
noise pollution air pollution Etc from The increased volume of of uh planes that are flying over um coming down Prospect over the hospital on top of everything else so I'll keep you posted we're going to meet monthly so that would be a big help the other meeting are only quarterly and it's tough to get
something done when you only meet a few times a year so this is the most optimistic I felt about us making some progress here and I know there's many concerned residents in town that that are interested in hearing that okay I think that's it thanks everyone for coming
um enjoy the rest of the week and the weekend see you again soon thank you Kath so I too want to thank uh all the blackowned businesses who came tonight um we need to work on AB absolutely get more people at this I I appreciate
uh Mr somerville's uh points on maybe making this year round and doing different types of of things I think uh we need to be promoting all businesses in Hack and Sack black white whatever what I what I love about the businesses in Hack and
Sack is you can go and just about get anything you want in our downtown in local local shops um I visit quite frequently a lot of our restaurants and it's uh we have Vietnamese we have all different Latino
types of restaurants we have black own and restaurants you have Indian food it's just it's a great mix just like our city and uh that's what so great about the downtown right now I love it um I thought the promotions were great tonight I thought some of the the
speeches by the director and the chief and uh Greg Zer in particular I also want to bring up Greg Zea Greg Zer since he's been on the force you know Zea name and hacken Sack is synonymous with some some cloudy
past uh but that kid has nothing to do with that that kid has always done the right thing since I've known him and uh he's worked his way through the ranks and deservedly got the rank of Captain tonight and uh kudos to him because it
wasn't easy for him I'm sure and it wasn't easy for all of them like they said those tests are hard they have to take those tests and pass and uh takes a lot of time and a lot of them have young families so it takes them away from their families but they stuck it out and did the right thing and that shows true leadership when you can do that so uh we
get the right guys in the right place so that's a good thing um right now we're in the middle of picking bands for the summer concert series which I'm hoping to do five or six this year I don't know what the numbers are going to show I see Jim's in the audience he's going to have something to do with that up last year
well we went down last year that's why I think maybe no we last year we added one last year and we had more well we got to stay the same at least no it's budget crunch time so we'll see sharpen our pencils so um yes and
uh Stephanie mentioned our regional Junior wrestling tournament which has been held in hacken sack for since my kids were six years old started wrestling um it's an exciting weekend for the mayor because his sons have wrestled in that tournament multiple multiple times this is the
first time I have two grandsons wrestling in that tournament this weekend so it's going to be fun to watch and uh wish them well and uh having been a wrestling coach for years it's it's fun to see your your grandkids doing it your son's coaching them that's always
that's always fun to see um in answer to Mr serbo you know these buildings create where's Rich still here he's in the back he there so these buildings Rich create hundreds of jobs and a lot of them are done the amount of
people that takes to build these buildings is hundreds for some of these larger buildings it creates aund hundreds of construction jobs a lot of those construction workers spend their money in the city going for lunch or coffee um so yeah there's jobs created
and once the business is open once that building's open it takes dozens of people to run that building there they're big buildings they they have on-site staff and uh it's a great financial Catalyst for this city we we created an economic engine where you
know people getting jobs building the buildings people work in the buildings once they're created um those people go out look how many of the existing businesses have spruced up how they their businesses increased that's my next thing the amount of businesses that have opened and we lost some through
covid you know it was tough time like you mentioned but uh a lot of them are holding on strong and it's getting better so I'm I'm pleased with uh retail is starting to pick up and I think it's only going to get tell about the new one we just went to that was lovely you can't pronounce is it Bears
buers buyers where we say bet bet which is at10 Street at 210 main at 210 main there's a new another new coffee shop and pastry shop there which is spectacular recommend anybody listening to go go try it it's very good and uh
had a lot of new businesses we're always doing ribbon cutting so that's a that's a good thing for the city so with that I wish everybody a safe trip home and we'll see you in two weeks thank you motion to close the meeting offer second all in favor I gotos good night
everybody